Guest network slower than regular network?

[alokeprasad]

I'm finding speedtest and performance of my iPhone 12 Max slower on the guest network than regular network. 

This is anywhere in the house, even in the same room as the router.  The two satellites are connected with Ethernet backhaul.  Firmware # 2.7.5.4 all around.

Anyone else seeing this? Fixes?

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

Thanks for reporting actual numbers (although the "regular" values may be reversed [up/down]).

Testing on the same RBR50 router with a WiFi connection to a Samsung Galaxy tablet, I got these readings from the Ookla Speed Test web site:

Network Down Up

Guest   333  11.9

        326  10.2

        342  11.1

Primary 337  12.0

        369  11.7

        372  11.0

Guest   369  11.7

        369  11.5

        366  11.9

I am on Spectrum Cable (upload speeds are tiny on cable compared to download speeds).

A computer wired to the router reported 354 down/11.5 up.

Thus, my experience is that the Guest WiFi network performs "about the same" as the primary WiFi network.

This original Orbi is a WiFi5 system, with a maximum theoretical connection rate on 5G WiFi of 866Mbit.  In actual use, getting 500Mbit is very good.

Are there any other WiFi devices that can be used to compare speeds on the primary vs. Guest WiFi networks?

[FURRYe38]

Guest Network may not have same performances as the main WLAN. 

[alokeprasad]

Thx.
Is that documented somewhere?

Searches on this topic shows this gettig fixed by firmware updates (for certain Orbi products..).

[FURRYe38]

Last FW is here:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-Wi-Fi-5-AC-and-Orbi-with/New-RBR50-RBS50-Firmware-Version-2-7-...

the 50 series is now EoL:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-Wi-Fi-5-AC-and-Orbi-with/Find-your-Orbi-product-and-End-of-Ser...

[alokeprasad]

I'm on the latest firmware.

I guess I'll have to upgrade to a newer product or learn to live with this. 

[CrimpOn]

---

@alokeprasad wrote:

I'm finding speedtest and performance of my iPhone 12 Max slower on the guest network than regular network. 

---

It is not obvious (to me) why that would be the case.  Can you share actual numbers?

[alokeprasad]

It is not always this consistent (sometimes the guest network performance is fine..)

Example just now: 

Guest: 31.8 Mbps down; 21.1 Mbps up; Ping 16 ms

Regular: 575 Mbps up; 23.3 Mbps down; Ping 15 ms.

Wired (through the Orbi web interface on a Mac): 578 Mbps down; 24.27 Mbps up

The wireless tests are on a iPhone 12 Pro Max in the same room as the router.

[CrimpOn · Accepted solution]

Thanks for reporting actual numbers (although the "regular" values may be reversed [up/down]).

Testing on the same RBR50 router with a WiFi connection to a Samsung Galaxy tablet, I got these readings from the Ookla Speed Test web site:

Network Down Up

Guest   333  11.9

        326  10.2

        342  11.1

Primary 337  12.0

        369  11.7

        372  11.0

Guest   369  11.7

        369  11.5

        366  11.9

I am on Spectrum Cable (upload speeds are tiny on cable compared to download speeds).

A computer wired to the router reported 354 down/11.5 up.

Thus, my experience is that the Guest WiFi network performs "about the same" as the primary WiFi network.

This original Orbi is a WiFi5 system, with a maximum theoretical connection rate on 5G WiFi of 866Mbit.  In actual use, getting 500Mbit is very good.

Are there any other WiFi devices that can be used to compare speeds on the primary vs. Guest WiFi networks?

[alokeprasad]

I am going to drop this issue. Too many variables to do a controlled experiment.

I am sometimes very slow even on wired network.  Power-cycling the Spectrum modem restores the speed.

Aloke

[FURRYe38]

If power cycling the ISP modem brings speeds back, then might look into the ISP modem signal and there services up to the modem.