Internet speed cut in half by Orbi

[Mitch2k2]

Hi all. Hoping someone can help me get to the bottom of "slow" internet speeds.

I have a gigabyte speed fiber connection (no modem, box outside house), and when testing the speed directly from the jack into a laptop, I consistently get speeds upward of 900 mbs.

But once the Orbi is connected, hardwired speed tests max out at 500 mbs.

Now, I know that I probably shouldn't be complaining about 500 mbs internet, but since I know and have verifiable proof that the connection is delivering speeds almost 2X that of the Orbi, I can't help but wonder why, and what can be done to fix it.

To answer the common questions:

Currently running V2.3.5.30 after downgrading from 2.5.0.38 during a period of outages - turned out to be some faulty hardware on the ISP's side, since fixed. But given the large number of folks having issues with that version, I'm hesitant to update again...

No Circle, no Armor, no QoS.

I've tried multiple Cat 5e cables, which at least in theory should be able to handle the speed with no problem. No change to Orbi's speed. I have a Cat 7 on the way, but I doubt that's the issue.

Anyone have any ideas? I'd very appreciate any help.

[FURRYe38]

Others including myself have seen this with Orbi:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RBR50-is-not-supporting-900Mb-on-the-WAN-to-LAN-test/m-p/...

What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

Have you factory reset the RBR and setup from scratch and with out enableding ont the onboard speed test, Traffic Meter or Access controls, speed tested with a wired PC thru the RBR? 

You might try disabling SIP ALG and set OPEN for NAT Filter and see if this helps any. 

I loaded v40 yesterday and saw a slight improvement on speeds over 400Mbps, however still I can't get anything near 900mbps with my RBR50. 

I recommend that you open a support ticket as well:

https://www.netgear.com/mynetgear/registration/login.aspx

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@Mitch2k2 wrote:

Hi all. Hoping someone can help me get to the bottom of "slow" internet speeds.

I have a gigabyte speed fiber connection (no modem, box outside house), and when testing the speed directly from the jack into a laptop, I consistently get speeds upward of 900 mbs.

But once the Orbi is connected, hardwired speed tests max out at 500 mbs.

Now, I know that I probably shouldn't be complaining about 500 mbs internet, but since I know and have verifiable proof that the connection is delivering speeds almost 2X that of the Orbi, I can't help but wonder why, and what can be done to fix it.

To answer the common questions:

Currently running V2.3.5.30 after downgrading from 2.5.0.38 during a period of outages - turned out to be some faulty hardware on the ISP's side, since fixed. But given the large number of folks having issues with that version, I'm hesitant to update again...

No Circle, no Armor, no QoS.

I've tried multiple Cat 5e cables, which at least in theory should be able to handle the speed with no problem. No change to Orbi's speed. I have a Cat 7 on the way, but I doubt that's the issue.

Anyone have any ideas? I'd very appreciate any help.

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[Mitch2k2]

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Answers follow:

What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

• There is no modem, just the NT box outside the house and a direct connection via the RJ45 jack .

Have you factory reset the RBR and setup from scratch and with out enableding ont the onboard speed test, Traffic Meter or Access controls, speed tested with a wired PC thru the RBR? 

• I have factory reset the RBR (and both satellites) more times than I like to think about. I've never enabled Traffic Meter or Acess controls, but I have not speed tested a PC wired through the router fresh off a reset.

You might try disabling SIP ALG and set OPEN for NAT Filter and see if this helps any. 

• Will give it a shot.

I recommend that you open a support ticket as well: https://www.netgear.com/mynetgear/registration/login.aspx

• Will do

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 Thanks much for the suggestions.

[FURRYe38]

Let us know the results of a wired speed test thru the RBR with a PC when you have time. 

[Mitch2k2]

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@FURRYe38 wrote:

Let us know the results of a wired speed test thru the RBR with a PC when you have time. 

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Will do. By the way, opening a support ticket with Netgear doesn't seem to be an option, as I've had the Orbi since last August.

[FURRYe38]

Ok, probably out of the warranty period. You can certainly send a PM to Blanca_O and Christian_R. 

[MacrossMike]

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@Mitch2k2 wrote:

But once the Orbi is connected, hardwired speed tests max out at 500 mbs.

As a point of curiosity to see if this is the same issue impacting me and several other users here, have you run a speed test from the Ookla Speed Test utility in the Orbi's control panel (or via the Orbi app on your phone/tablet)?  If you have, does it show your full gigabit speed or the ~500Mbps you're getting in speed tests from client devices on your Orbi's LAN?

The issue I and others are seeing in recent firmware builds, which appears to be localized to the Orbi router's WAN-to-LAN interface, is that the speed tests run by the router itself return normal results (full connection performance) but client devices connected to the Orbi get much lower speeds.  The speed test utility built into the router is WAN-side only, so if it returns the correct (full speed) result then you're likely impacted by the same bug as the rest of us.

[FURRYe38]

FYI, this mostly deals with the ability of some users with 1Gb ISP services and Orbi RBRs not being able to achieve anything near 900Mbps on the WAN to LAN speed tests. Something internally either in FW and or HW is limiting any speed test thruput thru the RBR WAN to LAN from getting near 900Mbps on the down. My own internal testing with speed test apps shows for last few versions of FW, my RBR is constantly limited to 300-400Mbps for some reason. While other NG routers I have, including my RBR850, test out at 900Mbps fully. 

Some have suggested that QoS or the background running code is getting in the way. I feel that the HW NAT Accelleration on the RBR is not being enabled fully or at all. This HW NAT or Cut-thru is needed on routers to support the actual WAN to LAN speeds to be able to achieve and maintain anything near 900Mpbs. 

[Mitch2k2]

The 500 mbs speed tests are from the built in speed test on the modem, from both the control panel and the app. And from hardwired into the router on separate (but still Ookla) testing.

The ONLY time I get the 900+ mbs speeds is when I remove the Orbi from the equation and plug a computer directly into the R45 jack coming in from the fiber box outside.

That’s what’s so infuriating: I know the speed is there, it’s just that something to do with the Orbi seems to be throttling the available bandwidth.