ORBI Wifi Speed Drops

[ghermes]

My router is about 30' from both of my Sats and they are about 30' from each other.  One Sat upstairs and one downstairs.  As I noted in above post, my network speed drops about 8x after 3-4 days.  So far it has always returned to high performace after a reboot of the router and Sats.  Modem is always solid at ~300Mbps download.  Comcast.

[rickydphipps]

So, it doesn't look like the Advanced Wireles settings made any difference. And I definitely don't have to factory reset anymore to get my speed back up.

But I now have to reboot every single day - after a reboot I get my full 300+ Mbps on WiFi for less than 24 hours.

I have been working from home a lot with PS Vue streaming going most of the day. Maybe this is making the speed degredation happen faster.

I find it impossible to beleive that Netgear can't figure this out and fix it. It seems obvious there is a memory leak or something similar.

This is insane. 

Not sure how much longer before I jump ship.

[rickydphipps]

I've decided I can't wait for Netgear to fix this. I'm throwing them in the trash.

I'm rolling the dice and going with Eero Gen 2. It looks like it has everything Orbi has. And everything I am seeing indicates their support support is excellent. They respond in their forums, and even answered all the shopper questions at Amazon. They seem to be engaged and care.

(It looks like they just layed off a bunch of people, so hopefully their story that this is about ditching some non-core projects is legit.)

I will try to remember to post my experience here for anyone who is interested.

Good luck everyone.

Rick

[naerok]

Went from Orbi to Eero.

I didn't have the speed drop issue but I had total connectivity loss issues to satellites.  No issues with the Eero pro system so far.

[rickydphipps]

Thanks for replying.  How has your speed been with the Eero Pro? When Orbi worked, it was regularly bursting to 350Mbps on my 300Mbps Internet connect.

[naerok]

I had 3 orbi satellites and when they worked, I got my full bandwith of ~250-260mbps on ethernet backhaul.  With no ethernet, I would get around ~200.

Currently with the eero on ethernet backhaul (only 2 satellites though) I am getting around ~230.  I'll probably add another unit or two as long as I have no issues for another few weeks.

After experiencing frequent disconnect issues with the orbi, I would rather have a stable access point that gives me 10% of my bandwith than an unstable access point that gives me 100%.

[Antipodeansam7]

Darren M kindly put me in touch with the support team. Think I’m just going up to level 3 and they are analysing the router and satellite logs. They did the usual roll back of firmware and fiddling with some settings but my wifi speed is still sitting at between 4mbps and 70mbps, sadly I have to put up with this until they figure out what is going on and not do the usual factory reset and get back to 190mbps. If they sort it I will stick with the system, if not I may try the options you guys are suggesting. Would be nice to have consistent wifi, but having spent 750 nzd to cover a 140m squared single floor house it would hurt me deeply as a single parent to have to shell ohelp t more money.

[rickydphipps]

Thanks @naerok.

@Antipodeansam7, I hear you. I hate to waste the money, but my faith is pretty low at this point. Please post whatever you find out. If they can get this fixed within a month or so, I may send the Eero back.

[Antipodeansam7]

Will do, pretty tough being in New Zealand and being solo with a 6month old to find time to work with support, but I have to say they have been very good so far at making contact. The proof however will be in the pudding of this next stage and finding a fix... I will keep you all updated

[rickydphipps]

Eero Pro installed. So far so good. Same throughout as Orbi when it worked properly.

*fingers crossed*

[rickydphipps]

@Antipodeansam7 any progress?

Anyone else?

[Ulairi]

---

@Antipodeansam7 wrote:
Will do, pretty tough being in New Zealand and being solo with a 6month old to find time to work with support, but I have to say they have been very good so far at making contact. The proof however will be in the pudding of this next stage and finding a fix... I will keep you all updated

---

Hi AntipodeanSam7,

By any chance are you on Vodafone's FibreX in Wellington or Christchurch?  I have also encountered problems with the Orbi throttling both wired and WiFi speeds.  I'm on Vodafone's FibreX 200 plan in Wellington (200 D and 20 U) and only get about 75 D and 20 U once the Orbi starts to throttle. 

A factory reset fixed the problem but the most recent firmware auto-updated and has re-instated the throttling in the Orbi Router. 

I wish that I had seen your thread from last year earlier as it would have (a) alerted me that I was not alone with the problem, (B) encouraged me to try the factory reset earlier and (c) given me insight that Netgear have been unable to fix this fault over an extended period because it has endured through many firware releases (I imagine that they're concentrating on the disconnects first and foremost).

However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is caused by the Orbi not working well with certain ISP architectures.  Vodafone FibreX in New Zealand uses VLAN Tagging 

[Antipodeansam7]

So I have been working with support for a few months now, I have had to explain my problem about five times and have gone through all the usual firmware beta’s and turning on and off their settings they obviously don’t have reliable yet but to no avail. I got bumped to level 2, but just ended up explaining my problem again and sending lots of screenshots showing the speeds on wired and wireless devices all at their low levels and then the speed test in the orbi interface and on my iPhone app showing it at 190mbps received by the router from the fibre box. So the issue is certainly with the router.

I’m with trustpower who also use vlan tagging but not sure if it is related, sure all the fibre in nz is probably the same structure. I don’t think support know how to fix the problem and they haven’t sugggest trying a new unit so I reckon it must be a common enough problem that they know a replacement won’t fix it, So I have now had the orbi for nearly a year with limited internet speeds and must have done close to 50 factory resets to get speed back briefly each time. I know people will ask why I don’t just change for another mesh network but the orbi was $700 nzd and that is tough on the wallet for a school teacher with family, but I’m also wasting my money each month on 200mbps internet speed so have to cut my losses at some point?!

[FURRYe38]

After resetting and checking speeds, your speeds are back for a period of time then drop?

Are you doing anything with QoS, Traffic Meter or Access Controls after resetting and speed testing?

[Antipodeansam7]

Yep exactly that, sometimes a few weeks, sometimes a couple of days, other times an hour. Nope I don’t touch anything in the interface after speeds are back up (I check using ookla), I know it has caused some people issues using the QoS and traffic.

[FURRYe38]

Whats the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem/ONT?

[rickydphipps]

Thanks for the update, @Antipodeansam7.

I'm really sorry to hear this continues to drag out for you. I hope they get it resolved. If they did, I wouldn't mind digging my Orbi out of the closet. The speeds was awesome when it worked. As of now the Eero Pro that I bought has been rock solid, though I have given up about 50-100Mbps of throughput. But at the end of the day, it's still plenty, and I will take that over dealing with -300Mbps every few days.

I'm still subscribed and watching, so I'd be grateful if you post your progress, even if you finally break down and replace the Orbi.

[Ulairi]

---

@Antipodeansam7 wrote:
I’m with trustpower who also use vlan tagging but not sure if it is related, sure all the fibre in nz is probably the same structure. I don’t think support know how to fix the problem and they haven’t sugggest trying a new unit so I reckon it must be a common enough problem that they know a replacement won’t fix it, So I have now had the orbi for nearly a year with limited internet speeds and must have done close to 50 factory resets to get speed back briefly each time. I know people will ask why I don’t just change for another mesh network but the orbi was $700 nzd and that is tough on the wallet for a school teacher with family, but I’m also wasting my money each month on 200mbps internet speed so have to cut my losses at some point?!

---

Thanks for responding.  That dispels my theory. 

Vodafone's FibreX is not actually true 'fibre'.  It's fibre down the street and coaxial into the house.   Tht's why it doesn't do any more than 200 down.  You might have seen recently that the Commerce Commission is having a go at them for false advertising. They use Vlan Tagging / IPoE.

Your Trustpower setup will be true Fibre. 

I've also seen (on geekzone.co.nz) that some people have Orbi working well on FibreX. It certainly begs the quest why only some of us are suffering throttling. 

Just a thought - if your Orbi constantly resets and causes speed bottlnecks then it is not 'fit for purpose'. Orbi's advertising states:

Orbi™ is the simplest and smartest way to enjoy high-speed WiFi in every corner of your home. This Orbi WiFi System kit of two covers homes up to 4,000 square feet with strong WiFi signals. It creates a dedicated wireless connection to the Internet using Tri-band WiFi delivering maximum speeds no matter how many devices connect. 

Under NZ's Consumer Guarantees Act (CGA) you have a strong case for returning it to the retailer for a full refund, because is is deficient and does not 'deliver maximum speeds'.  There's no time limit on this - the CGA applies even outside of warranty periods. That's the avenue that I'm taking and I'm using your thread here as supporting evidence of the design flaw.  

PS:  For anyone with network tech background, my ISP's settings are:

Field	Configuration
Enable connection	Check
VDSL Name	Internet_VDSL
FibreX Name	Internet_Ethernet
Service type	INTERNET, TR069, VOICE
Connection Type	IP routing (IP)
MTU	1500
MSS	0
NAT	NAPT
VLAN	Check
VLAN ID	10
802.1p	0
IP protocol version	IPv4 + IPv6
IPv4 address type	DHCP
Static DNS	Uncheck
IPv6 addressing type	DHCP

[Antipodeansam7]

The best I can see with out taking it off the wall is Huawei HG8240H

[Antipodeansam7]

I agree it certainly is not fit for purpose but I guess if they admit to me they can't fix the problem and don't know what the problem is that could open up the door for a number of people to return it with similar problems. Support just contacted me asking me to update firmware to the one I already have. I can say for sure if the engineers don't come back with some kind of feasible diagnosus or plan on this next round I am jumping the netgear ship. Any other advice for a relaible mesh device that won't kill my funds like the orbi did?

[Ulairi]

---

@Antipodeansam7 wrote:

I can say for sure if the engineers don't come back with some kind of feasible diagnosus or plan on this next round I am jumping the netgear ship. Any other advice for a relaible mesh device that won't kill my funds like the orbi did?

---

I've also been looking at alternatives, per this thread.  

The problem is that most other mesh products don't have the independant channel for the backhaul, so they take a speed hit for devices connected to satellites. Also, many only have two ethernet ports on the router, which means you need to run an Ethernet switch if you want to feed devices via Ethernet.  These other mesh devices (Linksys Velop, Ubiquiti Amplifi, Eero) also have negative reviews and cited problems on Amazon.com, but they run at about 10% 'critical' while the Orbi has double the level of critical reviews (21%).  

At this stage I'm leaning to the Ubiquiti ApmliFi.  The standard kit comes with a router and two wall plug sats, but the Sats have no Ethernet ports and can't be wired.  However, per this Datasheet you can buy the routers independently and additional routers can be used as mesh points with 4 x Ethernet ports. The additional routers can also be wired for backhaul.   

I'm also working with Netgear support and will see how that goes.  I'm really hoping that the Orbi can be resolved because it has the best features for my needs. However, if it doesn't work out then I'll also be jumping ship. 

[Antipodeansam7]

I will never ever buy another netgear product again!! After over a year since its arrival and months of dealing with support, they did not fix my issue and then randomly closed my case!!! I then had to pay to ring again, to find out why, after 40 mins and being disconnected and passed around I have given up. The $700 orbi is going in the trash and I will never buy from these clowns again, worst product I have ever owned, worst support I have ever recieved and I am a normally happy and placid kiwi bloke. Terrible. 

[DarrenM]

Hello antipodeansam7

I have sent you a PM.

DarrenM

[cscheiene]

The latest firmware 2.1.4.16 also has wifi speed drop issues. Speed drops to 30mbit, a reboot fixes the problem. It's only on the 2.4 GHz band, wired clients to the router or sat and 5ghz is stable for me

[Antipodeansam7]

Mine has happened on every firmware version on both bands and my wired devices. The router reads 190mbps on the interface speed test (which I never do until the issue has already occurred) but the output to all devices drops down to between 10-60mbps and stays there