Orbi with ATT Fiber download speeds cut in half

Question

I just had ATT Fiber 1000 installed with a BGW210-700 Gateway from AT&T. I am running the Orbi as the Router behind it. I set up the Orbi as fixed allocation of 192.168.1.253 in the IP Allocation screen, left DHCP on, Turned off WiFi, DIsabled Packet Filtering, and turned on IP Passthrough with Allocation Mode: Passthrough + Passthrough Mode: DHCPS-fixed + selected the RBR50's mac address from the device list. I also set all the Firewall Advanced settings to OFF.

When I run a speed test on the BGW210-700, I get 976dl/903ul. I have the ORBI RBR50 connected via cable to the BGW210-700, and when I run a speedtest on the Orbi, I consistently get 475dl/902ul (half the download speed). And that's hardwired. Wifi (obviously) goes down from there.

Any suggestions of what to check or what could be cutting my DL speed in half? I use the Orbi as my router and run the DHCP server in the 10.0.0.x range, with the RBR50 itself as 10.0.0.1, and all others routing from .2 on. I have two satellites in other areas of the house, one backhauled via wire, and the other backhauled via WiFi.

Some of my settings:

Under Lan setup -> LAN TCP/IP Setup:
- RIP Direction = BOTH (default)
- RIP Version = Disabled (default)
Under WAN setup:
- I do have a default DMZ server set up for 10.0.0.200 which is the IP reservation for my Ring Doorbell camera
- Disable IGMP Proxying is checked (default)
- NAT Filtering = Open with Disable SIP ALG as unchecked
No port forwarding or triggering set
Dynamic DNS is unchecked
No static routes
UPNP is off
IPV6 -> Internet Connection type is Disabled (default)

Any ideas what to try?

(PS - Yes, I tried a new cable. No difference...)

Mikey94025 · Answer

If you're running the Orbi's own speedtest, to verify that it doesn't have limits and is reporting accurate info I suggest also running other speedtests on other devices. If you get consistently limited download speeds then we will be more confident of some bandwidth limitation imposed by the Orbi.

For example, hardwire a laptop to the Orbi and run speedtest.net in a browser. Also try running the Speedtest mobile app on an iPhone connected wireless over 5G (yes, wireless has its own limits but if you can get speeds higher than 475Mbps down over 5G).

kmichalec · Answer

Thanks for the suggestions.&nbsp;When I connected my laptop to the Orbi via cable, and run SpeedTest.Net,&nbsp; I get 450 DL.&nbsp;When I connect my laptop to the ATT Gateway via cable, I get 750DL.&nbsp;When I connect my laptop via 5G wifi to the Orbi, I get 260DL.&nbsp;When I connect my iPhone 11 Pro via 5G wifi to the Orbi, and run the SpeedTest.net app, I get 325DL.&nbsp;So there is a noticable degration between the ATT Gateway and the Orbi somewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Also, before this, I had WideOpenWest (cable provider) at 500Mbps service.&nbsp; That was using a Arris SB6190 Cable Modem (no gateway, no router, no wifi, etc - Just a straight cable modem), going to the Orbi and then Orbi doing the routing.&nbsp; When I had that, my iPhone 11 Pro would hit 425-450 regularly (I can see it in the SpeedTest.net history), and my wired laptop connection would hit 500-550.&nbsp;So, I've upgraded to 1 GB Fiber service from AT&amp;T instead of 500Mbps cable service from WideOpenWest, replaced the Arris SB6190 cable modem with a&nbsp;BGW210-700 Gateway, and everything else behind it is the same (Orbi RBK50 and all associated devices).&nbsp; And my DL speeds are lower than they were before. (UL's are higher)

Mikey94025 · Answer

OK, it certainly looks like your DL speeds are being limited by the Orbi. Can you use the ATT BGW210-700 as your only router and switch your Orbi to Access Point mode? This old thread from early 2019 mentions getting faster DL speeds when Orbi is in AP vs. Router mode: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/ORBI-used-as-Gateway-Slower-than-1GB-Connection/td-p/1698170/page/2

From your original description, it sounds similar to the instructions in https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/How-do-I-setup-bridge-mode-in-the-ARRIS-BGW210-700/td-p/1875994 to put your ATT into bridge mode. Is that what you're doing? You don't want Double NAT, where the ATT is dispensing IP addresses and so is the Orbi, because that could also affect performance.

kmichalec · Answer

Yes, I was putting the ATT Gateway into IP Passthrough mode (their version of Bridge Mode), and using the Orbi as my router, to avoid double NAT, like you said.&nbsp;I tried resetting everything, and reverting the Orbi to Access Point Mode, and i'm seeing some increase.&nbsp; I was able to get the wired connection from my computer to the Orbi to hit 700-800 now.&nbsp; When using the laptop on Wifi, I'm getting about 300-350, and my iPhone 11 Pro on wifi is getting about 400-450.&nbsp; So a bit better than before.&nbsp; Still not where it should be, given I have a 1Gbps connection.&nbsp; Still definitely some undetermined degredation from somewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm debating replacing the Orbi with two of these:https://www.costco.com/.product.1248875.htmlAnd using one as a Router, and the other in AP mode wired back to the first one - kind of make my own mesh network).&nbsp; In theory, should provide faster Wifi than the Orbi, and am curious to see if my degrdation issue goes away.&nbsp;The other interesting thing is that now about 95% of my connected devices are connecting to the main Orbi router, and very few devices are connected to my two Orbi satellites.&nbsp; There's even a printer that sits on the other side of the satellite, that is connecting back to the Router, and ignoring the Satellite all together, which is strange. Going to let the whole network sit overnight, and see if things level out tomorrow.

FURRYe38 · Answer

Orbi and ATT modems have a long history of not working well with each other. Mostly this is a ATT/Pace modem issue.&nbsp;Modem FW may have broke good speeds between the modem and Orbi in router mode:https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/RBK50-Speed-Throttling-Wired-and-Wireless/td-p/1673291/jump-to/first-unread-messagehttps://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/How-I-fixed-our-intermittent-internet-connectivity-problems-with/td-p/1688722/jump-to/first-unread-messagehttps://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RBR50-Slow-Wired-WAN-after-2-2-1-210-Upgrade/m-p/1676934/highlight/true#M47457&nbsp;https://www.f0il.com/how-to-arris-bgw210-700-modem-router-with-netgear-xr500-router/https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/How-do-I-setup-bridge-mode-in-the-ARRIS-BGW210-700/m-p/1875994/highlight/true#M84982&nbsp;You might try this if AP mode doesn't work well:https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-AX/Orbi-AX-6000-and-AT-amp-T-fiber-gateway-issue/m-p/1890125/highlight/true#M2756&nbsp;Orbi with other modems work and see near 900Mpbs on wired speed tests:https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RBR50-is-not-supporting-900Mb-on-the-WAN-to-LAN-test/m-p/1827295/highlight/true#M76372https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/New-RBR50-Satellite-setup-some-thoughts-and-questions/m-p/1695161/highlight/true#M50762https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Download-speed-cut-in-half-on-wired-connection/m-p/1695372/highlight/true#M50815kmichalec&nbsp;wrote:Yes, I was putting the ATT Gateway into IP Passthrough mode (their version of Bridge Mode), and using the Orbi as my router, to avoid double NAT, like you said.&nbsp;I tried resetting everything, and reverting the Orbi to Access Point Mode, and i'm seeing some increase.&nbsp; I was able to get the wired connection from my computer to the Orbi to hit 700-800 now.&nbsp; When using the laptop on Wifi, I'm getting about 300-350, and my iPhone 11 Pro on wifi is getting about 400-450.&nbsp; So a bit better than before.&nbsp; Still not where it should be, given I have a 1Gbps connection.&nbsp; Still definitely some undetermined degredation from somewhere.&nbsp;&nbsp;I'm debating replacing the Orbi with two of these:https://www.costco.com/.product.1248875.htmlAnd using one as a Router, and the other in AP mode wired back to the first one - kind of make my own mesh network).&nbsp; In theory, should provide faster Wifi than the Orbi, and am curious to see if my degrdation issue goes away.&nbsp;The other interesting thing is that now about 95% of my connected devices are connecting to the main Orbi router, and very few devices are connected to my two Orbi satellites.&nbsp; There's even a printer that sits on the other side of the satellite, that is connecting back to the Router, and ignoring the Satellite all together, which is strange. Going to let the whole network sit overnight, and see if things level out tomorrow.&nbsp;

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Orbi with ATT Fiber download speeds cut in half

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