Re: RBR40 wired to quantum FiOS only getting half speed download

Derek1118 · ‎2019-07-30

I recently setup a new orbi RBR40 router and two rbs20 satellites. I have the orbi router wired to my FiOS quantum gateway. The FiOS wireless radios are disabled and I have set the orbi to AP mode. The problem I'm having is that ~900+mbps up/down is confirmed coming in to my FiOS router but when I run a speed test using the orbi app or orbilogin, it shows my orbi router upload speed in the 900+Mbps range but the download speed is half that. Is there something I missed in the setup or something additional I need to do in the orbi settings or the FiOS settings to get my orbi router closer to 1gbps download speeds? The orbi router has the most recent firmware v2.3.5.30.

tuna_ertemalp · ‎2019-07-31

I had reported a gist of this before, on another thread, but here it is again, with way more structured detail. I really do believe this is a bug with the internal Speedtest. Here is why.

Setup I created this morning: Directly connected my PC to Orbi Router RBR50v2's LAN port. There isn't much of a network activity going on in my house, nor in the small neighborhood I live in, that might overload either the router on my network or the Comcast capacity coming into the neighborhood (since cable internet is basically shared by your neighbors, unlike phone-based internet that is a direct dedicated line between you and the phone company).

My service I am paying for: Comcast 1000/40
Running internal SpeedTest app on Orbi with latest firmware: 516/42
Running latest SpeedTest Win10 app on the latest Win10 PC against COMCAST.COM server: 511/54
Running latest SpeedTest Win10 app on the latest Win10 PC against SPEEDTEST.NET server: 930/43
Running in the latest Chrome Browser on the latest Win10 PC the Netflix-powered FAST.COM: 1.1/39

So, my PC is certainly able to see WIRED 1000/40 speeds when it is connected to the right internet servers. However, testing against certain servers straight from my PC is sub-1000, and the internal SpeedTest app on the Orbi is definitely stuck at reporting ~500 which is:

either because it has a bug in testing (so, it detects half the speed) or
because it has a bug in reporting (so, it reports half of what it found) or
because it is picking a slow server to run against (so, the test server it uses is limited to 500).

I am attaching screenshots of my tests so that there is no confusion.

Tuna

View solution in original post

tuna_ertemalp · ‎2019-07-30

Existing discussions:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Orbi-RBR-50-internal-speed-check-with-modem-half-the-ISP-speed...

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

I also collected debug data on my BR50v2 during the SpeedTest and sent it to @Blanca_O. Maybe we could get an update as to what happened to it all.

Tuna

Derek1118 · ‎2019-07-31

Thanks Tuna. In one of those posted discussions someone said that the orbi app speed test may be the problem because when they directly connect to the orbi and run a different speed test it shows full speed. Can anyone else confirm this is a problem with the orbi speed test? I actually don't have a laptop capable of gigabit speeds otherwise I would test this theory myself. I'll try to borrow one to use for the test. You'd think if it was an issue with the orbi speed test that netgear support would be aware and could have mentioned that when I was on the phone with them for an hour last night. After suggesting to me to try changing channels and other wifi related fixes (which I wasn't calling about), they suggested changing the MAC of my orbi to match the fios router which I can't do because my orbi is in AP mode. I still haven't tried doing a factory reset and going through the setup again, I guess that's worth a try but from what others have said that didn't fix their router to router speed problem. Hopefully this is just an orbi speed test issue because I really like the coverage of orbi so far.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-07-31

The Orbi app is not the problem. My testing is done by other means using more advanced speed testing of the data flow from the WAN side to the LAN side. This shows there is a problem with the Orbi system. Most routers need hardware NAT acceleration or Cut Through support to achieve near 900Mbps speeds. So far Orbi is not appear to support this for some reason.

@Derek1118 wrote:
Thanks Tuna. In one of those posted discussions someone said that the orbi app speed test may be the problem because when they directly connect to the orbi and run a different speed test it shows full speed. Can anyone else confirm this is a problem with the orbi speed test? I actually don't have a laptop capable of gigabit speeds otherwise I would test this theory myself. I'll try to borrow one to use for the test. You'd think if it was an issue with the orbi speed test that netgear support would be aware and could have mentioned that when I was on the phone with them for an hour last night. After suggesting to me to try changing channels and other wifi related fixes (which I wasn't calling about), they suggested changing the MAC of my orbi to match the fios router which I can't do because my orbi is in AP mode. I still haven't tried doing a factory reset and going through the setup again, I guess that's worth a try but from what others have said that didn't fix their router to router speed problem. Hopefully this is just an orbi speed test issue because I really like the coverage of orbi so far.

Derek1118 · ‎2019-07-31

So you're saying that no one who is using an orbi router is getting wired speeds close to 1gbps? Is there anyone out there getting speeds near that?

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-07-31

Last person posted about was this:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/New-RBR50-Satellite-setup-some-thoughts-and-questions/m-p/1695...

He seem to be seeing 900Mbps on his system after the ISP fixed some things on there side.

tuna_ertemalp · ‎2019-07-31

I had reported a gist of this before, on another thread, but here it is again, with way more structured detail. I really do believe this is a bug with the internal Speedtest. Here is why.

Setup I created this morning: Directly connected my PC to Orbi Router RBR50v2's LAN port. There isn't much of a network activity going on in my house, nor in the small neighborhood I live in, that might overload either the router on my network or the Comcast capacity coming into the neighborhood (since cable internet is basically shared by your neighbors, unlike phone-based internet that is a direct dedicated line between you and the phone company).

My service I am paying for: Comcast 1000/40
Running internal SpeedTest app on Orbi with latest firmware: 516/42
Running latest SpeedTest Win10 app on the latest Win10 PC against COMCAST.COM server: 511/54
Running latest SpeedTest Win10 app on the latest Win10 PC against SPEEDTEST.NET server: 930/43
Running in the latest Chrome Browser on the latest Win10 PC the Netflix-powered FAST.COM: 1.1/39

So, my PC is certainly able to see WIRED 1000/40 speeds when it is connected to the right internet servers. However, testing against certain servers straight from my PC is sub-1000, and the internal SpeedTest app on the Orbi is definitely stuck at reporting ~500 which is:

either because it has a bug in testing (so, it detects half the speed) or
because it has a bug in reporting (so, it reports half of what it found) or
because it is picking a slow server to run against (so, the test server it uses is limited to 500).

I am attaching screenshots of my tests so that there is no confusion.

Tuna

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-07-31

Don't rely on the Speedtest app internal on the RBR. Always test external speedtest app from Ookla. Also factory reset the RBR and setup from scratch. This time do not enable or use the QoS/Speedtest app, Traffic meter or any access controls, Circle or Armor. Then run your external speedtest app.

michaelkenward · ‎2019-07-31

@tuna_ertemalp wrote:

I am attaching screenshots of my tests so that there is no confusion.

It may be some time before the images land. To ensure that you aren't posting anything naughty, a Netgear moderator has to approve the pictures.

Paradoxically, you can attach images to messages without any delay.

Derek1118 · ‎2019-07-31

That makes sense. I'll try to run a similar test and see what happens.

Derek1118 · ‎2019-07-31

If the speed tests suggested above don't show higher speeds then I'll give the factory reset a try. I don't remember having the option to enable qos, traffic meter, or access control during my initial setup. The only thing I changed on the orbi router was the ssid/pw and turning on AP mode. I'd guess those options you mentioned are not accessible in AP mode.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-07-31

Yes those options are disabled by default after a factory reset. Enabling them will change the speed for 1Gb ISP services. So thats why I mention a reset and don't touch them after setting up the RBR.

Yes, these features are not enabled when in AP mode, however the QoS speedtest app is.

In AP mode you should see 900Mbps...

@Derek1118 wrote:
If the speed tests suggested above don't show higher speeds then I'll give the factory reset a try. I don't remember having the option to enable qos, traffic meter, or access control during my initial setup. The only thing I changed on the orbi router was the ssid/pw and turning on AP mode. I'd guess those options you mentioned are not accessible in AP mode.

tuna_ertemalp · ‎2019-07-31

@FURRYe38 wrote:
Don't rely on the Speedtest app internal on the RBR. Always test external speedtest app from Ookla. Also factory reset the RBR and setup from scratch. This time do not enable or use the QoS/Speedtest app, Traffic meter or any access controls, Circle or Armor. Then run your external speedtest app.

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

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-07-31

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

Derek1118 · ‎2019-07-31

So it seems that the orbi speed test is indeed not accurate. I borrowed a usb-c to Ethernet adapter and ran speed tests with my pixel 2 (I know it's not ideal) wired to my orbi router and using various speed tests/servers and I was getting download speeds pretty consistently in the 800 range. I would imagine using laptop I would see even higher speed but nonetheless 800 is much better than I was seeing on the orbi app. Thank you to all who posted.

FURRYe38 · ‎2019-08-01

Thanks for letting us know. Glad the speed is there.

Enjoy.

@Derek1118 wrote:
So it seems that the orbi speed test is indeed not accurate. I borrowed a usb-c to Ethernet adapter and ran speed tests with my pixel 2 (I know it's not ideal) wired to my orbi router and using various speed tests/servers and I was getting download speeds pretty consistently in the 800 range. I would imagine using laptop I would see even higher speed but nonetheless 800 is much better than I was seeing on the orbi app. Thank you to all who posted.