Orbi RBR850 sudden slow/ restricted speed

[Meadster]

Hi
I Have recently bought a 3 pack system all working ok and has been for around 3 weeks Suddenly, wifi seems to be limited to a maximum of 250mb.

Nothing has changed in the setup, all connected same way, same cables etc.

ISP: BT FTTP
ONT: BT (Huawei)
Speed: download: 500mb upload:73mb
Speed to the router 500mb according to ookla et. al
Router: BT Home hub 2 wifi turned off.
Orbi: rbk853
Firmware: v4.6.9.11
AP mode

2.4Ghz channel 11

5Ghz channel 44

I don’t expect to get 500mb on WiFi however, I do expect to get good results, somewhere in the region of 350 - 400mb particularly when next to the unlink router. This is what I was getting. Now, the speed will not go above 250mb.

What gives?

I have rebooted, reset, updated the firmware, stood on one leg with a magic wand shoved...
I don’t really understand why the wifi speed is restricted.

My house is quite small and I have trieid just the unlink router, one satellite, both satellites etc. Same issue . Tried different ethernet sockets eon the back of the router, same stocrey, restricted speed.

I know it’is not my router as I have tried difvferent AP’s and the speed is fine weith them. I have a number of differdent devices, all the same with each device.

[FURRYe38]

What wireless devices are you using? 

What are the speeds over a wired PC?

What speeds do you see when connected to the ISP Modem with a ethernet connected PC? 

Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6 is recommended. 

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and 📡 satellite(s)? 30 feet or more is recommended in between RBR and RBS📡 to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected.
https://kb.netgear.com/31029/Where-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite 📡

Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Has a power off for 1 minute then back ON with the ISP modem and router been performed since last update?
Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:
Turn off and unplug modem.
Turn off router and computers.
Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
Turn on computers and rest of network.

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update?

[ekhalil]

1. Are the satellites wired to to the Orbi router or are they wireless?
2. What wired devices do you have in your network?

[Meadster]

Hi and sorry for the slow reply, it's been a bit busy!

Wireless devices, there are many ranging from mobiles to tablets to laptops to games consoles with many different operating systems.

Wired PC speed, 500mb+

Wired direct to the ISP modem, 500mb+

Cable between the orbi and the ISP modem is a cat5e as supplied by netgear.

Cable between the ISP modem and the ONT is a cat 6

Size of the house, 600sqft

Distance between router and satellites is less than 30ft. There isn't much choice with this as the satellites would be sitting outside the house

Materials, suspended timber floor on the ground, timber on the first. walls are solid brick on the ground and timber stud on the first.

I have followed the suggested methods below for turning the system on etc. 

All still the same.

I then stumbled across another one of your posts on another thread which, did the trick!

I probably went one step further than needed but, wanted to make sure the installation was a 'clean' as possible. so,

I removed all devices from the network, made then 'forget' the orbi network.

Reset the satellites and router back to factory settings

Unplugged satellites and router to ensure all power discharged.

Turned off the ONT and ISP modem.

Deleted all data and the orbi app from my mobile device.

Then in reverse of the above,

Turned on the ONT, waited a few mins for it to settle.

Turned on the ISP modem, again waited a few mins to make sure all up and running.

Connected the orbi router to the ISP modem and followed the setup instructions in the orbi app. Let the router setup and do it's thing. At this point I should note and this is where your other post helped, I did not have the satellites turned on so the app did not automatically recognise and connect them. I chose to set them up later. I then connected the satellites one by one, NOT at the same time.

The satellites are on wireless backhaul.

It would seem that the orbi system does not like the router and the satellites set up at the same time and need to be done one by one which seems crazy to me.

Guess what? I'll let the images do the talking....

The first one is a laptop connected through a docking station to a satellite via an ethernet cable

 

 

[ekhalil]

Great that you found a way to fix the issue.

Now that you mentioned that you have ONT then an ISP Modem then Orbi. Can I please ask what is the make and model of the ISP modem?

[Meadster]

Sure, my ISP lists it as:

BT Smart Hub 2 - wireless router - DSL modem - 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, DECT - desktop with full fibre

[ekhalil]

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@Meadster wrote:

....

BT Smart Hub 2 - wireless router - DSL modem - 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, DECT - desktop with full fibre

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Thanks for the information, but this is a router and not just a modem. I think that you could get the problems that you earlier got again sooner or later if you keep the setup as it is (with two routers and double NAT). Do you use the hub for other functionalities than internet, like phone ot TV?

• If not, then I would suggest to connect Orbi directly to the ONT and bypass the BT Hub.
• If you use the BT Hub for other functionalities, then you have two options:
  1. Either set the BT Hub to Bridged Mode or Passthrough Mode, if that is available. I could not find a manual for the hub.
  2. Set Orbi in AP Mode.

[FURRYe38]

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@Meadster wrote:

Hi and sorry for the slow reply, it's been a bit busy!

Wireless devices, there are many ranging from mobiles to tablets to laptops to games consoles with many different operating systems.

Wired PC speed, 500mb+

Wired direct to the ISP modem, 500mb+

Cable between the orbi and the ISP modem is a cat5e as supplied by netgear.

Cable between the ISP modem and the ONT is a cat 6

Size of the house, 600sqft<

Distance between router and satellites is less than 30ft. There isn't much choice with this as the satellites would be sitting outside the house. > Distance between the RBR and RBS should be 30 feet at least. If you can't fit this distance, then I recommend you turn down the power on the RBR from 100% to 25%. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Materials, suspended timber floor on the ground, timber on the first. walls are solid brick on the ground and timber stud on the first.

I have followed the suggested methods below for turning the system on etc. 

Can you confirm the size of the home? Is 600 correct? If so, you may have too much wifi in the home for this size of home. 

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[Meadster]

Correction on size, that should have been 600sq ft per floor so a total of 1,200sq ft. It had occurred that I may have too much wifi although it seems to be behaving and running as it should.  I'll have a look and try with turning them on and off or adjusting the power as suggested and see what happens.

[Meadster]

Hi, the orbi's are in AP mode and were with my previous issues which seem to have been addressed although I may have too much wifi now. So will have a play and see what happens by either turning off satellites or reducing the power or by relocating them.

[FURRYe38]

Ok. That makes more sense. Ya, 1200sqft the RBR alone can handle that. If you have two RBS deployed, I would turn OFF one of them then also reduce the power to 25%. 

I can get away with just 1 RBS in my 5000sq ft home and run 50% normally. 

[ekhalil]

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@Meadster wrote:

Hi, the orbi's are in AP mode and were with my previous issues which seem to have been addressed although I may have too much wifi now. So will have a play and see what happens by either turning off satellites or reducing the power or by relocating them.

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Then you should be ok if Orbi is already in AP mode.

[FarmerBob1]

I just read through this and don't I think I saw it mentioned if, "Can you, after getting your login info from your ISP, bypass your BT Router and connect the RBR to the ONT directly." That's how I have mine.

Reducing the amount of gear on the front end can work wonders.

If this has been mentioned and answered, just tell me to "get lost". If not let us know if you can and we'll go from there. I have mine done that way and it's one of the two ways: 1. Just plug in your RBR and use whatever protocol to login with, or; 2. Like mine, I have to have a Tagged 201 VLAN on the WAN, easy to do, and login via PPPoE with the User Name and Password that my ISP gave me. Works great and the "New" thing to do. If your ISP allows.

Hope this helps?

[ekhalil]

Correct, this was suggested earlier here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6-AX-and-WiFi-6E-AXE/Orbi-RBR850-sudden-slow-restricted-s...
But the answer was that Orbi is in AP mode and the main router is the ISP router.

[FarmerBob1]

Just scanned through the BT User Forums and found the Direct Connect to the ONT method approved by Moderators:

"Just connect the Router WAN Port to the ONT and configure the PPPoE settings to the Generic Username of " bthomehub@btbroadband.com " and Password " BT. " No ".

Also it looks like your ISP has real IPv6 that only requires as blind a login as above.

Some people have all the luck.

[FarmerBob1]

I saw that and it wasn't what I was thinking or have posted. Whenever you can lose as much ISP gear as you can, you usually end up faring far better. And that takes an "Object of Potential Issues" out of the mix. Which has been my findings for decades.

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@ekhalil wrote:
Correct, this was suggested earlier here: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-WiFi-6-AX-and-WiFi-6E-AXE/Orbi-RBR850-sudden-slow-restricted-s...
But the answer was that Orbi is in AP mode and the main router is the ISP router.

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