Poor service

[Fieldstone]

Installed Rbr50 today using AT&T service fiber optics of 500 mbps. Have an upstairs bedroom that before I installed the Orbi speed was around 30-40 mbps. Once I had At&T put my combination router modem into pass through mode, the speed hit 180 mbps. Since then the service is back down to 30-40 mbps. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas of what needs to be done.

[plemans]

Have you checked to see if your device is connected to the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz? 2.4ghz is a slower network but broadcasts further and through more materials.  And the orbi does band steering. That allows devices to switch between the 2.4ghz and 5ghz as needed. Maybe you're device isn't needing at much bandwidth. 

And 40mbps is enough for even streaming 4k

[Fieldstone]

I'll look into your suggestion and advice thank you. I will say I'm paying AT&T for 500 mbps and I purchased the Orbi system at considerable cost, in my opinion extra cost that should not be needed. So I hope you will agree if I get 50 mbps upstairs that means I'm getting 10% of the amount of mbps I'm paying for. That in itself does not sit well with me and indeed makes me very frustrated and angry at this whole system, and expense. I understand going thru walls and upstairs will not yield me 500 mbps, but getting only 50 or 40 or even down to 30 sometimes, is just not right. 

[CrimpOn]

I agree that 50mb does not sound reasonable when the ISP is delivering 500mb.

It would help to know more details about the installation.

• Has the AT&T speed been verified by connecting a computer directly to the AT&T box with an ethernet cable and running a speed test?
• When the Orbi RBR50 router is connected to the AT&T box, what speed does the router report?
• The Orbi is usually sold as a package consisting of one RBR50 router and one or more RBS50 satellites.
  Is this what you have?
• If there is a satellite upstairs, what does the Orbi system report about the link between router and satellite?
  (5G? Good?)
• How does the device being used to measure this 50mb speed describe the Orbi WiFi link?
  2.4G? 5G? Link Rate?

[Fieldstone]

The speed was verified when the AT&T router was installed. Since then no loss of speed from that router was noted. Yes I have one Orbi router and one Orbi Satalite. The reason I'm on the community chat is that I could not get thru to even talk to anyone at Netgear about this issue. AT&T put their router in pass through mode and that's all they could do for me. I'm a beginner in this whole mesh WiFi system. I don't have the satellite upstairs it's probably too close to the router and something I was going to correct. No one has advised me where and how far from the router should the satellite be placed. I have the router attached to the modem with a short Ethernet cord. I'm buying (another expense) a longer cord to move the Orbi router father away from the modem and I was going to move the satellite. If you have any further suggestions on that placement or something else please let me know, I would greatly appreciate any help I can get, thank you.

[plemans]

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@Fieldstone wrote:

I'll look into your suggestion and advice thank you. I will say I'm paying AT&T for 500 mbps and I purchased the Orbi system at considerable cost, in my opinion extra cost that should not be needed. So I hope you will agree if I get 50 mbps upstairs that means I'm getting 10% of the amount of mbps I'm paying for. That in itself does not sit well with me and indeed makes me very frustrated and angry at this whole system, and expense. I understand going thru walls and upstairs will not yield me 500 mbps, but getting only 50 or 40 or even down to 30 sometimes, is just not right. 

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I think its a misunderstanding of what the system does/provides. Mesh systems aren't going to provide the same peak performance (in close) as a flagship router over 5ghz does. But what it will do is provide more consistent speeds throughout your home. Meaning its not going to be as fast right next to a flagship router but it will have higher speeds on the peripheral. That's what they're designed to do. 

Its also a lack of understanding of 2.4ghz/5ghz speeds. Its not just a litte speed difference. 5ghz is much much faster than 2.4ghz. Its the whole purpose of the 5ghz band. And with mesh systems, it allows devices to be on the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz depending on bandwidth needs/usage. It tries to steer devices that don't use as much bandwidth to the 2.4ghz band so there's more bandwidth for the devices that are on the 5ghz. What that means for you is at times, your speeds might be 40mbps (which is actually pretty good over 2.4ghz on those device) and then a bit later, might be pulling down 250mbps because it notices you were using more bandwidth and so switched it over to the 5ghz. 

From my testing of AC mesh systems, hitting 500mbps over wireless isn't realistic with any of the manufacturer's AC mesh systems. Rough speeds over the 5ghz tends to be in that 200-350mbps depending on distance to router/satellite and house structure. Again, thats over 5ghz. If you're device was on 2.4ghz, its going to be 20-50mbps (ish). That's just because of how 2.4ghz operates. Its not a device/manufacturer issue. 

[Fieldstone]

If what you say is true then actually I'm no better off with the Orbi mesh system. The AT&T router was giving me almost the same 40-50 mbps. I have in essence paid a lot of extra money and expended extra time for no gain. I might as well send the Orbi, back if I can? And continue on with just the AT&T router.

[plemans]

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@Fieldstone wrote:

If what you say is true then actually I'm no better off with the Orbi mesh system. The AT&T router was giving me almost the same 40-50 mbps. I have in essence paid a lot of extra money and expended extra time for no gain. I might as well send the Orbi, back if I can? And continue on with just the AT&T router.

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You're not understanding what bandsteering and mesh access points are in regards to a mesh system. I'm not sure how else to explain it to you so you'll understand. 

[Fieldstone]

I agree with you completely I'm not understanding. You are trying to give me correct and excellant advice and I'm not getting it. As I stated earlier in the chat I'm a beginner, I've never been involved in an issue like this before. I am new to this problem and have overall limited knowledge unlike yourself. I don't know how you can better explain so that I will understand. Your frustrated and so am I, that much i know. But.....I know one thing from my National Account Selling days......KISS....KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. which means im going back to the AT&T router and returning the Orbi. Will do my best to make it all work. If it doesn't I'll quit on AT&T and go back to Comcast, when I had none of these issues. 

[Fieldstone]

Well it's been a weird week at the house and internet service. I will tell you I am moving on from the Orbi system, it will be returned. Earlier this week, totally unable to explain or understand, and I checked everything ,the Orbi shut down, or turned off whatever it did I lost WiFi service. I still had service from AT&T coming into their modem but the Orbi router and satellite, basically was not working. Everything shut down in the house, Google Mini, smart tv's, Apple TV, Firestick, and smart outlets. Called AT&T had the pass through removed in the router and ordered their WiFi extenders at $7 a month. Obviously there was a disagreement between the AT&T modem and the Orbi router. I never was able to achieve anything greater than 40 MBPS in the upstairs. Worked with AT&T and am getting a low of 70 MBPS TO around 110. Hoping I can build on those figures, after extenders are installed. Thank you to everyone who offered their time and expertise in trying to help me.