RBR40 and Macbook Pro 16 5G connectivity slow and unpredictable

[wahmed]

I have RBR40 with two RBS20.  5G to the RBS20 from my Macbook Pro 16 is very good but to the RBS40 which sits literally 5 feet away from the laptop is pathetic.

My RBR40 firmware is V2.6.2.104.  5G Channel is set at 44 (could not find anyone else using this channel) and TX power at 50% (to avoid devices sticking to it even when they are much closer to the RBS20).  MU-MIMO and Beamforming are disabled.  2.4G channel is auto at 11.  The RBS40 is in AP mode only.

If i move this laptop to where it connects to the RBS20 on 5G, i get about 350Mbps download, whereas when it is connected to the RBR40 i only get about 20Mbps. When connected to the RBR40, I can see from the macos diagnoistics that it has chosen 5G 20Mhz on channel 44.  RSSI is -45dbm and Noise is -91dBm and the Tx Rate is a megre 54Mbps.  The PHY Mode is 802.11a.  The obvious problem i see is why the Tx rate is just 54Mbps?

What can i do to improve this?

[FURRYe38]

Beamforming and MIMO should be enabled. 

https://kb.netgear.com/19668/Link-Rate-and-Transfer-Speed

Most devices max ot at around 400-500Mpbs one 5Ghz AC. You not see much more then that. 

[wahmed]

Thank you for the quick response.  I have tried toggling either and both settings.  But i never seem to get a higher Tx Rate than 54mbps and that is the root of the problem.

Could this be a hardware issue?

[FURRYe38]

Yes, 54Mbps would me an issue. You should be seeing some where the 700-800 range. 866Mbps max. 

Is the mac book connected near the RBR or RBS? 

What OSX version are you using? 

[vajim]

---

@wahmed wrote:

Thank you for the quick response.  I have tried toggling either and both settings.  But i never seem to get a higher Tx Rate than 54mbps and that is the root of the problem.

Could this be a hardware issue?

---

were you ever getting good numbers?

any recent firmware updates?  

[wahmed]

The mabook is 5 feet away from the RBR.  As soon as i move it close to the RBS on another floor of the house, it connects at 400 something Mbps.  So i wonder what is the 5G settings on the RBS as compared to the RBR.  Unfortunately the console does not show me much details about the sattelites even when i connect directly to them.

I am running Catalina 10.15.7.

[wahmed]

I am not 100% sure but if my memory serves me correctly i did see a 200+Mbps download on a speed test that i did several months ago.  Maybe the firmware was different then.  But the fact that i get very fast connectivity to the RBS (with same firmware revision) seems to suggest that the problem is with the RBR.

And another interesting fact.  I treid with my very old 2013 Macbook Pro yesterday and i also only connect to the RBR at 54Mbps.  This machine once connected the RBS also connects well over 400Mbps.

All of these point to an issue with the RBR.

[FURRYe38]

Try a factory reset on the RBR and setup from scratch. Be sure to not enable any Armor, Circle or Traffic meter. Be sure beamforming and MIMO are enabled. I'd leave off the RBS while doing this and test the connect rates seen with your two mac books...