RBR50 Capped LAN ports at 100mbps

[csturmer]

For several months I have been trying to off and on to isolate a consistent capping of my LAN ports on the RBR50.  I pay for 300mbps from Spectrum and consistently get 220-250 mbps over WIFI (depending on proximity) without issue.  When I initially networked my office to the lan port of the RBR50, I also got the expected 220-250 mbps over hard line using Cat6 cable. For a time.

At some point, several months ago, I started to experience no more than 95 mbps on three different machines wired to the Orbi router.  Then I have tried the following things, per Netgear support: 

1) Tested the cables and wall connectors

2) Ensured QoS and Traffic Meter is turned off

3)  2X Factory reset and new SSID credentials

4) Firmware downgrade to V2.7.3.22

5) Changed the WAN channels to reduce disruption

6)  Adjusted the Mtu setting

7) Eliminated computer-side setting error or port negotiation failure as a problem

😎 Eliminated the office switch being fed by the RBR50 LAN port as a culprit

None of these adjustments or resets helped the issue. 

Now I turn to the community for help as I am pretty close to just buying a new router to see if that solves the issue.  Any thoughts? 

[csturmer]

[FURRYe38]

What is the brand and model # of the ethernet adapter using in the wired PC? 

What is the brand and model of the LAN switch being connected? 

Ensure your ethernet adapter drivers are up to date and the adapter supports 1000Mpbs connection rates. 

What CAT# cables are you using? CAT6 is commended. 

Be sure your using good quality LAN cables. Swap LAN cables to test. Check your LAN cables. 

The RBR supports 1000Mpbs on the LAN ports. The LAN ports auto detect the speed. Bad cables, bad jacks or unsupported ethernet adapter cards can effect the connect rate. 

[CrimpOn]

Are both LAN1 and LAN2 connected to office switches?

The Orbi is reporting 100/Full on both ports. Nothing will ever measure more than about 95mb/s when the Link is set to 100. That means either the cable or the ethernet port on the other end of the cable is not autonegotiating 1000/Full.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonegotiation The Orbi cannot detect anthing but the first device on the other end of the ethernet cable, so that is the place to focus.

Is there a computer with a gigabit etherent port that can be cabled directly to the Orbi?

[csturmer]

I have three computers hooked to the switch fed by orbi and they all get capped at 100mbps. I have also eliminated the switch and still get capped so its not the switch. It is really unlikely that all three adapters have autonegotiation issues, they all use Intel integrated adpaters with the latest drivers. I have verified my cabling works by testing each component, including the switch, by wiring directly to the cable modem. In this scenario i get the expected speeds. So i can only deduce the orbi is the culprit. There only two LAN ports being used, one feeding the office switch and other feeds a network extender. I have tested with one and not the other, and each of the available ports. Same cap. I am using only cat 6 and cat7 cabling and already did replace all patch cabling per netgear supports recommendation.

[CrimpOn]

I would be tempted to get a flashlight and look closely at the ethernet jacks on the Orbi router.

100base-T requires two pairs of wire.

1000base-T requires four pairs of wire.

I know that this is rare, but I have seen instances where one of the tiny wires inside an ethernet jack is bent and is not making contact.  If one wire in a jack does not connect, it cannot possible support 1000base-T.

[csturmer]

But i have tried each of the orbi ports and they all get capped at the 100mbps level seemingly because it's aLAN connection. If it's unlikely for one port to have a bent pin how likely is it that all of them do?

[CrimpOn]

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@csturmer wrote:
But i have tried each of the orbi ports and they all get capped at the 100mbps level seemingly because it's a LAN connection. If it's unlikely for one port to have a bent pin how likely is it that all of them do?

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Once you look at the jacks and verify that no pins are bent, then the conclusion is, "this thing has gone whacko."  Since two Factory Resets have not restored gigabit capability, I'd say the device is broken.