Understanding my missing download speeds...

[Loopy22]

Hi

I have an RBR20 with 2 sateliites. Latest firmware. The backhaul status is always "5G good".

I have done the following "SpeedTests" downloads ( all very reproducible). I am have a 80Mbps connection to "the internet"

- From AT&T UVerse router  85Mbps 

- From ORBI Router - 82Mpbs ( connected to AT&T U-Verse)

- From iMac 27" - 50 Mbps

The iMac is about 6 feet away from one of the satelites and reports a 5G WiFi speed of about 600Mbps, so I would expect I have plenty of "headroom".

So what is happening to my 30Mbps?? 

Andrew

[Mstrbig]

WIFI speeds are generally less than wired speeds. WiFi is a shared interface while ethernet cable is a dedicated interfacce. so generally wifi speeds are going to be slower. Add to that channel interference. So maybe try another channel, to see if your speeds increase. Enable WMM, beamforming and Mu-Mimo and see if that helps. Disabe daisy chain topology. Uncheck "Enable 20/40 MHz Coexistence".

[FURRYe38]

If you have a modem with a built in router and wifi, This would be a double NAT (two router) condition which isn't recommended. Having two wifi sources near by can cause problems as well,

https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT
https://kb.netgear.com/30187/How-to-fix-issues-with-Double-NAT
Couple of options,
1. Configure the modem for transparent bridge or modem only mode. Then use the Orbi router in router mode. You'll need to contact the ISP for help and information in regards to the modem being bridged correctly.
2. If you can't bridge the modem, disable ALL wifi radios on the modem, configure the modems DMZ/ExposedHost or IP Pass-Through for the IP address the Orbi router gets from the modem. Then you can use the Orbi router in Router mode.
3. Or disable all wifi radios on the modem and connect the Orbi router to the modem, configure AP mode on the Orbi router. https://kb.netgear.com/31218/How-do-I-configure-my-Orbi-router-to-act-as-an-access-point and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7LOcJ8GdDo&app=desktop 

I would try option #2 first.

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@Loopy22 wrote:

Hi

I have an RBR20 with 2 sateliites. Latest firmware. The backhaul status is always "5G good".

I have done the following "SpeedTests" downloads ( all very reproducible). I am have a 80Mbps connection to "the internet"

- From AT&T UVerse router  85Mbps 

- From ORBI Router - 82Mpbs ( connected to AT&T U-Verse)

- From iMac 27" - 50 Mbps

The iMac is about 6 feet away from one of the satelites and reports a 5G WiFi speed of about 600Mbps, so I would expect I have plenty of "headroom".

So what is happening to my 30Mbps?? 

Andrew

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[Loopy22]

I am sorry, but thats not really the answer here. The reason for having an Orbi mesh wi-fi with a 867mbps back haul is so that the wi-fi is NOT the bottleneck. The bandwidth from my Mac to the satellite is running at full 800mbps+ 5G speeds - that is 10x faster than my broadband connection.

[FURRYe38]

Be ware that 866Mbps is a connection rate only between the orbi wifi radio and the connecting devices. This is NOT a actual speed thru the device. 

https://www.lifewire.com/how-fast-is-a-wifi-network-816543
https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-is-the-actual-real-life-speed-of-wireless-374
https://www.flashrouters.com/blog/2012/11/29/the-difference-between-wireless-n-wireless-ac/

Have you tested a different device besides yoru iMac? Iphone or different PC to compare? Not all devices are the same and will have different performance designs. 

[Loopy22]

There is no double NAT going on. The ORBI is in AP mode as per https://kb.netgear.com/26747/How-do-I-set-up-my-NETGEAR-or-Orbi-router-to-work-with-AT-T-U-verse

[Loopy22]

Clearly 867Mpbs ( full 5G ) is unlikely to be achieved. But there should be enough headroom such that if I have a 80Mpbs broadband connection, I should achieve a pretty good percentage of that 80mpbs.

All the fine-tuning of the RBR20 people talk about to get throughput apply with broadband connections of , say, 200-400 Mpbs. My 80mpbs should be easily achievable on every device that is within range of a satelite to get a 5G connection.

[Mstrbig]

If you are getting 80Mbps on other wireless devices and 30 on your one device, logic would state the fault is with the 1 wireless device. Is it possible that device is connecting at 2.4Ghz? If so and your device supports 5Ghz, forget the Wifi on the device and reconnect. 

[FURRYe38]

I would also try the 1 device connected to the RBR instead of the RBS as well. 

[Von_B]

I had the same problem with RBK13.

The cause is agressive QoS (WMM) from Orbi applied to satellite. It always gave me about 65% of my internet speed when using Speedtest, especialy if any other device use the network, even lightly. (short burst low priority data, life FTP Speedtest get lower priority and slow performance)

It's not really a problem though, because in real world traffic, the speed is ok. Try Fast.com for speed test (it's netflix speedtest). Orbi will detect it as high priority traffic (video traffic) and my guess is your Mac will get full 80mbps.

Anyway, speedtest.net is not a reliable way to measure speed on Orbi, that's what I found.

[Mstrbig]

I find fast.com to be very inaccurate. I found it to be half the speed of several other speed tests including Orbi's built in test.

Testing WMM enabled and disabled on my end resulted in faster speeds enabled, because of ac speed enhancements. Only tested on 5Ghz WIFI.

[Von_B]

Interesting.

Fast.com being slower probably mean it's throttled by your ISP (on my isp it's actually faster than what I pay for 140mbps and i pay for 120mbps.... Netflix server are hosted at my ISP though)

Anyway, me and op have lower tier orbi (RBK13 and 20). Maybe there's difference in how QoS is implemented. We'll see is result.

[FURRYe38]

I've also found fast.com much different from ooklas installable speedtest app and Orbi built in speed test app. Wired to the RBR is best. Wireless speed testing at the RBS may only provide slower speeds or depending upon wifi hardware and design, speeds may be slower that expected. 

Why testing at the RBR wired first is important then testing at the RBR wirelessly is best. Lots of factors in wireless speed testing that produce inaccurate results. Though I would support that the user should be seeing good speeds at the RBR. 

[Von_B]

Never mind

[FURRYe38]

So what that mean? There a change in operation? 

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@Von_B wrote:
Never mind

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