poor wifi performance of Orbi RBK20 (max 12MB/s)

[welverin]

Hi all,

I intensively tested the RBK20 orbi and the real performances are lower than expected.

The system is set as AP, the master and the satellite are connected via ethernet, the tests were performed with various devices: HP Elitebook wifi AC 5Ghz Windows 10, HP Probook ethernet 1Gb Linux, NAS Qnap ethernet 1Gb.

if I move a file from pc connected to the ethernet ports of the satellite and a nas connected to master I reach 30-50MB/s

PC->ethernet->Satellite->ethernet->Master->ethernet-NAS = 50MB/s (OK)

if I move a file connecting to both the satellite and the master via wifi AC to a pc or the nas connected to the other via ethernet I don't exceed 12MB/s

PC->WifiAC->Satellite->ethernet->Master->ethernet->NAS = 12MB/s (NOT OK)

same result if I try via wifi between two PCs connected to the same orbi then without passing from the home lan

PC->WifiAC->ethernet->Master->WifiAC->PC = 12MB/s (NOT OK)

all the tests are performed at 1meter distance from the AP

i tryed to chance channel but same result

[SW_ · Accepted solution]

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@welverin wrote:

but in theory which would be the maximum tranfer rate through an orbi ?

to understand how i am far from best case

---

Just a guess here.  Given RBK20 fronthaul @866Mbps, which is half of RBK53 backhual @1733Mbps, if you can get close to 20MB/s, that would be reasonable.  Based on a similar test I did on RBK53 via its backhaul @1733Mbps, the peak ~40MB/s.  If your wired client could get 30-50MB/s, that's also within the ball park of my test because my wired client could hit ~90MB/s.  Check out this post for more details.

You can also verify if you hit Orbi peak performance by replacing Orbi with an exisitng WiFi router if you have a spare one lying around or turn on WiFi on your exisitng router if it's a combo.

[plemans]

What wifi band are you connecting through? If you're transfering over 2.4ghz 12 MB/s is roughly 96 mb/s.  Which is pretty respectable for 2.4ghz. 5ghz you should be able to go quite a bit faster. the orbi does the band steering so you need to make sure your wireless devices are on the 5ghz for maximum throughput. 

[welverin]

all devices work at 5Ghz, so it is strange slow performance

i tryed 36 and 44 channel

for 2.4Ghz i tested only an odroid xu4 to nas (scp protocol), but odroid wifi performance are not comparable with a pc so i have no enought number to create a report for this bands

[plemans]

odroid xu4's optional wifi setup is a 1x1 a/b/g/n antenna. Not ac and only single antenna. so you're right in it not being a good testing platform for wireless.

Wifi is a hard one for testing with orbi due to band steering and device selection.

What internet speeds do you pay for? What speeds do you get hardwired speedtesting the internet connection?

Have you tried speedtesting over a phone? 

If so what model, what website are you testing off, and try multiple tests/disconnect/reconnect. 

What wifi chip/setup are you using for testing your 5ghz with your elitebook?  thats the only laptop that you've listed with wireless card. driver version on it?  That's the only wifi device I seen listed for pc and I just want to make sure its not an issue with that card.  

[welverin]

i tested lan performance because i need to fast connection between system like nas

my internet connection is VDSL, real performance is 70mb/s, and speedtest from my iphone 8 is perfect, of course

PC1 - hp elitebook G5 with realtec 8822BE

othen PC with Linux Ubuntu is probook 750 g2 realtec 8723BE but it is N only, no AC

i own an imac but it is old (2.4Ghz N), at the end of october i receive a new imac (2019), i will test it

could it be a configuration problem? any settings that reduce the maximum bandwidth per device?
I use the system as AP and not as a router, I turned off daisy chain and I enabled mu-mimo and beamforming, I tried both with and without fast roaming

[plemans]

when the orbi is in ap mode, most of its routing features are disabled and turned over to the primary router. So its not limiting its speeds. 

https://kb.netgear.com/000061277/Disabled-Features-on-the-Orbi-when-set-to-AP-Mode

Do you have qos or some other configuration on your main router turned on? That could be slowing wireless speeds and leaving them fine over the lan. One way to test that would be to setup the orbi on its own in router mode (without internet connection) and see if its speeds over wifi improve. If it does, then your other router is limiting the speeds through its own settings. 

[welverin]

i have no qos settings in ap mode

only set i found is WMM (wifi multimedia) and it is enabled

I turned off the router but it makes no difference,

I did all the tests on the LAN that is connected to a switch, they don't go through the router

but in theory which would be the maximum tranfer rate through an orbi ?

to understand how i am far from best case

[plemans]

---

@welverin wrote:

i have no qos settings in ap mode

only set i found is WMM (wifi multimedia) and it is enabled

I turned off the router but it makes no difference,

I did all the tests on the LAN that is connected to a switch, they don't go through the router

but in theory which would be the maximum tranfer rate through an orbi ?

to understand how i am far from best case

---

QoS on your main router. The non-orbi device. it might not be called qos. 

How old is the orbi? have you ever had issues with it before? 

I know mine can hit 350-450mbps over wireless fairly reliably. 

[SW_ · Accepted solution]

---

@welverin wrote:

but in theory which would be the maximum tranfer rate through an orbi ?

to understand how i am far from best case

---

Just a guess here.  Given RBK20 fronthaul @866Mbps, which is half of RBK53 backhual @1733Mbps, if you can get close to 20MB/s, that would be reasonable.  Based on a similar test I did on RBK53 via its backhaul @1733Mbps, the peak ~40MB/s.  If your wired client could get 30-50MB/s, that's also within the ball park of my test because my wired client could hit ~90MB/s.  Check out this post for more details.

You can also verify if you hit Orbi peak performance by replacing Orbi with an exisitng WiFi router if you have a spare one lying around or turn on WiFi on your exisitng router if it's a combo.

[welverin]

router is connected to uplink of the switch and don't manage connection inside the lan

i use an indipendent DHCP/DNS server

450mbit/s -> around 50MB/s, i am so far 

[welverin]

limit of 50MB/s is from the nas

in a few days i try with iperf with two linux machine connected to ethernet port in both ordi devices

[welverin]

I tested performance with 2 linux machine (iperf3), connected both side in ethernet

result is more than 900 mbit/s (more than 100MByte/sec)

so  the comunication between master and satellite is ok

i will test wifi at one side with ethernet at other side.......

[welverin]

i tested with iperf 

ipad to linux pc ethernet and the performarce is better than 500mbit/s, probably ipad is limited at this speed.

So my problem is not the orbi.

probably something like mtu or other low level protocol issue

if a download from nas via ethernet the speed is around 50-70MByte/s

if a download fron nas via wifi the speed is max 12Mbyte/s

but iperf via wifi runs at 60/70MByte/s

very strange