Orbi RBK853 (upgrading from RBK753S)- Comparison tests thread (speed and signal strength)
Well, I only recently upgraded from an RBK53 to an RBK753S (AX4200) and certainly did not expect to upgrade again so soon. However I have since gotten an internet plan speed upgrade for a nominal monthly additional charge:
Old: 400 Mbps down (10 Mbps up)
New:1200 Mbps down (35 Mbps up)
Given that my ISP overprovisions 1200 Mbps to 1,440 Mbps down (20% extra), I decided to buy an Arris S33 D3.1 cable modem with a 2.5 Gbps port ($10 reward certificate) which will connect to the 2.5 Gbps WAN port on my new RBK853 (753S does not have a 2.5 Gbps port) which I found for $250 off.
[I will sell my Motorola MB8600 cable modem and return my Orbi RBK753S for a full refund (still within the return period)].
I ran signal strength and speed tests for the RBK753S all over the house so that I can compare them with the results on the RBK853.
I will post the results here. But even if the improvement is not that much, the main reason for going from the 753S to the 853 was to get the 2.5 Gbps WAN port to ensure I have access to my full 1440 Mbps across connected devices, especially when downloading and streaming on several devices simultaneously.
Link aggregation is not ideal and some modems have / had stability issues with it (due to ISP not supporting it properly on some or or several D3.1 modems).
PS: Too bad they did not include at least one 2.5 Gbps LAN port on the Orbi. 😞
Will try to post preliminary results later tonight or tomorrow.
