Does Orbi RBR40 support channel bonding for 2.4Ghz 802.11n client connections?

[bkeith4web]

As the header states.  I have a Vizio TV that supports 802.11n (testing showed it's 2.4Ghz) and a 100Mbps ethernet connection which I'm using now.  I'm wondering this because if the RBR40 doesn't support 2.4Ghz channel bonding then there is really no point in switching from the wired connection (and may not be even if it does support channel bonding based on my experience with a different router running dd-wrt that did support channel bonding and doing a lot of testing with various client devices).  Nothing in the user guide or specs or setup of the router that I can find about this.  Satellites are RBS20 but TV would connect to the router base unit.

FYI the Vizio max download speed when testing the connection is 32Mbps on ethernet, 22Mbps on current 2.4 802.11n and I have a Roku attached to the TV that connects on 801.11ac (5G) to the RBR 40 that gets 198Mbps download which is pretty close to my max 220Mbps internet connection so the limiting factor is most likely the TV.  But still wondering if RBR40 supports channel bonding for 802.11n.

[plemans · Accepted solution]

Again, what do you think channel bonding is?

 Its just using different width channels from 20/40/80hz wide channels. 

Netgear just calls it 20/40mhz coexistence. If you disable it so the 2.4ghz runs at 40hz instead of 20hz, you might be faster but it could also be slower. Reason why is because of channel overlap and the fact that routers/devices can't broadcast if something else on that channel is broadcasting. so if you're in a crowded wifi area and you're using "wider" channels, more devices interfere with your routers ability to broadcast. I usually only recommend people use 40hz wide channels (for 2.4ghz) if they're in a rural area or there aren't many 2.4ghz signals that can be picked up. Otherwise, it might be theoretically faster but usually slower or with higher latency/ping times. 

[plemans]

What do you think channel bonding is and will do for you? (based on what you wrote) 

If you can hardwire your tv in, you should. Its the best option even if you've got 5ghz. All my smart tv's are hardwired in even though they've got 5ghz (both AC and AX).

2.4ghz is sensitive to interference and its slow so even if you have channel bonding, its not a good option for streaming. 

[bkeith4web]

Thanks for checking in on this, I agree with you which is why I said it might not be worth doing based on my previous testing.  Most times I got as good overall speed (measuring over longer periods, not just looking at the max burst capability) and better stability without running bonding so I usually didn't do it given how crowded the air is these days.  But I'd like to know if the RBR40 can do it, it's always good to know what options I have if it's not convenient to run an ethernet cable.

With my old setup in a different house I ran a DLNA media server (Serviio) for many years sitting in a basement feeding a Sony DVD player/DLNA client on the floor above and could watch movies at 720p and 1080i with no quality loss, stuttering, dropouts etc over 2.4ghz 802.11g after optimizing router settings.  2.4 isn't as fast but penetrates walls much better than 5g so while it's not ideal it was better (in my situation anyway) than drilling holes through walls/floors and running ethernet.

[plemans · Accepted solution]

Again, what do you think channel bonding is?

 Its just using different width channels from 20/40/80hz wide channels. 

Netgear just calls it 20/40mhz coexistence. If you disable it so the 2.4ghz runs at 40hz instead of 20hz, you might be faster but it could also be slower. Reason why is because of channel overlap and the fact that routers/devices can't broadcast if something else on that channel is broadcasting. so if you're in a crowded wifi area and you're using "wider" channels, more devices interfere with your routers ability to broadcast. I usually only recommend people use 40hz wide channels (for 2.4ghz) if they're in a rural area or there aren't many 2.4ghz signals that can be picked up. Otherwise, it might be theoretically faster but usually slower or with higher latency/ping times. 

[bkeith4web]

I agree with you 100%, I've spent a lot of years trying to optimize various brands of routers with OEM or 3rd party firmware like tomato and dd-wrt and I've seen for myself that wider channels sometimes perform worse and 5g is worse than 2.4g in many real-world situations in a house instead of a lab (or in my back yard, or in my garage etc).  In this case the TV sits next to the router and now that I've tested it more thoroughly over wifi, I know the ethernet connection is better and will continue to use it.  But I'd like to know if the RBR40 is capable of using 40Mhz instead of 20 and if so, how it's controlled.  You mentioned coexistence (in Netgear terms) and disabling it to apparently force 40Mhz, is this possible with this router?

Now I see that the coexistence switch is on the advanced wireless settings so that actually answers my question given what you posted before (unchecking this forces it to 40Mhz).  Thanks for your responses, that answers my question.

[plemans]

Glad it answered your question!

yeah, for the most part, 40hz in the 2.4ghz is a bit pointless. And they're pushing 80hz wide channels now in 2.4ghz. Just seems more marketing than practical. 

I really do like the 80/160hz in 5ghz because of its shorter range. So tends to be quite a bit more useful/usable. I'm excited to see what they do with the 320hz wide in 5ghz with 6ghz.