Orbi RBR50 / RBS50 bandwidth drop

[macinthekitchen]

Hoping someone can help me.  I'm 30 nanoseconds outside of Netgear's appaling 'you get 90 days then your on your own' paid support system so it's down to folks on here 🙂  

I have my Orbi router and two satellites connected to my broadband router using AP mode. Most devices are connected to the Orbi satellites by Wifi, but I also have a few wired up with Ethernet cables.  I have a 60mb BB package and have a PC connected to the BB router to check what bandwidth I'm actually getting and it tends to be around 55mb / 60mb which i'm happy with.  

For most of the time the Orbi system works well, and I'm getting between 25mb - 55mb to any device connected to it, and again, I'm happy with those numbers. My issue is that on a regular basis the Orbi system drops to around 500kb for no obvious reason.  It could be a few hours, or it could be a few days, but it will happen for sure.   Worth noting - devices never lose connection, they just get a stupidly low speed.   I know it's the Orbi system as I can test the actual bandwidth out of the BB router by checking on the PC that's connected to it.  It affects both of the satellites and all of the devices whether they are connected to the satellites via wifi or ethernet.  

Powering off all 3 of the ORbi units will usually fix the issue, sometimes it takes a few power cycles. 

I've tried a number the suggestions I've found in the community here including

- Changing the channels for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.
- Enabling/Unenabling Beamforming and MIMO and WMM. Under Advanced 

- Enabling / disabling : armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes.

Anyone got any ideas?

[macinthekitchen · Accepted solution]

Final update to let future readers of this thread know that I'm an idiot and that you've probably wasted your time reading this if you're looking for a solution to Orbi bandwidth drops.
In the end.... it was an intermittent fault with my broadband line. It had a grounding issue caused by water getting into the wires at the point they entered my house. Engineer came out, replaced wires, been sorting like a dream for 4 days now.
Nothing to see here. Move on. Insert Homer Fading Into Bush gif.

[plemans]

what firmware is on the orbi router and on the satellites (they can be different)?

Do wired devices drop speed connected to the orbi? 

[macinthekitchen]

Hi @plemans 

Thanks for the reply.   Firmware for the router and both satellites is v2.7.3.22.   Yes, wired devices (those wired to the satellites) also drop speed.

Thx

John

[plemans]

got it that both wired/wireless drop. 

Does that include those connected to the router? 

What BB modem/gateway is it? 

[macinthekitchen]

Sorry, might not be being clear enough. Just to be sure, the BB modem/ router is from Vodafone, came free when I signed up with them. Id be happy to change it if that looks like the issue. Any device connected to this uses ethernet and never drops speed. The Vodafone router / modem has WiFi turned off. The only device I have hard wired to the Orbi 'router' (which in my case is in AP mode) is a Sonos mesh box. I've never had any pausing, freezing when playing music so although I can't test the speed of that I dont see any indication of an issue with sonos.

[plemans]

The sonos is connected to the orbi? 

Try it on the primary router. I've seen sonos cause issues with mesh systems when not on the primary network. And if the orbi is in AP mode, maybe thats causing the issue? 

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/sonos-connection-to-mesh-networks-6837839

Another thing you can try is to put the netgear back in router mode and put the ip address for it into the vodafones DMZ. Maybe its not passing data properly to the orbi. 

[macinthekitchen]

Yeah, its the Sonos boost box and it's connected off the back of the Orbi router.  I ran out of ports on the BB router so used the Orbi instead.  I'll move it and see what happens. 

Interestingly, to support the theory that it might be an issue between the BB router and the orbi router (and not the orbi system on it's own).  Last night it dropped to 300kbs, I gave up and went to bed.  This morning it was back up to 55mb, this evening when I came in from work it was back down to 400kbs.  So rather than do my usual resetting of the Orbi units I just reset the BB router, didn;t touch the orbi units, and it went back up to 55mb again.  So perhaps something is going on between the BB router and the orbi router and, as you say, its not passing the data properly.  

[plemans]

I'd try swapping the sonos and see what happens. If it doesn't help, we can try switching around the orbi/bb status as router/AP. 

[macinthekitchen]

Thanks.  Just done that. Fingers crossed!  Will post back in a few days with an update.

[macinthekitchen]

Update - having my fingers crossed didn't work, unfortuanelty neither did moving the Sonos boost.  Around 3 hours after I moved it my bandwidth dropped to around 500kbs.  So, do you think the next steps are to turn the Vodafone router into to a modem and turn on the router in the Orbi?  Not sure my Vodafeon router can do that, but I'll look in it.

[plemans]

That's the route I'd take.

Just in case its something in the vodafones own qos/settings causing the slow down. 

[macinthekitchen]

Updating this with my latest findings.

TLDR - it might be a dodgy ethernet cable.

I mentioned I was using a PC connected to the router (with an ethernet cable) to give me a comparison against what I getting from the Orbi units.      I'd test the speed on any devices that were connected to the satellites (either via wifi or ethernet), then jump on that PC to see what was actually coming out of the router.  That allowed me to check that it wasn't the bandwidth to my house that was dropping.   #

However, I was wrong and I am in fact an idiot. For some reason, I had that PC connected to the ethernet port of the Orbi (which itself was connected to the router).  If I recall, I did this as I didn't have enough ethernet ports at the back of the router, so I just plugged the PC into the port on the Orbi base unit figuring that would be ok.    So I wasn't actually comparing the speed the Orbi was seeing against the speed the router was getting, but by mistake, I was seeing the speed between the Orbi base unit and the router.   When it dropped, both on the PC connected to the base, and any device connected to the satellites, it must be something to do with the connection between the two.  It could be a QoS thing, could be that the router is throttling the ethernet port for some unknown reason.  But it could also be the cable, and that's the easiest thing to test.     So I've replaced that and so far it's been working for 24 hours without needing a reboot.  WIll come report back to see if that holds!

BTW  - the Vodafone router can't be turned into a modem only.  You can't turn off the router functionaoity.  So I'd need to buy a modem if the cable doesn't fix the issue. 

[macinthekitchen · Accepted solution]

Final update to let future readers of this thread know that I'm an idiot and that you've probably wasted your time reading this if you're looking for a solution to Orbi bandwidth drops.
In the end.... it was an intermittent fault with my broadband line. It had a grounding issue caused by water getting into the wires at the point they entered my house. Engineer came out, replaced wires, been sorting like a dream for 4 days now.
Nothing to see here. Move on. Insert Homer Fading Into Bush gif.

[plemans]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out!