RBK23 / RBR20 / RBS20 large variations in connection speed

[vojeroen]

Hi,

I have set up the RBK23 model recently. One router + satellite on the ground floor and one satellite on the 1st floor. Overall it works fine; I am measuring speeds of 50-350 Mbps depending on the distance from the router/satellite and the number of walls in between. However on the 2nd floor I have some strange connection issues. When I put my laptop there, the connection sometimes has the expected speed of about 50 Mbps, but most of the time it drops to around 900 kbps. The device does not move between the good and bad measurements and the wifi icon shows good connection quality. My phone has a similar behaviour but the drop in connection speed is slightly less severe to around 1-10 Mbps.

I am using the Orbi as a pure access point because I already have a (non-wireless) router in my network. The backhaul connection is "good" according to the Orbi interface. For the measurements I use iperf; the server is running on a device in the wired LAN to which the Orbi is connected. The laptop and phone are both connected to the satellite on the 1st floor. I will gladly provide more details if required.

Is this normal behaviour with wifi networks and/or the Orbi system? Is there some setting I can change to stabilize the connection speed? I am assuming that the placement of the satellite is OK because sometimes the laptop has 50 Mbps speeds.

Thanks in advance for your answers.

Jeroen

[FURRYe38]

What Firmware version is currently loaded?

What is the size of your home? Sq Ft?
What is the distance between the router and satellite(s)? 30 feet is recommended in between RBR and RBS to begin with depending upon building materials when wirelessly connected. https://kb.netgear.com/000036466/How-far-should-I-place-my-Orbi-satellite-from-my-Orbi-router

What channels are you using? Auto? Try setting manual channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.
Any Wifi Neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Try enabling Beamforming and MIMO(MIMO may or maynot be needed) and WMM. Under Advanced Tab/Advanced Settings/Wireless Settings

Try disabling the following and see:
Armor, Circle, Daisy Chain, Fast Roaming, IPv6 and Set 20/40Mhz Coexistence to 40Mhz only. Set Short preamble instead of Long preamble modes. Save settings and reboot the router and satellite(s).

[vojeroen]

Firmware version is V2.5.1.16 on router and satellites.

Distance between router and satellite is about 25 ft, and the same between satellite and devices, with walls and ceilings in between both.

Channels are currently configured to 9 and 44, which are both unused. I tried 6 and 11 but the same issues exist there. There are other WiFi networks nearby but on other channels.

Some settings were already set to your suggestion, I adapted the rest:

• Beamforming, MIMO and WMM are enabled.
• Armor, Circle and IPv6 seem to be disabled automatically because the router is in access point mode. Daisy chain and fast roaming are disabled; 40 MHz and short preamble set.

With the changed settings as per your suggestion, it seems the drops in speed are shorter and less frequent, but still occur from time to time. I will let it run for some days and report back.

[FURRYe38]

Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? If not, I would try this. Be sure to not enable Circle or Armor. 

25 feet is a bit too close between the RBS and RBR. 30 feet or more is recommended.