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WiFi Setup Advice for Max Speeds
Hi all - new to forums so appreciate you bearing with me here. I currently have Verizon Fios GigaBit internet in an apartment in NYC that is running off of the Verizon provided wireless router with a hardwired extender (https://www.verizon.com/home/accessories/fios-network-extender/) in a room on the other side apartment from where the main router is located. However, over WiFi we are not getting close to the 1 GBPS speeds and were wondering if you could help with the ideal set-up for such a network. A friend of mine has suggested the Orbi WiFi System (RBK50) AC3000 as an alternative to potentially improve our speeds. In terms of functionality we are not looking for anything fancy, our goal is just to maximize speeds in an apartment with 3 people living there who have multiples devices connected (phone, laptop, smart TV etc...). Would you guys agree that the Orbi may bring us closer to the 1 GBPS speeds our plan provides? If not, do you have other suggestions or should we stick with our current set up? In case relevant to any suggestions we live in ~3,000 sqft NYC apartment in a building where I am sure there is interference from various other WiFi networks in the vicinity.
Thanks very much in advance for the help.
3 Replies
What kind of speeds do you currently see?
I have Xfinity Gig, which is advertised as 960 down / 40 up.
The Orbi itself has a maximum of 866 Mbps (5 GHz, 802.11ac) for client devices, with about 1.7 Gbps dedicated for backhaul traffic betwen the base router and satellites.
Futhermore, maximum speeds you see may be limited by the actual client devices you happen to be using and the type of WiFi adapter they happen to use.In real-life speed tests using my 2015 Macbook, I consistently see ~550 Mbps down, and ~40 Mbps up while connected to my Orbi satellite.
With that said, FiOS is advertised as 940 down / 880 up. I expect you would see better upload speeds than I do, but download (depending on your client device) should be roughly in the same ballpark. If you have a new/faster client device than I'm using, you migh see somewhat better download speeds, perhaps.
Hope that gives you a rough idea of what you could expect.
Forgot to mention, I'm using the tri-band Orbi AC3000.
You will never see more than about 450-500 Mbps sustained WiFi throughput on Orbi. The Orbi has a maximum link speed of 866 Mbps, and you will only see 50% to 60% of the link speed under ideal conditions. This is the case with all WiFi devices. There are many WiFi devices with faster link speed than Orbi.
Keep what you have! The Verizon extender has a 4x4 radio as compared to the Orbi's 2x2 radio, so Verizon has twice the throughput. The fact that the extender is wired to the router is a better and more stable solution also. People have reported 700 Mbps WiFi throughput with the Verizon gateway and the extender. You need the most up to date client devices to get that kind of speed though. Don't expect to see that on a phone or an old device.