Netgear RAX120 Firmware

[Newfie]

I saw your post, seems you have an odd issue and not many reports of this issue, I think it’s hardware. I don’t have this issue.
if you could link to where this is a common problem it would be much appreciate.

 

[avtella]

I see, I will give it a shot but I am still not accepting this "low level code". I want to know what it is and why it needs to be reset. I don't accept a black box answer. If it is not accessible and not manually changeable then I don't want anything to do with the device. Since when has a factory reset become an acceptable solution to a problem?

I personally have not seen this issue so while I can't say its not common, I can say not everyone is affected. I'm currently using mine as an AP with my pfSense box. My Dell Latitudes and XPS 9350 are hitting between 900 Mbps to 1.15 Gbps (Intel AX200) on speed tests on DSL Reports, my MacBook Pro 16 is hitting 600-800 Mbps and XPS 9360 with a Killer 1535 is hitting ~500-600 Mbps, this is in tests over the past two days, so this includes roaming sleeping..

I mean I agree it's not ideal but if you want a device that can reliably roll through updates with only the rare factory you will generally be looking at an SMB or higher class product. I've run into instances across multiple consumer router vendors (Netgear/Asus/D-Link) where on some occasions the old configs had issues with newer updates or certain fixes weren't committed till a factory reset. Even some Cisco SMB models on rare occasions recommend if possible to do a factory default when major firmware changes occur. Believe it or not I once had to factory reset a router 2-3 times in a row (immediately one after the other) due to a fluke of having corrupted nvram after an upgrade if I recall correctly (fortunately it was an evaluation unit).. it was definitely aggravating. So you can try doing the reset and seeing if things work before going further or you can spend a lot more time doing other things first to get to the bottom of it...but once again I truly understand your pain.

 

[Killhippie]

I also have not seen your issue myself, although that does not mean you are not seeing it. I would lean to the hardware side of things as I have had this router a year and no devices slow up over time, I regularily check device speeds and use sweetspots to test data rates on my ipad and iPhone etc. I would download the firmware again, re-install and factory reset, if the issue continues then contact Netgear as this is not from what I have seen a common issue with this router.

 

[rafale77]

I personally have not seen this issue so while I can't say its not common, I can say not everyone is affected. I'm currently using mine as an AP with my pfSense box. My Dell Latitudes and XPS 9350 are hitting between 900 Mbps to 1.15 Gbps (Intel AX200) on speed tests on DSL Reports, my MacBook Pro 16 is hitting 600-800 Mbps and XPS 9360 with a Killer 1535 is hitting ~500-600 Mbps, this is in tests over the past two days, so this includes roaming sleeping..

I mean I agree it's not ideal but if you want a device that can reliably roll through updates with only the rare factory you will generally be looking at an SMB or higher class product. I've run into instances across multiple consumer router vendors (Netgear/Asus/D-Link) where on some occasions the old configs had issues with newer updates or certain fixes weren't committed till a factory reset. Even some Cisco SMB models on rare occasions recommend if possible to do a factory default when major firmware changes occur. Believe it or not I once had to factory reset a router 2-3 times in a row (immediately one after the other) due to a fluke of having corrupted nvram after an upgrade if I recall correctly (fortunately it was an evaluation unit).. it was definitely aggravating. So you can try doing the reset and seeing if things work before going further or you can spend a lot more time doing other things first to get to the bottom of it...but once again I truly understand your pain.

Thank you both. Though I am deep enough in the silicon to know that this is extremely unlikely to be a hardware issue as I don't see a way for the hardware to do this and the fact that some people have reported getting rid of it by doing the factory reset, I am convinced that it is a firmware issue and not an acceptable one. Thus my point about wanting an open source firmware for it.

I have indeed migrated to a much cheaper and much more configurable SMB solution, having bought 2 multigig 4x4 AX APs + a controller device for the price of one of these (I am already also running pfSense for a router). It's just not worth the trouble and the lack of support. I do lose the 5G uplink as I am now on 2.5G, and also the 8x8 coverage as I am only 4x4 for AX (IPQ8072 vs IPQ8074) but I have 2 of them vs 1. I maybe spoiled coming from the pro-sumer market with ubiquiti unifi but I really don't see these workarounds as viable for any type of markets.

 

[ulaganath]

i think 6E would be based on qualcom based and always wave 2 series are more stable. it shouldnt take much time for 6E

 

[ulaganath]

@Voxel

Can you re-consider fw for this rax120. If there is a need for crowd funding for this router. We can do .

 

[CSM746]

I have run the R7800 and the R9000 on Voxel with outstanding results. And have donated to the cause as well. Thanks Voxel for the great work. About a month ago, I picked up the Netgear RAX120 and like Voxel cited, at great expense. I immediately upgraded the factory firmware to Netgear 1.2.0.16 and the router has been rock solid since. So, I think Netgear is getting this firmware stabilized at last. Hopefully good news will continue. The router is supporting two EX8000 extenders, an Athena RE2600M Extender, and a total of around 40 devices depending who of our offspring is coming and going. Not one blip of a problem. I have a Xfinity 1gig and consistently am getting 940+ down and 40+ using both wired and wireless. So, good stuff so far.

 

[avtella]

Xfinity 1 Gig is actually 1.2 Gigs since Comcast always over provisions and they've upgraded Comcast Central and Eastern Zones to 1.2 which means 1.4 Gigs in actual speed so you may want to use the Multi Gig port (assuming you have a multi-gig modem) if you really use up your throughput as you would be limited to only 2/3 of your ISP provided bandwidth capacity, when using the standard gig port. If you have WAN teaming available you could also use that if you don't ave a multi gig capable modem.

 

[Killhippie]

I have run the R7800 and the R9000 on Voxel with outstanding results. And have donated to the cause as well. Thanks Voxel for the great work. About a month ago, I picked up the Netgear RAX120 and like Voxel cited, at great expense. I immediately upgraded the factory firmware to Netgear 1.2.0.16 and the router has been rock solid since. So, I think Netgear is getting this firmware stabilized at last. Hopefully good news will continue. The router is supporting two EX8000 extenders, an Athena RE2600M Extender, and a total of around 40 devices depending who of our offspring is coming and going. Not one blip of a problem. I have a Xfinity 1gig and consistently am getting 940+ down and 40+ using both wired and wireless. So, good stuff so far.

Dont use the QoS as its a hot mess. Mine slows my download and upload when its meant to be upload only. Also upload gets dropped down to about 1-3Mbps from 16Mbps. No idea whats going on. Also what variant did uou get a V1 or V2? In the UK I think they dust dropped the v2 variant into the mix without updating the product serial number so nobody knows what version anyone is selling untill you get it home. <sigh>

 

[CSM746]

I haven't a need for QOS as of yet. So, I haven't felt that pain. I have tried to determine which version of the router I have and as you have said they snuck it in. It was purchased at Best Buy in mid-March and the exterior of the box states in small print on the box that "This hardware does not support some of the mandatory features ratified in Draft 3.0 of the IEEE 802.11AX specification, such as Uplink AFDMA, Target Wake Time, and BSS Coloring." Unless previously printed boxes are still being used, it appears it is V1. I have visited the store a couple times since to see if anything on the boxes would infer a later model and came up empty handed. I considered returning it until that could be verified, but haven't of course. I have read several discussions on this and one states that label that is affixed to the router suggests I have V2. Something about the FCC ID and there is a -03 at the end of the number in the lower right corner of the label. A mystery for sure.

Using avtella's suggestion, I am headed out to pick up a Netgear CM2000 and configure the router to use the multi-gig port. I am currently using a CM1150V which does not support that port and I prefer that to using the WAN aggregation feature.

 

[Killhippie]

I haven't a need for QOS as of yet. So, I haven't felt that pain. I have tried to determine which version of the router I have and as you have said they snuck it in. It was purchased at Best Buy in mid-March and the exterior of the box states in small print on the box that "This hardware does not support some of the mandatory features ratified in Draft 3.0 of the IEEE 802.11AX specification, such as Uplink AFDMA, Target Wake Time, and BSS Coloring." Unless previously printed boxes are still being used, it appears it is V1. I have visited the store a couple times since to see if anything on the boxes would infer a later model and came up empty handed. I considered returning it until that could be verified, but haven't of course. I have read several discussions on this and one states that label that is affixed to the router suggests I have V2. Something about the FCC ID and there is a -03 at the end of the number in the lower right corner of the label. A mystery for sure.

Using avtella's suggestion, I am headed out to pick up a Netgear CM2000 and configure the router to use the multi-gig port. I am currently using a CM1150V which does not support that port and I prefer that to using the WAN aggregation feature.

When you log into the routers GUI it will say RAX120v2 instead of RAX120 if you have a v2 I believe. Its all such a weird mix up so if someone wants a router that does OFMDA on the uplink its russian roulette to which model you get.

 

[CSM746]

The main page lists only RAX120....so V1.

Netgear CM2050V:

After some fuss with having to call Comcast Xfinity support to get the router provisioned. The self-service feature would not work apparently because I have not yet needed to employ a voice account with them, but the voice modem was looking for one? I purchased the voice modem to have that capability when needed.

But the router is connected via the multi-gig port and speeds have improved. On the desktop in my office I connected to the network with a ASUS PCE 88U (802.11 AC) wireless adapter. It has not been higher than 950 mbs down before and is now reporting 1279 mbs with the new modem. That's significant wouldn't you say? The CM1150V did not accommodate the link-aggregation so avtella's advice pushed me forward.

I have not enabled AX yet. I will start experimenting with that soon. I have the ASUS PCE 58BT in hand but have not installed it. I will see if all the AC devices will still have stable connections with AX enabled. Thanks for the help all.

 

[Killhippie]

The main page lists only RAX120....so V1.

Netgear CM2050V:

After some fuss with having to call Comcast Xfinity support to get the router provisioned. The self-service feature would not work apparently because I have not yet needed to employ a voice account with them, but the voice modem was looking for one? I purchased the voice modem to have that capability when needed.

But the router is connected via the multi-gig port and speeds have improved. On the desktop in my office I connected to the network with a ASUS PCE 88U (802.11 AC) wireless adapter. It has not been higher than 950 mbs down before and is now reporting 1279 mbs with the new modem. That's significant wouldn't you say? The CM1150V did not accommodate the link-aggregation so avtella's advice pushed me forward.

I have not enabled AX yet. I will start experimenting with that soon. I have the ASUS PCE 58BT in hand but have not installed it. I will see if all the AC devices will still have stable connections with AX enabled. Thanks for the help all.

Sounds like a version 1 still a great router. I had no issues with Ax with any of my non Ax devices, on the latest firmware all that stuff is generally ticked by default when you turn it on. One thing I would advise is update manually and do a factory reset after and don’t use a config file afterwards. Good luck it’s a great piece of equipment.

 

[CSM746]

Sounds like a version 1 still a great router. I had no issues with Ax with any of my non Ax devices, on the latest firmware all that stuff is generally ticked by default when you turn it on. One thing I would advise is update manually and do a factory reset after and don’t use a config file afterwards. Good luck it’s a great piece of equipment.

Still running great. I am not certain what Voxel would accomplish with this, but based on his current work it would be beneficial I am sure. Crowd sourcing was mentioned earlier...that may work if some of us had a mechanism...like donating to Voxel for that purpose?

 

[Killhippie]

Still running great. I am not certain what Voxel would accomplish with this, but based on his current work it would be beneficial I am sure. Crowd sourcing was mentioned earlier...that may work if some of us had a mechanism...like donating to Voxel for that purpose?

I wonder with all the work Voxel has going on if he has enough to do, but yes I would love to see a Voxel version of the 120.

 

[CSM746]

I installed the ASUS pce-AX58BT wifi adapter in my desktop machine. The machine and antenna have about 12-14 foot line of sight exposure to the router. It shows a connection rate of 1.2 gig in the device status information. And, in running Ookla speed test last evening and today I was clocking no higher than 850 mbs down and 42 mbs up. The down rate is much lower (by 200 to 400 mbs on the average) than that attained with the PCE-AC88 which in the status page showed connected at 1.7 gig. Perhaps it is because of a mix of devices on the network, but I expected an improvement. Haven't realized it yet. I do have a couple EX8000 range extenders at work, but when checking with inSSIDer or WiFi Inspector they extenders show broadcasting in the lower 5ghz frequency range. The performance of web page returns, etc. still seem fast, but who knows. All devices in the network are operating OK with AX enabled.

 

[Killhippie]

I installed the ASUS pce-AX58BT wifi adapter in my desktop machine. The machine and antenna have about 12-14 foot line of sight exposure to the router. It shows a connection rate of 1.2 gig in the device status information. And, in running Ookla speed test last evening and today I was clocking no higher than 850 mbs down and 42 mbs up. The down rate is much lower (by 200 to 400 mbs on the average) than that attained with the PCE-AC88 which in the status page showed connected at 1.7 gig. Perhaps it is because of a mix of devices on the network, but I expected an improvement. Haven't realized it yet. I do have a couple EX8000 range extenders at work, but when checking with inSSIDer or WiFi Inspector they extenders show broadcasting in the lower 5ghz frequency range. The performance of web page returns, etc. still seem fast, but who knows. All devices in the network are operating OK with AX enabled.

Dont use QoS avoid 160Mhz as well. make sure WMM is on. Turn off MU-MIMO and see how it goes. I hot 600Mbps to a AC iPad a good 20ft away on 80Mhz on 5Ghz I stick to 20Mhz on 2.4Ghz and my iPhone 12 hits over 1Gig on 5. At some point you also have to ask am I even going to use all this! My iPhone 12 certainly does not, not even the 5G kind either. I find the strengths of the 120 are great long distance speeds, a very good spread of signal and a SoC that can cope with pretty much anything apart from UL OFDMA which tbh you also may as well experiment with turning off DL OFDMA.

 

[CSM746]

Dont use QoS avoid 160Mhz as well. make sure WMM is on. Turn off MU-MIMO and see how it goes. I hot 600Mbps to a AC iPad a good 20ft away on 80Mhz on 5Ghz I stick to 20Mhz on 2.4Ghz and my iPhone 12 hits over 1Gig on 5. At some point you also have to ask am I even going to use all this! My iPhone 12 certainly does not, not even the 5G kind either. I find the strengths of the 120 are great long distance speeds, a very good spread of signal and a SoC that can cope with pretty much anything apart from UL OFDMA which tbh you also may as well experiment with turning off DL OFDMA.

Thanks Killhippie....In my haste, I did not turn on 160Mhz. When I did, the speed test now shows consistently over 1200mbs. Downside-it forces the extenders onto the 5ghz channels 36-44 and the link speeds dropped there from 1170mbs to 650mbs. So, compromises I guess. Your point of asking whether or not can one use all of this is on target. These advances (?) are something I have always chased. Mine teasers I suppose. I came from a Radio Shack TRS80 to a IBM XT with single sided 160K floppies, to an AT in '85 with a 16 bit 4 meg memory board!, to a 386 in '88, to a 486 and on it goes. Imagine the castle I could have built with the money I have spent?! I am now retired from a profession where I evolved into responsibilities for IT so I admit I remain addicted.

But, back to this....the progress made in the efficiencies of wireless is astounding and the RAX120 is a solid top performer. I could roll back to the 80Mhz mode setting and see how it goes. But, I do appreciate the consult you and the others provide on this site. Bob.

 

[Killhippie]

I find 80Mhz to be gine as most devices dont deal with 160Mhz well. Also the v1 RAX120 even though its says different ion the box does 80+80 not true 160, which the v2 should do, but I'm not sure Netgear are implentin g any changes that way and the SoC difference is so close it may be they just ran out of Hawkeye 1.2 and moved to Hawkeye 2 but plan no changes in the code base for new features, as its a silent update who knows. I imagine not much will change as they both share the same firmware.

 

[CSM746]

Another positive aside with the RAX120 is the way it handles USB external drives. As part of of being tethered to my old life I am routinely receiving huge databases on secure drives to examine as part of the troubleshooting of the base software. I noticed immediately when attaching my own drives that the process was more fluid as was the mapping of the drives. I had previously a R9000 and the firmware interface with Readyshare I believe never worked this smoothly. There have been some Win 10 64bit upgrades as well that may be contributing, but it is a real plus.