Question Abysmal download speeds over WiFi

Sam_229

Reputable
Mar 16, 2017
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4,510
So some background:

Spectrum, 100Mbps plan, hardwired PC clocks in around 80Mbps (got to love receiving only 80% of advertised speeds! Up to 100Mbps wink wink) and my wireless device at best is clocking in at 23Mbps on the 5Ghz band sitting directly next to my router, and ~7Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band. My router is a TP-Link N600.

What the heck is going on here? When hard wiring my router to a device, I get 80Mbps. I've messed around with the settings, disabling WMM and nothing seems to be helping. I've been "tolerating" this issue for some time.

Should I upgrade my router? If so - what would you recommend?
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Your 80Mbit speed sounds like your router only supports 100Mbit wired ports. There are a couple routers listed as TP-Link N600 -- The WDR3500 has 100Mbit wired ports. The WDR3600 has gigabit ports. If you have the WDR3500, that is your problem. You HAVE TO HAVE gigabit wired ports to get 100Mbit WAN performance.

Yes, I would recommend replacing your router. A 1900AC spec router is as good as you need to go. Asus RT-AC68U or similar.
 

Sam_229

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Mar 16, 2017
8
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4,510
Your 80Mbit speed sounds like your router only supports 100Mbit wired ports. There are a couple routers listed as TP-Link N600 -- The WDR3500 has 100Mbit wired ports. The WDR3600 has gigabit ports. If you have the WDR3500, that is your problem. You HAVE TO HAVE gigabit wired ports to get 100Mbit WAN performance.

Yes, I would recommend replacing your router. A 1900AC spec router is as good as you need to go. Asus RT-AC68U or similar.

New router installed. Still only getting half the speeds as my wired, sitting right next to the router. 40 Mbps is certainly better, but not amazing.
 

Sam_229

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Mar 16, 2017
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What router? Is your wired speed now 100+Mbit?

I went with the ASUS AC1900. Wired speed still isn't passing 80Mbps.

For reference, I'm using a ARRIS SURFboard SB6183 modem.

Edit

Replaced the ethernet cable between the modem and router - speeds jumped to 118Mbps wired and 71Mbps wireless. Still a huge difference, am I wrong?
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
OK, so your wireless speed is now appropriate. 70Mbit on WIFI is a link speed of 140Mbit (you get 1/2 throughput on WIFI because of the type of transmission). That is low for 5Ghz. I would make sure you have a unique SSID on the 2.4 and 5Ghz to ensure you are connected to the band you want. Pick a manual low number channel for the 5Ghz band. Set the channel width at 40Mhz, with WPA2/AES encryption.
Throughput is dependent on the router and the user device. What wireless device are you using to test this?
 

Sam_229

Reputable
Mar 16, 2017
8
0
4,510
OK, so your wireless speed is now appropriate. 70Mbit on WIFI is a link speed of 140Mbit (you get 1/2 throughput on WIFI because of the type of transmission). That is low for 5Ghz. I would make sure you have a unique SSID on the 2.4 and 5Ghz to ensure you are connected to the band you want. Pick a manual low number channel for the 5Ghz band. Set the channel width at 40Mhz, with WPA2/AES encryption.
Throughput is dependent on the router and the user device. What wireless device are you using to test this?


SSID is unique to 2.4 and 5Ghz. I'm 100% connected to the 5Ghz on my iPhone X and WPA2/AES encryption is enabled.

Set the channel width to 40Mhz and control channel to 40, not much of any difference.

Should the 2.4 and 5 Ghz both operate on the same channel width?
 

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
SSID is unique to 2.4 and 5Ghz. I'm 100% connected to the 5Ghz on my iPhone X and WPA2/AES encryption is enabled.

Set the channel width to 40Mhz and control channel to 40, not much of any difference.

Should the 2.4 and 5 Ghz both operate on the same channel width?
No. Because there are so few non-interfering channels in 2.4, the channel width should be 20Mhz in 2.4