[SOLVED] Getting 12mbps, Paying for 600

[fletchsheehan21]

Hey There,

Recently I've been experiencing very slow wifi speeds. Like I mentioned in the title, wireless speeds anywhere from 3 to 83mbps depending on the room in the house. However, our one computer using a wired connection is running just over 520mbps.

I have tested on numerous devices from iPhones to MacBooks to gaming consoles just to be sure it wasn't a device issue. It's incredibly frustrating when you're paying for the "Xfinity Extreme Pro" package promising speeds up to 600mbps and only receiving a fraction of it.

I am currently using a modem-router combo, its an Arris SURFboard SBG6900-AC

Not sure why I can't my network to produce adequate speeds, and Im hoping someone can help me.

Thanks,
Fletch

 

[bill001g]

You are getting what you pay for basically because the wired device works correctly.

It is not the ISP fault that the wifi numbers are massive lies. You will never get anywhere close to the numbers they print on the box.

Your problem is likely you end devices. It could also be that you are connecting to the 2.4g radio rather than the 5g.

Your end device likely only have 2 antenna. The apple products do not support and will never support the non standard 256qam on the 2.4g band. These are just some of the things ignoring the major one that wifi is half duplex.

Generally you will not see above about 300mbps even sitting fairly close to the router. Why you get less is hard to say for sure but it is not a issue with the ISP or that particular router.

 

[fletchsheehan21]

You are getting what you pay for basically because the wired device works correctly.

It is not the ISP fault that the wifi numbers are massive lies. You will never get anywhere close to the numbers they print on the box.

Your problem is likely you end devices. It could also be that you are connecting to the 2.4g radio rather than the 5g.

Your end device likely only have 2 antenna. The apple products do not support and will never support the non standard 256qam on the 2.4g band. These are just some of the things ignoring the major one that wifi is half duplex.

Generally you will not see above about 300mbps even sitting fairly close to the router. Why you get less is hard to say for sure but it is not a issue with the ISP or that particular router.

I apologize , but you are speaking to a novice here. I'm a pretty tech-savvy guy, but certainly not a professional in your particular field.

You referenced "My End Device" multiple times. I thought you may have meant the router-modem by the context of the word "antennas" but then you proceeded to say its not the router? Can you understand my confusion here?

Finally, I don't have a clue about 256qam vs 5G radio.. if you could tell me how to potentially fix that, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

 

[kanewolf]

I apologize , but you are speaking to a novice here. I'm a pretty tech-savvy guy, but certainly not a professional in your particular field.

You referenced "My End Device" multiple times. I thought you may have meant the router-modem by the context of the word "antennas" but then you proceeded to say its not the router? Can you understand my confusion here?

Finally, I don't have a clue about 256qam vs 5G radio.. if you could tell me how to potentially fix that, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Your "end device" would be your laptop, phone, tablet. The device connected via WIFI to your router.
What @bill001g is trying to say is that there are two different frequencies used by WIFI. To get maximum performance you have to connect to the 5Ghz radio on your router. Some clients don't support 5Ghz, and 5Ghz does not have as much range as 2.4Ghz.
Performance on WIFI is determined by many things. The type of client, the router radio you are connected to, the signal strength, the router WIFI configuration, the amount of interference. So there isn't a "twist this dial" type answer for poor performance.

Do you have a WIFI name that ends in "5G"? Many routers create a separate SSID name for the 5Ghz signal. Have you connected to that name?
Are you in the same room as the WIFI router?
How are you testing your speed?

 

[fletchsheehan21]

Your "end device" would be your laptop, phone, tablet. The device connected via WIFI to your router.
What @bill001g is trying to say is that there are two different frequencies used by WIFI. To get maximum performance you have to connect to the 5Ghz radio on your router. Some clients don't support 5Ghz, and 5Ghz does not have as much range as 2.4Ghz.
Performance on WIFI is determined by many things. The type of client, the router radio you are connected to, the signal strength, the router WIFI configuration, the amount of interference. So there isn't a "twist this dial" type answer for poor performance.

Do you have a WIFI name that ends in "5G"? Many routers create a separate SSID name for the 5Ghz signal. Have you connected to that name?
Are you in the same room as the WIFI router?
How are you testing your speed?

There was one when the router was newer, but I only see one network now.

I test using the Xfinity Speed Test

 

[fletchsheehan21]

Follow up question... I understand the router is "NOT THE ISSUE" but would a different router change the performance?

 

[USAFRet]

However, our one computer using a wired connection is running just over 520mbps.

In that, Xfinity is delivering what is contracted.
The WiFi in your house..that is all on you.

WiFi performance is very nebulous. Distance from the router, interference from neighbors, the WiFi device on your personal devices....all can have a major impact.

In my house, I can a very different performance at opposite ends of the hallway upstairs. And that's only 30 feet.

 

[fletchsheehan21]

In that, Xfinity is delivering what is contracted.
The WiFi in your house..that is all on you.

WiFi performance is very nebulous. Distance from the router, interference from neighbors, the WiFi device on your personal devices....all can have a major impact.

In my house, I can a very different performance at opposite ends of the hallway upstairs. And that's only 30 feet.

I can understand that, but that big a drop in Mbps cannot be normal. There HAS to be a way to boost the signal or something. Our house is 1 story and from end to end can’t be more than 50-60ft. People pay for A-LOT less speed and get higher performance. Hense my question about the router!

 

[USAFRet]

I can understand that, but that big a drop in Mbps cannot be normal. There HAS to be a way to boost the signal or something. Our house is 1 story and from end to end can’t be more than 50-60ft. People pay for A-LOT less speed and get higher performance. Hense my question about the router!

Where, specifically, is the WiFi source, the router, located?

From a device in the same room as the router, what performance do you get?

 

[fletchsheehan21]

Where, specifically, is the WiFi source, the router, located?

From a device in the same room as the router, what performance do you get?

The router/modem is located in the closet of an office in the SW corner of the house. In that particular room the numbers are closer to 80MBPS. The further you get from it the worse the connection gets.

 

[bill001g]

I get these threads confused when they get old so I may repeat something sorry.

This is the exact problem with wifi. The signal is absorbed by simple air and the more air the more that is absorbed. That is the most simple case the building materials of your house absorb far more and varies a great deal from house to house. You can not compare results using the exact same router with someone else because the houses are so different.

It takes almost nothing to absorb the wifi energy. The example I use is your microwave over uses the same 2.4g frequencies. It runs at over 1000 times the power of the legal maximum of any router. You can still see though the glass door and the amount of signal the is allowed to leak out is tiny fraction of the power wifi uses.

So it takes almost nothing to block the signals.

The problems tend to not be with the router they tend to be with the end device. A router can have large antenna and transmit at the legal maximum power levels. Devices like cell phones have small antenna and many times transmit at lower power to save battery. This means your router maybe able to send the signal though all the walls but your end device is not strong enough for the router to hear the response.

There really is no solution to this other than to use some form of cable to pass though the walls and then place a separate wifi source on the remote end.

 

[beers]

The router/modem is located in the closet of an office

Usually devices stuffed in a corner or in a closet environment have worse performance, you are expecting pristine signal but it has to travel through the closet first.

If you can center the device in the household it should be a lot more consistent.