Gigabit Internet: Bridge Mode Or AP Mode?

Pedro007

Commendable
Sep 27, 2016
2
0
1,510
I just upgraded my AT&T service to their Gigabit service. I connected my laptop directly to the Arris NVG599 gateway by ethernet cable and I was getting about 700 Mbps Since then, the tech from AT&T helped me set up the gateway in passthrough mode and then I connected my Netgear Nighhawk (R8500) to it. I connected an ethernet cable from the LAN portion of the gateway to the WAN port of the Nighthawk. My router was set up with two different IP addresses and I have internet. The router stats show 1000 Mbps going into the LAN ports, but the wireless is at about 50 Mbps. I have two questions. One is where did my speed go? Two, which is best the network model that I am using or would it be better to just use the gateway as a modem and run my Netgear in AP mode? Which is faster?

Thanks,
 
Solution
How the Nighthawk is wired to the internet will not make a difference. Assuming that you have a full-speed link to the NH, your limitation is the WiFi.

A few suggestions. First, you might be getting interference with a neighbor's WiFi. I'd suggest changing the channel(s) that the NH is configured to use and see if that helps. You could also turn it off and search for nearby WiFi with strong signals that might be causing interference.

Second, there might simply be too many walls, furniture, and appliances between the NH and your computer for a good signal. To test this, either temporarily move the computer to the room where the NH is or get a long Ethernet cable and move the NH closer to the computer. If your speed increases...
Not sure that I understand. If I read this correctly, with the old config wired speed was 700 Mbps. With the new setup, wireless speed is 50 Mbps. Sounds wireless to me; can you connect the laptop directly to the Netgear Nighthawk Ethernet port?

Ignore the 1000 Mbps that you see - that's just the link from the gateway to the router. You'll never get that much speed between them since you'll be limited by the 700 Mbps of the gateway.
 


The problem is that the laptop that I used is my work laptop which I could connect directly, but my real computer is upstairs where the wireless is even less than 50 Mbps. I am trying to figure out why the wired speed is about 500 Mbps and wireless is about 50, also which use of my Nighthawk will produce the highest wireless speeds, using it as an AP or using it behind the gateway set up as only a modem.
 
How the Nighthawk is wired to the internet will not make a difference. Assuming that you have a full-speed link to the NH, your limitation is the WiFi.

A few suggestions. First, you might be getting interference with a neighbor's WiFi. I'd suggest changing the channel(s) that the NH is configured to use and see if that helps. You could also turn it off and search for nearby WiFi with strong signals that might be causing interference.

Second, there might simply be too many walls, furniture, and appliances between the NH and your computer for a good signal. To test this, either temporarily move the computer to the room where the NH is or get a long Ethernet cable and move the NH closer to the computer. If your speed increases significantly, you have found at least part of the problem.

Third, what sort of WiFi client hardware do you have? The NH claims to be capable of MIMO (multiple-in, multiple out) and beamforming, which improve performance, but only with a receiver with matching capabilities.

Fourth, what sort of WiFi client hardware do you have? Your receiver may not work on a band that the NH uses, but that seems unlikely, since it supports 802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz and 802.11 a/n/ac 5GHz

Let us know the outcomes of the tests and we'll see where to go from there.
 
Solution