PLEASE HELP! Why do I get 200 mbps through wired modem but 50 mbps through routers?

[20g33n]

Hello. I have the Xfinity Blast 200 mbps plan. When I'm hardwired into their modem (I think it's a Technicolor TC8305C), I get about 220 mbps per speedtest.net on my HP Envy i7. However, when I use my Asus RT-N66U router or even the modem's wireless gateway feature, I only get between 10-60 mbps. Keep in mind I'm using the same cable to connect to my Asus router as I did when I hardwired my laptop to the modem. The slow speed occur even if I'm right next to the routers.

I get similar results with my Lenovo Yoga i7 and our iPhones. However, for some reason the Lenovo consistently gets about 20% faster wireless speeds than my HP.

I've called Comcast 3 times in 2 days, spent 2 hours talking and mostly being put on hold, and then got disconnected 3 times. I'm at my wits end. Calling their tech support usually results in me being put on hold for 20 minutes, then they get stumped, followed by getting hung up on or they promise to call me back but they never do.

So here are my questions:

1.) How do I speed up my wireless speeds? I'm assuming the problem is with a setting on my laptops since clearly the modem is working fine if I'm getting 200+mbps hardwired. I would like to get at least 150 mbps wireless.
2.) Why is the Lenovo getting faster speeds? I have more RAM and Video RAM on my Envy. Lenovo however has a SSD drive. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Thank you in advance!

 

[N3rdR4ge]

the built in wifi adapter is your limitation, not your modem or router.

-your modem is capable of gigabit ethernet (1000mbps).
-your router is capable of gigabit ethernet and wifi speeds of 450mbps per band, 900mbps total. Only one band at a time can be used for a device.

so that leaves your hp laptops wifi card as the issue. your lenovo probably has a better wifi card which would explain the better speeds.

you'll need to purchase an external wifi usb adapter to get faster speeds. get dual band n900 and connect to the 5ghz band.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

Ok, first off let's figure out which wireless adapters your laptop and HP have, and their maximum supported speeds. I think they'll need to support at least 802.11N to get 150 Mbps. Second, what standard(s) are in use by the modem, and what frequency range. Third, how is the Router connected to the Modem, cord or Wireless? If it's Wireless, you might try disabling the Modem's Wireless gateway. If they're on the same band and channel they can interfere with each other. Finally, do you have any range extenders/repeaters on your network? They reduce (usually halve) the bandwidth available.

 

[20g33n]

the built in wifi adapter is your limitation, not your modem or router.

-your modem is capable of gigabit ethernet (1000mbps).
-your router is capable of gigabit ethernet and wifi speeds of 450mbps per band, 900mbps total. Only one band at a time can be used for a device.

so that leaves your hp laptops wifi card as the issue. your lenovo probably has a better wifi card which would explain the better speeds.

you'll need to purchase an external wifi usb adapter to get faster speeds. get dual band n900 and connect to the 5ghz band.

My HP uses an Intel AC 7265. According to Intel's website, it is 802.11ac and capable of 867 mbps so that shouldn't be the problem. I've updated the drivers for the AC 7265 as well. Even if it is 2.4 ghz, it shouldn't be limiting me to 40 mbps (this morning's speedtest). That's why I think there's a setting somewhere that needs to be changed. Just don't know which one.

 

[20g33n]

Ok, first off let's figure out which wireless adapters your laptop and HP have, and their maximum supported speeds. I think they'll need to support at least 802.11N to get 150 Mbps. Second, what standard(s) are in use by the modem, and what frequency range. Third, how is the Router connected to the Modem, cord or Wireless? If it's Wireless, you might try disabling the Modem's Wireless gateway. If they're on the same band and channel they can interfere with each other. Finally, do you have any range extenders/repeaters on your network? They reduce (usually halve) the bandwidth available.

The wireless adapter in my HP is an Intel 7265. It is capable of 867 mbps. Not sure what standards and frequency the modem uses but I highly doubt Xfinity even has modems that are limited to 40-60 mbps or so. When I connected the modem to the Asus N66U router, it was wired. I know it's not the wire that I used to connect the router to the modem because I used the same wire to direct connect the modem to my laptop and I was getting 200+ mbps. I did not fare any better when I used the modem's built-in router feature (wireless gateway). I don't have any range extenders and I get the same slow speeds when I'm right next to the modem and router.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

Can you connect the laptop to the router with an ethernet cable? Just to verify that the router is getting a full speed connection to the modem. Assuming that connects ok, go back to wireless and mouseover the wireless network name and look for "Radio Type:____" That will be the connection standard being used (some variant of 802.11), and may need to be changed. It sounds as though both your adapter and the router should be set to 802.11ac, with both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz in use. Alternately you could go with 802.11n for a max of 150 Mbps. Here's a link to an Asus video for the router setup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_531662&feature=iv&src_vid=AuGzDBx6BAc&v=j4M-21NmP3A

It's a little long and the guy drones on a bit but you can skip ahead to the settings.

 

[bill001g]

You will never get speeds even close to those magic numbers you see on the router boxes. Even if you were to put your pc directly on top of the router you can not get those speeds and only a stupid person would not use ethernet when they were that close.

At more normal distances even the fastest routers on the market only get in the 300m range. This also requires very special nic cards that have 4 antenna that only a tiny number exist...none that go in laptop that I know of.

The 802.11n router you have will likely only get about 100m in good conditions. If you have lots of neighbors competing for wireless it will greatly compromise your speed no matter what router you buy.

You might get a little more speed by going to a 802.11ac router. Does not pay to buy a real fancy one because your nic card in your laptop will then be the limiting factor.

At some point you just give up and decide it will be cheaper to run a ethernet cable or use something like powerline networks instead of wireless.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

You will never get speeds even close to those magic numbers you see on the router boxes. Even if you were to put your pc directly on top of the router you can not get those speeds and only a stupid person would not use ethernet when they were that close.

At more normal distances even the fastest routers on the market only get in the 300m range. This also requires very special nic cards that have 4 antenna that only a tiny number exist...none that go in laptop that I know of.

The 802.11n router you have will likely only get about 100m in good conditions. If you have lots of neighbors competing for wireless it will greatly compromise your speed no matter what router you buy.

You might get a little more speed by going to a 802.11ac router. Does not pay to buy a real fancy one because your nic card in your laptop will then be the limiting factor.

At some point you just give up and decide it will be cheaper to run a ethernet cable or use something like powerline networks instead of wireless.

He's already got an 802.11ac router (Asus RT-N66U) and adapter (Intel 7265) but he's getting about 50 Mpbs on top of the router. Something is absolutely wrong, whether misconfiguration or interference or drivers or something else. And he isn't stupid, he's testing the hardline by moving the laptop/desktop from their normal locations. Not to mention the iPhones, which nobody in their right mind wants stuck on a wired connection.

 

[bill001g]

You will never get speeds even close to those magic numbers you see on the router boxes. Even if you were to put your pc directly on top of the router you can not get those speeds and only a stupid person would not use ethernet when they were that close.

At more normal distances even the fastest routers on the market only get in the 300m range. This also requires very special nic cards that have 4 antenna that only a tiny number exist...none that go in laptop that I know of.

The 802.11n router you have will likely only get about 100m in good conditions. If you have lots of neighbors competing for wireless it will greatly compromise your speed no matter what router you buy.

You might get a little more speed by going to a 802.11ac router. Does not pay to buy a real fancy one because your nic card in your laptop will then be the limiting factor.

At some point you just give up and decide it will be cheaper to run a ethernet cable or use something like powerline networks instead of wireless.

He's already got an 802.11ac router (Asus RT-N66U) and adapter (Intel 7265) but he's getting about 50 Mpbs on top of the router. Something is absolutely wrong, whether misconfiguration or interference or drivers or something else. And he isn't stupid, he's testing the hardline by moving the laptop/desktop from their normal locations. Not to mention the iPhones, which nobody in their right mind wants stuck on a wired connection.

A rt-n66u is a 802.11n router....did you not even do a simple search before you stated sometime so wrong.. Asus tends to always put AC in their part numbers of their AC routers..

The n66u is a fairly old router but it was one of the most popular in its day and worked pretty well.

Only someone who is extremely vain and worried more about their cool factor would choose a wireless connection when a wired one is available.

 

[TMTOWTSAC]

You will never get speeds even close to those magic numbers you see on the router boxes. Even if you were to put your pc directly on top of the router you can not get those speeds and only a stupid person would not use ethernet when they were that close.

At more normal distances even the fastest routers on the market only get in the 300m range. This also requires very special nic cards that have 4 antenna that only a tiny number exist...none that go in laptop that I know of.

The 802.11n router you have will likely only get about 100m in good conditions. If you have lots of neighbors competing for wireless it will greatly compromise your speed no matter what router you buy.

You might get a little more speed by going to a 802.11ac router. Does not pay to buy a real fancy one because your nic card in your laptop will then be the limiting factor.

At some point you just give up and decide it will be cheaper to run a ethernet cable or use something like powerline networks instead of wireless.

He's already got an 802.11ac router (Asus RT-N66U) and adapter (Intel 7265) but he's getting about 50 Mpbs on top of the router. Something is absolutely wrong, whether misconfiguration or interference or drivers or something else. And he isn't stupid, he's testing the hardline by moving the laptop/desktop from their normal locations. Not to mention the iPhones, which nobody in their right mind wants stuck on a wired connection.

A rt-n66u is a 802.11n router....did you not even do a simple search before you stated sometime so wrong.. Asus tends to always put AC in their part numbers of their AC routers..

The n66u is a fairly old router but it was one of the most popular in its day and worked pretty well.

Only someone who is extremely vain and worried more about their cool factor would choose a wireless connection when a wired one is available.

I apologize, you are correct that the RT-N66U is in fact not an 802.11ac router. Asus' product sheet:

https://www.asus.com/Networking/RTN66U/overview/

Listed the connections standards with a disclaimer:

"Quoted network speeds and bandwidth based on current IEEE 802.11ac specifications. Actual performance may be affected by network and service provider factors, interface type, and other conditions. Connected devices must be 802.11ac-compatible for best results."

I took that to mean the router did in fact support 802.11ac, but it appears that that disclaimer appears on all their wireless product pages regardless of support. However, the fact remains that the router still supports speeds of 450 Mpbs on both 2.4 and 5 GHz for a combined dual band 900 Mbps, and the OP is only managing at best a 50 Mbps connection when physically locating his devices adjacent to the router, and as low as 10 Mbps when in their normal location. There is something wrong, and figuring out what it is will determine whether or not it can be addressed.

 

[20g33n]

Can you connect the laptop to the router with an ethernet cable? Just to verify that the router is getting a full speed connection to the modem. Assuming that connects ok, go back to wireless and mouseover the wireless network name and look for "Radio Type:____" That will be the connection standard being used (some variant of 802.11), and may need to be changed. It sounds as though both your adapter and the router should be set to 802.11ac, with both 2.4 GHz and 5GHz in use. Alternately you could go with 802.11n for a max of 150 Mbps. Here's a link to an Asus video for the router setup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_531662&feature=iv&src_vid=AuGzDBx6BAc&v=j4M-21NmP3A

It's a little long and the guy drones on a bit but you can skip ahead to the settings.

I'll give that a shot when I get home. Thanks!

 

[20g33n]

OK, so it turns out it was the modem. Comcast came and replaced the old modem with a dual band 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz modem/wireless gateway. Now I'm getting 230 mbps wireless! Thanks for all your help!!!!