AC68P - Upgraded to Gigabit internet - receive 1 gbps over ethernet but 250 mpbs over 5G wifi

[vaipan]

I'm using the Netgear CM1000 modem and Asus RT AC68P router. I just upgraded the plan today from 250 mpbs to 1 gbps on Xfinity. I reset everything on the router and just bought the modem today as an upgrade. I ran through all of the setup on the xfinity website and also ran the troubleshooter and reset which found no issues. So I'm assuming this is a router issue or a PC issue.

Wifi peaked at 450 mbps, but every speedtest website is reporting an average of 300, which is close to my old plan. However, the upload speed, the reason I upgraded in the first place, is running fast and steady over wifi at 35-40 mbps. All of my devices have AC wifi hardware and should be capable of high speeds. Plugging my laptop into the router with ethernet, I get 1+ gbps speeds.

Are there any settings I have to change on the router? Is the router the issue and do I have to upgrade the router too? Could it be the hardware on my PCs? Should I just wait a couple days to see if it gets better? Or should I call service over to check out what's going on?

 

[ApexRon]

I'm using the Netgear CM1000 modem and Asus RT AC68P router. I just upgraded the plan today from 250 mpbs to 1 gbps on Xfinity. I reset everything on the router and just bought the modem today as an upgrade. I ran through all of the setup on the xfinity website and also ran the troubleshooter and reset which found no issues. So I'm assuming this is a router issue or a PC issue.

Wifi peaked at 450 mbps, but every speedtest website is reporting an average of 300, which is close to my old plan. However, the upload speed, the reason I upgraded in the first place, is running fast and steady over wifi at 35-40 mbps. All of my devices have AC wifi hardware and should be capable of high speeds. Plugging my laptop into the router with ethernet, I get 1+ gbps speeds.

Are there any settings I have to change on the router? Is the router the issue and do I have to upgrade the router too? Could it be the hardware on my PCs? Should I just wait a couple days to see if it gets better? Or should I call service over to check out what's going on?

The RT-68P WiFi is advertised as:

802.11n : up to 450 Mbps
802.11n TurboQAM : up to 600 Mbps
802.11ac : up to 1300 Mbps​

Based on that and your reported speeds, the question is regarding 802.11ac. Consider using software that reports what WiFi your PC is seeing. I use "WiFi-Explorer" on my MacBook. Additionally, see what your AC devices are connecting at.

 

[ApexRon]

Here is what my Mac sees with my router being the top two lines:

 

[vaipan]

I'm using Windows 10. Is there any software or anything you'd recommend for me?

 

[ApexRon]

I'm using Windows 10. Is there any software or anything you'd recommend for me?

Google says: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/wifi-analyzer/9nblggh33n0n?activetab=pivot:overviewtab and https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wifi-network-scanner-tool-for-windows-10

 

[CaptainSTX]

If you are getting your contracted speed using an Ethernet connection than your ISP is delivering what you are paying for.

Honestly your wifi speeds are about what you can expect using wifi. To maximize your wifi speeds you will need an adapter on a fast PC with at least three radios.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I'm using the Netgear CM1000 modem and Asus RT AC68P router. I just upgraded the plan today from 250 mpbs to 1 gbps on Xfinity. I reset everything on the router and just bought the modem today as an upgrade. I ran through all of the setup on the xfinity website and also ran the troubleshooter and reset which found no issues. So I'm assuming this is a router issue or a PC issue.

Wifi peaked at 450 mbps, but every speedtest website is reporting an average of 300, which is close to my old plan. However, the upload speed, the reason I upgraded in the first place, is running fast and steady over wifi at 35-40 mbps. All of my devices have AC wifi hardware and should be capable of high speeds. Plugging my laptop into the router with ethernet, I get 1+ gbps speeds.

Are there any settings I have to change on the router? Is the router the issue and do I have to upgrade the router too? Could it be the hardware on my PCs? Should I just wait a couple days to see if it gets better? Or should I call service over to check out what's going on?

From what I understand, a lot of factors can reduce WiFi throughput... you are probably seeing your top speeds for your conditions. If you need full gigabit, wire it.

What is your laptop WiFi connection status ac link rate... 433, 866?

OE

 

[psychopomp1]

OP,
Perhaps its time to upgrade your router to a better one for wifi if wifi speeds are important? On my Linksys EA9500v2 I'm easily hitting 310 Mbps on 802.11ac on most of my wifi clients - this is on a FTTH 330/30 Mbps line. Maybe go for a better (for wifi) router such as Netgear R7800 or Synology RT2600AC?

 

[Datalink]

For Windows 10, load one of the following wifi scanners onto a laptop and then do a walk about, around your home and upstairs to see what the channel situation looks like. I'd recommend the following order for selection:

Lizard systems wifi scanner

inSSIDer lite (I run a licenced version of this, but the lite version is probably fairly close)

Acrylic


These can be found at the following locations:

inSSIDer Lite: Requires a freebie account set up to use it. That is displayed when you go to download the application.

https://www.metageek.com/products/inssider/free/?utm_source=MetaGeek+Customers&utm_campaign=d4c1da8a...


Lizard Systems wifi scanner:

https://lizardsystems.com/wi-fi-scanner/


A freebie home user licence can be obtained by using the Get Licence link for the Wifi Scanner on the following page:

https://lizardsystems.com/purchase/


Acrylic Wifi Home scanner which is also free:

https://www.acrylicwifi.com/en/downloads-free-license-wifi-wireless-network-software-tools/

 

[drabisan]

Before starting messing with router's settings, tell us what laptop are you using and what's the wireless adapter.
As long as over wire you get the speed, it's all about the laptop and settings.
I have a 2x2 Intel 7something on a Windows 10 laptop and with a bit of tuning in the router I can get 650mbps over wireless.
With my Linux laptop with 2x2 Intel 8265 I can get almost the same speeds (Wireless is Linux is far from state of the art)
All while connected to my RT-AC68U with a 866mbps connection speed.

 

[vaipan]

Thank you all so much for your help. I have an external wireless card on my PC that came with the motherboard. In the manual, it's listed as 3x3 Asus 3t3r and it's connected to the motherboard with three wires. I can't find any other information on it. Here's a picture: https://rog.asus.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/X99-Deluxe-WiFi-Antenna-3T3R-.jpg

I downloaded inSSIDer lite. I'm connected to the ac channel, 157/155. The connected data rate is 1,300 mbps. The signal strength is 51 and the link score is 76.

The tx rate for my PC on the router reports 877.5, 1053, 1170, to 1300. It stays at 1053 on average. The firmware is the latest version: 3.0.0.4.384_32799 .

On average, Fast.com reports 330 mbps. On average, Xfinity speedtest reports 430 mbps. Fast.com actually reported 650 and 890 mpbs once. Upload speeds stay consistent at around 35-40 mbps on both speed tests, which is my advertised rate.

But now inSSIDer reads 149/155 ac channel, 53 signal strength and only a 50 link score, so I don't know what's going on there.

I also have Bitdefender Total Security installed. Turning everything off makes no difference in speed.

 

[Grisu]

ac channel, 157/155.
But now inSSIDer reads 149/155 ac channel,

I think first value 149 or 157 is primary channel and second 155 is center channel for 80MHz bandwith of channels 149-161. No problem so far.

 

[ApexRon]

I have an external wireless card on my PC that came with the motherboard. In the manual, it's listed as 3x3 Asus 3t3r and it's connected to the motherboard with three wires.

• The Asus 3t3r is an antenna for the WiFi hardware on your motherboard. What motherboard to you have?

The tx rate for my PC on the router reports 877.5, 1053, 1170, to 1300. It stays at 1053 on average.

• No issue here

I also have Bitdefender Total Security installed. Turning everything off makes no difference in speed.

• Please uninstall Bitdefender Total Security as I have seen instances where removing this software resolved issues.
• After removal of software, retest.

 

[Datalink]

Fwiw, here's the relevant settings for my 5 Ghz wifi network:

Wireless Mode: N/AC mixed
Channel Bandwidth: 20/40/80
Control Channel: 149
Extension Channel: Auto
Authentication Method: WPA2-Personal
WPA Encryption: AES

Can you have a look at your current settings and change your Authentication Method and WPA encryption if necessary to match these.

Best I've seen with my 86U is 600 Mb/s via wifi with an Ultrabook. That would probably run faster with a better wifi adapter in the same Ultrabook or in a different laptop. At this point, the wifi adapter in the device does make a difference.

Can you also take a screenshot of the inSSIDer display. We really only need to see the 5 Ghz graphic display to see who else you're competing with. If you want to post the whole image, sort the networks by RSSI. Click on the RSSI title bar at the top of the column once or twice to force the higher number values to the top. By "higher", I'm referring to the higher values around -30 which is higher than the lower -80 to -90 range. The RSSI scale in this column is a negative scale, 0 at the top, -90 at the bottom, with 0 being the highest. Paste the image into something like Microsoft Paint and remove/scrub your MAC address from the image and then save it and post it. The question here is, who else are you competing with and is there anything you can do about it? A picture is worth a thousand words as they say.

Here's an example:

https://screenshots.macupdate.com/JPG/48147/48147_scr_5.jpg

In that example, there are two networks operating on channel 149, which isn't totally ideal. They're fairly far apart in terms of their received power levels, so, there is a chance that they would ignore each other. I'd have to look up the power level rules just to be sure.

So, the question is, what does your network have for competition? You might be doing everything correctly, but, if you're in a crowded wifi environment, you might be seeing the best speeds that you can get. Won't know until we know more about your wifi environment.

As for Bit Defender, yup, try disabling it at the very least, or removing it if you have to, just to see if that is the problem.

As for the wifi antenna, they should be parked as high as they can be, free of any obstructions so their not shielded by any nearby metal object.

 

[ApexRon]

As for Bit Defender, yup, try disabling it at the very least, or removing it if you have to, just to see if that is the problem.

Just disabling doesn’t help. You have to remove.