GT-AX6000 - Can I make use of my new 2 gbps connection?

[blue_seather]

For the last 2 years I've been on a 1gbps fiber internet. My apartment was already pre-wired with an ethernet outlet in each room, the ISP's router/modem sits in a little drawer in the hallway with its router part turned off, my GT-AX6000 in the middle room (nothing connected to it) and all TVs and PCs throughout the apartment connected directly to the ISP's router through the apartment's wiring. Apart from one small 2.4ghz issue that the people in the forum were kind enough to help me out with, I've been very happy. I was getting about 800 mbps on 5ghz on my WiFi 6 devices throughout the whole apartment and about 950mbps on my PC's wired connection.

However, the ISP changed their plan to 2gbps for just $5 more and when I renewed my contract it felt like a no-brainer as my building apparently supported it. They came in and changed their modem to a new bulky Nokia one that apparently has 3 1GE ports and 1 2.5GE port. My PC is pretty old now so its LAN card is limited to 1gbps, so I connected my GT-AX6000 to the 2.5GE port, leaving everything else on a 1GE port. Now, whenever I run a speed test on my PC's wired connection and on a WiFi 6 wireless device simultaneously, they don't seem to throttle each other and take away from their respective bandwidths but, unfortunately, that's the only benefit I can see. My router still transmits up to 800 mbps and if I speed test two WiFi 6 clients at the same time, they both get ~400 mbps each at most, so they appear to be splitting that 800 mbps router bandwidth. I thought that going through the 2.5GE port on a 2.5GE-enabled router, I'd at least get a slight bump in speed, or at the very least, in a multiclient workload the total bandwidth would be larger, but apparently not.

Am I missing something? Is the only way that I make more use of that bandwidth upgrading my PC to one with a 2.5G LAN card, leaving the Asus router on the 1G port, or by investing in a new WiFi 7 router when I upgrade more of my wireless devices to WiFi 7 ones?

P.S. The 160mhz channel for 5ghz is enabled, if it matters.

 

[Tech9]

You’re just paying more for exactly the same Internet experience. Because many other ISP subscribers are in the same situation - no brainer for the ISP to take more money for about the same Internet traffic.

 

[bennor]

Can you make use of the new 2GB connection? Yes. But it will likely involve spending more money to upgrade your computer or it's networking hardware along with upgrading your WiFi devices if they don't support the top speed offered by the router's WiFi hardware assuming the GT-AX6000's WiFi supports above 1GB speed. And possible add a 2.5GB network switch into the mix as well. And even after spending more money upgrading your network hardware you may not see a quality improvement (beyond flashy speed test numbers) for your daily use.

 

[degrub]

The slowest device in the chain sets the speed. For wireless, that is often the client device. Everything else just buffers and twiddles their hypothetical thumbs.

Many web servers limit client connection bandwidth for obvious reasons. 100 Mbit/s is one number i have heard.

 

[Tech9]

My apartment was already pre-wired with an ethernet outlet in each room, the ISP's router/modem sits in a little drawer in the hallway with its router part turned off, my GT-AX6000 in the middle room (nothing connected to it) and all TVs and PCs throughout the apartment connected directly to the ISP's router through the apartment's wiring.

This is not a valid configuration network, by the way. The ISP modem/router has to be in Router Mode and your Asus router has to be in AP Mode. Otherwise you are risking exposed to Internet devices or running two networks (one in double NAT) for no good reason. The Router has to be where the ISP connection is; in other rooms you may have Access Points or other connected wired devices. Single AP like Omada EAP610/650 for around $100 may be enough for an apartment and devices connected to it will reach similar speeds.