RT-N66-R Wireless Signal significantly less then Wired

[Evansz]

Hi all,

I just upgraded my TWC internet from 100mbps to 200 mbps. Before the switch, I was able to get 60-80mbps wirelessly sitting in the next room. Now, I barely get 40 mbps sitting right next to the router in the SAME room.

Wired in directly to the modem, I get 240mbps, wired directly into the router I get 240mbps. But for the life of me on the 2.4ghz channel, I can only get 40-50mbps, best case scenario in the same room. The 5 ghz channel is pretty great, getting 140 mbps; but I would still expect to get at least 180 mbps on the 5ghz channel considering that wired gets 240mbps.

The TWC tech switched out the modem, I don't know if this would make a difference. The modem is bridged, and its wireless capability is disabled. In addition, the tech put in brand new cabling in the house because he said I was losing signal. The RT-N66R router has the latest firmware. I even played with some of the settings per advice from Asus's wonderful technical support.........

Beacon interval was changed to 80 on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz, 2.4ghz is on 20mhz bandwith and 5ghz is on 40 bandwith.

This is a bit irritating considering when I had 100mbps internet service, I was getting 80% of the wired connection through my wireless, but now on my 200mbps internet service, I am getting 1/6 of the wired connection through wireless.

I just don't get it, I stand right next to the router and I'm getting 40mbps. The only nearby electronic is a big screen tv, 2 feet away.

My girlfriends laptop has a dual band wireless card, but my laptop and my brothers laptop only have 2.4 ghz capability so I can't just stay on 5ghz. Would be nice to reap the benefits of the high speed internet on 2.4 ghz.

I'm no expert, so please ignore any dumb comments.

Help would be much appreciated as I won't be getting it from ASUS customer service. Thanks in advance!

 

[L&LD]

What firmware version is the 'N66U? What options have you changed from their defaults?

Have you ever reset the router to factory defaults properly?

Are the speeds you're reporting the indicated connection rates or actual download rates?

 

[Evansz]

Firmware is 3.0.0.4.376_3861.

The only things I've changed is channel is now 11 for 2.4ghz, channel bandwith is 20mhz for 2.4 ghz, 40mhz for 5ghz. The beacon intervals are set to 80 for both frequencies.

Yes, I've reset the router twice to factory defaults.

The speeds I'm reporting are found by speedtest.net.

 

[Evansz]

Also, it is a N66-R, not U. Thanks!

 

[CooCooCaChoo]

R/U/W, doesn't matter. They are all the same.

I think you are expecting too much from the 2.4 band. The speeds that are listed on the box are under the most ideal and optimal conditions, if not theoretical maximum capable.

 

[doczenith1]

With my ISP I get 125 mbps wired and with my Nexus 7 2013 I get 110 mbps on 5 ghz and on 2.4 ghz I'm getting around 35-36 no matter whether I'm on 20, 20/40 or 40. This is in the same room as the router and I've got 3-4 other neighbors on my channel at no greater than -80 dBm. Beacon interval = 100 and firmware 3.0.0.4.376_3861.

 

[Evansz]

Hm, alrighty. You would think though that standing right infront of the router you would get at least somewhere in the ballpark; but i guess not.

 

[doczenith1]

I tested my router again with the above config and got a reading in the low 40's on 2.4. Today I upgraded the firmware to firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.7410, did a GUI factory reset and then did a reset button reset and then reconfigured. Using factory defaults with the 2.4 band set to auto wireless mode with neither xbox nor b/g protection checked, 20/40 bandwidth and channels on auto I'm getting 50 mbps so a small increase.

 

[doczenith1]

Just ran some more test on the 2.4 GHz radio.

2013 Moto X (1st gen) - 72 mbps link speed - 44 mbps speedtest result
Nexus 7 2013 - 72 mbps link speed - 55 mbps speedtest result
2015 Moto X (3rd gen) - 144 mbps link speed - 62 mbps speedtest result

Wireless Mode = Auto
Optimized for xbox = unchecked
b/g Protection = unchecked
Channel bandwidth = 20/40
Authentication Method - WPA2

 

[gatorback]

How is the speed test performed? speedtest.net?

Why do you think that that your RF environment supports speeds closer to the theoretical maximum?

 

[coxhaus]

The more load you put on your router from the wired side the slower the wireless will be. You only have one shared processor in your router. The wireless is the weak link.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Have you tried forcing 2.4 band to using 40 MHz with the high speeds you are paying for you may need 40 MHz to achieve it. While others frown on using 40 MHz on 2.4 it may be nesesary to get full speeds and in that case I would use it.

 

[Puppa]

Please remember, however, that if you are in an area of high interference, 40MHz requires use of an additional channel, and the router picks that extension channel automatically (there's no UI option to lock down the extension channel, and I am aware of no back door way to do this--somebody please enlighten me if there is). Depending on the router model, using 2.4GHz at 40MHz setting will definitely put additional strain on the main CPU proportional to the level of external interference and is quite visible in the CPU status window. That additional strain could turn into a catch 22--when getting what you paid for from 2.4GHz costs you some bandwidth overall.

Only way to know is to try it.

 

[sfx2000]

Depending on the router model, using 2.4GHz at 40MHz setting will definitely put additional strain on the main CPU proportional to the level of external interference and is quite visible in the CPU status window. That additional strain could turn into a catch 22--when getting what you paid for from 2.4GHz costs you some bandwidth overall.

Switching from Wide to Narrow channels (20/40 auto) should have no bearing on the Router SoC CPU load, as this is all handled within the BCM4331 Wifi chip...

Wide channels come at a cost - there's about a 2.5dB hit in 2.4GHz on Tx power when using 40MHz channel, so the suggestion would be to limit to 20MHz, and I would actually enable b/g protection perhaps if there are overlapping networks that have B/G clients/AP's on them, as greenfield (N-Only) can be seriously impacted bandwidth wise by 802.11n Protection Rules when operating in greenfield mode..

 

[Puppa]

What sort/sorts of security are you using on the 2.4GHz connection? Uh never mind...saw the post...

 

[Puppa]

Switching from Wide to Narrow channels (20/40 auto) should have no bearing on the Router SoC CPU load, as this is all handled within the BCM4331 Wifi chip...

I expected that to be true, but in my high interference environment, I definitely saw an impact on my AC3200 when I looked at this a few months back. I have not looked at the hardware specs of the N66R however...

 

[Puppa]

Run a speed test with the firewall setting turned off (then turn it back on) and post your results. These older models are starting to show their age as the router software gets bloated. If you sped up your connection and 2.4GHz slows down because of it, router workload is definitely in the picture.