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truss's avatar
truss
Tutor
Apr 28, 2020

Best Nighthawk r7000 upgrade for working from home

Hello,

 

Hoping for some recommendations for upgrades.

 

I currently have a Nighthawk Router R7000 located centrally in my house. Wifi hasn't been an issue really until my wife and I started working from home. Ideally we would both be able to work via wifi. Both of us are on skype meetings daily and VPN connections, with probably a dozen smart devices on the network. Depending what we are doing, we are often dropping the connections speratically. Which can be very frustrating when on a call or working on a VPN. I am looking to upgrade. Seems like a shame to get rid of an otherwise prefectly good router for what is hopefully a tempoary situation.

 

Any recommendations? Would a nighthhawk mesh satellite work with the R7000? or does it need the home station.

 

Thank you.

4 Replies

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    Apr 28, 2020

    1. What firmware are you on?

    2. What router do you have? you said R7000 but also listed the R7000P?

    3. What modem are you connected to?

    4. What speeds do you pay for? 

    5. What speeds are you getting over wired? 5ghz? 

     

    Something to keep in mind is a VPN usually runs through your employers connection. So if they don't have enough bandwidth through their vpn, it can be the bottleneck. 

    Does it make a difference when video messaging if the vpn isn't on? 

    • truss's avatar
      truss
      Tutor
      May 04, 2020
      • Firmware Version V1.0.9.88_10.2.88
      • R7000 not sure why r7000p is listed
      • Hitron CGNM-2250
      • 300Mbps
      • 90Mbps down, 14Mbps Up on 5ghz. Wired is no problems

      I can't correlate with video messages. I got to the point where I just go and plug in, when I need to make a call. We both have similar issues, and are with different companies. Both use CISCO though...?

      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru - Experienced User
        May 04, 2020
        truss wrote:
        • Firmware Version V1.0.9.88_10.2.88-----Not the most stable firmware for the R7000. the agreed upon stable firmware is 1.0.9.42. You can try downgrading to this, factory resetting, and re-installing. 
        • R7000 not sure why r7000p is listed
        • Hitron CGNM-2250-----Which is a modem/router combo device. And if its not in modem only/passthrough mode or the netgear in AP (access point) mode, it can cause issues as you're in a double nat. https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-Double-NAT
        • 300Mbps
        • 90Mbps down, 14Mbps Up on 5ghz. Wired is no problems

        I can't correlate with video messages. I got to the point where I just go and plug in, when I need to make a call. We both have similar issues, and are with different companies. Both use CISCO though...?

        so a couple issues you could work on.

        1. get the r7000 on a stable firmware.

        2. make sure you're not running a double nat.

        3. try other wireless devices once that's fixed. What are you testing 5ghz on? have you tried different sites/devices?