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Forum Discussion
TLP560
Jan 03, 2023Aspirant
Nighthawk MR60 Setup
hi all, I used to have a google wifi ac1200, and recently just upgraded to this MR60 (was told it'll be faster 🙂 setting up was a breeze with 2 satellites, and i used the exact same setup with my...
- Jan 03, 2023
You can try optimizing placement of the satellites. hardwire a laptop into them and test their speeds in different locations.
You can also try using different wireless channels. Sometimes theres interference on some. So swap the 2.4ghz and 5ghz channels around a little to see which is faster for your area.
TLP560
Jan 03, 2023Aspirant
sorry i'm not at home so can't get the exact number.
. wire connected directly to modem: 400 - 500 last time i checked (begins with ~900 first checked after setup)
. wire connected to the main puck is around 900
. wire connected from one of the satellite > switch (NetGear Prosafe 8-port Gigabit switch GS108) > wired to another pc : 170
. wifi speed test from within the nighthawk app - on my phone (showing speedtest powered logo on top) 859, but when i go directly to speedtest.net - on the same device, it's only 115
plemans
Jan 03, 2023Guru - Experienced User
Are the satellites using a hardwired backhaul? or using the wireless backhaul?
Reason I ask is the MR60 system is a dual band system that doesn't have the dedicated wireless backhaul of the tribands. So they have lower speeds using the satellites.
and 2.4ghz is much slower than 5ghz.
So its worth testing the 2.4ghz and the 5ghz on the router AND the satellites.
- TLP560Jan 03, 2023Aspirant
so i have the main puck, wireless connect to the second satellite. then on the second satellite i connected a wire to a switch > pc ... is that "wireless backhaul" ? 🙂
I'm assuming since this mesh ax1800 is newer so it should be better than my old google wifi? at least a little better? 🙂
- plemansJan 03, 2023Guru - Experienced User
Not sure what "google wifi" you had as there's different models and some were better than others.
the AX1800 is a dual band device. (600mbps on 2.4ghz and 1200mbps on 5ghz) The tribands were faster because of the dedicated backhaul between router/satellite.
The problem with dual band mesh systems is that the same wireless chip that goes router----satellite, also has to go satellite----device. And they can't do both at once. So the devices running off the satellites are slower as it first has to talk to the router and then the device. Which is why the triband systems were usually faster even if they had lower specs. that dedicated backhaul made a big difference. You can help negate that difference if you hardwire the satellites into the router but unless you do, the satellites will have a lower speed than the router.
Try reading this review from dongknows. He does a great job of reviewing the MK63 system and roughly what to expect from speeds off the router and off the satellites.
https://dongknows.com/netgear-mk63-nighthawk-review/
Speeds will be a bit different because of home sizes/differences in construction/layout/etc.
- TLP560Jan 03, 2023Aspirant
sorry i'm not tech savvy ... the bestbuy guy said "oh it should be much better/faster/newer" 🙂 so i went for it 🙂
he was comparing the ax1800 with my old google wifi ac-1304