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Nighthawk RAX70 Full Gigabit wired speeds but half Over Wifi
Hi Everyone, I tried to do a search online but I am getting so many different answers of (yes you should get these speeds and no you shouldn't) I just upgraded to gigabit net, and wired to my...
How do I go about testing the link speed?
I am using a iphone 13 pro max / Macbook M1 - Tested on both similar speeds.
plemans wrote:a lot of it is usually it isn't the router thats limiting the wireless speed but the device you're testing on.
What device are you testing with?
What link speed are you getting? (hint, actual throughput is roughly 55-65% of link speed)
The M1 macbook supports 802.11ax, though due to either a hardware or firmware limit, they are limited to 80MHz channel width, which for 802.11ax, is effectively a 50% speed reduction for close to medium range.
https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/macbook-pro-wi-fi-specification-details-dep2ac3e3b51/web
In the case of your RAX70, you will not have issues with smart connect, or other similar settings, and they can be left on their defaults.
On the other hand, for medium to longer distances, you may get a speed boost by changing the WiFi speed setting on the RAX70, from the "Up to 4800 Mbps" setting, to "Up to 2400 Mbps". After that, make sure it is not using a DFS channel as those willlimit your transmit power 240mW, down from the usual 980mW.
PS this change will cause a speed drop in laptops and desktops using WiFi adapters such as the Intel AX200 and AX210 which do not have firmware or hardware level crippling of the channel width.
2 stream 160MHz channel width 802.11ax, will get you speeds in the 1800+Mbps range in terms of real world throughput (with a PHY rate of 2400Mbps). Since 160MHz channel width, forces the AP to use some DFS channels, total transmit power is limited to 250mW (due to an arbitrary an dunnecessary FCC restriction), thus it will experience a more rapid throughput dropoff as you move away from the AP, especially to other rooms where it has to contend with the attenuation of the walls.
the 80MHz channel width setting, will allow the router to use a higher transmit power, and for many WiFi radios, it will allow allow more distant client devices to maintain a higher PHY rate at distance if they are limited to 80MHz channel width (this also provides a small benefit to homes where all of the clients are 802.11ac).
The iphone 13 Pro Max may also be limmited to 80MHz channel width. https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/iphone-wi-fi-specification-details-dep268652e6c/1/web/1.0
You are the best! I been looking all over the net for why I was only getting half speeds, it makes sense when why I am only getting half speeds with my wifi no on my apple products.
I was so confused on why I wasn't able to get somewhere near the "ideal" speeds but it makes sense now.
Ill need to test the wifi with another device, but I have no idea what could accept those speeds now lol.
Thank you for this info, I didn't know the dfs channels cut the power down, I do use the dfs channel for my lower 5ghz "2400" channel for my other products (IOT and devices not used much) and the 161 channel for my "4800" 5ghz channel for my main devices (macbook and phone).
Thanks again for this post, it was super informative! This was eye opening level of information! thanks!
Razor512 wrote:The M1 macbook supports 802.11ax, though due to either a hardware or firmware limit, they are limited to 80MHz channel width, which for 802.11ax, is effectively a 50% speed reduction for close to medium range.
https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/macbook-pro-wi-fi-specification-details-dep2ac3e3b51/web
In the case of your RAX70, you will not have issues with smart connect, or other similar settings, and they can be left on their defaults.
On the other hand, for medium to longer distances, you may get a speed boost by changing the WiFi speed setting on the RAX70, from the "Up to 4800 Mbps" setting, to "Up to 2400 Mbps". After that, make sure it is not using a DFS channel as those willlimit your transmit power 240mW, down from the usual 980mW.PS this change will cause a speed drop in laptops and desktops using WiFi adapters such as the Intel AX200 and AX210 which do not have firmware or hardware level crippling of the channel width.
2 stream 160MHz channel width 802.11ax, will get you speeds in the 1800+Mbps range in terms of real world throughput (with a PHY rate of 2400Mbps). Since 160MHz channel width, forces the AP to use some DFS channels, total transmit power is limited to 250mW (due to an arbitrary an dunnecessary FCC restriction), thus it will experience a more rapid throughput dropoff as you move away from the AP, especially to other rooms where it has to contend with the attenuation of the walls.
the 80MHz channel width setting, will allow the router to use a higher transmit power, and for many WiFi radios, it will allow allow more distant client devices to maintain a higher PHY rate at distance if they are limited to 80MHz channel width (this also provides a small benefit to homes where all of the clients are 802.11ac).The iphone 13 Pro Max may also be limmited to 80MHz channel width. https://support.apple.com/guide/deployment/iphone-wi-fi-specification-details-dep268652e6c/1/web/1.0
Oh one last thing since you seem to know a lot.
Is there a reason why I can't see the 80mghz channel? When I look i only see the lower channels 40 ect...
and my higher channels I don't see "160" I have "161" is that a difference?
The channel selection depends on your region, as well as the channel width selected in the router.
Netgear doesn't really llist the channel widths, and instead list them based on PHY rate.
Up to 4800 Mbps = 160MHz channel widthUp to 2400 Mbps = 80MHz channel width
Up to 1200 Mbps = 40MHz channel width
Up to 600Mbps = 20MHz channel width
The wider the channel width, the fewer channel options there will be since the channel width needs contigious spectrum (enough 20MHz channels in a row that can encompass the channel width selected. Since there are gaps in the 5GHz band due to FCC restrictions (different countries will have theirown set of arbitrary restrictions), the selection for 160MHz is quite limited.
The image below shows the channels after the arbitrary FCC restrictions in the US.