I have experienced this issue with this router since buying it at Costco in July 2021. My firmware is up-to-date with version 1.4.10.8. I do not have any special port forwarding or access control configured. This router does not support QoS configuration. After initial setup, I get 350 - 500Mbps directly from the router over Xfinity that is provisioned for 400 Mbps. Within hours, the rate drops to 120 - 150 Mbps. This is consistent and repeatable. I enabled Airtime Fairness. Nothing improved. If I do a reboot, nothing is improved. This is consistent and repeatable. If I do a hard factory reset, speed is temporarily restored in full. This is consistent and repeatable. If I restore a backed-up configuration and then restore/overwrite + reboot, speed is temporarily restored in full. This is consistent and repeatable. This router needs better firmware is all I can figure. I am not the only customer with this issue in this forum. I hope Netgear reads this post and will respond.

This is crazy but I also purchased the same device through Costco ... and let me tell you it's been no picnic.... first I had the same exact problem, My speed would be less than what I had with the Xfinty modem around 700, I used to get 950. I tired every conciveable possible solution but I could never reliably find a fix that would correct the problem it would magically work sometimes and then it would drop to like 200... then i turned back on the Armor protection and whalla .... back to 950 and all my wireless speeds went back to normal as well. I shut it off back to 200, turn back on 950 where is has remained ever since, with armor off always 200 with armor on 950. Netgear states that Armor should not have anything to do with it but all I know is with it off 200, with it on 950, reproducible every single time. There is ZERO question with my connection (could be Comast wouldn't suprise me, they are scantless). Try, if you experience the same thing maybe they'll stop calling me crazy. Let me know when you get to constant dropped and poor signal reception I've got the fix for that as well. Thanks to a Super User.. he nailed it.

How are you testing speeds? Wired? Wireless? Are you testing over the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz? What device are you testing on?

Per my original post, "After initial setup, I get 350 - 500Mbps directly from the router over Xfinity that is provisioned for 400 Mbps. Within hours, the rate drops to 120 - 150 Mbps." I want to test the router's ability to handle what is provisioned. This means I logged into the router's Netgear administrative console to test internally from the router itself to avoid any potential network or wireless issues in getting to the router. I used the speed test tool on the router itself. As such, this test is neither wired nor wireless, and wireless frequency is not relevent. The device I'm testing on: directly from the router Here is a link on how to check the speed between your ISP and your router: https://kb.netgear.com/000038894/How-do-I-check-my-Internet-speed. This speed test should be fairly constant, and should not be influenced by resetting the router to factory defaults, or simply reloading the current config.

"directly from the router" isn't always the best choice as it doesn't let you choose which server it tests off. And if it chooses a slower server, you get slower speeds showing even if they aren't accurate. its why if you look on here, you see us recommending people wire a pc/laptop into their router and test that route. Because then you can try different speedtest sites and even servers on those sites.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I do not have an Ethernet adpater for my laptops. However, I can say that testing from 2 Dell laptops (1 is band newand a Galazy 21 phone (Wifi 6 conection) through the CAX30 using Speedtest consistently mirrors what I get on the router's console within +/- 20 - 30 Mbps from multiple testing and multple target servers. My laptop and phone are connecting through 5G from a distance of about 8 - 10 feet. Again, I am able to reliably fix the slow speed within about 3 - 4 minutes by simply re-loading the saved config file and rebooting. We're talking about improving from 120Mbps pre-fix to a post-fix 400 - 500 Mbps speed in only about 4 minutes' time. The reliability of the fix proves out over across the 4 testing devices (including the router console). I am not the only person to report this issue and the same fix. https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-WiFi-Routers/CAX30-Slow-Internet-Speeds/td-p/2132543. Anthing you can recommend?

NightHawk CAX 30 slows until Factory Reset or config restore

19 Replies

plemans
Guru - Experienced User
Oct 26, 2021
How are you testing speeds?
Wired?

Wireless?

Are you testing over the 2.4ghz or the 5ghz?

What device are you testing on?
- akeele
  Star
  Oct 26, 2021
  Per my original post, "After initial setup, I get 350 - 500Mbps directly from the router over Xfinity that is provisioned for 400 Mbps. Within hours, the rate drops to 120 - 150 Mbps."
  
  I want to test the router's ability to handle what is provisioned. This means I logged into the router's Netgear administrative console to test internally from the router itself to avoid any potential network or wireless issues in getting to the router. I used the speed test tool on the router itself. As such, this test is neither wired nor wireless, and wireless frequency is not relevent.
  
  The device I'm testing on: directly from the router
  
  Here is a link on how to check the speed between your ISP and your router: https://kb.netgear.com/000038894/How-do-I-check-my-Internet-speed. This speed test should be fairly constant, and should not be influenced by resetting the router to factory defaults, or simply reloading the current config.
  - plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    Oct 26, 2021
    "directly from the router" isn't always the best choice as it doesn't let you choose which server it tests off.
    
    And if it chooses a slower server, you get slower speeds showing even if they aren't accurate.
    its why if you look on here, you see us recommending people wire a pc/laptop into their router and test that route.
    
    Because then you can try different speedtest sites and even servers on those sites.

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NightHawk CAX 30 slows until Factory Reset or config restore