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krawczyn's avatar
krawczyn
Aspirant
Jun 16, 2021

EAX20 Speed limited to 100 Mbps

I have had the eax20 setup and working for about 2 months now in access point mode where it is connected to my primary router via ethernet. Randomly today it stopped working and I have run into some issues. After restarting it today I ended up having to go through the setup process again and I was able to set it up again in access point mode and connect via wifi to the extender's network but the max speed I am getting is about 90 Mbps vs when connected to the primary router it is 300+ Mbps. When I take out the ethernet cable from the extender and plug it into a laptop the speed is as expected at 300+ Mbps, and if I plug that cable back into the extender and then add a new ethernet cable connected to my laptop it is also limited to about 90 Mbps. So my suspicion is that the extender is somehow limiting the speed. I have read that the ethernet ports are "auto sensing" and so perhaps there is something going on with that and for whatever reason the extender is limiting it to 100 Mbps? For reference up until today this was working as expected and the speeds from the extender network were 300+ Mbps so something definitely changed today. Any suggestions appreciated!

3 Replies

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User

    Try moving the extender to next to the router and grabbing a 6ft cable that is cat 6 or better. 

    then test the speeds. 

    It wouldn't be the first time a sketchy cable or cable end has caused a device to drop to 10/100mbps link speed and not gigabit. 

    • krawczyn's avatar
      krawczyn
      Aspirant
      I think I'm confused how it could be the ethernet cable since if I remove the ethernet cable from the extender and instead plug it into my computer and run a speed test I get the expected result. The extender itself is definitely causing the issue somehow.
      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru - Experienced User

        Some devices are more sensitive to sketchy cables. It can potentially work on some devices but not others. 

        thats why I recommend using a high quality cat 5e or greater cable and just a 6ft one. Its to ensure you're getting a gigabit connection. 

        If that works, then you start looking at the cable you've ran to where the extender is located.