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rubble's avatar
rubble
Tutor
Feb 22, 2022

WNDR3700 suddenly slower

After many tears of good service to the far-flung corners of my house, my WNDR3700 has suddenly slowed to a crawl.  If I put a Wi-Fi computer right next to the router the signal is strong, but it drops off dramatically if I move even 1/4 of the normal operating distance (tested with Acrylic Wi-Fi Home).  Nothing has changed as far as settings are concerned.  I'm running Win 10; I'm not sure of the firmware, but neither settings nor enviroment have changed.  My office computer is connected to the WNDR3700 by ethernet and is OK, but a printer, two laptops, and a Roku streamer are affected.  All worked well until yesterday. Help!

11 Replies

  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Guru - Experienced User

    What Firmware version is currently loaded?
    What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

     

    Has a factory reset and setup from scratch been performed since last FW update? A complete pull of the power adapters for a period of time after the factory reset then walk thru the setup wizard and setup from scratch.
    I would power OFF the ISP modem for 1 minute then back ON.

    • rubble's avatar
      rubble
      Tutor

      The firmware is V1.0.7.98NA.  The modem is a Arris (Optimum) TM822.  I believe that no factory reset has been done since the original installation.  Pulling the power on the moden didn't help.  Thanks.

      • FURRYe38's avatar
        FURRYe38
        Guru - Experienced User

        Last resort would be a factory reset and setup from scratch. 

    • rubble's avatar
      rubble
      Tutor

      Thanks for your suggestions.  I think I have found the problem. There Is a hidden router channel that mimics the main channel and slows it down.  i was able to change the main channel on the router and it sped up dramatically.  However the hidden channel jumped to the new channel and the router once again slowed down.  the question is how I can rid the hidden channel from the router, or keep it from changing on its own?

      • FURRYe38's avatar
        FURRYe38
        Guru - Experienced User

        What do you mean about this hidden channel? 

        Do you have a screen capture?

         

        Do you have any repeaters or extenders running? 

        Any wifi nieghbors near by? 

         

        What happens if you change the SSID name and password to something different temporarily? 

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User

    Might be time to look for an upgrade. The original was released in 2009 and was one of the first (ish) consumer gigabit devices. 

    Its going on 13 years old and has been surpassed by several generations or wireless routers. 

    If you even have half decent speeds from your isp, you'll see a significant improvement going from it to a current generation device. 

    Can you try to fix it? Sure. 

    Is it worth trying to fix? debatable. maybe if you're on a pretty slow dial up connection. Sure. I'm not a fan of getting rid of functional electronics but I'd be looking at upgrading.