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voiceovermike's avatar
voiceovermike
Aspirant
May 10, 2021
Solved

R6400 question - quite different wifi speeds (PC and laptop versus iPhone, all in same room)

I have the R6400 AC1750 (bought new 2017) and it works great. I noticed the other day that my PC seemed to be lagging so I used speedtest.net to check my wifi on the PC. Ususally I get about 195 download. I got about 50. I reset the modem and router and it went back up to about 190 for awhile, then back to to 60s.  (same impact for upload speeds)

I put my iPhone on the desk where my PC is and ran speedtest again and got just over 200 on the phone.

I did this repeatedly over the past week, using different speedtest apps and browsers, with the same results

Why is my PC (and my work laptop that's in the same room as my desktop and phone) getting 1/3 of the speed it usually gets while my phone shows full DL and UL speed?

Thanks,

Mike

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    May 11, 2021

    1. you're not on the latest firmware. the current is 1.0.1.70

    2. That model doesn't support smart connect that I could find.

    3. since it doesn't support smart connect, its your device hopping between 2.4ghz/5ghz. Log into the router and change one of the ssid's so that you can choose which one you want devices connected to. Or you can leave them the same but be aware, the 2.4ghz will be slower and suffer from more interference than 5ghz

7 Replies

  • plemans's avatar
    plemans
    Guru - Experienced User
    May 11, 2021

    what modem/gateway do you have? 

    What firmware is on the router? 

    are you testing over the 2.4ghz or 5ghz? 

    do you have your 2.4ghz and 5ghz named the same? If so, seperate them out. 5ghz is much faster than 2.4ghz. 

     

    • voiceovermike's avatar
      voiceovermike
      Aspirant
      May 11, 2021

      Thanks for replying...

       

      What firmware is on the router?   

      I just updated it last night to the latest using Genie

       

      are you testing over the 2.4ghz or 5ghz?   

      I'm using whatever the adapter gave me, and checking I see I'm on 2.4

       

      do you have your 2.4ghz and 5ghz named the same? If so, seperate them out. 5ghz is much faster than 2.4ghz.   

      I'm not sure how to separate them, can you tell me?

       

      Also, I tried Device Manager > Network Adapter > Dell Wireless 1560 802.11ac > Properties > Advanced   and tried to select Preferred Speed but I don't have that choice. Is there any way to tell my PC to grab 5 instead of 2.4?

      • plemans's avatar
        plemans
        Guru - Experienced User
        May 11, 2021

        Seperating the 2.4ghz and 5ghz is as simple as just naming them different during setup. the R6400 doesn't use smart connect so devices don't switch between the 2.4ghz/5ghz like they do with devices that support smart connect. 

        So simply folllow the change ssid guide and set them with different names. 

        https://kb.netgear.com/23439/How-do-I-change-my-NETGEAR-router-s-WiFi-password-or-network-name-SSID

         

        again, 5ghz is much faster. 2.4ghz is a slow network but it broadcasts further and through more materials. so it has its place. 

         

        Firmware is also key as there's a r6400 and a r6400v2. And the genie might say its updated, but it not be.