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Speed issues depending on which channel I connect - Possible hardware issue:
Hi,
I purchased a R8000 about 1 month ago and it worked pretty well. Last week, I was reading a review on the router which suggested turning on the Smart Connect. That's when the issues started.
- The panda USB wireless that worked flawlessly started getting speeds of 1.5MBPs when my service is Comcast Blast of 150MBps. Before turning S.C. on, it reached that speed easily.
- After turning of Smart Connect, the performance of the USB dongle didn't improve. It stayed at 1.5MBPs to 3MBPs. I've been trying to fix it for one week now.
- I resetted the modem (reset button pressed for 10s), configured my router again and in additional to my dongle working poorly, the router started having problems to detect my External WD "My passport".
Today, troubleshooting the dongle with Panda Wireless, I changed from the Secondary 5Ghz channel to the Primary and the speed came back to 170MBPs. The router is kept about 3M from the computer without any obstacle between them.
Finnaly, streaming from my router (using cable) to my TV through DLNA sometimes stutters; yesterday it even caused the TV to not recognize the transmitted file.
Can you help me troubleshoot the router further to find if it defective?
Thank you,
Since I started the topic, let me give it a closure. My issue was that I had a USB Wireless Dongle from Panda which performed well in the Secondary Channel (High Channel) but ridiculously poor in the Primary Channel (Low Channel). Since I had Smart Connect turned on, I couldn't control which channel my computer connected and appeared the problem was with the router.
That said, I noticed a better balancing between devices when I disabled the dynamic QoS option. I don't know if the algorithm for the dynamic QoS is just bad or its implementation by the current firmware (V1.0.3.4_1.1.2) is bugged.
Anyway, right now everything is working fine at my home. Comcast Blast of 150Mbps and the speedy tests getting between 157 to 153Mbps in the tests using any of the 5G channels.
9 Replies
This interesting in that I came here looking for any solutions to a very similar problem with my R8500. I have not tried disabling smart connect, yet, but will give that a try when I return in one week. My issue has been that since upgrading to the Comcast 150Mbps tier, Business Class, my bandwidth seems to slowly degrade on the LAN side. A test from the router using the speed test in the dynamic QoS shows that Comcast is not degraded and I am at least getting the expected bandwidth to the router. Passing through the router I experience degradation over time. A reboot sets me back to the expected bandwidth but over a few hours I will experience degradation and even the appearance of no internet connection. Using the Speedtest website and testing against a nearby Comcast server as well using Comcast's own speed test site I see my bandwidth, over time, creep as low as 30Mbps. Interestingly, running the same test from a Galaxy Note 5 on the WiFi side obtains about 130Mbps and I have yet to see any degradation there. Other devices such as my Smart TV, my Roku, and various laptops on WiFi will lose internet; i.e. no internet access but still connected to the router. During these moments I have noticed that accessing the router via the web UI is also problematic---laggy or non-responsive. I should mention here that the my primary machine that experiences the slow degradation is wired to the router using CAT6 STP, 10ft.
It appears to me that this may be a thermal problem. I have noticed there were more problems today than others (had to reboot four or five times) and invariably the temperature in the home was considerably warmer. I will be on vacation for a week and will continue troubleshooting upon my return. My first thought is to put a little fan near the router to circulate the air better. Should that not resolve the issue, the I will swap out the router for my previous router, the R7000, to see if it experiences the same problem. If the R7000 doesn't experience the same problem then I will revert to the R8500 and begin an in-depth analysis of the problem.
It should be noted, too, my previous tier was at the 50Mbps speed. With this tier the performance was consistant and never dropped below 50Mbps. On the 150Mbps tier I have seen the performance drop to less than 50Mbps.
What are the firmware versions installed on your respective routers?
Have you tried flashing the firmware of the router?
After firmware reflash, reset the router by using a paperclip for 10 seconds and then reconfigure.
Make sure that there are no other wireless devices that may interfere with the wireless connection.
Avoid devices like microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, etc.
Thank you, I guess I already figured this out. The problem seemed to be BOTH the Wireless USB Adapter, which stopped working at the Primary Channel (because of the lower frequency channels). The second issue was the Smart Connect option, after disabling it the speeds get back to the appropriate range. In fact, I also disable Dynamic QoS but I don't know if this was responsible for the fix.
