Very basic question about the Nighthawk X6S, Model R7900P, Tri-Band WiFi Router

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RHMoore wrote:

My senior residential community contracts with Spectrum for internet, tv and phone service. Spectrum provides modems, routers and cable to all who want them. Every few years, they swap out their modems and routers for newer models. I've been using their latest modems but not their latest routers. I've kept using the same Netgear R7900P router that I bought in 2018 because, as far as I can tell, it works fine (current firmware: 1.4.4.94). I have it hard wired to three Windows 10 computers in my home office and use its WiFi capabilities with a couple of Win 10 laptops that float around our place. All five of our computers were originally Windows 7 machines. I bumped them up to Win 10. They, too, all work fine.

Getting to the point... a few days ago, our internet service faltered a bit. My three office computers felt it immediately, but no one else in our complex did, and Spectrum reported no issues. So I assumed that some of my own gear had hiccupped. I've learned to reboot the modem and router when this happens, which is not very often. So I did that, and have had no problem since. However, during my chat with the Spectrum techie, he had me do some speed tests on my office machines and was surprised to find that their download speeds were only about one tenth those of my Spectrum-using neighbors (mine: 98, theirs closer to one thousand). I asked him if this could be due to my persistence in favoring my old router over Spectrum's newest one. His impression was that it was more likely due to my running Windows 10 system software on hardware designed for Windows 7. And then a few words about how 3G gear does not support 5G service. That's when I realized I was in over my head. I know almost nothing about the variables critical to up and download speeds. Are my computers and router doing the best they can, as is? Would upgrading either of them actually make a nearly tenfold speed difference? I have no idea. And I thank you heartily for whatever light you can bring to the subject. 

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Your R7900P router should be fine.  Based on the ratings, it is not your throughput bottleneck.

What is the specific brand name and model number of the modem Spectrum supplied?  Look on the label.

Focus on the three desktop computers connected to your router via Ethernet cables.  Log in to the router’s user interface.  Go to the Advanced Tab.  Under Internet Port click on the Show Statistics button.  A table should show up with a column of LAN port numbers followed by a column of status numbers.  Based on the age of your computers, I would expect the status numbers to be 100M/Full.  This would be consistent with your 98 Mbps throughput test results.  This means the network cards in your desktop computers are not capable of receiving the 1 Gbps data stream from your router.  It is possible to update the network cards, but you would need some hardware expertise to ensure the new hardware and system drivers will match up with your older computer systems.  Time to seriously consider updating your computers and possibly your Ethernet cables.  Current hardware with 1 Gbps network connections would be capable of receiving a ten fold increase in data throughput.

Let me know if the column of status numbers are 1000M/Full instead.  That changes the assessment.

Look at the two laptop computers.  Connect to the Wi-Fi from your router.  Start Windows 10 Task Manager.  Under the Performance Tab, click on Wi-Fi and let me know the connection type listed.  If you are connected to the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band, your data throughput will be in the 100 Mbps range.  If you are connected to the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band, your data throughput will be in the 250 to 350 Mbps range.

For data throughput testing, recommend you go to the Windows play store and install the Ookla stand alone testing application on each machine.  This takes the web browser application, whichever one you use, out of the test loop.