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Wifi performance suddenly poor
I have been using an R8500 and a EX7000 extender for some time with good performance.
In recent days (possibly following an update of the R8500), performance on the 5GHz channels has become terribl...
Forgive me for replying to the wrong party.
Thusfar, the behavor and issues you are describing are often the result of bad FW flash or misconfiguration. Its good that you have disabled WiFi and DHCP, etc on your ISPs modem, but you should really look at getting in into Bridge or Pass Through mode. No way for us to rule out this not being related to your issue(s) unless this is done. The 8500 needs to be running the show. I recommended taking the extenders out of the mix (for now) because you have zero stability from a performance standpoint.
Flashing FW - should only be done from a PC connected via ethernet. Genie or automatic update might work 90% of the time, until it doesn't. Eliminate as many variables as possible.
Reset, good idea. Now use an app to see what other networks are broadcasting in your vicinity, and what channels they are using. Choose something else.After saving, I suggest fully restarting your router before testing again. While its not alway neccessary, I've found it to be reliable.
QoS - Avoid it. You're asking for trouble.
Smart Connect - Also not a fan... Why not create your own networks, name appropriately. Connect your devices based on capabiity. Also gives you greater flexibility with channel selection. Up to you. But remember, if one of your 5Ghz devices get put on a 2.4Ghz broadcast, performnce is going to suffer.
You've got some more troubleshooting to do. I've not had a router forget its port forwarding or address reservation settings once set. Hope you;ll figure it out.
Today the R8500 has forgotten settings for port redirection and reserved IP addresses - all empty.
Has anyone else been having these problems?
Any idea what can cause this?
Forgive me for replying to the wrong party.
Thusfar, the behavor and issues you are describing are often the result of bad FW flash or misconfiguration. Its good that you have disabled WiFi and DHCP, etc on your ISPs modem, but you should really look at getting in into Bridge or Pass Through mode. No way for us to rule out this not being related to your issue(s) unless this is done. The 8500 needs to be running the show. I recommended taking the extenders out of the mix (for now) because you have zero stability from a performance standpoint.
Flashing FW - should only be done from a PC connected via ethernet. Genie or automatic update might work 90% of the time, until it doesn't. Eliminate as many variables as possible.
Reset, good idea. Now use an app to see what other networks are broadcasting in your vicinity, and what channels they are using. Choose something else.After saving, I suggest fully restarting your router before testing again. While its not alway neccessary, I've found it to be reliable.
QoS - Avoid it. You're asking for trouble.
Smart Connect - Also not a fan... Why not create your own networks, name appropriately. Connect your devices based on capabiity. Also gives you greater flexibility with channel selection. Up to you. But remember, if one of your 5Ghz devices get put on a 2.4Ghz broadcast, performnce is going to suffer.
You've got some more troubleshooting to do. I've not had a router forget its port forwarding or address reservation settings once set. Hope you;ll figure it out.
Thanks Shadowsports,
I reinstalled the R8500 firmware (same, current version) and factory reset and reinstalled the EX8000 from scratch and now they are both running well.
The router-extender link is now hitting 600Mbps, occasionally 700, which is most satisfactory.
You said you weren't a fan of Smart Connect.
My goal is to maximise the router-extender connection speed.
My limited understanding is that Smart Connect makes it possible for this link to use both 5GHz bands and otherwise you only get one.
Is that correct?
Thanks for your help
roger567 wrote:
My limited understanding is that Smart Connect makes it possible for this link to use both 5GHz bands and otherwise you only get one.
Is that correct?
Thanks for your help
Jumping in here, excuse me...
I have an R8000 that has 2 5Ghz bands and Smart Connect as well. I'll assume it is the same situation as your router (too lazy to check manuals) in that it will manage both 5Ghz bands for you. Some routers, like the R7000 is manages both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band.
Smart Connect is a feature that will allow the router to broadcast a single SSID (also using the same passphrase) for the bands it manages. That is even though you have 2 bands, you see only 1 band.
Smart Connect is a function of the router chipset and unfortunately the Netgear Implementation. That is the make of the chipset for this has many options, and NG in its firmware may not use all options. So I can't speak for the R8500's implementation, but if like the R8000's it isn't dynamic but static.
Hope I've not confused you so far, just setting the bar on what might be contained.
So, Smart Connect manages the 2 5Ghz SSID's. Internally it decides what device will connect to which internal SSID. If you enable Smart Connect and look at the Channels for each 5Ghz band you'll see one is on low channels and the other on high channels.
What the router does is assign connecting devices to the best fit 5Ghz band. In this case, usually the lower channels would be used for the N Speed devices and the higher for AC Speed devices. If you mix speed devices on a single band you could hamper the performance of the higher speed device. Again, depending on implementation some 'load leveling' might be performed, that is trying to keep the same number of devices on each of the 2 5Ghz bands. Not sure if this is implemented, I don't think so, but it could be, which could mix device speeds. Also Dynamic load leveling, which will move a device connected to on band to another to even the number of devices per band it appears isn't implemented (a good thing).
I use it and it works well. However, it is just 'easier' than manually deciding who goes to what band, nothing more. Use whichever you wish.
I also noticed you listed speeds, like 866Mbps and others ("It currently shows 144.4Mbps (2.4GHz) and 866Mbps (5GHz). It achieves 200-300 Mbps,"). That would be from an AC1200 network adapter. So I'll assume you are looking at the device itself to see what it is 'connected' at. There are 3 speeds, ISP provided, Actual, and connected speeds. That are NOT the same and can vary greatly especially is wireless is involved.
There basically are 2 speeds to worry about (mostly). That is what the ISP provides and what you get via a Speed Test either from the QoS page on the router using a browser to open Genie or via an Internet Speed Test site, like www.speedtest.net or ideally the site your ISP suggests done on a connected device with a browser.
For instance, in the 866Mbps connection, you can most likely NEVER reach that speed. Only possible way would be an ISP speed of 1Gbps and perfect wireless performance, close to the router, no interference, and no other devices connected to the band it was one. The 200-300Mbps you are seeing could be acceptable if there were an N Speed device connected on the same band operating. Although the range should not be that wide? The 2.4Ghz band is also acceptable depending on what N Speed device you have.
If you listed the devices and the network adapters they have it would probably explain these values you see, which are 'actual' speeds.
Sorry for the interrupt.
Good to hear. You're off to a great start. As time goes by, you will learn the performance, behavior and nuances of your network. Like all of us, you just want stuff to work. I know it can be frustrating when it doesn't. Hopefully you can concentrate on your workload now .
You are never a bother and I appreciate your valuable insight.
