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Forum Discussion
WAX206 Speed Limitations?
Greetings,
I own a NETGEAR WAX206 Wireless Access Point. My ISP recently upgraded my Fiber Internet package to 750 Mbps Download & 375 Mbps upload.
I have my WAX206 connected to my router via a CAT8 Ethernet cable, and I confirmed that my WAX206 receives the full speed from my router. I did so by connecting my laptop to the WAX206 via a CAT8 Ethernet cable and conducted multiple speed tests to ensure that I was getting 750 Mbps/375 Mbps as expected.
However, when I connected my iPhone 14 Pro to my WAX206, my speed was limited to around 480-500 Mbps download, and upload was around 330-350 Mbps. It’s worth noting that while testing, I was a few feet away from WAX206 with no barriers whatsoever between us.
I also speed-tested using my laptop’s Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i Wi-Fi card. I was also a few feet away from WAX206 with no barriers in between. The speed was limited to 430-500 Mbps and 185-190 Mbps upload.
It’s worth noting that on my WAX206, the 2.4 GHz band is turned off and I’m only using 5 GHz. What am I missing here? Is there an option/setting that I need to tweak? Or is there a hardware limitation on WAX206 that I’m unaware of?
Thank you,
AJ
2 Replies
As usual .... the WAX206 (like all decent Wireless APs supporting AX (and a main Ethernet interface of 2.5 GbE) is able to reach wireless speeds beyond of the Gigabit Ethernet capacity. Ensure the 5 GHz band on the AP is configured to 80 MHz bandwidth (pr at least dynamic, and up to 80 MHz.
Hello, schumaku.
Thank you for responding. The 5GHz mode is already on 80 MHz at 2400 Mbps, which is the highest setting available. I am also on channel 153 which does not have any congestion at all in my area. Please refer to the following screenshot:Not only that, but I also resorted to installing OpenWrt which allowed me to unlock the 160 MHz band that the Netgear UI does not allow me to have access to. WAX206 uses MediaTek MT7915E chip which supports 160 MHz but to access it, you need OpenWrt which I installed. I set the channel to 64 since it provided the best speed & reliability results under the 160 MHz band. Please see the following screenshot:
Doing so helped with my laptop’s Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650i speed, which went up to 550-600 Mbps down/365 Mbps up. This is much better than my previous results but still does not reach the full 750 Mbps down/375 Mbps up which I’m able to get via LAN. I doubt my AX1650i is limited to only 600 Mbps!
Unfortunately, unlocking the 160 MHz band did not improve my iPhone 14 Pro’s speed test results as they remain unchanged. Again, just like my Wi-Fi card, I do not think this is a limitation in the iPhone 14 Pro’s Wi-Fi.
Any other suggestions on how to get the full 750 Mbps/375 Mbps via Wi-Fi on compatible devices? Thank you.
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