RAXE500 Speed within Nighthawk app much faster

[PGalore]

I'm on 1000Mbps plan and when I run the speedtest within Netgear Nighthawk app on my iPhone that's connected to 5Ghz wifi, I get 930Mpbs down and 47 up w/ 7.0 ms ping.  

However, when I run the speedtest on Safari on iPhone or Google Chrome browser on my PC that's also connected to 5Ghz wifi, I get on average 435 down, 47 up w/ 13 ms ping.

When I'm connected to 2.4Ghz wifi, it's below 100 mbps down but apparently that's normal.

Why on Nighthawk app the download speed is over 900 Mbps but on browsers that's under 500 Mbps?

I called the ISP but all they could say was, without connecting a portable device to the router with a Ethernet cable and running the speedtest, that 3:30PM is considered peak time, so in my area that's the maximum I could get during peak hours.  Reading reviews of other users on this internet plan, however, I should be getting around 900 Mbps even during peak hours...

[Razor512 · Accepted solution]

The speed test function in the nighthawk app will often use the router itself as the client device, thus you are measuring the speed of the WAN connection to the router, and not the speed of the connection to your smartphone or other devices behind the router.

[DamianM]

Dear Customer,

You have contacted the German-speaking NETGEAR Community.

We are able to support you only in this particular language. If you decide to contact us in German, please rewrite your question and/or describe your issue/problem so everybody can understand and participate if they want.

Kind Regards,
DamianM
NETGEAR Community

[PGalore]

But I don’t speak German. Can you repost this to the English community?

[FURRYe38]

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?
Be sure your using a good quality LAN cable between the modem and router. CAT6A STP is recommended. 

BE sure to install Ooklas installable speed test app on a PC or mobile device. Don't use browsers as they tend to reduce speed results or give inaccurate results. 

Also some mobile devices may top out at around 400-500Mbps depending upon there design and support. 2x2 MIMO has it's limits. 4x4 MIMO devices have more capability. Ethernet will always perform better than wireless. 

[PGalore]

Firmware version is V1.0.10.86

We are on NBN HFC in Australia and the modem provided by them is ARRIS CM8200.

ISP is Aussie Broadband. The cables are CAT7.

When I run the speed test on Speedtest app (not browser), I get about 700Mbps when I'm in the same room as the router and drops to 400-500Mbps in my bedroom. But for some reason the speed test within the Nighthawk app always clocks 900+ Mbps, no matter which room I'm in or what time of the day it is. It's like the Nighthawk speed test is measuring the speed when a device is connected with an Ethernet cable to Nighthawk.

[Razor512 · Accepted solution]

The speed test function in the nighthawk app will often use the router itself as the client device, thus you are measuring the speed of the WAN connection to the router, and not the speed of the connection to your smartphone or other devices behind the router.

[PGalore]

That's what I suspected.  So instead of connecting my device with an Ethernet cable to the router to measure the speed, as often ISPs tell you to do, I can just run the speedtest on Nighthawk app to see the maximum speed I'm getting.

[Razor512]

Pretty much, though there are things I have not had a chance to personally rest due to a lack of a fast enough connection. Since the router is using its own CPU to run the speed test application, i am unsure of if it will have a CPU bottlenecks if attempting to perform a speed test on a faster connection such as a 2Gbps connection. Beyond that,it shouldn't have much trouble with a 1 gigabit connection.

[PGalore]

Interestingly, at 7:30pm on Sunday, I got around 700 Mbps over wifi on my iPhone, but the Speedtest on the Nighthawk app was around 300 Mbps on average. I tested 5 or 6x.