Re: Low Throughput On RAX120

sanderssam · ‎2021-02-05

Here's the deal: I have a RAX120 AX12 router. I don't have any AX devices... this is not really about that, but I use pretty much a 2020 macbook pro and a iphone 11 pro primarily.. But I'm finding the speed I'm getting out of the router on these devices-- despite being able to see the connection to the router is quite strong-- is consistently less than half of what the connection to the internet service.

I have Google Fiber, which when I run a speedtest through the Nighthawk app gives results typically like the below (within 5-10% or so)

And I know my internet connection from my laptop to the router is strong... I'm in a small apartment with few obstructions, and see these types of details for my network below

But consistently, when running speedtest with ookla or similar, the bandwidth is less than half of this (with no other devices on the network). See below

I understand bandwidth can fluctuate-- and im not crying about slow speeds, it's still plenty fast for most needs. But I've updated the firmware, removed obstructions, and done all i can, and even when I plug directly into the router I can't get speeds above a few hundred Mbps when the speedtest through the Nighthawk app consistently gets 7-800 Mbps. Any ideas for why this is or any tips here?

Thanks!

plemans · ‎2021-02-06

A couple things.

1. photos have to be approved by a moderator and can take a while. So we're not able to see your numbers/info from the photos

2. When you speedtest off the netgear app, it hosts the test on the router and not on the device you're testing on.

3. A wireless AC device isn't going to max out a gigabit connection. AX devices have just started maxing out gigabit connections but thats within close proxmity to the router.

4. What ont is it connected to?

5. what firmware are you on?

sanderssam · ‎2021-02-06

Thanks-- I did see the photos didn't post so here's the details from them basically.

1) when running the test directly from the router (which I assume is *most* like plugging right into the ont line for Google Fiber), i was getting 750 down, 920 up

2) my mac shows that i'm connecting consistently at 900+ mbps to the router itself (using the option-click on wifi on the mac)

3) running a speedtest from my device, i'm seeing speeds between 2 and 300 mbps, the one i posted was even less than that.

I'm running firmware 1.2.0.16 on the router, not sure how to answer the ONT question... there's no box/firmware with Google Fiber, it's just a cable coming out of the wall.

Totally get that AC shouldn't max out gigabit. but should also be better than what I'm getting I think.

plemans · ‎2021-02-06

@sanderssam wrote:
Thanks-- I did see the photos didn't post so here's the details from them basically.

1) when running the test directly from the router (which I assume is *most* like plugging right into the ont line for Google Fiber), i was getting 750 down, 920 up---You mean using the netgear app with speedtest built in?
2) my mac shows that i'm connecting consistently at 900+ mbps to the router itself (using the option-click on wifi on the mac)----Your link speed over wifi you mean? What wireless chip is in the mac?
3) running a speedtest from my device, i'm seeing speeds between 2 and 300 mbps, the one i posted was even less than that.----from your mac? from a different device? What device are you testing on? also, check which band. 2.4ghz is slow and sensitive to interference. what other deivces have you tried? Did you try changing servers on speedtest?

I'm running firmware 1.2.0.16 on the router, not sure how to answer the ONT question... there's no box/firmware with Google Fiber, it's just a cable coming out of the wall.

Totally get that AC shouldn't max out gigabit. but should also be better than what I'm getting I think.

avtella · ‎2021-02-06

Actually AC at HT160 can easily max out gigabit. I can get 140 MB/s (1,120) sustained 10ft away/one floor below the RAX120 with two of my laptops.

avtella · ‎2021-02-06

Of course performance at range also depends on home construction ie wood/plaster walls vs concrete/granite etc...

plemans · ‎2021-02-06

@avtella wrote:
Actually AC at HT160 can easily max out gigabit. I can get 140 MB/s (1,120) sustained 10ft away/one floor below the RAX120 with two of my laptops.

What wireless device are you connecting with?

sanderssam · ‎2021-02-06

1) Yes, i mean the built-in test in the app. I do understand this is the router directly running it rather than my device.

2) It's hard to get exact specs on the airport card included in MacBookPros, but it's a 2020 airport card that runs AC networking. connection links between the router and the computer are generally between 800 and 1300 Mbps. Using other routers before this, I had no problem in the exact same setup getting speeds between 7 and 800 Mbps at least.

3)I'm testing it on my mac consistently. I've tested on either my phone or my mac, and speeds never exceed 3-400 Mbps even right next to the router. I'm currently just using the 5g band of the router. I tried the following tips from the forums before this:

- disabling smart connect (combining 2.4/5 bands) and just using the 5g band

- disabling AX networking (I don't have any AX devices)

- making sure QoS was disabled.

But nothing pushes the bandwidth up. So I'm just trying to figure out if it's the router, the wireless connections on the router, or the connection itself.

plemans · ‎2021-02-06

A couple things you can try.

1. Factory reset the router. I know its sucks doing but the RAX devices were released before the AX spec was finalized. I've had good luck with them with a simple factory reset and clean install. (not from backup)

2. If that doesn't help and you were hitting faster speeds before, you can try downgrading the firmware. I'd recommend any firmware changes be done over a wired connection.

avtella · ‎2021-02-06

Dell Inspiron 7577 having tested with Intel 9260AC and AX201 on the RAX120 and RAX80. In AX mode I think I only saw like a 10-15% improvement max for sustained speeds over AC.

Most of the high end AC routers were usually limited by the 1Gbe port rather than the WiFi chipset. The R7800 could hit around 930-940 Mbps on HT160 pretty much a port limit. The R9000 which uses the same WiFi chipset but has a 10Gbe probably could do better, possibly upwards of 1,100 Mbps is my guess.