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Nighthawk RAX120 - Slow Wifi

ChrisJR90
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Nighthawk RAX120 - Slow Wifi

I am getting slow speeds on the WiFi connection (both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz), I have tried turning smart connect off and on while testing both options, still getting slow speeds.

 

The router speed test is showing 910Mb and 109Mb consistently and hardwired gets close to these speeds. WiFi give me around 200-250Mb (on 5Ghz). My previous ISP router gave me at least 450Mb over WiFi, which leads me to belive there is an issue with the RAX120 router rather than the walls in my house etc..

 

On a side note, I enabled QoS (110Mb) which then limited my upload speed to 5Mb.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve my WiFi on this router?

Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
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WMATL
Aspirant

Re: Nighthawk RAX120 - Slow Wifi

I made the mistake of purchasing this model just last week. Constantly dropping connections on 5GHz and AX/OFDMA not working with newer WiFi 6/6E compatible devices like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Subsequently, I found that a "V2" version of this model became available a few months ago including a newer Qualcomm Hawkeye chipset. A family member bought this same model at the same time I did and they got the V2 and I got the V1. Luck of the draw I suppose in terms of what BB was stocking at the time...I guess I got old stock. In the case of their V2 model, I've had zero connection problems or issues with AX. Given that both model variants share the same firmware and other hardware, the root issue seems to be the V1 chipset. Netgear has been non responsive to my separate post on the issue other than someone advising to call Netgear. Pretty clear that they quietly snuck in the updated chipset without updating the model number (look at any retailer product listing...it just refers to it as the RAX120-100NAS...but you might get shipped a V1 or V2 depending on the age of the retailer's stock.)

My advice...return it if you can and get a completely different model. The RAX120 issues appear to be legion and Netgear hasn't resolved them via firmware updates despite V1 being on the market for at least a year and a half now. Calling in for support won't get you anywhere because Netgear hasn't formally acknowledged a fundamental hardware issue with the V1 version. They'll just say the problem is with your connecting devices rather than the router itself.
Model: RAX120|Nighthawk AX12 12-Stream WiFi Router
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