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Got the Nighthawk R7000 a few days ago. My ISP delivers 152Mbs. CAT5e cable links my ISP Modem to the Nighthawk. Installed and set up no problem and upgraded firmware to the latest.
I get full bars everywhere in my house and did many Ookla tests all over my house and averaged 60Mbs on 2.4Mhz and pretty much the full whack - about 155 Mbs on 5Ghz. Happy days.
After a day or so, the 5Ghz channel only allowed just under 1Mbs and the 2.4Gbs channel - about 20 - 30Mbs.
This continued for most of the day. Factory reset to stock....rinse and repeat.....uploaded the latest firmware again...etc.
First thing next morning - same problem as before......the 5Ghz channel only allowed just under 1Mbs and the 2.4Gbs channel - about 20 - 30Mbs.
I read ( I think, in this forum) somewhere, that there were stability issues with 5Ghz in this latest firmware ?
So I rolled back to the previous firmware. Curiously - after this roll back, it then only gave about 30Mbs each, per band.
Logged on to Technical support.....they suggested changing channels and a few other minor settings, to no avail. They then asked me to factory reset......rinse and repeat....etc...etc. Also - rather absurdly, they suggested I try a different power socket .....I think suggesting that the powerbrick might not be getting the full 220v ......(in the UK) .....which I highly doubt is an issue as this is the same socket that has powered previous routers....etc...etc.
So - I have now 30/30/30 hard reset. I have set up my previous SSID's etc.....and left the firmware alone....it's the stock factory one.
I get 60Mbs on 2.4Mhz and about 155 Mbs on 5Ghz now.....which is 'normal' I think. Regardless of all stages above - I get a solid 162Mbs through my wired LAN connection, every time, to my Laptop.
So has anyone seen this issue before? Thinking about using DD-WRT if this problem persists .....or could it be a dud router?
I really want to stick with it and get this router to settle down. Any thoughts?
When trying to troubleshoot and change channels yesterday morning... I swear that the Router login page only offered me channels 36 -40 - 44 - 48. I had tried all of them .....and offered no improvement ( from 160Mbs down to 10Mbs or something equally ridiculous).
I then updated to the latest firmware and instantly back to 160Mbs. Through the day - still strong at 160Mbs (ish) at various intervals. I checked and the channel was in the low 40's I believe.
I have 1 nieghbour using the 5Ghz band.... as I discovered.....on channel 44. So surely this would be the cause of the conflict? But why then does a factory reset or firmaware update immediately bump it back up to 160Mhz and then only first thing the next morning, it drops back to under 10Mbs? Other than my Galaxy s4 phone - no other device in the house uses the 5Ghz band.
So - via my phone this morning I access the Genie app and to my surprise, in the 5Ghz settings - a whole load of other channels. I set it to 112. Rebooted and back strong at 160Mbs ( where as before other reboots in the lower 40's made no difference).
A turn up for the books ? Hopefully. So I am either going senile way too early or the last firmware update added these previously....err...uhm.. 'missing channels'..... but they are now in the router login console....clear as day.
I can also access files and play videos off my USB drive connected to the Nighthawk....upstairs ....going through 3, 120 year old solid Victorian brick walls.... as if the drive was locally attached. So this Nighthawk (cross fingers) kicks some major butt!
So - TheEther - thank you again for your kind advice - lets hope this badboy settles down now..
I can't believe I overlooked the fact that I think the trouble actually started when I was testing out the readyshare on the attached USB drive. I was moving about 4GB of data from my laptop to the USB (via readyshare). It stopped about halfway and I had to kill it. It was only some time later.....that I then tested the 5Ghz connection as webpages in my Salesforce (for work) were taking forever to load. Only a Hard reset could resolve it.
I just didn't mention this as I didn't think it relevant......but this worries me that it could goose the rest of the set up....I had a USB drive on my previous C5 TP-Link router with no issues. So if I have to disable this feature....then the Nighthawk is not working as advertised? I can appreciate a dip in perfomance whilst a backup or transfer in progress...etc as the CPU has to divert resources...etc.....but if it throws a wrench in the works on the latest firmware....etc...that can't be right. I didn't browse or access The ready share USB again....and the issue happened anyway.
I did mess about with some QoS settings and tried to load some Xbox profiles for the kids...etc but then I read it's not necessary if your ISP supplies more than 100Mbs....so it was disabled again.
I don't have QoS enabled or Access Control, Block services, port forwarding....etc, since the last 30/30/30 reset. Not updated ANY firmware (yet). My ISP Router has a dedicated Modem mode that locks it down to function as a Modem only.....which is off course how it's set up at the moment. The ready share option is still enabled, however . At the time of writing this - I am still getting the 'expected performance' from both bands.
So - not too sure what else to do now .....or at what point I should update the firmware....or if I should update it at all..
I have no experience using the USB port on the Nighthawk, so I can't say whether the performance drop you saw was normal. But I, too, would be disappointed if wireless speeds were so dramatically affected. I am not a big believer in all-in-one solutions. I have a standalone NAS that I use for bulk storage.
Anyway, it's good that your R7000 is running well, again. Personally, I would leave well enough alone. If you still have your old TP-Link, you could connect your USB drive to it and use it as a NAS.
Thanks for your thoughts. Well it's the next morning now and the 5Ghz band has dropped to around 50mbs so more than half. 2.4Ghz band seems Unchanged. I disconnected the USB drive last night but that doesn't seem to have made any difference.
So after a reboot now...both channels back to normal. This is driving me nuts.
I will go back to the store and see if I can swap it for another
The only other thing I can suggest is to make sure the router has adequate ventilation. The buildup of heat can affect performance. If not, then I agree that making an exchange might be in order.
Thanks for the suggestion about cooling. ..it's mounted on the wall so there's plenty of air flow.
I got fed up with it today and almost swapped it for a link sys. ..I would have had to pay a bit more though..in the end I swapped it for another Nighthawk R7000...I didn't want to give up on them just yet. So it's had most of the day being thrashed by son's 2 xboxes and my daughter watching kittens on YouTube.
So far...the 5Ghz band is just a hair under 160Mb/s...so happy days. The replacement router is still on the firmware it was injected with on the production line in Vietnam. .I will not update it unless it comes to grinding halt..
Overnight. ..a brand new router (exactly the same model ) is doing the exact same thing . I just tested the connection speed and the 2.4Ghz channel is faster - at about 40Mb compared to the 5Ghz at only 10Mb.
I tried a soft reboot and it's the same.
The router doesn't feel hot...it's mounted on the wall in the hallway with plenty of space all around.
I am at my wits end with this. Netgear's own support concluded yesterday that the unit must be faulty when I explained that I had updated firmware. ..tried different channels. ..rolled back firmware. ..hard reset.. After all that, they still wanted me to try a different power outlet. ..really?
There's no interference because when I factory reset before. .the 5Ghz band goes back to about 160Mb (in the spot furtherest away from the router )
SO back to square one. The discouraging thing is that I have no confidence in Netgear's own official support. Very elementary trouble shooting with poor English.
When trying to troubleshoot and change channels yesterday morning... I swear that the Router login page only offered me channels 36 -40 - 44 - 48. I had tried all of them .....and offered no improvement ( from 160Mbs down to 10Mbs or something equally ridiculous).
I then updated to the latest firmware and instantly back to 160Mbs. Through the day - still strong at 160Mbs (ish) at various intervals. I checked and the channel was in the low 40's I believe.
I have 1 nieghbour using the 5Ghz band.... as I discovered.....on channel 44. So surely this would be the cause of the conflict? But why then does a factory reset or firmaware update immediately bump it back up to 160Mhz and then only first thing the next morning, it drops back to under 10Mbs? Other than my Galaxy s4 phone - no other device in the house uses the 5Ghz band.
So - via my phone this morning I access the Genie app and to my surprise, in the 5Ghz settings - a whole load of other channels. I set it to 112. Rebooted and back strong at 160Mbs ( where as before other reboots in the lower 40's made no difference).
A turn up for the books ? Hopefully. So I am either going senile way too early or the last firmware update added these previously....err...uhm.. 'missing channels'..... but they are now in the router login console....clear as day.
I can also access files and play videos off my USB drive connected to the Nighthawk....upstairs ....going through 3, 120 year old solid Victorian brick walls.... as if the drive was locally attached. So this Nighthawk (cross fingers) kicks some major butt!
So - TheEther - thank you again for your kind advice - lets hope this badboy settles down now..
Glad to hear you got things working. I know that the higher 5 GHz channels are not available in Europe, but unless you have a European model R7000, they should have been there. Maybe the planets weren't aligned. Oh well, the good thing is you found them. Hopefully, your 5 GHz speeds won't mysteriously drop.
It's day 2 after updating to the latest firmware and setting my 5GHZ channel to 112 and it has given me an average connection speed of 160Mbs (my contracted speed with my ISP is for 152Mbs). That's in about every corner of my old 2 story brick, 1895 Victorian house.
My kids are on half term school holidays and are thrashing this Nighthawk something fierce! I work from home and have regular Skype video calls with my boss in the US and this router doesn't even blink.
I tested the connection at the height of punishment and it still delivered an average of about 100Mbs.
My previous C5 TP Link router would have keeled over by now. This Nighthawk rules!!!
Forgot to add my thanks again to TheEther for leading me down the right path. I must say...my official support experience with Netgear was rather disappointing. I was on the verge of swapping this for a Link Sys. Good job the community helped out in the end. I don't think I will be purchasing a support contract once my 3 months free support expires.
