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R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

WhiskeyJack
Tutor

R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

Hi, im new here but I have looked on here for a while for the answer to my quesiton and couldnt find it. Ill try to fill everyone in as best I can on my situation so please pardon the long explanation. Im trying to cover most questions asked in other threads to save everyone the time haha.

 

I just received a new gigabit fibre line with gigabit service (940up/940down). I have my ISP modem/router (ONT) bridged with wifi off. I have my Nighthawk connected to LAN1 (of the modem) via a CAT6 ethernet cable and plugged into the WAN port of the nighthawk. I have all 3 bands (2.4,5,5) on as well as two bands of the guest network on (2.4,5). I need this guest network as my tenants use it and I do not want to share my LAN with them. Who knows how nosey they are or what viruses they have. 

 

I have all settings like QoS, website blocking, readyshare, etc off so that it does not rob cpu power to run those (I heard that could slow it down on one thread and i dont need them so i turned it off). The internet space where im at is not very polluted. I think we pick up maybe 3-4 other networks. We are in a detached home so we dont have a million networks around us like an apartment complex. I am running the most up to date firmware (V1.4.1.68_1.3.28) for today.

 

The issue:

When i connect my desktop to the modem via ethernet and run a speed test (speedtest.net and fast.com) I get 940ish up and down like I should so I know my ISP is providing me with the speed I pay for. When I then connect it back to the nighthawk and run a speedtest in the nighthawk app on my phone or in the browser settings (under QoS), I get 740up/down. Then, when I connect to either of the 5G networks via my phone, laptop, desktop and am standing right beside it, I only get max 450up/down. It is consistent between all of those devices. I also tried running simultanious speedtests with each device on different 5g bands and it just splits that 450ish between the two devices. Considering this router boasts 4gbps (1625mpbs per 5g band,etc) I should be able to get gigabit speeds on this router should I not? Im trying to figure out what I may have set wrong or if maybe the guest network (because its a virtual network) could be slowing down speeds. Does anyone have any ideas why I am not receiving closer to the 940up and down like it is getting via ethernet? (I do know that ethernet is always the best option but im not able to use it in this situation and this router should in theory be able to handle gigabit speeds wirelessly).

 

Thanks for reading and any help in advance!!!

Model: R8000P|Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri Band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 8

Accepted Solutions
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

the R8000P has a 3x3 antenna setup for both 5ghz bands and 2.4ghz. It also has mu-mimo (multiple input, mulitple output). Meaning it can talk to more than 1 device at once if those devices support mu-mimo. And most wireless devices are only 1x1 or 2x2 devices. 

so its not a simple answer. Can it do more over the 5ghz if using more than 1 device? potentially. 

but it usually doesn't need to. And it half the point of triband was having the ability to seperate out your high bandwidth device. 

The reason I say it doesn't usually need to is most services don't need 400mbps. For example, 4k streaming is only 25-40mbps needed. So even if its buffering, its not going to get anywhere close to the 400mbps available. 

I've ran triband and dual band flagship routers. with the triband having 2x 5ghz bands (and not being to far away) I haven't ran into bandwidth issues. And I've tested using multiple 4k streamers and gaming machines at a time. 

 

I'd recommend reading one more article, its a review from smallnetbuilder on the r8000P. its a well written article 

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33147-netgear-r8000p-nighthawk-x6s-tri-ban...

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Message 5 of 8

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plemans
Guru

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

dont' test using the nighthawk or qos app. They rarely pick the best server to hit full speeds. 

also, you won't hit gigabit speeds over wireless. 

to find out more why you won't hit gigabit speeds over wireless, read here: 

Understand Wi-Fi 4/5/6/6E (802.11 n/ac/ax) (duckware.com)

it is highly educational and helps understand wireless speeds/issues. 

Message 2 of 8

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds


@WhiskeyJack wrote:

when I connect to either of the 5G networks via my phone, laptop, desktop and am standing right beside it, I only get max 450up/down.

 


What do these devices get when you use other wifi sources?

 

What is the highest reported speeds that these devices get anywhere? (Ignore any marketing hype on the boxes.)

 

Those speeds look like the best that those wifi clients are likely to achieve.

 

Read the link that @plemans provided. Then you can relax and stop expecting the impossible.

 

 

Message 3 of 8
WhiskeyJack
Tutor

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

Ok, i will take a look at that article. There's alot to digest but I will work through it. Looks very well written. Thanks for the replies!

One more question (im sure this is probably answered in the article but for clarity sake I'm going to ask here):

- Since my client devices are limited to let's say 400mbps on 5g, would the entire 5g band be limited to that? As in if I have two devices on one of the 5g bands and downloading at max speeds, would I see 2x400mbps or would it split that to 2x200mbps? What about if the two devices are on separate 5g bands? Would this also be split with the guest network that's virtually hosted on these 5g bands?

Thanks again for the replies!
Message 4 of 8
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

the R8000P has a 3x3 antenna setup for both 5ghz bands and 2.4ghz. It also has mu-mimo (multiple input, mulitple output). Meaning it can talk to more than 1 device at once if those devices support mu-mimo. And most wireless devices are only 1x1 or 2x2 devices. 

so its not a simple answer. Can it do more over the 5ghz if using more than 1 device? potentially. 

but it usually doesn't need to. And it half the point of triband was having the ability to seperate out your high bandwidth device. 

The reason I say it doesn't usually need to is most services don't need 400mbps. For example, 4k streaming is only 25-40mbps needed. So even if its buffering, its not going to get anywhere close to the 400mbps available. 

I've ran triband and dual band flagship routers. with the triband having 2x 5ghz bands (and not being to far away) I haven't ran into bandwidth issues. And I've tested using multiple 4k streamers and gaming machines at a time. 

 

I'd recommend reading one more article, its a review from smallnetbuilder on the r8000P. its a well written article 

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33147-netgear-r8000p-nighthawk-x6s-tri-ban...

Message 5 of 8
WhiskeyJack
Tutor

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

Great, I just read the article on the R8000P.

I guess in the end, my concern is that paying for gigabit internet will be limited by my router and make it not worth spending the extra money on because I'll only get 400mbps max collectively out of the router. Between all of the heavy users in the house, (not uncommon to have 4x4k Netflix Streams, YouTube, gaming computers, and the occasional heavy download happening at the same time) its nice to have the extra bandwidth. I know generally you won't use the full gigabit, but it is nice to be downloading a large file or files at 700mbps while having all the Netflix streams and YouTube, etc going at the same time. When I know that I will be downloading a large file to my computer (like a call of duty update which sometimes come in at 50gb), I run my 100ft ethernet cable to the router.

I appreciate the replies and I'll do some reading of that first article today
Message 6 of 8
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds

Most AC routers aren't going to max out a wireless gigabit connection. My AX routers can but I have to be fairly close to the router to do so. 

I've hardwired in my devices requiring higher speeds/lower latency. Takes some of the burden off the wireless network and tends to streamline things a bit.

Its sometimes worth investing in running ethernet wires or using powerline/moca adapters for those fixed location devices that need the faster/consistent speeds. 

Message 7 of 8

Re: R8000P not producing gigabit wifi speeds


@WhiskeyJack wrote:

I guess in the end, my concern is that paying for gigabit internet will be limited by my router and make it not worth spending the extra money on because I'll only get 400mbps max collectively out of the router.


That's why I pay little attention to the  speeds on offer from my Internet supplier. If I can do everything I want to do with a VDSL network at 70 Mbps, why bust a gut chasing something faster?

 

That's another reason for paying little attention to speed tests. It is the performance that matters rather than what the dial says.

 

It is a log time since I say here waiting for something to download. Even when I want a big file, it can be the file's host that decides how long it takes.

 

In your case, maybe you have wired devices that can use the fast connection. Rather than running 100ft of ethernet cable, it might be worth seeing what throughout you could get with Powerline Ethernet. It won't match hard wired devices, but there won't be cables for you to fall over and it might beat wifi.

 

 

 

 

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