AC1900 intermittent and slow speed

[javierHD]

Nighthawk AC 1900 Smart WIFI Router Model R7000 purchased on or about Nov 2019. Currently on version V1.0.11.122_10.2.100

For several months now dropping internet connection (not dropping the Wifi) and, not at all providing the speed supported by the ISP which is about 200Mbps.

In 2020 I was getting speeds of 200Mbps, and now I get at most 30-50 Mbps, wired or wireless the problems shows up.

Called customer support on early 2021 and they advised to replace the switch and also to buy a mesh extender.  All this for nothing. Waste of money.

Called cutomer support again and they told me that I am out of warranty.  Not sure why Netgear puts this bug on the device as opposed to the Firmware upgrade.  This is a problem shown on threads at least since 2018.

Customer support advised to downgrade to R7000-V1.0.11.106_10.2.100 which I did and within a day, problem is back.

I have tried many of the advise on this forum (thanks for all the attempts)  and just nothing works for me.  Now I decided last for a hard reset after upgrading to the latest version V1.0.11.122_10.2.100 only to find out the device will not respond to the hard reset.  The hard reset also not possible on version 1.0.11.106 so I went all the way to R7000-V1.0.9.42_10.2.44 for the hard reset to work.  I have also tried enabling and disabling of QoS, currently disabled, that did not work with or without reset and update of database.

Now what shall I do?  The amount of feedback provided on this device and no support for such an expensive device is not appreciated.

I hope Netgear sees this post and responds with a reliable solution. 

any help would be appreciated...TIA

[Bill-D]

Here's a set of rules that helped me get my R7000 healthy:

Factory reset and hard reset are the same thing.  Can be done either way:

• Paper clip press for 8 to 10 seconds until all lights go out and then release
• Log into the router, go to ADVANCED > Administration > Backup Settings and click Erase.

Factory reset only clears configuration settings.  It does not bring back the original FW.

• The router only holds one FW version at a time.  There is no ROM to store original FW.

It's a good idea to perform a factory reset before and after installing FW.

• Reset before installing FW ensures minimal configuration incompatibility
• Reset before installing FW maximizes the odds of a successful install without bricking the router
• Reset after installing FW ensures that old, incompatible configuration settings are wiped out.

Do not restore configuration from a file, because the file is tied to the FW version that generated it.

• You must re-enter all your configuration settings by hand.

My R7000 has been on '116 for 3 months and it's been working well.

[javierHD]

@Bill-D The ony thing I did not perform was erase the Backup Settings.  Thank you for the recommendation, will come back w an update...

[javierHD]

@Bill-D Thank you for the advise but unfortunately no change.  Worked for about a week and then started all over again.  Today dropped my internet connection 4 times, and at least 1 time every day if not otherwise poor wifi speeds.

I guess the solution is get a new router, not by NetGear this time.

[javierHD]

Any recommendations on use of Smart Connect

Also, any recommendations for Channels?

Thanks

[Bill-D]

I've always had my Smart Connect unchecked and I've always used different SSID names for my 2.4 and 5Ghz networks.

I have my Channels both on Auto.  I also have always had my Implicit BEAMFORMING and AIRTIME FAIRNESS unchecked.