Netgear Nighthawk R7960P Not Allowing Full ISP Speed

[BuckGuy]

I recently increased my Internet speed through my ISP to 500 down / 50 up, but my Netgear Nighthawk is throttling my download speeds.  I'm maxing out at about 300 Mbps down.  Upload speed is fine.  Plugging directly into my cable modem, I am getting 490+/50+.  I do not have QOS or Traffic Metering enabled.  The speed test directly through the Netgear router under QOS is also recognizing the speed, showing 500+/50+.  I am currently on firmware version V1.4.1.50_1.3.10.  Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.  Thought about aggregating a couple of the ethernet ports to see if that would help, but these are gigabit ports, so that shouldn't be required.  Also, this is all hardwired.  

[plemans]

Did you ever try a factory reset and clean reinstall? (not from backup) 

Try that first. During the install, make sure to leave qos, traffic monitoring, parental controls, and access controls disabled. 

[BuckGuy]

I'll try that, thanks.  Appreciate the reply.  

[BuckGuy]

OK, I performed a factory reset and have not reconfigured anything other than the device password.  I have not yet configured wifi, and QOS, traffic metering, parental controls, and access control all disabled, but I am still running into the same issue.  Speedtest through the device shows 500+ down, but the most I can get through my hardwired PC is 350+.  Wiring my PC directly into the modem gets me 490+.  

[michaelkenward]

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@BuckGuy wrote:

OK, I performed a factory reset and have not reconfigured anything other than the device password. 

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That gets you part of the way there.

You need to reset the whole network, including the modem.

Then start everything up afresh.

Be sure to restart your network in this sequence:

• Turn off and unplug modem.
• Turn off router and computers.
• Plug in and turn on modem. Wait 2 minutes for it to connect.
• Turn on the router and wait 2 minutes for it connect.
• Turn on computers and rest of network.

Everything on your network has to forget any settings that it had when you had slower internet.

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@BuckGuy wrote:

I have not yet configured wifi, and QOS, traffic metering, parental controls, and access control all disabled...

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At 500 Mbps, QoS is pointless and will only slow things down.

[BuckGuy]

Completed restarting the modem, router, and PC as you requested.  The issue remains.  

QOS was never enabled.  Only pointing that out to save you and me the time of having you suggest that as the possible cause.  I found other posts pointing out that QOS, traffic metering, and access control all can contribute to this issue, so I made sure that none of these were/are enabled.  Which they were not from the onset.    

[plemans]

A couple things to try 

If you have the R7960P, you're not on the most recent firmware. Its 1.4.1.64

You can try installing that version. Do the factory reset/clean install.

If that doesn't help, try the firmware version prior to netgear armor. Not all devices played well with armor. That'd be version 1.4.1.44

[BuckGuy]

I'll definitely try that, thank you.  It is indeed an R7960P.  My apologies, I thought that I was on the latest firmware.  I tried forcing the update throught the GUI, but it just says that there are no updates.  I'll try manually applying it via a factory reset and clean install.  If that doesn't work, I'll try the earlier version of the firmware you suggested.  Thanks again for the suggestions.    

[BuckGuy]

After doing a factory reset and applying firmware 1.4.1.64, I got a 100 Mbps jump.  Speed test within the Netgear router is showing 544 Mbps down / 57 Mbps up.  Speedtest from my PC is showing 453 Mbps down / 56 Mbps up.  Was previously only getting about 330-350 down prior to the firmware upgrade.  Great progress.    

Still curious that I'm off over 100 Mbps compared to the what the router sees, and about 50 Mbps compared to hardwiring directly into the modem.  I may test the older version of the firmware to see if that is any better, but I'm definitely thankful for the massive improvement that I've gained.  Thanks for the all of the helpful suggestions and assistance.  It is greatly appreciated.      

[elanaalex]

I just got xfinity to install a gig speed modem this weekend.  It's connected via an ether net cable to my R7000 Nighthawk router.  The installation tech verified that 980 mbps is being received at the router but when I test the speed of the router on speedtest, the router is only generating 200 to 400 mbps even if I'm standing right next to it.  Does anybody know why I wouldn't be getting the full gig of speed?  Thanks

[michaelkenward]

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@elanaalex wrote:

I just got xfinity to install a gig speed modem this weekend.  It's connected via an ether net cable to my R7000 Nighthawk router.

The R7000  is not the same as the R7960P discussed in this conversation.

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@elanaalex wrote:

...the router is only generating 200 to 400 mbps even if I'm standing right next to it. 

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Wifi?

You have joined in on an existing conversation that may or may not have anything to do with your problems.

There is also a good chance that the official support team is busily monitoring new conversations and may miss your addition to this one.

If you do want help with your problem, check previous stuff that may be related then start your own discussion.

If you do decide to ask a question, you should provide more details and your own version of the information that the forum suggests that you provide. For example, as this is a router, it helps to know what modem you are using and the various things that you have tried to fix the problem.

You could also explain which of the various suggestions put forward in this conversation that you have tried.

[antinode]

> The R7000 is not the same as the R7960P discussed in this
> conversation.

   Your detailed reply to a scam-link post might be wasted effort.

      https://community.netgear.com/t5/x/x/td-p/1514609

   Look familiar?