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Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

randywei
Aspirant

R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

I recently upgraded my Comcast internet to gigabit speeds and upgraded my modem to the Arris SB8200 to support the speed increase. 

 

When hardwired to my R7000, I'm getting the expected ~950Mbps down / 42Mbps up.  However, when I run the browser Genie speed test under QoS or the iPhone Nighthawk app speed test I'm getting only about 450Mbps down / 42Mbps up.

 

As I'm to understand it, the Genie/Nighthawk speed test is testing from the router's speed to the internet.  So, if I'm able to get gigabit download speed hardwired to the router, shouldn't the router's internal speed test (using Ookla, btw) also be getting gigabit speeds?

 

Is this a bug with the Netgear software?

Message 1 of 10

Accepted Solutions
plemans
Guru

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

some of the speedtest sites/servers can't saturate gigabit. In my area, I've had speedtest fail to saturate my connection. If I test with speedtest.xfinity.com or speedtest.googlefiber.net  it does fine but ookla doesn't. it could be that the the app is picking a server that isn't capable of maxing out your connection while your pc is. 

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Message 6 of 10

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myersw
Master

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

I am guessing that is about all the iPhone can do wirelessly. 

I have an iPhone XS MAX and Conmcast 600Mps down and 20 up. When I run a speed test on the phone I get 450 down and 24 up. The wireless support cannot reach the same speed as an Ethernet attached PC. 

This might provide you with some interesting information about wireless.

https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html

Message 2 of 10
randywei
Aspirant

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

But i'm not running the speed test from my iPhone to test the internet.  When I do that, I get similar numbers as you with a maximum of about 500/42. 

 

The test I'm referring to is the built in Ookla speed test in the router's Genie browser or Nighthawk app, which is supposed to test the speed from router to modem.  That speed test's results aren't making sense.

 

I guess what I could do after I get home is try running the Genie browser speed test while hardwired into the router to see if it makes a difference, but from the description of the test it shouldn't...

Message 3 of 10
randywei
Aspirant

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

Attached is photo of the iPhone Nighthawk app speedtest

 

Message 4 of 10
randywei
Aspirant

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

and here is the photo of the hardwire-to-router speedtest.  If my understanding of the built-in Genie/Nighthawk speedtest is correct, then the Genie/Nighthawk built-in speed test should perform the same as the hardwire-to-router speedtest since they are supposed to both be testing the speed from the router to the internet.

Message 5 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

some of the speedtest sites/servers can't saturate gigabit. In my area, I've had speedtest fail to saturate my connection. If I test with speedtest.xfinity.com or speedtest.googlefiber.net  it does fine but ookla doesn't. it could be that the the app is picking a server that isn't capable of maxing out your connection while your pc is. 

Message 6 of 10
randywei
Aspirant

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

Ah...that would make sense if the built in Ookla tool in the Genie/Nighthawk is hardcoded to always test to a certain server and if that server is far from me, it could result in 50% the throughput compared to my laptop picking a closer server.

Message 7 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

Probably not a distance issue. It might be just picking the lowest latency server and that one might not be capable of saturating gigabit. I'm not sure how the built in app is deciding which to pick.
Message 8 of 10
randywei
Aspirant

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

Just tried the Genie browser built-in speed test while I was hardwired into my router and still got about 450/40, but when I test separately at speedtest.net I get the gigabit downstream.

 

I guess pleman's answer will have to do!  Thanks!

Message 9 of 10
myersw
Master

Re: R7000 wired speed as expected, but Nighthawk/Genie speed test is about half

If I were getting the expected speeds from speedtest.net then I would write the Genie speed test off as still more issues with Netgear support and quite worrying about it. Time to move on.

Message 10 of 10
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