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Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

rmh77243
Tutor

R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

There are multiple posts on the slow speed on this router but I did not find any that are similar to the issue I have. I have also tried most things listed apart from a factory reset as avoiding till now the need to set everything back up.

I recently upgraded my internet connection from 200Mbps to 500Mbps but noticed I was not getting mush of an increase. Doing a speed test on the router shows a good speed but a speed test from PC is around 250Mbps. I have QAS disabled, Traffic Manager disabled, on latest firmware and have re-applied the firmware, I do have access controlled enabled though.

I did one more test today and got some weird results.

If I enable QAS my speed dropped from the normal 250Mbps to about 160Mbps. When I then disabled QAS the speed test went to 395Mbps. This is speed test from my PC, yet during that time I did a speed test on the router and got 517Mbps. I have also noticed the speed test is gradually getting slower from my PC. 1 hour later and the speed test has dropped to 334Mbps, with router showing 508Mbps on a speed test there. Once again, I enabled QAS and disabled and the speed test from PC went up to 380Mbps. Still 120 Mbps from what the router speed test gets but better than the 50% I am normally getting.

Sorry for the slightly long ramble on this but wanted to give plenty of detail. If anyone has had the same issue and a way to resolve it. I would appreciate any information you could provide that could lead to a possible fix. The router is 5 years old so getting on but if a fix is out there then no need to replace what has been a good router up to now.

Cheers.

Model: R8000|Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Smart WIFI Router
Message 1 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

What firmware are you on? 

What modem/gateway is it connected to?

there's 4 services we usually recommend disabling to get full speeds: access control, traffic monitoring, parental controls, and qos. 

 

If you've had them enabled, try the factory reset and clean install (not from backup). This can usually help. 

You can always try disabling the services and rebooting and seeing how it works. 

Or even disable them, do a backup, factory reset and then install from backup. worst case, it doesn't help and you need to just do a clean install. 

Message 2 of 12
rmh77243
Tutor

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

HI

Firmware Version - V1.0.4.62_10.1.74

Modem is Virgin Media Modem working in Modem only mode. Of the 4 services only 1 enabled is access control.

 

I will do a backup, try the disabel access control and see how that goes. After that, then looks like factory reset and see how it is before re -setting things up. To be honest may be best option as it has been sat running for 5 years and never had a factory reset, a reboot every now and then and firmware updates as needed.

 

Thanks for quick response 🙂

Message 3 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

Let me know how it goes!

Message 4 of 12
rmh77243
Tutor

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

Slightly baffled as I was expecting to need to do more but here is what I did.

 

Made no changes and did a speed test to get a baseline was 302Mbps on router it was 507Mbps.

Did a Backup of Router config

Disabled Acces Control

Another speed test and was now 329Mbps.

 

Rebooted router and Modem

Another speed test and this time shows as 553Mbps but speed test on router shows 358Mbps.

 

Essentially all I did was a backup, disable access control and a restart of modem and router. Speed jumped by 250Mbps.

 

Did another speed test to see if it was a one off and got 523Mbps. Going to leave as is and see how things go for a few days then may re-enable access control and see what impact it has.

 

 

Message 5 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

the speedtest on the router isn't reliable (through the app). Reason why is it usually picks the closest server and not the fastest server. Its nice to have but if you have reasonably fast internet, its not reliable because you can't change servers. 

Message 6 of 12
rmh77243
Tutor

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

I guess this is a final summary from me if any help to others.

 

The problem with the loss of bandwidth for me clearly looked to be the use of Access Control. Since turning it off without doing a factory reset my speed has been stable all week around 550Mbps. Which on an advertised 500Mbps connection is as about the best I am going to get. Today I turned Access Control back on and my speed test instantly dropped to between 250Mbps and 265Mbps. Turning it back off instantly back to 550Mbps.

 

I was really shocked how much of an impact the Access Control is on bandwidth. I prefer to have that on for Wi-Fi connections but there does not seem to be an option to do that and the overall impact on bandwidth is huge.

 

Thanks to all the replies that helped me get to the bottom of this. I will certainly be looking more closely at impacted throughput when security features are enabled on any future replacement for this router. I am already looking more at a wired only router and then using an access point for just Wi-Fi connections. Potentially more expensive but likely to be more secure.

 

Cheers…..

Message 7 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

for speeds greater than 250mbps the router needs cut through forwarding (ctf) to hit those speeds. When that's been disabled, it places the burden on the cpu and it doesn't have the power to hit much faster than that speeds. Services that disable it: qos, parental controls, access control, traffic monitoring. 
Its why we usually recommend those be disabled. Occassionally ,some have had to fully factory reset and leave those disabled to get ctf to be re-enabled. 

Message 8 of 12

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

What the heck good are the services if you have to disable all of them to keep the router from choking out your bandwidth?  I have been using access control to control when my children have access to the Internet. With QOS and traffic control OFF, I WAS getting speed readings from 180-210 at a laptop wired directly to router. I am paying for 350MBPS. Xfinity technician has been out more than once to troubleshoot. We both determined hard wired speed out directly from modem was 350+. Software Speedtest through router admin interface also showed 350ish.  But I was losing 130-170MBPS on the backside of router, regardless of port or cables (tried several cat6e) used. Once I turned access control and parental controls off, bam, 360MBPS.  Why on earth would there be such an overhead to run these features? Surely Netgear knows about it and could address it.

 

 


Model: R8000P|Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri Band WiFi Router
Message 9 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

@itsmecantusee If you'd like to make your own post and ask that, we'd be happy to get back. Otherwise part of the ToS is no threadjumping

Message 10 of 12

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

Thanks,

 

I'm not sure how you construe my reponse to the R8000 slow ethernet speed post as "thread jumping". Is it not exactly what my issue was?

 

Message 11 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: R8000 - Slow ethernet speed

If you're wanting help, the threads are supposed to be for each individual person. So we can tailor help and make sure not to confuse the original posters details with someone elses. Jumping in on another thread wanting advice is thread jumping. You can go through a thread and try things and post what works for you but if you're needing help, please start your own and we'll be happy to help. 

Message 12 of 12
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