RAX75 + CM1100 vs Comcast XB6

[aturgear]

Hello, I am hoping the community can help me with my issues:

I purchased from Costco an RAX75 and CM1100 back in mid 2020, with speeds up to 50 (what I was paying for). In 2021, I upgraded my speeds to 200mpbs, which the RAX75 was able to do after some troubleshooting. In 2022, I have decided to upgrade to 600mpbs with Comcast because my contract was expiring and it was going to cost the same amount of money. Unfortunately, the router and modem combo was still only capping out at 200 up and 5 down. After multiple chats with comcast and a technician sent over, they gave me one of their rental units for testing. Their unit is able to do the 600 up and 20 down I should be getting.

Is my netgear devices not capable of handling those speeds? The technician that came said that the chipset in the netgear may not be powerful enough to handle higher speeds. I purchased the RAX75 and CM1100 hoping that would last me a good long while and be able to handle the latest standards.

If someone can guide me as to how to increase speeds on my netgear devices so I won't have to either rent or purchase something new that would be great. Thanks in advance!

[aturgear · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply plemans!

After switching back and forth between the xfi device and my personal setup, plus a factory reset, we are getting different results than what we had before! Odd

Connecting directly to modem doesnt work for me on my pc. (yes, router was off) It said the connection didnt have a proper ip address

Connecting directly to router shows as expected results: 700.09 down, 24.01 up

Connecting via 2.4 ghz channel shows as expected results: 203.33 down, 23.86 up (I am aware of the slower speeds when connecting to this channel).

Connecting via 5 ghz channel shows as expected results: 695.78 down, 24.09 up

Access control, parental controls, and traffic meter are all off.

Latest firmware on router (V1.0.5.132_1.0.69).

I am using speedtest.net (not thru app, but website).

I can't explain why my issues are no longer...well..an issue! My process of what I did was connect and register comcast modem/router. Used it for an hour. Then deregistered their modem to re-register my modem. And wallah, I am getting excellent speeds!

Thank you for your assistance! But let me know if there is anything else I should keep in mind, or change to make my system optimal.

[FURRYe38]

Be sure to speed test with a wired PC  connected to the CM modem with out the RAX online. 

FYI, my CM1100/1200 modems handle my ISPs 1000x50 service just fine. 

Please post a copy and paste of the modems connection status page.
Have the ISP check the signal and line quality UP to the modem. Be sure the ISP provisions the modem correctly.
Be sure there are no coax cable line splitters in the between the modem and ISP service box. 
Be sure your using good quality RG6 coax cable up to the modem. 
Be sure to power OFF the modem for 1 minute then back ON.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Cable-Modems-Routers/General-info-and-Troubleshooting-for-Cable-Mod...
https://kb.netgear.com/24311/Power-level-guidelines-for-a-NETGEAR-cable-modem-router?article=24311
https://www.duckware.com/tech/solving-intermittent-cable-modem-issues.html

For CM series modem support, Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the Cable Modem products.:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Cable-Modems-Routers/bd-p/home-cable-modems-routers

For RAX sereis router support, Netgear has set up a community forum specifically for the NightHawk RAX WiFi 6 Router products:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-Routers-with-WiFi-6-AX/bd-p/en-home-routers-nighthawk-wif...

Please use this link to the main forum product list to review and choose where to make your posts. 
https://community.netgear.com/t5/NETGEAR-Forum/ct-p/en-netgear
Thank you.

[plemans]

You need to figure out where the bottleneck is. 

1. hardwire into the modem and test the speeds you're getting. 

2. hardwire into the router and check the speeds. 

3. test 2.4ghz and 5ghz speeds. 2.4ghz is slow so I wouldn't expect more than 100mbps out of it. 5ghz will depend on your device. 

4. Make sure to disable access control, traffic monitoring, access controls, and parental controls and reboot the router. 

5. what firmware is on the router?

6. what site are you using for testing speeds (don't use the built in speedtest, it isn't accurate)

[aturgear]

Attached are screenshots of my downstream/upstream power levels. Not sure how to interpret, but hopefully one of you can.

ISP has correctly identified my modem.

Line quality is good as far as I can tell. It is an RG6. But I guess the "correctable codewords" in those screenshots say otherwise? Based off that one article you attached from duckware.

There is only 1 splitter I am aware of. There is one line coming from the ground (only accessible by xfinity) to the xfinity box. That 1 line is connectd to a splitter. One goes to my house, the other to the neighboring property. 

Hope this information helps. Thank you all in advance!

[aturgear · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply plemans!

After switching back and forth between the xfi device and my personal setup, plus a factory reset, we are getting different results than what we had before! Odd

Connecting directly to modem doesnt work for me on my pc. (yes, router was off) It said the connection didnt have a proper ip address

Connecting directly to router shows as expected results: 700.09 down, 24.01 up

Connecting via 2.4 ghz channel shows as expected results: 203.33 down, 23.86 up (I am aware of the slower speeds when connecting to this channel).

Connecting via 5 ghz channel shows as expected results: 695.78 down, 24.09 up

Access control, parental controls, and traffic meter are all off.

Latest firmware on router (V1.0.5.132_1.0.69).

I am using speedtest.net (not thru app, but website).

I can't explain why my issues are no longer...well..an issue! My process of what I did was connect and register comcast modem/router. Used it for an hour. Then deregistered their modem to re-register my modem. And wallah, I am getting excellent speeds!

Thank you for your assistance! But let me know if there is anything else I should keep in mind, or change to make my system optimal.

[aturgear]

I am not sure if the pictrures in my previous reply are working on your end, but they aren't for me (even though they did show before I posted). And since the website won't let me edit my original reply, here is a second attempt at the screenshots.

[plemans]

More than likely the computer connection didn't work because even through the cm1100 has 2x ethernet ports, comcast (ugg) only allows you to connect 1 device to it because they only supply 1 public ip address. You'd have to disconnect the router and power the modem off for a few minutes. Then you'd connect the pc to it and boot up the modem first (give a few minutes), then the pc. 

but if you're getting your speeds now, AWESOME!

My favorite type of fix 🙂

In regards to your modem signal. You're right in the power spec window. Just a little out of it because you should be within 3.5dbmv of all the channels. You have a few out of that range. Could be a loose connection, sketchy splitter, or something along those lines. You don't have a whole lot of uncorrectables but its pretty early in useage so that isn't as beneficial. 

I'd use it and see how it goes. You can try optimizing the cable connections page by checking all your lines connections