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SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

phenry9999
Tutor

SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

I have a 1Gb service from my provider, and when I run the Speedtest (https://beta.speedtest.net/) I see 925Mbps down. Great. But when I'm on the router admin tool and trying to run the QoS Speedtest, it only reports 272Mbps. I've run these tests back to back, without anything else going on the comptuer and network. Both the router and my computer are hard wired into the router and modem (ie no computers with wifi involved with the tests).

 

Why are the reported numbers so different?

 

Why is the NetGear reported numbers lower than my computer? I would have thought the router, being directly connected to the ISP modem would have the fastest speed of all and the local networked computers would be less, but that's not the case.

 

PS I have turned off all other settings which could impact network performance (ie enabling dynamic QoS, parental controls, and access controls).

Model: R8000P|Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri Band WiFi Router
Message 1 of 12
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

What Firmware version is currently loaded?
What is the Mfr and model# of the Internet Service Providers modem/ONT the NG router is connected too?

 

There maybe a bug in the onboard speed test app vs using a external speed test app on a PC. 

Message 2 of 12
phenry9999
Tutor

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

Hello. Thank you for the reply. I have just upgraded the firmware (V1.0.4.76_10.1.82), but have been experiencing this for the past six months or so.

 

The Rogers Modem is a....Technicolor model CGM4140COM. Does this help?

 

re bug with onboard test

Seems like something Netgear would know about and be looking to fix with subsequent firmware updates?

Message 3 of 12
FURRYe38
Guru

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

What mode is your modem working in? Router or Bridge mode? Your modem already has a built in router...

 

Ya if NG is aware of it they would come out with a follow on FW to fix it. If your getting to spec speeds with external apps, You'll be fine for now. 

Message 4 of 12
phenry9999
Tutor

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

re router or bridge mode

Great question. Bridge mode. The Rogers modems as routers have a less than stellar reputation, and I prefer to have my own dedicated router as well.

Message 5 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

Just to clarify.

You do get full speed when wired into the router and testing using the speedtest site? 
Just not when testing using the built in speedtest in the netgear app? 

 

The app/built in test is rarely accurate at speeds >500 mbps as it doesn't pick the appropriate server to test off. 

Which is why at those speeds, we recommend using the actual speedtest site. Even the site sometimes doesn't pick the best server and you have to manually change it. 

Message 6 of 12
phenry9999
Tutor

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

re clarifying

Correct, wired and "full" speed reported from website on my internal and local network speed, yet dramatically reduced speed directly from router.

 

Curious about how the remote server selection has more of an impact than the CAT4 wiring I have in my house. I guess I don't need to upgrade to latest and greatest CAT number.

 

re rarerly accurate over 500mbps

Seems like something Netgear really needs to address and pronto IMHO. Or, remove the internal functionality and simply redirect to the external site to run the test there. The problem I have though is, I want to run the perf test from the router and note from my internal computer because I would expect different results (router direct connet to bridged modem, and my internal computer is more wires away from the router and could be limited by QoS).

 

Thank you for your help and quick replies to explain things.

Message 7 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

If you have gigabit service, you shouldn't have your qos on. Its not recommended at speeds over 250mbps. There used to be  KB article from netgear on that but I couldn't find it (or it was removed). 

 

Cat 4 cables? wowsa. And you're getting gigabit links? I'm fairly impressed with that. I've seen standard cat 5 hit gigabit when it was a short enough run and good quality cables. Cat 5e has been pretty sound on gigabit (quality ones). But never seen cat 4 do it. 

 

I'd agree the speedtest option should be pulled. I've ran mulitple routers and only seen 1 company consistently have an integrated speedtest because they hosted their own servers for speedtesting. (or thats the impression they gave during testing).

 

I'd simply just install the speedtest app for windows and use that. Plus you can manually change the server it it chooses a poor server. 

 

Message 8 of 12
phenry9999
Tutor

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

re QoS

Haha, I was "playing" with these settings early during the pandemic because I was getting complaints from others that my network was slow for internet meetings. But I had gigabit..how can it be slow? I tried ALL kinds of settings, but nothing really worked, except turning off all\any monitoring\logging\qos stuff. Then speeds were back up....from Rogers and speedtest sites.

 

re cat4 cables

I installed the cables when we did renos years ago (don't judge haha cat5 was hugely $ at that time). I was\am concerned the cables are what are going to limit my internal speeds. But as of now, they seem to be acceptable.

 

re never seen cat4 do it?

I'm confused too!!!!! But, I'm showing the speedtest results above. But when I see conflicting values (netgear vs rogers vs speedtest), I get concerns, someone's lieing to me?!?!!? But who?

 

re speedtest app
I was using that as well. The thing is Rogers (ISP) own site was showing slow speeds, different from speedtest app and different again from the website...confusion abound. But that was when I was using the routers monitoring\logging\qos options. I never realized just how much they sap bandwidth. :<

 

Thanks again for the helpful information. Have a good day.

Message 9 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

With gigabit and the R8000, make sure you have qos, access control, traffic monitoring, and parental controls all disabled.

You'll get the best performance out of it that route. 

Message 10 of 12
phenry9999
Tutor

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

re make sure you have disabled

Going through them now and rechecking them. I was playing with the parental control originally, which is what started all this off actually. I really hated having to pay more for Circle for features, IMHO, should be part of the router which I paid a higher price for. Anyways, I'm checking these are all off now. I have an automated reminder to check for these regularly.

 

Thanks again.

Message 11 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: SpeedTest reporting 1/3 of speed that SpeedTest reports, how come?

Rarely, i've seen once in a while when someone had this enabled and disabling them didn't fix slow downs. 

In those cased, I usually have peopel factory reset and reinstall with making sure those are disabled during the install. 

that usually fixes slow downs on that device.

(just not the built in speedtest, don't trust it)

Message 12 of 12
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