Is it at all possible for this older model WNR3500Lv2 to be configured to reach my ISP provider speed of 150 mbs?
I've updated the firmware to latest, turned off QOS, all other settings default, but can peak out on Okala Speedtest at about 90-95mbs for both upload and download (upload is equal to download speeds because TELUS Optik TV subscription provides close to synchronous DLS for that service.)
I pay for a 150mbs service from the TELUS phone co here in Canada.
TELUS uses an Actiontec T3200M router configured to the Nokia fibre adapter box coming into my home.
If I connect my desktop computer directly to a LAN port on the Actiontec T3200M I get the full speed that I'm paying for (actually Ookla Speedtest say 170mbs or greater). On the TELUS Actiontec T3200M I have WiFi and DHCP diabled so that I can use it strictly as a bridge router to pass the ISP internet feed into the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 via one of its 1G LAN ports. I'm using the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 as my WiFi and DHCP address server.
So for my test I switch the ethernet connection on my desktop computer ethernet from the TELUS Actiontec T3200M into one of the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 LAN ports.
So then my speed as reported by Ookla Speedtest (same speedtest) drops to about 90mbs.
On the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 I've turned off all QoS, Parental control, Access control, port forwarding etc.
So this is a very direct comparison test. I can unplug all other ethernet feeds out of the Netgear LAN port to eliminate any possible external conflict on the home LAN, but it makes no difference, I still get 90mbs instead of the full 150 or greater.
So my question is: Where is the bottleneck that's throttling the speed on the Netgear, or is the Netgear not capable of passing through a 150mbs signal, applying DHCP and feeding it to my desktop via one of its LAN ports?
On the TELUS Actiontec T3200M I have WiFi and DHCP diabled so that I can use it strictly as a bridge router to pass the ISP internet feed into the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 via one of its 1G LAN ports. I'm using the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 as my WiFi and DHCP address server.
The Actiontec T3200M is a "Bonded VDSL2 Wireless AC Gateway Router".
So "bridge mode" is the right thing to do if you want to use the WNR3500Lv2 as a router. But that raises the question, what do you want the Netgear WNR3500Lv2 for? As you said earlier, it is pretty old, from 2011.
Why use it as your "WiFi and DHCP address server" when the Actiontec is likely to be a lot better?
Unlike the Actiontec, the WNR3500Lv2 doesn't have 5 GHz wifi. You don't say If your Ookla tests are done over wifi. If so, 90-95 Mbps is pretty good.
Your subject says, "Slow Wired LAN speeds". A four-port 1000 Mbps switch, the smallest on offer, costs next to nothing. If the idea is to use the WNR3500Lv2 to give you wider wifi coverage, you would do better to work out how to put that into access point mode and to use the Actiontec as the router.
I should feed the Actiontec to a larger switch and be done with the Netgear router altogether. I currently have an 8 port switch fed from the Netgear because I need 12 ports total for all my wired devices on my home LAN.
I guess I was lazy when I kept the Netgear having gone through 2 generations of TELUS routers having them hooked up as bridges. I think I found the configuration options on the Actiontec and previous TELUS router to be less full featured than most separate routers. They even discourage to customers from logging directly into the Actiontech and doing your own configuration. They've taken the Apple approach, plug in your desktop.
(BTW I didn't do any wireless speed tests cause I don't expect or need much performance on Wireless. All my house computers are wired except my smart phone and I don't do any real computing on that).
I think I found the configuration options on the Actiontec and previous TELUS router to be less full featured than most separate routers.
That's a general issue. ISPs don't like people messing around with the equipment they supply. Indeed, cable ISPs prevent users, and modem makers, from updating firmware on devices, thus blocking them from plugging security holes or changing the features that depend on firmware.
This is why experienced users get a modem-only front end and follow it with a grown up router. That gives then a wider of features and routers that can be far more sophisticated than anything the ISPs offer. They also end up with routers that will still work if they change their Internet technology or move house.
Unfortunately, in your case it might be hard to find a decent modem. Bonded DSL is rare, not something that Netgear supports, and modem makers are generally withdrawing from the DSL modem business. Again, this is in part down to ISPs trying to block the use of modem only boxes. (I got that from someone with the UK's biggest provider of Internet infrastructure.) So people are left with "bridge mode". In my experience that is not an ideal solution.
