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So after reading a lot of positive reviews and tests I bit the bullet and bought R7000 for $280, an upgrade from Linksys WRT310 N. I updated to the latest firmware to 1.0.4. Here is what happened.
1) I didn't know the WPS and WIFI buttons were click-able. So I long pressed on them nothing happened. Later after using the internet for sometime, the Wifi signal disappeared. I figured it must be because of what I did earlier. So I restarted the router, Wifi working. an hour later no Wifi signal. The WPS and WIFI button are off. I woke up today, switched the router on. After sometime same thing happened. What is this?
2) I thought I would benefit from the dual band, but it appears that the 5ghz can't reach far areas, the reason I bought the router for. So I will stick to the 2.4GHz and just use the new WiFi standard AC. I looked at control panel of the Netgear, and it appears that the faster AC standard is only available on the 5GHz, and the 2.4GHz has a/b/g/n. So I will not benefit from from the AC standard as if I didn't even upgrade ?
3) Finally I said at least I will have better coverage in the house with those 3 large antennas (previous router no antennas). I tried to check signals around the house, and it gave me just as much signal as with my older router. In fact, I went to one area of the house I didn't get the R7000 Wifi but my old Linksys connected. ?!
Am I missing something here? am I doing something wrong? This router got 4.5/5 from 3000+ reviewers on Amazon. Please help me, I can't return this and tell the store it doesn't cover area more than my old Linksys as an excuse.
I finally shut-off 5GHz, turned off beamforming or whatever its called and not sure what will happen now.
Here's a few tips that will hopefully keep you liking your R7000..
- (From experience - I have two of them) When you upgrade this router always do a factory reset after a firmware upgrade. There can be artifacts between the old fw or config that will cause grief on the router. Either way, it's best to start off with a clean slate.Never load an old version config on a new version of firmware.
-Ensure WMM is enabled on the router, always.
- QoS I would stay away from form as it impedes the Broadcom Cut Through Forwarding feature, especially if you have a 100+mb connection.
- Pick Wireless band channels, don't leave in auto mode. Try different channels. especially for 5ghz. (1,6,11 for 2.ghz). When you try different channels, reboot the router.
- 5ghz has better throughput, but shorter distance, as you have discovered. WIFI is based on environment, so not everything works the same for everyone.
- Not all routers are the same. Try getting the router up as high as possible and, in a well ventilated area, ideally, central to your environment.
Here's a few tips that will hopefully keep you liking your R7000..
- (From experience - I have two of them) When you upgrade this router always do a factory reset after a firmware upgrade. There can be artifacts between the old fw or config that will cause grief on the router. Either way, it's best to start off with a clean slate.Never load an old version config on a new version of firmware.
-Ensure WMM is enabled on the router, always.
- QoS I would stay away from form as it impedes the Broadcom Cut Through Forwarding feature, especially if you have a 100+mb connection.
- Pick Wireless band channels, don't leave in auto mode. Try different channels. especially for 5ghz. (1,6,11 for 2.ghz). When you try different channels, reboot the router.
- 5ghz has better throughput, but shorter distance, as you have discovered. WIFI is based on environment, so not everything works the same for everyone.
- Not all routers are the same. Try getting the router up as high as possible and, in a well ventilated area, ideally, central to your environment.
I am not sure what you mean by drivers. My router is brand new and I only installed the latest firmware. I didn't install anything on my computer or smartphones.
I have had numerous issues with this R7000 in the first week, and intermittently after that. I bought it approx 6 weeks ago.
Original issue noticed was slowness when downloading an image from Flickr. I used Speedtest.net, and found the d/l speed was barley 2 Mb/s, when I expect, and was getting, 60 - 70 Mb/s. I was using 2.4, but 5Ghz measure the same.
I powerd the router off, then on, and it was ok for a short while, paerhaps half a day, and it happened again. The speed from my ISPs cable mpodem was 100Mb/s; I tried the wired ports on the R7000, and ports 1,2,3 were slower than the wireless speeds, and port 4 timed out of Speedtest as it waited for a ping. Really bad.
I reset the router to factory settingds. pressing that button with a paper clip. The problem persisted, no change. I powerd the router off for 10 minutes, powered it on and let it boot up, and then pressed that factory reset button for a full 15 seconds before releasing it. It has not given me any issues since, though it is significantly slower, (20%) with less rf coverage (5db) than the ASUS N router I replaced (someone stood on it, - yes.) Dont ask why I then bought the Nighthawk, - it has so many glowing reviews, and my wifes imac seened to like dropping the 2.4 signal regularly, so I thought maybe something different. Its an exceptionally troublesome router. The Netgear support though is absolutely the worst. Ive never had to get router support from any vendor ever, so I cant compare them to anyone else. Thats because Ive never has issues with ASUS. If this barfs once more, its gone. Perhaos I didnt hold that reset button in long enought, - the power light did its thing, but I held it pressed much longer the second time. Maybe this will help someone else. If youre considering buying one, dont. If youre reading this, its probably yoo late.
Like you my coverage is not as good when using the 5G band. This is basic radio wave theory; the higher the frequency/shorter wavelenght the less distance the signal will travel. I also had difficulty connecting my Android tablet to the 5G band when standing next to the router, and when I did connect I would lose the connection and Android would then reconnect to the 2.4G band. Using the Netgear Genie there are few 5G signals around me.
My Solution was to change the channel to 42 from 157 on the 5G band and now I have a stable 5G connection using my android tablet around the house. In my case the channel made a huge difference even though there were no other 5G signals on the 157 channel around me, and I cannot explain why this is the case.
The difference is the 3 digit 5g channels are able to broadcast at a higher RF output level which in your case I would had expected the opposite. The channels and power limits are different in each region/country. I would verify you selected the correct location and check for driver updates
