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Will WiFi 6 help with congested network of older devices

GrandpaR
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Will WiFi 6 help with congested network of older devices

We're having issues with Google Classroom / Meet frequent drops / disconnects

 

300Mbps service from Comcast; Motorola-ARRIS SURFboard SB6183 Cable Modem; R6400v2 Wireless AC1750 Smart Dual-Band Wi-Fi Router; no Comcast equipment. Medium size house.

 

Everything runs good, EXCEPT somedays, two Chromebooks and a Win 10 PC will frequently drop during Google Classroom Meet. They drop out of the Meet and reconnect in 3-30 seconds. I tried switching to the 2.4GHz band for it's longer distance, but it didn't help. A little better when users are 20 feet away in same room vs 30 feet away and around one wall. However, I can get great signal further away (in the same direction) out on the deck.

 

Seems like something is making Meet super-sensitive. Today, I tried setting a QoS rule to High on the Chromebooks, but then I see Google doesn't recommend using QoS. (No one streaming video or other high usage on other devices during Meet.)

 

I also have some days (or two) when I have to reboot the R6400v2 multiple times during the day - it just locks up, drops WiFi and Ethernet and admin control. Then it will run fine for 3+ weeks at a time. (The Google Meet drops are on good days.) I suspect channel congestion, but that shouldn't lock out Ethernet and admin access via Ethernet. I've suspected overheating and put a small fan blowing on it, but it's run weeks without the fan. Suspected heavy backup traffic to external ReadyShare drive, so I disabled them, but still had failures the day after disabling ReadyShare. This total lock-up is a long-term issue, starting long before Google Meet use.

 

Today, I had to reboot router; reboot modem and router; reboot router. While getting ready for this post, we had issues again where one Chromebook had good internet access; laptop with Ethernet had fair access but site names weren't resolving, then I could not connect to RouterLogin.net via Ethernet and had to reboot router again. Weird that one Chromebook kept internet access while I couldn't even do admin via Ethernet.

 

Here the main question for this forum - Should I expect better connections and performance with a WiFi 6 RAX router when our devices are primarily older 2.4GHz pre-n protocol?

I understand the WiFi 6 RAX routers should help with congestion, but is that only with newer devices?

 

I've had the R6400v2 for 3 years (5-year old model?), so I've been thinking of upgrading to a NetGear RAX35 (I'd rather have a RAX40 or RAX50, but they're pricey and I'm not sure we'll reap huge benefits). Only have one new laptop that supports AX and it's normally on Ethernet, so no big speed gain expected. I'm not sure if the RAX OFDMA would help with congestion - we do have 3 phones, 2 tablets, 3 PCs, 2 Chromebooks, plus about a dozen IoT devices, mostly 2.4GHz pre-n, so our 2.4GHz band is rather congested. Also, the RAX35-50 (medium house) appear to have a bit less distance than the R6400v2 (medium to large house), so I don't know if I would take a step back on range.

 

Model: R6400|AC1750 Smart WiFi Router
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