XR500 slow wifi speeds

[Joltive]

(My Internet plan is 1000 Mpbs download) When I have a direct wired connection to the CM1000 modem, i get close to 900 Mbps.

With the XR500 5Ghz i get max 240 Mbps wireless, and with the 2.4 Ghz I only get about 55 Mpbs download speed.

I read some previous threads and tried turning off the anti-blufferbloat, I've tried it with it on, and then with high priority.  One of the suggestions was to turn off QoS but I don't see the option for that.  I have tried 3 different cat 6 cables from the modem to the router.  I've tried turning them off for a few minutes and turning it back on.  The firmware is up to date.  Am I missing something?

[PharmDawgg]

This should assist with getting your full speeds.

http://support.netduma.com/support/solutions/articles/16000076586-dumaos-optimal-settings-guide-maxmimum-bandwidth-speeds

[Joltive]

Thanks, unfortunately none of those steps have helped

[Netduma Fraser]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

You can turn off QoS from the Anti-Bufferbloat 3 line menu. What do you get through a wired speed test? It's important to find out the router itself is getting the correct speeds before we focus on wireless.

[Joltive]

Thanks, disabling helped a little.  Now i'm getting 340 Mbps on my 5 ghz wireless, but shouldn't it still be at least 800 Mbps?? I set my phone in the room with the router and it's still just getting 340 Mbps as well.  I turned off smart connect and tried that, same thing.

[Netduma Fraser]

What are you getting through a wired speed test on your PC with QoS disabled?

[Joltive]

I'm getting around 740 Mbps, which when I called Cox Communications they said it's typical for 70% to 80% of the actual 1 Gig speed.  I spoke to Netgear tech support and they basically told me the same steps which was factory restart, which I did and seemed to at least help a bit.

Should I be getting at least 400 Mbps or is 340 normal for a wireless connection? I'm literally in the next room

[Netduma Fraser]

Okay so wired connection is there. Real world speed for 5GHz is anyway from 200-1G really. I would suggest using a wifi analyser to find the least congested channel and change to that. Also remove any wireless devices e.g. headsets etc from within close proximity as that could interfere with the signal

[DjimiDay]

Hi, hoping this is the right thread and somone with a technical brain might be able to explain. Recently my Internet seems to be struggling. We're on Vodaphone High Speed 2 and advertised at 75MBS. (the Vodaphone app says it's got a sync speed of 80mbs).

I've been using the netgear xr500 with a TP link router set to bridge mode. Recently I've noticed a considerable reduction in speed (Netflix buffering, Web pages taking ages to open etc). 

I decided to run some speed tests on my PS4 (wired) with each router and the results confuse me. 

I did 5 tests in each and took the average. 

With netgear xr500, the average was 18.5mbs download and 331.8 upload. 

With vodaphone, the average was 65.1mbs download and 8.2 (or something) for upload. 

My questions are. 

1) why the huge swing between upload and download with each router? 

2) which is better for online gaming, the higher upload or the download? 

Many thanks 

James 

[Netduma Fraser]

On 7/1/2020 at 3:58 PM, DjimiDay said:

Hi, hoping this is the right thread and somone with a technical brain might be able to explain. Recently my Internet seems to be struggling. We're on Vodaphone High Speed 2 and advertised at 75MBS. (the Vodaphone app says it's got a sync speed of 80mbs).

I've been using the netgear xr500 with a TP link router set to bridge mode. Recently I've noticed a considerable reduction in speed (Netflix buffering, Web pages taking ages to open etc). 

I decided to run some speed tests on my PS4 (wired) with each router and the results confuse me. 

I did 5 tests in each and took the average. 

With netgear xr500, the average was 18.5mbs download and 331.8 upload. 

With vodaphone, the average was 65.1mbs download and 8.2 (or something) for upload. 

My questions are. 

1) why the huge swing between upload and download with each router? 

2) which is better for online gaming, the higher upload or the download? 

Many thanks 

James 

So your download that you pay for is around 75-80, what are you advertised for for upload? Unless you're on some plan I'm unaware of then your expected upload would be much lower. In that case it's very odd you're get over 3x what your download should be (if you meant Mbps and not Kbps). This is generally why we don't advise people to use speed tests on the console as they're not the most accurate. What speeds do you get using a wired PC? Gaming primarily uses upload but much less than 1mbps so either way you'd have enough there.

[DjimiDay]

Thank you. Might have accidently looked at kbps. I'll run it with a wired connection tomo and check what the advertised upload is. Why would there be such a difference in upload in favour of the Vodafone? Even if running a wired test to PS4. Surely they are somewhat comparable? 

[DjimiDay]

This is the speed test with the netgear xr500 with a Draytek Vigor 130 connected to a laptop by ethernet cable. 17.2 download seems very low when the vodaphone says I am receiving 75+. Is it worth be factory resetting netgear as I have played with settings over last few months?

[DjimiDay]

That's also the highest I got. Most if the time it was 5.5 MBPS. 

[DjimiDay]

Says I'm getting 177‰ variance which doesn't sound good. 

[DjimiDay]

I've been playing about with settings to see if I have missed something. On wireless settings, should I enable smart connect? I get this message and not sure what to do... 

[DjimiDay]

Attached are some other photos of settings etc. Does anything look off? Think I've hidden all personal info. (fingers crossed). 

[Netduma Fraser]

Well what do you get direct to the Draytek without the XR? There isn't anything there that indicates an issue.

[kderentz]

Hi Guys,

Hate to bump a old thread but hoping you guys can help. My XR500 is get insanely slow speeds. I have 1000 Mbps service and hardwire Im getting 888 down and 913 up. This is hardwired to the back of the XR500 ( I can't skip the router as I'm using it with PPPoE for connecting with the ISP). On wifi Im lucky to get 73 down and 38 up. So something is up. 

I tired the steps above and disabled QoS and it made my speed actually worst. 

I used Apples Wifi Scanning tool and changed the channels for both 5GHz and 2.4GHz and it gave a slight bump in speed (actually the speeds posted above are after changing channels) but nothing to be excited about. 

I also tried disabling "Enable Smart Connect" and connecting to the 5GHz channel and speeds were worst that way. 

Lastly I check and IPv6 is disabled. 

Anything else I can look at?

EDIT:

Also this is the case on both my new iPhone and iMac and wife's PC, as for a while I was concerned it was an issue with the wireless in the iMac. 

[Netduma Liam]

10 hours ago, kderentz said:

Hi Guys,

Hate to bump a old thread but hoping you guys can help. My XR500 is get insanely slow speeds. I have 1000 Mbps service and hardwire Im getting 888 down and 913 up. This is hardwired to the back of the XR500 ( I can't skip the router as I'm using it with PPPoE for connecting with the ISP). On wifi Im lucky to get 73 down and 38 up. So something is up. 

I tired the steps above and disabled QoS and it made my speed actually worst. 

I used Apples Wifi Scanning tool and changed the channels for both 5GHz and 2.4GHz and it gave a slight bump in speed (actually the speeds posted above are after changing channels) but nothing to be excited about. 

I also tried disabling "Enable Smart Connect" and connecting to the 5GHz channel and speeds were worst that way. 

Lastly I check and IPv6 is disabled. 

Anything else I can look at?

EDIT:

Also this is the case on both my new iPhone and iMac and wife's PC, as for a while I was concerned it was an issue with the wireless in the iMac. 

OK, so it's only wireless devices that are having this problem, wired devices are fine right?

How are you testing your speeds? Are you using a third-party speed-test app on the device itself?

What's the make and modem of your ISP modem? Does it have Wi-Fi functionality? Is there any way you can take it out of modem/bridge mode and have it handle PPPoE, then re-test?

[kderentz]

4 hours ago, Netduma Liam said:

OK, so it's only wireless devices that are having this problem, wired devices are fine right?

How are you testing your speeds? Are you using a third-party speed-test app on the device itself?

What's the make and modem of your ISP modem? Does it have Wi-Fi functionality? Is there any way you can take it out of modem/bridge mode and have it handle PPPoE, then re-test?

Correct, wired devices are totally fine. 

I was using both Google Speed test and Speedtest.net via browser on both desktop and mobile. 

Right now Im not using the modem at all. I have Centurylink fiber service at my house, so we are able to skip the modem all together and just use PPPoE credentials to login. I can try installing the modem/router combo again, its just that its old and doesn't have Gigabyte ports (only the WAN port is Gigabyte, not the LAN ports). I'll try putting that back in between and see what happens.  

 

[Netduma Fraser]

Do you have a lot of WiFi networks in your vicinity? Where is the router located? Is it on a metal shelf or anything like that? Is it close to electrical/wireless devices? Change the antennae to look like this _ | | _ and that may help as well.

[kderentz]

23 minutes ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Do you have a lot of WiFi networks in your vicinity? Where is the router located? Is it on a metal shelf or anything like that? Is it close to electrical/wireless devices? Change the antennae to look like this _ | | _ and that may help as well.

Right now I have it mounted above the house's smart box in the laundry room. I have to do this as its where all the hardwiring is located for all the rooms in the house. There are several networks around as its residential area so most of my neighbors have wifi set ups. 

[Netduma Fraser]

Does the smart box produce its own WiFi as well? If so I would disable that as that will interfere. Understood, 5GHz doesn't have amazing wall penetration so it's sort of getting hit with that immediately before it can provide wifi to devices so it won't be as strong compared with being put in the lounge for example. The antennae placement should help though.