Resist Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 So all of a sudden my iPhone Wifi speed dropped from 340Mbps to under 100Mbps. Yet when I ran a speed test with my laptop it was around 340Mbps. Checked the DumaOS and it's showing my iPhone as being offline, while I'm watching Netflix on it via Wifi, so my phone is definitely online. My XR500 router is running firmware V2.3.2.134 and everything was fine yesterday. I've rebooted my cable modem, router and iPhone, which fixed nothing. The QOS bandwidth allocation for my iPhone is set to 350Mbps, not sure if that makes a difference because my laptop is set to zero yet still downloads at 340Mbps. So then I blocked my iPhone via the Device Manager (it's the correct MAC address), yet it still had internet access via Wifi. Then I deleted my iPhone from Device Manager and my iPhone still was able to get on the internet via Wifi. What the heck?! Any suggestions? UPDATE: Figured out my iPhone had Private Wifi Address on, so blocking that address blocked the phone from the internet. When I unblocked it and ran another speed test things were much faster but still slower than yesterday. Changed the phone from my networks 2.4Ghz Wifi to 5GHz and then everything was good again. So now the question is why all of a sudden today did this issue happened when I made no changes to my phone or network prior to now? As far as I know my phone has been using 2.4GHz all the time and the download speed was always around 340Mbps. Or maybe the iPhone had automatically been connecting via 5GHz and for some reason today connected to 2.4GHz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netduma Liam Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 Welcome to the forum! I would think if possible, the iPhone would've used the 5GHz network. Though if range/signal strength weren't permitting it would use 2.4GHz. Do you have SmartConnect enabled in the NETGEAR Wi-Fi settings? Have there recently been any more wireless devices added to the network that you can think of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resist Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 When I stand right next to the router and pick my general network name (not the isolated 5GHz one I set up), it still goes to 2.4GHz. Just yesterday I was farther away from the router than normal and it had super fast download speeds. SmartConnect is enabled. No recent devices have been added to my network. UPDATE AGAIN: Okay so this was weird, I stood in front of my router and picked my general network name and now the router put my iPhone on 5GHz and I have 340Mbps download speeds. Very strange. But shouldn't I still be able to get that 340Mbps download speed on 2.4GHz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netduma Liam Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 6 minutes ago, Resist said: When I stand right next to the router and pick my general network name (not the isolated 5GHz one I set up), it still goes to 2.4GHz. Just yesterday I was farther away from the router than normal and it had super fast download speeds. SmartConnect is enabled. No recent devices have been added to my network. That's interesting, if you disable SmartConnect you can manually choose which network to connect the iPhone to. I'd suggest keeping on 5GHz as you mention for the improved speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resist Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 I'm keeping it set to SmartConnect for now, since I know what to do should things slow down. But again my XR500 2.4GHz Wifi should have been able to handle 300Mbps downloads easily, perhaps maybe weird atmospheric conditions prevented it from passing through walls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted July 18, 2022 Administrators Share Posted July 18, 2022 52 minutes ago, Resist said: I'm keeping it set to SmartConnect for now, since I know what to do should things slow down. But again my XR500 2.4GHz Wifi should have been able to handle 300Mbps downloads easily, perhaps maybe weird atmospheric conditions prevented it from passing through walls? Yes it should but 2.4GHz is very perceptible to interference so if there are a lot of wireless networks in your area that can impact it, also if you have wireless (not WiFi enabled necessarily but wireless headphones, remotes etc) within close proximity to the router they can interfere as well. It's a weird one but worth mentioning as well, if you have a microwave fairly close to the router, when you put that on it will interfere with the signal. Generally 5GHz is recommended for high speeds and 2.4GHz for range and stability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resist Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 I thought about other device interference but nothing was on. Could be I just never noticed the slower download speed with my phone in that part of my house before, because I can't remember if I ever did a speed test after my download speed was increased from 100Mbps to 300Mbps. I appreciate all the help with this issue, it made me learn more about my phone and home Wifi network. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted July 18, 2022 Administrators Share Posted July 18, 2022 That could be it, 2.4GHz does have better penetration through walls as you mentioned whereas that isn't 5GHz strong point so depending on your living space size it may switch to 2.4GHz the further away you get from the router Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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