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Router speeds OUT of our router

ramyankee
Explorer
Explorer
We have Spectrum service. A few months ago the told us we now have 300mbps service... They sent us a new modem. Ok, we were still getting, through my phone, 115mbps. Gen 7 Fire tablet is about 80mbps. The router is a Nighthawk 7800, about 2 1/2 years old, updated with the newest firmware. I installed a Genie app. Checking the speeds on the Netgear Genie app it says speeds out of the router is 238mbps. I am guessing the Netgear app has to be giving us the speeds out of the router and not out of the Spectrum modem? Because it cannot read speeds from the modem????? Correct. And the phone is a cheaper LG Stylo4...

So, what may be holding us up? Spectrum SAYS the system is working correctly. Can the router be too old to pass the 238 to us? I am totally over my head understanding most of what all the parties have told us. Almost like saying that it is the other guys fault.

Thank you
Rick and Patti ๐Ÿ™‚
2 Proud Christian CONSERVATIVES ๐Ÿ™‚
2002 Chevy Silverado, 8.1, Crew, LB, 3.73, 4X4
2020 Mesa Ridge 291rls
Now living in North Idaho (formerly Northeastern California) ... but the heart is with MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
15 REPLIES 15

Seattle_Steve
Explorer
Explorer
Gdetrailer wrote:
ramyankee wrote:
We have Spectrum service. A few months ago the told us we now have 300mbps service... They sent us a new modem. Ok, we were still getting, through my phone, 115mbps. Gen 7 Fire tablet is about 80mbps. The router is a Nighthawk 7800, about 2 1/2 years old, updated with the newest firmware. I installed a Genie app. Checking the speeds on the Netgear Genie app it says speeds out of the router is 238mbps. I am guessing the Netgear app has to be giving us the speeds out of the router and not out of the Spectrum modem? Because it cannot read speeds from the modem????? Correct. And the phone is a cheaper LG Stylo4...

So, what may be holding us up? Spectrum SAYS the system is working correctly. Can the router be too old to pass the 238 to us? I am totally over my head understanding most of what all the parties have told us. Almost like saying that it is the other guys fault.

Thank you


Hate to tell you, WiFi speeds are dependent on a lot of things and not ALL WiFi radios built in work equally well.

There are "standards" for WiFi, based off of the initial standard of 802.11 it started out at 1 mbps, superceeded by 2 mbps (which didn't talk to the old 1 mbps)..

Then came 802.11g which offers 54 mbps..

802.11n offered 108 mbps but it never really took off and I doubt many radio cards or APs really implemented it because there were several different standards (similar to "beta vs VHS" fight back in the 1980s) which were not compatible between them.

Speed comes at a price, distance, signal strength, signal quality, interference all affects the speed of your wireless devices..

WiFi speed is autonegotiated on the fly depending on how strong the signal is.

Your devices you mentioned have internal WiFi antennas, they typically are less than ideal which cuts down the distance you get and the speed you get.

If you are getting 80 mbps-115 mbps on WiFi, be happy you are getting that, it isn't going to get any better.

IF you want the max your Internet connection can offer you WILL need to connect your Laptop DIRECTLY through a wired Ethernet connection to your router and hopefully your router and laptop have a one gigibit connection..

There IS a huge difference in speed between 100 mbps and 1 gbps..


I agree with everything you pointed out about WiFi speeds, but would also add something that most people overlook. Networking of any kind is a two-way street. You will never be able to download at a speed faster than the other side is uploading, and virtually no one, at least at a consumer level, is uploading at 300 Mbps. The advantage to speeds like that are 1) you normally get a much higher upload speed (useful for cloud backups and some online gaming) and 2) multiple users in your household can connect at higher speeds, since your speed is always divided between all users on your network.

Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Explorer III
ramyankee wrote:
We have Spectrum service. A few months ago the told us we now have 300mbps service... They sent us a new modem. Ok, we were still getting, through my phone, 115mbps. Gen 7 Fire tablet is about 80mbps. The router is a Nighthawk 7800, about 2 1/2 years old, updated with the newest firmware. I installed a Genie app. Checking the speeds on the Netgear Genie app it says speeds out of the router is 238mbps. I am guessing the Netgear app has to be giving us the speeds out of the router and not out of the Spectrum modem? Because it cannot read speeds from the modem????? Correct. And the phone is a cheaper LG Stylo4...

So, what may be holding us up? Spectrum SAYS the system is working correctly. Can the router be too old to pass the 238 to us? I am totally over my head understanding most of what all the parties have told us. Almost like saying that it is the other guys fault.

Thank you


Hate to tell you, WiFi speeds are dependent on a lot of things and not ALL WiFi radios built in work equally well.

There are "standards" for WiFi, based off of the initial standard of 802.11 it started out at 1 mbps, superceeded by 2 mbps (which didn't talk to the old 1 mbps)..

Then came 802.11g which offers 54 mbps..

802.11n offered 108 mbps but it never really took off and I doubt many radio cards or APs really implemented it because there were several different standards (similar to "beta vs VHS" fight back in the 1980s) which were not compatible between them.

Speed comes at a price, distance, signal strength, signal quality, interference all affects the speed of your wireless devices..

WiFi speed is autonegotiated on the fly depending on how strong the signal is.

Your devices you mentioned have internal WiFi antennas, they typically are less than ideal which cuts down the distance you get and the speed you get.

If you are getting 80 mbps-115 mbps on WiFi, be happy you are getting that, it isn't going to get any better.

IF you want the max your Internet connection can offer you WILL need to connect your Laptop DIRECTLY through a wired Ethernet connection to your router and hopefully your router and laptop have a one gigibit connection..

There IS a huge difference in speed between 100 mbps and 1 gbps..

cleo43
Explorer
Explorer
joebedford wrote:
I get 5mbps. Sigh.

It's time to shop around.:)
Mine is 30/10 unlimited. It costs me 40$C/month - pretty good for a Canuk.
But I use Linux (MX) otherwise Win 10, with its updates, will drive me insane.

wowens79
Explorer III
Explorer III
To test the speed you need to plug a computer directly into the modem, and get the router out of the picture. Also need to make sure the computer doesnโ€™t have a bunch of **** on it that slows you down. If you are paying for 300, Iโ€™d consider 275 or better to be acceptable.

Wireless will typically be slower, but that is out of the providers hands. To get good wireless speeds covering a house, look at a mesh router system. They are expensive, but give great speeds and coverage. I use an Eero pro, and it has been really good. Other manufacturers make similar equipment.
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joebedford
Nomad II
Nomad II
I get 5mbps. Sigh.

c_c_dumas
Explorer
Explorer
I'm not familiar with the Genie App but I'd hope it includes the modem. My router actually times communication with a remote server to determine speed thus includes the modem.

Keep in mind that your devices may not be able to run at 300 mbps. I can't imagine why you'd need 300 mbps on a phone. Ok, maybe a quick backup to the cloud.

The advantage of a high speed service is when running multiple devices, say a couple 4k TVs along with your computer. Maybe a gaming console as well...

drsteve
Explorer
Explorer
The key phrase in the speed rating is "up to".
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1991 Palomino Filly PUP

j3ff9ack
Explorer
Explorer
If you have a laptop or computer that has a Gigabit Ethernet port, try using a Cat6 cable between the Nighthawk and the computer to eliminate the WiFi as a factor. You will have to test a few times to see if you get a better download rate than what the Netgear app says. You are sharing bandwidth with others until it gets to the fiber box for the neighborhood, so you may not get the full 300 - that's why you need to test multiple times.
2007 Jayco JayFlight 27.5 RKS
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pnichols
Explorer II
Explorer II
quartzster wrote:
As long as your Spectrum modem was placed in bridge mode by Spectrum, then the router should be working well, and you likely won't get 300 mbps, one never gets what they advertise, but you should be close.


I get what Comcast advertises and beyond into our stick house. My plan is for 65mbps, but right at our smatphones, an iPad, and a laptop I measure 85-90mbps coming wirelessly from our router.

However, I did have to buy a fairly expensive new router and replace it's four antennas with optional high gain antennas in order to get these speeds in my house and also nearly as fast to a trailer 100 feet from the router.

My router does beam forming and it has two selectable bands. I put the trailer on the longer range band and our house on the shorter range band. 85-90mbps is fast enough for two TVs (one of them is a 4K TV), and all other devices to never experience any buffering with all running at once.

I can't imagine any non-commercial use needing faster speeds than what we have measured right at our clients. We're even getting these faster speeds than our plan right now - with all the probable heavier use during the day from Comcast customers staying put in their homes.
2005 E450 Itasca 24V Class C

quartzster
Explorer
Explorer
As long as your Spectrum modem was placed in bridge mode by Spectrum, then the router should be working well, and you likely won't get 300 mbps, one never gets what they advertise, but you should be close.

haddy1
Explorer
Explorer
FWIW, I was having major speed issues with two of my computers using a Nighthawk router and Spectrum. Several other devices operated normally. The problem turned out to be a program called Smartbytes that was installed without my knowledge during a scheduled update.
2019 Tiffin Phaeton 37BH
2018 Grand Cherokee Toad

opnspaces
Navigator
Navigator
ramyankee wrote:

So, what may be holding us up? Spectrum SAYS the system is working correctly. Can the router be too old to pass the 238 to us? I am totally over my head understanding most of what all the parties have told us. Almost like saying that it is the other guys fault.

Thank you


The finger pointing is the tech support way, I lived and breathed it for 17 years. I can't even remember how many times I had to prove to some hospital IT guy that it was his network that was slow and not my product. Ugh, it still gets my heart rate up thinking about it.
.
2001 Suburban 4x4. 6.0L, 4.10 3/4 ton **** 2005 Jayco Jay Flight 27BH **** 1986 Coleman Columbia Popup

lawrosa
Explorer
Explorer
ramyankee wrote:
We have Spectrum service. A few months ago the told us we now have 300mbps service... They sent us a new modem. Ok, we were still getting, through my phone, 115mbps. Gen 7 Fire tablet is about 80mbps. The router is a Nighthawk 7800, about 2 1/2 years old, updated with the newest firmware. I installed a Genie app. Checking the speeds on the Netgear Genie app it says speeds out of the router is 238mbps. I am guessing the Netgear app has to be giving us the speeds out of the router and not out of the Spectrum modem? Because it cannot read speeds from the modem????? Correct. And the phone is a cheaper LG Stylo4...

So, what may be holding us up? Spectrum SAYS the system is working correctly. Can the router be too old to pass the 238 to us? I am totally over my head understanding most of what all the parties have told us. Almost like saying that it is the other guys fault.

Thank you


The night hawk has a 2.53 gbs max from what I know. but probably hard wired and you need apropiat card installed that is capible.

Nighthawk X4S delivers the single fastest available WiFi connection to any one device, up to 1.73Gbps, and a total of 2.53Gbps.
Mike L ... N.J.

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lap527
Explorer
Explorer
Yes, would love to get that speed too! However, our internet and cellphones been so screwed up here lately. We are thinking due to all the distant learning and things going on. Personally I think they are powering down towers and slowing internet speeds to keep up with the demand.
2006 Dodge 3500 dually 4X4 / 2013 Livin Lite 10.0 TC /Torklift talons, fastguns, stableloads, superhitch, and truss/ towing a
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