NETGEAR Nighthawk R6400 bottlenecking internet speed

M

mmarsh

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 18, 2004
Messages
401
Recently upgraded from ADSL to FTTH
I have a Netgear Nighthawk R6400 connected Orangebox Router (Orange is my ISP) in order to provide wider range.

After installation I ran speedtest and the data was all wrong I was getting 15mb download and 80mb+ upload. This is happening on all PCs and devices. Its way off where it should be.

Orange came back, ran some tests and discovered that its the issue is coming from the R6400. Turning off the R6400 and Connecting to the Orange router via WIFI gives me a 100mb download speed as does using a CPL adaptor.

So the problem is DEFIANTLY the Netgear, Does anyone know why the R6400 would be bottlenecking the speed.

The Orange FTTH engineer says this is common, in his experiance some 3rd party WIFI routers bottleneck the connection, although he was alittle surprised that this was happening with a Netgear.

What is to be done? Is there anything I can do with the R6400 or do I need to buy a new router?

The Orangebox lacks range for all areas of my house
The CPL is too unstable, and D/C all the time.
PC is too far for ethernet.
R6400 has latest firmware.

Can anyone help?
 
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/view


https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/search/2178-netgear-r6400

There's no reason you should have problems with a 100mbit connection. The WAN port is good for 700+mbit bi-directional.

Likely it's some configuration issue between the two devices. One is running in a way that the other doesn't interface well with, thus crapping performance.
Also, check to see if you have the traffic meter function turned on in the Netgear device. It WORKS, but it dramatically cuts WAN performance.
 
A couple different answers based on what information you provided in the post.

1. You plugged your router into the ISP router? First thing is, that's a bad idea. You're, at the very least, introducing double NAT to your network.
If you can, remove the ISP provided router and plug the ethernet connection directly into your own router.
Sometimes when swapping that internet facing device, it won't properly grab the IP address for the WAN. As a workaround, you can plug in the previous ISP router, release the WAN DHCP lease, and immediately as you do that, unplug it. Then, plug in your netgear router again. It should properly obtain the WAN IP lease. If that fails, give them a call and tell them to give you a new lease on your IP.
This will give you the most optimal setup. And, you should no longer have to worry about configuration issues between the devices, or about double NAT. You should only have 1 router in a typical setup. It's never a good idea to plug a router into another router (unless you are aware of advanced config and setup, and know why you are doing it. To extend your wifi range is not one of those reasons. There's a proper way to extend your wifi range too)

2. If you have one serving one end of the house, and the other serving the other end of the house, you're better off putting it in AP or repeater mode. You'll want to look up instructions for your specific model of netgear router.

3. If you already have AP or repeater mode configured, tell us more about the layout. A diagram would help. Some subnet information would help too. I'm guessing you fall into one of the 2 above scenarios, as most do. But, if not, get us some more info so we can see what's going on there.
 
It sounds to me like you are doing double routers, when it sounds like all you want is larger wifi coverage. To do this all you want is an access point, so set the R6400 into AP mode only. Also connect it to the main router over a wire and not as a wireless client itself.

You will need to look through the Netgear manual and see if the proper way to connect in AP mode for the device is over a LAN port on the WAN port. It will make a difference.
 
Hello All thanks for the responses.

I solved it. Problem wasn't the R6400 (well it was) but the fix was actually on the ISP router. WAN port 1 on the Orangebox was the R6400 and it was listed as a unknown device. All I had to do was specify the Device as a WIFI Access point. I suspect Chas was correct, because the Orangebox couldnt properly identify the R6400 the download traffic was being throttled.

I am now getting around 195-300mb DOWN and 80-100mb UP which is much, much, better. Downloaded 81GB of GTA V in 30 mins.

Thanks for the help!
 
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