New ISP - Slow Wireless speeds?

[tony1679]

I recently had a new ISP save me from the barren wasteland of Kbps. They are offering 100/100 or Gigabit/Gigabit speeds (yes, symmetrical up and down). I chose the 100, it's more than I need, especially considering I'm used to Kbps. The 'box' they chose to use appears to be a Calix GigaCenter 844G. Anything hardwired gets 95+/95+, connected wireless devices are very sporadic, most receiving about 40/20. I don't believe there are any hardware limitations causing the slow speeds, but could be wrong. I've done some fairly decent testing to isolate the issues. Here's what I know:

*I live in a rural area. I can't pick up ANY of my neighbors' routers. No known interference.
*I tested speeds using multiple devices, sites, and apps.
*These slower speeds are noticed on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz
*I shut off both radios on the Calix and hardwired my own router to it (Asus RT-AC1900P). Same results, so I reverted.


Devices used and speed test results:
*2x Samsung Galaxy On5 - 40/20 for both - possible phone hardware limitations?
*Moto G4+ - 40/20 - 100% positive this phone can attain >40/20, confirmed at my sister's apartment with results 70+/70+ Mbps with lots of interference.
*Asus Zenfone Zoom 3 - 40/20 - not likely to be hardware limitations
*Laptop (~5yo Toshiba on Win 8) - 40/20 - not likely to be hardware limitations
*PS4 - 95/10 on 5GHz (has never read >10 up, faulty Sony reading) - no issues here, receiving full speed
*Xbox One S - 95/75 on both channels - seems to be receiving full speed
*Nintendo Switch - 40/20 - not sure about hardware
*(what I believe was a) Samsung Galaxy S8 (installer's personal phone) - 100/100 - full speed

The 40/20 is usually steady on all slowed devices, but varies up to 50/50 and down to 25/15.

My ISP is blaming my devices and saying they aren't capable of receiving 100, which I could swallow for most of the devices, but the Moto G4+ puts holes in that boat. I know it can at least do 70 at my sister's place, why is it only receiving 40 here? I'm also 95% certain my laptop tested at the full 100 wirelessly at my sister's place too, but that was a while ago. Any guesses? What could this possibly be? Huge thanks in advance for any and all help!

 

[javacontour]

Just trying to understand, are you saying some devices appear to get full speed like the PS4 and the XBox One?

It's hard to believe it's the router if some devices do indeed get full speed.

If you get similar results with your router, it's entirely possible some devices are not able to take advantage of the bandwidth.

Are you testing each device in the same fashion? If not, is it possible the router is giving some traffic priority over others? I.E. trying to improve gaming performance at the cost of other things.

Just thinking out loud here. I don't have anything more than questions at this point.

 

[mclasser]

Router placement is important. I had to move my router around several times at my new place to get the best wireless signal & speeds.

 

[rshaw125]

If I hard wire either of my laptops I get full almost 200 mbps.Which is what Spectrum says I should get. Wireless one is always about 20% faster than the other. So for me the differences are from my devices.

 

[wwillson]

What band is the wireless using? 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz? If you can, try 5Ghz and you'll get much better speed.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by wwillson
What band is the wireless using? 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz? If you can, try 5Ghz and you'll get much better speed.


He indicated in the OP:

Quote
These slower speeds are noticed on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz


which has me curious, as typically you wouldn't have interference affecting both

I'm almost inclined to advocate placing it outside if he can, and seeing if it has an impact on speed, in case there is something in the house causing the interference.

 

[wwillson]

Does the wireless router have the ability to scan for channel usage? That's a great tool to look for channel congestion. Also, in the 2.4Ghz range do not use channels 2,3,4,5,7,8,9, or 10 - you'll get side channel interference, which is much worse than co-channel interference - use only 1, 6, or 11

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by javacontour
Just trying to understand, are you saying some devices appear to get full speed like the PS4 and the XBox One? [Yes.]

It's hard to believe it's the router if some devices do indeed get full speed. [That was also my conclusion]

If you get similar results with your router [Yup], it's entirely possible some devices are not able to take advantage of the bandwidth. [Agreed, but explain the Moto G4+...?]

Are you testing each device in the same fashion? [Yes.] If not, is it possible the router is giving some traffic priority over others? I.E. trying to improve gaming performance at the cost of other things. [Yes, it's absolutely possible, but how do I find out? The only indicator I've found is a "QoS" setting that I've tried both on and off with the same results both ways.]
Hopefully that clarifies a bit, thanks for the reply!

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by mclasser
Router placement is important. I had to move my router around several times at my new place to get the best wireless signal & speeds.

Absolutely, but all devices were tested in the same room, no closer than 5 feet and no further than 15 feet from the GigaCenter box. I'm ruling out placement...

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by wwillson
What band is the wireless using? 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz? If you can, try 5Ghz and you'll get much better speed.


He indicated in the OP:

Quote
These slower speeds are noticed on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz


which has me curious, as typically you wouldn't have interference affecting both

I'm almost inclined to advocate placing it outside if he can, and seeing if it has an impact on speed, in case there is something in the house causing the interference.
Yep, you see my confusion now. I may try this, however I don't believe it's interference, because I'd think it would affect the consoles' performance as well, and they are not affected.

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by wwillson
Does the wireless router have the ability to scan for channel usage? That's a great tool to look for channel congestion. Also, in the 2.4Ghz range do not use channels 2,3,4,5,7,8,9, or 10 - you'll get side channel interference, which is much worse than co-channel interference - use only 1, 6, or 11
I'm not sure, I'll check later tonight. 1,6,11... noted. Although I've never had an issue with auto, maybe something new is blasting my area. Thanks!

 

[javacontour]

I think I'd try with just the 5GHz radio turned on and see how devices do. If both are on, some devices may connect to the 2.4GHz radio.

Seems to get the maximum speeds, a device has to be able to get multiple streams from the router. Maybe the way your routers (as you've tried two) do it just differently enough to get slower speeds in your home compared to at your sister's apartment.

I know you've said no interference? There is lots of stuff on 2.4Ghz, so if you have cordless phones, baby monitors or similar devices in your home, could they be causing interference?

I think I'd see how much stuff works on 5GHz first.

I don't think I read where you tried only ONE band in your testing. So maybe try that.

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by javacontour
I think I'd try with just the 5GHz radio turned on and see how devices do. If both are on, some devices may connect to the 2.4GHz radio.

Seems to get the maximum speeds, a device has to be able to get multiple streams from the router. Maybe the way your routers (as you've tried two) do it just differently enough to get slower speeds in your home compared to at your sister's apartment.

I know you've said no interference? There is lots of stuff on 2.4Ghz, so if you have cordless phones, baby monitors or similar devices in your home, could they be causing interference?

I think I'd see how much stuff works on 5GHz first.

I don't think I read where you tried only ONE band in your testing. So maybe try that.

I have a very limited selection of 5GHz devices, but I will shut off 2.4GHz and retest. But the 2 channels have different SSIDs (installers previously had them identical with same results), so no chance of selecting the wrong channel. My sister and I have the same Asus router (stellar deal). And as I've said, no interference. The ONLY devices in my home are those devices listed (not even a smart tv), and I make sure they are turned off or in airplane mode when I'm not using them. I'm very peculiar about that because before this ISP, my net was measured in Kbps. I had to fight for each and every bit, so I didn't want any devices leeching what little I had. If there is any interference, it's from unknown outside sources, but there are no other routers within range.

 

[javacontour]

I understand. My TV is a wireless hotspot as the factory remote is a wifi device. I'd love to be able to turn off the WiFi as I use an IR smart remote so it turns on the receiver, TV and DVR with one button press. But alas, no. So it just chews up a 2.4GHz wifi channel when the TV is on.

Good luck. Hope you get it sorted.

Originally Posted by tony1679
Originally Posted by javacontour
I think I'd try with just the 5GHz radio turned on and see how devices do. If both are on, some devices may connect to the 2.4GHz radio.

Seems to get the maximum speeds, a device has to be able to get multiple streams from the router. Maybe the way your routers (as you've tried two) do it just differently enough to get slower speeds in your home compared to at your sister's apartment.

I know you've said no interference? There is lots of stuff on 2.4Ghz, so if you have cordless phones, baby monitors or similar devices in your home, could they be causing interference?

I think I'd see how much stuff works on 5GHz first.

I don't think I read where you tried only ONE band in your testing. So maybe try that.

I have a very limited selection of 5GHz devices, but I will shut off 2.4GHz and retest. But the 2 channels have different SSIDs (installers previously had them identical with same results), so no chance of selecting the wrong channel. My sister and I have the same Asus router (stellar deal). And as I've said, no interference. The ONLY devices in my home are those devices listed (not even a smart tv), and I make sure they are turned off or in airplane mode when I'm not using them. I'm very peculiar about that because before this ISP, my net was measured in Kbps. I had to fight for each and every bit, so I didn't want any devices leeching what little I had. If there is any interference, it's from unknown outside sources, but there are no other routers within range.

 

[barryh]

No experience with gigabit but I've never known a wireless device achieve anywhere near it's rated speed. If you get close to 50% that's usually as good as it gets.

 

[javacontour]

Any updates?

 

[tony1679]

Originally Posted by javacontour
Any updates?

Well, I tried shutting off the 2.4GHz radio, and tested on 5GHz. No change. Still 40/20. Did the opposite and same results there too. 40/20. I am just chalking it up to my devices suck, and the G4+ has a mind of it's own. Idk what else I could do

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