Horrible speeds - please help

[mm2531]

Horrible speeds - please help *Solved*

I have been getting download speeds of < 5mbps on my N66U. I upgraded to the latest Asuswrt-Merlin 3.0.0.4.372.31 firmware, without any improvement.

Today I called TWC, and they had me run the speedtest first directly connected to the router (not on wifi) - the download speeds were actually worse! They then had me run the speedtest with the laptop directly connected to the cable modem. Lo and behold - my download speed jumped to 21.5 MBPS! I am on Turbo internet and paying for 20 MBPS download.

Any thoughts or suggestions? How can the download speed on 2.4 (or 5 GHZ) be better than connecting the laptop directly to the router? The iPad speed is also better - although I am not approaching even 10 MBPS no matter what I do. I have the 2.4 channel set to 20 Mhz and there is very little interference.

I would dearly love to get my wireless speeds to remotely approach 20 mbps!

 

[jlake]

Try moving router to a different (better) location for testing purposes.

Also try resetting router to factory defaults and remove your old wireless profiles from computers and phones/tablets.

Go through all the channels one by one.

 

[mm2531]

Try moving router to a different (better) location for testing purposes.

Also try resetting router to factory defaults and remove your old wireless profiles from computers and phones/tablets.

Go through all the channels one by one.

Thanks. I will try this.

 

[mm2531]

Try moving router to a different (better) location for testing purposes.

Also try resetting router to factory defaults and remove your old wireless profiles from computers and phones/tablets.

Go through all the channels one by one.

Still don't get why when the laptop is connected directly to the cable modem, i get full download speed, yet the same laptop connected by ethernet cable to the router, gets one tenth the speed. Could I have a defective router?

 

[jlake]

Defective? Probably not.

What happened when you reset the router to factory defaults?

Try using the default router settings and run the speed test. Then every time you make a change on the router, run the speed test. That way you can figure out which setting is messing things up.

Also, try a different computer. See if a different computer has the problem when wired to the router. You may need to update the NIC driver on your laptop.

 

[RMerlin]

When moving a cablemodem between two different devices (i.e. a computer and a router), you usually need to leave the modem turned off for 5-10 mins to ensure a complete reset.

 

[mm2531]

Thanks, jlake and Merlin.

Here is what I have tried so far, all with the same laptop and Ethernet cable.

(1) tested download speed on laptop using 2.4 ghz wireless = 3.49 Mbps.
(2) connected to router with no other hard wired devices = < 2 Mbps.
(3) shut modem down for 10 minutes, retested as in (2) = < 2 Mbps

Same laptop, using same Ethernet cable, connected directly to modem is > 21 Mbps.

So, hard wired, the same laptop gets slower downloads than using wireless with the laptop being the only device connected directly to the router. Wireless speeds are lousy on laptop and all tablets as well.

I will now reset the router to factory settings using the WPS and power buttons and measure again.

 

[mm2531]

I tried one last thing, and my problems are solved.

Turned QOS off (had it turned on to give my VOIP adapter traffic priority), and download speeds are now over 21 Mbps on both wired and wireless.

Now I just hope the phone still works OK. I had been having issues before.