Slow wireless performance across different devices on RT-N66U

[killercujo53]

I have a RT-N66U with Firmware Version:3.0.0.4.376_3861

I used to have 20mbps internet with MI Connection (local company), and upgraded to 100mbps with Time Warner Cable.

Wired, my speed tests on speedtest.net are anywhere from 100-120mbps.

Wireless, however, is another story. I constantly get right at 20-22mbps on my iPhone 5C no matter where I go in the house. I could be in the same room as the router, and same speeds. It NEVER fluctuates when taking the test and flatlines at the same speed. I have a PC in the same room as the router getting 45-50mbps wireless when I test and it seems to fluctuate slightly in that range of 49-51.

These are my settings: http://imgur.com/a/sO25o in the router. Is there something wrong here?

 

[L&LD]

Older mobile devices like phones do not have great wireless performance versus a much bigger and more powerful laptop. They are more focused on battery life, not maximum performance.

I would suggest though you upgrade to a newer firmware. Many issues and security concerns fixed since the old version you have came out.

 

[killercujo53]

Checked from the routers page and it is current. ASUS RT-N66U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.9235 came out on the 14th from their support site. Should I update to that manually?

I didn't think that the iPhone 5C would be limited in its wireless performance, as it came out just 2 years ago. The above numbers for PC were for a desktop, not laptop.

 

[L&LD]

http://mashable.com/2013/09/10/apple-5g-wi-fi-iphone-5s-5c/#ZJzaMlNmaPqC

All mobile devices are limited because of battery life concerns.

The 5C only has a single antennae single stream N class client. No AC class WiFi for that phone.


You may want to update to the official Asus firmware, but I would recommend to upgrade to either the RMerlin, john9527 or hggomes forks instead.

 

[killercujo53]

From that article, it says the iPhone 5C/5S is limited to the 450 Mbps ceiling of 802.11n-equipped devices. Far from 20mbps that I am getting all the time.

I have always just upgraded to the latest official firmware from ASUS and have never had any issues.

Sorry for the newbie question, but I do not want to ruin my router by upgrading to another firmware. What would I gain by upgrading to any of those? I do not do anything special except work from home, and browse the web.

 

[L&LD]

The firmware forks I mentioned are more polished, more stable and have more features than stock Asus firmware (especially the RMerlin fork, even if the others are based off of his work).

The 450Mbps connection rate should not be confused with the actual throughput rate achievable.

After flashing to the latest firmware and doing a complete reset to factory defaults and then manually and minimally configuring the router to secure it and connect to your ISP (I would also suggest you use new ssid's too at this point). I would try different control channels (1, 6, 11) and test which one gives the best overall performance from a throughput and latency perspective.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ho...-which-channels-etc-to-use.27619/#post-211380

You may want to follow some of the examples and suggestions in the links included in the link above too.

 

[Nullity]

Have you Googled your device to see what speeds other iPhone users get? I get ~18Mbit with my Nexus 7 (2012). Like others said, mobile devices are not built for pure performance.

Though, I do get 200Mbit with my Nexus 9.

Measured with iperf on my RT-N66U.

 

[doczenith1]

On my 125 mbps (via wired PC) connection using the 5 GHz radio I get the following speeds in the next room about 20 feet away from the router:

2013 Moto X (1st gen) - 150 mbps link speed - 50-70 mbps speedtest results
Nexus 7 2013 - 150 mbps link speed - 100-110 mbps speedtest results
2015 Moto X (3rd gen) - 300 mbps link speed - 120 mbps speedtest results

Wireless Mode = Auto
Optimized for xbox = unchecked
Channel bandwidth = 20/40
Authentication Method - WPA2
No other 5 GHz radios nearby