[Solved] Odd speed results between wireless N and AC

[bsod]

Hi all, its been a while since I posted here, but I got a lot of great information off this site before when I was purchasing my Netgear R7000 and using DD-WRT/Tomato. This project however is at my parents house, a different property. I learnt a lot about networking through my time here before, but I by no means an expert!

I have recently upgraded to fibre 70/20Mbps at home and I've been getting mixed results with the bundled ISP modem/router.

Its a new router called the Plusnet Hub One (otherwise BT Home Hub 5) - Its manufactured by Sagemcom for the UK BT and Plusnet fibre services.

Spoiler: Specs

PlusNet Sagemcom Hub One Fibre Wireless ASDL2/VDSL2 Modem Router Self-Install
Features:
• VDSL Support (No need for an Openreach Modem for FTTC)
• Dual band Wi-Fi
• Wireless AC
• Supports WPS for easy Wi-Fi setup
• Gigabit Ethernet (up to 1000Mbps wired)
• Built in help flows in the router user interface to help if the customer has a connection problem.
• Will be used for new Plusnet Fibre customers
• Fits through the customers letter box
• USB port for connecting storage drive
• Automatic setup, no need to enter customer details on first connection

Tech Specs:
• Supports PPPoA, PPPoE, VDSL and WAN Ethernet
• 4 x RJ45 10/100/1000Mbps LAN Ethernet ports
• 1 x RJ45 10/100/1000Mbps WAN Ethernet port
• 1 x USB 2.0 port
• Wireless 802.11b/g/n/ac (Dual band – 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
• Supports same SSID across 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless bands (Default), offers option to change these individually
• Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) support
• Automatic channel selection on 2.4GHz and 5GHZ wireless bands
• Wireless Encryption (2.4GHZ): WPA2 (Default), WPA, WEP 64/40
• Wireless Encryption (5GHz): WPA2
• Wireless Channel operation (2.4GHz): 20MHz (Default), 40MHz
• Wireless Channel operation (5GHz): 80MHz (Default), 40MHz
• Power management – Hub functions are monitored and individually put into power save mode when not in use
• Dynamic DNS support
• IPv6 support
• UPnP Support

I have a problem mainly with my laptop and its Intel Wireless AC 7260 card that I have trying to get to the bottom of. With wireless AC the speed is actually lower than when connected to wireless N, tests performed of course directly next to the router.

I took transfer tests with a connected USB 3 flash drive, but the hardware of the router limits to USB 2 speeds. I understand the USB speeds are probably a bigger bottleneck than my internet speed, but I thought I'd test it for thoroughness.

Wireless AC:


Wireless N:


I've used the laptop with my access point and a different router too (Asus AC52 and Netgear R7000) and they don't have these speed problems. I even checked windows settings to be sure and the laptop card does say its connected at 866Mbps and I know thats only a "link" speed, but still, surely it shouldn't bottleneck my connection right next to the router and be slower than wireless N connecting at 144Mbps?

Also I thought I would add that when wired, my speed comes to 65Mbps.

Things I have tried:

1. I've tried changing the AC channel to something else and it doesn't help. Of course I made sure it was a different channel to my access point.
2. I've tested the laptop with two other rourter/access point. Actually with my Asus AC52 range extender which is connected via a Homeplug and Giga Ethernet to the router it only connects at half speed 433Mpbs (I'm guessing because its not dual band) and it still beats the speed tests compared to a direct connection to the router.
3. I wish I had a gigabit NAS to attach to the router and test with but I don't I guess I could test with another laptop plugged into Ethernet.

Can anyone offer any advice or should I just resign this router/modem to just a modem and purchase a better router?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Nullity]

Can you simplify your post?

What device is the AP? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_access_point



With <100Mbit internet connections, if wireless speeds differ from wired speeds, I assume there is a problem. I doubt that you need a better router, unless by "router" you mean wireless AP.

 

[bsod]

The router I'm using is actually a vdsl modern/router/access point combined. The other access point is irrelevant and has only been used for a comparison.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Nullity]

The router I'm using is actually a vdsl modern/router/access point combined. The other access point is irrelevant and has only been used for a comparison.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

So you are having problems with the Sagemcom acting as both an AP & a router?

I get a little confused about whether the testing is being conducted with your parents devices or yours, or perhaps both? Are your parents clients experiencing problems? Like I said, if you can simplify... maybe I am just being dense, if so, await better reponses.

 

[bsod]

This is only about my parents house.

Setup involves sagemcom modern/router/access point and testing is when directly connected to that.

They is a range extender at my parents too but I'm using it as an access point and I've only used it for comparison because I don't get the same problem connected to that instead.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Nullity]

Yeah, I am confused... sorry.


Can you share the network topology?

 

[bsod]

Yeah, I am confused... sorry.


Can you share the network topology?

Line in>>Plusnet hub one >>Wi-Fi>> laptop.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[sfx2000]

I have a problem mainly with my laptop and its Intel Wireless AC 7260 card

Double check the Wireless card - there are multiple versions of the 7260, and not all support 802.11ac - also, the Intel cards in general are very sensitive to driver versions...

 

[bsod]

Mine is definitely AC: Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260

I tried updating the driver to the latest version on Intels website, it didn't make any difference. Is there a particular version that works better?

 

[sfx2000]

I tried updating the driver to the latest version on Intels website, it didn't make any difference. Is there a particular version that works better?

Welcome to the wonderful, wacky world of Intel Wireless cards - "better" is relative - reason why Intel cards are reasonably priced (e.g. Cheap!!!) is because a lot of what they do is in software, and run on the Adapter, plus the SouthBridge (PCH) and the CPU... when things are 'right', they're pretty good - when they're on the wrong side, well... they'll connect...

Even within the Wireless AC 7260, there's a bunch of different SKU's - most are built on the Wilkins Peak chipset, but some are MiniPCI, some are PCI, some are NGFF - with and without Bluetooth...

18.40.00 is the current for Win10 64-bit - but that's without Bluetooth, not sure if 18.40 supports BT - so if you've got BT and want to keep it, you might have to go with 17.1.1531.1764

Intel's pretty good about keeping Windows Updates current, so worst case, remove all the intel driver stuff for WiFi/Bluetooth and see what pops up there...

 

[bsod]

Thanks! I tried uninstalling the drivers and used the bundled windows 10 ones, sadly the same result.
I then updated the drivers through windows update and they went to version 18.20, but still same result.
Before I updated to 18.40 and it was doing the same thing.

I don't get why its doing it, it doesn't with any other router I've connected too, its like a mismatch between this router and the wireless card or something, but only with AC.

My 7260 does have Bluetooth and I do use it, although mainly for my PS3 dual shock controller. I even tried uninstalling those drivers to see if it would help, or disabling Bluetooth and it doesn't.

I really don't understand what the problem is, windows shows me as connected at 866Mbps. Wireless N works fine.

The 17.1.1531.1764 driver is for Bluetooth Only, the oldest WiFi driver on Intels website is 18.33. Just tried that version but it won't install for some reason.

 

[bsod]

Well I managed to solve my problem by installing a random driver version I found for a different Dell laptop on their website. Turns out any windows driver or Intel driver I could find breaks my speed. Here is the link to the driver and for reference in device manager it appears as version 18.11.0.8.

Thanks to everyone who replied and helped!