Very confused about RAX48 router performance

[Azor]

Working from home I needed to upgrade the Modem for higher internet speed and I thought upgrading my router it may be a good idea. It was not, at least for NETGEAR Nighthawk AX5200 Wi-Fi 6 Router (RAX48) I bought. I currently use a seven year old NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 model R7000.
Here is the comparison: Second floor R7000 signal strength is 85-90% and connection speed 433 Mbps (using wi-fi Netgear A6100 Genie USB adaptor). New router AX5200 signal strength is 70-75% and connection speed 195 Mbps. Huge degradation.
My one-year-old tablet cannot detect the 5G signal and the only option is to connect on 2.4G. I moved it to the first floor and I was able to connect to 5G, but it lost signal upstairs.
At first floor where my old R7000 measure 100% signal strength regardless of location while AX5200 signal strength was 70 to 95% depending on location. Also, I have an old laptop that is connecting to 2.4G only, the R7000 connection speed was 150Mbps while AX5200 cannot go higher than 72Mbps. In basement the R7000 signal strength was solid 100% regardless of location, while the AX5200 delivered just 50-70% depending on location. I believe that if I buy the cheapest router, below $40 I may get same or better performance than AX5200. I mention that I have not changed the Modem & Router location, just unplug the old router and wire the new one. I already returned the AX5200.

How would you rate my current R7000 performance? Do I need a replacement, or better say are there on the market better routers? And if there are, it worth the investment? Can I notice an improvement?
If my router dies tomorrow what can I buy to be al least similar performance to current R7000?

 

[L&LD]

I would recommend running RMerlin firmware with any Asus router you may be considering. With that caveat, the following models in descending order of overall performance are my suggestions today.

• RT-AX86U
• RT-AX88U
• RT-AC86U
• RT-AX58U
• RT-AC3100
• RT-AC66U_B1

All the routers above will at least match the performance you now have. Depending on your actual ISP speeds and what you do/want with your network, the RT-AX58U and above will give you a much lower latency experience, with the RT-AX86U the current king (for both performance and price).

Asus RT-AX86U review: The best Wi-Fi 6 router for the money - CNET

The increase in the network performance of a properly configured RT-AX86U should be a revelation for you. It was for me (I now have two of them after finding the RT-AX88U I had previously a new, but loving home).

And, not because of the review above either.

 

[RMinNJ]

My R7000 is in use by another family member though I told them not to upgrade to Netgear's latest yet... were you running Netgears latest R7000 firmware without issue?

My R7800 with voxel has been rock solid and I can highly reccommend it ...it has even more range
than my R7000

Yet...

I know Netgear has a lot of new routers out but regardless of the hardware I cant say I had good luck with their firmware.even though they do update it. I just could not consider one of the newer Netgear device beyond my R7800 even though they have good hardware specs..

The 90 days of support one gets with a Netgear router seems no support at all. A hard sell for me if one drops 300+ on a new AX router. After 90 days you cant even report a bug to Netgear unless you pay for support. All they have is the "customer" forum with other customers trying to help other customers.. occasionally a Netgear person may reply. For example, even if no solution, have you been able to get any contact or reply from NG on your range problem?

Really disappointing to hear of the worst range etc with the newer Netgear stuff.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Looks to me like you’ve asked this in the wrong forum.....

 

[Azor]

My R7000 is in use by another family member though I told them not to upgrade to Netgear's latest yet... were you running Netgears latest R7000 firmware without issue?

My R7800 with voxel has been rock solid and I can highly reccommend it ...it has even more range
than my R7000

Yet...

I know Netgear has a lot of new routers out but regardless of the hardware I cant say I had good luck with their firmware.even though they do update it. I just could not consider one of the newer Netgear device beyond my R7800 even though they have good hardware specs..

The 90 days of support one gets with a Netgear router seems no support at all. A hard sell for me if one drops 300+ on a new AX router. After 90 days you cant even report a bug to Netgear unless you pay for support. All they have is the "customer" forum with other customers trying to help other customers.. occasionally a Netgear person may reply. For example, even if no solution, have you been able to get any contact or reply from NG on your range problem?

Really disappointing to hear of the worst range etc with the newer Netgear stuff.

Thank you for your thoughts. I shouldn't buy a Netgear to begin with. I do have a bad experience with Netgear support. Just a few days after the 90 days Netgear support ended I asked for advise since my router was malfunctioning: 2.4GHz channel was dead and the 5 GHz worked intermittently. I was told that if I pay for support it is not guaranteed my problem is fixed. But they advise me to contact a private firm they recommend, the best one that 100% will solve my issue. It is true the cost is $300/hour, but I may need just 2-3 hours. I thanked them and I hung up before they tried to give me the contact info. I fixed it myself, I switched the router attached hard drive from USB 3.0 port to 2.0 port and since then my router is working perfect. And this happened 7 years ago.

However, you may be right with latest firmware. When I reinstalled my R7000 router back (I returned the AX5200). I made the mistake to upgrade the firmware. Since then, about 1-2 times a day there is no internet access for about one minute. Never happened this in the past. But the range increased a bit. I would go back to the previous firmware but I am not sure how. I also installed a large computer fan underneath the router to cool it. It did not help; it still has short blackouts.
For now, I intend not the buy anything until the Wifi6e will be more common and its efficiency is proofed. We are now in the transition time.

 

[RMinNJ]

.."When I reinstalled my R7000 router back (I returned the AX5200). I made the mistake to upgrade the firmware. Since then, about 1-2 times a day there is no internet access for about one minute."

According to everything I read on the R7000.. 1.0.9.42 was the last stable version. Quite a few revs and security updates back.. should be there in the pasts version to download from Netgear.

 

[Azor]

According to everything I read on the R7000.. 1.0.9.42 was the last stable version. Quite a few revs and security updates back.. should be there in the pasts version to download from Netgear.

If I download the 1.0.9.42 and I follow the normal procedure: Advanced - Administration - Router update, will I be able to install the old firmware? Will it let me overwrite a new firmware with an old one?

 

[L&LD]

Yes.

 

[Azor]

I would recommend running RMerlin firmware with any Asus router you may be considering. With that caveat, the following models in descending order of overall performance are my suggestions today.

My current ISP speed is 30Mbps download and 5 upload. I know it is low but it perfectly work since March when I started working from home. Just a few weeks ago it significantly degraded. Tomorrow I will receive my new Modem, a TC4400 - Broadcom 3390 chipset. I consider two options: 75Mbps download and 10 upload and 100Mbps download and 15 upload.

Is it possible my current R7000 router to handle very well the max 30 Mbps speed I have now, but if I connect it to 100Mps it may reduce significantly its efficiency? In this case I may have to look at the Asus - Merlin option you suggest.

 

[L&LD]

No, if the R7000 is not suffering from any hardware issues, then it should easily handle even the 100Mbps down and 15Mbps up speeds no problem.

Try the relevant steps suggested below to see if the router's issues are hardware or configuration problems.

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[Azor]

Yes.

I just restore it to 1.0.9.42 an hour ago because the blackout periods repeated every one-two hours and last time get frozen and I had to reboot the router. However, when I updated it showed current version as 1.0.9.88, and this is not right, because yesterday I updated to 1.0.11.110. Worse, after update it showed current version 1.0.9.42, but underneath the line GUI Language Version is still 1.0.9.88. Big mess. But it is working for now and if it will still stutter, reboot or froze I can use factory reset button and reinstall 1.0.9.42.
My problem is that I cannot afford to experiment because I am working from home and I need internet. I have the options from this thread, Tomato & Merlin, I will try them during the Xmas brake. In fact I like to go deeper into routers knowledge and to experiment. For this reason I just bought an Asus RT-AC86U as a back-up in case thinks go wrong with current AC7000. I did not consider an AX since this standard is full of bugs that may never be fixed. At this time the manufacturers are focusing on the new 6e standard and ax may remain an unfinished job. I hope I am wrong, but my experience with Netgear AX5200 confirms, at lest for Netgear products.

 

[RMinNJ]

Let us know how the RT-AC86U works out. The R7800 is really good with Voxel but they are still not cheap and one can get a new more current router for the same or just above price.

I was in this predicament with my parents needing a router and I got them the older, very stable RT-AC68U.. since the R7800 was still up there in price.

 

[Azor]

The Asus RT-AC86U performance is identical to the old Netgear R7000. Unfortunately, after I upgraded the R7000 firmware to the latest version, the blackouts became more disturbing, almost every hour. Overwriting to the latest known stable version 1.0.9.42 partially helped. Blackouts repeats every 5-6 hours. I do not suspect a hardware problem, the latest firmware version may be on purpose "a killer". These too good oldies may be a brake in selling the newest Netgear low performers routers. And likely high profit products. I have no choice but to keep the Asus.
I will try to reset the R7000 to the factory default and then upgrade to version 1.0.9.42. But I do not have high expectations.