What's new

Wifi better than old router, but stuck on 100mbps on phone when upstairs

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

lemon07r

New Around Here
I recently moved and am on the Rogers 500mbps plan, which gave me 530-560mbps in the same room on my phone (Redmi K40 Pro/Mi 11i). Upstairs I got 260-300mbps on my phone and 200mbps on my desktop using a TP-Link Archer T4U Plus. This is the Arris XB6 wifi modem, which I think is very good for what it is, at least as far as ISP provided wifi modems go (the Rogers network is still trash so if you have the choice between something else like bell fiber take the latter every time. Sadly bell isn't available in my area.)

I tried adding the gen 2 wifi pod since Rogers insisted it would improve my wifi (this is a 2700 sq ft house), and to noones surprise.. it did nothing. My wifi speeds were the exact same. I tried waiting a day and half for it to "adjust", still the exact same. Unplugged it to verify. Honestly expected it to make my wifi worse considering the close proximity to the client and access point since the house isn't big enough to grant the need of a mesh network. I verified that it was installed and working with the Rogers ignite app.

I doubled checked my speeds to make sure they were consistent with previous results then installed my new Asus AX86U router which just arrived today. I set it up, let it update the firmware and tested at stock settings. 750mbps on my phone in the same room, 260mbps on the desktop upstairs with the tp link archer t4u plus, but here's the strange thing, my phone was only getting 100mbps upstairs now.

I thought whatever, I'll tinker with settings later, let's install the Merlin firmware first. Installed the latest stable firmware, rebooted the modem and did tests. Still getting 750 in the same room. The desktop upstairs is now getting 300mbps with the t4u plus, but my phone is still capping out at 100 when upstairs. I've tried turning qos on and off. I'm the only one using the wifi in all these tests too.

Surprisingly big improvements all around, but I'm confused why my phone has a worse connection now when it was initially getting better results than the desktop from the same room with the old wifi. I've tried forgetting and readding the network on my phone. I've tried enabling qos, then disabling it again (not that it should make a difference I think).

Anyone have any ideas how to fix this? Not sure why the router would be capping my phone at 100mbps when upstairs.

**tldr**
Old router got 530mbps on phone in same room as router 300mbps upstairs, and 200 mbps upstairs on desktop w/ t4u plus. New router gets 750 mbps on phone in same room as router, but only 100 upstairs now, even though the desktop gets 300mbps now in the same room upstairs. How do I fix this? (Old router; Arris XB6, new router; Asus AX86U, phone; Xiaomi k40 pro/mi 11i).
 
Well, you wrote a lot but did not cite your WIFI settings.
I use:
Dual Band Smart Connect
2.4 GHz at 20 MHz on channel 1, 6 or 11
5 GHz at 160 MHz on channel 36
Disable WPS
In Professional Settings disable Airtime Fairness and Universal Beamforming for both bands
Use WPA2/WPA3 (Note: There is a chance older clients will not like WPA3 so just using WAP2 is one option. Another option is to set up a Guest WIFI for those clients with just WPA2)
I use the same SSID for both bands (Dual Band Smart Connect). One reason for this is that if your 5 GHz gets hit by RADAR the clients will switch to the 2.4 GHz band and keep working. Also on 160 MHz the 5 GHz band can search for RADAR for up to 10 minutes when the router is started or a setting is changed.
I have gone from Asus firmware to Merlin firmware back and forth... Now I am on Asus and feel the AX86U has better stability and performance for me. You are welcome to try Merlin to see if it works for you.
 
Well, you wrote a lot but did not cite your WIFI settings.
I use:
Dual Band Smart Connect
2.4 GHz at 20 MHz on channel 1, 6 or 11
5 GHz at 160 MHz on channel 36
Disable WPS
In Professional Settings disable Airtime Fairness and Universal Beamforming for both bands
Use WPA2/WPA3 (Note: There is a chance older clients will not like WPA3 so just using WAP2 is one option. Another option is to set up a Guest WIFI for those clients with just WPA2)
I use the same SSID for both bands (Dual Band Smart Connect). One reason for this is that if your 5 GHz gets hit by RADAR the clients will switch to the 2.4 GHz band and keep working. Also on 160 MHz the 5 GHz band can search for RADAR for up to 10 minutes when the router is started or a setting is changed.
I have gone from Asus firmware to Merlin firmware back and forth... Now I am on Asus and feel the AX86U has better stability and performance for me. You are welcome to try Merlin to see if it works for you.
Kept everything at factory setting unless noted otherwise. Can I ask what the settings you changed do and why you set them as such? I googled for best settings, and there are a lot of guides but none of them really explain what their recommended settings or are changing.
 
I tried adding the gen 2 wifi pod since Rogers insisted it would improve my wifi (this is a 2700 sq ft house), and to noones surprise.. it did nothing. My wifi speeds were the exact same.

The Plume Pod only works with the provider's RG in normal mode - bridging the modem won't work...
 
If the XB6 is in bridge mode since you have another router in place...

If the Pod is to work, the XB6 must be the router...
I think you misread my post, I added the router in after testing, not before. The pod was tested with the old wifi modem before it was bridged, I didn't even have my new router here yet when I tested it.
 

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top