OK, so I found that Comcast was able to upgrade my TV/Internet package for a few more bucks a month and I went from 200 Mbps to 600 Mbps. Found out that the Netgear CM500 cable modem I had just bought a few months ago was only rated for 300 Mbps max, so I bought a Motorola MB8600 Gigabit rated modem to replace that.

Got the new modem provisioned and up and running and attached to my router, a TP-Link Archer A7 that has been great (only bought that a few months ago too) and has good coverage throughout my house. This unit has good reviews all over and has been pretty rock-solid.

What my frustration is; this router only seems to get to a wireless max of 350 Mbps and no higher and that's with me standing 2 feet from it and running the speed test on my phone. I have ruled out the modem being the problem as I can connect my laptop direct to the modem WAN port with patch cable and get 618-650 Mbps every time. Patch cable is CAT 5e, so that should also not be the issue here.

When I hook back up to the router, it's right back to topping out at 350 Mbps. UGH

What gives here? It's a dual band router so everything that is 5Ghz compatible and close runs off that band and that's rated up to 1300 Mbps and devices that are further away and/or only rated for 2.4Ghz will top out at 450 Mbps.

I get that there is a limitation there for the 2.4Ghz band but I'm not even hitting that? I can't turn off that band either as I have several security cameras, kids pads and a Wi-Fi printer that only run on 2.4Ghz

If I look online this seems to be a well-documented issue and everyone seems to top out at 350 Mbps no matter of they are supposed to be getting 600 or 1,000 from their ISP

Do I just live with this? Replace the router yet again? It annoys me I'm not getting even close to what I'm paying for and the modem says I'm getting it. I also refuse to pay Comcast for a gateway, I've always run my own gear. The router was $63 total from Amazon, maybe I just need a better one?

Any ideas?

This is the router:

Archer A7

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PASig,

Does the router have separate SSID's for the 5ghz network? Are you connected to that SSID/network?

Also, using a phone for connection speed tests is probably not the best way to do it, use your laptop connected to the 5ghz network.

You said you tested it with your phone. If I missed what phone it was, I apologize, but is your phone capable of connecting at higher speed? Transfer speeds are a 2-way street and both devices have to have the ability.

Do the devices you connect wirelessly need more than 350mbps individually? If not, I'd live with it.

I'd hardwire gaming consoles or computers where large downloads could benefit from the speed.

If you are getting 350Mbps on 2.4Ghz, you should be happy (especially if you or the neighbors have a lot of 2.4Ghz devices). In my experience, while 2.4Ghz may "officially" support faster with the right wifi chipsets, it rarely actually works that fast because of all the interference and slight incompatibilities between different wireless chipsets on sorts of devices sending out their slightly different signal qualities. You need to get on a laptop and force 5Ghz to test if your throughput increases over the 350Mbps you think you are getting capped at. Once you know you are connecting at 5Ghz, then run your testing to see if throughput increases. If it does, then use 5Ghz for the devices that need the faster throughput, but chances are your 2.4Ghz bandwidth is just as fast as it's going to get.

In Windows, go to control panel, network and settings, click on your wifi link, then click Properties button, Configure button, then Advanced tab, then scroll through list and look for a property like "wireless mode" or "preferred Band" that let's you set 5Ghz as the preferred mode for the wireless card.

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
Does the router have separate SSID's for the 5ghz network? Are you connected to that SSID/network?

Also, using a phone for connection speed tests is probably not the best way to do it, use your laptop connected to the 5ghz network.

It's currently got a feature enabled where the 2.4ghz and 5Ghz SSID's use the same name and they are supposed to switch back and forth automatically as needed.

I'd be curious if the speed increases with all the other 2.4ghz devices turned off?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
What my frustration is; this router only seems to get to a wireless max of 350 Mbps and no higher and that's with me standing 2 feet from it and running the speed test on my phone.

What leads you to believe your phone is capable of supporting any greater WiFi speed than that?

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

What leads you to believe your phone is capable of supporting any greater WiFi speed than that?

It's an iPhone 11, it should work?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
What leads you to believe your phone is capable of supporting any greater WiFi speed than that?

It's an iPhone 11, it should work?

Hmmm... Looks that way. Dunno.

I've said it here before: Not a fan of all-in-one WiFi routers--regardless of brand.

What happens if you plug the laptop into one of the wired ports on the WiFi router?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

What leads you to believe your phone is capable of supporting any greater WiFi speed than that?

It's an iPhone 11, it should work?

FYI for a data point. On my iphone 11 I just tested against my wifi router connected to 1GB fiber. On 5Ghz, I get 550Mbps down. On 2.4Ghz, it drops all the way down to 70Mbps. I am 6 feet from the wifi router.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

What happens if you plug the laptop into one of the wired ports on the WiFi router?

Same thing. Tops out at 350 Mbps

There is something limiting this router but I cannot figure out what.


Plug into the WAN port on the modem and bypass the router...BAM...650+ Mbps

I think I may replace this router, what's decent for $150 or less?

Go into your router configuration and turn off the 2.4 GHz and see what speed you achieve on 5.0 GHz.

If you get 650 like you do wired, then I would rename the 2.4 GHz network and turn it back on.

If it doesn't get 650 like you do wired, there is likely a setting issue. I don't use TP Link, but on my Netgear there is a lesser set of setting accessing through iOS app than there is when I access settings through my laptop.

Had a similar issue with this router. I replaced it.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
What happens if you plug the laptop into one of the wired ports on the WiFi router?

Same thing. Tops out at 350 Mbps

There is something limiting this router but I cannot figure out what.

That is a valuable data point you might have included in your OP. If you can't get greater than 350Mb/s on a wired port: It's the router.

And, by "it's the router," I mean it's the router. It simply cannot route faster than that.

I bet that if you had a capable internal server, and ran that test purely between internal devices, you'd see much higher speeds.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I think I may replace this router, what's decent for $150 or less?

I think you're asking too much for what you want to spend.

Our router, alone, retails for $140. It's been tested to be able to route at near GigE wire speed. (That will depend a lot on the router config.) Our current (unmanaged) backbone switch: $40. The backbone switch to which I plan to upgrade: $180. Our existing AP: $80.

QoS and WiFi multimedia (WMM) could be throttling your speed. Both are quality of service features that prioritize traffic.

Try disabling WMM first. That just might do the trick for ya. If not, try Advanced > System Tools > System Parameters and enable NAT Boost. What that should do is also disable QoS ... to see if QoS is slowing the connection.

.

It;s been a while since I supported WiFi equipment and networks, this may not be correct for the current routers on the market.

A router will only operate at the fastest speed of the slowest connected device on that frequency.

Change the name of your WiFi network, then connect the newest device you own and test the speed. If that is above 350Mbs, then connect each device one by one to determine which one slows down the entire network.

I expect it will be your security camera, a TV, or something else you forgot is connected that is slowing everything down.

Good luck!

.

Just a thought, have you contacted TP Link support to see what they could offer? I've dealt with them a couple times on my equipment (have TP Link WAP's installed) and they were helpful solving my issues.

quote:

Originally posted by Hobbs:
QoS and WiFi multimedia (WMM) could be throttling your speed. Both are quality of service features that prioritize traffic.

That's a good point, Hobbs.

quote:

Originally posted by xantom:
Had a similar issue with this router. I replaced it.

If you search “Archer A7 not getting advertised speeds”, there’s lots of results on the internet about this and no resolution that I can see.

That’s kind of disappointing, because all the regular reviews of this router are very good. I suppose it just cannot handle higher speeds, maybe it just does not have the horsepower.

What did you replace yours with?

SHORT ANSWER:

1) Use 5.0 ghz AC protocol on both AP and client
2) Use router as AP not router: disconnect WAN port on TP Link plug into LAN port.
3) Use ISP router for DHCP, turn off WIFI.

Making a big deal on Internet "tests" when performance is already decent is not necessary.
Speeds can vary from a plethora of reasons many legitimate and normal.
Using the test when there is a significant speed reduction is smart otherwise 999 out of 1000 people would not know any difference in a blind test.