Phone is just setting up a connection limited to under 100Mbps using a gigabit router.
Phone is just setting up a connection limited to under 100Mbps using a gigabit router.
Hello everyone, I’m currently using an XR500 with a 200Mbps connection through my ISP. It has consistently provided at least 200Mbps to all my devices. Today it still works this way on everything except my phone. Recently, my phone’s speeds have dropped to around 60Mbps or less, which is much lower than the 200Mbps it previously received. All other devices still maintain 200+ Mbps. After resetting both my router and phone, updating firmware, renaming devices, randomizing MAC addresses, and restarting the modem, I’m still experiencing a link speed between 80-120 Mbps between my router and phone. This is significantly lower than the upper hundreds you’d expect from a gigabit router. My question is, how can I restore the speeds back to normal? It’s worth mentioning that resetting both devices helped at first, but the issue returned after about ten minutes.
It seems the issue arose suddenly without any adjustments. My network monitor shows 20MHz, but I'm not sure about the channel width you're referring to.
I consistently achieved a range of 150 to 220 Mbps on my phone’s Wi-Fi across this network, even throughout the house. On 2.4GHz it delivers 30-60 Mbps, whereas on 5GHz it reaches over 200 Mbps. It appears the device is defaulting more often to the 2.4GHz channel despite 5GHz offering significantly higher speeds at the same distance. I’m uncertain what might have changed this behavior. I performed some tests: in one photo, my phone was on 2.4GHz and got 62 Mbps; in another, it switched to 5GHz and achieved 221 Mbps. Both tests were taken 30 feet away from the path with several walls for accuracy. It’s worth mentioning that the 5GHz test only showed 3 bars, while the 2.4GHz test had 4 bars. Even though the speeds are much higher, I think this is why the router favored 5GHz. The last image shows the same Wi-Fi settings panel. Please note the measured speed was 292 Mbps at the testing location.
A possible solution is using a separate SSID for 5GHz, though it seems the device struggles to distinguish between 2.4 and 5GHz bands. Without hardware changes, there aren't many options. Using a phone with MIMO technology would improve speeds, but it comes at a cost.
I explored a method using DD-WRT auto-switching and virtual SSIDs, yet the challenges and risks outweigh the benefits. For those facing similar concerns, the main issue lies in Netgear's "Smart Connect" feature, which appears to heavily tax wireless performance even though it operates on the same 5GHz band as a dedicated channel. Thanks for the help from @Electronics Wizardy.