Please Help, Linksys EA6400 AC Router Terrible Ranges and Speeds

[tman2damax11]

So I've been stuck with this Linksys EA6400 for a year or so now, and I just can't take it anymore, back when I bought it AC routers were just starting to overtake most N routers on the market, so me being an early adopter type person thought, I'll pay the extra $50 to get this new router with all these new features, but it sure hasn't payed off over the last year. I can't tell if the router is just a bad piece of hardware, the placement of the router is poor, or if Linksys has terrible firmware (over the entire year I had the router there were only 2 updates and they only addressed minor issues that I never had). When I first got the router I had it placed on a 6.5 ft shelf in a small room in the corner of my house, about 15ft from the center of the house. I thought this was the leading factor to my problems, so I moved it more towards the center of my first floor and mounted it about the same height (6.5 ft) on the wall. But no  nothing changed, maybe a 5 ft increase of the already pathetic range, quote from linksys site that is complete lies to me: "High-powered signal amplifiers deliver ultimate range and performance", and nowhere on the linksys site do they give an estimate of their routers ranges, they just give you this stupid phrase.

 

So now onto my testing, My internet speed that I get on my desktop that connected to a switch that's connected to the router gets almost exactly every-time 9ms Ping, 121.3mbps download, and 23.3 upload (speedtest.net). Now for my wireless tests I used my macbook air 2013, because it does have AC so I can take advantage of that on 5ghz. So from where I most often use my macbook in my office on the second floor, I'd estimate about 30-35 ft away from the router I got these results: 2.4Ghz N average ping 10-15ms, average download 15mbps, and average upload 23mbps. So very interesting I got very good pngs, but the download speeds are always low, isn't 2.4ghz N capable of 144mbps? and then for some reason I always get my full upload speed of 23mbps on 2.4ghz. Now 5ghz, this is where things get annoying, average ping stil 10-15ms, down load speed, there was no average I got everything from 5mbps one test, and 40 mbps on another?!?! and upload was almost always in between 5-10mbps. Why is it that on 5Ghz I get theses terrible fluctuations in download and upload is always the same but slower compared to 2.4ghz? Also in windows network center thing, when on the 2.4ghz I always had a "speed" (connection link to router) of 78mbps, so why is it that I had this link speed but couldn't get 78mbps download speeds in my speed tests?! The confusion continues, on 5ghz the "speed" fluctuated between 10mbps and flippin 780mbps! Thats probably the AC kicking in I guess, but if I can get a link speed of 780 why can't I get my full internet speed?

 

At first I though all these problems were because my house is very old and I'm on the second floor, and the second floor was basically plopped on somewhere along the line of my houses life and the gap between the first and second floor is 2 feet thick, and there's probably vents, wires, beams and who knows what blocking the signal, so I did the same tests from the same distance (30-35ft) away on the first floor, exact same results. Then I do some tests about 5 feet away from the router, I get constant 11ms pings, my full 121.3 download speed, and my full 23.3 upload speed. What is causing all these problems? I haven't done extensive testing, mostly with my phone (iphone 5s) because its easier, and its like the second you get more than 10-15 away from the router you always get 20mbps or less download on either frequency and the same for upload, but always good pings.

 

I don't know if this is just a bad model router by linksys, or if their firmware just isn't good yet, or I'm doing something wrong. So does anyone know if there's a secret settings in the linksys "smart" settings that actually makes your router work past 15 ft? I'm eyeing the new linksys wrt1900ac, but I know that my router is good enough for what I'm doing and the internet speed I pay for, but it just doesn't want to work,  I've had 3 linksys routers in the past and the only reason they got replaced was because updating standards, and I don't want to trash this router because it was bad, I want it to last until AC is obsolete.. If you guys could help me out in anyway I would greatly appreciate it!

[AMICLG]

I had the same problem with two different EA6300 (100% an EA6400) and unfortunately there is absolutely no fix. It's either the shit firmware or hardware, probably both. Don't get the WRT1900AC it's just as bad, get the R7000 or AC68U.

[Alibaladin]

Always go for Asus's routers. 

[tman2damax11]

Always go for Asus's routers. 

I was going to mention this, but I already went on too long, but I bought this router because I previously had an asus router which had this very very annoying issue where exactly every 10 mins every device would get disconnected and have to reconnect, and some had the same problem with the same model and there was no solution and asus never fixed it in a firmware update for the 6 months I had that router, and it kinda ruined asus for me as a networking brand, as I said linksys has always had my back in the past, so I'm loyal to them, I agree that some asus routers are obviously better, but all of them aren't perfect same with linksys.

[Alibaladin]

I was going to mention this, but I already went on too long, but I bought this router because I previously had an asus router which had this very very annoying issue where exactly every 10 mins every device would get disconnected and have to reconnect, and some had the same problem with the same model and there was no solution and asus never fixed it in a firmware update for the 6 months I had that router, and it kinda ruined asus for me as a networking brand, as I said linksys has always had my back in the past, so I'm loyal to them, I agree that some asus routers are obviously better, but all of them aren't perfect same with linksys.

Did you use wifi extender as well?

[tman2damax11]

Did you use wifi extender as well?

For the asus one? No, and I still don't, my house isn't big enough for one, and the specific asus model was the rt-n56u. If you google "asus rt n56u dropping connection" you can see that many had my same problem and there was no concrete fix, I tried everything with that router, but it just never wanted to please me.

[tman2damax11]

I had the same problem with two different EA6300 (100% an EA6400) and unfortunately there is absolutely no fix. It's either the shit firmware or hardware, probably both. Don't get the WRT1900AC it's just as bad, get the R7000 or AC68U.

Why is the wrt1900ac bad? From what I've seen it stacks up to the ac66u in all ranges, and has a slight edge in super long ranges. Also that retro design is so sleek. Also from my time with asus I didn't like the way the firmware was laid out and on the new linksys smart routers the options might be more restricted but they're way easier to quickly figure out what each menu is for, and manage your router. But maybe I'll wait for the wrt1900ac v2.0 which will probably support faster speeds if I ever need them and be smaller with more range.

[AMICLG]

Why is the wrt1900ac bad? From what I've seen it stacks up to the ac66u in all ranges, and has a slight edge in super long ranges. Also that retro design is so sleek. Also from my time with asus I didn't like the way the firmware was laid out and on the new linksys smart routers the options might be more restricted but they're way easier to quickly figure out what each menu is for, and manage your router. But maybe I'll wait for the wrt1900ac v2.0 which will probably support faster speeds if I ever need them and be smaller with more range.

The firmware is garbage, it doesn't even have VPN settings that 8 year old routers have, the R7000 is the best $200 router right know or if you want to save a bit the AC66U is the next best thing, Asus has come a long way on their firmware.