Just got faster internet but wifi router still gives slow old speed. How do I fix this?

[Bleedingyamato]

We recently switched from a slower internet speed (I think 15mbps but a speed test shows more like 8) to 60mbps I believe it should be.  

 

After some resetting or whatever my parents did while talking to someone from our ISP it looks like we can get the proper speed around 60mbps or maybe a little higher actually but only if a computer is connected directly to our modem.  

 

We were told the problem is with our wifi router and there should be some settings or whatever to adjust to get the wifi router to deliver the correct internet speed.  

 

I think the router is on default settings anyway but just to be sure I was was going to try doinh a factory reset.

 

Before I do that and have to set up the wifi router all over again I figured I'd ask on here in case there's other options to try that might save some time or be more likely to work.

 

Does anyone know how to fix this issue where the wifi router isn't delivering the proper full internet speed we have?

 

 

 

@LAwLz

@Oshino Shinobu

 

I think both of you know about network stuff so I tagged you two in case either can help.

 

 

Edit: the wifi router is a LINKSYS EA8500 I believe and the modem is a Motorola SB6141.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited April 12, 2017 by Bleedingyamato

[DevilsHand676]

Your router might not be able to send out the full speeds. You might want to check (either on the box, or the internet) what speeds the router can do

[Bleedingyamato]

2 minutes ago, DevilsHand676 said:

Your router might not be able to send out the full speeds. You might want to check (either on the box, or the internet) what speeds the router can do

The router is rated for well above 60mbps.  

 

Spoiler

 

[WkdPaul]

are you having problems only with wifi or is it slow even when a PC is physically connected to the router?

[Bleedingyamato]

Just now, wkdpaul said:

are you having problems only with wifi or is it slow even when a PC is physically connected to the router?

Just wifi.  When my mother was on the phone with a ISP rep she got about 67mbps according to a speed test with her laptop connected directly to the modem.

[WkdPaul]

If it's the wifi then it could be interference.

 

Check what channels are busy and change the wifi channel to one that isn't too crowded. I use Wifi Analyser on my Android phone, there are alternatives on Windows and iOS but I'm not familiar with those.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer

[Windows7ge]

On a Windows PC you can using Acrylic WiFi Home. It's free and can show you all the local Wi-Fi sources and what channel they use. Most common on 2.4GHz is 1,6, & 11. @wkdpaul

 

2.4GHz g = 54mbps

802.11ac is many time faster but not all wireless devices support it. Check your router to see if the wireless is set to 2.4GHz g. More than that won't seriously impact internet performance and wireless devices may not even support higher frequencies.

[Terrorjoekel]

If your router has it, try connecting to the 5ghz band. It allows for much faster speeds. That said a 2.4Ghz N wifi connection should easily be able to hit 50 mbit or higher, what is the device you are testing with? Does that support wifi on the n band?

[Bleedingyamato]

33 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

If it's the wifi then it could be interference.

 

Check what channels are busy and change the wifi channel to one that isn't too crowded. I use Wifi Analyser on my Android phone, there are alternatives on Windows and iOS but I'm not familiar with those.

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.farproc.wifi.analyzer

Wouldn't that limit signal strength too?    We get good signal strength.

 

I just checked on my computer and found something odd.  I'm connected to what I thought was our 5GHz wifi network.  (We have 2 setup so far as I've been told: a 2.4GHz work using one SSID and a 5GHz using a separate SSID.)

 

According to the box if you look at the most recent picture where it shows the speeds on the router box's blue bottom the 5GHz is supposed to be AC.  

 

 

I thought I'd seen somewhere that wireless AC is 5GHz only.  I have no idea about N but according to my computer I'm connected to the SSID for our 5GHz wifi network but it says the protocol is 802.11N not AC.  It says it's on channel 44 if that matters.   

 

21 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

On a Windows PC you can using Acrylic WiFi Home. It's free and can show you all the local Wi-Fi sources and what channel they use. Most common on 2.4GHz is 1,6, & 11. @wkdpaul

 

2.4GHz g = 54mbps

802.11ac is many time faster but not all wireless devices support it. Check your router to see if the wireless is set to 2.4GHz g. More than that won't seriously impact internet performance and wireless devices may not even support higher frequencies.

I'm almost positive that all our devices use N or AC.  A few older ones might use G but that shouldn't slow down devices using N or AC should it?

 

20 minutes ago, Terrorjoekel said:

If your router has it, try connecting to the 5ghz band. It allows for much faster speeds. That said a 2.4Ghz N wifi connection should easily be able to hit 50 mbit or higher, what is the device you are testing with? Does that support wifi on the n band?

Even the 2.4 band should support well over the 60mbps we're supposed to have though.  

 

 

I've been running a speed test app on my iPad Air.  So whatever that has.  I forget if it has AC or N.  

[Windows7ge]

5 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I'm almost positive that all our devices use N or AC.  A few older ones might use G but that shouldn't slow down devices using N or AC should it?

The router running compatibility for Channels B/G/N simultaneously might hurt the performance if the slower devices are using the internet and the routers processor isn't powerful enough to juggle it all. You could change the mode you're running to just transmit on N. Just transmitting on 802.11n should give you bandwidth up to 450mbps which would be more than enough to accommodate a group of wireless user (at least on the local network). Provided all your wireless devices can transmit & receive on 802.11n.

[Bleedingyamato]

43 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

On a Windows PC you can using Acrylic WiFi Home. It's free and can show you all the local Wi-Fi sources and what channel they use. Most common on 2.4GHz is 1,6, & 11. @wkdpaul

 

2.4GHz g = 54mbps

802.11ac is many time faster but not all wireless devices support it. Check your router to see if the wireless is set to 2.4GHz g. More than that won't seriously impact internet performance and wireless devices may not even support higher frequencies.

I just downloaded that scanner thing and this is what it's showing.

 

It's detecting 3 hidden SSIDs.  I assume at least 2 of those are ours.

 

Maybe the third as well since I assume no one else in the neighborhood is dumb enough to both to hide their SSID like my father is?

[Bleedingyamato]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

The router running compatibility for Channels B/G/N simultaneously might hurt the performance if the slower devices are using the internet and the routers processor isn't powerful enough to juggle it all. You could change the mode you're running to just transmit on N. Just transmitting on 802.11n should give you bandwidth up to 450mbps which would be more than enough to accommodate a group of wireless user (at least on the local network). Provided all your wireless devices can transmit & receive on 802.11n.

My dad wouldn't like disabling AC and I would prefer the range boost from AC since I'm at the other end of the house and in the basement (floor below) where the router is.  

[Windows7ge]

8 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

My dad wouldn't like disabling AC and I would prefer the range boost from AC since I'm at the other end of the house and in the basement (floor below) where the router is.  

Then interference isn't likely an issue. Now if you turned on that application then dozens upon dozens of different signals popped up then switching wireless channels may have aided but 3 is nothing. From where I'm sitting right now their's 16 different wireless signals in the air and it's not affecting my wireless internet.

 

If 5GHz AC is already enabled and you're able to use it that's about the maximum wireless speed you'll be able to obtain. Connecting to it (if you can) will relieve any bottleneck caused by the wireless you're currently on.

[Bleedingyamato]

22 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Then interference isn't likely an issue. Now if you turned on that application then dozens upon dozens of different signals popped up then switching wireless channels may have aided but 3 is nothing. From where I'm sitting right now their's 16 different wireless signals in the air and it's not affecting my wireless internet.

 

If 5GHz AC is already enabled and you're able to use it that's about the maximum wireless speed you'll be able to obtain. Connecting to it (if you can) will relieve any bottleneck caused by the wireless you're currently on.

But even if I was connecting to an N connection I should still get well above the 8 or so Mbps I'm getting now.  

 

Yes connecting to AC is faster if I can do that but even N is supposed to be well above the 60mbps we are supposed to get.  

[Bleedingyamato]

29 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Then interference isn't likely an issue. Now if you turned on that application then dozens upon dozens of different signals popped up then switching wireless channels may have aided but 3 is nothing. From where I'm sitting right now their's 16 different wireless signals in the air and it's not affecting my wireless internet.

 

If 5GHz AC is already enabled and you're able to use it that's about the maximum wireless speed you'll be able to obtain. Connecting to it (if you can) will relieve any bottleneck caused by the wireless you're currently on.

I just noticed another odd thing.  In the settings for the routers the shows the "network mode" as "mixed" for both the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band.  Looking at the other options neither network shows an AC only option.  

 

Does that mean neither is capable of AC even on the mixed setting?

[Windows7ge]

57 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Yes connecting to AC is faster if I can do that but even N is supposed to be well above the 60mbps we are supposed to get.  

True so I'm not sure what to blame.

15 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Does that mean neither is capable of AC even on the mixed setting?

 

This router doesn't appear to be capable of doing 802.11AC only 802.11A. For what you have on both 2.4GHz & 5.0GHz it seems your best option is 802.11N that'll give you the most bandwidth. If it doesn't change the internet speed then the issue is something else.

[Bleedingyamato]

18 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

True so I'm not sure what to blame.

This router doesn't appear to be capable of doing 802.11AC only 802.11A. For what you have on both 2.4GHz & 5.0GHz it seems your best option is 802.11N that'll give you the most bandwidth. If it doesn't change the internet speed then the issue is something else.

That makes no sense...  It's an AC2600 rated router.  Says so on the box.

[Windows7ge]

8 hours ago, Bleedingyamato said:

That makes no sense...  It's an AC2600 rated router.  Says so on the box.

Based off the photos wireless AC wasn't an option so I don't know what to tell you.

[LAwLz]

Your ISP was probably talking about changing the channel, because that's pretty much the only setting you can change to get better WiFi on those types of routers.

 

If your router is set to auto then it will pick the least congested channel by default (might do it at startup, so restarting might help).

 

Other than that, moving the router is one of the few things you can try. Where you put it plays a major role in how good the signal is.

 

Messing around with the different network modes will most likely not help.

 

 

What kind of speeds are you getting right now?

[Bleedingyamato]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

Your ISP was probably talking about changing the channel, because that's pretty much the only setting you can change to get better WiFi on those types of routers.

 

If your router is set to auto then it will pick the least congested channel by default (might do it at startup, so restarting might help).

 

Other than that, moving the router is one of the few things you can try. Where you put it plays a major role in how good the signal is.

 

Messing around with the different network modes will most likely not help.

 

 

What kind of speeds are you getting right now?

I already found an option in the router settings for "reboot" and did that.  Didn't help.

 

Currently the router is behind our living room tv (Idk if you call that room the same in your country.) send unfortunately I'm not sure where we could try moving it.  I could try and explore that option later.

 

 

According to a speed test I just ran on my iPad Air this is what I got: 

 

 

[Bleedingyamato]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Your ISP was probably talking about changing the channel, because that's pretty much the only setting you can change to get better WiFi on those types of routers.

 

If your router is set to auto then it will pick the least congested channel by default (might do it at startup, so restarting might help).

 

Other than that, moving the router is one of the few things you can try. Where you put it plays a major role in how good the signal is.

 

Messing around with the different network modes will most likely not help.

 

 

What kind of speeds are you getting right now?

Btw, do you have any idea why my desktop computer showed that it was connected using wireless N when connected to what should be our 5GHz wifi network that according to the router box should be wireless AC?  

 

The wifi card in that desktop is this ASUS Wireless AC card:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JNA337K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The AC1300 PCIE version.  

 

 

[Bleedingyamato]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Your ISP was probably talking about changing the channel, because that's pretty much the only setting you can change to get better WiFi on those types of routers.

 

If your router is set to auto then it will pick the least congested channel by default (might do it at startup, so restarting might help).

 

Other than that, moving the router is one of the few things you can try. Where you put it plays a major role in how good the signal is.

 

Messing around with the different network modes will most likely not help.

 

 

What kind of speeds are you getting right now?

While idk that any settings are not on default or auto settings there is a factory reset option.  Do you think that could somehow do something?

[demonix00]

Wireless AC mode is determined by the channel width option, so as long as the network mode in 5Ghz is set to mixed and the channel width is set to auto then any AC capable device will always connect at AC speeds (This was found after looking through the linksys support section)

 

Also wireless AC will only work on the 5Ghz band (which is also supported by a and n modes which is why they were listed there).

[Bleedingyamato]

1 minute ago, demonix00 said:

Wireless AC mode is determined by the channel width option, so as long as the network mode in 5Ghz is set to mixed and the channel width is set to auto then any AC capable device will always connect at AC speeds (This was found after looking through the linksys support section)

 

Also wireless AC will only work on the 5Ghz band (which is also supported by a and n modes which is why they were listed there).

Ok.  It's set to mixed and auto yet my computer says it's connected to our 5GHz network using 802.11N not AC like it's supposed to.

 

Any idea why that is?

 

 

I know AC is 5GHz only (stumbled across that detail a few months ago) but what I don't understand is why there's no "802.11 AC only" option for the 5GHz network?

 

 

 

Though I still would love to know why this stupid wifi router won't give the proper speed.  We're supposed to get 60mbps I believe.  Not 8...

[Heavygun1450]

24 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Ok.  It's set to mixed and auto yet my computer says it's connected to our 5GHz network using 802.11N not AC like it's supposed to.

 

Any idea why that is?

 

 

I know AC is 5GHz only (stumbled across that detail a few months ago) but what I don't understand is why there's no "802.11 AC only" option for the 5GHz network?

 

 

 

Though I still would love to know why this stupid wifi router won't give the proper speed.  We're supposed to get 60mbps I believe.  Not 8...

You could try resetting your Router back to factory defaults and see if that helps if you want. Your router and modem are more than sufficient for 60 MBPS. You are getting that 60 MBPS over a wired connection right?