topic Confused - 2 vastly different mobile routers but same download speed in Archived Posts

Confused - 2 vastly different mobile routers but same download speed

stan84 — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 21:40:26 GMT

Help me solve this.

My old mobile Wi-Fi Router was:

Huawei B311 2020-4G/ LTE 150 Mbps Mobile Wi-Fi Router

When using this router I had an average download speak of 20Mbps (tested using Ookla speed test). Today, I bought a new NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 Mobile Hotspot 4G LTE Router (supported download speed 2 Gbps). However, when I tested the Download speed it was exactly the same - 20Mbps! Perhaps I am doing something wrong?

I am using a Sim card that has a 5G unlimited data plan but it is a mobile phone sim card plan. Perhaps I should switch to a data plan sim card? My gut feeling is that the new router, the NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 is supposed to work faster by using '4GX LTE Advanced' which is not a part of my Sim Card plan.

Any idea?

Thanks,

Stanley

Re: Confused - 2 vastly different mobile routers but same download speed

XRaySpeX — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 03:03:22 GMT

Why should a diff router be any faster? It's the SIM & the mobile network that determine the speed & that hasn't changed.

You buy a new router for its features, not for its speed!

Both routers are 4G (LTE) & neither will make any use of a 5G SIM.

With the mobile phone SIM you have bought an unlimited data plan; you can't do that on a data SIM.

Re: Confused - 2 vastly different mobile routers but same download speed

stan84 — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:11:49 GMT

Ookla Speed test when connected via Ethernet Cable

So I spoke with NETGEAR Support (the company that I bought the mobile router from and they have adviced me to test the speed using an Ethernet cable connected to my laptop. I was very skeptical but it seems that they were 100% right. The download speed is vastly higher when using an Ethernet Cable!!

Re: Confused - 2 vastly different mobile routers but same download speed

bristolian — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:45:25 GMT

Sometimes different categories of devices are theoretically capable of different maximum speeds, but I've not been able to check on the specifics of the routers you've mentioned. @Peter_C is quite familiar with some of these, and may well be able to offer further suggestions.

In this case, you mention that an Ethernet connection has given a better speed than a WiFi one - this isn't a surprise, but does suggest you're possibly suffering from WiFi congestion.

It may be worth trying a program such as InSSIder (or similar) to investigate which WiFi channels are being used in your immediate locality and whether better performance might be obtained by changing to a different one. Subject to router options allowing you, of course.