New Smart Hub Pro and Smart Wifi with 1.6Gbps - Slow Speeds

SwanseaWifi7 · ‎11-10-2024

Just had the new Smart Hub Pro and Smart Wifi with 1.6Gbps installed. Installer tested the connection and confirmed it was at full speed.

In practice, speeds are relatively slow and do not meet the guaranteed minium speed of 1.3Gbps. I disabled the slower 2.4Ghz band to make sure devices were only connecting to the faster 5Ghz band. This helped increase speeds a little bit.

MacBook Pro M1 Max with Wifi 6 (5Ghz) is getting low 600's to high 700's.

iPhone 13 Pro Max with Wifi 6 (5Ghz) is also getting low 600's to high 700's.

Interestingly, Windows 11 PC with ethernet cable into the Smart Wifi extender is getting close to 1Gbps, so basically maxing out that connection.

This means the wireless connection between the Smart Hub Pro and the Smart Wifi extender is at least 1Gbps, so not sure why the wireless connections with my other devices are so much slower - Wifi 6 (5Ghz) is capable of 1.3Gbps after all and only getting half of that in ideal conditions (right next to router, no other devices using bandwidth etc.)

Any suggestions?

As a side note, I'm getting a Wifi 6E (6Ghz) adapter for my Windows 11 PC (I've not seen any Wifi 7 adapters) so it will be interesting to see if I can achieve 1.6Gbps with that.

Cheers

SwanseaWifi7 · ‎13-10-2024

SOLUTION

After loads of headaches I have finally solved all of the issues. Many thanks to all the contributors that gave me the info to test for solutions.

Devices capable of 5Ghz were connecting to 2.4GHz by default. Disabled the main 2.4GHz band and enabled the compatibility 2.4GHz band under a separate SSID so that legacy devices could still connect. 5GHz (80MHz) devices are now close to saturating the available bandwidth (1.2Gbps) hovering around 1Gbps most of the time. Great stuff.

My PC had a Wifi 6E adapter which allowed me to connect to the 6GHz band. However, it was only giving me speeds of 400Mbps on 6GHz and 5GHz was faster at 1.2Gbps. Furthermore, it turned out it was only capable of 80MHz channel width for 6GHz and therefore limited to a 1201Mbps link speed i.e. theoretically no faster than 5GHz and largely a waste of money in terms of making the most of my 1.6Gbps connection.

I purchased a Wifi 6E adapter with a 160MHz channel width at 6GHz and a link speed of 2402Mbps (enough to saturate my max broadband speed of 1.6Gbps). However, again it was only giving me speeds of 400Mbps on 6GHz and 5GHz was still faster at 1.2Gbps!

It turns out the Smart Wifi Pro extender was causing some sort of interference or other undiagnosed issues. Switching it off basically solved all of my 6GHz headaches.

I now get speeds proportional to the signal strength i.e. when the signal is good I register speeds that are quicker than my 5GHz devices around 1.5Gbps and up to 2Gbps in some test (not sure how this is possible if my connection is only 1.6Gbps but will take it). The 6GHz signal does look more fragile than 5GHz, and I get closer to 5GHz speeds when signal drops, but moving the adapter cradle around my desk/room I can find a sweet spot.

Hopefully this can be put to bed and helps other people in similar situations in the future!

View solution in original post

SwanseaWifi7 · ‎11-10-2024

UPDATE - Wifi 6E adapter is getting the same as the other devices on 5Ghz band, low 600's to high 700's. Strangely it is only getting around 300 when using the 6Ghz band! This has completely stumped me so any suggestions appreciated.

JimM11 · ‎11-10-2024

@SwanseaWifi7 You need to look at the status on the hub manager to see that the wan is at 2.44Gb/s speed, to get there http://192.168.1.254 on top left of first page Status tab.

JimM11 · ‎11-10-2024

@SwanseaWifi7 And you need to be really sure that there are no other devices using the bandwidth so all wifi devices off apart from your phone, it should get you up speed wise, the PC only having Gbit Ethernet ports is never going to get you above the high 900's. Its all about the device for speed, Fast.com through the EE app if the sucker is working will test the router for it's speed and report if it can get the minimum back.

Colesey · ‎11-10-2024

@SwanseaWifi7

i can’t even get my 15 Pro Max to connect to the 6GHz band. Will only connect to 5Ghz if the app isn’t lying to me.

Full Fibre Gigabit
Smart Hub Pro

Northerner · ‎11-10-2024

Hi @SwanseaWifi7

What speeds are you receiving on ethernet.

I would try WiFi without disability any bands.

Also try more than one speed check site.

Thanks.

To contact EE Customer Services dial 150 From your EE mobile or 0800 956 6000 from any other phone. You can call Freephone +44 800 079 8586 on Skype

EE standard opening hours are Monday to Friday, 8am to 9pm - Saturday and Sunday, 8am to 8pm.

SwanseaWifi7 · ‎11-10-2024

Ethernet is in the 900mbps range so close to maxing out.

All devices seem to be working between 60% and 70% of the Wifi 6 (5Ghz) theoretical maximum, so good enough by some people's standards.

However, what is frustrating is not being able to get 1.6Gbps with my Wifi 6E (6Ghz) adapter.

I have logged into hub manager and checked which band each device is using and they are all using 5Ghz, or 6Ghz in the case of the new adapter. I've also tested with all bands enabled but that makes things slower with devices defaulting to 2.4Ghz.

I've tested multiple times on different sites and the speeds are always within the same range.

SwanseaWifi7 · ‎11-10-2024

I've checked and it is 2.44Gb/s. I understand about the ethernet, see my reply to someone else below, 5Ghz speeds are approach where I think they should reasonably be, but the 6Ghz performance with a Wifi 6E adapter isn't good enough. I think it's a problem with the Smart Hub Pro not allowing a choice of bands or channels to maximise potential speed. For example, I have no idea if it using the fastest channel (160Mhz?) for the 6Ghz band.

JimM11 · ‎11-10-2024

@SwanseaWifi7 Use a wifi analyzer to check what's going on, netspot will let you see channels and widths just use the free version. Your win11 adapter will also show you link speed, and say if you are connected channel and width plus protocol also if the driver is capable of passing the info.

SwanseaWifi7 · ‎11-10-2024

info from my MBP wifi connection... the channel width is constantly switching between 80Mhz and 160Mhznot seeing the channel width on the netspot dashboard, is this available in the free version?