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

[SwanseaWifi7]

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

[bobpullen]

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@SwanseaWifi7 wrote:

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.)

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Your max speed from a 2x2 client on WiFi 6 is dependent on the bandwidth operation. At 160MHz, then the max theoretical link speed is 2400mbps (which maps broadly to the 1.3Gbps figure you cite above), however 5GHz cannot always operate in this mode due to DFS regulation (and this is completely outside of your control). When operating in 80MHz mode, everything is halved, which would take you closer to the 700mbps you're actually getting.

There are a couple of differences with the backhaul link between the hub and the Smart WiFi unit. Firstly, it could be operating in different channel space where 160MHz is currently available/free of DFS interference. Secondly, it will be making use of 4x4 streams, whereas your phone will only do 2x2 (so effectively twice the bandwidth).

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. 

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6GHz does not like range or obstructions and speeds will drop off very quickly with distance. Is this the same when you're on top of the hub? Also, is it a USB adapter and if so, is the port on the PC USB3 because if it's not, it's going to bottleneck.

For example, I have no idea if it using the fastest channel (160Mhz?) for the 6Ghz band. 

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It will be, and will use 320MHz where WiFi 7 is concerned.

[SwanseaWifi7]

Thanks for the reply!

The Smart Wifi extender is in the same room as the Wifi 6E adapter (which is USB 3) and the signal on the hub dashboard looks good. Therefore, given the backhaul link between the Smart Hub Pro and Smart Wifi extender can max out the ethernet connection presumably the Smart Wifi extender is capable of sending 1Gbps to the Wifi 6E adapter, so range and signal won't be the limiting factor?

With the  Smart Wifi extender in close proximity the Wifi 6E adapter is giving me 5Ghz speeds (same as the MBP etc. around 700Mbps) despite the hub dashboard saying it is using the 6Ghz band. 

So the only thing I can think of is that either the 6Ghz band is using a narrow channel width (is this even possible?) or there's a fault somewhere. 

[Colesey]

I’m having similar issues as @SwanseaWifi7 

I have my extender (wireless backhaul) connected to my Xbox via Ethernet cable which is currently downloading a game at 850 ish mbps but over WiFi I’m only achieving 400 ish mbps on my IPhone 15 pro max. The extender is clearly receiving close to 1Gbps as else the Xbox wouldn’t be downloading at that speed. Hmmmm

[bobpullen]

What's the make and model of the adapter? I guess there's an outside chance that the adapter itself might not operate at the requisite channel bandwidth. How does it identify in Windows device manager/network adapter properties?

Also worth confirming the RSSI dBm signal strength of the desktop machine in the Hub Manager. You can get to it from Advanced Settings > Wireless > WiFi Extenders > highlight extender > review connected device list. Whilst there, might also be worth checking the link speed. click the Wi-Fi connection in the task bar, click the little info icon and look for something like this (will take a while for the image to approve/come through): -

Only other thought is that it really doesn't take much in terms of distance/obstructions to degrade the connection on 6GHz and I imagine it's performance is also going to be shared to some degree with the backhaul link due to the fact it doesn't have a dedicated radio for the mesh.

[SwanseaWifi7]

This is the dongle https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-WiFi-Adapter-A8000/dp/B0BT7PYRLT

Seemed to have OK reviews in terms of max speeds.

I'll take a look at those other details later, thanks for the advice. 

What I'm trying to determine is whether I'm likely to get closer to 1.6Gbps with a better router? Or whether I should just downgrade my package. Out of interest I've just done speed tests on fast.com for the first time the MBP and my iPhone and both seem around 900Mbps... when doing simultaneous downloads they seem to share that total at around 400mbps, so I'm not clear whether the router is capable of the 1.6Gbps throughput? Whether 5Ghz or 6Ghz. 

[bobpullen]

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@Colesey wrote:

I have my extender (wireless backhaul) connected to my Xbox via Ethernet cable which is currently downloading a game at 850 ish mbps but over WiFi I’m only achieving 400 ish mbps on my IPhone 15 pro max.

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How is the phone connected? 6Ghz or 5GHz. If you move next to the extender and toggle the Wi-Fi off/back on, does that change things?

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@SwanseaWifi7 wrote:

This is the dongle https://www.amazon.co.uk/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-WiFi-Adapter-A8000/dp/B0BT7PYRLT

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See here. 

"The A8000 uses a Wi-Fi 6E chip from MediaTek and doesn't support the 160MHz channel width."

Achieving 1.6Gbps is definitely going to be achieveable in close proximity on 6GHz using a capable device, but like everything WiFi, I imagine some 'planetary alignment' is sometimes required 😉

[GosforthUK]

@SwanseaWifi7 for some reason, you have set 80 Mhz wide of channel, which technically speaking is not maximum possible from the router.

Even Smart Hub Plus (previous 6E version) is capable to provide 160 Mhz wide channels, and new Smart hub Pro (wifi 7) should be able to provide 160 Mhz wide channels on 5 Ghz and 320 Mhz wide channel on 6 Ghz.

Obviously, your devices need to be able to work with it, and support it, to get max of it.

For example, most of the iphones up to iPhone 14 will be able to work only wirh 80 Mhz wide channels, I believe, iPhone 15 was first, which was able handle 160 Mhz wide, and even iPhone 16 Pro is still limited on 160 Mhz, even on Wifi 7 due limitations of chip used.

Examples (please bear in mind as I do have only Smart hub Plus (Wifi 6E) version, not Wifi 7 one:

iphone 12 pro getting somewhere around  650-800 Mbps down, 110 up

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra somewhere around 1200 to 1300 Mbps down, 115 up

when connected to EE provided hub, due some interference in appartment building.

However, I primarily using my 1.6 Gbps EE BB with my own TP-link omada system (ER707-m2 router, and EAP670 as Wifi AP), and things are more interesting here, whilst able to influence, wich channels will be used, and how they will be setup.

Concretely, I moved main 160 Mhz channel out of congestion, to Channel 120. Yes it's still have some interference in effect, but for now, only 2 other routers are on higher of 5 Ghz portion of Wifi here, and both competing about channel 100 and 80 respective 160 Mhz wide channels.

I have backup channels on Ch 60 (again, most of the EE, Sky and others dont use them) for 80 Mhz wide via EAP655-Wall and reduced 2.4 Ghz channel to only 20 Mhz wide (not make any sense to try more, 2,4 Ghz it's totally congested)...

same iPhone getting up to 820 Mbps down, 115 Mbps up

same Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is stable on 1500-1700 Mbps down, 115-120 Mbps up, means almost full capacity of my BB.

Obviously, if more devices demand poriton of it, it going down, due obvious reasons.

I should go for some WiFi scanner app, and take look how congested it's WiFi at your place and choose your channels accordingly.

[bobpullen]

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@GosforthUK wrote:

@SwanseaWifi7 for some reason, you have set 80 Mhz wide of channel, which technically speaking is not maximum possible from the router. Even Smart Hub Plus (previous 6E version) is capable to provide 160 Mhz wide channels...

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All valid comments but you're overlooking the DFS element. Both hubs can do 160MHz on 5GHz but that does not mean they always will. Factors outside of your control can occasionally (or even permanently if you're unlucky) drop the 5GHz AP operation to 80MHz.

[GosforthUK]

@bobpullen I have DFS channel not even 3 miles from major International Airport and their radars, and from some Weather stations.

Over the span of 2+ years, it happened exactly twice, as DFS kicked off and TP-link must to change channel from my set one to another, out of DFS.

People are afraid of DFS channels, but in fact, this not really made big deal in UK, apart you living with airport or Weathe radar just behind your back garden, and at most situations, they are just fine to use (and when it's legitimate, router will deal with it).

[bobpullen]

@GosforthUK - horses for courses. My nearest (small) airport is > 8 miles away, weather stations a little closer. Whilst majority of the time I'm operating at 160MHz, I definitely notice occasional periods where DFS events knock me off. This isn't resigned to a specific hub, and I last I checked my back garden was free of runways/weather stations 😉

One other thing to consider is what happens following something like a reboot e.g. some of the higher power 5GHz channels will mandate a minimum 10 minute clearance time, so it can take some time following a restart for channel clearance to take place and things to settle at their optimum.