Wireless FASTER than wired?

[st_worm2]

Greetings: One of my routers is an ASUS RT AC66u. It is not achieving the kind of speeds I was hoping to see, especially from the LAN ports.

My LAN speed is around 100-150 Mbs downstream, my 2.4 Ghz wireless is around 80 downstream, but my 5 Ghz wireless runs at 250-300 MBs down. The Internet speed coming into my home is around 550 MBs downstream (which I consistently get on my principle router/principle network upstairs .. it's an ASUS RT AC68u, just FYI).

Any ideas about why I am able to get 5 GHz wireless speeds of up to 300/150, while getting only 100-150/50 through the same router's LAN ports?

BTW, I have one internet connection coming through one modem, but I run two separate networks from that single Internet connection (one router is IP address 192.168.1.1 and the other is 192.168.2.1). I set it up this way so that my son and his friends have their own network in the basement for gaming, etc., while we have our own, separate network for everything else (so that the boys have no direct access to our files, printers, etc. on the first network)

I think that's it. Anyone have any idea why my principle router delivers so much more speed than my son's router does, and/or why my son's router has such a fast 5 GHz wireless connection, but, at the same time, such a relatively slow wired connection?

Thanks for your help!

--David

 

[Wolfie]

Hi David,

it may be down to the age/type of LAN hardware in the PC?, some older LAN connectors can only do a max of 100MB/s while newer ones can do a lot more???.

 

[BigFeet]

What kind of ethernet cable are you using (ie. cat 5, cat 5e, cat 6)? Cat 5 is limited to 100Mbps, cat 5e can be limited also. Cat 6 is best for speeds over 100 Mbps.

 

[st_worm2]

What kind of ethernet cable are you using (ie. cat 5, cat 5e, cat 6)? Cat 5 is limited to 100Mbps, cat 5e can be limited also. Cat 6 is best for speeds over 100 Mbps.

Hi BigFeet, I'm using Cat 5e to connect the modem to the router, and Cat 6 to attach the router to my laptop. Most of the house is wired with Cat 5e, but I have been able to see consistent downstream speeds of 500+ MB over the CAT 5e on my desktop.

Also, the CAT 5e that brings the internet into my basement router allows for 5 Ghz wireless speeds that have exceeded 300 MB downstream, so that does not seem to be the problem. I'll change any exposed 5e to CAT 6 wherever I can (however, I think I'm going to hold off pulling all the wire again until I'm positive that it would be advantageous for me to do so )

Thanks!

--David

 

[st_worm2]

Hi David,

it may be down to the age/type of LAN hardware in the PC?, some older LAN connectors can only do a max of 100MB/s while newer ones can do a lot more???.

Hi Wolfie, perhaps you are correct. My laptop was made in 2011, but I've got one of the workstations from the office at home right now, and it's just a 2 year old Dell Optiplex, so there is no doubt that it will have a gigabyte LAN port.

Thanks

--David

 

[st_worm2]

Hi David,

it may be down to the age/type of LAN hardware in the PC?, some older LAN connectors can only do a max of 100MB/s while newer ones can do a lot more???.

Hi again Wolfie, well, I hooked my laptop up to a different router and I was running at 536/118, so it's not the LAN speed of my laptop that's holding the speed down on my son's LAN ports.

I think I'll try swapping out routers next.

Thanks again.

--David

 

[Wolfie]

Hi David,

does your ISP have a speed cap imposed on your contract with them?, my ISP limits me to 125MBits!.

 

[Clintlgm]

Hi again Wolfie, well, I hooked my laptop up to a different router and I was running at 536/118, so it's not the LAN speed of my laptop that's holding the speed down on my son's LAN ports.

I think I'll try swapping out routers next.

Thanks again.

--David

Yes, the router could be the issue but more likely it the LAN wire or connector at some point. If your house was built in with LAN wires built in, I would be very suspicious those contractors are just in a hurry and it only takes one staple a little tight to screw you. Connector wires can break and not be noticeable I've had this happen to me drove me crazy for a few hours until I finally figured it out.

 

[st_worm2]

Yes, the router could be the issue but more likely it the LAN wire or connector at some point. If your house was built in with LAN wires built in, I would be very suspicious those contractors are just in a hurry and it only takes one staple a little tight to screw you. Connector wires can break and not be noticeable I've had this happen to me drove me crazy for a few hours until I finally figured it out.

Hi Clintlgm, I pulled the wires after the house was built, but before our basement was finished, so something may have happened during the time that the contractors were here. I'll check it out and if I have to pull new cable in a couple of places I will do so.

Thanks!

--David

 

[Saltgrass]

It can be a minor point and many folks do not realize the difference between MBps and Mbps. The problem comes when trying to compare networking speeds for different devices in different situations. If you check speeds shown by a router, they may actually be MBps where Task Manager will show network speeds of Mbps.

For instance, since 550 MBps is 4400 Mbps, you would have an extremely fast Internet connection. So I will assume all of the numbers you are posting are actually in Mbps. If some number is not, please advise.

Beyond that, are you running a LAN port from your primary router to the son's router?

 

[st_worm2]

Hi Saltgrass, all the speeds that I've been posting are from Ookla Speedtest, so they are in Mbps.

As for my networks, there are two, my son's being on a separate router/second network (now 192.168.0.1) while my primary network is 192.168.1.1. I have my son's router (an older ASUS Dark Knight that is 'not' broadcasting a wireless radio signal and sits next to my home's Internet modem) attached to the WAN port of his ASUS ac66u (which is now setup as a wired switch and wireless access point).

I am now seeing the same wired speeds coming from his ac66u that I am getting on my primary network (+- 500/150 Mbps), 5 GHz at +- 300/100, and 2.4 Ghz at +- 100/60, so I think things are moving in the right direction.

Thanks!

--David