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Jhartigan22's avatar
Jhartigan22
New Contributor

Slow Speed Through Router

I've recent upgraded my internet service and went through the service call and everything. I am receiving the speeds I pay for directly through my modem. When connected to my Nighthawk AC1900 my speeds drop significantly. Netgear states that my ISP is assigning me a IPV4 instead of IPV6 and this is what is causing my slow speeds. Please advise.

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  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    Valued Contributor III

    "Netgear states that my ISP is assigning me a IPV4 instead of IPV6 and this is what is causing my slow speeds."

    That netgear agent didnt know what the heck he was talking about. Thats like saying the reason a box of cereal taste bad is because it has a bar code instead of a q code. And if IPv4 was slowing you down, why would direct to the modem be faster since its using IPv4? I would love to hear him try to rationalize out his reasoning. See here for a break down of what IPv6 is, and see here showing that IPv4 is just as fast, if not faster than IPv6.

    What modem do you have? If it is a gateway, that might be causing a dual NAT situation.

    Also, are you connected wired or wireless?

    Last, you might try the Netgear Genie App. Should be a way to do a speed test which tests from router to Cox instead of Computer to Cox. This should isolate where the bottleneck is.

    http://www.netgear.com/home/discover/apps/genie.aspx

  • Jhartigan22's avatar
    Jhartigan22
    New Contributor

    I'm not home currently but I will run some test when I get home and report back. I'm running a surfboard sb6183. 12 down 4 up channels currently and I can post my numbers tomorrow.

  • plainmelder's avatar
    plainmelder
    New Contributor

    I am having the same problem. I am in Northwest Arkansas. I am paying for Cox Premier (100mbps). I have a laptop and a PC running windows 8.1.

    So here is the story. Last month, I ran a Cox speed check and was receiving 48 mbps--about half of what I have been paying for since August of 2013. I was busy so I put off taking care of this issue until yesterday, when I ran another speed check and it was still hovering around 45-48 mbps. But  lately over the last three weeks my internet connection has sporadically but increasingly been interrupted, and it would remain partially or completely interrupted until I reset the router/modem gateway (purchased from Cox in August 2013... a Netgear CG3000D), so yesterday, I decided to chat with Cox.

    So during my on-line chat, guided by the Cox representative, I hardwired from the gateway to my lap top and got 110 mbps. Disconnecting the ethernet cable, on wireless, I received less than 50mbps on my lap top. So the Cox chat rep told me my gateway was showing "high time out numbers" or something to that effect, and that I needed a new gateway. OK, I understand that sometimes relatively new technology fails us, so I go to the Cox Solutions store and they are ready to sell me another gateway for $129. But I didn't buy one, instead I said, "just take me off premier and put me on preferred, since I am still getting around 50 mbps with this "defective" 18 month old gateway."

    So that brings me to today, when I go to shop for gateways and find one on sale at a local retailer for $50 less than what Cox was trying to sell me. I buy the dual channel gateway, a Netgear C3700, fully compatible with Cox ISP and able to receive speeds up to 340 mbps. I hook it up, get it set up with the aid of a very nice woman from Cox on the phone, and I say "you know, please put me back on Premier, now that I have a nice new gateway." So she does, and she says to wait a while before running speed tests because it will take a bit for the speed to ramp back up. So I waited three hours.

    After my wait, I ran the Cox speed test and got the same results as with the old gateway. I even got a 35 mbps reading once through the new gateway. Wirelessly, on both my PC and my lap top speeds are consistently sub 48mbps, never more than that. Yet plugging ethernet cable from gateway to laptop yields 110mbps. At this point, I don't even think that the old gateway was flawed and that Cox was just trying to do a bait and switch con job on me.

    Oh, and I ran the Netgear Genie speed test as recommended above and got a 39Mbps reading.

    So what is the deal? Is there problem with the wireless receivers in my computers? Does Windows 8.1 not play well with wireless internet? I feel like I have thrown a lot of money away over this now and I am becoming increasingly irritated with the universe. Please help!!!!

  • ChrisL's avatar
    ChrisL
    Former Moderator
    @plainmelder

    Do you know what type of wireless your laptop supports?  We're talking about A/B/G/N/AC for example as well as single vs dual band.

  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    Valued Contributor III

    plainmelder said:
    I hardwired from the gateway to my lap top and got 110 mbps. Disconnecting the ethernet cable, on wireless, I received less than 50mbps on my lap top.

    What wireless card do you have in your laptop. Wireless speeds depends on ALOT of factors.

    plainmelder said:
    a Netgear C3700, fully compatible with Cox ISP

    ANy particular reason you got another gateway? I find their wireless to be inferior. Modem and separate router is much better, and you don't have to buy them from Cox either. Actually, I would suggest you NOT buy them from Cox since other stores have much better selection.

    plainmelder said:
    she says to wait a while before running speed tests because it will take a bit for the speed to ramp back up.

    Bull poop. The speed changes as soon as the modem downloads the new config file. Sounds like she was trying to get you off the phone or didn't know how to do her job.

  • plainmelder's avatar
    plainmelder
    New Contributor

    My laptop (HP Envy with Intel core i7 @2.4GHz and 12 GB RAM ) has an Intel(R) Centrino Wireless N 2230 #2 (802.11bgn 2X2) adapter. The manufacturer's website declares this to be a single band adapter. The manufacturer also says this adapter supports speeds up to 300 Mbps.

    My PC (HP Intel core i5@ 3.0 GHz and 8 GB RAM)has a Ralink RT 5390R (802.11bgn 1X1) adapter. I can't locate any information from the manufacturer, they seem to have lost their web presence... which is not encouraging at all.

    I am running Windows 8.1 on both machines.

    According to my computers, drivers are up to date for these adapters.

  • plainmelder's avatar
    plainmelder
    New Contributor

    I bought a gateway because I am uninformed and just assumed that was the thing to do, since Cox provided me with such a set-up in August 2013. So I have invested about $200 in gateways now, one of which might or might not be defective and the other one which is less than 24 hours out of the box. Maybe I can get my money back for the new one, the old one I might stick with if you all can help me figure out the problem.

    This might be my frustration talking, but I find it hard to believe something is wrong  with computers when two different machines, with different makes of wireless adapters, are getting the same half-speed results.  It seems to be either that gateways are indeed pieces of **, as Health Edge writes, or that Cox has some kind of problem getting through the very gateways which it sells and suggests.

    But anything is possible I guess.

  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    Valued Contributor III

    plainmelder said:
    I bought a gateway because I am uninformed and just assumed that was the thing to do, since Cox provided me with such a set-up in August 2013.

    Yea, last few years they have been pushing gateways more and more. I think its because of the failure of their Home Networking team. They had to dumb everything down so representives could support with their limited knowledge. That combined with the fact all gateways have internal antennas and you can't update the firmware makes for a inferior product. There is also the possibility they push gateways so they look on equal footing with FIOS who ONLY give gateways.

    It sounds like your having two problems. A intermittent throughput problem on the wired connection and a constant problem with the wireless. I don't know how to troubleshoot the wired problem, but the wireless settings on the router can be adjusted for better performance. Not great performance...but better. How do you have the wireless configured now? Also, FYI, there is a glitch with the 5Ghz band. Don't know how they got that by the FCC, especially since Netgear sued Asus for doing the exact same thing. 

  • plainmelder's avatar
    plainmelder
    New Contributor

    Health Edge said:
    How do you have the wireless configured now?

    I'm not sure how to determine the configuration, but I'll give it a shot:

    It is on a channel all by itself, using WPA2-PSK security. It is running on 2.4 GHz..

    Is there more information I can provide for you? I am getting all of the above from the Netgear Genie app.

  • Health_Edge's avatar
    Health_Edge
    Valued Contributor III

    Sorry, I am going to have to leave this to the moderator to answer. I have decided to quit this forum. I wish you luck with your problem though.