Slow Speeds with Netgear R7000 Router - How We Fixed It - SOLVED

This is a post about slow internet speeds with the Netgear R7000 router and how we solved the problem. If you want to skip directly to our fix, go to the fourth paragraph from the bottom of the post. If you want the background first, keep reading.

 

Like others, we've been having slow internet download speed issues with our R7000 router. These slow speeds are when we are connected by cable to the router with the wifi off on the computer and the router or if connected by wifi to the router - it doesn't matter. Our internet connection is the Ultimate package rated at 300Mbps/30Mbps download/upload. When connecting through the router we would be lucky to get 120-160Mbps download but always 30Mbps up. When connecting directly through the cable modem (Motorola MB8600) we usually get our rated download speed and above.

 

All speed test numbers have been tested using not only the speed test software housed at Cox, but also speed test sites on the internet. All speed tests confirm each other as they are within 10% of each other with, of course, the ISP's test showing the fastest. Regardless, the R7000 router always showed 120-160 down (sometimes even half that at times). There would naturally be slightly slower speeds during congested times during the evening, but the R7000 would always be about 50% slower than if we were connected directly through the modem, bypassing the router.

 

Before getting to what we did with the router, here is everything else that was done to isolate any other potential problems. Cox came out to the house multiple times. Network cables from the computer to the router and router to the modem were fine, but we replaced them with brand new CAT-7 cables anyway. Interior house coax cabling was fine and barrel connector were fine but connector replaced anyway. From the house to the tap, the cabling was fine. The tap checked out OK, but since it was old they replaced it anyway. The cabling from the tap to the post where cabling comes out of the street was fine, but they rebuilt the post anyway. The cabling in the street had one section that indicated some slight signal loss, so they replaced the cabling in the street. Back in the house, their test equipment was attached to the line ahead of our modem and regularly showed 315-330Mbs down and 31Mbps up. They reprovisioned our line at the central office, installed their modem on the coax, directly attached their modem to our computer and regularly got 300 or above on multiple occassions. They reprovisioned the line again, installed our modem on the coax, directly attached our modem to our computer and regularly got 300 or above on multiple occassions. Computer settings were checked to make sure everything was configured correctly and all unnecesary computer processes were stopped to make sure nothing was interfering. So, everything is OK on the ISP side and also with the computer and its cables.

 

After making sure everything else was OK, we shut everything off, connected the computer back to the router and the router back to the modem, let the modem boot up completely, then let the router boot up completely, then let the computer boot up completely. After making sure all unnecesary processes were stopped, new speed tests were run showing slow 120-160 download speeds. Multiple tests over the past month connected to the router, whether by direct cable with wifi off on the computer and router, or whether connected by wifi consistently showed the slower speeds from the ISP's speed test and multiple internet speed test sites. And multiple tests while bypassing the router and being directly connected to the modem regularly showed 300-350. So the router was definitely the issue.

 

Have we reset the router back to factory defaults? Yes. Have we been sure to download and install the latest firmware when it came out? Always - and there is where the problem is. We dutifully upgraded all the firmware releases up through the most current v1.09.18 (as of January, 2018).

 

After reading others' posts, a number of them have talked about downgrading the firmware. Some have said v1.09.06 worked for them (but their rated line speed was, if I recall, much less than our 300/30). Others have said they have downgraded to v1.03.24 that had solved their problems (in fact, one of those people had a line rated at 400/40). Still others said v1.07.12 solved their problem. Hmm, was this the answer?

 

After looking through our old speed test results from October, 2017, we noticed that when we upgraded our line in October from Premier 100/15 to Ultimate 300/30, we also upgraded our R7000 firmware from the 1.07.xx series to the 1.09.xx series - and that 's when our problems began. All along we thought the issue came from the ISP, thinking they either had equipment problems or that they had mis-provisioned our line when we switched to the faster plan. It turns out it was the firmware on the R7000 router.

 

FINALLY - HERE'S THE FIX. We factory reset the router once again, downloaded and installed the v1.07.12 firmware, then again factory reset the router, direct connected to the router before rebuilding all our old settings, kept wifi turned off - and now we are regularly getting 300-350Mbps download from the router. After rebuilding all our old settings, turning wifi back on and still staying connected directly to the router, we are still getting 300-350 downloads. Removing the direct cable connection to the router and using the wifi from the computer to the router, we are regularly getting +/- 300Mbps downloads (of course depending on how close we are to the router).

 

So that's the simple fix. I suspect there is something lurking in the 1.09.xx series firmware that is not allowing the router to efficiently handle higher rated line speeds (if you are at 150Mbps rated download or below, I'm guessing you are OK). Some people might say our settings weren't correct in the router when using the v1.09.xx firmware releases. I don't think that's the case since we tried everything AND we also factory reset the router while still using the v1.09.18 firmware.

Hope this helps. This post was written January 10, 2018. The most recent firmware as of this date was v1.09.18, which caused us to have slow download speeds on the R7000 (much slower than our 300/30 line). If you're reading this after January, 2018, and you have slow speed issues with the router, and if the most current firmware is in the 1.09.xx series, I would suggest downgrading back to v1.07.12.

UPDATE as of January 22, 2018: This fix has continued to work reliably. I'm consistently getting download speeds in upper 300's to lower 400's - either connected directly to the router or using wifi.