Need Help picking out best modem and router

I have Xfinity - I cannot have anything else in my area, Xfinity monopolizes my town. I had Xfinity do a phone troubleshoot/diagnoses back on November 30th which did not help much but then they had someone come out on December 1st to try to take a look at the wiring. Changing some wires and such, the speed was increased but mainly that was shown on his tester. I am told i pay for 1200mbps download speed and when i connect hardwire to my modem, i get about 950 on my laptop. Wirelessly on my laptop, i was getting about 700mbps.

Yesterday, i tested again only on my phone (Iphone 12 Pro Max). Here are some results recently and from past.

Date----------Download-----Upload-----Note
1/17/23------13.8Mbps-----14.6Mbps-- Connected to Router (2.4ghz)
1/17/23------278Mbps------40.8Mbps-- Connected to Router (5ghz)
12/1/22------277Mbps------40.2Mbps-- Connected to Router (5ghz) and was taken shortly after tech tested it on his machine
11/30/22-----268Mbps------40.1Mbps-- Connected to Router (5ghz) and was taken shortly after phone support diagnoses/reset

I have an Arris Modem and a Netgear Nighthawk R6400 AC1750 router. The tech stated it is probably my equipment that is slowing down the speeds.

I have all in all about 3 Ipads, 6 Phones, VOIP, IPTV, a bunch of small smart devices (Alexa stuff) that are connected.

I want to upgrade my Router and Modem (if needed) to get the proper speeds. Xfinity Tech guy had a device which he was using to test constantly from the cable line and he was showing the speeds he was getting which was 950 Mbps. I am not sure what is my best option and what the true reason of getting such bad speeds are, maybe phones are limited too?

PS. Before anyone ask that i should reach out to Xfinity and give them BS on not getting the speed and should threaten to cancel.. i have.. they don't care cuz they are proprietary in my town and i asked to get fiber but town has not approved it for big chunks of the town. I just want to get better speeds at the hope it is just my equipment that sucks and new equipment should hopefully make it better.

 

Is the test run right on the cable, before your modem? If that's the case, and test gear gets 950, that's all you're going to get.

And you do when you hard wire to your laptop, right?

https://www.howtogeek.com/217463/wi-fi-vs.-ethernet-how-much-better-is-a-wired-connection/

 

950 is what my laptop gets via ethernet from the modem. From the router via hardwire ethernet to laptop, my laptop gets about 350-450.

If 950 is all i am going to get, i want to try to lessen the amount of loss i am having between equipments.

 

https://forums.xfinity.com/conversa...tting-half-the-speed/602dae4ac5375f08cde51467

 

What modem do you have? (Model number)

 

Arris surfboard

$100 SB8200 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem , Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox, Charter Spectrum, & more , Two 1 Gbps Ports , 1 Gbps Max Internet Speeds , 4 OFDM Channels

SB8200

 

Ah ok. Those are good for 1gbps, 950 is 92% of that. Hmm. You won’t get 1200, but I can’t decide if 950 is as goood as you’ll get.

No recommendations on router here, I’m a cheapskate running a hand me down microtik

 

If you can, try running a speed test on Linux. I bet you'll see numbers closer to your speeds (although you're likely limited to 1Gbps by the surfboard).

 

Shit xfinity advertises 5mbit up for me.

 

So you've already run a wired test, but did you make sure no wireless clients were also connected? That would be your best-case test. Getting 950 is pretty good.

Wireless speeds are way better than they used to be, but whether you are using WiFi6, connected to 5GHz or 2.4GHz, and distance from the access point and any other obstacles or interference can cause speeds to vary. Again, you'd want to make sure no other devices are connected when running a wireless test.

I have 40+ devices and multiple access points. I get 650+ regularly from a WiFi6 client located right near the router, even with all the other devices connected. I think that's pretty good. I can get more when everyone is sleeping. Even with multiple devices streaming 4K video, you are not likely to saturate your internet connection, not even close. If you are regularly moving large files between your home and the cloud, then the bandwidth can help.

 

OK so I kind of do this stuff for a living. And when I say I kind of do this, I mean I'm at work right now avoiding work by posting on Tacoma World.

Anyways...there are lots of things that can affect total throughput versus advertised speeds. You are right to check because Xfinity consistently sucks donkey balls but they are correct to some degree saying your hardware is limiting things (or potentially is).

As others have said, if the Xfinity tech tested your line before it goes into the modem and is getting the advertised signal/speeds then it's your hardware. If it's slower before the modem, then it's Xfinity. Good f'in luck getting them to do anything there, if you read fine print it probably says something like "speeds UP TO" meaning they don't have to deliver what is advertised. 950Mbps is pretty good. Sounds like most of your problem is WiFi which could be mostly how you configured the router - that's up to you.

Looking at hardware alone, it will go from Coax --> Modem --> Router (sometimes integrated to router but in your case is not) --> Wired LAN PC and WiFi devices. Along the way, any of those devices could be limiting.

• Modem = Arris surfboard
  $100 ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 DOCSIS 3.1 Cable Modem , Approved for Comcast Xfinity, Cox, Charter Spectrum, & more , Two 1 Gbps Ports , 1 Gbps Max Internet Speeds , 4 OFDM Channels
  SB8200 = Up to 1Mbps. This is first limiting factor.
• Router = Netgear Nighthawk R6400 AC1750 = Wired LAN should be OK, WiFi might be limited but depends on your configuration which we don't know.
• Wireless to your laptop = ??? Unknown laptop hardware ??? = You'd have to research if that laptop supports the faster speeds. It may not.
• Wirelss to your phone = iPhone 12 Pro Max = Hardware should not be limiting here, but your router config might be. You'd need to check these settings.

 

What this guy says. IIRC this Nighthawk router is an early version of WiFi 5, definitely not WiFi 6 from what I'm seeing. If the router configs for both channels aren't set right it might only be pushing 2.4GHz which is more in line with speeds OP sees to the phone. That's my guess.

 

TLDR: Go into your router settings. Make sure the 2.4ghz band is only set to 802.11n and the 5ghz band is set to 802.11ac or even 802.11ax depending on the age of your devices. And don't let the router aggregate which band you connect to. For maximum wireless speeds you don't want any devices connecting as the router will default to the lowest supported standard. For whatever reason sometimes devices will communicate over a slower / older standard than they support. There's no reason to support a/b/g on 2.4 or n on 5.

Like others said, your router is fine. There are so many variables that can slow wireless speeds, you'll never get the advertised data rate unless it's absolute optimal conditions. Your bottleneck is almost always going to be on the ISP end.

Also xfinity blows goats in general. You won't be able to do much to help those upload speeds.

 

Only responding/confirming the bold statements above.
AX is WiFi 6, and based on the model of OP's router, it is WiFi 5 (AC).

 

Yes, when i tested, only device plugged into modem was my laptop, no other wires or cables to the router (and my modem is solely a modem so no wireless signal). I think i just need to upgrade my equipment a bit.

 

@ktbell444 , @mattrussmill and @wi_taco

Thank you for the response. I am going to look into this when i get home. So many terms here that i have no clue what they mean so I will need to do more research.