Not getting Ignite 500 speeds via Ethernet to PC or Laptop

[kiki95r]

Forced to switch to Rogers. Ignite 500 plan. I have a desktop PC (Windows 10) and a faithful Laptop (Windows 7). When connected by a short, brand new, CAT6A Ethernet cable (and the red port of the XB8 Ignite gateway), I get nowhere near the 500Mbps speeds I'd expect (75-180-220 Mbps). (For reference my phone gets nearly 700 Mbps, obviously via the WiFi - so clearly the service is there.) Both the PC and the Laptop have 1G capable ethernet connections. The PC also has a PCIe WiFi card.

The story:

Initially was sent the XB6 gateway. Tech #1 arrived with his Rogers-issued Win7 laptop. He got same speeds via ethernet cable as I get. Agreed something was wrong. Swapped to a different XB6. No difference. Tech told me to request an XB8 model.

XB8 arrived. No improvement in Ethernet speeds. Only difference, in fact, was the LOSS of the ability for my PC to even see my WiFi signal. (Did not have problem seeing/connecting to the XB6 WiFi). My PC sees all kinds of neighbours' WiFi signals, but no longer sees mine.

Second tech arrived (Rogers employee, not contractor but also not the “senior tech” I was promised). Nice kid but completely unhelpful. Just told me what they taught him in training to, effectively, blame the customer’s hardware and leave. Really knows nothing more. Tested the line/gateway. Phone showed good speeds so "The problem is with your hardware" and effectively closed the case since Rogers' responsibilities apparently end at the modem.

Called in and got a 'Manager' who also really knew nothing but walked me through an obvious script involving things like shutting off Advanced Security, resetting network settings, telling me to search online for some random IPV4 Cmd prompt commands and run whatever I found. Obviously, nothing made a difference.

I keep asking someone to explain why, when I have 1Gbps Ethernet capabilities for both of my computers, can I not get the 500+Mbps that is available? They all insist that my hardware (in 2 different devices) has suddenly and simultaneously failed, which is clearly ridiculous - especially when Tech #1's Rogers-issued laptop showed THE SAME problem as I am having.

Obviously, I had already looked for any new drivers/updates and installed whatever the manufacturers provided for both ethernet components and also the PC's WiFi card. I even ordered 2 new items. First a new PCIe to 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Network Adapter (TP-Link 2.5GB PCIe Network Card TX201) and a USB 3.0 Ethernet dongle (TP-Link USB3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter). Remarkably, the Ethernet/USB3 dongle maxed out around 80Mbps on my devices and also on a friend’s 1 year old Win11 laptop. The 2.5Gig PCIe card was absolutely no faster than my native Ethernet port on my MoBo.

I keep trying to get Rogers to acknowledge that their Ignite Gateways are obviously not backwards compatible with older devices. While the loss of seeing my own WiFi signal (but still seeing my neighbours’) is frustrating because I want to understand what’s going on, THE problem I need help with is the failure to obtain the expected 500+Mbps via Ethernet to my 2 computers. I only know so much about computer hardware/firmware etc. but it sure seems to me like it’s like a ‘dialect’ issue. Sure, the Gateway can produce a great/fast signal but however it’s delivering that signal to my devices is not sufficiently intelligible by them. TBH, it would be easier for me to accept if I got NOTHING via ethernet. But, instead, I get 70-180-220Mbps via Ethernet (while my phone continues to get ~700Mbps) on my Ignite500 plan) – even though both computers have Gigabit Ethernet specs.

I'd appreciate any help to explain (at the very least) or fix (fingers crossed) this situation. I’ve been spending far too long on this. As a disabled person, I don’t have the time or energy (or money) to waste. Thank you.

Addendum, in case this is useful information (Network Properties) :

Link speed (Receive/Transmit):   1000/1000 (Mbps)

IPv6 address:    

Link-local IPv6 address: 

IPv6 DNS servers:         

IPv4 address: 

IPv4 DNS servers:       

Primary DNS suffix:      phub.net.cable.rogers.com

Manufacturer:    Realtek

Description:      Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller

Driver version:   10.72.524.2024

Physical address (MAC):           

[Datalink]

@kiki95r can you remove the IPv6 addresses from the Network data.  Leave it looking like this:

IPv6 address:    2607:

2607:

or, blank.   The IPv6 address shouldn't be shown in an open forum such as this, even though windows uses temporary IPv6 addresses.  

When you added the TP-Link network card, did you disable the onboard ethernet adapter?   

And, did you drill down into the TP-Link adapter settings to confirm that the card is set for Duplex operation and that its maximum data rate has been selected?  That data rate might be shown as 2.5 Gb/s, or might show an Auto setting at the bottom of the data rate list.  Each card manufacturer has its own way of indicating the speeds in that list.

Can you have a look at that, or, perhaps you've already done that?  Please let us know what you've found. 

[kiki95r]

Oh dear. Thank you for the education. I suspect a wise Mod may have already fixed that for me.

First off,  unfortunately, the card and dongle have been returned already. Apparently we did Disable the onboard adapter. I cannot be certain what settings (if any) were messed with, so I'm sorry I cannot answer your other questions. But I doubt that it was changed from the Auto.

I am, obviously, keen to get my current hardware working (which, at 1Gbps, should be more than enough for my 500Mb plan). So, following this same instruction, I went to my existing Ethernet settings and changed the "Speed & Duplex" setting from Auto Negotiation to the 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex. I was excited to see something that I could actually change. After a reboot, alas, nothing really has changed. 

Given that I'm back to dealing with my existing hardware, is there anything else I should be doing? Is there a way of knowing it will never work - so I should just stop trying? This has become a real burden and the frustration is immense. If it will never work, could you (or anyone) tell me why that is so?

I have a friend with a 2.5Gbps onboard Ethernet and actually tests at ~9Mbps!! (His is a 1.5Gbps plan.) There's no reason his 2.5Gbps shouldn't work for his 1.5Gbps plan, either. His situation is like mine but at higher speeds. (He has added a 10Gbps Ethernet card and, only through that, can he get ~1700Mbps speeds.) What is going on? Thank you very much for any help.

[57]

@kiki95r The first thing you can do is read the following post which will allow you to check your connection to the modem.  

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/New-internet-packages/m-p/530957/highlight/tru...

If that checks out OK, then it's something in your equipment/settings. As mentioned in the above link, I usually get 1.9 Gbps down on my Mac Mini M2 E10, but when I checked this morning, I was only getting about half that.  Then I realized that I had my WiFI "on" on the computer to use AirDrop earlier.  Turned WiFi off and I was back to 1.9.  Good Luck and make sure you read my tips in the link.

PS. I did see that you were having WiFi issues for one device...

[Datalink]

@kiki95r food for thought, can you connect to ports 1 to 3, any one will do.  Those ports are 1 Gb/s ports, so the question is, what do you get when you run a speedtest with that port.  When you run a speedtest, don't accept the default server that comes up.  Go to change the server and type in Rogers in the entry window which will show all of the Rogers speedtest servers.  Select the server that is closest to you and use that for your speedtests.  When you have that running, try using Rogers Toronto, or Rogers Montreal depending on where you live, and also try Beanfield Toronto.

Can you also drill down into the Device Manager -> Network Adapters and copy the name of the network adapter.  You might have to type that manually if it won't copy.  Please post that adapter name, with all of it possible variants embedded in the name.  I'm curious at this point to see what's on the motherboard. 

Are you running Windows 10 or 11?  

Is this an older pc that was running Windows 8 at some point, and then upgraded to Windows 10?  If so, Microsoft cooked a lot of the older drivers so that Windows 10 would run what Microsoft terms a "Microsoft" driver.  I'd go back to the adapter manufacture's support page and see what is available for your adapter.  There is a good chance that you're better off with an older driver from the manufacturer instead of the Microsoft driver.  

If you're running Windows 10, and there is no driver from the adapter manufacturer that happens to be a Windows 10 driver, then perhaps its time to take another crack at adding an adapter card.  

Fwiw, Intel mucked up the inter-gap spacing on its i225-V 2.5 GbE ethernet controller.  So, the card will play well with another i225-V controller on the other end of the ethernet cable, but, when you mix the Intel i225-V controller with any another controller at the end of the cable, you end up with continuous problems.  So, that's one reason why I'm interested in the controller on your motherboard. 

That might explain the issue with your friends pc.

Now, in terms of adding a 10 Gb/s card, you have to be careful with that.  The newer multi-gig specs include 1/2.5/5/10 Gb/s.  I don't know if the 10 Gb/s portion in the multi-gig specs are the same as the traditional 10 Gb/s specs that have been around for a long time.  Connecting a straight 10 Gb/s ethernet port to a XBx modem most likey won't work as the XBx modem only run 1 or 2.5 Gb/s.  The two ports should not be able to sync up unless the 10 Gb/s controller has the ability to drop down to 1 Gb/s.  Comcast is going to release a newer modem one of these days that should include a 10 gb/s port.  So at some point in time that will show up at Rogers as well.

If your friend has Rogers fibre to the home, the Optical Network Terminal either has a multi-gig port that runs up to 10 Gb/s, or it has two ports, one of which is a multi-gig port that runs up to 10 Gb/s.  In either case, its possible to connect a router to the ONT, and then connect a pc to the router.  Of course that does require a router with 10 Gb/s WAN and LAN ports.  In its typical configuration with a Rogers modem, the XB8 modem is connect to the ONT using port 4, which is the 2.5 Gb/s port.  In that configuration, port 4 serves as a firewalled port.  The port configuration is automatic, but it can be selected manually.   So, in that configuration, its only possible to connect to the Gb/s ethernet ports, which limits the maximum throughput to another device.  Hence, the reason that some customers use their own router instead of the modem. 

Edit:  do  you happen to have another ethernet cable that you can use to connect your pc to the modem for test purposes?

[57]

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@Datalink wrote:

Now, in terms of adding a 10 Gb/s card, you have to be careful with that.  The newer multi-gig specs include 1/2.5/5/10 Gb/s.  I don't know if the 10 Gb/s portion in the multi-gig specs are the same as the traditional 10 Gb/s specs that have been around for a long time.  

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Just as an FYI, and possibly a bit OT, I ordered my Mac Mini M2 E10 in March 2023 with a 10 Gbps Ethernet card and have had no issues.

[kiki95r]

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(For reference my phone gets nearly 700 Mbps, obviously via the WiFi - so clearly the service is there.)

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Hello again. I'm sorry but I'm rather confused. I think you're recommending I test my speeds. But as I mentioned a couple of times in my original post, my phone (via the WiFi, obviously), gets ~700Mbps which surely proves the service is fine. Not to mention that 2 Techs have come to my home and told me the problem was my "hardware" and washed their hands of any responsibility from that point. Was there something else in your link that I should also be doing?

(Side note, I think the Ignite HomeConnect App is ridiculous for testing internet speeds. Every time I use it, it assures me I'm getting "236% of your plan speed!" (~1430Mbps of my 500Mbps plan). This is clearly false and misleading since my plan is only an Ignite500 plan. So I use Speedtest.net to get at least a somewhat more representative reading of my actual internet speeds. Either way, however, as I've said before, the issue is NOT with the connection/delivery to my home.)

To review, my situation, again, is TWO computers, both with 1Gig Ethernet capabilities, neither giving me the 500+Mbps I am expecting. As follows:

Desktop PC (Win10)

- 1 Gig Ethernet capabilities (but only giving speeds of 75-180-220 Mbps), connected by 6', CAT6A cable to the Red Ethernet port of the Gateway.

-  Wifi PCIe card that worked with the XB6 but, once the XB8 arrived, no longer sees my Wifi (but can see my neighbours' WiFis) - a frustrating puzzle but the least of my current concerns. To repeat, this Wifi card is no longer able to even see my WiFi so it is not "on" or interfering with my Ethernet issues.

I went to the Ethernet settings and changed the "Speed & Duplex" setting from Auto Negotiation to the 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex. This did not fix the slow Ethernet speeds problem.

Laptop Computer (Win7)

- 1 Gig Ethernet capabilities (but only giving speeds of ~80-170Mbps), connected by 12', CAT6 cable to the Red Ethernet port of the Gateway.

- WiFi capable, working (slowly, as expected for a 2.4Ghz connection). The Laptop Wifi is NOT connected as I'm trying to get the Ethernet working properly.

Also for the laptop, I went to the Ethernet settings and changed the "Speed & Duplex" setting from Auto Negotiation to the 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex. This did not fix the slow Ethernet speeds problem.

So, as I say, my question is, it feels like the XB8 gateway is sending Ethernet information in some form or fashion that isn't speaking to my hardware properly (ie the XB8 is not backwards compatible). Drivers all updated, as I said. Can anyone tell me how to get both of my 1Gig Ethernet computers to give me the full 500+Mbps of my Ignite500 plan (which my cell phone is able to get via the WiFi)?

Thank you.

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[kiki95r]

Alas, I see that as I was working hard compiling a clearly illuminated reply to a different person, you were replying. Ships passing in the night and all that. I will now set about to provide the information that you have asked for. Thank you.

[57]

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@kiki95r wrote:

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(Side note, I think the Ignite HomeConnect App is ridiculous for testing internet speeds. Every time I use it, it assures me I'm getting "236% of your plan speed!" (~1430Mbps of my 500Mbps plan). This is clearly false and misleading since my plan is only an Ignite500 plan. So I use Speedtest.net to get at least a somewhat more representative reading of my actual internet speeds. Either way, however, as I've said before, the issue is NOT with the connection/delivery to my home.)

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You may actually be provisioned with that speed at the modem. Many people get significantly more than they pay for, especially with Rogers SpeedBoost.  I seem to recall getting over 200% of what I paid for when I was on a lower tier.  One way to test, as suggested in my previous link, is to run Speedtest on several devices simultaneously.  I'm not sure what you have available, but if you have say 700 on your phone, plus a tablet, or a friend's phone, plus your computers and then add up the various amounts it may confirm what you have available to you.  I know this is not what you're trying to solve, but the Home Connect App may not be false and misleading and can be tested again once you've got your PCs "up to speed" for more simultaneous testing (sorry for the pun).

I'm sorry I'm not a PC expert or an expert with Ethernet cards, so I'll let @Datalink continue with those discussions and perhaps @-G- has some insight so I'll tag him here.

Edit - Here's a link to my post when I was on 500, getting 1.3-1.4Gbps, corroborating what I said earlier

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Internet/Slow-Speeds-Over-Wi-Fi/m-p/518939/highlight/true#M772...

[kiki95r]

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@Datalink wrote:

@kiki95r food for thought, can you connect to ports 1 to 3, any one will do.  Those ports are 1 Gb/s ports, so the question is, what do you get when you run a speedtest with that port.  When you run a speedtest, don't accept the default server that comes up.  Go to change the server and type in Rogers in the entry window which will show all of the Rogers speedtest servers.  Select the server that is closest to you and use that for your speedtests.  When you have that running, try using Rogers Toronto, or Rogers Montreal depending on where you live, and also try Beanfield Toronto.

- Are you saying that I should NOT be using Port #4? Or rather that, for my purposes, any of 1 through 4 will do?

- Hadn't noticed the ability to choose servers. It had been using "Rogers Wireless". Sadly that (or Port 1 vs 4) doesn't change much. The speeds vary WILDLY - which I presume is to be expected by time of day/neighbours etc? Also, I always thought that Ethernet connections will always be faster than WiFi connections. Is this no longer fact? Or put another way, while my phone can regularly get over 700Mbps, am I wrong to still expect that I should get at least that with a 1G Ethernet connected computers?

- Desktop ~280 - 387 Mbps (and sometimes still ~180Mbps)

- Laptop ~130 - 170 Mbps

Can you also drill down into the Device Manager -> Network Adapters and copy the name of the network adapter.  You might have to type that manually if it won't copy.  Please post that adapter name, with all of it possible variants embedded in the name.  I'm curious at this point to see what's on the motherboard. 

1. DESKTOP PC (Win10)

- My motherboard is:

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 

From the manufacturer, the LAN specs:

- PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s

- Realtek RTL8111E

- Supports Wake-On-LAN

- Supports LAN Cable Detection

- Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az

- Supports PXE

From Device Manager: Realtek PCIeGbE Family Controller

For completeness sake, my Desktop Wifi card (which now only recognises the neighbours' Wifis) from Device Manager: ASUS PCE-N15 11n Wireless LAN PCI-E Card. (from my invoice: ASUS PCE-N15 300Mbps 802.11B/G/N Wireless PCI-E Network Adapter). Interesting that when I look at the Advanced details in Device Manager, it only shows IEEE 802.11b/g but no "n" which is clearly on the specs of the card. I suspect that's the reason it no longer sees the Wifi. Why the "n" is missing I do not understand, but, again, I'm really just trying to get the Ethernets on the 2 computers running better.

2. LAPTOP (Win7)

From Device Manager: Realtek PCIeGbE Family Controller

Is this all the information you were seeking from this or should I be going into the Properties for each of them to get more details?

Are you running Windows 10 or 11?  

- When I originally built the Desktop, I ran Windows 8.1. About 18 months ago, I got a new SSD and did a full, fresh install of Windows 10 onto the new drive (ie NOT an upgrade of Windows 8).

- The Laptop is and has always been running Windows 7

Is this an older pc that was running Windows 8 at some point, and then upgraded to Windows 10?  If so, Microsoft cooked a lot of the older drivers so that Windows 10 would run what Microsoft terms a "Microsoft" driver.  I'd go back to the adapter manufacture's support page and see what is available for your adapter.  There is a good chance that you're better off with an older driver from the manufacturer instead of the Microsoft driver.  

If you're running Windows 10, and there is no driver from the adapter manufacturer that happens to be a Windows 10 driver, then perhaps its time to take another crack at adding an adapter card.  

I struggled to find Realtek drivers but I think I have the best available. I went to this site https://www.realtek.com/Download/List?cate_id=584 

- For the Desktop, I downloaded the second "Win10/Win11 Auto Installation Program (NDIS)" . I then ran the .exe because when I tried to use "Update Driver" and led Windows directly to the folder where I'd saved it, it said it already had the latest driver or whatever. (The ASUS WiFi card drivers are a frustrating mess but, as I say, I've given up on that card unless you know where the "/n" went.)

- For the Laptop, from the same site, I chose the "Win7 and Server 2008 R2 Auto Installation Program" file and, when trying to run the .exe, was forced to chose the "Repair" radio button as no other options (Modify or Remove) were available.

Fwiw, Intel mucked up the inter-gap spacing on its i225-V 2.5 GbE ethernet controller.  So, the card will play well with another i225-V controller on the other end of the ethernet cable, but, when you mix the Intel i225-V controller with any another controller at the end of the cable, you end up with continuous problems.  So, that's one reason why I'm interested in the controller on your motherboard. 

- I don't think I have any Intel parts. I could send you the entire invoice of my computer parts purchase or I also have Speccy if a screenshot of that provides any additional information that might help.

Edit:  do  you happen to have another ethernet cable that you can use to connect your pc to the modem for test purposes?

- I have tried many different cables. (CAT5E, CAT6, CAT6A) The newest one (brought by Tech #2) is the CAT6A and I've tried it to both computers. It makes no difference which one I use. 

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I really hope I've provided all you asked. As I say, I have Speccy on both the Laptop and the Desktop. I also have all the specs of all the components that I purchased to build the Desktop. Having provided details I shouldn't have earlier today, if a screenshot of something would be helpful, please be sure to tell me what I should blank out. 😂 Thank you.

[kiki95r]

Hi. I'm new here so I'm not sure how to know if my previous reply was successfully transmitted. So I'm sending a second one that I hope will reignite a notification. I'd love any solutions you can propose about my hardware. Thank you!

[Datalink]

Hi @kiki95r my apologies for the late response, I've been busy over the last few days.   The info that you provided was what I was looking for.  You indicated that you rebuilt the pc with Windows 10 on a new SSD.  When you did that, did you load all of the drivers from the Asrock support page for your motherboard, or did you let the Windows install take care of all of it?

Given that you loaded the network driver from the Realtek site, which driver did you load, the driver that supports power saving or the driver that does not support power saving?  At the current time, the two drivers that are available are:

Win10/Win11 Auto Installation Program (NDIS) - Not Support Power Saving 10.72

Win10/Win11 Auto Installation Program (NDIS) 10.72

If you happen to have loaded the driver that supports power saving, drill down into the ethernet controller properties and navigate to the Power Management tab, if its there.  If not, that takes care of the Power Savings issue.  If you do have that tab, deselect the option to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

While you're in that controller properties group, can you check the Driver version and let me know what is currently loaded?  It should be version 10.72 if you have the latest Realtek version loaded.  That's part of the question at this point, does the driver indicate a Realtek version or a Microsoft version?  I'm wondering if Microsoft has taken control of the network adapter install and loaded a Microsoft driver.

Prior to rebuilding the pc with Windows 10, did you see solid 500 Mb/s performance out of the network adapter?

Just as a note, we've seen issues with Realtek network adapters in the past.  This hasn't come up recently, but, poor performance from Realtek adapters was a common complaint from other customers.  

For the missing "n" component in the wifi adapter, drill down into the adapter settings .... Advance tab and check to see if there is a combo 802.11b/g/n setting that might have changed to 802.11 b/g.

How old is the desktop pc?  I didn't see a date on the Asrock site.

[kiki95r]

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@Datalink wrote:

When you did that, did you load all of the drivers from the Asrock support page for your motherboard, or did you let the Windows install take care of all of it?

Honestly do not actually know what this means exactly. How does a MoBo need drivers? Do you mean drivers for the components plugged into it? Probably let Windows take care of it. I spent too long today looking for something related to this. Ended up on this site:

https://www.asrock.com/MB/AMD/970%20Extreme3%20R2.0/index.asp#Download

Decided to grab the "AMD All in one..."  but ended up with failures to run Catalyst Install Manager (see screenshots). I think that the "Realtek Lan driver ver:10007" driver is the one I already have because when I went to save it, it said I already had that file name so I didn't continue. If you think I should do it again anyway, please advise this.

I'll include a screenshot of the relevant parts of my invoice - in case you can direct me more specifically to something you think I should be looking for. 

Given that you loaded the network driver from the Realtek site, which driver did you load, the driver that supports power saving or the driver that does not support power saving?  At the current time, the two drivers that are available are:

Win10/Win11 Auto Installation Program (NDIS) - Not Support Power Saving 10.72

Win10/Win11 Auto Installation Program (NDIS) 10.72

If you happen to have loaded the driver that supports power saving, drill down into the ethernet controller properties and navigate to the Power Management tab, if its there.  If not, that takes care of the Power Savings issue.  If you do have that tab, deselect the option to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

I did mention that I chose the "Win10/Win11 Auto Installation Program (NDIS) 10.72" one. I have therefore done as you instructed. TBH, the speeds are significantly worse since then but I suspect that's probably unrelated to those changes. I'll just blame the neighbours hogging everything.

While you're in that controller properties group, can you check the Driver version and let me know what is currently loaded?  It should be version 10.72 if you have the latest Realtek version loaded.  That's part of the question at this point, does the driver indicate a Realtek version or a Microsoft version?  I'm wondering if Microsoft has taken control of the network adapter install and loaded a Microsoft driver.

I'll include some screenshots that I hope will answer these questions. If not, please tell me again what I should be supplying.

 

Prior to rebuilding the pc with Windows 10, did you see solid 500 Mb/s performance out of the network adapter?

I've never subscribed to such a plan. Best I ever subscribed to was a 300Mbps plan where I easily got 400+Mbps.

Just as a note, we've seen issues with Realtek network adapters in the past.  This hasn't come up recently, but, poor performance from Realtek adapters was a common complaint from other customers.  

This appears to be what I've been trying to get someone at Rogers to understand. Like, their Gateways/equipment aren't playing nicely with our hardware. That should be a Rogers problem, not a Rogers Customer problem. Like, fix your incompatibilities! Why won't they do this?

For the missing "n" component in the wifi adapter, drill down into the adapter settings .... Advance tab and check to see if there is a combo 802.11b/g/n setting that might have changed to 802.11 b/g.

I don't know where else to look for this.

More screenshots :

(This is what I mean when I say, where did the "n" go?)

How old is the desktop pc?  I didn't see a date on the Asrock site.

Huh. Feels like yesterday. Looks like the original assembly is ~13 years old now. 

I am a disabled person already overwhelmed with just trying to survive. If you think this is a pointless chase, I hope you will tell me this. I will still be very angry (and in disbelief) at Rogers for not caring one iota about their incompatibility issues but at least I'll stop cracking my already damaged brain on the brick wall.

And, again, thank you for all of your time and assistance.

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[kiki95r]

Hello again. I just wanted to reply again to reassure you that I'm still interested in any kind of help you might provide, whenever that might be possible. I completely understand having other obligations and I do not wish to pester. I just didn't want my lack of pestering to come across as not being interested. I'm extremely interested in what you might have to say to my latest response...when you have a chance. Thank you.

[57]

I'll tag @Datalink in my post.  Since I'm not a PC expert, my comment is simply that a PC that is 11+ years old may not be capable of more than you're seeing, regardless of the card in it.  Let's hope that @Datalink has a better response.

[kiki95r]

Appreciate that. I will admit, I still don't understand that (even if that is ultimate outcome). Why would age have anything to do with it if the capacity is there....except that Rogers has chosen to make their Gateways insufficiently backwards compatible? (Rhetorical question. I know you are not the PC expert.)

[-G-]

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@kiki95r wrote:

Appreciate that. I will admit, I still don't understand that (even if that is ultimate outcome). Why would age have anything to do with it if the capacity is there....except that Rogers has chosen to make their Gateways insufficiently backwards compatible? (Rhetorical question. I know you are not the PC expert.)

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If you have a computer that shipped with a Gigabit Ethernet adapter, there is no reason why you should not be able to attain 500 Mbps download speeds.  Any decent cable, even a Cat 5e cable, should be fine.  I would also start by just connecting that computer to a Gigabit Ethernet port on the Gateway.  Do not use the 2.5 GigE port (the one with the red stripe) because it may not play well with older network adapters.

You should also be able to get good data rates on a Windows 10 or 11 PC with default settings.  (There is also A LOT of bad advice out there on the Internet.  If you have followed tips from random blogs on how to speed up your network, you may want to start by backing those changes out.)

One other thing that you could do is to try booting a Linux distribution that offers a live image.  That way, you can test your network connectivity with a clean operating system that will leave your Windows installation untouched.

[-G-]

@kiki95r Regarding your inability to connect to Wi-Fi, this may be due to you having relatively old Wi-Fi hardware on your computers.

The XB6 (Gen. 1) gateway is a Wi-Fi 5 device, and Rogers probably locked the settings to use WPA2 security.

The XB8 (Gen 3.) gateway supports Wi-Fi 6E, and the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands are configured to use WPA3-Personal mixed mode.  (I think it may actually called WPA3-Personal Transition).  I don't know what your computer's older Wi-Fi hardware will make of this.

If my theory is correct, your computers might be able to connect to Wi-Fi if Rogers can configure your gateway's Wi-Fi settings to use WPA2 security... and for stability they may also need to disable the 6 GHz radio.  With your older equipment, you might also be better off using the XB7 (Gen 2.) gateway.

[kiki95r]

Thanks for the reply. In reverse order, indeed, when I had the Gen1 gateway, my PC "saw" my WiFi. Now with the Gen3 it only sees various neighbours' signals. Clearly and indisputably due to the gateway change....and yet Rogers refuses to acknowledge that this is the cause. Instead they continue to insist that my hardware is broken. Anything other than ensuring backwards compatibility, I guess. Sigh.

I hope these screenshots will help you help me with the rest of what you're mentioning.

1) I believe I have already shut off the 6GHz signal.

2) Accessing the gateway via my ethernet connected PC, aside from Enable/Disable, all of the other options (eg "Security Mode" dropdown) are greyed out. But.....they kinda look like they're already using WPA2? Do you agree? (Because they're greyed out, I can't see what other options might be there.)

I then tried using the stupid app. It seems even less useful/accessible. This is all I can see:

Any chance I managed to answer your questions in these screenshots?

Thank you.

[kiki95r]

Thank you.

Before I forget, no one ever mentions my Win7 laptop (with its own Gigabit Ethernet adapter) which is where I do most of my streaming, tbh. Does your optimism about "should be able" to get 500Mbps only apply to Win10&11? 

Afaik, the only things I've done are attempt to get "the latest" drivers for all of my hardware. And I only did that when I was not getting the speeds I pay for, using whatever default drivers etc. I had been using up to that point. So I'm puzzled by your assertion that it should just work without any tweaks. It didn't. And so I'm looking for why that is.

It has been a looooooong time (like 9 years?) since I used Linux. I had it on a USB stick. I'm not sure I'd remember what to do once I got it loaded (I do remember how to change the boot sequence to use the USB, at least). Primitive question but, do you know if I need to somehow get a newer version of Linux or could I use what I have on that stick? If I do need to update, would you be willing to direct me to a safe/simple place to do that.? The last thing I can afford is to wander into places where I will get into even more trouble. If not, that's cool.

Either way, this part of the troubleshooting will take me some time. I will endeavour to get back to you as soon as I can with an update.

[-G-]

@kiki95r  Yes, those Wi-Fi settings look okay.   One other thing that I would do would be to assign separate network names to the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz networks.  If most of your devices connect on the 5 GHz band, I would name my networks something like: MyWiFiNetwork, MyWiFiNetwork-24 and MyWiFiNetwork-6

To change the name on the 6 GHz network, you will need to re-enable it first, then disable it.

Next, reboot your Ignite Gateway by power-cycling it.

Hopefully, all of your devices will be able to see your gateway's Wi-Fi networks.

Re: your Windows 7 system, it's not safe to use anymore.  It hasn't received security updates in years.  The latest versions of device drivers for your hardware can only be installed on newer operating systems.  Even the latest versions of Google Chrome and Firefox cannot be installed on that system anymore.

To be honest, I cringe whenever I hear someone report performance issues with their Windows systems, especially ones that have been through multiple upgrades and that have had tons of software installed/upgraded/removed over the years.  Even more so when people also run software and registry cleaners in a vain, last-ditch effort to resolve problems.

When you run a speed test with your web browser, you will only get good results if your web browser is in a good, clean state.  Likewise, the web browser can also only run well if the computer and its operating systems are in a good, clean state.

For that reason, I would recommend booting something like Ubuntu, that will let you try it before you install it.  When you do, launch Firefox (or whatever modern browser the distro ships with) and go to https://www.speedtest.net

If your current hardware performs well when tested with Linux and your Rogers Internet performs well when your friends test with their computers, you have a problem with your computers, and the only way to fix it may be to archive your data, and then either reinstall Windows or try the option to Give Your PC a Fresh Start.