Very weak wifi on 5G band

[fishon]

I recently switched my CGN3ACR for the CGNM-3552 to take full advantage of ipV6.  Have latest firmware 4.5.8.22. 

My CGN3ACR provided very robust coverage on both bands. 

I have a wifi analyzer right next to the 3552 modem.  On the 2.4 band -30dBm and -42dBm on the 5G band.  At 20 feet away, with direct line of sight, this drops to -52dBm on the 2.4 band and -71dBm on the 5 band.  The signal strength from the neighbor, his house is a good 80 feet across the street, is stronger than mine.  It seems that the wireless range of the CGNM-3552 is much less than my CGN3ACR.  I switched the latter to take full advantage of ipV6.  Not sure if the really weak wifi is worth it.  Any suggestions as to how I could improve the wifi coverage?  It is almost unusable on the 5G band.

*edited labels*

[Alex4161]

I have the same modem and 4.5.8.22 firmware and I do not have this issue.  Using wifiinfoview, my 5 Ghz channel is -54 dB and I am over 20 feet away with walls and doors seperating the modem from my office.

In terms of settings, is your 5Ghz channel set to 149-153-157-161 or is it using the slower channels of 36-40-44-48? Also, check to see if what bandwidth is set to 80 Mhz.  My understanding is that lower channels have lower power levels.  There is this article that I googled that may help:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/5ghz-channels-36-40-44-48.22140/

I am assuming that the old modem and new modem were in the same location as troubleshooting placement is an entirely different conversation :).

[fishon]

I've tested it on both ranges.  As per your link, lower channels require less power to drive the same signal, so lower channels require less power.  The output of this modem, as far as wireless strength, is only half the strength of the CGN3ACR.  I used to be able to keep my phone connected to my 5 and 2.4 bands sitting at my neighbors across the street.  Now I lose the 5G band in my living room which is only 25 feet away.  The gateway is in the exact same place.  Using WiFi Analyzer, I can see numerous other networks with much stronger signal than mine in my own home.  I know most of my neighbors networks, as I'm their go-to IT guy, and their modems (I know that one is a CGN3 and one is a CGN3ACR) show much higher signal strength.  The 2.4 band isn't as robust either, but it's not nearly as poor as the 5G band in comparision.  Apparently, I'm not the only one ... http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/Getting_connected/thread-id/3560...

Seems to me that the amplifier/antenna array of the CGNM-3552 is just not as powerful as the CGN3ACR.  The issue of "hidden networks" doesn't seem to apply to me as it is 2.4 band problem.  Wondering if I should go the CGN3ACRSM? 

[gp-se]

I also have the CGNM-3552, I too have noticed the 5Ghz wireless is very weak compared to my old CGN3ACSMR

[yom123]

I recently got the CGNM-3552 router and everytime when I plug in my playstation through the 5ghz ethernet port connection it is very slow. Also the LED's on the ethernet port which is the one I plugged into is flashing an orange light and the other ports are green but theyre fine. I dont know what the orange light means, I'm geussing its slow or something. Also when I do the speedtest I'm getting around 20mbps when it should 70mbps and up. Plzz help I'm having this problem for a while.. I dont know if its the router or the playstation...

[Datalink]

Just to point out, the radiated power output regulations in the U.S. and Canada changed last year.  

In the U.S., the output power for both lower and upper 5 Ghz channels has been set for 1 watt now.  Previously the lower channels were limited to 50 mw.  

In Canada the following applies:

5.15-5.25 GHz covers from below channel 34 up to channel 50: Not to exceed 200 mw

5.725-5.85 GHz covers from just above channel 144 to just above channel 165: Not to exceed 1 W

So, as before the change, I would recommend using channel 144 and above if you were going to use the 5 Ghz channels.  

As for the channel width, remember that the total radiated power canot exceed the limits set by Industry Canada.  So, if you select a 20 Mhz channel, that means that the total ouput power cannot exceed 1 w or a max EIRP, one or the other.  So, you end up with a fairly high power ouput per Mhz.  If you go to the opposite extreme and set an 80 Mhz channel, your still using the same max power level, but, the power output per Mhz across the 80 Mhz will be lower.  The trade off is a smaller bandwidth which should be usable at longer ranges, versus the large bandwidth which is usable at shorter ranges.  Included in that tradeoff is a lesser data rate with a 20 mhz channel versus higher data rate with an 80 Mhz channel.  So, in a nutshell --- 20 Mhz bandwidth, longer range, slower data rate.  80 Mhz bandwidth, usable at closer ranges, higher data rate  

Hope that adds some clarity to the situation.  

Here's a link to the info that I located from Industry Canada in the not too distant past:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r30918401-

[kara2]

Basically I just upgraded the modem and have also recently got the u150 plan. On the older modem, I was getting speeds of 180 at times and zero pings. Now, 5G on CODA 4582 gives me 3MBPS!

2.4 gives me around 100 mbps and 10ms ping... still not as good as before.

I've tried resetting the router, changing settings, factory reset,... and my computer is like 9 feet away from the router. Here are some stats: 

Downstream Overview

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Signal noise ratio (dB)
1	591000000	256QAM	-1.700	7	40.366
2	855000000	256QAM	-1.300	3	38.983
3	861000000	256QAM	-1.400	4	38.983
4	579000000	256QAM	-1.700	5	40.366
5	585000000	256QAM	-1.700	6	40.366
6	849000000	256QAM	-1.000	2	38.605
7	597000000	256QAM	-2.300	8	40.946
8	603000000	256QAM	-2.000	9	40.366
9	609000000	256QAM	-1.800	10	40.366
10	615000000	256QAM	-1.800	11	40.946
11	621000000	256QAM	-1.800	12	40.366
12	633000000	256QAM	-2.200	13	38.983
13	639000000	256QAM	-2.100	14	38.983
14	645000000	256QAM	-2.100	15	38.983
15	651000000	256QAM	-2.300	16	38.983
16	657000000	256QAM	-2.600	17	38.983
17	663000000	256QAM	-2.700	18	38.983
18	669000000	256QAM	-2.900	19	38.983
19	675000000	256QAM	-3.100	20	38.983
20	681000000	256QAM	-3.400	21	38.605
21	687000000	256QAM	-3.300	22	38.983
22	693000000	256QAM	-3.600	23	38.983
23	699000000	256QAM	-4.000	24	38.605
24	705000000	256QAM	-4.000	25	38.983
25	711000000	256QAM	-4.200	26	38.605
26	717000000	256QAM	-4.300	27	38.983
27	723000000	256QAM	-4.600	28	38.983
28	825000000	256QAM	-0.600	29	38.983
29	831000000	256QAM	-1.000	30	38.605
30	837000000	256QAM	-0.900	31	38.605
31	843000000	256QAM	-0.800	32	38.983
32	303000000	256QAM	-1.800	1	38.605

OFDM Downstream Overview

Receiver	FFT type	Subcarr 0 Frequency(MHz)	PLC locked	NCP locked	MDC1 locked	PLC power(dBmv)
0	4K	275600000	YES	YES	YES	-1.599998
1	NA	NA	NO	NO	NO	NA

Upstream Overview

Port ID	Frequency (MHz)	Modulation	Signal strength (dBmV)	Channel ID	Bandwidth
1	23700000	ATDMA - 64QAM	39.250	5	6400000
2	38596000	ATDMA - 64QAM	41.500	6	3200000
3	30596000	ATDMA - 64QAM	39.500	4	6400000

OFDM/OFDMA Overview

Channel Index	State	lin Digital Att	Digital Att	BW (sc's*fft)	Report Power	Report Power1_6	FFT Size
0	DISABLED	0.5000	0.0000	0.0000	-inf	-1.0000	4K
1	DISABLED	0.5000	0.0000	0.0000	-inf	-1.0000	4K

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @kara2

Welcome to the Rogers Community Forums! 

Thank you for posting your concern in the Community. It's surely not a gratifying experience to get only 3 Mbps speed on 5 GHz network especially when the computer is only 9 feet away. Have you tried testing the speed on a different device which supports 5 GHz? 

I appreciate posting the Downstream and Upstream signal levels, they look fine and doesn't seems to be the root cause of the issue. Have you tested the speed on a wired (Ethernet) connection yet?

Please keep us posted. 

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[kara2]

Thanks. The only wired connection I tried was on the PS4 and it seems fine. My mobile device on 5g seems to be faster than the 2.4 and is around 70mbps. I don't think its my computer because with the previous modem cgc3 or whatever it was called. For some reason my modem is the default 28T2 one? So I applied for the firmware upgrade, do you think that will help and, why did my modem not update to a better working version hmm?

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @kara2

Thank you for the more information. It's good to know the wired connection is fine. You may want to try selecting the 40 MHz Channel Bandwidth for the 5 GHz network and from the drop-down choose the Channels - 149-153-157-161 for testing purpose and test the speed. 

Also, we have the confirmation that your modem is running the latest trial firmware, 2.0.10.33T03. Let us know how the .33T03 firmware and 40 MHz Channel Bandwidth worked out for you. 

Cheers,

RogersMoin