@pablom88 what data rate do you see for speedtests when:
1. The XB6 modem is in Gateway mode and you run a speedtest via ethernet with a pc/laptop connected to the modem;
2. The XB6 is in Bridge mode with the router connected via ethernet to the modem and the pc/laptop to the router via ethernet.
Those speedtest results should be the same.
When you run a wifi speedtest with the modem, is the router completely shut down, so that there's no chance of any interference from the router's wifi.
Please read thru the rest of this first before making any changes in the router settings.
Let me draw your attention to the following thread, starting with post #13. Take a read thru that thread, from post #13 to the end:
Short version, even in Bridge mode, the XB6 modems are broadcasting wifi SSIDs.
- First thing I would do, given the above indication of wifi channels broadcasting from the modem for both Gateway and Bridge modes at all times, set the modem to transmit wifi channels that you don’t intend to use for the router. Essentially the idea is to keep the wifi channels out of the way of the router when the modem is switched into Bridge mode. The modem appears to keep using the set channels when it’s switched into Bridge mode. If you haven’t done it already, set the modem into Gateway mode and set both 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels. For the 2.4 Ghz, set that to channel 1, 6 or 11, with the idea in mind that you won’t use the same channel when the router is up and running. Set the 5 Ghz channel to channel 36. I would set the bandwidth for both 2.4 and 5 Ghz channels to 20 Mhz to limit the bandwidth use on both 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands. That would limit the speedtest results if you were to run a speedtest on the 5 Ghz channel. When you’re ready, switch the modem into Bridge mode.
- Connect and fire up the router and set the 2.4 Ghz channel to one of the other channels, 1, 6 or 11, avoiding the channel set for the modem. Set the 5 Ghz channel to use channel 149 or higher and set the bandwidth to 80 Mhz. Set the wifi parameters as follows:
Check/set the following 2.4 Ghz wifi parameters:
Wireless Mode: Auto or N ( If you only have 802.11n devices, use N only)
Channel Bandwidth: 20 Mhz
Wireless channel: Channel 1, 6, or 11
Extension Channel: above for channel 1, above or below for channel 6, or below for 11
Authentication Method: WPA2-Personel (unless you happen to be using WPA2- Enterprise already)
WPA Encryption: AES
Protected Management Frames: Disable
In the WPS tab:
Enable WPS: OFF
Professional tab:
Roaming Assistant: Disable
Airtime Fairness: Disable
Multi-User MIMO: Disable
Explicit Beamforming: Disable
Universal Beamforming: Disable (maybe)
Tx Power adjustment: high, or set as required
Check/set the following 5 Ghz wifi parameters:
Wireless Mode: N/AC mixed (I assume that this mix is available. Don’t use 802.11ax yet)
Channel Bandwidth: 20/40/80 Mhz
Wireless channel: 149 to 165 Use this higher channel range as it runs higher transmit power levels.
Extension Channel: Auto
Authentication Method: WPA2-Personel (unless you happen to be using WPA2- Enterprise already)
WPA Encryption: AES
Protected Management Frames: Disable
In the WPS tab:
Enable WPS: OFF
Professional tab:
Roaming Assistant: Disable
Airtime Fairness: Disable
Multi-User MIMO: Disable
802.11ac Beamforming: Enable
Universal Beamforming: Disable
Tx Power adjustment: high, or set as required
If you have to set any of these parameters, when you’re done changing any parameters and have saved the setting, reboot the router.
- If you don’t already have a wifi scanner loaded on a windows laptop, or you’re looking for a better program, download Winfi lite from: https://www.helge-keck.com/
Load that program and run it. On the second row from the top, select the “I” for info display, which will bring up the lower data info section. When that comes up, select "Spectrum" to show the graphical channel display. That display will depend on the topmost selection of 2.4 Ghz, 5 Ghz or All. Use the channel band as desired. You would need to see the 5 Ghz band for running high speed speedtests. The idea here is to check out your wifi environment to see who else is transmitting on the wifi channels that you’re using. This would give you the opportunity to check out what the modem is transmitting. You should be able to confirm which SSIDs belong to the modem by looking at the MAC addresses. They’re comprised of 6 Octets (address pairs). Most likely the first 5 Octets will be the same, maybe 4 Octets as a minimum. It will be interesting to see your comments on what the modem happens to be broadcasting in Bridge mode. Easy way to determine what SSIDs are transmitting from the modem is to simply pull the power from the modem and see what SSIDs disappear, and then reappear when you power the modem back up.
With that display up and running, look at the 5 Ghz channel group in the 149 to 164 range, just to see what other networks are in that range. Hopefully there won’t be any. If there is, you end up sharing the transmit time if the other networks are recognized as being valid wifi networks.
One item to keep in mind at this point (and hopefully you will confirm or deny that issue) is the presence of modem wifi SSIDs when the modem is in Bridge mode. Thinking aloud here, and I don’t think this has been discussed so far, if the same SSID is set in the modem and router and the modem continues to transmit the wifi SSIDs despite being in Bridge mode, I can see that causing confusion for any mobile device. Typically you don’t have two base stations transmitting the same SSID at the same time in close proximity. If you do, their part of a mesh network, or there’s an access point at some far location where the mobile device locks onto the nearest base station and there’s no confusion on the part of the device due to the difference in power levels between the near station and far station. If your router is fairly close to the modem I can see the possibility of the mobile device not knowing which one to communicate with, the modem or router? That could result in slow results during your router wifi speedtest. Any modem in bridge mode typically isn't supposed to be transmitting a wifi network, why would anyone suspect that's a possibility. Personal opinion at this point, I suspect that anyone wanting to run the modem in Bridge mode will have to set different SSIDs in the modem and router so that your mobile devices only use the router. Hopefully this is making sense to you. Please let me know if it isn’t. Personal opinion, there needs to be more work done by the users to determine what is going on as there’s no information from the Rogers engineers or product manager at this point other than to say, yes, there are multiple SSIDs transmitted from the modem. So, food for thought, for experimental purposes, set the 5 Ghz SSID to something different from what is set in the modem. Connect the mobile device that you’re using for test purposes to that different SSID and run a speedtest to see what turns up. Use www.speedtest.net, Toronto or Montreal Rogers Server, whichever is closer to you.
Another item to consider is the effect of setting the modem wifi channels to a parked, out of the way channel. It would appear that even with an Ethernet connection, the set top boxes still communicate with the modem via wifi, and without that wifi, the box can misbehave. So, that is something to consider, and with Winfi Lite loaded on a laptop, you can determine what other networks are being received and possibly interfering with the wifi network that the modem is using to communicate with the set top box.
I asked you to set the router to use 802.11 N/AC only at this point as 802.11AX has not been ratified as of yet, so, if you’re running the router and mobile device on 802.11AX, there’s a possibility that they’re running slightly different versions of the standard. That might cause problems, so, for now, until the standard is ratified and everyone is on the same page, I’d avoid using 802.11AX. Having said that, its worth an experiment, if you’re in that situation just to see what turns up for data rates. It might be acceptable, never know until you try it out.
One other consideration is to disable any traffic monitoring and filtering until you’re able to resolve the issues. Essentially, go thru the entire upper options group in the General group and disable anything and everything that you know you’re not using. For test purposes, you can disable AiProtection as well, just to see if there is an effect on the speedtests. I wouldn’t expect any, but, AiProtection is a Trendnet blackbox application and your router is fairly new in terms of its firmware
Ok, give this a go and please let us know what you find. Note that I don’t run the Ignite TV service, full disclosure as they say. I’m sure that @-G- will be interested in your findings.
Are you running stock Asuswrt firmware or Merlin’s Asuswrt firmware?
@pablom88 How many devices do you have connected over Wi-Fi to your router? You'll see a drop-off in speed even if the other devices are not putting a significant load on the network. That's why I only trust speed tests over a wired connection.
Wi-Fi can perform amazingly well in laboratory conditions but in the real world, you're still doing pretty good if you are getting speeds over 200Mbps. If you search the Internet for "Wi-Fi speed actual theoretical" you'll find a number of articles and blog posts on the subject.
@George99 wrote:
I was really excited to get Gigabit internet but I was super disappointed when it doesn't allow you to disable the residential gateway feature like it did on the Hitron series. Instead, it puts you in a bridge mode that isn't even a true bridge.
To test this, when I run a tracert command, it should completely by pass the rogers modem, but it does not, it makes a hop at the modem before it leave the house.
It is true that enabling "Bridge Mode" on the XB6 does not completely disable all of the services that are running on the device internally. However, Bridge Mode is still functionally bridge mode; your router should still obtain public IP addresses through DHCP/DHCPv6 and the XB6 should simply pass traffic, as you would expect it to. You should not be seeing an address such as 10.0.0.1 (the XB6) as a hop in your traceroute. I don't.
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