Upgraded to Nigthawk R7000 AC1600 /w 2Degree fibre connection

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Upgraded to Nigthawk R7000 AC1600 /w 2Degree fibre connection - ethernet speed is 1/5th of before

hawkthorne

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#271900 31-May-2020 16:26

Hi folks,

My brother suggested I post here as there is a good chance someone might be able to help figure out what I'm doing wrong with my new router.

In my new flat, we have a gigabit fibre connection through 2Degrees. While not a great benchmark in and of itself, fast.com shows 1Gbps.

As we were using an old 'FritzBox' that the flat had inherited over the years, I saw a good deal for a Nightgear R700 AC1900 pop up and snatched it up.

Now my issue lies within the fact that using Cloudflare's new speed test and fast.com, the speed is roughly 1/5 of what it would be on the old router when using the new one.

I'm guessing I've made some silly configuration error, but after spending a few hours reading different posts and toggling different settings, I decided posting would be the best bet.

I'm open to flashing the router if needs be, or if it's a good idea in general - I haven't done so before, but am happy to learn.

So, if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know, thank you in advance.

Edit: I should note, my next objective is to set up a PiHole 5 using a Raspberry Pi 4 4gb this evening, so if anyone has any heads up/pointers for that with this router, then I'm all ears! Thanks

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TEAMnetwork

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#2495783 31-May-2020 16:30

It will be one of two things MTU or Processing power in the Netgear

PPPoE adds CPU over head which will affect performance if the router isn't up to it - 2degrees use PPPoE

The other factor could be the MTU is still set to 1500, try lowering this to 1492

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surfisup1000

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#2495784 31-May-2020 16:36

The R7000 is very old, designed for the DSL era.

Maybe it just isn't capable?

nitrotech

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#2495785 31-May-2020 16:37

Just curious, why the decision to downgrade?

Alongside the MTU settings suggested make sure your pppoe username and pass are correct, some providers allow connection but only at reduced speeds if incorrect.

richms

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#2495789 31-May-2020 16:42

These dual mode vdsl and ethernet routers will often not change reliably between the modes. Do a factory reset and complete its setup wizard to make sure that all traces of being a VDSL router are removed from the config and it has the best chance of having hardware offload enabled.

Also if it has anything that claims to prioritize gaming or voice etc, make sure that is off because it will generally disable hardware offloading and make the CPU do everything which will bottleneck on low end gear like that.

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michaelmurfy

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#2495795 31-May-2020 17:02

The R7000 is just simply too old and you'll never be able to get Gigabit speeds through it.

Really, you should be using the Fritz!Box as this router supports Gigabit fine (as you've seen) and actually has better WiFi than the R7000. You're essentially downgrading yourself by using the R7000.

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sqishy

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#2495803 31-May-2020 17:19

Not familiar with this model but with the ASUS RT-88U I needed to turn off anything with parental controls, time scheduling, access control and turn on NAT acceleration to get 1GB.

I think yours might have access control thats need to be off.

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hawkthorne

13 posts

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#2495891 31-May-2020 18:48

Thank you all for your input. Seems like in my ignorance, I had assumed expensive + fancy would = better performance.

I almost feel bad for looking at my FritzBox with such disgust.

I'll post up the Nighthawk for sale tomorrow on FB marketplace (if you happen to want to buy it cheap, PM me) and do some research into other routers that may be better suited.

Having said that, is my desire to get a new router warranted at all? I mean, I just thought that with such a fast connection, it'd make sense to make the most out of it with a high-tech router, but maybe I'm on a fast track to waste my time and money?

michaelmurfy

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#2495895 31-May-2020 18:56

Just save your money. The Fritz!Box is actually a very good router and achieves Gigabit speeds, there are no routers you can buy from your brick and mortar stores that'll match the performance of it.

If you want to improve WiFi then you can buy another Fritz!Box from 2degrees (for $150) and put it in mesh mode.

hawkthorne

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#2495898 31-May-2020 18:59

michaelmurfy:

Just save your money. The Fritz!Box is actually a very good router and achieves Gigabit speeds, there are no routers you can buy from your brick and mortar stores that'll match the performance of it.

If you want to improve WiFi then you can buy another Fritz!Box from 2degrees (for $150) and put it in mesh mode.

Alright, loud and clear Michael, thank you.

I'll work on building a better, trusting relationship with my FritzBox and park my dreams of having a cool-looking hyper-router for some future date.

shrub

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#2495900 31-May-2020 19:02

Yea as others have said just get a fritz!box. Even the Netgear r8000 I stupidly purchased is in now just a wireless access point.

RunningMan

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#2495903 31-May-2020 19:07

hawkthorne:Seems like in my ignorance, I had assumed expensive + fancy would = better performance.

Unfortunately that happens all too often, which makes the marketing people happy!

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mdf

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#2495907 31-May-2020 19:26

It's been a while, but when I had a Nighthawk, you needed to flash the firmware and enable hardware offloading / cut through forwarding.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=205229

But that wss a few years ago. You would really want to check the latest status of firmwares and features very carefully before going down that route.

hawkthorne

13 posts

Geek

#2495910 31-May-2020 19:41

mdf: It's been a while, but when I had a Nighthawk, you needed to flash the firmware and enable hardware offloading / cut through forwarding.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=40&topicid=205229

But that wss a few years ago. You would really want to check the latest status of firmwares and features very carefully before going down that route.

Thanks for the heads up - given the fact that the general consensus seems to be a FritzBox would be just as good, if not better, I probably won't bother going down that route, but it's helpful info.

My next missions is going to be getting a PiHole setup with a FritzBox. I'll run off and do some research, but if you happen to read this and have some pointers, I'm all ears. Thanks!

TheMaskedOnion

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#2496023 1-Jun-2020 09:16

If you're going to have a play with firmwares try https://freshtomato.org/. It the only active tomato firmware supporting the R7000.

BlinkyBill

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#2496051 1-Jun-2020 11:01

‘TheMaskedOnion’ is my new favourite userid. It’s up there with ‘elpenguino’.

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