Hi @McDx,

I can understand your confusion when it comes to wireless speeds as there are so many factors at play. Also, thank you for providing so much detailed information.

The 1.3 Gbps Speed you are seeing is called your Link Speed. The Link Speed is the theroretical maximum bandiwdth for only the connection between your router and your computer. This is not indicative of the speed that you will actually see when working with files on the internet. This is only the speed that would be capable when moving data around within your own internal network.

The speeds that you are receiving when running a speed test, are the speeds that you are receivng into the router from the outside internet. That test is completed by sending information from your router to a server hosted somwewhere else. This is also the speed that you are paying for from Cox and will vary depending on what service you use to test, and the location that you select. Even though you are not receiving the entire 600Mbps on that screen, you may still be receivng your advertised speed from Cox Communications.

To get a more accurate result, I would continue tests at different periods of times and I would recommend trying a wired connection if attempting to verify your speeds from Cox. 

If you would like to learn more about the difference between Link Speed and Wifi Speed please check out this link: 

Why Isn't my Wi-Fi as Fast as Advertised?

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have! I would love to find more ways to help our customers understand our products.

  @McDx 

Hey

So I think that the confusion that you are having is that the theoretical speeds of 1300 Mbps is actually the theoretical speed of the wireless standard(802.11ac), not of the TP-Link device itself. This statistic is measured by the IEEE and is used by many companies. In researching this very topic I found an article from signalboosters that stated something that honestly surprised me, that the standard actially includes no calculations for potential interference. I included an excerpt from the article to help.

"Maximum internet speeds are theoretical. They are based on optimal conditions - potential interference is not factored in. 802.11ac has a theoretical maximum speed of 1,300 Mbps (1.3 Gbps) - 2,300 Mbps (2.3 Gbps). It was the first WiFi standard developed that could theoretically achieve gigabit speeds opposed to megabit speeds. In contrast, 802.11n had a theoretical speed of 450 Mbps (0.45 Gbps). This meant WiFi 5 could be up to 3x faster than the previous WiFi generation under optimal conditions.

In the real-world, data rates are susceptible to change due to the environment. Obstacles like building material, walls, doors, floors, and furniture can interfere with the signal strength, resulting in the speed slowing down.

Forbes states that the fastest real-world 802.11ac speeds recorded are around 720 Mbps (0.72 Gbps). In contrast, the maximum speed recorded for 802.11n was 240 Mbps (0.24 Gbps). While it’s true that WiFi 5 is 3x faster than WiFi 4, the speeds are much lower than the theoretical ones."

Hope this does a good job of clearing up any confusion that you may have left.

  @McDx 

No problem, my goal is to help people better understand the products that they have purchased and bring back feedback to the team of how things could be improved. I will pass the information along to the team that the store pages may not be clear enough about the theoretical vs realized speeds.