Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro

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Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro

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Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro
Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro
2023-03-10 06:44:27 - last edited 2023-03-15 15:40:48
Model: Deco XE75 Pro  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version: 1.0.2 Build 20221020 Rel. 40492

I just installed the XE75 Pro (2-pair) in my house, replacing my old Netgear Nighthawk R7000 router, and the Wifi speed on my PC has plummeted from 300 Mbps to around 10 Mbps. The speed on my phone is working as expected: 300 Mbps down, and both devices are connected to the same 5 GHz network.

 

My PC is using an MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wifi motherboard with the Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 adapter that is 802.11ac certified.

 

I've tried:

  • Updating the BIOS (then rolling it back after it didn't fix the issue).
  • Updating the network adapter (then rolling it back after it didn't fix the issue).
    • Changing the value for the 802.11a/b/g Wireless Mode property from "Dual Band 802.11a/b/g" to "5GHz 802.11a". This was based on a thread from the Intel forum.
  • Switching the channel width from 160 MHz to 80 MHz in the Deco app (that seemed to make it worse).
  • Restarting the PC and Deco routers multiple times.

 

The really strange thing is that the network adapter in Windows reports the speed as being 300 Mbps, but running a speed test or downloading something in Steam yields a result of around 10 Mbps.

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#1
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Re:Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro-Solution
2023-03-15 15:40:44 - last edited 2023-03-15 15:40:48

I have "resolved" the problem by purchasing and installing a new WiFi card in my PC.

 

To recap: the Intel wireless adapter in the motherboard was reporting that it was using WiFi 5 (802.11ac) and was connected to the Deco network's 5 GHz band, but was severely limited on speed (10 Mbps download). I could force the wireless adapter to connect to the 2.4 GHz band using Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) to increase the speed to 90 Mbps. The driver was up-to-date and after trying everything else I could think of and having it still not work, I decided to just purchase a new PCIe WiFi card.

 

A few posts I came across in my research indicated that these Intel wireless adapters are notorious for having issues connecting to WiFi 6 networks, even though they should when upgraded to more recent driver versions.

 

Ultimately, there was nothing wrong with the Deco units, just a finicky Intel wireless adapter.

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Re:Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro
2023-03-10 14:49:47
So you have the adapter set to the wireless “a” standard and not “ac”?
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Re:Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro
2023-03-10 22:11:04

dictoresno wrote

So you have the adapter set to the wireless “a” standard and not “ac”?

 

As part of troubleshooting, I set the 802.11a/b/g Wireless Mode property for the adapter to "5GHz 802.11a" based on that linked forum post which solved a similar-sounding issue for another user. There is a separate property for the adapter called 802.11n/ac Wireless Mode which is still set to "802.11ac". This is almost certainly the property that the adapter is using anyway, especially considering that when checking the status of the adapter, it reports the link speed being 400 Mbps which is well beyond what "a" is capable of. I have switched that first property back and forth between that and its original value of "Dual Band 802.11a/b/g" with the same result each time.

 

My PC was previously getting the full 300 Mbps bandwidth that was being provided from my old router, so I know it's using the second property and using either "n" or "ac".

 

I've also tried adjusting the WiFi settings in the Deco app so that the network is only broadcasting on the 5GHz band, but again, no luck.

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Re:Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro
2023-03-13 06:42:20

  @Nick765 

Thanks for the feedback.

Have you also tried to update the wireless driver of AC3168 to be the following one:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/94854/intel-dual-band-wirelessac-3168/downloads.html

Version: 22.200.0

 

It is also suggested to enable the guest network for 5ghz only;

then connect MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge to the guest network work.

After that, please try to disable "Mesh Technology" on the Deco APP for the laptop.

If possible, please also  try to temporarily turn off "fast roaming" and "Beamforming" to see whether it helped.

Wait for your reply.

Best regards.

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Re:Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro
2023-03-13 17:26:38

  @David-TP 

Have you also tried to update the wireless driver of AC3168 to be the following one:

 

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that, but yes, I do have the latest driver version installed for the wireless adapter. I can try the other suggestions after work today.

 

I have managed to temporarily apply a band-aid to the problem: I've forced the wireless adapter to connect to the Deco network via 2.4Ghz, for which it is now using Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) which has managed to at least increase the bandwidth from 10 Mbps to 90-95 Mbps, so it's at least useable now.

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Re:Extremely slow Wifi on PC after upgrading to XE75 Pro-Solution
2023-03-15 15:40:44 - last edited 2023-03-15 15:40:48

I have "resolved" the problem by purchasing and installing a new WiFi card in my PC.

 

To recap: the Intel wireless adapter in the motherboard was reporting that it was using WiFi 5 (802.11ac) and was connected to the Deco network's 5 GHz band, but was severely limited on speed (10 Mbps download). I could force the wireless adapter to connect to the 2.4 GHz band using Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) to increase the speed to 90 Mbps. The driver was up-to-date and after trying everything else I could think of and having it still not work, I decided to just purchase a new PCIe WiFi card.

 

A few posts I came across in my research indicated that these Intel wireless adapters are notorious for having issues connecting to WiFi 6 networks, even though they should when upgraded to more recent driver versions.

 

Ultimately, there was nothing wrong with the Deco units, just a finicky Intel wireless adapter.

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#6
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