Sonic.net

I just got sonic installed and I got the router from Sonic. The speeds are clocking in at 300Mbps for both upload and download. The ping is amazing so I am happy with it, but I'm wondering how I could make use of the full (or close) gigabit? The person who installed it said I need to be connected with ethernet, but I was wondering if this was a limitation on the router? If I were to buy a new gigabit router that can handle higher speeds would I see closer to the Gigabit on WiFi?

You may see better performance on wireless with a powerful wireless router. I say may because the of limitations that are inherent in wireless connectivity. Other wireless networks, physical barriers, and electronics all detract from wireless performance. We'd be happy to work with you to help get you better bandwidth over wireless. I recommend reaching out to our support team at 855-394-0100 and they can offer some suggestions for getting the most out of your wireless connection. They're available 7 days a week from 8am to 10pm.

arian487 wrote:The person who installed it said I need to be connected with ethernet, but I was wondering if this was a limitation on the router?

Sounds like you are connecting via wifi instead of with a cat 5e (or better) cable attached to the router. With the latter, you will probably see better speeds, although don't expect to ever see full 1 Gbps, probably somewhere in the 900s at best. Over wifi, even under the most ideal circumstances, you are unlikely to even approach gigabit speeds. For example, many laptops have 2 wifi antennas. With 802.11ac 5GHz using a 40Mhz wide channel, the absolute best wifi speed you could expect under absolute optimal conditions is ~360Mbps. But likely much less because of interference, signal attenuation, etc.

Disclaimer: I don't use the sonic supplied router/access point, so I don't know if it has inherent limitations. But I suspect if it does, that isn't the cause of the speeds you are seeing.

Correct - this is a limitation of WiFi and WiFi client devices, not the Sonic router. WiFi today cannot deliver full Gigabit to a single client device. For full speed, Ethernet must be used.

Thanks for the responses! I'm connecting using a new touchbar Macbook, and at work I can hit 700MBps speeds so the limitation is definitely not my laptop. I understand I won't hit close to 1Gb on wifi but I was hoping I'd hit at least 500. When I have some time I'll give a call to try and do some troubleshooting.

arian487 wrote:Thanks for the responses! I'm connecting using a new touchbar Macbook, and at work I can hit 700MBps speeds so the limitation is definitely not my laptop. I understand I won't hit close to 1Gb on wifi but I was hoping I'd hit at least 500. When I have some time I'll give a call to try and do some troubleshooting.

We've seen 600+Mbps using clients like the MacBook Pro too, using Sonic's WiFi router/access point. Point is, a "better router" shouldn't be necessary - but no matter what the client is today, you won't see the full Gigabit speed that a wired device can achieve.

So I had been out on a trip for the week and just got a chance to sit down with it and the internet is nearly unusable. It takes 5+ seconds to load a single site, and when I was finally able to run a speedtest I got 65Mbps. I know I can't expect gigabit speeds but I expect quicker and more consistent connections than what I have. Connecting to the router (192.168.1.42/admin) is also very slow it seems. I don't know much more at this point as far as trouble shooting goes. My plan is to get a laptop tomorrow that has an ethernet port so I can test a direct connection to isolate the problem to the router.

Connecting to the 2.4GHz connection appears to be significantly faster (still 70mbs, but much better ping). At this point I feel its a faulty router.

Most likely you are too far or there are too many obstructions for a solid reliable 5Ghz connection. Have you considered trying out Sonic's Eero mesh solution?

I was sitting right next to the router about 2-3 feet away, so it definitely isn't distance or obstructions.