Why Is My WiFi Still Slow After Getting a New Router? 7 Things to Check

A New Router Doesn't Fix Everything

The expectation when buying a new router is simple: plug it in, everything gets faster. Sometimes that happens. More often, you get a moderate improvement that doesn't fully match expectations. This frustrates people because they've already spent $100–$500 on new hardware. Before blaming the product, work through this checklist — the problem is usually something specific and fixable.

Check 1: Is the ISP Gateway in Bridge Mode?

If your ISP provided a combination modem-router ("gateway") and you plugged your new router into it without putting the gateway into bridge mode, you now have two routers in series — called "double NAT." This is one of the most common causes of disappointing performance after a router upgrade.

In double NAT, all your traffic is routed twice: once by the ISP gateway, once by your new router. This adds latency, can interfere with gaming, and prevents some features (like VPN servers, port forwarding, and seamless UPnP) from working correctly. It also means you have two WiFi networks broadcasting, which can cause interference.

Fix: Log into your ISP gateway (usually at 192.168.1.1) and find the "Bridge Mode," "IP Passthrough," or "DMZ" setting. Enable it and point it to your new router's WAN port MAC address. Now the gateway acts as a pure modem, and your new router handles all routing. The improvement is often significant.

The GL.iNet Flint 2 and the NETGEAR Orbi both work significantly better as the sole router rather than behind a double NAT configuration.

Check 2: Router Placement

Where you put the router matters enormously. Common mistakes:

• Inside a cabinet or entertainment center (wood and electronics absorb signal significantly)
• On the floor in a corner (signal radiates horizontally and somewhat downward from antennas; floor placement means more signal goes into the floor than into the living space)
• Behind the TV (the TV's metal components and the wall it's on both block signal toward the room)
• In the garage, basement, or attic when the living space is elsewhere

The ideal router position: elevated (shelf or wall-mounted at 6–8 feet), centrally located in the home, away from metal objects and other electronics. In my own setup, moving the Orbi satellite from a console table (3 feet high) to a wall mount at 7 feet added 61 Mbps to far-room speeds — for $20 with a TIUIHU wall mount bracket. Don't underestimate placement.

Check 3: Wireless Interference on 2.4GHz

The 2.4GHz band is shared with Bluetooth devices, baby monitors, microwaves, and dozens of neighboring WiFi networks. In dense urban environments, 2.4GHz is essentially a traffic jam at peak hours. If you're connecting to your new router on 2.4GHz and living in an apartment building, you may see no improvement over your old router despite better hardware.

Fix: Force the device to connect on 5GHz when possible. 5GHz has more channels, less interference, and higher throughput. The tradeoff is shorter range — use 5GHz for devices near the router and 2.4GHz for longer-range devices like IoT sensors. On the GL.iNet Flint 2 and Orbi, you can enable "band steering" which automatically pushes capable devices to 5GHz.

Check 4: Old Ethernet Cable to the Modem

This one surprises people. If the ethernet cable connecting your modem to your new router is old or damaged, it can cap your speeds regardless of what the router is capable of. A damaged Cat5 cable can degrade to 100 Mbps. A properly crimped Cat5e or Cat6 cable should sustain 1 Gbps. Replace the short cable between modem and router with a fresh Cat6 if there's any question about the existing one's condition.

Check 5: Router Firmware Not Updated

New routers often ship with firmware from their manufacturing date — potentially months old. Firmware updates frequently include performance improvements, bug fixes, and new features. The GL.iNet Flint 2 had two firmware updates in the first month I owned it, both improving wireless performance metrics. Check for updates in the router's admin interface immediately after setup.

Check 6: Device WiFi Adapter Is the Bottleneck

Your new WiFi 6 router's performance is limited by the slowest link in the chain. If you're testing on a 5-year-old laptop with a WiFi 5 or WiFi 4 adapter, you won't see the full benefit of WiFi 6. Test from a device with a WiFi 6 adapter to get accurate measurements of what the router actually delivers. For a definitive baseline, test wired — a direct ethernet connection bypasses the client device's WiFi adapter entirely and shows the router's true routing performance.

Check 7: QoS Misconfiguration

Some routers ship with QoS enabled with default settings that actually throttle speeds on fast connections. If QoS is enabled, try temporarily disabling it and running DCSpeedTest. If speeds improve significantly with QoS off, the QoS configuration needs adjustment — either raise the bandwidth ceiling to match your actual plan speed, or reconfigure it to prioritize correctly for your usage patterns. The GL.iNet Flint 2's QoS is configurable enough to avoid this issue, but requires accurate bandwidth settings to work correctly.

If None of These Fix It

After working through all seven checks, if speeds are still disappointing, the issue may be with your ISP rather than your home equipment. Run DCSpeedTest wired directly from the modem (bypassing the new router entirely). If those numbers are also low, contact your ISP with the documented test results. Persistent under-delivery on a paid plan is worth disputing.

FAQ

My new router is faster wired but not much faster on WiFi. Is that normal?

Yes, this is common. Wired speeds are limited only by the router's routing capacity and the cable's bandwidth. WiFi speeds add signal quality, interference, distance, and client device capability into the equation. A router that delivers 940 Mbps wired might deliver 534 Mbps on 5GHz WiFi at 30 feet — that's not a failure, that's the physics of wireless signal at distance. The question is whether the WiFi improvement is proportional to what you expected.

Does the number of devices connected to the router slow it down?

Idle connected devices (connected but not actively transferring data) have negligible impact on router performance. Active simultaneous transfers do share bandwidth. A WiFi 6 router like the Flint 2 or Orbi handles concurrent active connections more efficiently than WiFi 5 routers due to OFDMA — one reason performance doesn't degrade as badly under heavy load on WiFi 6 hardware.