How to troubleshoot  if I have low speed with TP-Link ISP-Customized 4G LTE Router working as 3G 4G Router Mode

Introduction

This article provides step-by-step instructions for the low-speed issue with the TP-Link ISP-Customized 4G LTE Router working in 3G 4G Router Mode.

Requirements

Internet speed may be affected by many factors. You may refer to the steps below to do a speed test and comparison before moving on to improvement:

Step 1. Connect a computer/laptop to the 4G LTE Router via Ethernet Cable, and test the wired speed of the router

Step 2. Connect a computer or mobile device to the 4G LTE Router's Wi-Fi network, then test the router's wireless speed. (If it is a dual-band router, please test both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WI-FI speeds)

Step 3. Insert the same SIM Card into another 4G router with the same LTE category at the exact location, then test the wired and wireless speed on the same client device.

For example, the TL-MR6400 is an LTE Cat4 product that doesn’t support 4G+ (LTE Cat6 or higher is called 4G+), so we need to compare its speed with another LTE Cat4 product.

• If the wired and wireless speeds of the TP-Link router are both much slower than those of another router, please refer to Case 1.
• If there is no big difference between the wired speed of the two routers, but the wireless speed of the TP-Link router is much slower than the other one, please refer to Case 2.

Note: Some of you might use a mobile phone to compare the speed, however, please kindly note that most mobile phones now support much higher LTE categories such as Cat19 or Cat20, or even 5G, the higher the LTE category supported, the higher the maximum speed it could reach, so it doesn’t make sense to compare two devices speed with different LTE categories supported.

Troubleshooting

Case 1: Wired and Wireless speeds of the TP-Link router are both much slower than those of another router

Step 1. Log in to the web interface of the 4G LTE Router, go to Advanced > Status, and look for Network Type, Band, and Signal Strength options.

Step 2. If the Network Type is not set to 4G even though the 4G signal in your area is strong, go to the Advanced > Network > Mobile WAN page, change Network Mode to 4G Only, and click Save. Then check whether the Network Type is 4G LTE and whether the signal strength is good (75% or 100%).

Step 3. If the router's wired speed is still relatively slow, try another profile from the Profile Name drop-down on the Advanced > Network > Mobile WAN page.

Or contact your SIM card provider to see if they have other APN settings. If so, try to create a connection profile on the Advanced > Network > Mobile WAN page.

Step 4. If your 4G LTE Router supports manual 4G band selection, you could also try changing the band from Auto to Manual, then select the same band as on your other router, or select the supported band of your SIM card one by one to find the best band in your area.

Step 5. Make sure the firmware version is the latest one. If your wired download speed is much lower than it should be, contact TP-Link support with those speed test results, the troubleshooting you have done, and the results.

Case Two: Only the Wireless speed of the TP-Link router is much slower than that of another one

Step 1. Simplify network topology by connecting one end-device to the 4G LTE router via wireless, and run speed-test ^® three times without doing any high-bandwidth activities, such as P2P downloads. Take screenshots.

Step 2. Check the wireless link speed of your end device. Take Screenshots.

Step 3. Change Channel Width, 2.4GHz→40MHz, 5GHz→80Mhz.

Step 4. If end devices support 5GHz, connect to 5GHz to see if it’s better.

For 2.4 GHz, change the Channel; channels 1, 6, and 11 are generally best, but any channel can be used; you may try a few more.

A wireless channel determines which operating frequency will be in use. It is not necessary to change the channel unless you’re experiencing interference from nearby wireless networks. You can find channel settings on Advanced > Wireless > Wireless Settings page.

Step 5. Make sure the firmware version is the latest one. If your wired download speed is much lower than it should be, contact TP-Link support with those speed test results, the troubleshooting you have done, and the results.

To get to know more details of each function and configuration please go to Download Center to download the manual of your product.