High Latency & 5GHz Bandwidth Drop on Airtel Xstream Fiber ONT (AOT-5221ZY)

[Mota Bhai]

I’m on Airtel Xstream Fiber (200 Mbps) and using their provided ONT/router — AOT-5221ZY. I’ve noticed two major issues:

1. High Latency to Router:
Pinging 192.168.1.1 over both LAN and 5GHz Wi-Fi shows 100–140+ ms latency, when I'm running a speed test in the background using my laptop which supports Wi-Fi 6e.
A simple router restart temporarily fixes this, bringing latency down to 1–5 ms — but it slowly increases again over time.
I guess this might be thermal throttling also, as the router is very hot when touched.

2. 5GHz Channel Width Drops from 160 MHz to 80 MHz:
Initially, 5GHz operates on 160 MHz after reboot, but after some time it auto-drops to 80 MHz.
Restarting restores 160 MHz for some time.

Has anyone else faced similar problems with this ONT? Would switching to bridge mode and using a better router help?

 

[tr1k0N4]

It'd certainly help, brdr!!!

 

[Vickey007]

I have this ont (using 1 gbps business plan). And this ont have this drawback of switching from 160Hz to 80Hz, sometimes after couple of mins and some time after a day and sometimes works 2 days on 160 Hz.
But since I use 1 gbps plan, it affects me on wifi only. Speed drop to max 850 mbps on 80 Hz otherwise 1300Mbps on laptop and mobiles (Android and iPhone, both).
About ping. I never get 4-5 ms on speed test like I do get in LAN but never received more than 20ms.
As you have mentioned you're using 200 mbps plan, so.i guess speed won't be problem even if either on 160Hz or 80Hz. About ping, talk to airtel technician, why it's too high.

Forgot to mention about heat. No My ONT doesn't heat too much. Maybe due to air conditioning in the room.

 

[Mota Bhai]

@Vickey007, in my case the wifi speed drops a lot, sometimes even in 5ghz I get like only 80 mbps speed, then I have to reconnect my device to wifi router then the speed is back to normal 200 mbps. This only happens when the device is connected via wifi for a long time.

For the high ping part, I'm telling the ping from my laptop to the router, till my router ideally the ping should stay in range of 30ms. I noticed that the pings are high when the router is on for many hours and the temperature is high. Once I restart the router the pings are back to normal range, but then after few hours again the pings become worse. I guess there is thermal throttling here as the router is very hot when touched. A few months back when I got this router, it was working fine as I guess it was winters during that time. And yes I don't have air conditioning in the place where this router is kept at.

 

[Vickey007]

i am using it from last July 12, 2024, and haven't faced this issue at all, related to super high pings. yeah some time wifi speed on laptop/mobile drops to 300-400 Mbps (Downloading, not uploading) which fine by me since my main work is on desktop via LAN.
About ONT temp, i am not sure, how can i check, since i can not seems to find any option under ONT setting for temp check.
In summer every or should i say most of ONT/Routers/Modem does heat up and thats never been a concern for since 2009 (From i have used many ISPs) as well as LAN speed is fine and Wifi not giving issue as well.
My ONT is hot as well since AIR CON is off from last 5 hours, lol.
here is speed test result from mobile, connected on 80Hz and ONT is on from last 3 plus days.

Here is from LAN

 

[RKhan21]

That speed on 80MHz WiFi 6 is no different than WiFi 5. There's no advantage of having this WiFi 6 ONT unless they solve the latency and 160MHz issue. I think on the version R2.17 they have solved the 160MHz issue partially

 

[Mota Bhai]

@RKhan21, are you also facing the same issues that I have mentioned above in my post related to ping/latency? I also face youtube buffering problem on my end despite being on a 200mbps plan. I guess their is network congestion on Airtel's end or the router is just delaying/dropping packets when it is under load. I have max 6 devices continuously using the internet.

 

[RKhan21]

@Mota Bhai I've faced everything u mentioned. My friend got this more than a year ago and even he is facing all those issues u have mentioned

 

[RKhan21]

I just connected ZyXEL and in 5mins speed dropped to 170.

 

[Mota Bhai]

@RKhan21, thanks for confirming my doubts. What’s the best solution for this issue? Have you tried using this router in bridge mode?