I pay for a 300Mbps internet connection, and I have a TP-Link Deco X50 mesh system covering my roughly 1,500-square-foot home. For the most part, it works well, but I had been noticing occasional fluctuations in my Wi-Fi speeds. Sometimes the connection would be perfectly fine, while other times, I’d get noticeably slower results without any obvious explanation.
I initially thought it had something to do with the placement of my mesh routers or interference from other devices. But while going through the Deco app, I came across a setting I’d never really bothered changing: ECO Mode. It was supposed to help my router consume less electricity, which sounded perfectly reasonable. However, I soon discovered that saving power could also mean sacrificing a considerable amount of performance. I decided to disable it and run a few speed tests. The difference was far bigger than I expected.
My router was saving electricity at the expense of performance
And I’d completely overlooked the warning
I’ve spent a fair amount of time tinkering with my home network, but power-saving modes on routers were something I’d never really thought about. I’m familiar with how they work on smartphones and laptops, where they can limit performance and background activity to extend battery life. But my router? It’s plugged into a wall outlet all day, and I wasn’t particularly concerned about its electricity consumption.
When I opened the Deco app, I noticed a message on the home screen saying that ECO Mode was saving power and that my network speed could be affected. I’d seen it before, but hadn’t given it much thought. This time, however, I decided to investigate.
TP-Link’s ECO Mode offers three different power settings: Normal Mode, Power-Saving Mode, and Ultra Power-Saving Mode. Normal Mode lets the router operate without power-saving restrictions, while Power-Saving Mode reduces power consumption by slightly limiting network speeds. Ultra Power-Saving Mode takes things further by minimizing power consumption, which can lead to an even bigger performance hit.
The more I looked into these settings, the more I wondered whether I’d been unnecessarily limiting my own Wi-Fi performance. I wasn’t particularly interested in saving a little electricity if it meant getting a slower connection, especially when I was already paying for a reasonably fast internet plan.
Changing the setting took barely a minute
A few taps were all it took
Fortunately, disabling ECO Mode on my Deco system was straightforward. I opened the Deco app, headed to More > ECO Mode, and turned the feature off. You can also open Power Mode and choose Normal Mode to avoid the performance restrictions of the other two settings.
Several other routers offer power-management settings, although the exact options and how they affect performance can vary depending on the manufacturer. For instance, on supported TP-Link Archer routers, you can open the Tether app and head to More > ECO Mode. Alternatively, sign in to the router’s web interface and look under Advanced > System > ECO Mode. From there, you can review the available power-saving options and adjust them.
On certain ASUS routers, open the router’s web interface and navigate to Wireless > Professional. Depending on your model, you may find a power adjustment setting that controls wireless transmission power. Similarly, some Netgear routers offer Transmit Power Control under Advanced > Advanced Setup > Advanced Wireless Settings. Now, these transmission-power controls aren’t exactly the same as ECO Mode, and increasing transmission power doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get faster Wi-Fi. In some cases, it can even make things worse. Not every router offers these settings either, so it’s worth checking your model’s documentation before making changes.
I’d recommend running a speed test before changing anything, noting down the results, and then testing again after switching back to the normal or default power settings. Ideally, repeat the tests a few times using the same device, location, and test server. That should give you a much better idea of whether the change is actually helping.
My Wi-Fi speeds improved far more than I’d expected
The difference was hard to ignore
Before disabling ECO Mode, one of my speed tests showed 257Mbps download and 105Mbps upload. After switching it off, those numbers increased to 270Mbps and 187Mbps, respectively.
The download improvement was pretty modest at around 5%, so I wouldn’t have made a big deal out of that alone. But my upload speed had increased by nearly 80%, and I certainly wasn’t expecting that from changing a single setting. I decided to run another set of tests with ECO Mode enabled and disabled, and the results were even more dramatic this time. With ECO Mode enabled, my iPhone recorded 149Mbps download and 37Mbps upload.
After turning it off, I got 311Mbps download and 220Mbps upload. My download speed more than doubled, while my upload speed increased almost sixfold.
Even the latency-related numbers changed. My idle ping dropped from 22ms to 11ms, while jitter went from 39ms to 22ms. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, jitter measures how much your connection’s latency fluctuates. Lower jitter generally means a more consistent connection, which can help with things like video calls and online gaming.
I was particularly surprised by the upload speeds. I work with plenty of photos and videos, so uploading large files, sharing footage, and backing things up to the cloud are all part of my routine. Going from 37.1Mbps to 220Mbps is a massive difference on paper, especially when you’re dealing with several gigabytes of data.
I’ll be paying more attention to my router’s settings from now on
I’m not suggesting that everyone should immediately turn off their router’s power-saving features. If your connection is already performing well, you might not notice any meaningful difference. And if reducing electricity consumption is a priority, keeping those features enabled could make perfect sense.
However, if you’re dealing with inconsistent Wi-Fi speeds, I think it’s worth checking your router’s power settings before considering an upgrade. You might already have perfectly capable hardware that’s simply configured to prioritize something other than maximum performance.