@McAlsop 

Here are a couple of article that you can reference for tips to ensure you get the best signal possible:

How to improve my wireless speed or range?

https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-468.html

How to improve the signal strength of my 5GHz wireless connection?

https://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-469.html

If you are testing wireless devices, make sure to try more then one as you will get various speeds depending on the device you are using. Other then physical location, modifying the wireless chanels and widths should help in providing better performance.

Other customers have done a complete factory default (hold the reset button for 15 seconds), and also re-uploaded the latest firmware on their router on instances where they felt the speed was slow.

I appreciate the response, and I have used both of those articles. But I can’t seem to find anywhere that says what to expect in real life situations. Like if my adapter reports I’m connected at 500Mbps and I’m getting 160 down in reality is that actually good? Or If I’m standing right next to the router and the device isn’t limiting the speed should I be closer to 500?

note I have gotten the same results from like 4 different devices.

i just dont want to waste time restoring factory settings if these results are actually in line.

@McAlsop The download speed being slower then your upload by about half seems odd. If your download for the 5Ghz was about the same as the upload that would seem fine given how link speed does not equal your real time transfer speed. The 2.4Ghz will not be faster then the 5Ghz, but you should have better range and covereage compared to the 5Ghz.

I would go the route of defaulting and also updating the firmware to make sure software on the router is not causing the lower speed.