Different Speed Tests Results Between Routers AXE-16000 and GT-AX6000

I just got a AXE-16000.
I don't know why I get much better wired download speeds with a AX6000 compared to the AXE16000. Is it because my Comcast IP changes?
It must be. This is wired 2.5Gps wire LAN connected properly. I have tried setting the 16000's WAN port to the 10G port and the 2.5G port. Same speeds.

Each one gets its own IP after every swap. The 16000 gets a 73.xxx.xx.x and the 6000 gets 68.xxx.xx.x

I have used a lot of different speed tests, fast.com, speedsmart, speedtest.net, etc,
Also downloads with 20 connections. So it's not just the speed tests.
The 6000 hits 2Gbps in seconds. With peaks of 2.4. I'm on a Comcast 2G
The 16000 most times barely hits 1Gbps. With a max if 1.4Gbps.
This occurs every time I swap them.

What is causing this? Could it be the IP change or the router?
This is driving me nutz

The AXE-16000 is on the left side. The AX-6000 is on the right.

If you think it's related to your WAN IP address try cloning the WAN MAC address of your old router onto the new router (WAN - Internet Connection > MAC Address). Then power off/on and your new router should have the same IP address as the old one had.

I was just thinking about cloning something. Thanks!
Should be interesting.

ColinTaylor said:

If you think it's related to your WAN IP address try cloning the WAN MAC address of your old router onto the new router (WAN - Internet Connection > MAC Address). Then power off/on and your new router should have the same IP address as the old one had.

Click to expand...

Quick question. When I press MAC Clone, is that the modem MAC , router MAC, or this PC's mac?

Lotta Cox said:

Quick question. When I press MAC Clone, is that the modem MAC , router MAC, or this PC's mac?

Click to expand...

It's the PC's MAC address - you don't want that. On your new router you need to manually type the MAC address of your old router into the textbox and click Apply.

ColinTaylor said:

It's the PC's MAC address - you don't want that. On your new router you need to manually type the MAC address of your old router into the textbox and click Apply.

Click to expand...

Where do i fnd the routers mac.
I have to leave. I will do this when I get back.
Thanks.

It's printed on the box the router came in. It's also printed on the label on the back of the router (together with PIN, H/W Ver, Production year, etc).

I'm not familiar with the new stock firmware but try looking at Network Map > System Status > Status > LAN MAC address. The LAN MAC is usually the same as the WAN MAC.

ColinTaylor said:

If you think it's related to your WAN IP address try cloning the WAN MAC address of your old router onto the new router (WAN - Internet Connection > MAC Address). Then power off/on and your new router should have the same IP address as the old one had.

Click to expand...

The clone worked on the AXE16000 to get the IP. But, speed is still capped to 1.2 Gbps max
I tried switching the WAN port back to the 2.5G. Reboot things. Still capped.
Any other ideas?

Do you have QoS or AiProtection enabled?

No I don't. All factory settings except the wifi and mac
I tried the 3006 beta FW. Same.
I think I got a dud. It's used

I'm wondering if it's hardware, they use the same SoC, so the AXE1600 has to use the same ports for more PHYs. Are there only two things plugged into each for the test, modem and test PC?

kjoshj said:

I'm wondering if it's hardware, they use the same SoC, so the AXE1600 has to use the same ports for more PHYs. Are there only two things plugged into each for the test, modem and test PC?

Click to expand...

Three other ports are used. There is an Obi Voip device that has 10/100 lan port. Could that affect speed? Also 2 gigabit switches and a 2.5Gb switch. The wifi was that same slow speed at 1-1.4Gbps.

Port 4 is yellow. This is the ax6000 screenshot. It was the same on the 16000

Port 4 had a tooltip of 100Mbps. I unplugged it. Then Port one turned yellow and says. 10
Plugged 4 back in and port 1 is still yellow and says 10. I think there is a 10Mbit device on the switch that connects to port one.
I have to investigate this. Hard to trace. A lot of wires

Lotta Cox said:

A lot of wires

Click to expand...

You mean “Lotta” wires, right?

Lotta Cox said:

AX6000 compared to the AXE16000

Click to expand...

Both routers have about the same hardware inside. AXE16000 has some software support issue upstream and stuck on 3004 firmware for a very long time. It has 10GbE ports, but not really 10Gbps capable hardware. I don't see the point replacing GT-AX6000 with GT-AXE16000 unless you have too many active 5/6GHz capable devices and the single 5GHz radio on GT-AX6000 is overloaded. GT-AX6000 has better firmware support and better price/performance ratio.

Lotta Cox said:

I think I got a dud.

Click to expand...

I believe all GT-AXE16000 routers are sort of dud. This was the most expensive flagship model at some point, didn't get the features most were hoping for and paying extra for and had large firmware updates gaps of >6 months. Less expensive models had more frequent firmware updates and got moved to 3006 firmware long time ago including the cheapest Pro model RT-AX86U Pro. So getting in 2025 a router 2022 model and hoping Asus will fix it - it's a wishful thinking.

So just a little testing today. More strangeness.
Tested with only one wired PC.
I got slow speeds again.
Turned off all the radios. Same crap.
Tried the speed test in Adaptive QoS using @RMerlin's FW. This speed is not passed to any of the capable ports. Explain this. Same with all the radios on. Seem like a defective unit? All the 16000's can't have this defect or whatever it is. Can they?

A PC with an AXE card right next to the router has the same 1-2Gbsp as the wired

Kind of strange how the upload speed is very slow in two of the speed tests above.
Is this speed test accurate?

Lotta Cox said:

So just a little testing today. More strangeness.
Tested with only one wired PC.
I got slow speeds again.
Turned off all the radios. Same crap.
Tried the speed test in Adaptive QoS using @RMerlin's FW. This speed is not passed to any of the capable ports. Explain this. Same with all the radios on. Seem like a defective unit? All the 16000's can't have this defect or whatever it is. Can they?

Click to expand...

I bought this AXE16000 back in 2022, (I think, whenever it was released). Pretty memorable, went with wife to the area of nearest MicroCenter so she waited in the car. I was met with "what is that?" when I came out...

Interestingly it worked well out of the box. It was only later with ASUSwrt (I have never run Merlin, I hope I don't offend RMerlin with this info. Left out the @ on purpose)...

When I received my BE98 Pro was the latest firmware update 9.0.0.6.102_xxxx was big trouble, in router mode, on Ethernet. In the middle of the night maybe 3:30 am Ethernet home alarm lost connection with monitoring station and keypads blaring a warning that they were not happy. (That was end of November 2023).

Fast forward to now and I have it installed as a node, vs router. Now Ethernet on 9.0.0.6.102_xxxx, yes that exact same firmware, is working better on Ethernet than the latest 3.0.0.4_xxxxx. But I'm afraid it's very old, so old it is not on the AXE16000 support page. It is available on and off if you check the search for beta option in the Web GUI...

There was some sort of security issue with ASUS routers towards the end of last year, that although patched, seems to have created "other" issues.

Question. Are you able to get 2 Gbps speed from what seems to be a USB to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet adapter, only on the AX6000 vs AXE16000. At higher speeds above 1.2 Gbps there appears to be noise that limits reaching 2 Gbps. If you look carefully at specs ASUS never lists support for 2.5 Gbps USB Ethernet adapters, likely because of this. A simple test to run. Connect this to a 2.5 G Ethernet port (switch or router side). Run a speed test. Then disconnect the Ethernet cable (from USB to Ethernet adapter) and connect it to an Ethernet port on the same computer. Run a speed test. My computer's 1 Gbps Ethernet port runs faster than 2.5 Gbps USB to Ethernet on 2.5 G Ethernet....