AC68U Mediabridge + USB 3 = Problem

[ikoul]

Your testing seems pretty thorough to me. If the performance is good from USB3 to a wired computer on the non-bridge side, and the 5ghz performance is good between computers on each side of the bridge, then it points to a problem specific to the media bridge/USB drive combination.

If you can try another USB drive on the same port (the test usb device doesn't have to be that fast either, just faster than your current USB-to-bridge transfer speeds), I would try that just to rule out the drive itself.

If it isn't the drive, it seems to me that it's pretty likely to be an issue with the router's firmware. If so, it could be fixed with a future update. Asus was changing the USB functionality to support USB hubs in the past few versions and it's possible they introduced your issue then. You could try a firmware from before the USB changes (I think those first appeared in January) and see if USB over media bridge works better (but I wouldn't stay on those for long, the recent ones have better performance and security).

 

[Onemangang]

Your testing seems pretty thorough to me. If the performance is good from USB3 to a wired computer on the non-bridge side, and the 5ghz performance is good between computers on each side of the bridge, then it points to a problem specific to the media bridge/USB drive combination.

Exactly.
Wired I get max speed. Wireless its very slow.

If the disk is not connected at all, I get 45++MB/s, Peaks @ ~52MB/s on AC.
If the disk *IS* connected, I still get 45++MB/s, Peaks @ ~52MB/s on AC.

Max usb disk to to wired client and another transfer over the bridge,
I still get 45++MB/s, Peaks @ ~52MB/s on AC.

Transfering from the usb disk AND a computer over mediabridge at the
same time, I still get 45++MB/s, Peaks @ ~52MB/s on AC

All at the same time: ( check schematic )
Usb to wired,
Usb to Computer3,
Computer1 to computer3

I still get, ( yes you guessed it ) 45++MB/s, Peaks @ ~52MB/s on AC
Its split like this:
Usb to wired client ~ 40+ MB/s
Usb to wireless client ~ 2.8+ MB/s
Computer to Computer over mediabridge: ~42+ MB/s

Also, on a side note:

I got several of these disks, and they have never failed, been slow,
or caused any problem for any computer.
And i dont wanna go spend tons of money to replace them.

I also dont want to place my trust in a "maybe" firmware that they
might release, or that may never come.

Regards.

 

[ikoul]

I think I'd feel the same way in your position. I haven't seen a firmware for the AC68U that I've been completely happy with either, and I've been waiting since early October.

What I would probably do in your position, even though it wouldn't be ideal, would be to connect the drives to the machines that do work at full speed instead of the router.

Or just return the routers. Asus' inability to get a good firmware out shouldn't be your problem.

 

[Onemangang]

Bye bye my love

Hi Ikoul.

Yes, i could just connect the disk(s) to the computers, but it would
defeat the whole purpose. One of the arguments was to get rid of
some of the computers that are running more or less 24/7.

With the router(s) as a central fileserver those computers are no longer
needed to be turned on all the time.

The other argument was to have fast wireless streaming, filebackup
and more. But thats sadly a no go, at least on AC band.

Even though i really love both the design, its layout, performance and
generally everything about them, they have just been rma'd and are
going back

I asked in another post in this thread, if there was any threads that deal
with "benchmarks" and usb2/usb3 transfers. Would be cool if we could
see usb transfers over wire, wireless, and wireless bridges (mediabridge).
Anyone?

Regards

 

[ikoul]

I asked in another post in this thread, if there was any threads that deal
with "benchmarks" and usb2/usb3 transfers. Would be cool if we could
see usb transfers over wire, wireless, and wireless bridges (mediabridge).

Your tests are the closest I've seen. Some other people, myself included, have posted results at various times but not really in any one thread. People usually post when they have issues, so the performance numbers posted aren't always representative of a working setup.

For example, my results (between an AC68U and PCE-AC68, not two routers bridged) aren't great because of obstacles and neighboring networks (~25MB/s on 5ghz and 3-5MB/s on 2.4ghz), which isn't very good compared to yours. Differences in environments make comparing wifi performance difficult.

Most benchmarks of USB performance I've seen have been in reviews of the router (like the ones on the non-forum part of smallnetbuilder), and those don't usually compare wired/wireless/bridged.

If you've given up on the Asus routers, the Netgear R7000 might be worth a try. I've seen some reviews indicate that it has better USB performance and it's tied with the Asus on the overall router rankings on this site. I went with the Asus because of issues with other Netgear routers in the past and wanting to try something new, but I still find myself thinking "what if I had bought the R7000" when my wifi slows down.

 

[rturner2]

Slow wireless network speeds

Hi

I get a very similar result when access a server connected via wired 1Gbps connection.

When I connect my laptop using gigabit wired I get about 60MB/sec transfer speeds. On 2.4Ghz wireless (I can't try 5Ghz), I get about 2-3MB/sec.

I initially thought the issue was using a connected hard drive to the USB 2 or 3 port... so I tried a windows server and the same slow wireless results.

 

[jonstatt]

Yes I have also been struggling with something similar to this, but not using the USB 3.0 port. Like the post above mine, I have a NAS box connected by hardwire Ethernet to the RT-AC68U. I then have a second RT-AC68U, and if I try a file copy from the NAS box, it crawls along at about 2MB, whereas over Ethernet directly, it is 50MB!

Yet, if I do a WiFi speed test (LAN Speed Test), I am getting near 500Mbits throughput.

I thought this was just me...now I realise its a wider issue.....