[AC68U] USB modem doesn't load every site when connected to the router

[Nazgulled]

I have an ASUS AC68U router and I'm currently using Tomato by Shibby (Tomato Firmware 1.28.0000 -3.0-132 K26ARM USB AIO-64K) but I've used AsusWrt-Merlin before to connect my HUAWEI E3276s-150 USB modem (4G dongle) to the router and provide Internet access around my network.

Setting this up is really easy with Tomato. I just plug the USB dongle to the USB 2.0 port, and configure the Internet connection like this:

Since I took that screenshot, I removed the APN (it just works without it) and dropped the MTU to 1492.

Most websites load just fine and everything is working. However, some particular websites (for instance, https://github.com) don't work, it just keeps loading indefinitely with a blank page.

I plugged the USB dongle directly to my laptop and connected with the built-in Windows tools, now I was able to open github.com without any issues. I've also tried to configure a free VPN service (vpnbook) on the Tomato router and this also opened github.com for me.

So what configuration might I be missing on my router for the USB modem to work when directly connected to the router with a direct connection to my ISP gateway? What am I missing?

 

[Nazgulled]

Does anybody have any idea why would this happen?

 

[Nazgulled]

Trying one last time to get some attention to my issue...

 

[L&LD]

Are you using Tomato or RMerlin firmware? If it is Tomato (as far as I can deduce), maybe ask Shibby this question instead?

 

[Nazgulled]

Yes, using Tomato.

I tried to post this on their forums, I didn't get a response. But before using Tomato I was using Merlin's firmware and the problem was also there.

 

[L&LD]

Which RMerlin version were you using? And did you do a full reset to factory defaults after flashing it?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

 

[vaszago]

i have the same problem with the AC87 and the E3372 as Modem. I must also press more often 3 -4 times to load the webside . But only with some websites.
Mostly for pages with https encryption.
A few firmware versions befor, there was not the problem.

I make always a factory reset/settings after installing a new firmware.
on Merlin 380.57

 

[Nazgulled]

Which RMerlin version were you using? And did you do a full reset to factory defaults after flashing it?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Yes, always did a factory reset before and after installing new firmware.

I was on 374.43_2, cause that was the most recent version that worked with my USB dongle.

i have the same problem with the AC87 and the E3372 as Modem. I must also press more often 3 -4 times to load the webside . But only with some websites.
Mostly for pages with https encryption.
A few firmware versions befor, there was not the problem.

I make always a factory reset/settings after installing a new firmware.
on Merlin 380.57

Have you tried a VPN? This "fixes" it for me and if a VPN works by encrypting all the traffic, some configuration on the router must be preventing some websites from properly loading.

I'm tired of this issue, it's really anoying when I need to get some work done... That's why I'm in the process of setting up a private VPN on a VPS server to use it with my connection. I'm just afraid of latency issues when playing online, hopefully that will be as low as possible. And I really need the VPN for gaming too because sometimes I even have problems connecting to FIFA 16 servers.

 

[Nazgulled]

I was tired of this problem and unfortunately nobody was able to help me... I went and configured an OpenVPN instance over at DigitalOcean for personal use and I no longer have issues loading pages and connecting to some services (I couldn't connect to EA servers to play FIFA 16).

This is not ideal because it lowers my bandwidth and especially my ping, which sucks for online gaming. But it's the work around I could find. If anyone else has any idea on how to properly fix this issue, let me know please.

 

[Hilmarsson]

I am having the exact same problems with the same combo, i.e. RT-AC68U and E3276. Router running recent stock firmware 3.0.0.4.380_1842. The issue shows up on any browser, completely at random apparently, but especially on secured pages as vaszago mentioned. If the dongle is connected directly to a PC, everything works smoothly.

I am suspecting timeouts at some level. Pings seem to take much longer using the dongle than a much the much slower ADSL connection I had before. The sustained tramsission speed is good. But I'm lacking tools or imagination for how to debug this.

Any ideas?

My main question is: Do others have success with this router (or router family) and this particular LTE USB modem? Is this likely to be a question of compatibility?

 

[vaszago]

Apparently an incorrect MTU value.
It can happen that the web pages will not load properly. So you have to test with the MTU value.

 

[Hilmarsson]

Correction: My modem is E3372, NOT E3276. However, the symptoms are the same as described on this thread.

vaszago: I'm running with MTU of 1500 on the router. Tried 1492 on a hunch. No luck (worse). What do you suggest as a better correct value? And is there any such configuration of the modem itself needed?

 

[ngerasimatos]

When you say a site won't load, does it resolve and not load or does it time out? Does DNS resolve to the site? Can you ping the site? What does a traceroute show?

 

[Hilmarsson]

ngerasimatos: Thanks for the response. DNS resolves. Ping works (when supported). traceroute result is irrelevant since everything works just dandy when we bypass the router (stick is plugged to PC.)

If you're familiar with LinkedIn, that's an example of a particularly dreary site to visit. After the initial login screen, the site switches to https and typically gets stuck "Waiting for static.licdn.com") These more complex pages, laden with ads, trackers and monitors, are the worst. Typically, we get un-stuck after N-minutes, more often than not just to wait for the next "ghost-site". It's 50-50 whether the site ends up functioning properly after all the wait.

I mentioned "timeout at some level," as my pet theory. I base this on the fact that 4G/LTE intrinsically has much higher latencies than DSL, independent of absolute transfer rates. The question is what entity could be timing out, why, where, and whether any config can be done for it.

This problem obviously has something to do with the router itself or it's interface to the modem.

 

[ngerasimatos]

ngerasimatos: Thanks for the response. DNS resolves. Ping works (when supported). traceroute result is irrelevant since everything works just dandy when we bypass the router (stick is plugged to PC.)

If you're familiar with LinkedIn, that's an example of a particularly dreary site to visit. After the initial login screen, the site switches to https and typically gets stuck "Waiting for static.licdn.com") These more complex pages, laden with ads, trackers and monitors, are the worst. Typically, we get un-stuck after N-minutes, more often than not just to wait for the next "ghost-site". It's 50-50 whether the site ends up functioning properly after all the wait.

I mentioned "timeout at some level," as my pet theory. I base this on the fact that 4G/LTE intrinsically has much higher latencies than DSL, independent of absolute transfer rates. The question is what entity could be timing out, why, where, and whether any config can be done for it.

This problem obviously has something to do with the router itself or it's interface to the modem.

I used HTTPS Everywhere which forces SSL connections. I also use an AD Blocker and blacklist known spammers Domains and IPs. This makes browsing much easier. It would be hard for me to duplicate what you see on your side. Maybe you want to look into doing the same?

http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm

 

[naturalblaze]

I'm having very similar problem. I'm using Asus stock firmware 3.0.0.4.380_3831-g93dfe8c on RT-AC68U and I even broke out my backup RT_AC66R. I'm tethered with Novatel Wireless MiFi 6620L. Most of my web stuff works fine over multiple devices but there are certain things I cannot get to work like verizon wireless website will not load if i'm connected through the Asus wifi but if i switch to the jetpack wifi it works fine. I'm also getting all sort issues where normal browsing works fine for a while then will just stop will also kill most of my apps on my phone and services like google play stop working. I have tried tweaking about everything I can think of on the Asus Router and in the jetpack settings, about 20 different types USB cables, and both USB ports on the two different routers to no avail. I use MVPS hosts file on my Linux server and pihole as primary DNS and https anywhere I can to block all those ads and other web junk. I have tried removing everything (firewall, pihole, etc.) and trying every single type of OS, web browser etc. The only consistent thing I have found is when I have the problem its pretty consistent across OS and browser and only happens on the Asus wifi or wired and if I switch to jetpack wifi or usb tether to that specific host everything works fine. So there is definately something going on between the Asus router and the jetpack that is breaking. I'm thinking its firmware related on the Asus side or maybe some setting I have overlooked. It seems like some people have this reliably working is there a specific version of firmware you guys are using or any specific settings you have? I live on top of a mountain and work 100% remote. Unfortunately the previous owner lied to us about DSL coming up here so I have been stuck with P2P satellite service which is has actually been pretty reliable but they cap my data and my job provides with me an unlimited Verizon Jetpack which I want to utilize. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[sfx2000]

Try setting your MTU size to 1492 if you're on 4G/LTE...

 

[naturalblaze]

I tried 1492 and that didn't seem to make a difference. I then did some weighted pings from one of my computers and found that 1300 was the magic number where I didn't get any segmentation so I set my USB MTU to 1328 but that also didn't seem to make a difference. I'm still stumped and about to try setting up a vpn server to see if that may make a difference.

 

[naturalblaze]

Here's and update , I rented a vps and setup OpenVPN on it. Connected my router under the vpn client and like magic all my issues went away. Downside is of course my bandwidth suffers horribly.