[AC86U] Wifi Speeds Lower Than Expect With 100Mbps DSL

[Krab19]

Hello All!

I have had my AC86U for just over a year now and during that time our package from our ISP (Bell) was 50Mbps over DSL. I have a connection going from one of the LAN ports on the HH3000 to the WAN of the AC86U. The Wifi is disabled on the HH3000 and is sourced from the AC86U for the house. This worked without any issue over the past year and we were able to consistently get ~60Mbps on both wired and wireless connections through the house.

Just this weekend we upgraded to their 100Mbps package. This required a technician to be sent out to install pair bonding to get this speed. After the installation, we are seeing 107Mbps at the HH3000, and 105 Mbps through the LAN of the AC86U. Both of these speeds are consistent and what we were expecting to see!

The issue I am having is with the speed over wifi from the AC86U. Sitting approximately a metre away from the AC86U and the speed tests on my pixel 3 as well as my iPad range from 70-90Mbps, on the 5G band, the speeds also fluctuate throughout the house. This comes as a bit of a surprise as I was expecting to see closer to 100Mbps and to see it more consistently.

I tried resetting the factory settings, modifying the settings based on other posts I have seen, changing the firmware load to an early one, and changing to Merlin firmware. None of these has made a difference. I have searched around the forums and I have seen some other have issues over wifi, but with service speeds greater than 100Mbps.

Any thoughts on why this could be happening?

Thanks in advance for your time!

 

[roguetr]

Are the speeds your seeing below the reported client connected speeds on the router? Are the clients negotiating AC or N?

Not that I could really help either way I suppose but it definitely seems like you'll have to diagnose specifically the issue with your wireless connectivity.

Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk

 

[ApexRon]

From the main screen of the ASUS, from the Clients box toward the bottom and left of center, select the "View List" button. Here is my list:

I have 200Mbps cable internet service. The point is that my WiFi speeds exceeds my ISP connection speed. I am using a AC86U. iPhones and iPads are 20ft away on the other side of a wall with everything else being the same distance in an open area. I am not using QoS and my Wireless has Smart Connect enabled.

A week ago my thermostat would not connect but that was because my upstairs neighbor's 2.4GHz was using the same channel as my ASUS. A reboot of the ASUS and the ASUS began using a different channel and all is well.

I use a Mac app called 'WiFi Explorer' which shows me all the WiFi within range so that I can steer clear of using same channel as close neighbor. You may want to do the same.

 

[Krab19]

Thank you both for your replies!

First, he is the Ethernet port status from the router webpage. The LAN4 is my PC, so both WAN and LAN4 are 1Gbps. LAN1 is a printer and LAN2 is a Philips Hue, so 100Mbps is expected:

Shows all the clients. I underlined my Pizel 3 in red, for some reason it would only show it's MAC address as its name. As you can see, Tx rate of 780Mbps for the Pixel 3 and 780 for the iPad:

My current setup for the 5GHz band:

Running WifiAnalyzer on my Pixel3 shows nothing else on channel 153:

 

[ApexRon]

I see two iPads. The iPads are probably using two different WiFi chips (different mac address prefix) and are therefore probably different generations. The Tx Rate being less supports this. I suspect the Wafas-iPad may perform better. Does it?

 

[Krab19]

I see two iPads. The iPads are probably using two different WiFi chips (different mac address prefix) and are therefore probably different generations. The Tx Rate being less supports this. I suspect the Wafas-iPad may perform better. Does it?

They are indeed 2 different generations. The one marked iPad is a 2018 9.7" iPad which is sitting next to my pixel 3 about 1 metre away. The one marked Wafas-iPad is a iPad mini 4, this one is actually 1 floor below me. The results on Wafas-iPad are around 60-70 Mbps, so slightly worse.

 

[ApexRon]

Okay, back to the original concern WiFi speed. As you can see from your reply with the graphics, either iPad should achieve a speed closer to your ISP speed. I did notice that you do not have Smart Connect enabled but then you have done multiple tweaks.

On my iPad I use an app called Speedtest by Ookla, it's free. Please use this app and report results from both iPads. When I use it, I still achieve speeds greater than my ISP 200Mbps.

 

[Krab19]

Should I have Smart Connect enabled? I modified my settings based off of information I found in the forums and from other web pages.

I do indeed use Speedtest by Ookla on all the device. Here are the various results (test results vary every run):

PC connected via LAN4: ~105Mbps Down. ~11Mbps Up. ~15ms Ping
Pixel 3 on 5GHz band (about 1 metre away): ~70 - 90 Mbps Down. ~11Mbps Up. ~15ms Ping
2018 iPad on 5Ghz band (about 1 metre away): ~65 - 80 Mbps Down. ~11Mbps Up. ~16ms Ping
iPad Mini 4 on 5Ghz band (1 floor below) : ~60 - 70 Mbps Down. ~11Mbps Up. ~15ms Ping

 

[ApexRon]

I use Speed Connect and have no issues though I have read several posts from people that don't recommend its use. I also don't use QoS because for me it actually slowed down my WiFi. Beside as a former network engineer I can say that the ASUS does not use true QoS (packet marking). QoS (called Traffic Shaping on some products) on routers at this price point is more a queuing technique similar to Priority Queuing. I digress.

For your issue, it could be the router (configuration or hardware) or WiFi interference from other networks or your environment. The router is indicating iPads speed capability, yet they are not achieving ISP speeds. My suggestion would be to 'factory reset router' and only configure minimally, no bells or whistles except for Smart Connect. Then let's see the speeds.

You indicated that your ISP is Bell. Please, disable IPv6 on ASUS at least for now.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I would try to test WiFi throughput by running a speed test from a PC. This will likely prove to be more reliable than using a mobile device with various hardware, OS, and apps complicating its performance. With mobile devices, I just make sure they are connecting to the desired WiFi signal/protocol with the best possible link rate... which Apple likes to hide from its users. Actual throughput after that is what you get, take it or leave it.

OE

 

[roguetr]

I would try to test WiFi throughput by running a speed test from a PC. This will likely prove to be more reliable than using a mobile device with various hardware, OS, and apps complicating its performance. With mobile devices, I just make sure they are connecting to the desired WiFi signal/protocol with the best possible link rate... which Apple likes to hide from its users. Actual throughput after that is what you get, take it or leave it.

OE

Yeah, this. Make sure WiFi LAN speeds line up (or don't line up) with the reported connected speeds before you go any further.

There are dedicated throughput testing programs available but worst case, transfer a large file from a laptop on WiFi to a desktop on wired LAN, then calculate the approximate Mbps.

Using an internet speed test is generally not the best way for testing your LAN speeds.

Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Krab19]

Thank you all very much for your replies!

Here is what I did to test this, please tell me if I went about this the wrong way, or if there is a better way to go about it:

I disconnect the wired LAN connection from my PC to the AC86U and turned on the WiFi connection on the PC instead. Connection speed is showing as 866.5Mbps both from Windows and from the webpage of the router.

I ran iperf3 from my PC to my Pixel 3 to show WiFi LAN results. They are as follows:

Unfortunately the only laptop (or other PC) I have access to at the moment is my work laptop, and I could not seem to get iperf to work on it. I will see if I can borrow someone's laptop in the coming days to try this out.

 

[roguetr]

Nice to see you using iperf. Those are some pretty consistent 100Mbps+ speeds. You didn't say what the reported speed of the pixel was. This is what I would expect to see for a standard wireless N setup.

Was the pixel on 2.4 or 5Ghz?

If you can eliminate a mobile device from the testing it would be worth it.



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[Krab19]

Sorry about that, first time using iperf, did not know I should post both speeds. The pixel is on 5GHz.

My goal is to have another computer to use sometime tomorrow. Until then, here is a re-run with both results:

 

[roguetr]

Sorry about that, first time using iperf, did not know I should post both speeds. The pixel is on 5GHz.

My goal is to have another computer to use sometime tomorrow. Until then, here is a re-run with both results:

View attachment 15903

Sorry, I meant the reported speed in the Asus web console.

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[ApexRon]

I ran iperf3 from my PC to my Pixel 3 to show WiFi LAN results.

This test is device to router to device using the same shared media. Placing the PC on the WiFi without knowing its WiFi capability as well as its WiFi speed tests to internet nullifies test. The original issue was:

After the installation, we are seeing 107Mbps at the HH3000, and 105 Mbps through the LAN of the AC86U. ... Sitting approximately a metre away from the AC86U and the speed tests on my pixel 3 as well as my iPad range from 70-90Mbps, on the 5G band, the speeds also fluctuate throughout the house.

Using a Pixel 3 or any other device that has an active communications link other than WiFi is not a valid test of WiFi speed. You need to choose a single device with a single active communications link, WiFi, and test only with that device. Further, that device should be tested on another WiFi network wherein the ISP speed is known. It is possible that current devices being tested will never achieve their WiFi speed capabilities nor ISP speed.

Too many questions and suggestions from responders to your original query remain unanswered.

 

[roguetr]

This test is device to router to device using the same shared media. Placing the PC on the WiFi without knowing its WiFi capability as well as its WiFi speed tests to internet nullifies test.

I must have read over that, yes, one device should be wired like I stated. I agree with ApexRon.

Only after you've determined a single wireless device's capabilities can you then move on to determine if there is an issue not related to wireless connectivity.

So basically do the same test but keep the PC wired. Maybe wait until you have a laptop available for testing. You can try the pixel again just as a test. Remember to note down the TX and Rx rates listed in the Asus web console for any wireless device you are testing. Also try and ensure it is the only wireless device on the network.

Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Pabla]

Hello All!

I have had my AC86U for just over a year now and during that time our package from our ISP (Bell) was 50Mbps over DSL. I have a connection going from one of the LAN ports on the HH3000 to the WAN of the AC86U. The Wifi is disabled on the HH3000 and is sourced from the AC86U for the house. This worked without any issue over the past year and we were able to consistently get ~60Mbps on both wired and wireless connections through the house.

Just this weekend we upgraded to their 100Mbps package. This required a technician to be sent out to install pair bonding to get this speed. After the installation, we are seeing 107Mbps at the HH3000, and 105 Mbps through the LAN of the AC86U. Both of these speeds are consistent and what we were expecting to see!

The issue I am having is with the speed over wifi from the AC86U. Sitting approximately a metre away from the AC86U and the speed tests on my pixel 3 as well as my iPad range from 70-90Mbps, on the 5G band, the speeds also fluctuate throughout the house. This comes as a bit of a surprise as I was expecting to see closer to 100Mbps and to see it more consistently.

I tried resetting the factory settings, modifying the settings based on other posts I have seen, changing the firmware load to an early one, and changing to Merlin firmware. None of these has made a difference. I have searched around the forums and I have seen some other have issues over wifi, but with service speeds greater than 100Mbps.

Any thoughts on why this could be happening?

Thanks in advance for your time!

Make sure that hardware acceleration is enabled by checking by going into tools and scrolling down and seeing if it’s enabled. If not got the LAN-switch control-enabled NAT acceleration. Make sure IPtraffic is off, QOS is off, no firewalls are turned on, ai protection is off, make sure that your 5ghz bands are set to 20/40/80 MHz and the channels are not set to auto (chose your own channel). Other than that getting 70-90 mbps is actually pretty good, you’re pretty close to the wired speeds. Give my suggestions a try and also in the switch control section play around with disabling/enabling the other options there.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Make sure that hardware acceleration is enabled by checking by going into tools and scrolling down and seeing if it’s enabled. If not got the LAN-switch control-enabled NAT acceleration. Make sure IPtraffic is off, QOS is off, no firewalls are turned on, ai protection is off, make sure that your 5ghz bands are set to 20/40/80 MHz and the channels are not set to auto (chose your own channel). Other than that getting 70-90 mbps is actually pretty good, you’re pretty close to the wired speeds. Give my suggestions a try and also in the switch control section play around with disabling/enabling the other options there.

With all due respect, beyond the basic router setup options, I have not found it necessary to twiddle and play around with router settings to achieve rated speeds.

OE

 

[Pabla]

With all due respect, beyond the basic router setup options, I have not found it necessary to twiddle and play around with router settings to achieve rated speeds.

OE

Things like QOS, Ai protection act as a bottle neck for speeds. Same goes for firewalls as well, to optimize a router it is useful to turn off all the features that aren’t needed as they act as bottle necks. In my experiences following those steps provided me with the best possible Wi-Fi speeds. But I do understand that changing these settings may be intimidating, that’s why I recommend saving a back up file before hand just in case things go wrong.