Asus Blue Cave - FW 3.0.0.4_384_46417

[escape75]

BLUECAVE_3.0.0.4_384_46417-g8f84d1c

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/Blue_Cave/FW_BLUECAVE_300438446417.zip

Couldn't find it on any Asus website, so here it is ...

 

[KevTech]

It is on the site under Driver and Tools then in the drop down for OS select Others.

https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/Blue-Cave/HelpDesk_Download/

 

[escape75]

I see it now available on the main firmware page as well ..

At least everyone will know there's finally a firmware, after pretty much a year of no updates

 

[sanke1]

No firmware for a long time made me sell it. Glad that they have released an update at last to fix Lets Encrypt issue.

 

[ricky124]

I own this router and it has been good for almost two years now. I am working from home a lot now. I am unhappy because I believe my connection via VPN is slow, especially when I open and or saving files to my company's folders, which is 90+ percent of the time. Any tips on getting this router to perform better with my work's VPN? I am hoping that after I make the update, the speed will improve.

 

[L&LD]

@ricky124 is the issue on your company's side? How many users are concurrently connected doing what you're doing too?

This router doesn't seem to have AES-NI acceleration support for OpenVPN connections, it may be the limiter here.

What is your up/down ISP speeds? What are your company's up/down ISP speeds? What are your speeds over the VPN?

The weakest link above will determine the fastest possible speed achievable.

 

[ricky124]

I am not sure the answer to some of the questions but here is what I do know.
As far as how many people using the VPN connection or in the folders I visit, my guess is maybe between 50 to 100 at any point in time. I am not sure how fast my company's up/down isp speeds are but what I can say is that when I am work, saving files and opening files is almost lag free, except of course when the files are large or the application itself is taking time to open, which I presume depends on my computer rather than my connection.

ISP Speeds are up 600 mbps down. I usually get between 400 and 450 mpbs where I am seated, not too far from the router, and the dowload, usually 16 mpbs and up to 17 mpbs.
I tried going to speedtest.com while I am on the vpn but the site can't find a server or something to test from.

I am happy to buy a router with the AES-NI acceleration and test to see if that makes a difference. What's a good one for that? Costco ones would be good since their return policy is good but I can purchase at Best Buy too.

 

[Grisu]

Why do you need VPN on router to access your work?
Install it on you PC and you will suddenly have full speed possible.

 

[ricky124]

Well, that's good question. Cisco Anyconnect is the application that I believe runs it. If I don't need a new router, that's fine but I thought a router would help improve the decryption/unscrambling of whatever comes through, which I would hope results in a better speed. Same concept I thought would apply when I send information for encrypting/scrambling the data. Granted, this is just my thought process, not necessarily reality.


Note: I just did the firmware update discussed on this thread, completed 100%, and now my router will not connect to the internet. I did a hard reset on the router but it still won't connect. Chucks! I got excited about the firmware update and now it kapoots.
Update: I just fixed the router issue after that resulted in no internet for the Asus Blue Cave.

However, my iphone hotspot seems to be fairing well, even with the VPN in place, it's a little slower but nearly the same.

 

[Grisu]

VPN on router is ONLY for encrypting just everything at your home or to overcome region restrictions (e.g. movies).
Single VPN for special devices is always much much faster done one this client (mobiles or PC) as the router isnt built for VPN, it can be some kind of misused for it (same like to run NAS on router-USB).

 

[OzarkEdge]

VPN on router is ONLY for encrypting just everything at your home or to overcome region restrictions (e.g. movies).
Single VPN for special devices is always much much faster done one this client (mobiles or PC) as the router isnt built for VPN, it can be some kind of misused for it (same like to run NAS on router-USB).

I think his VPN is on his PC, not his router, and he is just wondering if his router can help his VPN perform better. Short answer is no.

OE

 

[ricky124]

Hi OzarkEdge and Grisu,
The VPN is on my computer. I did more research after I posted this. From what I saw the router has VPN capabilities but they must be activated, and I haven’t messed with any VPN settings. So do I need a better modem/wireless card in my computer to make it go faster? So, if the VPN is on my computer, even if I had gigabit speeds with my internet service provider, I would still experience the same interfacing speed with my work files? That sucks. Here, I was about to go buy an expensive router to see if this improved. Thank you

 

[Grisu]

We cant know where your bottleneck is, probably on work-side.
You can test with LAN-connection from PC to router if you get much better results, than you have to work on your Wifi to improve it.
Wifi cant be as fast or responsive as it got only half-duplex while LAN uses full-duplex (sending and receiving at the same time).

If your internet is fast even using Wifi then there isn't much you could do!

 

[OzarkEdge]

ISP Speeds are up 600 mbps down. I usually get between 400 and 450 mpbs where I am seated, not too far from the router, and the dowload, usually 16 mpbs and up to 17 mpbs.
I tried going to speedtest.com while I am on the vpn but the site can't find a server or something to test from.

This is not clear. The 16 and 17 Mbps numbers are not very good.

ISP speed down and up is what you pay for.
Router hardware is likely adequate.
Network connection speed is likely adequate unless you are using a weak WiFi connection.
PC processing speed and PC health is unknown.

And then there's performance on your employer's end, subject to overload under the unforeseen new remote user traffic.

Wire your PC to your router and that's about as good as it will get unless you determine the bottleneck and upgrade it. It's probably not your router or ISP connection.

What do you get on speedtest.net without the VPN running on your PC?

OE

 

[ricky124]

This is not clear. The 16 and 17 Mbps numbers are not very good.

ISP speed down and up is what you pay for.
Router hardware is likely adequate.
Network connection speed is likely adequate unless you are using a weak WiFi connection.
PC processing speed and PC health is unknown.

And then there's performance on your employer's end, subject to overload under the unforeseen new remote user traffic.

Wire your PC to your router and that's about as good as it will get unless you determine the bottleneck and upgrade it. It's probably not your router or ISP connection.

What do you get on speedtest.net without the VPN running on your PC?

OE

Hi OE and Grisu, apologies on not being clear. The witless download speeds are usually between 400 to 450 mbps on Speedtest.net. The wireless upload speed is between 16 and 17 mbps. These speeds are without running the VPN on my PC. The PC has i5- 8th gen intel, 8350 or 8650 I believe and 16 gigs of ram which are always under used. I have the laptop on a performance setting for active fan and high cpu performance as well.

I have wired the PC and noticed maybe slight improvement, but hardly noticeable, maybe it was more psychological since the PC was hardwired. I tried hardwiring before posting here, and then I came up with the idea that maybe a better router would grant faster interaction with my work files. More and more, I am beginning to think that it’s my work’s servers or connection that’s slow, not my networking equipment or router.
Thanks again.

 

[Grisu]

Then its clear outside your sphere of influence, no router on your side could make anything faster, especially as you dont run VPN on router itself.
As I said LAN is a bit faster because of full-duplex, Wifi has can do sending and receiving only step by step in the next air-timeslot.
PC power gives much superior than needed for VPN.

 

[D2theZ]

Performed the update, reset to default. Performance seems fine. HOWEVER, upon a reboot of the router (I had one scheduled) it wont connect to the WAN. I have to totally power down the device and cable modem, OR change the settings for the WAN DHCP frequency and they it will connect tot he WAN. anybody else ever have a similar issue?

It totally craps all over my scheduled reboots

 

[ricky124]

I read this solution on another thread but I can’t tell whether you have the same issue. Some of the description of the issue has typos/missing words.

Here it is, try this?
DHCP query frequency" -> "Normal
Extend the TTL value -> Yes
Spoof LAN TTL value-> "Yes

I believe those are in the wan settings.

 

[D2theZ]

This didnt reliably work for me. There is also ANOTHER new FW available. This one supposedly fixes the QoS and network map issues but mentions nothing of the WAN problem. I upgraded and can confirm WAN still acts screwy.

 

[golgi42]

Performed the update, reset to default. Performance seems fine. HOWEVER, upon a reboot of the router (I had one scheduled) it wont connect to the WAN. I have to totally power down the device and cable modem, OR change the settings for the WAN DHCP frequency and they it will connect tot he WAN. anybody else ever have a similar issue?

It totally craps all over my scheduled reboots

Same issue with not connecting to WAN after any reboot (woke up after overnight schedule reboots to WAN disconnected). Have to go reset the cable modem each time. Major PITA.... just installed the latest firmware yesterday and still seeing the issue.