Asus RT-AC68U Wi-Fi speed issue

[x-micro]

Hello!

Two weeks ago i bought Asus RT-AC68U router, i like this device, but i have an issue with 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi that totally upset me.

The issue is Wi-Fi speed, i have Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter on my Laptop(placed in 1 meter from router w/o any obstacles), that provides me stable connection with a speed 72Mbit/sek on a 20Mhz channel width, but actual speed according to SpeedTest.net is 45-47Mbit download, and 42-45 Mbit upload.

The issue is that my old router TP-LINK TP-WR720N(that costs $15!) with absolutely same Wi-Fi configuration(cnannel e.c.t) placed in same place provides 50-52Mbit Upload and 52-55Mbit upload

Al these 2 weeks i have tried to reach same numbers at Asus, but still with no result So i have ~5Mbit download lost and ~10Mbit(!) upload lost at Asus I have tried official firmware, Asuswrt-Merlin and now i am on latest Fork

I even don't know if it is router or my laptop adapter issue, cause on my Nokia Lumia 625 download speed is a bit faster(50-52Mbit vs 48-50Mbit) on Asus according to mobile version of SpeedTest

Can you please advise(or follow me to correct place to ask about this) why can this happen and what can i do(if anything)?

If you need more information to give an advise - just ask me and i will post it here asap.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[ngerasimatos]

Hello!

Two weeks ago i bought Asus RT-AC68U router, i like this device, but i have an issue with 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi that totally upset me.

The issue is Wi-Fi speed, i have Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter on my Laptop(placed in 1 meter from router w/o any obstacles), that provides me stable connection with a speed 72Mbit/sek on a 20Mhz channel width, but actual speed according to SpeedTest.net is 45-47Mbit download, and 42-45 Mbit upload.

The issue is that my old router TP-LINK TP-WR720N(that costs $15!) with absolutely same Wi-Fi configuration(cnannel e.c.t) placed in same place provides 50-52Mbit Upload and 52-55Mbit upload

Al these 2 weeks i have tried to reach same numbers at Asus, but still with no result So i have ~5Mbit download lost and ~10Mbit(!) upload lost at Asus I have tried official firmware, Asuswrt-Merlin and now i am on latest Fork

I even don't know if it is router or my laptop adapter issue, cause on my Nokia Lumia 625 download speed is a bit faster(50-52Mbit vs 48-50Mbit) on Asus according to mobile version of SpeedTest

Can you please advise(or follow me to correct place to ask about this) why can this happen and what can i do(if anything)?

If you need more information to give an advise - just ask me and i will post it here asap.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Speedtest is not a good representation for bandwidth as you are dependent on many external variables that are out of your control. If you want to test actual throughput it would be best to test transferring files on your private network between your laptop and a destination.

Also, please make sure you are not using QOS. Did you adjust any of the settings at all? Also, did you clear the nvram between flashing?

 

[x-micro]

Speedtest is not a good representation for bandwidth as you are dependent on many external variables that are out of your control. If you want to test actual throughput it would be best to test transferring files on your private network between your laptop and a destination.

Also, please make sure you are not using QOS. Did you adjust any of the settings at all? Also, did you clear the nvram between flashing?

Thanks for your reply, some additional tips about this:

1) I've made SpeedTest's many times in "real-time", placing two routers next to each other and just switching WAN cable/reconnecting to corresponding SSID. So i suppose Speedtest results are pretty demonstrative, aren't them?

2) I have also made several test downloads from fast external clouds, got ~4500Kbit/seс at Asus and ~5000Kbit/sec at TP-LINK I am really don't understand how can it be - ASUS signal is amazing, inSSIDER shows -8 RSSI, it's on 80mW power, i have tried to set it 200, 70, 50, 30 - no change

Internal SMB transfer from HDD connected to router to laptop is stable ~5-5.5Mbit/sec at ASUS, as i suppose it is normal(and may be maximum) internal speed for my laptop adapter.

So seems there are some absolutely inexplicable(for me) losses in transfer data from WAN.

3) I have doublechecked, QoS is disabled. As to other settings - i have tried to configure almost every setting in Wi-Fi Professional section(also tried to disable brandmauer) with no result. Now the most settings are default, and the ones which are not default don't make any significant influence to speed(experimentally verified).

4) I did not clear nvram via ssh/telnet, but i have made such a procedure before changing firmware last time: install last official firmware => reset settings => install latest Fork => reset settings. Should this process clear nvram?

Thanks in advance.

 

[L&LD]

I hope you made allowances for the channels and different ssid's at least in your 1)?

To test better; I would be turning off the router not tested.

 

[x-micro]

I hope you made allowances for the channels and different ssid's at least in your 1)?

To test better; I would be turning off the router not tested.

SSID's are different, i have used same channels(and all other configuration) on both routers - this made results maximum fair. Also tried to turn off router not tested - unfortunately w/o any results.

 

[ngerasimatos]

Thanks for your reply, some additional tips about this:

1) I've made SpeedTest's many times in "real-time", placing two routers next to each other and just switching WAN cable/reconnecting to corresponding SSID. So i suppose Speedtest results are pretty demonstrative, aren't them?

2) I have also made several test downloads from fast external clouds, got ~4500Kbit/seс at Asus and ~5000Kbit/sec at TP-LINK I am really don't understand how can it be - ASUS signal is amazing, inSSIDER shows -8 RSSI, it's on 80mW power, i have tried to set it 200, 70, 50, 30 - no change

Internal SMB transfer from HDD connected to router to laptop is stable ~5-5.5Mbit/sec at ASUS, as i suppose it is normal(and may be maximum) internal speed for my laptop adapter.

So seems there are some absolutely inexplicable(for me) losses in transfer data from WAN.

3) I have doublechecked, QoS is disabled. As to other settings - i have tried to configure almost every setting in Wi-Fi Professional section(also tried to disable brandmauer) with no result. Now the most settings are default, and the ones which are not default don't make any significant influence to speed(experimentally verified).

4) I did not clear nvram via ssh/telnet, but i have made such a procedure before changing firmware last time: install last official firmware => reset settings => install latest Fork => reset settings. Should this process clear nvram?

Thanks in advance.

What is the adapter model/manufacturer in your laptop? The reset you performed should be sufficient. I do know that many individuals have advised that the Asus routers are a little slower than others on 2G but faster on 5G. I see this myself when I test. I always use 5G though since my Mac supports AC.

Current Network Information:
ASUS_5G:
PHY Mode: 802.11ac
BSSID: 10:c3:7b:40:31:74
Channel: 149
Country Code: X0
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -47 dBm / -95 dBm
Transmit Rate: 1300
MCS Index: 9
Other Local Wi-Fi Networks:

ASUS:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 10:c3:7b:40:31:70
Channel: 6
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -40 dBm / -95 dBm

 

[x-micro]

I have Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter at my laptop, it's pretty simple, supports only 2.4, works stable only in 20Mhz channel width. I am not sure about exact model number of adapter, i see number 4365 in adapter details.

I bought this router for 2.4Ghz devices(i don't have 5Ghz ones atm) guided by the idea "asus flagman can't be bad choice" And it's abilities are really very good. Thanks for your information about 2.4 speed feature, i haven't seen such a reviews, but now i got it in my experience too heh. Seems even such a "monster" device has his own features and shortcomings.

But if it is any change that i just need to configure router or adapter - i will try to consider it.

P.S Btw speeds at 12-14 channels seems to be faster(i will do detailed tests tomorrow), but unfortunately, mobile phones in my country don't see Wi-Fi on these channels, so i am using the least loaded of 1-11 channels.

 

[ngerasimatos]

I have Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter at my laptop, it's pretty simple, supports only 2.4, works stable only in 20Mhz channel width. I am not sure about exact model number of adapter, i see number 4365 in adapter details.

I bought this router for 2.4Ghz devices(i don't have 5Ghz ones atm) guided by the idea "asus flagman can't be bad choice" And it's abilities are really very good. Thanks for your information about 2.4 speed feature, i haven't seen such a reviews, but now i got it in my experience too heh. Seems even such a "monster" device has his own features and shortcomings.

But if it is any change that i just need to configure router or adapter - i will try to consider it.

P.S Btw speeds at 12-14 channels seems to be faster(i will do detailed tests tomorrow), but unfortunately, mobile phones in my country don't see Wi-Fi on these channels, so i am using the least loaded of 1-11 channels.

I have seen similar, the higher the channel the better the speed. Is there a lot of wireless networks in your area that could be causing congestion?

 

[x-micro]

InSSIDer shows 10-15 networks all over the day on almost all standart channels - as i understand it's a lot?

 

[x-micro]

I have got some results - download speed increased to ~48-50Mbit after inscreasing of Beacon Interval from 100 to 200 - it looks illogical for me cause i thought that increasing this interval can't improve speed, but it did

As to upload speed - it increased a bit and still slower that i expect, it's now in 43-48Mbit range. And as i wrote above, my old $15 cost TP-LINK easily shows 50-55Mbit upload, so this is still a mystery for me how to reach same results at Asus, i appreciate community help with this issue

Thanks in advance.

 

[x-micro]

One more question is that i have made some tests with RTS Threshold, set it 1000, 1500, 2000, 2347, 2307 - as i can see it affects speed a bit, the best results i have got at 2307.

Nonetheless i doubt if i'm right, may be small difference in speedtest.net results was not due to RTS change, but due to just external connection variance.

I've read some information from different sources, and this information is quite contradictory, so i am asking here.

 

[x-micro]

So in total i have these settings changed from default in Wireless => Professional => 2.4Ghz:

Preamble Type - Short instead of default Long
RTS Threshold - 2307 instead of 2347(also setup the same in my laptop adapter)
DTIM Interval - 1 instead of 3
Beacon Interval - 200 instead of 100
Enable WMM APSD - Disable instead of Enable

All other setting in this and other tabs are defaults. I will appreciate your comments if anything can/need to be changed/unchanged(for example should i disable Firewall, enable Jimbo frames e.c.t).

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[LongZheng]

Try change your 2.4ghz network "Channel bandwidth" to just "20 MHz"

 

[Reflex]

@x-micro: Thanks for the solid analysis, I wasn't impressed by the speed of my new AC68U router either. hence I stumbled upon your post. My router was stuttering when playing 1080p content on youtube on both 2.4 GHZ and 5 GHZ, with changing the beacon Interval to 200, the problem was solved and it runs a lot smoother!

thanks!