Solved ASUS RT-AC86U wifi speed on 5GHZ Fixed - Full speed attainable

[Sachb]

Router Model & Firmware version: Asus RT-86U (Asus Merlin 386.4)
As the title says, the Wifi performance on most Asus routers is terrible, one time it is fast then it slows down in the middle of the day. My cheaper Dlink DIR 882 gives me constant speed on 5 GHz. Tho I never use it as it had the slowest NAS speed (5 Mb/sec)

Here is what is happening: Laptop connected to ethernet gives me 580-600 Mbps constantly, but on Wifi the Speeds are bad, even though I have an 866 Mbps link rate, I get around 230-460 Mbps. If I'm lucky I see 580 Mbps, the 580 Mbps is usually achievable at the beginning of the day. As the day passes by the router just slows down on its own and drops the speed to 230 Mbps while having the latest firmware 386.4 of Asus Merlin.

This happens on 5 GHz, which is supposed to have the least interference, and that too on the DFS channel and I'm not close to the Airport but get good speeds wired.

I don't know if most Asus routers come like this or I got a lemon, but it is usually my experience with Asus routers. The Netgear that I have has been the best Router for Wifi Performance, but unfortunately, it doesn't support OpenVPN. With Netgear, I'm always hitting 630 Mbps, and it went up to 680 Mbps, and on wired 800 mbps.

Here is my setup: Modem ----> Netgear R7800 (Hall) -----> Dlink DAP 1860 -----> Asus RT-86U (Room)

In other words, Netgear is my main router, Dlink is the middle man connected through Wifi, Asus RT-86U is the second router for the room of course connected to Dlink Wifi extender through cat 8 cable.

EDIT: (Solved) 21/02/2022 There were a few settings on both the routers, that needed to be changed, but it's uncertain as to which setting fixed the speed.
Here, on this post is the complete changes made to both the routers: Fix (Click here)
EDIT: Before the Fix
Video:

EDIT: After the Fix

My configuration on Asus RT-86U

 

[RMinNJ]

Confused..are you measuring speed out to a site from the asus through the dlink and 7800?
If you swap the asus and 7800 in your flow your saying it's faster?

 

[Sachb]

Confused..are you measuring speed out to a site from the asus through the dlink and 7800?
If you swap the asus and 7800 in your flow your saying it's faster?

Using speed test.net
Nope, the Asus is always in the room but I have used it once as the main router and the speed was slightly slower than the Netgear R7800, around 100-200 Mbps slower on 5 GHz. Something's up with the routers WiFi.
The Netgear never gets slow or drops WiFi This router slowed down to 60-70 Mbps today after I completed my windows 10 backup I had to restart the Asus router to get speeds back. Even after restarting it was fluctuating between 200-480 Mbps.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Using speed test.net
Nope, the Asus is always in the room but I have used it once as the main router and the speed was slightly slower than the Netgear R7800, around 100-200 Mbps slower on 5 GHz. Something's up with the routers WiFi.
The Netgear never gets slow or drops WiFi This router slowed down to 60-70 Mbps today after I completed my windows 10 backup I had to restart the Asus router to get speeds back. Even after restarting it was fluctuating between 200-480 Mbps.

Sounds like your router is failing... I would replace it... any brand you want... and move on.

OE

 

[RMinNJ]

Using speed test.net
Nope, the Asus is always in the room but I have used it once as the main router and the speed was slightly slower than the Netgear R7800, around 100-200 Mbps slower on 5 GHz. Something's up with the routers WiFi.
The Netgear never gets slow or drops WiFi This router slowed down to 60-70 Mbps today after I completed my windows 10 backup I had to restart the Asus router to get speeds back. Even after restarting it was fluctuating between 200-480 Mbps.

Ok.. well my 7800 is working quite well with Voxels firmware. Thing is I would be hard pressed to get any other new Netgear router because the stock firmware is unsupported after 90 days.
You didn't list which asus router ..rt-ac86 I assume? Maybe that router is having some hardware problem ..especially if you fixed it on the same channel the 7800 uses.

 

[Tech Junky]

@Sachb

If you want true performance don't use crap you can buy at your local electronics store.

Buy a router to be a router / firewall and handoff to an actual AP not a router repurposed to be an AP.

I can hit 1.2gbps+ on the LAN and my uptime on the devices are typically 1 month plus between reboots for FW / network changes.

 

[Sachb]

Sounds like your router is failing... I would replace it... any brand you want... and move on.

OE

Are most Asus routers like this? My AC88U died due to overheat but that was my fault as I increased its power to 1 watt with third party firmware and the 68U just had poor range and would reboot. Now this AC86U is just not giving that 580 Mbps on WiFi constantly.

 

[Sachb]

Ok.. well my 7800 is working quite well with Voxels firmware. Thing is I would be hard pressed to get any other new Netgear router because the stock firmware is unsupported after 90 days.
You didn't list which asus router ..rt-ac86 I assume? Maybe that router is having some hardware problem ..especially if you fixed it on the same channel the 7800 uses.

R7800 is pretty solid router except one thing, the Windows 7 backup and restore doesn't work with R7800. This is funny cause it worked on Asus AC86U.

Both were configured to have no username no password for samba. But anyways I've switched to macrium reflect 8 and it has made perfect copies over network. I could restore all the backups made so far.

I simply wiped the entire drive and restored the image as it was before wiping the drive in minutes.

 

[bbunge]

This is at lease the second time you have complained about Asus. I say again:

Keep in mind that when using the router as a WIFI extender, WDS or mesh node the throughput is halved unless it is a tri-band router on each end. Just the way WIFI works not a brand fault. Put the netgear in the middle and you will get the same results.
I am not sorry that I use Asus. I've had my fill of issues with Netgear and other brands that drop support before the model is obsolete.

I will be glad to accept donations of your Asus routers.

 

[Sachb]

@Sachb

If you want true performance don't use crap you can buy at your local electronics store.

Buy a router to be a router / firewall and handoff to an actual AP not a router repurposed to be an AP.

I can hit 1.2gbps+ on the LAN and my uptime on the devices are typically 1 month plus between reboots for FW / network chang

This is at lease the second time you have complained about Asus. I say again:

Keep in mind that when using the router as a WIFI extender, WDS or mesh node the throughput is halved unless it is a tri-band router on each end. Just the way WIFI works not a brand fault. Put the netgear in the middle and you will get the same results.
I am not sorry that I use Asus. I've had my fill of issues with Netgear and other brands that drop support before the model is obsolete.

I will be glad to accept donations of your Asus routers.

The Asus AC86U is not directly connected to Netgear R7800, I'm not using it in repeater mode. The wired speed from AC86U is good (580 Mbps) which the Dlink 1860 is able to achieve in the room.

Half duplex is when both the routers connect and then communicate to other devices through WiFi. I'm using the extender to eliminate the half duplex problem.

Also the extender's WiFi SSID is disabled.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Are most Asus routers like this? My AC88U died due to overheat but that was my fault as I increased its power to 1 watt with third party firmware and the 68U just had poor range and would reboot. Now this AC86U is just not giving that 580 Mbps on WiFi constantly.

I've deployed 5 AC68Us and 1 N66U... they just keep working.

I've replaced 2 of 6 AC86Us... early China 2018 builds that burned a chip... Asus RMA on 1 of those.

OE

 

[SwampKracker]

Both my Netgear R7800 and Asus RT-AC3100 work as well as expected, but both use third party firmware (Voxel for R7800 and Merlin for RT-AC3100). I do prefer the R7800, though.

 

[bbunge]

The Asus AC86U is not directly connected to Netgear R7800, I'm not using it in repeater mode. The wired speed from AC86U is good (580 Mbps) which the Dlink 1860 is able to achieve in the room.

Half duplex is when both the routers connect and then communicate to other devices through WiFi. I'm using the extender to eliminate the half duplex problem.

Also the extender's WiFi SSID is disabled.

Then you clearly do not understand how WIFI works let alone networking. Some of us on this forum have been around networking since the days of DOS 5 and WIndows 3.1 and have run networks on 10BASE-T and 16/4 Token Ring. All this before firewalls. Work from home was a 14.4 dial up with Telnet. Sorry but your issue with Asus routers is hollow and unproven.

 

[follower]

Netgear Router: Hardwares are better than ASUS. Software is garbage.
ASUS Router: Software is good but too many useless marketing tactic garbage functions that cause bugs and issues. Hardware is just ok. Overpriced.

 

[Sachb]

Then you clearly do not understand how WIFI works let alone networking. Some of us on this forum have been around networking since the days of DOS 5 and WIndows 3.1 and have run networks on 10BASE-T and 16/4 Token Ring. All this before firewalls. Work from home was a 14.4 dial up with Telnet. Sorry but your issue with Asus routers is hollow and unproven.

Please read my first post again. You're not helping at all. Understand my setup and configuration. Skipping the main post and just jumping to latest one doesn't help.

You're assuming things. If you can't help do not participate. It's really embarrassing

 

[Sachb]

Netgear Router: Hardwares are better than ASUS. Software is garbage.
ASUS Router: Software is good but too many useless marketing tactic garbage functions that cause bugs and issues. Hardware is just ok. Overpriced.

Qualcomm beats the heck out of broadcom chipset. The R7800 has one of the best hardware but unfortunately, Netgear hasn't provided the OpenVpn feature.
Either that or the hardware design on Asus router is flawed causing interference within itself and disrupting the WiFi.
.
I'm not sure if I'm ready to take the plunge and upgrade the R7800 to an AX router cause this has been rock solid for years. No router has come close, tried Linksys and had the GUI bug with limited channels available in hand.

 

[dosborne]

Work from home was a 14.4 dial up with Telnet.

110b acoustic coupler! My first 1200 baud modem was a HUGE improvement!

 

[Sachb]

I'm gonna test with the Dlink now. If the Dlink works as expected and gets me 580 Mbps then most probably I'll sell the Asus AC86U router and get another Netgear.

Once again here is my setup:
Netgear R7800 (Main router hall) -----> Dlink DAP 1860( Room) ------> Asus AC86U (Room)

Will try Dlink DIR882 in the room instead of the Asus to see if the speeds are fluctuating like the Asus.

With Dlink replacing the Asus this is what it'll be:
Netgear R7800 (Main router hall) -----> Dlink DAP 1860( Room) ------> Dlink DIR882 (Room)

 

[Sachb]

This is the hardware version

 

[Sachb]

Have a look at this if you don't believe me & others who have the RT-AC86U, this is a terrible router and you won't achieve full speeds all the time. I bought this router new.

Video: