Asus RT-AX56U Parental control issues

[carneb]

Today I received an Asus RT-AX56U router and am testing the parental controls. I tried the router on standard firmware and had issues with the parental controls so updated to the Merlin FW V388.1

I'm testing with my windows desktop attached via ethernet. I'm finding the parental controls time blocking works for web pages and most apps. But the Roblox game app will not stop at the set off time and will just keep going. After searching I found posts saying to turn off NAT acceleration but it seems this router doesn't have that setting in the GUI.

I've made sure the time is set correctly, I'm seeing the block icon on the device page of the router next to my PC details when the off time starts. The same thing happens when I block the computer, Roblox keeps going. The only thing that works is the block all computers switch.

I've done a factory reset after applying the Merlin firmware and it has made no difference.

Any ideas? I've tested older routers of other brands and they do the same thing, hence the reason for buying the Asus. I had high hopes for the Asus, I'm hoping its something that can be fixed.

 

[carneb]

Today I received an Asus RT-AX56U router and am testing the parental controls. I tried the router on standard firmware and had issues with the parental controls so updated to the Merlin FW V388.1

I'm testing with my windows desktop attached via ethernet. I'm finding the parental controls time blocking works for web pages and most apps. But the Roblox game app will not stop at the set off time and will just keep going. After searching I found posts saying to turn off NAT acceleration but it seems this router doesn't have that setting in the GUI.

I've made sure the time is set correctly, I'm seeing the block icon on the device page of the router next to my PC details when the off time starts. The same thing happens when I block the computer, Roblox keeps going. The only thing that works is the block all computers switch.

I've done a factory reset after applying the Merlin firmware and it has made no difference.

Any ideas? I've tested older routers of other brands and they do the same thing, hence the reason for buying the Asus. I had high hopes for the Asus, I'm hoping its something that can be fixed.

I should have done some more searching before asking. I found a post on here showing how to turn off flow caching thanks dave14305. Now parental controls works as intended.

dave14305​

Code:​

nvram set fc_disable_force=1
nvram commit
fc disable
fc flush
Undo with
Code:
nvram unset fc_disable_force
nvram commit
fc enable

Will this stay set if the router is rebboted or power cycled? Its commited to nvram so I assume it will? Could we get a switch in the GUI similar to on earlier models?

Thanks for your help

 

[carneb]

After using the router with fc disabled for a few weeks I've found it makes little to no difference when using my 100Mb internet. However my ISP allows me to boost to the next speed level a few days per month. When downloading a large file using the 250Mb internet the download only runs at around 20 MB/s. If I turn off QOS then the download speed boosts to 30 MB/s but the router CPU seems to struggle and it stops responding to the web interface.

If I turn fc back on then my download is close to 30 MB/s even with QOS on and the router CPU usage drops around 50%. I guess that this being the cheapest AX router it has the slowest CPU and that's the price you pay for going "cheap"

 

[L&LD]

Don't stress the router while also being logged in. Consider it a single tasking device.

 

[Tech9]

I found a post on here showing how to turn off flow caching

Or just enable Bandwidth Limiter in QoS for 192.168.50.1-200 or whatever your LAN IP is and DHCP range. It will disable NAT acceleration.

I guess that this being the cheapest AX router it has the slowest CPU

Correct, but you're getting good speed of 240Mbps WAN-LAN with no NAT acceleration. You can use a limit of 200-220Mbps in QoS section.

 

[drinkingbird]

After using the router with fc disabled for a few weeks I've found it makes little to no difference when using my 100Mb internet. However my ISP allows me to boost to the next speed level a few days per month. When downloading a large file using the 250Mb internet the download only runs at around 20 MB/s. If I turn off QOS then the download speed boosts to 30 MB/s but the router CPU seems to struggle and it stops responding to the web interface.

If I turn fc back on then my download is close to 30 MB/s even with QOS on and the router CPU usage drops around 50%. I guess that this being the cheapest AX router it has the slowest CPU and that's the price you pay for going "cheap"

Even the more expensive routers will struggle with hardware acceleration disabled.

 

[Tech9]

Even the most expensive ones can't do 500Mbps. This is what the hardware is really capable of. Some have 10GbE ports at the back.

 

[carneb]

Thanks for the tips. I'll play with the bandwidth limiter next time I have a big file to download.

 

[Tech9]

Keep your router in light configuration with no or minimum TrendMicro components enabled. Bandwidth Limiter in QoS section may be the only QoS needed to eliminate higher latency at line saturation speeds. Adaptive QoS is not very reliable in my experience. At your speeds AiProtection is fine.