ASUS XT8 issues

[JB14]

New guy here and I’ve done some searching and see some threads with similar issues but haven’t found a solution in any of them.

I recently moved into a new house and it has a fiber direct to house ISP. The house I came from had spectrum cable and used a modem.
I used my Asus XT8 system there with no issues and paid for a 400mbps connection and very often got over that.

Fast forward to now, I brought one of my nodes from old house to the new one, I factory reset it, put it in router mode, and standing right beside it I get 280 down and 495 up and I’m paying for 500/500. This is on the 5G-1 and it’s worse on 2.4 and about the same on 5G-2. I have since added 3 nodes and seem to have decent coverage around the house but the speed is about half what I’m paying for on the download side. If I hook my laptop directly to router or direct to the supply cable I get 540/540 and that’s on speedtest…using Asus speed test in dashboard I get 525/550. I have all the stuff disabled that’s been reported to hurt, and the Asus rep I spoke with last night suggested to turn off the firewall which I did…didn’t help. I’ve tried channel 36,40,44, and 48 on 5G-1 with no real difference in any of them.

The only thing that changed from then and now is
1. A different ISP and type of service
2. I think when I reset and set it up it did a firmware update.

I will say I’ve never had any issues with it until now, however my new house is in a very rural area and has zero cell reception so WiFi signal and bandwidth are of the utmost importance to me and my wife who works from home.

That brings me to my questions.

1. What am I missing on the download speed ?
2. Is my xt8 system outdated?

3. Is there a better Asus mesh system available?

 

[Tech9]

and the Asus rep I spoke with last night suggested to turn off the firewall

Really? Never call Asus Support again... turn the Firewall back on.

 

[JB14]

Really? Never call Asus Support again... turn the Firewall back on.

Turned it back on immediately….the guy literally just ran through all the things I had already done and I firmly believe I know as much as he does and I know very little, which is why I chose a mesh system like the XT8

 

[Tech9]

Based on the information provided so far all I can say is - enjoy your new home! About TX8 - you obviously have Wi-Fi related issues, Wi-Fi settings are environment specific and I have no idea what "I have all the stuff disabled that’s been reported to hurt" means. Don't copy/paste someone else's settings, they may not apply to you.

 

[JB14]

Based on the information provided so far all I can say is - enjoy your new home! About TX8 - you obviously have Wi-Fi related issues, Wi-Fi settings are environment specific and I have no idea what "I have all the stuff disabled that’s been reported to hurt" means. Don't copy/paste someone else's settings, they may not apply to you.

Thank you…I can say I will never, ever move again unless it’s in box

I was referring to
Parental controls …off
AI Protection…off
Adaptive QoS ….off
Traffic analyses …off


I attached a picture of my settings for 5G-1
I will be happy to share any settings that you need to be able to help diagnose. I just don’t know which ones you need. I know very little about this stuff, it’s just worked like it was supposed to before the move

 

[OzarkEdge]

The only thing that changed from then and now is
1. A different ISP and type of service
2. I think when I reset and set it up it did a firmware update.

ISP speeds seem ok when wired.

I would start with the router firmware... it updated. You should Hard Reset that new firmware to its default settings first. I would then configure it minimally and test again. Forget and recreate the connection on the wireless client used for testing. Make sure there is no other transmitting/noisey equipment co-located near the router/AP. Is there an ISP box broadcasting WiFi noise? Make sure you are not connecting to a distant AP... turn any nodes OFF.

FW Reset FAQ

Reset button/webUI Restore/node removal clears settings in NVRAM; reboot restores fw defaults from CFE

Hard Reset via WPS button/webUI Restore+Initialize also clears data logged in /jffs partition

If it's the firmware (not the settings), another test might be to downgrade to what worked, but it should not be the firmware.

OE

 

[JB14]

ISP speeds seem ok when wired.

I would start with the router firmware... it updated. You should Hard Reset that new firmware to its default settings first. I would then configure it minimally and test again. Forget and recreate the connection on the wireless client used for testing. Make sure there is no other transmitting/noisey equipment co-located near the router/AP. Is there an ISP box broadcasting WiFi noise? Make sure you are not connecting to a distant AP... turn any nodes OFF.

FW Reset FAQ

Reset button/webUI Restore/node removal clears settings in NVRAM; reboot restores fw defaults from CFE

Hard Reset via WPS button/webUI Restore+Initialize also clears data logged in /jffs partition

If it's the firmware (not the settings), another test might be to downgrade to what worked, but it should not be the firmware.

OE

Thanks for your reply, so when I moved over I took only one node and hard reset it. Once I got connected to it through the app is when it did its firmware update. At that time there was absolutely nothing in the house using WiFi and nothing really even powered on except a few lights and the HVAC. The download speeds were slow then, so I called the ISP and they suggested hooking my laptop directly to the feed line to make sure it was “their” problem and that’s when I got the 525/550 and realized something was wrong. As far as settings, I haven’t really changed anything other than manually selecting channels and doing test after each change. I went through and verified some settings were disabled per some information I read here but all were disabled already.

 

[degrub]

Did you turn off the ISP box wifi ?

 

[JB14]

Did you turn off the ISP box wifi ?

My service is direct fiber to house and ISP didn’t provide any equipment. I have an Ethernet cable coming in the house from the outside hub and that’s it

 

[degrub]

Is it PPOE service protocol ?

 

[JB14]

Is it PPOE service protocol ?

I’m sorry, very inexperienced and have no idea what that means….how can I tell ?

 

[degrub]

Should be under the WAN connection configuration pages in your router.

Who is the ISP ?

 

[degrub]

Reading back through the posts, did you do a second hard FW reset AFTER the router updated its firmware automatically ?
If not, do that and all the rest that OE posted.

Ignore the question about your WAN connection

 

[JB14]

Should be under the WAN connection configuration pages in your router.

Who is the ISP ?

Oh ok…I think that’s set DHCP….im at work right now and I have the same XT8 system here but its spectrum and it’s set on automatic IP

RiverStreet is my ISP …I’m in Wilkesboro, NC

 

[JB14]

Reading back through the posts, did you do a second hard FW reset AFTER the router updated its firmware automatically ?
If not, do that and all the rest that OE posted.

Ignore the question about your WAN connection

I will do that as soon as I get home and report back. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks for your reply, so when I moved over I took only one node and hard reset it. Once I got connected to it through the app is when it did its firmware update. At that time there was absolutely nothing in the house using WiFi and nothing really even powered on except a few lights and the HVAC. The download speeds were slow then, so I called the ISP and they suggested hooking my laptop directly to the feed line to make sure it was “their” problem and that’s when I got the 525/550 and realized something was wrong. As far as settings, I haven’t really changed anything other than manually selecting channels and doing test after each change. I went through and verified some settings were disabled per some information I read here but all were disabled already.

When you have time, review the Reset FAQ... you are resetting the firmware, not the hardware. The defaults settings come in with the firmware (and may matter) but don't get used until you reset that firmware... otherwise, new firmware would always blow away an existing configuration.

Noise/interference is not necessarily WiFi. WiFi use xyz radio frequencies but there can be other radio/noise on those same frequencies that is not WiFi usage... could be an industrial motor throwing EMI all over the spectrum when it starts and stops... could be a microwave oven polluting the 2.4GHz band, or a cordless phone system or PC peripheral/mouse/keyboard/headphones... etc.

Radio is a shared medium... every thing must take its turn in time. WiFi manages this sharing of the radio spectrum but 'noise' does not... noise/EMI just gets in the way and WiFi has to wait its turn or rebroadcast or simply suffer corrupted comms... all of which will slow it down in time, slowing down your usage, your speedtests. Even with no 'noise', all WiFi including yours and your neighbors must share the radio spectrum... as this collective WiFi usage goes up, everybody slows down in time. If it doesn't move, wire it to unburden your own WiFi usage.

OE

 

[JB14]

When you have time, review the Reset FAQ... you are resetting the firmware, not the hardware. The defaults settings come in with the firmware (and may matter) but don't get used until you reset that firmware... otherwise, new firmware would always blow away an existing configuration.

Noise/interference is not necessarily WiFi. WiFi use xyz radio frequencies but there can be other radio/noise on those same frequencies that is not WiFi usage... could be an industrial motor throwing EMI all over the spectrum when it starts and stops... could be a microwave oven polluting the 2.4GHz band, or a cordless phone system or PC peripheral/mouse/keyboard/headphones... etc.

Radio is a shared medium... every thing must take its turn in time. WiFi manages this sharing of the radio spectrum but 'noise' does not... noise/EMI just gets in the way and WiFi has to wait its turn or rebroadcast or simply suffer corrupted comms... all of which will slow it down in time, slowing down your usage, your speedtests. Even with no 'noise', all WiFi including yours and your neighbors must share the radio spectrum... as this collective WiFi usage goes up, everybody slows down in time. If it doesn't move, wire it to unburden your own WiFi usage.

OE

As soon as my wife gets through working I’m going to do a hard reset and report back…..in other news…. I have no neighbors

 

[JB14]

Ok hard reset the router and didnt change any settings at all. It ask me to bind or unbind my apple account for remote access and chose bind

here are the results 1 wired and one unwired 2' from router and all nodes turned off.

it was a slight improvement....but only slight

 

[degrub]

What client device are you using for testing the WIFI download ?
Is this the same client device as was used at the old house ?

 

[JB14]

What client device are you using for testing the WIFI download ?
Is this the same client device as was used at the old house ?

Yes….same one and multiple ones …all yield same results