AX88U underwhelming speeds?

[R G G]

When connected to ethernet (through the AX88U), I get consistent 1000/750 Mbps. AC used to cap me at around 400 Mbps, but I was expecting at least 700 on AX 160mhz. I’m using an iPhone 12 pro and the maximum it’s pulling is 550/550 Mbps. AX-capable laptop is doing slightly better at 600/600. Is this normal?

 

[L&LD]

Are you using 40/80/160 MHz Channel width or 160MHz Channel width? Forget testing with the phone.

What connection speed does the AX capable laptop show? Is it plugged in, in Performance mode? How far away are you? Have you tried different Control Channels or are you using 'Auto'?

 

[ulaganath]

Mobile chipset may optimize power and need some tweaking for maximum performance. More over the speed test also depends on the timeframe. If try doing speed test on fast.com with 1 min time frame and multiple frames it might be required to saturate the max bandwidth. Also ax connect rate matters. for AX to work better 160MHZ is must for max connection rate. Its unclear if ax 1200Mbps or more is supported on Iphone.

 

[R G G]

Are you using 40/80/160 MHz Channel width or 160MHz Channel width?

40/80/160

What connection speed does the AX capable laptop show?

https://imgur.com/yVr7elb

Is it plugged in, in Performance mode?

https://imgur.com/NJ7RvMn

How far away are you?

~10 feet LOS

Have you tried different Control Channels or are you using 'Auto'?

Always used auto with my asus routers.

 

[L&LD]

Thanks for the answers. Just a few tweaks needed. The 'connection rate' isn't what you show (that is a speed test). What does your laptop show as its connection rate with the router? At the 10' line of sight, it should be at least 1200 and maybe higher than 2400 Mbps. Also, the 'Performance' mode I suggested is the Power Plan settings (or, put the slider all the way to the right), not the wireless adaptor card settings.

Use a Manual Control Channel and specify 160MHz Width (this last one may give you worse results if you're in a highly congested (wireless) area. Don't worry about which channel you pick, try them all and see which gives you the highest throughput.

Contrary to what may seem logical, you may want to try it at 15' and 20' distance too. Those 4 antennae streams need some room to converge and give the performance they are capable of.

As a guess right now, I would say you're connecting at 1200 Mbps or lower (go to Control Panel, Network and click on your connection to see that connection rate).

You may also be connected at 'only' 80MHz width too. (Here is where the 'Auto' control channel doesn't help...).

What laptop are you using? Are the drivers fully updated from the manufacturer's website? Is Windows fully updated? Is it plugged into the AC wall outlet during your testing? Does the laptop have two antennae (it should with that wireless adaptor, but checking never hurts)?

You can try using this (awesome!) software on Windows 10, below, to see connection rates, etc., but when you're doing any testing, this and all other wireless 'apps' and programs must be shut down for the computer to fully saturate the airwaves to the best of its ability.

Its best feature though is the Wi-Fi Channel Utilization it shows in real-time. A customer had a neighbor who had received a new AX router and they were trying to download the internet. Finding a different Control Channel, even though their networks still overlapped, brought back my customer's speeds once again.

Helge Keck - WiFi Lite

If all the above doesn't allow you to see what the RT-AX88U is capable of, then I would consider doing a full reset to factory defaults without importing any old saved backup config files, or 'blindly' putting in old settings that worked on your older router.

You may also try using a new SSID as a quick test (use one of the Guest networks to do so) to see if your computer and/or phone are 'remember' any microcode and limiting your new router's capabilities in some way.

New M&M 2020

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[R G G]

Thanks for the answers. Just a few tweaks needed. The 'connection rate' isn't what you show (that is a speed test). What does your laptop show as its connection rate with the router? At the 10' line of sight, it should be at least 1200 and maybe higher than 2400 Mbps. Also, the 'Performance' mode I suggested is the Power Plan settings (or, put the slider all the way to the right), not the wireless adaptor card settings.

Use a Manual Control Channel and specify 160MHz Width (this last one may give you worse results if you're in a highly congested (wireless) area. Don't worry about which channel you pick, try them all and see which gives you the highest throughput.

Contrary to what may seem logical, you may want to try it at 15' and 20' distance too. Those 4 antennae streams need some room to converge and give the performance they are capable of.

As a guess right now, I would say you're connecting at 1200 Mbps or lower (go to Control Panel, Network and click on your connection to see that connection rate).

You may also be connected at 'only' 80MHz width too. (Here is where the 'Auto' control channel doesn't help...).

What laptop are you using? Are the drivers fully updated from the manufacturer's website? Is Windows fully updated? Is it plugged into the AC wall outlet during your testing? Does the laptop have two antennae (it should with that wireless adaptor, but checking never hurts)?

You can try using this (awesome!) software on Windows 10, below, to see connection rates, etc., but when you're doing any testing, this and all other wireless 'apps' and programs must be shut down for the computer to fully saturate the airwaves to the best of its ability.

Its best feature though is the Wi-Fi Channel Utilization it shows in real-time. A customer had a neighbor who had received a new AX router and they were trying to download the internet. Finding a different Control Channel, even though their networks still overlapped, brought back my customer's speeds once again.

Helge Keck - WiFi Lite

If all the above doesn't allow you to see what the RT-AX88U is capable of, then I would consider doing a full reset to factory defaults without importing any old saved backup config files, or 'blindly' putting in old settings that worked on your older router.

You may also try using a new SSID as a quick test (use one of the Guest networks to do so) to see if your computer and/or phone are 'remember' any microcode and limiting your new router's capabilities in some way.

New M&M 2020

Fully Reset Router and Network

https://imgur.com/dSXXPcQ

2400 Mbps but it refuses to connect to 160 mhz. Even when I force 160 on the router, laptop connects to... 20 mhz?!? Maybe it's because I've moved into the bedroom now and it's just too far for 160 to work. I'll try that tomorrow.

Also, there seems to be a discrepancy between the rate shown on control panel (~400 to 900 Mbps) and what WinFi is showing me (2400), what gives?

Regardless. If the WinFi diagnostics are correct, shouldn't this setup - as it is, give me real world speeds of 1 Gbps?

I'm using the ASUS TUF F15 with the latest version of windows. Just updated the Intel wifi drivers as well.

 

[L&LD]

When it's connected @ 2400Mbps @ 20MHz, that usually means the Control Channel is wrong for your environment. Test different Control Channels as suggested.

If you've moved to the bedroom and the connection is still indicating 2400Mbps in Windows, you're not too far. But it still 'only' shows 80MHz width.

The 'connection rate' does not correlate to throughput, directly, but just under 1Gbps is possible, wirelessly, when the stars line up, etc. when you're connected @ 2400Mbps or higher and 160MHz width.

And for those stars to line up: you need no neighboring Wi-Fi interference or other AP's that your router can sense (if it can see it, it is affected by them). You also need no non-Wi-Fi interference in your environment either, such as weather stations, airports, or military bases (all: known and unknown). And you still need to pick the best Control Channel too (each router/model responds most effectively to a single control channel. If it happens to be free in your immediate environment, you may see 1Gbps speeds or even slightly higher).

Force the 160MHz bandwidth on the router and test different control channels methodically until you see the speeds you want to hit with your router and AX laptop.

Just note that this may not be the best settings to leave them at for the best, overall, network experience though.

 

[R G G]

Force the 160MHz bandwidth on the router and test different control channels methodically until you see the speeds you want to hit with your router and AX laptop.

Just note that this may not be the best settings to leave them at for the best, overall, network experience though.

https://imgur.com/b1k1yvo

The first 4 bands (36-48), produce the intended results. However, the only band which shows significant - although inconsistent - speed increases, is band 48. nperf is hitting 870 Mbps and speedtest shot up to 820 on one occasion.

I think the real brilliance of wifi 6 is the new lease of life that it gives to 2.4 ghz. I've been measuring 200 Mbps on 20 mhz out on the street.

In conclusion, it looks like you need to have multiple wifi 6 capable devices all hitting the router at once to really feel the benefit; at least in my experience.