Better not to use LAN ports on mesh nodes (even with ethernet backhaul)?

[dbs]

I bought the RT-AX92U 2 pack, and have them meshed using the ethernet backhaul.

I have the primary node/router (basement) with the WAN port connected to my Internet connection, with one LAN port connected to the WAN port of the secondary node for ethernet backhaul, and another LAN of the primary node connected to my 16 port 1Gb switch (also in the basement). At the site of my secondary node (top/2nd floor), I have two cat-5 ethernet lines running between the basement room and the second floor, one I'm using for the ethernet backhaul, and the other one is connected to the 1Gb switch.

My question is regarding the LAN ports on the secondary node (not the primary router) to access the primary router node.

If I plug my laptop (second floor) into a LAN port on the secondary node and ping the primary node, I get an average ping time of ~2.1ms. If I instead use the connection going down to the 1Gb switch in the basement, I get an average ping time of ~0.9ms. To add to this, if I ping another device directly plugged into the secondary node, I get an average ping time of ~0.5ms.

Does this seem correct? Why do I get better ping times through the switch, rather than between the two nodes which are directly connected?

Should I avoid using the LAN ports on the secondary node, and instead add a small (5 port) switch connecting to the basement switch?

Thanks in advance.

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @dbs.

If a $10 switch gives you faster speeds, do that.

What firmware is installed?

 

[pgershon]

I bought the RT-AX92U 2 pack, and have them meshed using the ethernet backhaul.

I have the primary node/router (basement) with the WAN port connected to my Internet connection, with one LAN port connected to the WAN port of the secondary node for ethernet backhaul, and another LAN of the primary node connected to my 16 port 1Gb switch (also in the basement). At the site of my secondary node (top/2nd floor), I have two cat-5 ethernet lines running between the basement room and the second floor, one I'm using for the ethernet backhaul, and the other one is connected to the 1Gb switch.

My question is regarding the LAN ports on the secondary node (not the primary router) to access the primary router node.

If I plug my laptop (second floor) into a LAN port on the secondary node and ping the primary node, I get an average ping time of ~2.1ms. If I instead use the connection going down to the 1Gb switch in the basement, I get an average ping time of ~0.9ms. To add to this, if I ping another device directly plugged into the secondary node, I get an average ping time of ~0.5ms.

Does this seem correct? Why do I get better ping times through the switch, rather than between the two nodes which are directly connected?

Should I avoid using the LAN ports on the secondary node, and instead add a small (5 port) switch connecting to the basement switch?

Thanks in advance.

I have 3 X-92U units, a primary and two mesh connected through wired backhaul. I use the other LAN ports on the 92U on the two mesh nodes and both then LAN ports and a separate 8 port switch on the primary node/router, I have no issues with the LAN ports in general. HOWEVER, about 3 months ago I discovered that first port 4 and then port 3 also stopped working on the primary node. I swapped two of the AX-92U units, making a different one the primary and the problem was solved (I did not need ports 3 and 4 on the other unit). Ultimately ASUS did an advance replacement warranty swap too.

I have a different issue with the WAN connectivity, in that I lose my IP address from WAN DHCP every 3-4 days and must reboot the ASUS router. I've been unable to solve.

But if you are seeing slow ping times on the LAN ports, I would se if there is a hardware problem, as I know I had one.

 

[dbs]

Welcome to the forums @dbs.

If a $10 switch gives you faster speeds, do that.

What firmware is installed?

Thanks for the welcome I just upgraded it to the latest 3.0.0.4.386_45898-gfa90458 firmware, hoping it would solve packet loss I was experiencing through the backhaul, but it seems that rebooting the node solved that (for now).

Overall I've been finding the performance of the AX92U to be less reliable than my old Netgear WNDR3700.

Support recommended setting locking all wifi channels to 40mhz, and the 2.4Ghz band to channel 11, and the 5Ghz band to channel 44. (I haven't tried this yet).

 

[dbs]

I have 3 X-92U units, a primary and two mesh connected through wired backhaul. I use the other LAN ports on the 92U on the two mesh nodes and both then LAN ports and a separate 8 port switch on the primary node/router, I have no issues with the LAN ports in general. HOWEVER, about 3 months ago I discovered that first port 4 and then port 3 also stopped working on the primary node. I swapped two of the AX-92U units, making a different one the primary and the problem was solved (I did not need ports 3 and 4 on the other unit). Ultimately ASUS did an advance replacement warranty swap too.

I have a different issue with the WAN connectivity, in that I lose my IP address from WAN DHCP every 3-4 days and must reboot the ASUS router. I've been unable to solve.

But if you are seeing slow ping times on the LAN ports, I would se if there is a hardware problem, as I know I had one.

I figured the LAN ports were okay as I can ping another device plugged into the same node with 0.5ms latency, so maybe the issue is the WAN port? Are you using the WAN ports on the mesh nodes to backhaul to the primary node?

 

[pgershon]

Are you using the WAN ports on the mesh nodes to backhaul to the primary node

Yes I am. Been working well. I have had one issue where I needed to reboot a node in the past 6 months or so - I figure that is pretty good. Of course that does not include my issues with the bad LAN ports. It was pretty bad because the LAN port connecting to my 8 port switch was bad. It took a while before I figured out the issue. Then an easy fix

 

[JamesM]

I noticed the same thing with 2 GT AX11000's - one as the router and one as a wired node.
If connected to the node by ethernet and I ping the router I get about 1-2ms and less when pinging directly to the router if connected to that via cable.

I would have expected both to be the same?
I'm on the latest Merlin firmware and I can't remember seeing that as an issue in the on ASUS firmware.

I'm connected from a LAN connection on the router to the WAN connection on the node.

 

[JamesM]

FYI -
I changed the node so it the connection from the router was going into my Node's 2.5G port and the latency is now always under 1ms.

Strange!