Trend Micro is limiting my speed

[SenhorHotpants]

My apologies for necroing an old threat, but the topic remains until this day with Asus routers and impact on speeds by Trend Micro's AiProtection.
We've recently got fiber installed, and in my case Trend Micro limited the speeds to 100Mbps (Rapture GT-AX6000 with the latest Merlin firmware).
Why I'm posting this, is because I'd like to explicitly mention to all in similar situation that you need to both disable the AiProtection AND withdraw consent in the Administration settings. Just turning off doesn't work.

Edit 24.04.25: my initial statement was too general, it is not "Asus routers" as in plural, but apparently something specific to my exact machine. Thanks to the replies for pointing it out using their devices as examples

Edit nr.2 24.04.25: multiple users have pointed out that similar models or models with the same CPU can in fact handle Trend and gigabit speeds at the same time. In my case it is very likely a config with an issue that keeps on dragging on. The best solution is most likely a reset, power cycle, and manually redo the settings step by step.
Thank you all that took the time to read, test, and advise.

 

[Tech9]

in my case Trend Micro limited the speeds to 100Mbps

Something is wrong with your settings or connections. Your router model can do well over Gigabit with AiProtection enabled.

 

[bbunge]

My apologies for necroing an old threat, but the topic remains until this day with Asus routers and impact on speeds by Trend Micro's AiProtection.
We've recently got fiber installed, and in my case Trend Micro limited the speeds to 100Mbps (Rapture GT-AX6000 with the latest Merlin firmware).
Why I'm posting this, is because I'd like to explicitly mention to all in similar situation that you need to both disable the AiProtection AND withdraw consent in the Administration settings. Just turning off doesn't work.

That 100 Mbps bandwidth sounds like you tested on Ethernet with a bad cable or a bad cable connection. And, latest firmware means nothing as there can be several "latest" firmwares.

 

[SenhorHotpants]

My current Merlin Firmware version is 3004.388.8_4, the latest I can get of Merlin's website

That 100 Mbps bandwidth sounds like you tested on Ethernet with a bad cable or a bad cable connection. And, latest firmware means nothing as there can be several "latest" firmwares.

My current Merlin firmware version is 3004.388.8_4, the last one I see on Merlin's website.

The reason I've ruled out bad cable is because I've tried this exact cable (cat6) to connect a laptop directly to the ISP modem and test the speeds, I've reached them no problem.
The WAN port on GT-AX6000 is also fine in my opinion: I've tested it by turning on Dual WAN and designating LAN port 4 as primary WAN. I still was limited at 100Mbps when Trend was running.

If you're willing, I'd appreciate advise because I've been at it since Sunday, and the only thing that has worked so far is turning off Trend Micro. Let me know what information you need, I'll list the troubleshooting steps that I've done below.

• the setup is: GT-AX6000 is behind an ISP modem. The modem is in Bridge mode, the router is in PPPoE mode
• as mentioned tested the modem-router ethernet cable by connecting laptop directly with the ISP modem
• tested WAN port with Dual WAN and designating LAN port 4 as primary WAN
• services running on the router are: Trend Micro, Firewall, Wireguard server, SMB share. Tried turning them off one by one, only Trend gave a result
• QoS and Parentals are off
• Disabled SPT
• No custom JFFS scripts. I've tried one I've found that is supposed to force WAN to gigabit but that made the router lose WAN connection (reverted, since I've made backups of everything before tinkering)
• Ran "nvram get runner_disable" when Trend Micro was on (SSH via PuTTY) which returned 0. This one I still don't understand, since it means that acceleration was enabled while Trend was on

 

[dave14305]

The WAN port on GT-AX6000 is also fine in my opinion

What link speed is shown on the router main page under “Ethernet Ports” when you hover over the WAN port icon? Any yellow icons?

 

[SenhorHotpants]

What link speed is shown on the router main page under “Ethernet Ports” when you hover over the WAN port icon? Any yellow icons?

All ports show green, 1Gbps link speed.
And that is with Trend enabled and disabled

 

[Tech9]

I had an RT-AX86U Pro with me for some time, it has the same BCM4912 CPU as GT-AX6000, it can do Gigabit (limited by ISP line) with all Trend Micro components enabled including AiProtection. It was running stock Asuswrt, but this perhaps doesn't matter. I have my own RT-AX86U, the older model with slightly slower BCM4908 CPU, it can do the same. I also have the classic RT-AC68U with BCM4708 ARMv7 CPU, 12+ years old hardware, it can do >300Mbps easily.

 

[RandomUser777]

My apologies for necroing an old threat, but the topic remains until this day with Asus routers and impact on speeds by Trend Micro's AiProtection.
We've recently got fiber installed, and in my case Trend Micro limited the speeds to 100Mbps (Rapture GT-AX6000 with the latest Merlin firmware).
Why I'm posting this, is because I'd like to explicitly mention to all in similar situation that you need to both disable the AiProtection AND withdraw consent in the Administration settings. Just turning off doesn't work.

I have an rt-ax88u-pro and have no issues hitting 950+ on my 1Gig internet pipe with aiprotection enabled. As others have said you must have something else going on.

 

[jksmurf]

I have an rt-ax88u-pro and have no issues hitting 950+ on my 1Gig internet pipe with aiprotection enabled. As others have said you must have something else going on.

+1.

 

[SenhorHotpants]

I am happy for you folks, but the point stands: I have no clue What exactly is the issue then . I've went through setting by setting, I've flashed stock Asuswrt, no dice. If Trend is on, the speeds are 100Mbps tops, despite the fact that the ports report green and 1Gbps when I hover over them
The moment Trend is off + consent withdrawn and the speeds are up again

 

[jksmurf]

I am happy for you folks, but the point stands: I have no clue What exactly is the issue then . I've went through setting by setting, I've flashed stock Asuswrt, no dice. If Trend is on, the speeds are 100Mbps tops, despite the fact that the ports report green and 1Gbps when I hover over them
The moment Trend is off + consent withdrawn and the speeds are up again

You're right, saying it 'works for me' is ultimately not that helpful save to say it is not a TM related issue for others. Taking a sideways step then and scratching my head, maybe some other things to try/check/ask you.

• Do you think TM is affected by / locking up / throttling something due to the DNS settings; maybe flick your eye over my WAN settings, I use cloudflare btw.
• The machine you're testing it from is directly connected to the Router, via Ethernet, has 1GB Ethernet Adapater itself, is not through an old 10/100 Switch (although the Ports would not all show green per daves question) if that were the case.

 

[SenhorHotpants]

You're right, saying it 'works for me' is ultimately not that helpful save to say it is not a TM related issue for others. Taking a sideways step then and scratching my head, maybe some other things to try/check/ask you.

• Do you think TM is affected by / locking up / throttling something due to the DNS settings; maybe flick your eye over my WAN settings, I use cloudflare btw.
• The machine you're testing it from is directly connected to the Router, via Ethernet, has 1GB Ethernet Adapater itself, is not through an old 10/100 Switch (although the Ports would not all show green per daves question) if that were the case.

Thank you for you understanding and I get your point: my initial statement "TM bottlenecking Asus routerS" is obviously not correct thanks to examples from others.

• To be honest, I'm not sure, I'm kinda learning some things on the fly right now. I'm on Quad9, but I'll think on your suggestion (have to get to work in a bit)
• The desktop I'm testing from is directly connected to the router via cat5E, and the pc has a 2.5 native port. As a sidenote: I'm also using the speedtest in the WebUI of the router itself to compare (router is directly connected to the ISP modem via a cat6, tested with a brand new cable again yesterday), and the speedtest on the router reports the same situation

 

[jksmurf]

router is directly connected to the ISP modem via a cat6

Presumably you tried different ports of the modem (and restarted it), if it had multiple ports?

Not sure why or how TM would influence that but as you suggested, you’re getting desperate

 

[SenhorHotpants]

Presumably you tried different ports of the modem (and restarted it), if it had multiple ports?

Not sure why or how TM would influence that but as you suggested, you’re getting desperate

Yup! Different cables, different ports, reboots. Crossing out hardware issues was step 1, since that's the easiest one

 

[Ripshod]

I've went through setting by setting,

How about testing straight after a factory reset and minimal setup (no restored settings)? Changing settings then changing them back is not the same as just leaving them alone in the first place.

 

[SenhorHotpants]

How about testing straight after a factory reset and minimal setup (no restored settings)? Changing settings then changing them back is not the same as just leaving them alone in the first place.

Hmmm, worth a try. I haven't done it yet because at first I figured it's Trend Micro, but as others have pointed out here, the GT-AX6000 should be capable enough to run Trend And offer gigabit speeds.
Plus, wife is WFH, so I'll need to find a proper moment for the downtime.


Thanks everybody for taking the time for this

 

[Crimliar]

While I loath doing it, just for the test, I turned on everything TrendMicro on my own GT-AX6000 and performed a couple of speed tests. I've a 2.5Gbps ONT on BT (via OpenReach) 900/100 product. Using fast.com, with all the TM stuff on, I can still hit 1.2Gbps (<4ms) (had this speed to fast.com -only- ever since my neighbour upgraded to 1.6Gbps on EE). I doubt it's the TM stuff that's the issue.
Oh and turning it back off and withdrawing consent works just fine

 

[SenhorHotpants]

While I loath doing it, just for the test, I turned on everything TrendMicro on my own GT-AX6000 and performed a couple of speed tests. I've a 2.5Gbps ONT on BT (via OpenReach) 900/100 product. Using fast.com, with all the TM stuff on, I can still hit 1.2Gbps (<4ms) (had this speed to fast.com -only- ever since my neighbour upgraded to 1.6Gbps on EE). I doubt it's the TM stuff that's the issue.
Oh and turning it back off and withdrawing consent works just fine

Ok, thank you for testing. Then it's obviously my model, or at least settings somewhere

 

[BreakingDad]

By withdrawing consent you are in effect also disabling DDNS, Remote Connection (ASUS Router APP、Lyra APP、AiCloud、AiDisk), AiProtection, Traffic analyzer, Apps analyzer, Adaptive QoS, Game Boost and Web history. Are you sure it is not any of the these features that is throttling you and not AIProtection?. Also you state you have firewall enabled, is this just the standard one or skynet? Because I'm also wondering if it could be a country block causing the throttle? just some thoughts I had for what it's worth. Can't see how it could be cabling or ports if it's ok with consent withdrawal, has to be a setting, somewhere in the above causing it. Possibly take another look at your qos settings (which you state is off) and make sure gamebooster is off and webhistory is off.

 

[Crimliar]

By withdrawing consent you are in effect also disabling DDNS

Only the Asuscomm.com DDNS as far as I'm aware, "custom" continues to work without issues!