Newly installed AX-86U Pro lowered the speeds

[Draken]

Unfortunately I live in a pretty urban area and I do get a lot of interference from wifi networks so I decided to upgrade my one node Aimesh setup to a two nodes Aimesh one by purchasing a AX-86U Pro making it my main router.

The two Aimesh nodes are two AC86U.

Unfortunately since I set it up by basically copy pasting the initial config I had I am facing serious speed issues. Although the backhaul is the same 5Ghz between the routers I am only getting 1/3 of the speed I used to get. Disabling/switching off one of the Aimesh nodes has the same results.

Any idea on what could be the culprit of the greatly reduced speed?

 

[RTWZ80]

Suspect I may be facing a similar problem since I ported the configuration file of my GT-AXE11000 over to my RT-BE96U which I'm using as the new main router. The former uses the 2.5G port as WAN while the latter uses one of the 10G ports as WAN. Subsequently, I've been getting roughly a quarter of the fiber broadband speeds I've signed up for on the 10G WAN port. I'm trying to fix that with hard factory resets. Will update on the results of that tomorrow.

 

[bbunge]

Unfortunately I live in a pretty urban area and I do get a lot of interference from wifi networks so I decided to upgrade my one node Aimesh setup to a two nodes Aimesh one by purchasing a AX-86U Pro making it my main router.

The two Aimesh nodes are two AC86U.

Unfortunately since I set it up by basically copy pasting the initial config I had I am facing serious speed issues. Although the backhaul is the same 5Ghz between the routers I am only getting 1/3 of the speed I used to get. Disabling/switching off one of the Aimesh nodes has the same results.

Any idea on what could be the culprit of the greatly reduced speed?

AS you are posting on the Asuswrt-Merlin area can we assume you are using Merlin firmware? If so, it is recommended to run the nodes with Asus firmware. You may want to try with the router on Asus firmware as well. To start, use the default WIFI settings even the Dual Band SmartConnect. I believe the AC86U's can use DFS channels so try them. Note that your 5 GHz bandwidth may be restricted to 80 MHz which is what the AC86U's can do.

Remember, the purpose of a mesh system is to improve coverage area. No promise on improving bandwidth if using WIFI backhaul.

 

[Draken]

I never ported the config file though from one router to the other cause I was reading some horror stories about it hence I just copy pasted the settings.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Unfortunately I live in a pretty urban area and I do get a lot of interference from wifi networks so I decided to upgrade my one node Aimesh setup to a two nodes Aimesh one by purchasing a AX-86U Pro making it my main router.

The two Aimesh nodes are two AC86U.

Unfortunately since I set it up by basically copy pasting the initial config I had I am facing serious speed issues. Although the backhaul is the same 5Ghz between the routers I am only getting 1/3 of the speed I used to get. Disabling/switching off one of the Aimesh nodes has the same results.

Any idea on what could be the culprit of the greatly reduced speed?

My guess is that you have too much WiFi for your space. The AC86Us are top broadcasters and the AX86U Pro is nearly equivalent.

I would install the AX86U Pro network from scratch (use a non-DFS control channel and 80MHz max bandwidth), and only add a node if you need the extended coverage... install the current firmware, Hard Reset that firmware to its default settings, and then configure it from scratch. My install notes can help, if you're clever.

OE

 

[Draken]

AS you are posting on the Asuswrt-Merlin area can we assume you are using Merlin firmware? If so, it is recommended to run the nodes with Asus firmware. You may want to try with the router on Asus firmware as well. To start, use the default WIFI settings even the Dual Band SmartConnect. I believe the AC86U's can use DFS channels so try them. Note that your 5 GHz bandwidth may be restricted to 80 MHz which is what the AC86U's can do.

Ideally I wouldnt like to run non Merlin firmware on the router as I am using some of the Merlin functionalities.

I am using 20/40/80 MHz as an option on the 5GHz bandwidth but it was working fine with the two AC86Us.

 

[Draken]

My guess is that you have too much WiFi for your space. The AC86Us are top broadcasters and the AX86U Pro is nearly equivalent.

I would install the AX86U Pro network from scratch (use a non-DFS control channel and 80MHz max bandwidth), and only add a node if you need the extended coverage... install the current firmware, Hard Reset that firmware to its default settings, and then configure it from scratch. My install notes can help, if you're clever.

OE

I understand running with 2 nodes but the weird thing is that even when replicating the previous setup 1 router + 1 node I get the same speed.

The only moment which I briefly got my max speed is when I flashed all three of them to the latest firmwares which makes it even more weird.

I just switched the 5GHz to 80MHz only on non-DFS channels and it made no difference. It actually cut the speed even more and I am getting 1/10 of my available bandwidth now.

Edit: The AX86U config was manually setup from absolutely scratch just a few days ago.

 

[bennor]

It may help if you post the firmware versions being run on each router.

As a troubleshooting step, if you can use wired backhaul instead, does the same slow speed issue present itself.

 

[ColinTaylor]

What are the absolute speeds you're seeing, saying 1/3 or 1/10 isn't particularly helpful? How are you measuring these speeds? Where are you testing from and to? What are the wireless link rates between the nodes and the parent router?

 

[Draken]

Unfortunately the routers are too far to use wired backhaul.

The versions are 3004.388.4 for the AX and 3004.386.12 for the AC

The uplink between the AX and the AC is excellent and below is a snapshot of the speeds.

PHY rate
Transmit Rate
Receive Rate
1300Mbps
1300Mbps
Data rate
Transmit Rate
Current6.43Mbps
Average8.41Mbps
Receive Rate
Current259.2Kbps
Average220.54Kbps

I get around 130Mbps from a desktop directly connected via cable to the node AC86U. I used to get the full 500mbits when the router was the other AC86U.

Connecting directly to the wifi of the router AX86U gets you the full 500Mbps so the WAN connection/provider is not the issue, nor is the Transmit/Receive rate between the router and the node.

Edit: To sum up the issue seems to be some kind of incompatibility or issue between the AX and the AC but I dont know where to start exactly. Internal speeds seem to be OK, setup is exactly the same as before with the two ACs but the actual internet speed is much much lower.

 

[bennor]

Have you tried using stock Asus firmware on the AiMesh nodes? Might want to try that if you haven't already to see if that helps improve things.

Also using the same settings as the AC router on the AX router may potentially cause issues if the hardware or wireless closed source code on the AX router is different. If it hasn't been done already. Reset followed by basic configuration (do not use values from old AC router) with no additional scripts or changes, connect the nodes and test.

 

[bbunge]

Unfortunately the routers are too far to use wired backhaul.

The versions are 3004.388.4 for the AX and 3004.386.12 for the AC

The uplink between the AX and the AC is excellent and below is a snapshot of the speeds.

PHY rate
Transmit Rate
Receive Rate
1300Mbps
1300Mbps
Data rate
Transmit Rate
Current6.43Mbps
Average8.41Mbps
Receive Rate
Current259.2Kbps
Average220.54Kbps

I get around 130Mbps from a desktop directly connected via cable to the node AC86U. I used to get the full 500mbits when the router was the other AC86U.

Connecting directly to the wifi of the router AX86U gets you the full 500Mbps so the WAN connection/provider is not the issue, nor is the Transmit/Receive rate between the router and the node.

Edit: To sum up the issue seems to be some kind of incompatibility or issue between the AX and the AC but I dont know where to start exactly. Internal speeds seem to be OK, setup is exactly the same as before with the two ACs but the actual internet speed is much much lower.

Too far for Ethernet? 100 meters of CAT5E cable is farther than the WIFI will cover in a house!
Try the Asus firmware. Especially on the nodes!

 

[Draken]

Too far for Ethernet? 100 meters of CAT5E cable is farther than the WIFI will cover in a house!
Try the Asus firmware. Especially on the nodes!

I am not willing to run a ~15m cable down the corridor just to have better internet unfortunately and hard wiring it is not ideal in a rented place.

The Asus original firmware did the trick for both nodes. The moment I flashed the latest one all speed issues seem to have disappeared.

I would be very curious what is the underlining reason for the original to be working better than Merlin on the nodes.

Many thanks for the help.

 

[bennor]

I would be very curious what is the underlining reason for the original to be working better than Merlin on the nodes.

If you search around for other AiMesh discussions here; many if not most people recommend using the stock Asus firmware on the AiMesh nodes. I'd assume it is primarily due to the fact many or most router features are disabled on the AiMesh nodes. As such one doesn't gain the full benefit(s) of the Asus-Merlin feature set since they're disabled or not available.

 

[Tech9]

A friend of mine with 2x RT-AC86U reverted Asuswrt to previous version. The last one doesn’t work well for him. Wireless AiMesh. Perhaps some firmware testing is needed.