Problem with Gigabit fiber optic internet + AC66U

[prelude]

Hi guys,

I recently upgraded my 300Mbps fiber optic connection to a gigabit connection to see what living in the future felt like. My ISP (Bell Canada) has a special promo going on, where if you already have FTTH services you can upgrade to gigabit speeds for only $10 more a month. Couldn't resist!

Before I continue, here's what my network looks like in a nut shell:

Router is running Merlin build 378.55 and has hardware acceleration enabled.

Optical Network Terminal --> RTAC66U --> my office PC via Cat. 6 cable

On my previous 300/100 connection, I was hitting a constant 340mbps download and 125mbps upload with 3ms ping on a server 60 KMs from me. After Bell switching me over to their new gigabit service (which is actually "only" 940Mbps until 2016) I can only hit download speeds of 195Mbps, so somehow I lost 145Mbps with the service switch. To me, this is an issue on their end, but they won't help or provide support since I'm not using their provided router (Home Hub 1000) and bypassing it to use my own router.

If I use their Home Hub 1000, I get the expected download speed of 940Mbps. Is there anything I can configure on my AC66U to increase it's speed? I don't get why it could do 340Mbps before, but now only 195Mbps. Will upgrading to a more powerful (AC3200?) router be my only option?

Thanks!

AC66U:

Bell Home Hub 1000:

 

[prelude]

OK, so thanks to the following threads:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac68-and-378-55-speed-and-kernel.27144/
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-slow-wan-to-lan.25869/

I found the issue. I downgraded to 378.54_2 and speed improved marginally to ~215Mbps. After resetting the router via holding the reset button for 30 secs I got the following result:

Much better!!! But alas, not perfect. Router's CPU is the bottleneck when downloading:

HW Acceleration is enabled, BTW.

So, the way I see it, I have 2 options... Overclock this router's CPU, or upgrade to a newer model which is dual core. I'm much more inclined to overclock this router's CPU if that's possible? I'd have no qualms about modifying it to incorporate a fan and actively cool the router. This is not very scientific, but if I can hit 848Mbps with the CPU maxed out running at 600MHz, I should be good for ~989Mbps running at 700MHz.

I'm going to try going back to 378.55 to see if the problem I was experiencing was really due to the firmware, or if a reset was all I needed. Will post results later.

 

[prelude]

Upgraded to 378.55, rebooted, and speeds were back to ~200Mbps. This time I had the router's control panel open and noticed that the CPU was pegged at 100% usage even at only 200Mbps. Resetting the router for 30 seconds did the trick again, and this firmware seems a bit quicker:

There's definitely a bug somewhere in the router's code. I'm guessing since speeds over 200 Mbps aren't all that common yet, it has gone pretty much unnoticed. Seems to affect both the AC66U and AC68U to a lesser degree thanks to it's dual CPUs.

A quick search revealed that overclocking the RT-AC66U is possible, according to this thread:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac66u-overclock.18285/

So I'll be attempting that next. Feels like I'm writing a journal here, not actively discussing a problem with a community. I'm going to keep posting details though, in the hopes that this will help someone else who runs into these issues.

Does anyone know of a well seeded large torrent file I can use to test? I'm using the first file here, but at only 3.9GB it is downloading in less than a minute. Not really enough time to get an accurate picture. http://torrent.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/ An HTTP or FTP transfer of a large file would work too if the server is fast enough.

 

[System Error Message]

Rather if you're getting around 200Mb/s its because of router doing software NAT. In my opinion hardware NAT isnt always reliable. There are some routers that will do actual gigabit speeds for NAT but none of them are consumer ones.

 

[L&LD]

The RT-AC66U and the RT-N66U it is based on have very low hardware spec's vs. what a router like the RT-AC56U, RT-AC68U/P and the RT-AC3200 offer.

With the ISP speed increase, it looks like you've created a need for a new router too.

 

[prelude]

Indeed! Now I'm wondering if I should go for an RT-AC68U, RT-AC87U, RT-AC3200 or wait for the newer batch of Asus hardware that's surely not too far from release.

I've overclocked the AC66U to 662MHz, but I'm not sure if it's actually applying the speed or not. Speed is up to ~890Mbps, but that seems like a very small gain for the extra 62MHz. I've read that the router's CFE needs to be updated to 1.0.1.4 for overclocking to actually work, and my unit it running 1.0.0.7. Looks like I'll need to tear it apart to get the revision number and then update the CFE to see if that helps any.

 

[prelude]

Think I might go with a Netgear R8000, there's a decent deal to be had on it locally right now. http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_1046_1047&item_id=076154

I'm open to any suggestions! Should I go with the Netgear, or stick to an different Asus router? If so, which one?

Thanks!

 

[L&LD]

I would not consider a Netgear product if you want to have the most secure and up to date (firmware) possible in the long term.

The models I indicated are what I would buy today. Running with the latest RMerlin firmware, of course.

 

[prelude]

Hmm, OK, thanks for the opinion. I've always held Netgear in high regard but haven't kept up with routers since purchasing my AC66U way back when. I've got some reading to do!

Any reason you that you didn't recommend the RT-AC87U?

Edit: Interesting WAN to LAN results....

 

[L&LD]

Hmm, OK, thanks for the opinion. I've always held Netgear in high regard but haven't kept up with routers since purchasing my AC66U way back when. I've got some reading to do!

Any reason you that you didn't recommend the RT-AC87U?

To clarify my opinion, Netgear effectively drops support of a model very quickly vs. what Asus has shown. This is why they are unsuitable for a piece of hardware that protects the networks I use and setup in the long term.

For the bolded question? While most users are happy with the RT-AC87U, there are some that are extremely unhappy with it.

More reading for you.

 

[CZKid]

I experienced the same sort of router issue last year when I upgraded to gigabit fiber to my house. My ISP provided a Netgear R7000 for $5 a month, and per the specs (and SmallNet Builder review) it looked like a suitable router. After a week or two of use and 5 additional months of fiddling around with Netgear second-tier support I gave up and went with an Asus RT-AC68R which has worked great ever since.

Here's what happened: In March 2014 I install the Netgear R7000, update it to the most current factory firmware, and test line speed (890 down/930 up). Two days later line speed drops to 300 down/820 up. Hmm.. reset router, speeds back up to 896 down/930 up. Lather, rise, repeat for the next 5 months through a series of firmware updates, beta firmware, tests of optical line terminator, etc.. The R7000 persistently drops the down data rate to 300 Mbps after two days of use, and recovers after a reset. Netgear support can't come up with a fix, despite months of effort.

This is entertaining for a while, but the novelty wears off after a month or two. I eventually get an Asus RT-AC68 which uses the same Broadcom 470X controller (800 MHz dual core) as the R7000 (1GHz dual core), and the Asus runs like a champ, no fails, and gets better with factory firmware updates. Asus line speed is around 925 down/941 up, and it runs for months without issue.

The RT-AC68's good user interface, good performance, and reliability all contributed to make me a happy camper in this exercise. You could also try an RT-AC56, which uses the same Broadcom 4708A as the RT-AC68 if your wireless requirements aren't stringent. I have all of my computers connected via gigabit ethernet, so while wireless throughput has not been a big issue, the RT-AC68's wireless does work well in a pretty dense urban neighborhood.

Hope this helps-

Peter

 

[Sohee]

torrent speed depends on NAT speed.
66u's nat speed is maybe only around 200mbps.
87u's nat speed is around 500mbps.

..that's why you need 87u(1ghz dual core.)

 

[follower]

torrent speed depends on NAT speed.
66u's nat speed is maybe only around 200mbps.
87u's nat speed is around 500mbps.

..that's why you need 87u(1ghz dual core.)

Wrong.

 

[follower]

The problem is ASUS. ASUS knows about this issue. Try with an old firmware 3.0.0.4.376.3626(reset your router after update the firmware). And test with newer one. ASUS didn't fix this issue 100%. I don't know when ASUS will fix this issue 100%. Some ISPs still have this issue with ASUS routers. AC66U, AC68U have same problem with Gigabit Internet(haven't tested with AC87U, AC3200 yet).