RT-AC3200 running merlin fw 384.13 - NAT acceleration

[Nigel Jones]

I've been happily use my RT-AC3200 to get speeds up to around 380 Mbps.

I've just acquired a 1 Gbps (down - sadly up only 50 Mbps) connection and was intrigued to see how well the 3200 will cope. I'm able to get 700-800 Mbps (wired & 5 Ghz real close) even with SPI, port forwarding, vpn (server), traffic analysis etc working. CTF accel is enabled but not NAT.

That's actually a lot better than I expected (and plenty useful enough!) - and at these speeds there are limitations everywhere. especially my powerline to pc :-( - though mostly use laptop on 5Ghz

I tried switching off most useful function - port forwarding, vpn server, traffic stats, qos, spi .. but I still only see CTF active, not nat accel. I can't see under 'system' the reason for nat accel not being active. I may well have them all back again.

Any ideas? I was just intrigued to see if it made much difference at this upper end

 

[Nigel Jones]

also tried switching off ipv4/6 firewall (test only - eek)

 

[ColinTaylor]

What is your WAN connection type, PPPoE?

Was the "NAT" state active before, and by "NAT" do you mean FA (flow acceleration)?

That said, your speeds look spot on according to the review.

 

[Elmer]

also tried switching off ipv4/6 firewall (test only - eek)

Just as an experiment, try turning off all trendnet/asus code by not agreeing to the privacy statement found under admin. That's how I get maximum speeds. That said, I have a different model router. Unfortunately you lose adaptive QOS (and a number of other things), and although traditional QOS is still available, it will severely throttle speeds (<300 Mbps).

 

[Makaveli]

What is your WAN connection type, PPPoE?

Was the "NAT" state active before, and by "NAT" do you mean FA (flow acceleration)?

That said, your speeds look spot on according to the review.

based on the uploads he is on a Docsis Cable connection so should be DHCP not PPPoe

 

[Nigel Jones]

To answer a few questions
- Yes I am using docsis (3.0 currently, should be 3.1 soon).- DHCP
- turning off privacy was a good idea. It made no difference to overall speeds though
- nor did a full factory reset (suggesting the router isn't the limitation)
- can't get that close to 1Gbps even direct with cable model. Probably local contention - no surprise as the 1Gbps is running over docsis 3.0 which basically means all capacity on the local loop
- by NAT accel yes I was thinking Flow Acceleration. I've never seen it (even after a factory reset on merlin) - only CTF
- given all the above the rt-ac3200 is holding up pretty well

 

[Makaveli]

To answer a few questions
- Yes I am using docsis (3.0 currently, should be 3.1 soon).- DHCP
- turning off privacy was a good idea. It made no difference to overall speeds though
- nor did a full factory reset (suggesting the router isn't the limitation)
- can't get that close to 1Gbps even direct with cable model. Probably local contention - no surprise as the 1Gbps is running over docsis 3.0 which basically means all capacity on the local loop
- by NAT accel yes I was thinking Flow Acceleration. I've never seen it (even after a factory reset on merlin) - only CTF
- given all the above the rt-ac3200 is holding up pretty well

I'm surprised your ISP is offering Gigabit over docsis 3.0

The Cable providers in my area will only offer it on 3.1 to avoid congestion.

if you did a factory reset and tested it before turning on other features that would indicate the bottleneck is probably your ISP and more so the node you are on.

 

[RMerlin]

I'm surprised your ISP is offering Gigabit over docsis 3.0

It's not uncommon, two Canadian ISPs also do it. The only drawback is that the upstream is currently limited to low speeds, until they move native to 3.1 (mine is currently hybrid 3.0/3.1, as they complete network upgrades and freeing up some channels).

 

[Makaveli]

It's not uncommon, two Canadian ISPs also do it. The only drawback is that the upstream is currently limited to low speeds, until they move native to 3.1 (mine is currently hybrid 3.0/3.1, as they complete network upgrades and freeing up some channels).

These would be TPIA providers that are can only run the modem that are approved by the incumbents?

Like Teksavvy running on rogers lines which currently only has 3.0, this should change with that recent CRTC decision so they can finally do 3.1 down and 3.0 up like rogers has been offering for a couple years now.

 

[RMerlin]

These would be TPIA providers that are can only run the modem that are approved by the incumbents?

Like Teksavvy running on rogers lines which currently only has 3.0, this should change with that recent CRTC decision so they can finally do 3.1 down and 3.0 up like rogers has been offering for a couple years now.

Don't know about Rogers, but here in vCable land, the technology used has nothing to do with whether you are a TPIA or not, and is also unrelated to the recent CRTC decision. You get the same line technology whether you are with the incumbent or a TPIA, and vCable has approved the TC4400, which is 3.1.

vCable has an hybrid 3.0/3.1 deployment at the moment. I have 32 QAM and 1 OFDM downstream channels and 3 QAM upstream channels locked on my TC4400 on Teksavvy's vCable. Vidéotron is expected to eventually fully move to 3.1 once their network upgrades (and removal of old analogic stuff) is finalized. Should open the door to something better than 50 Mbps upstream then.

 

[Makaveli]

Don't know about Rogers, but here in vCable land, the technology used has nothing to do with whether you are a TPIA or not, and is also unrelated to the recent CRTC decision. You get the same line technology whether you are with the incumbent or a TPIA, and vCable has approved the TC4400, which is 3.1.

vCable has an hybrid 3.0/3.1 deployment at the moment. I have 32 QAM and 1 OFDM downstream channels and 3 QAM upstream channels locked on my TC4400 on Teksavvy's vCable. Vidéotron is expected to eventually fully move to 3.1 once their network upgrades (and removal of old analogic stuff) is finalized. Should open the door to something better than 50 Mbps upstream then.

When docsis 3.1 is finally enabled on the upload side i'm guessing they will offer 100mbps uploads more would be better but only time will tell.

Cable may not see Synchronous connections until Docsis 4.0

https://www.lightreading.com/cable/docsis/cablelabs-kicks-off-pursuit-of-docsis-40/d/d-id/752355?

 

[RMerlin]

When docsis 3.1 is finally enabled on the upload side i'm guessing they will offer 100mbps uploads more would be better but only time will tell.

Typically they would try to match their direct competitor (Bell). Whether they have the required frequency bands available to do so remains to be seen, but I'd be happy with just a bump from my current 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Took me 25 mins earlier this week to bring a customer's website back online because that's what it took me to upload their backup on the server.

 

[Makaveli]

Typically they would try to match their direct competitor (Bell). Whether they have the required frequency bands available to do so remains to be seen, but I'd be happy with just a bump from my current 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Took me 25 mins earlier this week to bring a customer's website back online because that's what it took me to upload their backup on the server.

Problem is I don't think they will be able to match bell which is direct fibre, and full duplex cable still seems to be a few years off.

I was using cable internet for about 15 years so I feel your pain when trying to do uploads for work.

 

[Nigel Jones]

I felt it worth giving a little update.....

I was able to consistently get tests of 900-930 Mbps direct via the ISP router. However the wifi was inferior - for example I might only get 580 close to router, 300-400 at my usual locations. With the 3200 (airtime fairness off, AMPDU aggregation disabled) I could peak at 700+ & my usual locations get close to 600. Wifi a lot better. That being said it was reliable and consistent and tbh not at all bad compared to prior incantations of the isp router which were abysmal!

The cost of going back to the asus was a little more speed variability at the high end - testing around 800-900. That far exceeded my expectations - I still have various monitoring/firewall/trend security enabled which I value. CTF is enabled but still no sign on the nat, but perhaps that doesn't matter. I've disabled QOS though now as there's sufficient slack in the raw speed.

Shame I can't overclock a little .. I may be moving house in the next year so that may give me an opportunity to revisit internal networking - I still have powerline in 2 areas which maxes around 400. Of course any move means I'm very likely to lose my 1Gbps speeds! (probably <1% of UK currently)

 

[doczenith1]

I was able to get 940 Mbps down and up with my 68U with only CTF enabled albeit with 100% cpu usage. With a vanilla setup and CTF+FA enabled I would get the same speeds with negligible cpu usage. Per wikidevi the 3200 has a dual core 1 GHz cpu which is what my 68U had so I would think you might get similar speeds. I wonder if your slightly lower speeds have something to do with your (assumed by me) bridged gateway. My 68U was connected via Ethernet directly to the ONT.

 

[Nigel Jones]

I saw no evidence of FA active even after a full reset. Still... Worked well. Until I get told I'm now off the trial sure to upgrades need (probably an error giving me 1 GBps on docsis 3.0). That speed will be in service soon though honestly I'd probably not pay when 380 or 550 is enough


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