RT-AX88U sluggish connections

[archiel]

I have recently noticed that the connections to the internet had been getting sluggish and one in particular (https://forum.doom9.org) regularly times out (sometimes I will find it has loaded few minutes later).

I thought it could be related to have only done dirty upgrades over the last couple of years, so I have done a hard reset and (so far) not re-added any of the scripts in my signature, but this has not helped.

I also noted that if I connect to the same sites via a VPN, or directly from phone (no Wi-Fi) then connections are virtually instantaneous. I have tested on both Windows (10 & 11) and Ubuntu desktops, using both physical and virtual machines and problem is persistent across them.

It might be that one of the devices on the Lan is 'noisy' and this is causing the issue, but to check that I will need to wait until no-one is around and then disconnect everything and then add back one at a time to see if I can find a culprit.

Can anyone suggest any other possible causes or means of checking why I am having this problem.

Thanks Archie

 

[Ripshod]

I also noted that if I connect to the same sites via a VPN................ then connections are virtually instantaneous

That alone suggests to me this is an ISP issue. Are you using their DNS servers or have you changed them? IPv6 enabled?

 

[archiel]

That alone suggests to me this is an ISP issue. Are you using their DNS servers or have you changed them?

I had the same thought, tried ISP, Google and Quad9, with and without enabling DNS-over-TLS - same problem on all

 

[Ripshod]

Ping the Google and quad9 servers, see what you get.

 

[archiel]

Ping the Google and quad9 servers, see what you get.

From Desktop

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=115
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=115

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 2ms, Average = 2ms

H:\Input\Repairs>ping 9.9.9.11

Pinging 9.9.9.11 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 9.9.9.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=54
Reply from 9.9.9.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=54
Reply from 9.9.9.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=54
Reply from 9.9.9.11: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=54

DNS currently set to Quad9

 

[Ripshod]

Kinda puts my first suspect in the clear.
Login to the gui and have a look at the Traffic Analyzer, just to see if anyone on your network is generating heavy traffic.

 

[archiel]

Kinda puts my first suspect in the clear.
Login to the gui and have a look at the Traffic Analyzer, just to see if anyone on your network is generating heavy traffic.

Will run this for a few hours, but nothing obvious showing (also not a fan of sharing with Trend Micro). I shut down the device with the largest amount of traffic, but made no difference.

 

[Ripshod]

I still think it's your ISP. Have you produced enough traffic for them to throttle you? What does the router's speedtest tell you?
Traffic Analyzer shares no data with Trend unless you activate the statistics. I think it would be okay to just look at the Analyzer now and again.

 

[degrub]

Given the activities on that forum and recent legal cases, it's no wonder the ISP is causing it to be difficult to use.

 

[archiel]

Given the activities on that forum and recent legal cases, it's no wonder the ISP is causing it to be difficult to use.

Can you provide more details

 

[archiel]

I still think it's your ISP. Have you produced enough traffic for them to throttle you? What does the router's speedtest tell you?
Traffic Analyzer shares no data with Trend unless you activate the statistics. I think it would be okay to just look at the Analyzer now and again.

Notional speed 1GB symmetric, current test speed (ookla) 930/920, so throttling unlikely. Also if Traffic Analyzer (Statistics) does not share, why does it require permissions?

 

[Ripshod]

Notional speed 1GB symmetric, current test speed (ookla) 930/920, so throttling unlikely. Also if Traffic Analyzer (Statistics) does not share, why does it require permissions?

Only the statistics part needs permission.

 

[archiel]

Given the activities on that forum and recent legal cases, it's no wonder the ISP is causing it to be difficult to use.

How would they do this if I am not using their DNS and why would this change if I route via a VPN?

 

[Ripshod]

Given the activities on that forum and recent legal cases, it's no wonder the ISP is causing it to be difficult to use.

Food for thought to me. Any further info on this?

 

[degrub]

The tools are agnostic. Some choose to use them for personal use. Others, not so benign. The owners of copyright on the media have routinely gone after ISPs to reveal IP addresses and hold them responsible. That is why the official language on the site is written the way it is. Basically, the copyright owners give a license to play the media. Anything beyond that would violate their copyright and terms of use. i'll say no more except SNBforums has avoided any conversation about possible activities so that they do not get exposed to liability.

 

[archiel]

The tools are agnostic. Some choose to use them for personal use. Others, not so benign. The owners of copyright on the media have routinely gone after ISPs to reveal IP addresses and hold them responsible. That is why the official language on the site is written the way it is. Basically, the copyright owners give a license to play the media. Anything beyond that would violate their copyright and terms of use. i'll say no more except SNBforums has avoided any conversation about possible activities so that they do not get exposed to liability.

All of which sort of makes sense if people were/are using the tools to breach copyright. However, as you note there are a very wide range of video related tools discussed on the site and I am not aware of any current controversies (there were issues many years back), nor of any discussions about user lists, etc. Also the site has only very recently become more difficult to reach and (on a technical level) how/why does an ISP impede (not block) traffic and how can this be checked (that they are doing this and the issue is not elsewhere)?