Rt-ax88u - Speed Test Not Right?

[Daniel Skupien]

I noticed after I upgraded my Comcast speed to the 1.2Gbps package, in the router GUI Speed Test, it will never go above 600mpbs, usually comes back in the high 400's or low 500's, but my HTPC connected via LAN and using the Windows 10 Speed Test App comes back with a highest speed of 951mbps, average 595.99mpbs. Considering the HTPCs integrated lan is limited to 1 gbps I obviously don't expect the full 1200mbps. I did enable WAN aggregation, and shows up as 2 gbps just as it should in the GUI.

Is there really anything necessarily wrong? I've never had any firmware installed besides stock.

 

[L&LD]

Depending on what features and options you have enabled, the router is woefully underpowered to process all.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It sounds like the on-router speed test is single threaded or otherwise only able to exploit one of your aggregated WAN connections. The LAN speed test is more accurate of actual WAN to LAN throughput provided it's sufficiently multi-threaded.

 

[Daniel Skupien]

It sounds like the on-router speed test is single threaded or otherwise only able to exploit one of your aggregated WAN connections. The LAN speed test is more accurate of actual WAN to LAN throughput provided it's sufficiently multi-threaded.

I was thinking perhaps that would be reasonable, but I would think that since it supports WAN aggregation with 2gbps speed support, the internal speed test app would be made to fit that.

I suppose I could always try a full factory reset, unplug everything, only enable wan aggregation, and run the test and see if it comes back more accurately.

I do sort of get a kick out of stuff like this though, all this advanced stuff we have, and unless it's setup perfectly/precisely you won't get what you should.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The internal speed test is a very recent addition so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it doesn't work properly with WAN aggregation.

 

[Daniel Skupien]

The internal speed test is a very recent addition so I wouldn't be at all surprised if it doesn't work properly with WAN aggregation.

I noticed when I was downloading an nvidia update on HTPC just now it was staying in the 40-50 MB/sec which would be equivalent to around 400-500mbps. But of course that could just be a limit of the server. Anyone know of a place I could try downloading some large files off a very fast server that could help me test if there perhaps is a limitation that's caused by the router?

 

[ColinTaylor]

If you have a BitTorrent client I would set that up so that it's downloading multiple copies of different Ubuntu builds. That usually ensures you're saturating your connection.

Alternative downloads | Ubuntu

Want to download via-bitTorrent links, get images with more language packs, use the text-based alternate installer or find previous versions of Ubuntu?

ubuntu.com

 

[Daniel Skupien]

If you have a BitTorrent client I would set that up so that it's downloading multiple copies of different Ubuntu builds. That usually ensures you're saturating your connection.

Alternative downloads | Ubuntu

Want to download via-bitTorrent links, get images with more language packs, use the text-based alternate installer or find previous versions of Ubuntu?

ubuntu.com

I took my main desktop computer that I normally keep in bedroom upstairs and took it down and set it about 2-3 feet away from the router (have a Wi-Fi 6 wireless network card in the desktop) which gave it a good stable connection at 2.4Gbps, but I also connected and tested the same PC via ethernet, and the speeds are basically the same.

I found this neat website https://www.turnkeyinternet.net/speed-test/ they have test download files of 100MB, 1,000MB, and 10,000MB. Trying the 10GB file download I'm able to hit 65MB/sec, which is about 520mbps. I'm getting around 920mbps from xfinitys speed test.

So either there's something wrong, or to really be able to hit 1,200mbps you have to do it by using up the bandwidth between several different sources.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I found this neat website https://www.turnkeyinternet.net/speed-test/ they have test download files of 100MB, 1,000MB, and 10,000MB. Trying the 10GB file download I'm able to hit 65MB/sec, which is about 520mbps.

That's a single threaded test so may not be particularly accurate. What do you get from https://www.speedtest.net/

 

[Daniel Skupien]

That's a single threaded test so may not be particularly accurate. What do you get from https://www.speedtest.net/

The multi-connections speed test gives me roughly 900mbps, but after several tests it can sometimes come back at in the 700mbps or 600mbps range.

I tried a file transfer between the WiFi 6 lan card and the wired 1gbps htpc and it was going at 110MB/sec, so the ability to reach that kind of speed through those lan cards is there, but it just won't get there. Either Comcasts speeds are false advertising, or the network is too congested, or I need to find a server that can handle that speed, or I'm just missing something.

 

[Daniel Skupien]

Depending on what features and options you have enabled, the router is woefully underpowered to process all.

That's a single threaded test so may not be particularly accurate. What do you get from https://www.speedtest.net/

It's been a while, but I was able to finally verify that my setup/connection is working correctly. All I had to do was to run Speedtest simultaneously on two separate devices; I ran the Speedtest app on the LAN connected HTPC and my Samsung Note 20 Ultra 5ghz WiFi connection, sure enough, I ended up with a total of roughly 1,406 mbps down and 46 mbps up.

HTPC


Phone


Works, I just won't ever see the speed on one particular device at any time. The only way I think I would be able to is by getting a dual 1Gbps ethernet port LAN card that supports Link Aggregation, and then set up the LAN bonding option that my router has.

So, if anyone wants to know, the SB8200 w/LAG enabled + Comcast 1.2Gbps tier + Asus RT-AX88U w/ WAN Aggregation enabled, will give you the speed you're supposed to have, you just won't see it on any Speedtest or see one particular device utilizing that speed to its max.