Slow Internet Access only on wifi RT-AC68U

[opticspen]

Hi, Merlin, I had the exactly same issue as the OP

however, I'm with comcast and running cable modem, which isn't PPPOE.
and I did loaded the latest merlin as well as the latest factory firmware 3.0.0.4.374_4422.

with the factory 4422 version, I can get 25-28mbps occasionally, and results are unstable, it can vary from 15-28mbps

with lan, I get consistently 28mbps

btw, my laptop is about 5 ft away from the router, signal is excellent, and I can get good speed from wifi to LAN

any idea for now?

I saw Asus did a fair amount of changes related to PPPoE on the N16/N66/AC66, but I didn't notice if they also did that on the AC56/AC68 (which uses a different kernel version).

Note however that if your performance issues are strictly over Wifi then this isn't related to HW acceleration but to something different.

 

[dlee_15]

Same problem

I have the exact same problem too. On Bell DSL here in Canada. I get 25Mbps down when wired, but only get 20Mbps when trying to connect wirelessly with my laptop using an N adapter. Seems to work fine on my AC on my Samsung Galaxy S4.

Playing around with Wireless settings seems to fix the issues (Channel Band Width, Channel control) until a reboot. Seems to be trial an error. Something is messed up.

Anyone have any idea? Merlin?

 

[RMerlin]

Could simply be caused by latency/overhead involved in wifi - which would explain why AC is fine.

 

[dlee_15]

Merlin, you haven't seen this issue before? I might try to exchange my router then to rule out if it's a hardware issue.

I am able to get it working by changing the channel bandwidth and channel control settings. There is no pattern. I'll change and update like 4 or 5 times, then it works as it should. This made me think it was a firmware bug.

Didn't see this problem with the AC66, as I was able to get full download and upload as with wired ethernet.

Not that sure about AC working as previously stated, because it wasn't working at full capacity when I was trying different firmwares this morning. All exhibited the same problem.

Any thoughts on what you think it might be?

Thanks a bunch!

Fellow Montrealer

 

[RMerlin]

I don't really do any WAN benchmark while on Wifi, so if there is a drop in performance, I never noticed it. Note that there's still many factors that could explain any wifi issue on your end: local source of interferences, the wifi client used in your computer, its driver, etc...

I assume you made sure to disable wifi in Bell's modem/router?

 

[dlee_15]

Hi Merlin,

Yes, Bell modem in true bridge mode.

I used the Bell Saegemcom, D-Link Dir-655 and an Asus AC66 which had no problems acheiving the ISP 25 Mbps download speed on WIFI, so I don't think it's interference.

I upgraded to the AC68 last week and noticed I was getting only 80% of the download speed on Wifi. I also see this problem using two different PCs and my Samsung S4 now which is on AC. I've tried the latest stock FW and also the last 4 Merlin Versions which all resulted in this 80% internet download speed.

Like I said, the funny thing is if I random (I haven't been able to see a pattern) play with the wifi settings, it will start to work. But, if the AC68 settings are changed or rebooting it drops back down to 80% again. This is what is making me think it's something in the firmware. I have a AC68U manufactured in 2014.

Are there any settings I can tinker with? Any other thoughts? I might try to go exchange for another unit tomorrow.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[RMerlin]

Make sure QoS is disabled.

You could also try disabling HW acceleration (under LAN -> Switch) and see if that helps (you don't need iet for Bell's DSL service anyway).

 

[dlee_15]

Didn't make a difference. I will try to exchange for another unit to see if it makes any difference.

Currently, it takes like 5 minutes of trial and error setting different channels and channel bandwidths to get it to work properly with the Router crashing and hanging once in a while which requires a hard reboot. Maybe the router is fried or something.

I did notice one time in your Tools tab, the
Bootloader (CFE) Unknown
Driver version (blank)

A couple of changes later, the router crashed. I did notice also that when I initially got this AC68 it took a long time to flip between tabs as there was a huge lag, but now it's pretty zippy. Something seems to be buggy....

 

[opticspen]

I figured that I maybe have a solution identified
I'm running Asus firmware 4422, if you set the 5Ghz to channel width to 80mhz, it seems solved my problem, I can get 26-28mbps, and most of the time I get 28mbps, which seems reasonable for me.
and internal LAN seems working very well too, I get full speed expected

this seems to me certainly a firmware bug, since for 802.11n, there is no point for a 80mhz channel.
however I'm thinking the firmware may be optimized or set to perform the best when the channel was set to 80mhz

that also explains some people who have ac clients do not have this problem.

 

[dlee_15]

Returned the router for another one. Problem still persists.

Definitely a firmware bug. Can get it to work by randomly changing the channels. Seems to work on 80GHZ band, but need to manually assign the channels until it works. Seems to be only with N adapters after testing further.

Hopefully, they fix this soon.

 

[laledan]

Have the same problem.

Only thing that works for me is to set my network as open.

And its only internet speed that drops,wifi speed between my computers is 410Mbit/s.

 

[dlee_15]

Have the same problem.

Only thing that works for me is to set my network as open.

And its only internet speed that drops,wifi speed between my computers is 410Mbit/s.

Try changing the channels at 80MHZ, I randomly change them between 161, 157, 153 and it will magically start working. Definitely a bug.

 

[opticspen]

yes, pretty frustrate

it works intermittently after change channel width to 80mhz

 

[opticspen]

same here, now I'm using 161 channel

really hope Merlin can look into this, I'm using Intel(R) Centrino(R) Advanced-N 6200 AGN, on thinkpad

Try changing the channels at 80MHZ, I randomly change them between 161, 157, 153 and it will magically start working. Definitely a bug.

 

[RMerlin]

Anything wifi related = outside of my control.

 

[opticspen]

Anything wifi related = outside of my control.

thanks Merlin, however, it doesnot appear the wifi have problem, as many said, within the LAN, the speed is very good

the problem only happens test internet thru wifi

summary:
internet thru wifi slow speed
internet thru ethernet cable, no problem
LAN thru wifi, no problem
LAN thru ethernet cable, no problem.

 

[ressac]

i have same problem, only 80% on isp bandwidth with wifi
any solution?
i'm on latest official fw

 

[Magnus]

Disable TX bursting in the Professional tab!

This may affect performance for LAN to WiFi, but at least downloads from WAN to WiFi are faster for me.
I don't have anything connected to LAN for testing. If anyone else has, please test it.

... Apparently this should only affect "g" devices, so it must be a bug.

Some additional information:
I still don't get 100% expected performance. I'm on a 100Mbps UL/DL fiber, and uploads are still faster. I got very close to the maximum bandwidth when I connected a laptop using Ethernet to the ASUS router. Before disabling TX bursting I got about 50Mbps down, and 98Mbps up. Now I get ~85Mbps down, but I believe more tweaking can be done.

My AC connection TX rate is reported to be between 800 and 900 by the OS.