Workaround or fix for slow upload speeds on Asus Zenwifi XT8 w/Verizon Fios?

[RangerZ]

I don't expect you to agree, but paying up for GB service IMHO is drinking the marketing cool aid.

I am an IT manager and run our business of 12 users on 150 Mbps Verizon service with most users connecting in by VPN. I rarely get complaints even from the Comcast users with a 8 Mbps upload speed.

Steaming HD on Netflix etc does not require much bandwidth, ~8Gb per stream for HD and 25Gb per stream for 4K. Mutiply 25 by your users and add a buffer to get a target value. I rarely see a practical need to have much faster speeds, indeed I am probably most impacted downloading a 6GB Windows ISO, but it takes a few minutes versus 20 seconds, not worth the added cost IMHO. Repressiveness (ping) is more important.

Again, not what you want to hear, but your trading off 300Mpbs of speed that for practical purposes you do not really need for basically Verizons routing and security features.

You also may wish to see if you can set your Verizon Router into "Bridge Mode". This should pass you the WAN IP. Again, set your XT8 up as a router if you can. See if this gets you the best of both worlds

To upload firmware you have 2 options. For the latest firmware you can get it directly. Older firmware you need to download first.
In any case go to the main menu: Administration => Frmware Upgrade =>
Use the manual upgrade to load any specific version
Use the Check Update button to get the latest.
I suggest setting the "scheduled check", if present to NO so the firmware does not auto upgrade.

 

[RangerZ]

As I said earlier, reset your router after flashing. Dirty upgrades, which is what you always do, will only perpetuate problems. Reconfigure from notes.

 

[silvernblack81]

I don't expect you to agree, but paying up for GB service IMHO is drinking the marketing cool aid.

I am an IT manager and run our business of 12 users on 150 Mbps Verizon service with most users connecting in by VPN. I rarely get complaints even from the Comcast users with a 8 Mbps upload speed.

Steaming HD on Netflix etc does not require much bandwidth, ~8Gb per stream for HD and 25Gb per stream for 4K. Mutiply 25 by your users and add a buffer to get a target value. I rarely see a practical need to have much faster speeds, indeed I am probably most impacted downloading a 6GB Windows ISO, but it takes a few minutes versus 20 seconds, not worth the added cost IMHO. Repressiveness (ping) is more important.

Again, not what you want to hear, but your trading off 300Mpbs of speed that for practical purposes you do not really need for basically Verizons routing and security features.

You also may wish to see if you can set your Verizon Router into "Bridge Mode". This should pass you the WAN IP. Again, set your XT8 up as a router if you can. See if this gets you the best of both worlds

To upload firmware you have 2 options. For the latest firmware you can get it directly. Older firmware you need to download first.
In any case go to the main menu: Administration => Frmware Upgrade =>
Use the manual upgrade to load any specific version
Use the Check Update button to get the latest.
I suggest setting the "scheduled check", if present to NO so the firmware does not auto upgrade.

oh so put the Verizon router in bridge mode, then put the ASUS back in router mode?

 

[RangerZ]

Yes, That is what I am suggesting. Of course you should validate the approach by testing.

Why having the physical device in line improves over direct connection to the ONT is unclear. This keeps the HW, but moves the "routing and firewall" to your ASUS and opens up all the other ASUS tools to you. Guest LAN is probably the most notable, but you also get to use the Trend Micro Protection. There are a lot of other features, USB support, Media Server VPN, etc that you get when this is used as a Router.

Try suffering with the slow speed for a spell and see if it truly bothers you.

Probably will not change speed, but may change responsiveness by changing your DNS server to something other than Verizon.
WAN => WAN DNS Settings => Connect to DNS Server automatically (Yes to No)
2 new fields will open. You can select a third party DNS service. I suggest Level 3 or CloudFlare.

 

[silvernblack81]

Yes, That is what I am suggesting. Of course you should validate the approach by testing.

Why having the physical device in line improves over direct connection to the ONT is unclear. This keeps the HW, but moves the "routing and firewall" to your ASUS and opens up all the other ASUS tools to you. Guest LAN is probably the most notable, but you also get to use the Trend Micro Protection. There are a lot of other features, USB support, Media Server VPN, etc that you get when this is used as a Router.

Try suffering with the slow speed for a spell and see if it truly bothers you.

Probably will not change speed, but may change responsiveness by changing your DNS server to something other than Verizon.
WAN => WAN DNS Settings => Connect to DNS Server automatically (Yes to No)
2 new fields will open. You can select a third party DNS service. I suggest Level 3 or CloudFlare.

I went ahead and did a factory reset on both the Verizon router and ASUS. Right now I’m just using the ASUS in router mode, I changed the firmware to the 42095 which by reports seems stable. My internet is working albeit the same issue of slower speeds (upload in particular) persists. So I may try the Verizon router in bridge mode to see if that will give me the full speeds I’m supposed to be getting.

I have no idea on earth why with fios the ASUS can’t seems to just give the speeds it should. The subpar Verizon router, along with my old Orbi, had no issues.

 

[RangerZ]

Out of curiosity, was the Orbi in Router or AP mode?

Maybe some one smarter than me can chime in, but could this have to do with some type of packet size mismatch between the two devices both acting as Routers? Try dropping the WAN MTU down to say 1400 and see if the problem goes away. You don't need or want to change anything else. If it does not help, change it back. Probably should reboot.

 

[silvernblack81]

Out of curiosity, was the Orbi in Router or AP mode?

Maybe some one smarter than me can chime in, but could this have to do with some type of packet size mismatch between the two devices both acting as Routers? Try dropping the WAN MTU down to say 1400 and see if the problem goes away. You don't need or want to change anything else. If it does not help, change it back. Probably should reboot.

the Orbi was in router mode. No issues. I only changed it because I wanted WiFi 6 and separate 2.4 and 5 ghz ssids.

so you think they were both acting as routers? I had the Verizon at one point as the router, and the ASUS in AP mode.

 

[RangerZ]

I went ahead and did a factory reset on both the Verizon router and ASUS. Right now I’m just using the ASUS in router mode, I changed the firmware to the 42095 which by reports seems stable. My internet is working albeit the same issue of slower speeds (upload in particular) persists. So I may try the Verizon router in bridge mode to see if that will give me the full speeds I’m supposed to be getting.

Maybe I mis read this. Not clear how you currently have this set up?

 

[silvernblack81]

Maybe I mis read this. Not clear how you currently have this set up?

right now I’m just using the ASUS as the router. I put the firmware 42095 on all nodes and factory reset all nodes. I’m connected but I’m not getting the advertised speeds on my gigabit fios connection. The upload is particularly less, getting around 150-250, sometimes less than 100. The download can vary but it tops out at around 4-500. With other routers I’ve used I get the 900d/900u speeds I’m supposed to get.

I’ll probably try like suggested earlier to have the Verizon router in bridge mode to see if it’ll “unlock” the speeds. So my Ethernet from the ont to the wan of the Verizon in bridge mode, then another Ethernet from a lan port to the wan port of the ASUS, in router mode. That’s how I understand it correct?

 

[RangerZ]

Yes

 

[silvernblack81]

Yes

sucks I even have to try this. I would’ve returned the ASUS if it wasn’t past the window. Who would’ve thought such a feature rich, expensive setup can’t do the basics of supplying the internet. Smh

 

[RangerZ]

I hear you, most of this stuff is stupid expensive with slick marketing, little real product info and does not meet the expectation of the consumer once installed.

 

[LoosePackets]

I have this same router and same issue. Paying for gigabit speeds and would consistently see 600-700MB down and 25-50MB up inside the router interface. One of the guys on Reddit said that his VZ tech told him that the Asus ZenAX has issues communicating with the ONT and that is why we see slower speeds. He suggested putting a gigabit switch between the ONT and the ZenAX to see if that speeds things up.

I had an old 5 port gig switch in the closet and when I connected it, I now see 800MB down and 900MB up from the router. Wifi speeds are better but I was mainly focused on wired speeds. Not the ideal solution but I will keep it in place for a week or so and see what happens. If this works, I will need to get a new spare switch.

 

[Grayson73]

My fios plan is 400/400. Wired I get 430/450. WiFi I get 453/182. So this is a hardware issue and not a setting/set-up issue?

 

[LoosePackets]

Looks like a hardware issue on my side. I know lots of stuff can affect wireless performance so I wasn't focused there. In fact, I've hardly ever gotten above 300 on wifi but I know for sure I should be well about that for wired connections. The gig switch between the ONT and Asus is showing positive results for my wired connection speeds.

 

[Piel]

My fios plan is 400/400. Wired I get 430/450. WiFi I get 453/182. So this is a hardware issue and not a setting/set-up issue?

Correct. XT8 can not go higher than 200 Mbps UL when connected to a FiOS ONT (for WiFi). Asus has known about this for over a year and DGAF. I'm trying to find a new WiFi 6 mesh system that doesn't suck...

 

[JasonMarsz11]

XT8 is the best looking router in the market in my opinion. I wish it worked better with FIOS! What do ASUS say when you bring up the issue? I really hope they fix it one day…

 

[Piel]

I tried a few times to work with them about a year and half ago, and gave up trying to solve the problem about 6 months later.

 

[JasonMarsz11]

That’s unfortunate. I don’t really use my upload speed so I think I’m going to end up just keeping it and dealing with it. Would be a nice surprise if it fixes itself in the future. Not a fan of the other mesh routers out there.

 

[Grayson73]

I paid a lot for my XT8 so I just live with the WiFi upload speed issue too. Most of my uploading is via desktop ethernet which doesn't have an issue.