Newbie needs help with download speeds

I have the N66U and have been running Merlin 374.41. I know it is old, but up until now I had no reason to upgrade. I have one desktop, one laptop, and a couple of iPads that we use mainly for surfing. And we stream Netflix and have our phone hooked through a VOIP adapter.

Up until now I had 20/2 internet service through TWC, and was getting essentially those speeds on all the wireless devices (mainly on 2.4 Ghz, slower download speeds on 5 GhZ). I recently upgraded to TWC ultimate internet, and have 100/5. In reality I am getting 113 mbps download, and 5.7 upload on all the wired devices.

On wireless devices, I am only getting a max of 20 mbps (2.4 GHZ), and <10 on 5 Ghz. The upload speeds are above 5 on both. I have tried changing channels (did the site survey), etc., all with no luck. I have QOS turned off.

I would appreciate any advice on fixing this. If the slower download speeds is a result of my firmware version, please recommend a firmware that is stable and gives the right speeds - our needs are simple and we don't do any gaming, etc.

Thanks

IMHO, on a N66U you should update to the fork 374.43 for the security fixes. It is a sticky in the asuswrt-Merlin form

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-update-for-374-43-available.18914/

coldwizard said:

IMHO, on a N66U you should update to the fork 374.43 for the security fixes. It is a sticky in the asuswrt-Merlin form

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-update-for-374-43-available.18914/

Click to expand...

Or just update to the latest Merlin release.

Make sure your wireless security is set to WPA2

Some mobile devices have low quality wireless hardware. For example, my Nexus 7 (2012) can only achieve 40Mbit/s when my laptop and desktop achieve 90Mbit and 120Mbit, respectively (RT-N66U).

In my limited experience, the default settings are usually best and most wireless network incompatibility/slowdowns are caused by the clients. Make sure all clients have up to date drivers, etc.

Wireless antennas should be vertical unless you have a good reason otherwise.

Defaulting the settings (do this after every major firmware update) and installing the newest firmware couldn't hurt.

Thanks for all the replies.

The strange thing is that every device (iPad, HP Windows Laptop, iPhone, Galaxy S5), all show download speeds that are <20% of the max, but all show appropriate upload speeds.

I do have wireless mode on 2.4 Ghz set to "auto" (old HP Laptop will not connect on "n only"), and channel bandwidth set to 20 Mhz. Should I set "protect b/g" to ON? Not sure what this does.

I will look into upgrading to the latest Merlin build. Have been avoiding it because of the need to reset and redo all of the settings.

Nullity said:

...
Wireless antennas should be vertical unless you have a good reason otherwise.
...

Click to expand...

The antennas radiate like a donut with the antenna in the middle. Directly above or below the antenna would be a dead zone. So a good reason to tilt one or more antenna would be to cover a second floor.

OK - upgraded to the latest Merlin firmware (378.50). Reset the router and reentered all settings. Download speed has improved marginally from 21 mbps to 25 mbps. Still nowhere near the wired download speed > 100 mbps. Upload speed is still good at above 5 mbps.

Any thoughts on improving the download speed would be much appreciated. Thanks.

I don't have a connection of your speed so this is all theory. <grin>

Pick and set a fixed wireless control channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4 Ghz.
Set channel bandwidth to 40 Mhz.
Check that security is aes and wpa2-personal on all wireless SSIDs (both 5 and 2.4)

coldwizard said:

I don't have a connection of your speed so this is all theory. <grin>

Pick and set a fixed wireless control channel 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4 Ghz.
Set channel bandwidth to 40 Mhz.
Check that security is aes and wpa2-personal on all wireless SSIDs (both 5 and 2.4)

Click to expand...

Thanks! I have it set exactly as you specified, except on 20 MHz, with no luck.

Please try the 40 Mhz channel bandwidth.

From what I see on Internet, if your NIC supports channel bonding setting up your wireless to 40Mhz will double throughput as you get double connection speed and depending on your wireless NIC you can can up to 300Mbpx or even theoretically up to 600Mbps speed and this means you have a higher real speed. But at 40Mhz you will have a bigger chance for channel overlapping and interfere with other wireless devices.

Explanation is at
http://ofmodemsandmen.com/wifi.html

coldwizard said:

Please try the 40 Mhz channel bandwidth.

From what I see on Internet, if your NIC supports channel bonding setting up your wireless to 40Mhz will double throughput as you get double connection speed and depending on your wireless NIC you can can up to 300Mbpx or even theoretically up to 600Mbps speed and this means you have a higher real speed. But at 40Mhz you will have a bigger chance for channel overlapping and interfere with other wireless devices.

Explanation is at
http://ofmodemsandmen.com/wifi.html

Click to expand...

Very strange. Checked download speed - 27.7 Mbps (the best it has been). Changed the 2.4 Gghz to 40 MHz and download dropped to 6.7!! Changed back to 20 MHz , and it's back up.

Sounds like there are too many other wireless users in your area so 40 Mhz at 2.4 G will not work for you. That just leaves 5 G to get the speed your paying for.

Did you try 5 Ghz with router and device in the same room with
Mode = N only (your old laptop will likely not use 5 Ghz)
Channel bandwidth = 40 Mhz
Control channel fixed
Extension Channel = auto

I keep hoping that someone that has your speed will jump in with their settings or comments.

coldwizard said:

Sounds like there are too many other wireless users in your area so 40 Mhz at 2.4 G will not work for you. That just leaves 5 G to get the speed your paying for.

Did you try 5 Ghz with router and device in the same room with
Mode = N only (your old laptop will likely not use 5 Ghz)
Channel bandwidth = 40 Mhz
Control channel fixed
Extension Channel = auto

I keep hoping that someone that has your speed will jump in with their settings or comments.

Click to expand...

Thanks for trying to help me!

I tried 5 GHz on my iPad with the settings as above. With the iPad 5 feet from the router, download = 16.68 Mbps, with 2.4 GHz = 33. Changed the channel to 20 MHz, and now on 5 GHz, the download jumped to 41 Mbps! Not quite what I am paying for, but decidedly better than I started off with.

Maybe someone else will pipe in with some suggestions.

mm2531 said:

Thanks for trying to help me!

I tried 5 GHz on my iPad with the settings as above. With the iPad 5 feet from the router, download = 16.68 Mbps, with 2.4 GHz = 33. Changed the channel to 20 MHz, and now on 5 GHz, the download jumped to 41 Mbps! Not quite what I am paying for, but decidedly better than I started off with.

Maybe someone else will pipe in with some suggestions.

Click to expand...

Here is a summary of common practice:

Set 2.4 GHz to a Channel bandwidth of 20 MHz.
For 2.4 GHz disable b/g Protection (use of old 802.11b devices combined with 802.11n is anyway not recommended).
Use InSSIDer or a similar program to determine the usage of wireless channels in your neighborhood, do the check at various locations in your house. Do this check at least every month (new neighbor devices may have arrived or neighbors may have changed their settings).
Set 2.4 GHz to the least used channel out of 1, 6 or 11.
Set 5 GHz to the least used channel out of 36, 40, 44 or 48 (the non DFS channels).
The range of 5 GHz is practical about half of 2.4 GHz.

Relative position of the router to the client devices is important, a free line of sight is ideal. Keep as much as free space around the router as possible, do NOT place it in a cabinet, do not place it on top of another electronic device. Keep distance from materials that absorb or disturb radio signals e.g. metal objects, concrete walls or floors and waterfilled objects.
Keep an eye on router temperature, place the router on a hard surface to allow natural ventilation through the router box.
Experiment with the location of the router and antenna orientation.

After a major firmware upgrade (or when recommended in the release notes): do a hard reset of the router and manual configure the router again (do NOT load an old configuration file).
In case of doubts, forgotten settings and weird issues: do a hard reset of the router and manual configure the router again.
Due to upgraded wireless drivers in the router it may be required to delete the wireless connection profiles on your computers and connect again.

Keep an eye on new firmware releases: it is strongly adviced to keep pace with firmware releases that contain security fixes.
The buildin Asus router Firmware Version Check is often wrong and outdated.
Use this link to find the latest firmware and release notes for the RT-N66U:
https://www.asus.com/Networking/RTN66U/HelpDesk_Download/
Please select OS: Others

Might be worth try changing your SSID on the 5GHz and then connecting your iPad to it to see if you get any increase in speed. If you came from a previous router that was using the same SSID it might be causing you some issues.

Thanks to both of the above posters for their suggestions. I will try both out.

I think I might be limited by what I can achieve because of the placement of the router. The cable in from TWC comes into a wiring closet downstairs. All of the wiring in the house (telephone, internet, TV) originates from the closet. It's not easy for me to move the router to another location, and the closet has also become a hub for other equipment (NAS, battery backup, printer, etc). If I did manage to move the router to another location, I would then need to figure out how to get hard wired ethernet back into the closet.

Because the router is inside the closed closet, 5GHz takes a huge hit (under 10 MBps), and 2.4 GHz runs about 30 to 40% of the speed I am paying for. On the positive side, most of the other equipment (TIVO, Roku, etc) is hard wired.

I always recommend at least two runs to a central location (and located as high as possible) in the area to be covered. One run is for the modem and the other is from the router's LAN port back to the dungeon/closet to be connected to a switch and the rest of the network.

Ideally, 5 runs or more (1WAN and 4LAN with most of today's routers) to have the most flexibility in the future.

It seems in your case, positioning your router optimally will give you the greatest increase in range and throughput. This is where I would be concentrating my resources on.

If you really cannot move your router to a better location, I would be trying the hggomes fork which allows for higher Tx power output. Unfortunately, you will have to reset to factory defaults again and manually enter your settings. But I think it will be worth the trouble, especially if a new location is not a consideration.

PM hggomes directly for the links to his fork.

L&LD said:

I always recommend at least two runs to a central location (and located as high as possible) in the area to be covered. One run is for the modem and the other is from the router's LAN port back to the dungeon/closet to be connected to a switch and the rest of the network.

Ideally, 5 runs or more (1WAN and 4LAN with most of today's routers) to have the most flexibility in the future.

It seems in your case, positioning your router optimally will give you the greatest increase in range and throughput. This is where I would be concentrating my resources on.

If you really cannot move your router to a better location, I would be trying the hggomes fork which allows for higher Tx power output. Unfortunately, you will have to reset to factory defaults again and manually enter your settings. But I think it will be worth the trouble, especially if a new location is not a consideration.

PM hggomes directly for the links to his fork.

Click to expand...

I have coax runs from the closet to every room in the house, as well as ethernet. Right now, the modem and router are in the closet downstairs, with a switch providing hard wired internet to the rest of the system (very much like you described). The only issue is that the coax run and the ethernet are generally on opposite walls in every room except for one bedroom upstairs.

The family room is downstairs, and the network closet is adjacent to it. We spend most of our time in the family room and kitchen, or in the master bedroom upstairs. I could move the router to the one bedroom upstairs (that has cable and ethernet on the same wall), and use the ethernet run from that room back to the closet to connect back to the switch.

The question is this: am i better off with the router in a bedroom upstairs? Is this going to give me better speeds in the family room downstairs? I suspect it will give me better speeds in the master bedroom (given that it will in an adjacent room), but I don't want to go through reworking everything unless it will make a marked improvement Thanks for any input.

No one can by your description predict the wireless coverage.
With network cables running from the closet with modem to every room I suggest to test the coverage. Place the router at various candidate locations and use the nearest network cable to connect the router to the modem. This is the only way to give you insight in what is the best router location for you.
Other options are the use of powerline adapters with wireless accesspoint.

mm2531 said:

I have coax runs from the closet to every room in the house, as well as ethernet. Right now, the modem and router are in the closet downstairs, with a switch providing hard wired internet to the rest of the system (very much like you described). The only issue is that the coax run and the ethernet are generally on opposite walls in every room except for one bedroom upstairs.

The family room is downstairs, and the network closet is adjacent to it. We spend most of our time in the family room and kitchen, or in the master bedroom upstairs. I could move the router to the one bedroom upstairs (that has cable and ethernet on the same wall), and use the ethernet run from that room back to the closet to connect back to the switch.

The question is this: am i better off with the router in a bedroom upstairs? Is this going to give me better speeds in the family room downstairs? I suspect it will give me better speeds in the master bedroom (given that it will in an adjacent room), but I don't want to go through reworking everything unless it will make a marked improvement Thanks for any input.

Click to expand...

With the additional info, it seems like using an upstairs location might not be the best option, considering your normal usage. But as suggested by wouterv, it certainly won't hurt to quickly rewire (temporarily) and test each possible location you can use.

What I have found has the most influence is:

• Router located in central location at least 10 feet above earth / ground and away from walls and ceilings at least 12 inches (with improvements at up to 3 feet from walls / ceilings / floors in 3D).
• Selecting a specific channel instead of relying on Auto channel settings from the router.
  • This channel is not selected by relying on rssi numbers or inssider type of programs to choose the least congested channel.
  • Rather; it is chosen by testing for throughput each channel manually, preceded by a reboot of the router, and seeing which channel gives the highest consistent throughput with the least fluctuations in your specific wireless environment.
  • In my case; this is usually Channel 11 for the 2.4GHz band and Channel 48 for the 5GHz band. Regardless of what the WiFi environment looks like in programs like inssider.

In your case, simply moving the router out of the closet will be a huge upgrade. Put it in the family room as described above and as central to the rest of your commonly used areas as possible on the other floor(s).

With LAN runs on opposite sides of each room, you will need at least a single Ethernet run going from one location to the other. This will allow you to connect the routers WAN port to the modem. And the LAN port to a switch which can then be connected with the devices previously wired in that room and also connecting the run back to the closet and the rest of your network.

Hope this works to get you creative in how to better setup your current and / or future network equipment.