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ASUS rt-ac86u Merlin 384.11_2 settings advice ?

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galactus

Occasional Visitor
Hello, I am a novice internet user/gamer and I am experiencing some issues with my upload/download speeds, especially with the upload speeds. I have experimented with some options and managed to get speeds ranging from; (60mbs/dwn & 6mbs/up) , (150mbs/dwn & 7mbs/up) , (180mbs/dwn & 8mbs/up) but I've never managed to get a full 12mbs upload to my ps4 and still get lag and jittering even when I managed to get 180dwn & 8up which was a week ago, today ive been getting 10mbs/dwn and 3mbs/up maybe this is a temporary hick up or throttling. But anyways I am wondering if perhaps I can optimise my RT-AC86U Merlin settings.

First i'll tell you about my setup and usage before the Merlin settings which is what I am here asking for advice on. I am on a Virgin media vivid 200 package (200mbps/dwn & 12mps/up), connected via; Rg6 coaxial 10m (VM default) > VM home hub 3 (Modem mode) > CAT7 1m ethernet (vandesail) > ASUS rt-ac86u > CAT7 20m ethernet (vandesail) > PS4 PRO > BenQ Zowie RL2455 1ms Monitor.
In our 2 storey home we have 1-8 devices connected at any one time;(ps4 pro Lan, amazon fire stick 2.4ghz, 3 mobiles 5ghz, 3 laptops 2,4ghz) and we are surrounded by other peoples networks. When im in full stream mode I tend to have only the ps4 connected as much as possible.

So I would like to ask the SNB community, What are the overclock/optimal settings to get max isp up & down bandwidth and reduce ping/lag as much as possible to my ps4 pro?

Merlin firmware: 384.11_2
Below I will attach screenshots of my current settings on merlin;
 

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...last one I promise... and a big thank you to anyone who bothers going through so much info to help me out here, I really appreciate it :).
More info provided on request.
 

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Reset to factory defaults (see the M&M Config in my signature below for more details) and install the FreshJR QOS script.

You could spend weeks otherwise and you won't do any better. :)
 
Before flashing new firmware.
  • Make a backup cfg file and label it with the firmware version currently running on the router. (I save this with the associated trx firmware file in a safe place, along with the next item, if needed).
  • Save any custom settings to the jffs partition in a safe place.
  • Remove all USB devices from the router.
  • Reboot via the gui and let it settle for 5 minutes after it comes up again.

Flash new (or existing) firmware.
  • Flash new firmware (and in some cases, re-flash the existing firmware if any random, unexplained glitches are still causing issues).
  • Reset to factory defaults via the gui.
  • After the router has rebooted (point above), do a hard reboot (pull the power plug), wait a couple of minutes and then power it up again.

After new firmware loaded.
  • Use the wizard to connect to your ISP.
  • Use new ssid's for all bands and radio's (most likely easier to do after the wizard completes for dual 5GHz band radio's capable routers). You can reuse the old passwords though.
  • Disable media server.
  • Disable network share.
  • Disable NFSD.
  • Disable FTP.
  • Change device name (if needed), set Force as Master Browser and indicate the Work Group name (these steps are optional for some home users).
  • Disable WPS.
  • Disable WDS.
  • Uncheck Xbox and B/G protection (Both bands).
  • Wireless Mode: Auto (default).
  • Control Channel: set manually after testing each channel.
  • Preamble Type: Short.
  • Spanning Tree Protocol: Disabled.
  • IPv6: Disabled.
  • Enable DoS protection: Disabled.
  • Set time zone to your area.
  • Format JFFS partition at next boot: Yes.

  • Any other options not specified above is left at it's default setting following the above reset to factory defaults above.

so ive done all the steps up to where I begin disabling what I don't need but I can't find certain settings on merlin;
- disable NFSD
-disable FTP
-preamble type : short
-disable WDS
Have they changed names or been removed? please provide a route to find the settings or where they would be in the merlin firmware.
 
Reset to factory defaults (see the M&M Config in my signature below for more details) and install the FreshJR QOS script.

You could spend weeks otherwise and you won't do any better. :)

Ive found the preamble type and set it to short still can't find the other settings although I think WDS is already off aswell. where is nfsd and ftp ?
 
Ive found the preamble type and set it to short still can't find the other settings although I think WDS is already off aswell. where is nfsd and ftp ?

Look in USB Applications, Servers center. :)
 
I would have never looked there lol :S ok on to the next steps thank you internet angel.

You're welcome, you made my day. :)
 
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...m-rules-and-inner-workings.36836/#post-301766

You may want to look at my amtm Step-by-Step guide to get you going in the right direction to install the FreshJR QOS script above.

All you need to do is follow it to how to install amtm and simply substitute the command for the FreshJR QOS script. :)

Of course, if you have a spare USB drive 1GB or larger, you can install the other available scripts amtm supports too. :)

https://diversion.ch/amtm.html

The important thing to remember about the FreshJR QOS script is that after you make any changes to the script or directly in QoS via the GUI, you want to wait a good 5 minutes (I recommend 10 minutes) so that the script is fully enabled and integrated. :)

Follow all the FreshJR defaults and then slowly experiment from there, if you need to. :)
 
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...m-rules-and-inner-workings.36836/#post-301766

You may want to look at my amtm Step-by-Step guide to get you going in the right direction to install the FreshJR QOS script above.

All you need to do is follow it to how to install amtm and simply substitute the command for the FreshJR QOS script. :)

Of course, if you have a spare USB drive 1GB or larger, you can install the other available scripts amtm supports too. :)

https://diversion.ch/amtm.html

The important thing to remember about the FreshJR QOS script is that after you make any changes to the script or directly in QoS via the GUI, you want to wait a good 5 minutes (I recommend 10 minutes) so that the script is fully enabled and integrated. :)

Follow all the FreshJR defaults and then slowly experiment from there, if you need to. :)

aww shucks your welcome, trust me your making my day too :) plus this is the second time you've helped me out giving the best advice i've received from any other forum.

Well I think I'm done I've done all the m&m steps and installed freshjr qos script which made me feel like a hacker :) and my undf prio is 2 so I think its working, Qos has been set up to my bandwidth 85%.
only thing I had no clue about what you were talking about was the cidr ip range, what is it? what does it do? where do I input necessary changes?

(edited) ive done the cidr calculation online I used ip range to cidr using my router ip and the ps4 ip, not sure if that's what I was meant to do, but I got a list of ip's.

using this cidr calculator : https://www.ipaddressguide.com/cidr
 
Last edited:
aww shucks your welcome, trust me your making my day too :) plus this is the second time you've helped me out giving the best advice i've received from any other forum.

Well I think I'm done I've done all the m&m steps and installed freshjr qos script which made me feel like a hacker :) and my undf prio is 2 so I think its working, Qos has been set up to my bandwidth 85%.
only thing I had no clue about what you were talking about was the cidr ip range, what is it? what does it do? where do I input necessary changes?

(edited) ive done the cidr calculation online I used ip range to cidr using my router ip and the ps4 ip, not sure if that's what I was meant to do, but I got a list of ip's.

using this cidr calculator : https://www.ipaddressguide.com/cidr

Glad to help. ;)

I wouldn't worry about doing any more customizations to the script if you're already getting the speeds you want. :)
 
Something to note. No matter what you do with your setup or what speeds you get, you're using the Super Hub 3, which has a hardware flaw in its Puma chipset that will affect multiplayer gaming.

I forget the technical details, but it suffers regular latency spikes, which isn't ideal for multiplayer games, particularly first person shooters. This issue occurs with it in router mode and modem mode and whilst they've tried to improve it with firmware updates, software patches can't fix this hardware defect.

Something to bear in mind after you've got everything else running right, so you're not chasing a setting that can't fix this issue.

https://www.classactionlawyers.com/puma6/
 
Something to note. No matter what you do with your setup or what speeds you get, you're using the Super Hub 3, which has a hardware flaw in its Puma chipset that will affect multiplayer gaming.

I forget the technical details, but it suffers regular latency spikes, which isn't ideal for multiplayer games, particularly first person shooters. This issue occurs with it in router mode and modem mode and whilst they've tried to improve it with firmware updates, software patches can't fix this hardware defect.

Something to bear in mind after you've got everything else running right, so you're not chasing a setting that can't fix this issue.

https://www.classactionlawyers.com/puma6/
I know i've heard on many forums that the puma chipset was bad but didn't know it directly affected multiplayer gaming. Thing is though on the official VM forum I was hearing how you couldn't use another 3rd party modem whilst you are renting their system, does this make sense ? I may be wrong here. Thanks for the reminder, will check. Any suggestions on good modems to buy that can handle online multiplayer FPS games?
 
Something to note. No matter what you do with your setup or what speeds you get, you're using the Super Hub 3, which has a hardware flaw in its Puma chipset that will affect multiplayer gaming.

I forget the technical details, but it suffers regular latency spikes, which isn't ideal for multiplayer games, particularly first person shooters. This issue occurs with it in router mode and modem mode and whilst they've tried to improve it with firmware updates, software patches can't fix this hardware defect.

Something to bear in mind after you've got everything else running right, so you're not chasing a setting that can't fix this issue.

https://www.classactionlawyers.com/puma6/

Yh so its confirmed Virgin media will not activate any 3rd party modems, It sucks here in the UK certain ISP companies can rip people off like this and keep getting away with it. No matter what my bandwidth says i'll always get bad latency spikes thanks to cpu being overloaded if I understood that right. MarkyPancake that link for class-actionlawyers is for US residents, either way if I got lawyers involved here in the UK I doubt it would get me any closer to fully functioning internet. Maybe in a year from now things will change or ill change ISP but until then i've done all I can.
 
I'm a bit late, but later is better than never.
additionally you could run the following test; making (temporary before someone lynches me) your ps4 the DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) client and run some speedtest/ping test. if you see improvements, you could either:
1.- leave it like that (although it is not recommended)
2'-remove your ps4 as the dmz client and forward the following ports to your ps4:
Code:
TCP: 80, 443, 1935, 3478-3480
UDP: 3478-3479
Roberto
 
Reset to factory defaults (see the M&M Config in my signature below for more details) and install the FreshJR QOS script.

You could spend weeks otherwise and you won't do any better. :)

and I'll add: also install amtm and a swap file. but configuring from scratch, then tweaking QoS priorities will be the biggest. after that it's the swap file and clocking (this might be more critical for gaming than regular net stuff) and encrypted DNS from a fast server

EDIT - Oops, you covered this, had I read ahead in the thread. doh!
 

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