What's new

RT-AC68U Wi-Fi Performance

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

TheLyppardMan

Very Senior Member
I have just carried out some Wi-Fi tests using my Asus RT-AC68U running Merlin's firmware (Build 380.58_0) and comparing it against the performance I get using Devolo 1200+ ac Powerline adapters. I have one Devolo unit in the dining room at the rear of the house and one in my son's bedroom upstairs, at the front of the house (it's only a small, modern mid-terraced house). I used my daughter's laptop for the tests as it has dual band capability. The results were quite surprising in that the 2.4GHz band from the router (the ASUS2G SSID in the screenshots) performed quite well, whereas the 5GHz band would not even allow the speedtest to complete, simply grinding to a halt. I repeated the test, just to confirm and the same thing happened. I then went back to my own PC and took some screenshots of the networks as they were being analysed by inSSIDer. I've uploaded some of these in a pdf document but they were too big to upload them all.

Given the hype on the Asus router box, it would seem that the reality is somewhat different. Note, I have changed any of the advanced Wi-Fi settings. The only changes I made were to the name of the SSID and limiting the bandwidth to 20MHz on the 2.4GHz band.
 

Attachments

  • Screenshots.pdf
    732.2 KB · Views: 484
Was inSSIDer running when you did your test? If so try your test without inSSIDer running. I also use inSSIDer but when it is running it kills my speed test. Now I don't know if it effects 2.4ghz less than 5ghz, but it makes a mess of testing on my laptop. Not sure what its doing, I just know I can't test while it is running.
 
I ran the inSSIDer test afterwards, so no, they weren't both running at the same time.
 
yer flooding the wifi with that Devolo , turn it off and put the asus on ch 11 and see if it fixes it

its also hard to compare if the 2 transmissions are not in the same place
 
yer flooding the wifi with that Devolo , turn it off and put the asus on ch 11 and see if it fixes it

its also hard to compare if the 2 transmissions are not in the same place
It was not the 2.4GHz channels that were the problem, it was the 5GHz ac channels that would only provide a trickle of data to the laptop. Both the Devolo unit and the router were approximately the same distance from the laptop, the router signal having more or less line-of-sight except for a single-glazed internal door and the corner of the wooden staircase while the Devolo unit had the glass door, the plasterboard ceiling and floorboards in its path, so I would have expected similar results.
 
you 5 gig signal at -50db is the same as the Devolo , so its not a signal issue as such

but your 2.4 gig should be showing far better than it is so something else is at hand
router signal having more or less line-of-sight except for a single-glazed internal door and the corner of the wooden staircase

in reality i would expect in that case both 2.4 gig and 5 gig to be more like -30db or less

so something is ether interfering with the signal or blocking it
 
PLC - whether HomePlug AV/G.hn, whatever - it's a scheduled MAC - time division multiple access, and each station on a PLC link gets a fair shot at time, even half-duplex as it is...

WiFi is unscheduled - we also call it aloha, it transmits when it wants, and if there is a collision, everyone backs off - there's the Clear to Send/Ready to Send stuff, as WiFi is asynchronous... but this is why PLC does have a slight performance advantage over WiFi..

It's like being in a meeting/conference call - everyone needs to take their turn getting access to the table - WiFi likes to barge in, and that's ok, but TDM based protocols - everyone speaks in their turn, passing around the baton that lets them speak...
 
OK, I've just run two more tests using the 5GHz bands. Both were taken from the same location, that is approximately 1 metre in front of the router with no obstructions. The distance to the Devolo unit from this location is approximately 8 metres and there is a double cavity wall and internal glass door surrounded by a single cavity internal wall in between. When conducting the test on the router, the Devolo unit was switched off. The uploaded screenshots show the results. Just in case it's not clear, the screenshot entitled "8M FROM DEVOLO..." shows the results from the Devolo unit.
 

Attachments

  • 8M FROM DEVOLO UNIT - 5GHz.png
    8M FROM DEVOLO UNIT - 5GHz.png
    104 KB · Views: 548
  • 1M FROM ROUTER - 5GHz.png
    1M FROM ROUTER - 5GHz.png
    168.8 KB · Views: 501
Last edited:
ok what sync is the adapter getting to both ? eg local area network and where it says speed

also , transfer something withing your lan rather than use that stupid speed meter which inherently brings issues of its own
 
ok what sync is the adapter getting to both ? eg local area network and where it says speed
Not sure how to do that, but Amazon have offered me a refund anyway, so I've ordered a new one from a local Currys/PC World as Amazon UK aren't currently selling the RT-AC68U.
 
I've got the new router installed and getting the expected download speeds, so there must have been a fault with the 5GHz band on the other router. Amazon have given me a refund so I'm happy now.
 
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
Carnagerover Decent WiFi gaming performance/QOS General Wireless Discussion 10

Similar threads

Latest threads

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top