Slow Website Loading/Browsing; fast speed/low ping on speedtest.net/fast.com

[sinfinite]

Hi There,

I recently flashed a TM-AC1900 to RT-AC68U and am experiencing slow website loading. If I switch back to my old router, it's normal again. With the new ASUS Router, it takes 2-3 seconds before it displays the website/loads anything.

This problem exists on stock firmware and Merlin firmware.

Additional Information:
Slow on all connections, wired, 2.4GHz, 5GHz
Downloads seem to be fine
Speedtest/fast.com seems to be fine
No Packet Losses

Do you have any suggestions on what to do?

I am a newbie with networking, so please bear with me; I may need simplified directions.

Thank you for your time and I apologize if this was addressed in another topic, the only other one I could find was http://www.snbforums.com/threads/high-latency-web-speeds-rt-ac87u.31907/ but I do not have an AiProtection features enabled.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It sounds like your DNS requests are slow to respond. Are you using different DNS servers with the Asus compared to your old router, or something that effects DNS like Parental Controls?

 

[sinfinite]

It sounds like your DNS requests are slow to respond. Are you using different DNS servers with the Asus compared to your old router, or something that effects DNS like Parental Controls?

Thanks for the response.

I've never touched DNS settings on my old router so I assumed I could have it automatically detect again. What do you recommend I change the settings to and how?

I tried using Googles DNS by going into the WAN section and disable automatic DNS detection and putting address 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4; but there's still a little delay.

Prior to this, when it was automatic my homepage on the router webui said DDNS:GO - was it already on Google DNS?

Do you have any alternative DNS servers you recommend?

Also, not using any features that would affect DNS.

Thank you.

 

[john9527]

Usually I recommend staying with your ISP default DNS servers. But, if you just changed routers, you may need to power down your modem for about 15-30 minutes to get your ISP to fully reset the connection for the new router.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Prior to this, when it was automatic my homepage on the router webui said DDNS:GO - was it already on Google DNS?

That is a link to setting up a dynamic DNS service which is something completely different. Ignore it.

Do you have any alternative DNS servers you recommend?

I'd agree with John that your ISP DNS is usually the best choice. I was was going to suggest that you try Google's just in case your ISP was having problems - but you beat me to it. So that suggests that it is not a DNS issue.

Try Johns suggestion to reset the connection.

 

[sinfinite]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll power both off for half an hour and see what happens while leaving dns setting automatic.

 

[sinfinite]

Left it off for about 30 minutes, and I think it helped SLIGHTLY. Some sites are still taking 2-3 secs before it loads anything (https://slickdeals.net/ and https://www.twitch.tv/directory) but that could be normal and I did not notice before. I think I'll also leave the modem/router off overnight next to see if that does anything. If you have any other suggestions, they're much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[sinfinite]

Left both devices off, still delayed loading on a couple of websites. Any QOS service/feature is off (I'm pretty sure). It's manageable but slightly annoying. Thanks for all the help so far, but if anyone else has any suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks!

 

[john9527]

Do you have IPv6 enabled? Using Edge or IE browser? Edge/IE don't have a fast fallback to IPv4 if it can't connect to the site with IPv6. Both Firefox and Chrome support fast fallback.

 

[sinfinite]

Do you have IPv6 enabled? Using Edge or IE browser? Edge/IE don't have a fast fallback to IPv4 if it can't connect to the site with IPv6. Both Firefox and Chrome support fast fallback.

Hi John,

I mainly use Firefox but notice the delay in Chrome as well. I do not use Edge/IE at all. I do not have IPv6 enabled, and am unsure how to set it up.

Thank you.

 

[sinfinite]

I don't know if this helps, but it does not look like a DNS issue, maybe it's just the website and I'm overthinking this, but this is the timing for the website:

Other times waiting goes down to about 1ms and receiving goes up to 1ms, overall about 2 seconds either way.

Here's the timing on my old router:

 

[ElectronDF]

I am not so webtiming smart. What did you use to time the loading of the website? Is it hard to use?

I don't know if this helps, but it does not look like a DNS issue, maybe it's just the website and I'm overthinking this, but this is the timing for the website:

Other times waiting goes down to about 1ms and receiving goes up to 1ms, overall about 2 seconds either way.

Here's the timing on my old router:

 

[sfx2000]

If one is changing DNS servers around, it might be helpful to clear the local resolver caches...

Current Macs(OSX 10.11):

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

Windows 10/8/7/XP

ipconfig /flushdns

Ubuntu 14.04LTS

sudo /etc/init.d/dns-clean start

older stuff look below…

Macintosh

OSX 10.11

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

OSX 10.10 (10.10.3 thru 10.10.0)

sudo discoveryutil udnsflushcaches

OSX 10.9 – 10.5.2

sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

OSX 10.5.1 and earlier

sudo lookupd -flushcache

Linux Generic (depending on what you’re running)

/etc/init.d/named restart

/etc/init.d/nscd restart

 

[sinfinite]

I am not so webtiming smart. What did you use to time the loading of the website? Is it hard to use?

Hi ElectronDF, I used the Network Panel in the Developer Tools of Firefox; not sure how useful it is both was just trying to pinpoint my problem.

If one is changing DNS servers around, it might be helpful to clear the local resolver caches...

Windows 10/8/7/XP

ipconfig /flushdns

Hi sfxx2000,

Thanks for the response, I've already performed a ipconfig /flushdns but it did not improve browsing speeds.

 

[ElectronDF]

Okay, one more thing. What website(s) are you looking at so we can try and see if they are slow for everyone? So we can compare the delay you got and see if we get it also.

I don't know if this helps, but it does not look like a DNS issue, maybe it's just the website and I'm overthinking this, but this is the timing for the website:

Other times waiting goes down to about 1ms and receiving goes up to 1ms, overall about 2 seconds either way.

Here's the timing on my old router:

 

[RMerlin]

You can test DNS performance by running some local lookups, from the command prompt:

nslookup www.google.com
nslookup www.ibm.com

etc...

See if there is any stall there.

 

[sinfinite]

Okay, one more thing. What website(s) are you looking at so we can try and see if they are slow for everyone? So we can compare the delay you got and see if we get it also.

I'm testing on www.slickdeals.net and www.twitch.tv/directory; I know they're not the fastest sites, but this is where I can see a noticeable difference in loading times from my original router.

You can test DNS performance by running some local lookups, from the command prompt:

nslookup www.google.com
nslookup www.ibm.com

etc...

See if there is any stall there.

typed nslookup (website) on multiple sites and there's no delay, but I do notice it says
Server: router.asus.com
Is this correct or should it be different since I'm trying to auto detect my ISP's DNS?

Thanks.

 

[ColinTaylor]

but I do notice it says
Server: router.asus.com
Is this correct or should it be different since I'm trying to auto detect my ISP's DNS?

router.asus.com is an alias for your router's DNS server, so that's OK. You're querying the router which is in turn querying your ISP's DNS.

If you want to bypass the router and query a specific DNS server directly you can specify the server address. So in Windows it would be:

nslookup www.google.com 8.8.8.8

 

[sfx2000]

router.asus.com is an alias for your router's DNS server, so that's OK. You're querying the router which is in turn querying your ISP's DNS.

If you want to bypass the router and query a specific DNS server directly you can specify the server address. So in Windows it would be:

nslookup www.google.com 8.8.8.8

Yes, and there - do facebook.com, netflix.com, and google.com

They're all CDN sensitive...

So the canonical would be...

nslookup <hostname> <DNS IP addr>

 

[sinfinite]

router.asus.com is an alias for your router's DNS server, so that's OK. You're querying the router which is in turn querying your ISP's DNS.

If you want to bypass the router and query a specific DNS server directly you can specify the server address. So in Windows it would be:

nslookup www.google.com 8.8.8.8

Yes, and there - do facebook.com, netflix.com, and google.com

They're all CDN sensitive...

So the canonical would be...

nslookup <hostname> <DNS IP addr>

Thanks for the responses, it doesn't look like DNS is the issue as any combination I put in comes back immediately.

Update: In the end.. it looks like I may have received a defective router, my WiFi went from perfect to terrible overnight and can no longer receive signal on my phones unless they are right next to the router. Even then, the signal is VERY low (1 or 2 bars). I ended up reflashing it back to TM-AC1900 and the TM firmware but the IP remains 192.168.1.1; hope they will take the return and not see anything wrong with it other than the WiFi issue.
Update 2: Reformated after flashing back, now have the original TM ip of 192.168.29.1; thanks for all the effort in trying to help me with the speed issue.