AC68U on Frontier FIOs Lower UL/DL Speeds than MI424WR?

[Ajax]

I've been running our home network for several years on an AC68U and I've really enjoyed it. I have several wireless devices, but my primary system, and the system I'm doing my investigating with, is wired directly to the router. My service from the ONT is Ethernet.

Recently, I had to upgrade my service level with Frontier because they no longer wanted to support their 30/30 customers. So I took the next lowest service of 50/50, but I've only been able to achieve 30/30 with every test. I've called Frontier a couple times and they'd fix something and I'd briefly see the 50/50 speeds, but then it would go back.

Today I decided to pull out the Actiontec M1424WR (Rev I) router they supplied me and to my surprise I was consistently testing at 50/50. So I switched back to the AC68U and I'm right back to 30/30.

I don't want to assume Frontier is deliberately sandbagging non-branded routers and I recognize that I'm "on my own" when I choose to use my own router so I'm seeking advice about how I can fix this so I can continue to use the AC68U.

Many thanks!

 

[ColinTaylor]

It might be a provisioning issue (I have no idea whether that applies to your ISP). Your account (and associated line speed) might be linked to the MAC address of the router they supplied (the Actiontec).

Find out the MAC address of the Actiontec's WAN port and clone that onto the WAN interface of the Asus.

 

[Ajax]

That seems easy enough, I can give that a try. It does make me wonder though if there's something I could ask Frontier to get them to update the MAC in their system.

 

[ColinTaylor]

TBH I think it's a long shot. Most cable operator's will accept a change in MAC address with no problem. Sometimes you have to power off the old router and wait 30 minutes before turning on the new one. But that's usually all that's required.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Oh, and make sure your Asus has the most recent firmware installed. There's been some nasty security issues recently.

 

[Ajax]

Well, in my case I've been using the Asus for so long I would have though it would be in their system, so to speak.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well, in my case I've been using the Asus for so long I would have though it would be in their system, so to speak.

OK. Probably not the MAC address then. (I thought the Actiontec might have been newly supplied with your speed upgrade.)

 

[Ajax]

No, it was something they sent me a while ago that I shelved in case, well, in case something like this happened I suppose.

At least I see that it's easy to change the MAC on the Asus.

 

[CrystalLattice]

I've been running our home network for several years on an AC68U and I've really enjoyed it. I have several wireless devices, but my primary system, and the system I'm doing my investigating with, is wired directly to the router. My service from the ONT is Ethernet.

Recently, I had to upgrade my service level with Frontier because they no longer wanted to support their 30/30 customers. So I took the next lowest service of 50/50, but I've only been able to achieve 30/30 with every test. I've called Frontier a couple times and they'd fix something and I'd briefly see the 50/50 speeds, but then it would go back.

Today I decided to pull out the Actiontec M1424WR (Rev I) router they supplied me and to my surprise I was consistently testing at 50/50. So I switched back to the AC68U and I'm right back to 30/30.

I don't want to assume Frontier is deliberately sandbagging non-branded routers and I recognize that I'm "on my own" when I choose to use my own router so I'm seeking advice about how I can fix this so I can continue to use the AC68U.

Many thanks!

Options: try a third router. MAC address not used in FIOS, & they don't lock you into using MI424WR. 2.) Try using 68U as AP into the MI424WR. Enjoy!

 

[CaptainSTX]

Is your setup fiber to the home?

How are you connecting to the GPON with both routers? With the Actiontec the default is coaxial cable and of course with the AC68 you need to have Frontier activate the the Ethernet connection or at least you did when Frontier was FIOS. Any chance the Ethernet cable you are using is bad?

Do you have TV from Frontier? If yes how are you feeding it signal? When I had FIOS the cleanest setup was to double NAT my router behind the Actiontec or as CrystalLattice said use the AC68 as an AP.

 

[Ajax]

We don't have gigabyte out here yet, but the ONT was setup with ethernet and not coax because I only pay for internet service and have no intention of getting TV. The ethernet cable itself is the same when I switch between the two routers so I don't think there's any problems there (he said hopefully).

If I have to use the Actiontec to get things working then I'd like it to play a very minimal role in ensuring I'm getting the connection speed I'm paying for. Then the Asus continues to serve in the same role as it does now.

I'm not at all familiar with using a router as an AP nor setting things up with double NAT. I found some instructions here that talk about setting up the MI424 as a bridge, but honestly I don't know the advantages/disadvantages of any particular setup so insight there would be appreciated. It looks like the Actiontec supports Gigabit LAN so that hopefully means I won't see a slowdown there.

 

[CaptainSTX]

While you search for a solution I would simply double NAT your ASUS router behind the Actiontec. I have used the Actiontec when I had FIOS and it isn't a bad router and will not cause you any problems in your network. If you need port forwarding it wil be more complicated and you won't be able to use DNS on the ASUS unless you come with a solution beyond what the GUI makes possible.

ON THE ACTIONTEC

1. Turn off the 2.4 Ghz radio unless you have a need for it.

2. Run an Ethernet cable from any LAN port to the WAN port of the ASUS.

ON THE ASUS

1. For the WAN IP tell the ASUS to get it automatically.

2. For the LAN you must select a different subnet than the Actiontec. If the Actiontec was 192.168.1.1-254 you could use 192.168.200.1 as the router's LAN IP and then the DHCP server on the ASUS would assign IPs in the range of 192.168.200.0/24.

Rebot the ASUS after saving the settings and you will be good to go.

 

[Ajax]

I've tried a number of different ways of connecting using the Actiontec.

1. Changing the MAC address on the Asus to match the Actiontec.
2. Double NAT (simply connecting my Asus WAN port to a LAN port on the ActionTec).
3. Setting up the NAT as a network bridge.
4. Putting the Asus into the Actiontec's DMZ.

Only the 1st and 2nd method functioned, but in neither case did my speed ever test higher than 30/30. Only when I remove the Asus from the equation and plug directly to the Actiontec do I see 50/50.

I'm willing to concede that there may be something in the configuration of the Asus that needs to be changed, but what that would be (and why) is elusive at this point. All-in-all, this is rather frustrating.

 

[Ajax]

Finally, a resolution.

It was the QOS settings.

For some reason I had manually set it to 30/30 when I initially enabled that. It never occurred to me to check that particular setting until I had a suggestion from another board. So I set it to "Automatic" instead, retested, and sure enough I'm getting near enough to 50/50 to be quite happy.

I do appreciate the help here of course. It was helpful going through the different suggestions as it narrowed down the scope of the problem.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Finally, a resolution.

It was the QOS settings.

For some reason I had manually set it to 30/30 when I initially enabled that. It never occurred to me to check that particular setting until I had a suggestion from another board. So I set it to "Automatic" instead, retested, and sure enough I'm getting near enough to 50/50 to be quite happy.

I do appreciate the help here of course. It was helpful going through the different suggestions as it narrowed down the scope of the problem.

Damn... the default solution, factory default reset, would have fixed it!

OE

 

[sfx2000]

It was the QOS settings.

Don't feel bad - it's an easy one to miss... I have done the same thing on another platform where the QoS shapers were not updated after increasing the bandwidth on the WAN link.

(upside there is that my bufferbloat stats looked really, really good, and the connection quality was rock solid, lol)