Asus RT-N16 WAN connection is only 100Mbps

[wayner]

I recently upgraded my internet service from 75Mbps/2Mpbs to 150Mbps/10Mbps. However it appears that my router, which is an Asus RT-N16, is only connecting at 100Mbps so I can only get 2/3 of my ISP download speed. How do I no this? Well the light on my cable modem's port only turns green which indicates 100Mbps rather than blue which indicates 1Gbps. In addition when I plugged the WAN port from my router into a port on my Gigabit switch it also only showed up as 100Mbps. According to documentation this port is supposed to be a Gigabit switch and the WAN-LAN throughput of the router is 141Mbps.

Anyone have any advice on how to troubleshoot? Or should I just buy a newer router?

The router is about 2 years old
It is running DD-WRT (not sure which version).
ISP is Rogers Cable Ultimate.
Cable modem is an SMC 3DGN which is set to bridge mode so that it only acts as a cable modem and not as cable model + router.

While Googling I did see at least one other person with this same issue, but I can't find that post now for some reason.

 

[RMerlin]

Make sure the cable between the modem and the router is labeled Cat5e or Cat6.

 

[TonyH]

Also dd-wrt is not known for speed. Try stock or Merlin f.w. And measure the speed at various time of the day.

 

[wayner]

OK, I will check the cable first since that is a pretty easy solution.

Changing the firmware will mean taking the internet connection down in the house for a while which isn't a popular option so that means it is a late night activity. To facilitate this is there any easy way in migrating my Port fprwarding assignments from DD-WRT to the stock firmware or Merlin? I have a couple of dozen port forwards so it is a bit of a pain to have to rekey this in.

 

[wayner]

Make sure the cable between the modem and the router is labeled Cat5e or Cat6.

To quote Roberto de Vicenzo "What a stupid I am" I was using a crappy old cable that wasn't up to snuff.

 

[RMerlin]

To quote Roberto de Vicenzo "What a stupid I am" I was using a crappy old cable that wasn't up to snuff.

If it makes you feel any better, you ain't the first one to have that problem. That's why I systematically suggest it when someone mentions having serious stability issues with their Internet connection after installing their Asus router - most likely their old router was not Gigabit

 

[DaveMishSr]

If it makes you feel any better, you ain't the first one to have that problem. That's why I systematically suggest it when someone mentions having serious stability issues with their Internet connection after installing their Asus router - most likely their old router was not Gigabit

When I last tried to check Asus support I did not find any mention of using a gigabit-capable cable between the modem and the router. Do they mention this on their support site?

 

[RMerlin]

When I last tried to check Asus support I did not find any mention of using a gigabit-capable cable between the modem and the router. Do they mention this on their support site?

They provide you with an Ethernet cable. If you don't use the provided cable, they can't be blamed for any issue resulting from the cable you chose to use instead