AX86 Giving Slow Speeds (Brand New)

[JChoi]

JChoi, I just wanted to point out before that if any other services are running through that full services Home Hub modem/router at the same time you are running those speed tests on the Asus router then you could see a drop in speed for that test... and as it was pointed out before... You shouldn't be using a 2.4Ghz Wifi connection for any internet speed tests.... except to test the quality of your Wifi connections with specific devices. Use a 5Ghz Wifi for your Wifi tests.

Any Wifi speed tests that you run are not only dependent on the router but those also rely on the quality of the device's Wifi that you are using. If that device is only capable of 400Mhz - 500Mhz throughput using 5Ghz Wifi then no matter what router you use that will be your maximum internet speed. You would need to upgrade your devices... for example from an older iPhone to a new iPhone 12 that supports AX/Wifi 6 before you experience full Wifi speeds that the AX86U router is capable of.

I understand that. 5ghz being 5 - 7 ft from the modem with nothing in between... Should give me a decent speed no? I'm on a Samsung Note 10+ Which is capable of much higher speeds than the screen shot stated of 200-300 mbps.

Did you check wired speeds to exclude issues with the radios (Ethernet to LAN port router)?
Yes This is where I'm getting 400 mbps download and 500 upload MAX. instead of my 940 / 940 when directly connected to Modem.

This makes zero sense to me. I always get the same speed no matter if I hook up my PC to the modem directly or to the router LAN port, should not matter.
Get a new router?

I thought so too... It literally made no sense to me which is why I went back to Bestbuy and exchanged it for a new one... but the results were still the same.

 

[ColinTaylor]

How are you testing the wired connection between the Asus and your computer (that gives 400Mbps)? Laptop or PC? Ethernet NIC or USB to Ethernet adapter? etc.

 

[SoCalReviews]

I understand that. 5ghz being 5 - 7 ft from the modem with nothing in between... Should give me a decent speed no? I'm on a Samsung Note 10+ Which is capable of much higher speeds than the screen shot stated of 200-300 mbps.

The Samsung Note 10+ should be good but it also depends on the quality of the 5Ghz signal in your area. If you are in an apartment building or near a lot of neighbors using 5Ghz Wifi then that quality of throughput goes down.

I am getting better connection speeds than what you are saying with my AX86U routers and I'm using older AC and N devices (including Samsung and Apple). There must be something else involved but you will have to experiment with the settings and figure that out... for example there are some Wifi solutions to improve device compatibility posted in this form for where you can try disabling beam forming in the Asus router Wifi settings.

It might seem counter intuitive at first but try doing your 5Ghz testing farther than 5 - 7 ft from the router... maybe as far as one room away... Why? because the Wifi throughput with 5Ghz on modern AC and AX routers can actually improve when the signal is able to reflect off more objects in the environment (which causes slight time signal delays that the Wifi router uses to it's advantage) and being too close to the router doesn't allow for that.

 

[JChoi]

It appears to be this Bell Home Hub 3000 model of modem/wifi router combination with the AX86U plugged into one of the LAN ports of that modem/router. I think the 400Mbps is from the Asus router and the 940Mbps is what the Bell modem/router is showing as it's current throughput.

This setup would be a "double NAT" since it is essentially using two routers with DHCP for the address... according to the Bel support site... the Bel Home Hub defaults to 192.168.2.1 and the AX86U router defaults to 192.168.1.1 (as I remember as default)... so the Asus should show it has been given a DHCP IP address from the Home Hub modem/router in the 192.168.2.x range. Double NAT should work ok except for some reason he says the speed from the Asus router is degraded compared to plugging directly into the Home Hub modem/router.

This looks like some type of compatibility speed issue between the Ethernet ports of the Home Hub and the Asus. It could also be some issue with the Ethernet cable itself but that is less likely.

My Router's Lan IP is like 192.168.50.1 Not sure if that changes anything.

 

[JChoi]

How are you testing the wired connection between the Asus and your computer (that gives 400Mbps)? Laptop or PC? Ethernet NIC or USB to Ethernet adapter? etc.

By Changing the direct line from my Computer to Modem to Computer to Asus Router.

 

[JChoi]

The Samsung Note 10+ should be good but it also depends on the quality of the 5Ghz signal in your area. If you are in an apartment building or near a lot of neighbors using 5Ghz Wifi then that quality of throughput goes down.

I am getting better connection speeds than what you are saying with my AX86U routers and I'm using older AC and N devices. There must be something else involved but you will have to experiment with the settings and figure that out... for example there are some Wifi solutions to improve device compatibility posted in this form for where you can try disabling beam forming in the Asus router Wifi settings.

Yea my friends all even say they are getting way better speeds with their AC routers and all... I'm in a detached home. I changed the channel to 157 which no one is on for 5ghz... and standing literally 2 ft from the router now... Testing and still only getting 300 mbps download at most and 700 mbps Upload.

 

[ColinTaylor]

By Changing the direct line from my Computer to Modem to Computer to Asus Router.

No, I mean... You have one Ethernet cable between the Hub and the Asus. You have another Ethernet cable between the Asus and your computer.

a) The second cable between the Asus and your computer... have you tried using a different cable?
b) Is your computer a laptop or a PC?
c) What type of Ethernet adapter does your computer have?

 

[JChoi]

No, I mean... You have one Ethernet cable between the Hub and the Asus. You have another Ethernet cable between the Asus and your computer.

a) The second cable between the Asus and your computer... have you tried using a different cable?
b) Is your computer a laptop or a PC?
c) What type of Ethernet adapter does your computer have?

That's correct.
a) It's hard to use a second cable as it's ran through the walls. but I don't think it's the Cat6e cable that is the problem because when I connect that line directly to my modem not to the asus router I get the full 940 Down / 940 up that my computer Desktop is capable of handling.

b) Desktop... I have a Laptop for just changing the Settings on the Wifi

c) Onboard ethernet adapter which the motherboard is a Asus Strix z370 EGaming. It's able to handle 1000 mbps

 

[SoCalReviews]

My Router's Lan IP is like 192.168.50.1 Not sure if that changes anything.

That's the default starting IP address for AX86U routers... and no it doesn't really matter... except to make sure there are no conflicts with your IP addresses. As I mentioned before... do your 5Ghz testing farther away from the router and see if that helps the Wifi throughput speed.

 

[SoCalReviews]

That's correct.
a) It's hard to use a second cable as it's ran through the walls. but I don't think it's the Cat6e cable that is the problem because when I connect that line directly to my modem not to the asus router I get the full 940 Down / 940 up that my computer Desktop is capable of handling.

b) Desktop... I have a Laptop for just changing the Settings on the Wifi

c) Onboard ethernet adapter which the motherboard is a Asus Strix z370 EGaming. It's able to handle 1000 mbps

It could be some type of compatibility issue between the Asus router LAN port and the computer desktop...or still some issue with the Ethernet cabling but I'll let ColinTaylor chime in on this one since it was his question.

 

[JChoi]

Interesting Update,
I just plugged in my Cat6e cable directly to my computer again.... and for some reason without changing anything or cables... i'm getting my full speed of 940/940....

But wifi speeds remain the same

 

[L&LD]

Maybe your cable is the issue? It doesn't seem to have any standards to live up to.

What is the difference between CAT6 and CAT6e? | ICC

 

[JChoi]

Maybe your cable is the issue? It doesn't seem to have any standards to live up to.

What is the difference between CAT6 and CAT6e? | ICC

Cable is fine. Getting full speed now..
It's the wifi being slow... Getting 400mbps on 5g right now only on me and my girlfriends Note10+... 2.4 can't even cross 100 mbps

 

[ColinTaylor]

Cable is fine. Getting full speed now..
It's the wifi being slow... Getting 400mbps on 5g right now only on me and my girlfriends Note10+... 2.4 can't even cross 100 mbps

On the Asus go to System Log > Wireless Log and check the bandwidth being used for each band and the Tx and Rx rates of your WiFi clients.

 

[L&LD]

As I already mentioned in post two, forget testing on 2.4GHz.

The cable may not be fine. If you are also using this type of cable between the modem/ONT and router (that was my original point).

What settings, options, and features have you played with on the router?

I have found that setting certain options and turning them off afterward is not the same as not turning them on at all (after a full reset).

 

[JChoi]

As I already mentioned in post two, forget testing on 2.4GHz.

The cable may not be fine. If you are also using this type of cable between the modem/ONT and router (that was my original point).

What settings, options, and features have you played with on the router?

I have found that setting certain options and turning them off afterward is not the same as not turning them on at all (after a full reset).

Haven't played with much settings / options. I changed the bandwidth Mhz before, turned on and off QoS / AI Protection / NAT.
Changed to specific channels

 

[ColinTaylor]

It looks higher than what speedtest.net gives me for the 5g devices

Do you have a laptop with 5GHz that you can test with? I've found that phone/tablet devices rarely give meaningful results.

 

[L&LD]

Haven't played with much settings / options. I changed the bandwidth Mhz before, turned on and off QoS / AI Protection / NAT.
Changed to specific channels

I should have bet you played with QoS.

Reset the router once again and don't touch that setting going forward, or at least as long as you have 1GbE speeds from your ISP.

 

[JChoi]

I should have bet you played with QoS.

Reset the router once again and don't touch that setting going forward, or at least as long as you have 1GbE speeds from your ISP.

I have 1gbps via ethernet to my desktop right now.

Do you have a laptop with 5GHz that you can test with? I've found that phone/tablet devices rarely give meaningful results.

I'm not sure if my laptop has 5ghz. That's a good question.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I'm not sure if my laptop has 5ghz. That's a good question.

You won't get more than 80 to 90 Mbps in speed tests using 2.4GHz (for devices with two antennas). Less than that for devices with one antenna.