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Gigabit assistance on an Asus RT-AC3200 / Surfboard S33 modem

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willyburz

Senior Member
Just got an S33 modem and running gig into my AC3200. Hardwire testing is pretty solid around 710-750 Meg. My wireless on my good chromebooks with 2x2, and phone are more around 400-580 ish down. Any settings or something I'm missing here?! Am I bottlenecked, or whats up? Maybe I'm expecting too much on the wifi stats?!
 
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Just got an S33 modem and running gig into my AC3200. Hardwire testing is pretty solid around 710-750 Meg. My wireless on my good chromebooks with 2x2, and phone are more around 400-580 ish down. Any settings or something I'm missing here?! Am I bottlenecked, or whats up? Maybe I'm expecting too much on the wifi stats?!

Connecting at 866 link rate half-duplex and getting 580 sounds ok.

OE
 
Thank you for some clarity. Not to deep dive, but a couple more questions.

1. What Asus AC performance router could I maybe move to in order to squeeze a bit more out of my speed. I have one AX device but that speed would drop off quick, so may just dial up to a quicker AC model/stronger throw distance model, unless you feel it's completely not worth it.

2. On the S33 modem, instructions show to plug into 2.5 jack as main, but ethernet jack blinks orange like I'm not in a gigabit chain, but I am. When I plug it into the 1 gig jack, it locks blinking green?!?! Speeds seem to be the same on either jack?! What could this be and what do you think I should do? Company says I am testing 1.3 at the modem when I was plugged into 2.5 gig jack. Side note I'm all cat 5E as well.

3. I am running a gig 8 port switch as well for in house wiring, anything I can do to possibly pull more speed off the wired? I did just use my series X as the test, the xbox live server in general may be why Im pulling lower 550-725 or so.

Just looking for whatever feedback and assistance you can give on this. Appreciate it!
 
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1. The RT-AC68U and the RT-AX58U and the (coming) RT-AX68U and of course the RT-AX88U and the RT-AX86U will all be noticeably superior to the RT-AC3200 you're using now, for pure Wi-Fi throughput. Ignore the RT-AX58U if you also need VPN speeds to be as fast as possible.

2. Cat5e allows 2.5GbE speeds for short runs (I'm using a 100' run between two RT-AX86U's 2.5GbE Ports, for example). With the speed you're paying for and the router you currently have, you won't notice much difference. The different colors are indicators of the speeds negotiated.

3. See 1. Don't put anything between them and the device(s) you want the fastest speeds from.
 
Thanks for the Router options, those match up with some of what I was looking at. Appreciate the feedback!

I don't think I have runs in the house much over 100 feet, most much less than that. I have multiple gaming consoles hardwired, so I modem into switch out to the gaming systems, and to the centralized point for router/wifi.

Now I just need to see why the 2.5 port flashes amber on the S33, but the 1 gig port flashes Green like it should. All my devices are gig, so it's odd. The speed tests seem to run the same as well on either port.
 
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I have a good feeling for the RT-AX68U, if/when RMerlin decides to support it, but right now it's an unknown quantity.

The RT-AX86U on the other hand is hands down the best consumer router I have ever used.
 
Hows do you feel the signal strength/speed/distance is compared on the 5hz channels between the AX88U vs the AX86U

Or let me ask it this way. What makes the AX86U better in your opinion over the AX88U?
 
I don't really pay attention to signal strength as a 'number'. I stopped doing that many years ago. Wastes too much time for little direct benefits. As it does not (always) correlate to anything important in a customer's home (stability, throughput, or reliability); there are other (non-Wi-Fi) factors that affect those important aspects too, and signal strength doesn't factor those in.

In other words, there is no single aspect that we can measure and point to and then say, 'the network will be 'great' now'.

In my customers' homes, where I've installed the RT-AX88U and the RT-AX86U, they have both exceeded mine and my customer's expectations.

The latter replacing an ISP's router and many 'extenders' with more throughput, more reliability/stability, and a more responsive network overall (the difference was night and day actually) in their 3-story home. Here, I was expecting to exchange the router and put in the RT-AX88U instead. Glad I was proved wrong by the RT-AX86U.

In my own home, when I first tested the RT-AX86U vs my 1-year-old RT-AX88U, there was no doubt that the RT-AX86U (even with 'semi-broken' Beta 1 firmware) was the superior model when the lowest latency is appreciated and wanted. When I had a chance to use two in an AiMesh network (around 386.1 Beta 2), I was sold on AiMesh v2.0. When I connected the two RT-AX86U's via their 2.5GbE ports for wired backhaul mode, I had to buy another router for my customer (the one I was 'testing' with was bought for a customer originally). The RT-AX88U was sold and is performing beyond expectations for a customer with ISP speeds of 1/3 of mine.

What makes the RT-AX86U better than the two-year-old RT-AX88U is the new 2.5GbE RJ45 Port (all ports should be 2.5/5.0GbE minimum going forward), updates to the RF design, component choices, and no doubt, the under the hood programming/coding improvements that get the most from essentially the same hardware (and that, just on Beta 3 or Alpha 4 today).

The router that most impressed me originally for everything, but particularly the wired performance on the network was the oldie but goldie, RT-N66U (what a great introduction to Asus and RMerlin firmware).

The router that most impressed me originally for the range was the RT-AC3100. Great router for larger homes and/or slower ISP connections.

The router that most impressed me originally for network responsiveness was the RT-AC86U, but that router doesn't support my AX client devices today (and for over a year now).

The RT-AX88U had all the above qualities and more, in one router. An interesting point is that with AiMesh (v1.0) and even 2 RT-AX88U's or an RT-AX88U (main) and RT-AX58U (node) in my home, I always went back to the single router in the end.

With a single, less expensive, RT-AX86U in my home, the network was now demonstrably superior. Higher throughput, lower latency, and as much reach/range as I need.

Why do I have two RT-AX86U's then in AiMesh v2.0 wired backhaul mode then? Because this not only gives me a 4 port, 1GbE 'switch' at the far end of the home (for 'free'), but it offers me my full ISP paid-for speeds (Fibre 1Gbps up/down, symmetrical) throughout the home wired or wirelessly. At least for my wired and my AX capable (non-handheld) devices. :)
 
That may be a good idea with the doubling up thought....mmmmmm. Everything comes into my utility room, so that may work. If I go that route I may need some input to set both up properly. I take it router downstairs and then second router set to access point in my centralized location on the main floor? Probably overkill:cool:, but may go that route. Or start with one and see what happens. I was testing 550 on 2x2 last night at a medium distance, so it would only get better with that AX86 along with latency, etc. My wired tests on consoles were hitting 826 or so, so that was awesome.

Thanks again for all the input.
 

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