GT-BE19000AI Issue

[AlphaGator1]

Don't be surprised, ISP DNS is the fastest. It's one hop away and sends your request to local resources.

I switched back to ISP DNS...will test tonight

 

[Tech9]

I know the router won't be intercepting it

Not sure what do you mean by "intercepting it". ISP DNS is like any other upstream DNS service.

 

[AlphaGator1]

Not sure what do you mean by "intercepting it". ISP DNS is like any other upstream DNS service.

I mean disabling "Advertise router's IP in addition to user-specified DNS"...my understanding is that setting add's the router as a middleman for DNS and disabling allows everything to go directly to the ISP's DNS. I don't fully understand this setting, but disabling it fixed my lag without any adverse effects.

 

[Tech9]

Use Search for the difference between WAN and LAN DNS settings.

 

[jzchen]

I switched back to ISP DNS...will test tonight

There's a customizable DNS comparator on the Dashboard page. You can add your ISP DNSes to the list. It will compare all of them with the fastest at the top. For the longest time Google was quickest for me here in Southern California, but lately the primary AT&T DNS has topped the list as fastest.

For whatever reason setting the primary and secondary WAN DNS tends to make the comparator test them as "artificially" slower, so sometimes I will change both to other DNS servers completely, check the results, then switch back to my preference.

Be very careful if you are enabling IPv6. I haven't touched anything on the LAN DNS settings as it seems very sensitive, even crashing the Ai router...

 

[AlphaGator1]

There's a customizable DNS comparator on the Dashboard page. You can add your ISP DNSes to the list. It will compare all of them with the fastest at the top. For the longest time Google was quickest for me here in Southern California, but lately the primary AT&T DNS has topped the list as fastest.

For whatever reason setting the primary and secondary WAN DNS tends to make the comparator test them as "artificially" slower, so sometimes I will change both to other DNS servers completely, check the results, then switch back to my preference.

Be very careful if you are enabling IPv6. I haven't touched anything on the LAN DNS settings as it seems very sensitive, even crashing the Ai router...

OK, thanks for that!

Welp, I lied. It's back to lagging again (haven't tried in several days). I give up. I don't really care about this specific website...I am just annoyed that this is happening, and this just happens to be the one place I notice it. It's not difficult to switch to the AT&T router, but it bothers me that this very expensive ASUS is somehow not faster than my cheap butt AT&T modem/router.

 

[AlphaGator1]

Should I enable MLO maybe? I have the GT6 as my main AI Mesh nodes, with an AC5300 in one of the more remote bedrooms.

 

[jzchen]

@AlphaGator1 That's a pretty complex setup. The GT6 is tri-band but dual 5 GHz. As an AiMesh node each one of those lose control/use of 5 GHz-2 (I suspect). Same with the RT-AC5300 as I just checked it's specs. All nodes including the wired one backhaul directly to the BE19000Ai...

Without seeing the layout, I am hoping you can leave the BE19000Ai as a standalone router, (remove all the rest from it's AiMesh). Set up the Basement GT6 as an Access Point with AiMesh, then try to add the remaining routers to the Basement GT6 as nodes....

I'm not confident this will 100% solve the late evening lag you experience, but it should make for a lot more available bandwidth.... That is how most of my network is setup:

 

[Tech9]

Should I enable MLO maybe?

You may want to enable some reading before purchasing random hardware. You have under 30 clients on 6 (!) routers with mixed limited AiMesh compatibility and radio configurations mismatch. If this system is wired - tri-band models are pointless, if it's wireless - can't have dedicated radios for backhaul. It also exceeds recommended 5 nodes including the main router. Not very clear what value adds $900 router with single limited range 6GHz radio to this picture. It just messes up more the 4x GT6 setup with it's single 5GHz radio. The old RT-AC5300 - this one has to be recycled. When used it potentially slows down the entire network.

 

[AlphaGator1]

You may want to enable some reading before purchasing random hardware. You have under 30 clients on 6 (!) routers with mixed limited AiMesh compatibility and radio configurations mismatch. If this system is wired - tri-band models are pointless, if it's wireless - can't have dedicated radios for backhaul. It also exceeds recommended 5 nodes including the main router. Not very clear what value adds $900 router with single limited range 6GHz radio to this picture. It just messes up more the 4x GT6 setup with it's single 5GHz radio. The old RT-AC5300 - this one has to be recycled. When used it potentially slows down the entire network.

I had just restarted everything when I took that screenshot. I have over 40 clients throughout a very large house (5,200 sqft). The nodes are not about the number of clients though, it's about providing coverage in every room.

 

[degrub]

Have you tried removing the RT-AC5300 as a node and leave it powered off for a day or two and see if the network settles down ?

 

[AlphaGator1]

Have you tried removing the RT-AC5300 as a node and leave it powered off for a day or two and see if the network settles down ?

no, but I will give it a try. that's for a part of the house for guests, and we have none, so I can turn it off.

 

[degrub]

Does the house have CAT5e or CAT6 wiring to the locations ( or even RG6 for that matter) or is it only possible to use wireless backhaul ?

 

[Tech9]

The nodes are not about the number of clients though, it's about providing coverage in every room.

This is wrong equipment for the task. For Wi-Fi in every room you need APs on very low power. AiMesh can't do that, it doesn't have per AP power control. Your routers "shout" as loud as possible, they see each other and wait to receive and transmit data since in AiMesh all of them work on the same channel. Adding more nodes in AiMesh makes it only worse. You talk about AT&T ISP in your other posts. I'm assuming you are in the US and your house is not made of stone. I have 4x APs in ~6000sqft in Canada.

 

[AlphaGator1]

Does the house have CAT5e or CAT6 wiring to the locations ( or even RG6 for that matter) or is it only possible to use wireless backhaul ?

Unfortunately, no CAT wiring. I do have RG6 and am using that to do wired backhaul down to the basement from the 2nd floor using a MoCA device (which works perfectly fine).

 

[Clark Griswald]

Should I enable MLO maybe? I have the GT6 as my main AI Mesh nodes, with an AC5300 in one of the more remote bedrooms.

View attachment 70300

This certainly appears to be an example of spending too much money. A neighbor was in a similar situation (multi-level home 5000sqft with 4-car detached garage on 3/4 acre lot) with over purchasing to "fix" his network. He hired a local IT firm that specialized in office and residential networks. He went from a situation like yours to a significantly simpler network, plus an outdoor AP for his backyard wifi.

 

[degrub]

Unfortunately, no CAT wiring. I do have RG6 and am using that to do wired backhaul down to the basement from the 2nd floor using a MoCA device (which works perfectly fine).

i have my entire house on MOCA in a physical star layout ( pair of moca modems to each destination) providing LAN connection for 4 SMB APs as well as LAN switches. Running 5Ghz band only. The SMB APs have their RF TX power lowered to provide good roaming and coverage. 3,000 sq ft , two story, coverage including outdoor leakage. Never regretted the trade off of less troubleshooting and reliable system versus extra initial cost. Haven't touched it in about a decade.

 

[AlphaGator1]

This certainly appears to be an example of spending too much money. A neighbor was in a similar situation (multi-level home 5000sqft with 4-car detached garage on 3/4 acre lot) with over purchasing to "fix" his network. He hired a local IT firm that specialized in office and residential networks. He went from a situation like yours to a significantly simpler network, plus an outdoor AP for his backyard wifi.

cool

 

[jzchen]

OK, thanks for that!

Welp, I lied. It's back to lagging again (haven't tried in several days). I give up. I don't really care about this specific website...I am just annoyed that this is happening, and this just happens to be the one place I notice it. It's not difficult to switch to the AT&T router, but it bothers me that this very expensive ASUS is somehow not faster than my cheap butt AT&T modem/router.

We have AT&T for both Fiber and Wireless/Cellular. I wasn't sure they would allow backup from cellular due to my wife being the named cellular account holder and my name being on the Internet service, but the AT&T app asked me one day to set it up. Since our BGW320-500 is in fact tri-band (which I didn't realize until turning on both 2.5 and 5 GHz (1 and 2, apparently only allows both on or off).

Are all those nodes using the 5 GHz-2 as backhaul? I could tell by the Topology snip that the basement was wired and the rest wireless. I have a suspicion they are using 5 GHz-1....

 

[Tech9]

Both of you guys @AlphaGator1 and @jzchen have to approach your communications (and perhaps surveillance) infrastructure the same way you approach your other essential electrical, water, drain, gas, fire, HVAC, etc. infrastructure - you call a professional and solve the problem once. The fact no license is required doesn't mean DIY is way to go. It is a waste of money on hardware doing something, somehow.

The 14x mixed make and generation APs in @jzchen house - no comment, SNB Forums Guinness Records application. The 6x APs in @AlphaGator1 house - the existing APs were too many already, but at least were capable of dedicated wireless backhaul. Added $900 AI messed them up with wrong radios configuration, it has features incompatible with the rest of the network and single 6GHz short range localized radio.

If you don't want advice - cool.