SocratesPrime
New Around Here
Hello guys,
I am very new to all this, so please be patient.
I got my first aftermarket router Asus Ax11000 just this very week, and it was simply awesome with the stock firmware. However, I faced some issues when adding pihole, and everything I read pointed me to using Merlin.
First off, Merlin is simply awesome. I downloaded the latest version for my router, which is version 388.2.
At first, I was surprised when I noticed it had two files, but I quickly realized that the primary distinction was the ROG skin. So I went with the ROG skin that was named "GT-AX11000_388.2_2_rog_ubi.w"
It was super easy to update the firmware, and I was able to set up my pihole perfectly. All good.
Now, the problem starts.
You see, for my wifi configuration, I have disabled Wifi-5ghz-2 and only use the 2.4ghz and Wifi-5ghz-1 . This works well for me, as my tv and phone uses the 5ghz and my IOT devices run on the 2.4ghz. Before installing Merlin, everything seemed to be running perfectly, I was getting excellent speeds on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz-1. For my testing, I run my speed test locally using LibreSpeed (a simple app that allows you to test lan speed from my Home Media Server). From my s23 ultra, I was able to get about 1400mbs-1500mbs up and down, which is insane since it's faster than my Gaming PC connected via gigabit ethernet. For internet, I get about 800mbs up and down on the phone. From the desktop, connected via ethernet, internet is 920mbs up and down. (My Internet Plan is 1gigabit fiber)
After I got Merlin, my speeds were not as good. The Lan speed from the phone was now 800mbs up and 1000mbs up. Desktop speeds remain the same. The funny thing is sometimes, it would randomly go to 1200mbs down on the lan test, but most times it was at 800mbs or less. For the internet test, I was now getting 500-600mbs down, much lower than the 700-800 I used to get from before. I only had the router on stock for a full day before deciding to go with Merlin, so who knows, maybe stock has the same issue, and I probably didn't notice.
I tried troubleshooting this myself.
I figured perhaps, it was something to do with my pihole, so I put everything on DNS back to default, but this didn't change anything.
Then I thought it was perhaps other devices on 5ghz wifi, so I restricted wifi access to only my phone and same same issue.
Finally, I decided I would restore back to factory, and test speeds, every single step of the way. I wiped everything using the checkbox in the admin page, and it booted with a clean version of Merlin. I first started with removing all ethernet connected devices, except my desktop, and disabled all Wifi except 5ghz1, and I tested multiple times over the hour. Since my server was not connected, my test was only over internet, and the speeds were consistently fast and stable. Then I proceeded to add my Server, and I managed to test the LAN speeds, and it was so freakingly fast just as day 1. 1400mbs-1500mbs, sometimes faster. So clearly, it was not the ethernet devices.
Now, I enabled my 2.4ghz wifi, and all of a sudden my speed on the 5ghz dropped significantly back to the problem speeds. I disabled the 2.4ghz, and then the speed was super fast again. Clearly, the issue was coming from the 2.4ghz, or at least something connected to it. So I changed the SSID for the 2.4ghz, so that no other device could connect to it, and that brought us back to the super fast speeds on the 5ghz wifi. So from here, I figured one of the IOT devices must have been messing up with the speeds. I have about 20 IOT devices, mainly lights, so you can imagine how tricky it would be to diagnose if a particular one was causing the issue. I decided it would be a great idea to create a GUEST network with the 2.4ghz SSID, and put all the IOT devices on there without the capability to communicate over lan. Yeah, that was a very dumb idea, because as soon as I created the GUEST wifi, my 5ghz speeds dropped down to less than half of what they used to be, lol. I was so shocked. Not a single device were even connected on the 2.4ghz, but the max speed I got for internet on 5ghz was 450mbs. I restarted the router multiple times, still same results. So I disabled the guest network, then back to the fast speeds. Is this a normal behavior for the router. Clearly, none of my IOT devices were connected so they could not have been culprit.
TLDR:
Enabling guest network for Wifi 2.4ghz is creating significantly slow speeds on Wifi 5ghz. Is this normal? Did I just find a bug? What can I do to fix this.
In the meantime, I'm going to troubleshoot each iot device, one at a time to see which one is culprit. It'd take a while, hopefully, I get some responses on here before then. Thank you.
I am very new to all this, so please be patient.
I got my first aftermarket router Asus Ax11000 just this very week, and it was simply awesome with the stock firmware. However, I faced some issues when adding pihole, and everything I read pointed me to using Merlin.
First off, Merlin is simply awesome. I downloaded the latest version for my router, which is version 388.2.
At first, I was surprised when I noticed it had two files, but I quickly realized that the primary distinction was the ROG skin. So I went with the ROG skin that was named "GT-AX11000_388.2_2_rog_ubi.w"
It was super easy to update the firmware, and I was able to set up my pihole perfectly. All good.
Now, the problem starts.
You see, for my wifi configuration, I have disabled Wifi-5ghz-2 and only use the 2.4ghz and Wifi-5ghz-1 . This works well for me, as my tv and phone uses the 5ghz and my IOT devices run on the 2.4ghz. Before installing Merlin, everything seemed to be running perfectly, I was getting excellent speeds on both 2.4ghz and 5ghz-1. For my testing, I run my speed test locally using LibreSpeed (a simple app that allows you to test lan speed from my Home Media Server). From my s23 ultra, I was able to get about 1400mbs-1500mbs up and down, which is insane since it's faster than my Gaming PC connected via gigabit ethernet. For internet, I get about 800mbs up and down on the phone. From the desktop, connected via ethernet, internet is 920mbs up and down. (My Internet Plan is 1gigabit fiber)
After I got Merlin, my speeds were not as good. The Lan speed from the phone was now 800mbs up and 1000mbs up. Desktop speeds remain the same. The funny thing is sometimes, it would randomly go to 1200mbs down on the lan test, but most times it was at 800mbs or less. For the internet test, I was now getting 500-600mbs down, much lower than the 700-800 I used to get from before. I only had the router on stock for a full day before deciding to go with Merlin, so who knows, maybe stock has the same issue, and I probably didn't notice.
I tried troubleshooting this myself.
I figured perhaps, it was something to do with my pihole, so I put everything on DNS back to default, but this didn't change anything.
Then I thought it was perhaps other devices on 5ghz wifi, so I restricted wifi access to only my phone and same same issue.
Finally, I decided I would restore back to factory, and test speeds, every single step of the way. I wiped everything using the checkbox in the admin page, and it booted with a clean version of Merlin. I first started with removing all ethernet connected devices, except my desktop, and disabled all Wifi except 5ghz1, and I tested multiple times over the hour. Since my server was not connected, my test was only over internet, and the speeds were consistently fast and stable. Then I proceeded to add my Server, and I managed to test the LAN speeds, and it was so freakingly fast just as day 1. 1400mbs-1500mbs, sometimes faster. So clearly, it was not the ethernet devices.
Now, I enabled my 2.4ghz wifi, and all of a sudden my speed on the 5ghz dropped significantly back to the problem speeds. I disabled the 2.4ghz, and then the speed was super fast again. Clearly, the issue was coming from the 2.4ghz, or at least something connected to it. So I changed the SSID for the 2.4ghz, so that no other device could connect to it, and that brought us back to the super fast speeds on the 5ghz wifi. So from here, I figured one of the IOT devices must have been messing up with the speeds. I have about 20 IOT devices, mainly lights, so you can imagine how tricky it would be to diagnose if a particular one was causing the issue. I decided it would be a great idea to create a GUEST network with the 2.4ghz SSID, and put all the IOT devices on there without the capability to communicate over lan. Yeah, that was a very dumb idea, because as soon as I created the GUEST wifi, my 5ghz speeds dropped down to less than half of what they used to be, lol. I was so shocked. Not a single device were even connected on the 2.4ghz, but the max speed I got for internet on 5ghz was 450mbs. I restarted the router multiple times, still same results. So I disabled the guest network, then back to the fast speeds. Is this a normal behavior for the router. Clearly, none of my IOT devices were connected so they could not have been culprit.
TLDR:
Enabling guest network for Wifi 2.4ghz is creating significantly slow speeds on Wifi 5ghz. Is this normal? Did I just find a bug? What can I do to fix this.
In the meantime, I'm going to troubleshoot each iot device, one at a time to see which one is culprit. It'd take a while, hopefully, I get some responses on here before then. Thank you.
