RT-AC68U Performance 2.4 GHz Performance issue

[Amipunk]

Hi all,

just bought a RT-AC68U to replace my Fritz Box 7270 and really happy with the 5Ghz Performance and stability. As I had some issues with the old Router (Buffering playing Videos from Network, change regularly the Channel cause of many Networks around me) I did not expected to get better Performance. After Setting up everything I noticed after some Tests that it become worse than before and compared to the old 7270.

Tested with same Settings (same Channel, 20Mhz, same Laptop Position) and compared playing a Video from the Network in Kodi. With the old Box it works ok, sometimes it Buffers but you can watch the Video mostly. After switching to the AC68U I can't watch longer than a couple of minutes before the Stream hangs and often stops completely. Tested with two Laptops and both have the issue with 2.4 GHz. My Company Laptop can use the 5GHz WLAN where everything is working fine.

Is there any Setting I can made (newest Firmware) to get the Asus Router work like the old Firt Box? I don't expect to get better Results as I knew that the main issue are the amount of 2.4 Networks (more than 20) around me. As I already planing to buy a new Laptop with AC WLAN this issue would be solved shortly, but hope to find a Quick Solution to solve the issue.

 

[Puppa]

There are a number of things you can try. Sounds like major interference. First, what's the firmware revision at? Should end with .9135. If it doesn't, time to update from the ASUS website. (The check for update function in the router's Web UI doesn't always work)

 

[Amipunk]

Will check the Firmware, did not knew the Check for Update is not always working. Beside this I will check the Expert Settings around beamforming what could cause issues with old Wireless Adapters

 

[Amipunk]

Updated to the newest Firmaware, done Reset with Button on the Router. Again Set Up the 2.4 GHz to Channel 1 (Best Score with InSSIDer 70) with 20Mhz.

Still the issue that the Connection is not stable, started pinging the Router and it constantly jumps from 1 to more than 500ms and sometimes timed out. Laptop is 50 cm away. Frustrating

 

[Puppa]

OH! This is that ping issue I saw a while back with Netgear R7000v1, 68R, 87R, and to a lesser extent on the 3200 as well. Can you watch CPU load on the "status" tab from a wired connection while you do this ping test? This could be the main CPU overloading causing it to lose things. FYI, the R7000v1 could pass this test only with SPI (basically, the firewall) turned off. This also worked for the 87R (Firewall disable), but I did not try it on the 68R.

I'm surprised that the 5GHz connection has no issue, but that could be because the interference on 2.4GHz is also increasing CPU load...could you try the same test with ping from that more reliable connection to see if there's a difference?

I wish all the router companies would put just a tad more oomph into the CPU specs for these things: they're expensive enough to warrant it, but I guess the blame for this falls at least partially on the chipset vendor, in this case Broadcom. Despite all the bells and whistles, connection quality, security, and overall stability are the only things I really need from a router.

 

[Amipunk]

Just done some more Testing, did not see anything special on the CPU, just one ore two peaks to 50%, mostly below 5%

Seems that the 5Ghz is just a little more stable, done a longer Test and after 20-3o Minutes Video Playback ran into the same issue.

 

[sfx2000]

Updated to the newest Firmaware, done Reset with Button on the Router. Again Set Up the 2.4 GHz to Channel 1 (Best Score with InSSIDer 70) with 20Mhz.

Still the issue that the Connection is not stable, started pinging the Router and it constantly jumps from 1 to more than 500ms and sometimes timed out. Laptop is 50 cm away. Frustrating

Disable TurboQAM, disable Beamforming in 2.4GHz - ensure you're 20MHz channels (only) and B/G/N mixed should fix the problem...

(in other words, disable all the secret sauce stuff, and make it vanilla 2.4GHz 802.11n HT20 mode)

 

[Amipunk]

Disable TurboQAM, disable Beamforming in 2.4GHz - ensure you're 20MHz channels (only) and B/G/N mixed should fix the problem...

(in other words, disable all the secret sauce stuff, and make it vanilla 2.4GHz 802.11n HT20 mode)

Tested yesterday, disabled the Settings, created new Connection and tested again to stream a Video, same issue.

 

[joegreat]

Tested yesterday, disabled the Settings, created new Connection and tested again to stream a Video, same issue.

Hi,

Do not forget to remove/forget the settings on the client side as well and reconnect to the the new router WLAN.
Also look for a wireless channel which is free and not loaded with other networks (by using a nice tool like Wifi Analyzer).

With kind regards
Joe

 

[Amipunk]

Hi,

Do not forget to remove/forget the settings on the client side as well and reconnect to the the new router WLAN.
Also look for a wireless channel which is free and not loaded with other networks (by using a nice tool like Wifi Analyzer).

With kind regards
Joe

Done so, that was what I mean with "created new Connection" on the Client side. I using the complete time Channel 1 what is actually the best available here. Can see up to 30 WLAN around me what makes it hard. What I don't understand is why the Asus Router can't provide a stable wireless Connection compared to an more than 5 Years old Fritz Box.

The Wired Conenction seems to be fine, no issues with Ping, Browsing the Web / Network Shares or Stream Videos.

 

[Puppa]

Just done some more Testing, did not see anything special on the CPU, just one ore two peaks to 50%, mostly below 5%

Seems that the 5Ghz is just a little more stable, done a longer Test and after 20-3o Minutes Video Playback ran into the same issue.

These CPU peaks, do they occur after you've been sitting on the page for a while? Or just right after you get onto the page?

 

[lepa71]

Have you tried to re-flash fw and reset it again over telnet?

 

[Amipunk]

Not reflashed, just done a last Test yesterday and Reset it to Factory Default by pressing the Button. Just done the Basic Configuration for the Wireless Connection with a simple Name and Key. The Ping looked better (between 1 and 20 ms) so I hoped to be on the right way. I connected my Hard Disk Recorder via LAN and tested again to Stream a Video from a SMB Share in Kodi and it crashed after one Minute. My Laptop was around 20 cm away from the Router and it seemed to have a bad Connection. Tried to open the Share via Windows Explorer where it often needs several seconds just to open a Folder.

Frustrated from this I just changed back to my old Fritz Box 7270, same location and same Channels etc. and it is working fine. Tested in the next room with a wall between and let a Video run for more than an hour without any issue.

Think I will send it back, as I think a Router should work out of the Box with this setup.

 

[Amipunk]

Ok, tested again and set it up as Access Point connected to my Fritz Box. First it looked like it is better had much better Ping Results. Then tested to play a Video from my Recorder and again the Stream stopped randomly.

Then tested with a USB Stick at the Router, added the SMB Share to Kodi and a test for 20 minutes worked in the 2.4 Ghz. No errors in the Logs. Not sure why, but it looks like the Asus Router has issues with my VUDuo Box. Tried to add the SMB share again with no Success.