RT-AXE7800 Bandwidth Drop - More troubleshooting tips?

[mccainmw]

I have (2) RT-AXE7800s in mesh (upstairs/downstairs). I have a 1Gbps ATT fiber connection and Wi-fi speeds had normally been quite good. Speed tests were in the 800 Mbps range consistently...upload and download. A few weeks ago, that changed. Depending on what speed test I use (Speedtest.net or TestMyNet), I am lucky to hit 600Mbps (sometimes it is considerably lower...e.g. 200 Mbps range). This is on Windows devices and Android phone. Using the speed test in Asus GUI I can sometimes get 600Mbps download and 800+Mbps upload (not sure why upload would consistently be faster). I've tested the speed at the Gateway (ATT) and it shows 950+Mbps download and upload (so I'm ruling that out as a problem). Troubleshooting so far

- Reset both routers and re-loaded saved settings. When I get an hour, I may do resets on both and see what happens if I set it up from scratch..i.e. some setting got corrupted or something.
- Changed channels and channel widths (especially 5GHz band). I am currently using 11 on 2.4GHz w/ 20/40Hz option. Channel 36 (doesn't appear congested per Wifiman) w/ 20/40/80/160Hz option.
- Toggled QOS on (no change) and then back off
- Turned IPV6 off, tested (no change), and then back on

Other recommendations?

 

[bennor]

For context you may want to include the firmware version running on both ) RT-AXE7800s.
Are the speed issues present for devices connected to the main router? Or is it only confined to the devices connected to the AiMesh node (the 2nd RT-AXE7800)?
How are the main router and AiMesh node connected? By WiFi or by Ethernet backhaul? If by WiFi have you tried or considered using Ethernet backhaul instead?
How is the broadband provider's upstream gateway/router configured? Is it configured for bridge or passthrough mode? Sometimes ATT provided equipment doesn't play nice with down stream customer personally connected third party routers.

Standard troubleshooting suggestion with nothing else works. Do a hard factory reset on both routers. Configure the main router manually, do not import a saved router.cfg file. Do just enough manual configuration to get the router up and running, then test the speed. If the speed is what it should be, then slowly start configuring the router and AiMesh node to your use case one change at a time, testing the speed along the way. That may help locate or identify what might be causing your speed issue.

 

[mccainmw]

My apologies...thanks for the additional questions. Last case, as mentioned was to do a factory reset on both and, instead of importing settings file, I would try again to manually enter things back...a little at a time.

- Firmware on both routers is 3.0.0.4.388_25144-ge0cbd4e (released a few days ago...but issue was occurring before it)
- Issue affects both the main router and the mesh router
- I have the gateway configured for passthrough...I was told that was correct and it has been that way since system was set up
- It is Wi-fi back haul.

The other interesting thing I left out is that if I have NordVPN enabled the speed is very high (850Mbps+). This issue is for non-VPN use. Speed degradation should be reversed, right?

 

[bennor]

Last case, as mentioned was to do a factory reset on both and, instead of importing settings file, I would try again to manually enter things back...a little at a time.

As an FYI for the future. Generally with Asus routers, a "reset" (aka standard reset or factory default reset) and a "hard factory reset" are two different methods and do slightly different forms of resetting the router. It wasn't clear from your initial post which reset method you were going to perform or had performed.

[Wireless Router] How to reset the router to factory default setting? | Official Support | ASUS Global

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS Global

Does a computer wired to the main router show any speed degradation?
Does the issue affect the main router if it hasn't been configured with a AiMesh node added?
You may want to post your Wireless settings (from the main router) and the AiMesh node settings with sensitive information redacted just in case others see something amiss with how you have the settings configured.
And you indicated things changed a few weeks ago. What else changed around that time? Did you update the routers firmware(s)? Make any network changes?

 

[mccainmw]

First...thank you for responding and offering advice...much appreciated. I can answer some of your questions now:
- Unfortunately, I don't have a readily available wired means to the main router. Laptop doesn't have ethernet connection. Likewise, the desktop I'm using upstairs (near the mesh node) only has a 1Gbps connection. I did try it in the past but my Intel AX210 pcie adapter was considerably faster.
- If/when I get a chance to take the network down (i.e. give the kids/wife notice that there will be no Internet for a while) this weekend I'll start with seeing what happens when I disconnect the mesh node and test near the main router only.
- Nothing changed that I'm aware of. Admittedly, after like a year, Asus has posted 2 - 3 firmware updates in the past few months. No other changes. If it only affected my Windows machines with Intel wifi adapters, I might think it was a driver issue (up-to-date by the way)...but it affects my Pixel 9 Pro too. Right now, these two 6E routers (even though not top-of-the-line) are barely performing better than the Linksys EA9500V2 and RE9000 router and extender they replaced a year ago.
- When I said reset I meant a factory reset...paper clip to the button on the bottom resetting the machine back to factory defaults and losing all settings. However, like you said, maybe a setting is now corrupt, or a firmware update messed something up.

I'm not sure if there is a way to export settings to a text document, and there are too many screens to take screen shots of everything. However, the main settings I configured are:

- Smart Connect = Off; Three separate SSIDs (2.4, 5, and 6).
- AI Mesh. All settings "default/auto." Connection says "Great."
- AI Protection - Off; Parental Controls - Off; QOS - Off; Traffic Analyzer - Off; Game - Off; Open NAT (port forwarding - Off); AI Cloud - Off; Amazon Alexa - Off
- USB - I have an external USB drive for streaming attached. Only issue with it is transfer speeds are slow (20 MB/s)
- Wireless. 2.4 GHz (channel 11, wpa2/3, 20/40Hz, AES); 5GHz (channel 36, 20/40/80/160Hz, WPA2/3, AES); 6GHz (Auto channel/enable PSC, 20/40/80/160Hz, WPA3-Personal, AES, WPA Pre-shared Key has dots); Only changes to Professional are DTIM = 3; Beacon Interval = 1000...though nothing changed when I left at default 1 and 100, respectively
- LAN. All default settings
- WAN. Automatic IP; Changed DNS server to Quad9; No other changes
- IPV6. Enabled. I've tried Native and Passthrough. No difference. Per Asus notes it should be passthrough based on DHCP setting. Turning this off also didn't change performance. DNS = Quad9
- VPN - Off
- Firewall. All default values