RT-N66U not able to get full speeds

[dlandiss]

I'm sorry but I have no idea what this means.

Ethernet cables have 8 conductors configured as 4 twisted pairs. 100Mbps connections (100BASE-T) can work with only 2 pairs (see below). Gigabyte connections (1000BASE-T) need all 4.

 

[Nullity]

The trustworthy router ranker on this site quotes 731.6Mbps throughput for the N66U under careful lab conditions so I don't believe 900! It is very difficult to those speeds on Gigabit LANs let alone WAN. But it is quite likely a function of how an ISP implements your rate limit, latency and tcp/ip window tuning etc. The quoted speed may be a cap and with time domain multiplexing to get the average over say 1s you have to have bursts of much higher for shorter periods. I posted some speedtest results here:-

http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php?threads/max-throughput-of-asus-rt-n66u.71080/

Cable internet WAN type dhcp, I believe pppoe wan connections have extra overhead.

Speedtest.net measures goodput. PPPoE, or other low-level overhead, is not included in the speedtest results. For example, my ADSL is connected at an ATM line-rate of 14975Kbit. At the TCP/IP layers I only get ~12.5Mbit, which is what Speedtest.net measures.

Though, I can't get 900Mbit myself, so I have no idea what sort of setup can achieve that. It sure seems impossible especially with PPPoE overhead.

 

[Reed Beatse]

1) Replace both the Ethernet cable between modem and router and the one between router and computer -Done
2) Turn off your modem for at least 10 minutes, then turn it back on (this is important when moving a modem back and forth between a router and a PC - the ISP needs to fully "reset" the previous session) -Done
3) Make sure your ISP does not have any special requirements (such as MAC cloning, VLANs or MTU value). -Done
4) Try a different port on the router, in case the port itself is defective-Done
5) Make sure the computer's interface is left on auto-negotiate. Don't try to fix it to 100/1000 manually. It is the default settings for the network card which is a Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Card (NDIS 6.30)
6) Try cloning the MAC, on the WAN configuration page. When I did this, I lost all network connectivity. I removed it and then i had connection again.

 

[Reed Beatse]

For your piece of mind, I would buy (with the intent of returning) and test an RT-AC56U instead (and consider testing a $10 1GbE 4 or 5 port switch too). Or, at the very least try another RT-N66U.

You don't need another router. You just need one that works properly.

Does the router and the wired client indicate an 1GbE connection rate?

Looking at Amazon, the RT-AC56U is about 2 years old. Is this the one to get (if it works, I may be able to keep it). Is there a newer model I should be looking at or is this good enough?

 

[L&LD]

Looking at Amazon, the RT-AC56U is about 2 years old. Is this the one to get (if it works, I may be able to keep it). Is there a newer model I should be looking at or is this good enough?

This is more than good enough.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-55-3_hgg-final-mod.26524/page-2#post-199549

Btw, that Killer e2200 may be the source of your woes.

 

[Reed Beatse]

I'll get the router. I'd like to think it was as easy as getting a new card but the laptop had the same problems and it doesn't use the killer e2200. But maybe it is it!

I'll check the router first and then the card comes next.

 

[mstombs]

I have no problem moving large files at 100 MB/s between my desktop and my NAS. Just a Cat6 cable (that I actually crimped myself) between both rooms, linking a pair of cheap 30$ TP-Link switches.

I've never ventured into Cat6 but I have seen some beautiful installations!, 5e should be be good enough for Gigabit, obviously need to find out where bottleneck is, but also not sure I have tested dedicated cables/ lan segments. I have been happy with 30-40MB/s because that proves to me greater than 100Mb/s is achieved! Gigabit Ethernet cable is understated it is full duplex so you can get Giga speeds in both directions - if only wireless could match the claimed connection rates!

 

[RMerlin]

1) Replace both the Ethernet cable between modem and router and the one between router and computer -Done
2) Turn off your modem for at least 10 minutes, then turn it back on (this is important when moving a modem back and forth between a router and a PC - the ISP needs to fully "reset" the previous session) -Done
3) Make sure your ISP does not have any special requirements (such as MAC cloning, VLANs or MTU value). -Done
4) Try a different port on the router, in case the port itself is defective-Done
5) Make sure the computer's interface is left on auto-negotiate. Don't try to fix it to 100/1000 manually. It is the default settings for the network card which is a Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Card (NDIS 6.30)
6) Try cloning the MAC, on the WAN configuration page. When I did this, I lost all network connectivity. I removed it and then i had connection again.

Try disable NAT acceleration (LAN -> Switch Control) in case your ISP isn't fully compatible with Broadcom's secret sauce.

 

[RMerlin]

I've never ventured into Cat6 but I have seen some beautiful installations!, 5e should be be good enough for Gigabit, obviously need to find out where bottleneck is, but also not sure I have tested dedicated cables/ lan segments. I have been happy with 30-40MB/s because that proves to me greater than 100Mb/s is achieved! Gigabit Ethernet cable is understated it is full duplex so you can get Giga speeds in both directions - if only wireless could match the claimed connection rates!

Back in the day, the hardware (and the software) was often the bottleneck rather than the wiring. I remember that back when I was dealing with hordes of PCs equipped with DLink DFE-530TX cards, any throughput test over SMB that gave me 70 Mbps was considered "OK" by my standards. Now that we have faster CPUs, SMB 2.0/3.0 and so on, we are finally able to get close to actual gigabit performance.

I also remember that my first Gigabit-enabled LAN at home was also giving me about 300-400 Mbps. It was a laptop, a desktop, and most likely a Cat 5e cable hooked to some el cheapo switch (I forgot what it was).

 

[Reed Beatse]

Try disable NAT acceleration (LAN -> Switch Control) in case your ISP isn't fully compatible with Broadcom's secret sauce.

No dice, but thanks for the try

 

[kvic]

Perhaps with luck you pick the right cable and can get greater than 100Mbps speed when your laptop is directly connected to the modem.

If you haven't tried, I would put all your cables one by one, connecting the laptop and modem directly and check what speed you get.

This helps ruling out any faulty cables. It cannot be such a myth..

 

[Reed Beatse]

In my tests, I have used the same cable(s)

Modem --> PC - Orange cable = 160 down
Modem --> PC - Grey cable = 160 down
Modem --> Router - Grey cable, Modem --> PC - Orange cable = 100 down
Modem --> Router - Grey cable, Modem --> Laptop - Orange cable = 100 down

Each is the only thing plugged in.

 

[kvic]

Okay, next check. Telnet or SSH into N66 and type

robocfg showports

Do you see "100FD" on some port? Maybe you could paste the output..

100FD means 100Mbps full duplex.

 

[Reed Beatse]

OK, I got the Telnet window open but (and I am guessing here), when I type "o 192.168.1.1" it won't connect and I do not know what I need to do to get the info you would like. Send me some commands, please

 

[kvic]

C:\> telnet 192.168.1.1

 

[Reed Beatse]

Switch: enabled gigabit
Port 0: 1000FD enabled stp: none vlan: 2 jumbo: off mac: 00:01:5c:62:ba:46
Port 1: 1000FD enabled stp: none vlan: 1 jumbo: off mac: 00:11:d9:7f:55:c9
Port 2: 1000FD enabled stp: none vlan: 1 jumbo: off mac: 44:8a:5b:9f:68:3e
Port 3: DOWN enabled stp: none vlan: 1 jumbo: off mac: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Port 4: DOWN enabled stp: none vlan: 1 jumbo: off mac: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Port 8: 1000FD enabled stp: none vlan: 1 jumbo: off mac: 10:bf:48:d4:57:08

 

[Reed Beatse]

It was suggested to look at the driver properties under Advanced>Speed & Duplex. As you can see from the screenshot, it is set to "Auto-Negotiate" but all of the options are 100 or below. Could this be ab issue?

 

[Nullity]

It was suggested to look at the driver properties under Advanced>Speed & Duplex. As you can see from the screenshot, it is set to "Auto-Negotiate" but all of the options are 100 or below. Could this be ab issue?

Doubtful. The gigabit specification requires auto negotiation, iirc.

 

[coxhaus]

It was suggested to look at the driver properties under Advanced>Speed & Duplex. As you can see from the screenshot, it is set to "Auto-Negotiate" but all of the options are 100 or below. Could this be ab issue?

I think you should have 1 GIG showing under auto negotiation. I do on mine but I don't have the same Ethernet controller.

 

[kvic]

Missing an entry for 1Gbps puts me on alert.. Apparently this driver doesn't want its users trying force 1Gbps for some reason..I dug out my ancient thinkpad which came with an intel gigabit chip. I can see 1Gbps in the list.

Interestingly your Killer e2200 is a re-badged Atheros solution. You may want to try the vanilla driver by Atheros. Google for details..

By that you avoid "secret sauce" added by Killer programmers. That at the moment seems turn out to be poison..

It was suggested to look at the driver properties under Advanced>Speed & Duplex. As you can see from the screenshot, it is set to "Auto-Negotiate" but all of the options are 100 or below. Could this be ab issue?