RT-N66U WAN/LAN Throughput issue or Hitron Gateway issue?

[wayner]

I recently upgraded my internet service to Rogers Ultimate 250Mpbs down / 20Mbps up service. FYI - Rogers is one of the largest cable companies in Canada. Rogers has something called Speedbost that gives you a temporary boost of speed that can make your Speedtests appear faster.

The modem/gateway that they give you is a Hitron CGN3. I have gone into the configuration and disabled the router functionality of this Gateway so it is only functioning as a router.

It appears when I plug a PC into the ethernet ports of the Hitron I got faster download speeds then when I use a connection through my Asus RT-N66U router.

Here is my network config:
Cable > CGN3 Gateway/Modem > Asus RT-N66U > Switch Dlink DGS1024D

I ran all Speedtests at the Ookla speedtest.net site at the Nexicom server in Toronto. The test were done at about 10:15pm so there could have been some network congestion. I used the same laptop and patch cable for all tests. Here are my results:

Connected to Gateway in full Gateway mode: 324.2Mbps down 22.1 Mbps up
Connected to Gateway in Bridge mode: 313 Mbps down 21.8 Mbps up
Connected to Router 232 Mbps down 22.8 Mbps up
Connected to Switch: 228 Mbps down 21.8 Mbps up

I have run several other tests on other PCs on my and the results would be pretty similar to what was shown here - about 230-250 for download speeds.

So it looks as if when I attach to the ethernet ports on the Hitron 3GN I get substantially better speeds, no matter whether the Hitron is acting as a full Gateway or just as a modem (you can attach multiple devices to the LAN ports of this Gateway - I assume that is likely attaching a PC directly to a regular cable modem with no router).

When I go through my router the speeds drop, although they are still close to my rated speed. This is being somewhat obfuscated I would think by the Rogers Speedboost.

Anyone have an explanation for this? Is the WAN-LAN throughput of the RT-N66U insufficient to keep up - the test results here show it having WAN-LAN throughput of 731 Mbps. Or is there something funky in the Hitron Gateway that loses speed when you go through an external router?

Anyone have any suggestion on other speed test sites, particularly ones that work well for higher speed connections - ideally these would be in Toronto.

 

[sinshiva]

damn, that's a nice connection.

do you have 'hw acceleration'/'nat acceleration' enabled while the router is connected to the modem (in bridge mode) ?

[edit/] regarding the speedtest, i like megapath's 'speedtestplus' application, but i'm not sure it's useful outside the US

 

[jlake]

Try putting your gateway in to gateway/router mode. And then try putting asus in to AP mode. Check your speed. That way you can help isolate problem. NAT is automatically disabled when you use AP mode instead of router mode on asus.

You can also search this web site for article on how thiggins does his wan-LAN test.

 

[L&LD]

HW Acceleration is disabled by many things - one being QoS.

What firmware and version are you running on the RT-N66U?

Did you do a restore to defaults if/when you upgraded the firmware? And did you enter all your settings manually instead of restoring from the previous firmware?

 

[wayner]

Firmware is stock - I have never changed it or upgraded it. It is version 3.0.0.4.720 - there is a new Asus firmware version available but if I want to change the firmware I guess I have other options like Merlin, dd-wrt, etc.

In WAP mode I assume that the router is acting as a switch when it comes to the ethernet ports?

How do I enable 'hw acceleration'/'nat acceleration'?

Under LAN-Switch Control I have both Jumbo Frames and HW Accelerator disabled.

I will try some of this stuff and post back.

 

[wayner]

It looks like enabling Jumbo Frames fixed it:

Without Jumbo Frames Enabled:


Without Jumbo Frames Enabled:

 

[sinshiva]

Firmware is stock - I have never changed it or upgraded it. It is version 3.0.0.4.720 - there is a new Asus firmware version available but if I want to change the firmware I guess I have other options like Merlin, dd-wrt, etc.

In WAP mode I assume that the router is acting as a switch when it comes to the ethernet ports?

How do I enable 'hw acceleration'/'nat acceleration'?

Under LAN-Switch Control I have both Jumbo Frames and HW Accelerator disabled.

I will try some of this stuff and post back.

you found it, enable that 'hw accelerator' and tell us how it goes; good luck

[edit/] jumbo frames is lan-side only

 

[wayner]

HW accelerator was always enabled. But if Jumbo Frames is LAN side only that was the issue - I now get the same speed with the Gateway in normal router+modem mode as well as in bridge mode so I think everything is good.

Or I am missing something?

 

[sinshiva]

ah, guess i misunderstood what you were trying to achieve; basically, i assumed you wanted to run your modem in bridge mode to the wan interface of the n66, seeing if you had any performance gains in NAT throughput. dont really see why jumbo frames would help improve wan to lan throughput for devices connected to the n66, jumbo frames is really meant to improve lan to lan throughput/efficiency, etc

 

[wayner]

Basically I don't want to use the router functionality of the Hitron 3GN as I would prefer using my Asus router. But I was just wondering why I was getting a slower speed when my network traffic was flowing through the router.

But things are now looking a little weird as when I run a speedtest immediately after turning on Jumbo Frames I get the 330 Mbps download. After a few minutes the speed slows down to 250 Mbps.

Is this a coincidence? Is something else going on - after turning on Jumbo Frames it looks like the router reboots - maybe I only get the faster speeds in the first few minutes after the router reboots and then something else is going on?