Slow wifi 5ghz through vpn, ethernet fast through vpn

[lazydrunksmurf]

Hi,

Due to some changes in my set up, I now need faster wifi 5ghz with my vpn (PIA). I don't think it's unreasonable based on some tests.. I am getting fast wifi with no vpn and fast vpn through Ethernet, the problem is when I use wifi and VPN, the speeds are dramatically slower.

• Router: RT-AC1750_B1 attached to a DSL modem running in bridge mode.
• Merlin: 380.68
• Internet: DSL 50 down 10 up, perfect speeds (with no vpn).
• VPN: PIA, openVPN with device specific selective routing through VPN.
• Devices (relevant to this discussion): 1 cell phone, 1 windows laptop- these were tested with and without vpn and the laptop was tested with and without vpn both with wifi and Ethernet.

Tests (several tests conducted, trying to give a rough average).

When I say "VPN" below, it is done through the admin console and the device is routed through VPN (forget about the PIA app, I didn't use that at all in the tests below). I also tested with speedtest and let it choose the server in some tests and in some tests I manually set the server so that we are comparing apples to apples. There was not much difference in speed with the selection of servers since I let it choose one and manually set the other on another device for comparison.

1. Cell phone wifi 5ghz no vpn: 49 down. [GOOD]
2. Cell phone wifi 5ghz with VPN: 9 down (anywhere from 4-14 down). [PROBLEM]
3. Laptop wifi 5ghz no vpn: 49 down. [GOOD]
4. Laptop wifi with VPN: 10 down (anywhere from 7-15). [PROBLEM]
5. Laptop Ethernet with VPN: 44 down. [GOOD]

Analysis/things tried:
Test 1 and 3 tell me that there is no hardware issue either with my devices or with the router. Test 5 tells me that PIA is not being slow. Tests 2 and 4 are what I seek your help with. Based on all these tests, I think it is reasonable to expect a higher speed with wifi and vpn.

I read that turning off Lz compression can help (I don't really know what this is, but I tried it anyway)- it didn't help.

I have power cycled my DSL modem (bridge mode), and the ASUS router- didn't help.

Not really sure what else to check, I am not a networking guru.. given this, there may be information that I am unaware that you may need to help me. So, if there is something I can provide, feel free to let me know

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Forgot to mention, qos is turned off.
Also attaching config

 

[joegreat]

Hi,

Due to some changes in my set up, I now need faster wifi 5ghz with my vpn (PIA). I don't think it's unreasonable based on some tests.. I am getting fast wifi with no vpn and fast vpn through Ethernet, the problem is when I use wifi and VPN, the speeds are dramatically slower.

Not really sure what else to check, I am not a networking guru.. given this, there may be information that I am unaware that you may need to help me. So, if there is something I can provide, feel free to let me know

Did you enable any of the AiProtection stuff which would kick-in when you run VPN via wireless connection?

On the smart phone the CPU could also be to weak for higher VPN speeds - what model of smart phone do you use? Of course this do not explain why the Notebook VPN speed is slow over wireless...

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Did you enable any of the AiProtection stuff which would kick-in when you run VPN via wireless connection?

On the smart phone the CPU could also be to weak for higher VPN speeds - what model of smart phone do you use? Of course this do not explain why the Notebook VPN speed is slow over wireless...

I don't think so. If the default is not to use it, I didn't enable ai protection. But, I will double check when home after work to be absolutely certain.

I thought about the phone being a bottleneck but it is happening on a nice powerful i7 laptop as well. I think the VPN service has an Android app. I could possibly try that as well. It was slightly faster on average, but not significantly on the laptop than on the phone (over router VPN and wifi). The phone is a Nexus 5x. Pia has an Android app, I suppose I could try it for academic purposes but not sure what it would tell us.

Pretty much, I am thinking the issue is with VPN on router and wifi together. Vpn on router with ethernet is super fast. Wifi is super fast with no vpn. Its only when i use the two together (router vpn and wifi) that I have problems. The device doesn't seem to matter, planning on getting something new if we can fix whatever is going on here.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Writing to confirm: ai protection is not enabled (none of the options).

I installed the pia android app on my phone and I am getting around 35 with router VPN off. I am not sure if this tells us anything other than kinda suggesting that my theory that the combination of VPN on router and 5ghz wifi is slow when used together. I don't even know it proves that completely.. but these are the results.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

I run Merlin 380.68. do you guys know of upgrading will help? Are there any changes improvements in this regard in higher versions?

The reason I ask is that I found some comments somewhere online while googling this that suggested that it may have been improved. I didn't properly read it though and for the life of me I can't find it now! I do remember though that what I read said the improvements are only if you configure odd number clients. But I don't remember exactly what the improvements were but they did have to do with wifi.

 

[joegreat]

I run Merlin 380.68. do you guys know of upgrading will help? Are there any changes improvements in this regard in higher versions?

I am not aware of any changes in your direction but you can read the change-log for version 380.70 and 384.4 yourself to figure out...

If I would be in your shoes, I would do the update, turn off the router, do a factory reset and reconfigure manually from scratch and check then - it's a fair chance that the update and full reset solves your issue.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Ok, I will try that over the weekend.
But, from the links you sent, I think I can only upgrade to 380.70.

I think ac1750 b1 translates to ac66u.

Am I reading this correctly?

"
380.70 (8-Apr-2018)
- NOTE: This will be the final 380.xx release for
all models. The RT-N66U and RT-AC66U
support will be dropped, and all other
models have been migrated to the new gen
branch, as of release 384.4."


FYI, I ran the same tests in my original posts again last night. The results are still consistent with what I posted.

 

[Zirescu]

Which VPN client # are you using? If 1, try setting it up under 2 as the CPU handling the 5Ghz radio might be using the same as the VPN.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, it is client 1. I am currently out of town but will try this and let you know.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Hi,

Sorry, I was out of town for a few days longer than expected.
I tried to configure it on client 3. Unfortunately, there is no difference in speed. I tested Ethernet routed through vpn and that was very fast as it was before. I then tested over 5ghz wifi and that was really slow like it was before. I also turned off the vpn and tested over 5ghz wifi- really fast- almost my full dsl speed.

Is there anything I can look for in the console in terms of either logging or watching performance etc. (I am a programmer but know nothing about troubleshooting network stuff) to try to figure out what the slow down is about?

 

[Zirescu]

Has to be client 2. Odd clients are on CPU1 and even clients on CPU2.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Oh! Sorry, I didn't realize that. Thought anything other than 1 would be good enough. I will put it on 2!

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

I configured client 2. It does seem to have helped. Thanks very much for letting me know about this.

But, I still feel the results should be a bit better. Of course there will be a loss due to VPN. But these still don't make sense to me:

Laptop, Ethernet, no VPN: 50 down
Laptop Ethernet, VPN: 47 down

Cell phone, no vpn, 5ghz: 47 down
Cell phone, VPN, 5ghz: 25 down (woohoo, way better than before on client 2).

On the laptop there is barely a difference between my isp Dsl speed with and without vpn.

On the phone, 5ghz is again almost my isp speed.

The router should be doing the heavy lifting related to VPN in both cases.

Why am I not getting closer to about 40-43 on the phone? There may be an explanation, I am unaware of but it doesn't make sense to me still.

**Speed tests again are rough averages of several tests. Servers again we're selected in two ways: 1. Automatic selection of server 2. On one device change the server to the automatically selected server on the other device being compared.

Thanks!

 

[Zirescu]

Likely something to do with the hardware acceleration on the Ethernet. I tested between my MacBook and the iPhone 8 both connected to 5Ghz AC and the iPhone 8 actually outdid my MacBook over the VPN through the router on client 1. 43.6 down on the iPhone and around 38 on the MacBook using the dslreports.com speed test.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Ok, thanks.

I don't have my work laptop with me tonight. But, I did forget to test what I was getting on that over WiFi and VPN on on the laptop. (My personal laptop only has 2.4ghz- I don't care about that though, I am trying to get better speeds before I get a new device otherwise buying it will be pointless ).

The speeds you are seeing are closer to what I was expecting since I am getting almost full with VPN on over Ethernet and almost full on the phone with just wifi and no VPN.