Two AC68’s with weird issues.

[deluxeg]

I have two AC68’s and both are giving me trouble, both on the newest Asus firmware, I have 1Gbs internet and I can get around 600Mbs connected directly to the cable modem. But when I connect through Ethernet on Router A I get like 100Mbs and 5GHz wife I get 120Mbps about 8 feet from the router. If I have my phone inches from the router I can get 300Gbps.

On router B I get 600MBps on Ethernet but on 5GHz WiFi I get slower than 10Mbps.

Not sure if it’s a firmware or hardware problem. Both are set up on defaults. QoS off and AiProtect off.

I ordered an Asus GT-AC2900 and will see if it performs any better, if it doesn’t I will move on from Asus. I am kind of pissed because I would have like to use one of the older routers in AiMesh but don’t know if they are permanently broken.

 

[ColinTaylor]

On router A with Ethernet change the patch cable you're using between the router and the PC. It sounds like it's only operating at 100Mbps. Alternatively try using a different LAN socket on the router.

 

[deluxeg]

I did verify the cable I was using is Cat 5e and tried different ports and since it’s getting above 100Mbps figured it wouldn’t be that. Also is the ookla speedtest built into the router firmware incapable of hitting high download speeds? I never have broken 250 Mbps using that with either router.

 

[L&LD]

What is this 'newest Asus firmware', specifically? Are these true RT-AC68U's or an ISP's converted models? What is your definition of being 'set up on defaults'? Are you using saved backup config files? Are you using any scripts or other optional features? Can you hit higher speeds when connected directly to your modem/router?

The following link may help you to determine if the hardware is at fault or the configuration is.

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[deluxeg]

They both have official Asus firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_40558 and are the white version of the RT-AC68U i have had them about 6 years now, By defaults I mean, the router has been reset and the only thing I configured is the names of the SSID and passwords.

When I am directly connected to the cable modem I get 6-700 Mbps but when connected to the ethernet port on the one router I get around 200 Mbps, I haven't tried the full reset process you linked, just normally used the reset button on the router. But I will try that.

 

[L&LD]

Why are you paying for a 1Gbps connection when the modem can't give that to you? Is an upgraded modem available from your ISP? Can you do a full reset on the ISP's modem?

 

[deluxeg]

Well I am trying to determine one issue at a time, trying to find why it drops from 600-700Mbps to 150-200 when my AC68 router is in play, once I solve that I will tackle the cable modem. I get the GT-AC2900 delivered tomorrow so I will see how that behaves.

 

[L&LD]

Don't try bringing more equipment and combinations into the mix when you haven't carefully tested what you now have.

Have you physically tried a different cable? By a different brand/company? Have you tried putting a switch between the modem and your router to rule out that possibly (bad) interaction?

Have you checked that the connection is (actually) at 1GbE speeds in/within the router itself?

Yes, the router can't do a proper speed test with your ISP connection. Don't rely on that going forward.

 

[deluxeg]

I have tried about 4 or 5 different cables, all verified cat 5e even a brand new cable. I added a netgear se3008 gigabit switch between the modem and router and there was no change.
Haven’t tested any internal network speeds yet but will try that tomorrow.

 

[L&LD]

Did you mean a Linksys SE3008?

I read one 'review' that the total throughput is 1Gbps maximum. Was/is anything else happening on the network during your tests? It also has QoS. That must be slowing down the speed, considerably too.

 

[deluxeg]

Sorry I meant a Netgear GS108. It is an unmanaged switch so no QoS on it, but I saw the slow speeds before I added the switch, I had read a recommendation about adding a switch to avoid potential cable issues, so that's why I added it. Nothing else was happing on the network,

One strange thing I noticed last night while using NirSoft WifiInfoView was that my 5Ghz network was only using wireless N, I looked at the configuration of the router and the drop down for Wireless Mode was blank, so I switched it to Auto and saw I an now using N/AC I do see some improvement to about 200Mbps on wireless now.

 

[L&LD]

You must fully reset the router(s), I'm guessing.

New M&M 2020

 

[deluxeg]

So I have been using an Asus ROG GT-AC2900 instead of my old routers since I was getting sick of debugging and figured it was time for an upgrade. The router I received had a broken power button but I still could get it to turn on and in the past couple weeks I have had to reboot it 3 times. Twice because the 2.4ghz network dropped all clients and they couldn’t rejoin and once because speeds overall dropped to barely 3Mbps and returned to normal after rebooting. I like the features of Asus but starting to get annoyed with the issues.

 

[SoCalReviews]

Take L&LD's suggestion and do an official Asus Hard Factory Reset of your AC68Us and other router(s). Try going with the default settings first. You can follow the instructions in the link from the post above by L&LD for configuring your settings for reliability. I'm not sure what the condition and status of your GT-AC2900 is but if doing these things doesn't completely solve your problems then you might consider a newer router. All routers have internal hardware... chips, memory, etc... that like computers or other electronics can age and go out of spec.

For buying a newer model I would recommend getting a Wifi 6/AX router because they will be most likely using updated internal hardware and firmware. There are a lot of choices out there. IMO Asus are one of the best brands but you can read about whatever brand and model would work for you in the forums for Wifi 6/AX models and read online reviews. There are users here who can help you with questions about whatever you choose.