USB to 2.5Gbe adapter on AX88U

[Caley]

Curious to know how has the ASUS USB-C2500 held up? Any promising results? I have one sitting in my Amazon cart, waiting to hit the trigger on buying that adapter.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

"ASUS USB-C2500 held up?"

It connected as the rest and showed 2.5gb. I didn't hammer it hard to see if it dropped back to less than 500gbs though. I have about 10 more minutes and I'm going back to the Sabrent 5G for another test run.

I'd wait a moment on the 2500-C.

 

[Caley]

"ASUS USB-C2500 held up?"

It connected as the rest and showed 2.5gb. I didn't hammer it hard to see if it dropped back to less than 500gbs though. I have about 10 more minutes and I'm going back to the Sabrent 5G for another test run.

I'd wait a moment on the 2500-C.

Roger that. Thank you for the insight!

 

[jsmiddleton4]

I have no idea why the Realtek based adapters, even the Asustor Gen 2 USB 3.2, drop back to slower speeds. Data through put of course more than just the connected 2.5gb speed. Is it something in the router's USB chipset? Something in the drivers in the router? Same question for the adapter.

I do think it is entirely possible the compiled drivers in the router's firmware are not in any way maximized for this use. What 3G/4G modems get anywhere near 2.5gb? They creep yes?

Why would anyone think "Hey, lets make sure the firmware for USB modems can handled 2.5gb...."

If the Sabrent does as it did before and tests at over 1gbs, still unclear if its Realtek to Realtek chip related. The router's Realtek chipset to the adapter's Realtek chipset.....

My guess is the slow down is the USB stuff, not the ethernet stuff.

 

[Caley]

Possibility of the chipset overheating and dropping down to 2.0 speeds? Reading through some of the various adapter reviews on Amazon there seems to be a common thread of persons mentioning heat…

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Swapped back to the Sabrent. Can't even get it back to higher speeds. This is not exactly the best time for me to check internet speed. This is kids and parents all home from work time.

I did test the Sabrent at 5:30 am before. I'm gonna punt till the early morning.

I could swap to the 2.5gb WAN port. My family is getting restless.....

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Speed even hard wired to the 2.5gb WAN port down. Usually 1gbs+ not less than 1gb.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Back to 900+ with the Sabrent. I can't play anymore. I've pushed it as far as I can.

As I've said several times I don't have the know how to explain what's going on. At this juncture even though they show up as 2.5gb connections it appears to be the throughput is throttled way back for any of the Realtek based adapters.

The only way I would recommend this as an option to maintain high speed WAN connections is for someone to look at what's going on with the firmware. IF there's an option to maximize the speed via the USB Modem process, that would be different.

For now not comfortable with any recommendation.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Tested early, about 530 here. Same results as yesterday but just a bit faster. The Sabrent 5G connects at the fastest through put but at that it never tops 1gbs. The Realtek based adapter, even Asustor Gen 2, 3.2, adapter never tops 550.

This is with the router's 2.5gb port to my ISP. The throughput is available.

While technically it is possible to add the 2.5gb port via USB Modem route, my opinion is unless there's something that can be done with the USB side of things it is not all that consistently practical to do so. Speeds fall back to less than if using the router's 1 gb WAN port.

Now I need to see what the throughput is on my Mr. Coffee......

 

[jsmiddleton4]

While I can't play with the router, at least not without great pain, I can play with the adapters.

Plugged into a Thunderbolt 3 port on my Intel NUC.

Testing internet speed to the NUC.

First is its 1 gb port.
Second is the Sabrent 5G adapter.
Third is the Asustor Gen 2 Realtek adapter.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

The Asustor maybe advertising its Gen 2 USB 3.2, it does not have the throughput as if it really is. This is with the latest drivers too from Asus' web site.

 

[Paliv]

What I want to know is how you get Fast.com to give such high and consistent results? It is wildly inconsistent for me. Speedtest will show my 1.2Gb connection reliably (two devices tested at once with 2.5Gb WAN). Fast is all over the place. I must live in the wrong desert. I was excited to see how this would go, but 1Gb is plenty for a single device and I get about 1.2-1.3 for multiple devices at once. More than we need really.

 

[L&LD]

Fast.com or Speedtest.net is consistently flopping around as to which one is more/most consistent for my customers. Not just depending on their ISP, their location/neighborhood, or the ISP-provided router vs. the Asus-RMerlin powered router they're currently using, but also for a few, the time of day too.

Solution? Use all of them. You'll know what to expect from each over time and the differences from that baseline are what will be important to investigate at that future time too.

For myself? Unless all of the speed tests that I use for my customers are showing significantly slower/faster results, I do not recommend changing anything.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

"Use all of them."

I did. Were all consistent. The listed connection speed is being throttled and in my opinion is so by the USB side of things.

Lots of complaints in user reviews regarding through put being cut in half with these adapters. I ran through some of their ads. Mostly focus on the 2.5gb connection not the actual through put.

The Marvel chipset getting something done to address it. Even with it, the router's USB through put is the one ring that rules them all.

Given this is mostly just morbid curiosity and the folks with the know how to dig into the USB Modem part of the firmware typically have more on their hands than time to address, not all that realistic to expect them to dig into this kind of thing. Its not some make or break matter.

I was quite dissapointingly surprised even on a 40gbs port the Asustor Gen 2, USB 3.2 was still throttled. The box it came in was labeled Gen 1 and then had a small sticker on it that said Gen 2. It went back to Amazon. Gen 2, USB 3.2, as you know should have no issues holding 2.5gbs.

 

[slrt]

@jsmiddleton4
There are plenty of RTL8156B's for under $20 on Aliexpress. Cannot say anything about quality though.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

"There are plenty of RTL8156B's"

Yes. But there's some kind of bottle neck issue with these even though they are recognized as 2.5gb. Their through put is no where near what 2.5gb should be.

 

[Asgard]

Hello guys,

I have to admit you've did an amazing job here.
I have a 600 square meters hause, my ISP is gonna launch within a couple of months 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps connections to home users and I am planning to prepare my home network for it eventhough I won't be able to pass 2.5GB for my LAN.

Here is my config:
- Cable cat 7
- 1 x GT Asus AX11000
- 2 x ZenWifi AX XT8 as AiMesh nodes
- 1 x Asus AX88U as next Aimesh node
- 1 x TP-LINK TL-SG108-M2 (8 x 2.5GB ports, estimated delivery tomorrow)

I was able to reach 1Gbps speeds on my desktop on wifi.
My question is, will it work if I connect a Sabrent USB type A to 5GB adapter to one USB ports on my AX11000 and use it as a WAN for the future 10GB line and then connect the 2.5GB port to the 2.5G Multiport switch in which I will connect the Aimesh Nodes and NAS?
Theoretically this will allow me to have speeds in between 2.5Gbps and 4Gbps on wifi for the devices connected to AX11000 and up to 2.5Gbps for the devices connected to the AiMesh nodes (if the 2.5Gbps port on XT8s could be used as LAN ports)

I suppose the 5Gbps adapter would not work with the standard Asus firmware and I will have to install Merlin right? Are there any other technical changes that I should take into consideration, like installing the adapter software over a terminal or something?
It would be a plus for Asus to come with those kind of 2.5/5Gbps USB adapters that are compatible with their stock firmware by default, having only one 2.5GB port and the rest 1GB is kinda useless.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Cheers,
Marius

 

[L&LD]

My take on these adaptors? They are hit and miss.

With a real 2.5Gbps to 10Gbps ISP connection, you need real hardware to leverage those capabilities to their fullest. And not just at random (as the few previous posts show).

 

[jsmiddleton4]

"I was able to reach 1Gbps speeds on my desktop on wifi."

That's probably the best its gonna be without more than one 2.5gb port.

I'm not sure if you need RMerlin's.

IF there is a fixable aspect in the firmware to address what I think is a USB bottleneck then it maybe worth it to use the USB Modem route again if someone could fix it. If its not fixable, then it is what it is.

I'd put money on the next wave of routers will have 2 2.5gbe ports.

 

[ricka47]

"I was able to reach 1Gbps speeds on my desktop on wifi."

That's probably the best its gonna be without more than one 2.5gb port.

I'm not sure if you need RMerlin's.

IF there is a fixable aspect in the firmware to address what I think is a USB bottleneck then it maybe worth it to use the USB Modem route again if someone could fix it. If its not fixable, then it is what it is.

I'd put money on the next wave of routers will have 2 2.5gbe ports.

I tried the Sabren NT-SS5G and hoped that the different chipset would make a difference. It didn't - still a 50% reduction with the 86U. I think that I'll just forget trying to use the adaptors and be happy with the 900 to 960 that I get without them.