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jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

jonquiljo5

Premium Member

[Speed] Raised Comcast (bus.) speed to 75/15-now routers seems to limit?

Hello,

I just raised my Comcast (business line) speed from 28/8 to 75/15. When I use a hardwired gigabit connection I get speeds even in excess of the 75/15. But now my router (Asus RT-N66U) seems to hold everything back. Even with the router about 5 feet from the computer I only get about 48/10. There was nothing else online when I tested this.

Yes, I understand that wireless-N has it's limitations ... but is AC really necessary? The reason I ask is that even a new iPad will not handle AC - and most of my computers (and Wifi adapters) are wireless N.

What, if any is the best way to figure out what is holding things back? Is there software out there that will let me know what is slowing up things? (relatively straightforward software would be best) My Asus RT-N66U will run at 450 (theoretically). Even if it was running at 150Mb/s, I shouldn't see this kind of speed degradation. If the router can handle 150Mb/s, are basic WiFi cards in devices that bad?

Or am I deluding myself and I need to now upgrade everything to AC where possible if I need the higher speeds? Or can I just stick with Wireless-N, and use better (likely external USB) Wifi adapters in my computers to get better speeds. Thanks in advance.

SuperNet
Go Ninja,Go Ninja Go..
Premium Member
join:2002-10-08
Hoffman Estates, IL

SuperNet

Premium Member

[Speed] Re: Raised Comcast (bus.) speed to 75/15-now routers seems to limit?

You have to upgrade to AC.. (I would)..
Have you tried using the 5ghz network?
However using 40MHz channels can help achieve 70-80Mbps with N.
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

jonquiljo5

Premium Member

Thanks. I want to avoid upgrading to AC because lot of my computers/devices, etc. don't run AC. I'd rather wait until I have more things that can run AC.

5ghz? Good idea. Again, though - lots of my devices don't run 5ghz. I can turn on that radio and run it simultaneously. It would help with some things.

My biggest reservation (mostly neurotic) is that my router is in my bedroom. I'd hate to be running 200mw for 2.4 and 5ghz each. Is it OK to sleep right next to that much EM?

40Mhz channels .... that's new to me. I think it's an option on the RT-N66U. What does this do? Sorry for the basic question, but I haven't had to deal with this for a while.

Is there anything else that might help?

TheToro
Premium Member
join:2003-06-05
Atlanta, GA

TheToro to jonquiljo5

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to jonquiljo5
It could be many things. your wireless devices might not be compatible with your wireless hot spot 100% . it happens a lot with different brands. You may want to play with different channels and see if you get better results . If you are using 2.5Ghz N you are not going to get more than 50 or 55 down and thats if every thing is running good.

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721

Member

said by TheToro:

If you are using 2.5Ghz N you are not going to get more than 50 or 55 down and thats if every thing is running good.

Why would this be the case ? I been able to get 123/23 using 2.4 Ghz N wireless.
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

2 edits

jonquiljo5

Premium Member

said by Jim721:

Why would this be the case ? I been able to get 123/23 using 2.4 Ghz N wireless.

How? I seem to do OK on the upload - speedtests indicate higher than the 15mps guaranteed. The download seems to be the problem - it is dependent on the device or adapter in a PC (different laptops give different speeds) and distance from the router. If I bring a laptop around 20 and 1 wall away, I get pathetic speeds and it is unstable - jumping around, stopping and starting - not the smooth and steady broadband I get with a hardwired connection.

Frankly my RT-N66U seemed fine when I had 28/8, but it seems substandard when I have 75/15 - really substandard! Now that I think of it, I've been trying to get the WiFi signal into an apartment in a detached garage 10 ft away - and the lack of penetration through walls by the RT-N66U has been pathetic. It has only two (outside) walls to go through and the router is 10ft away from the first wall. That makes it 20 ft and 2 walls. Now this is California and outside walls are pathetically thin (sheetrock and wooden 2x4's with plastic composite siding on the other side - no metal, nothing). I get about a -80dbi signal next door from the RT-N66U running at 180mw on 2.4 Ghz. I'm beginning to wonder if the router isn't setup wrong or broken. An Asus RT-N66U is supposed to do better than that. I used to get better results with the old Linksys wrt-54g's.

Is it possible that at 28/8 and very little distance (occasionally 25' and one wall) was not much to show how badly my router was doing? Raising the speed to 75/15 is now showing how badly this router is really performing - even 5 ft away (line of sight)?

The only thing I can think of is that the router is running an old version of firmware - but I can't imagine that it is enough to turn this router into a wimp. Any ideas? This is really frustrating - all that new speed and I can't seem to use it unless I hardwire.

Edit: I just ran a speedtest from an iPhone 6 plus 30' away with one wall and get 28/17. The upload is working fine, but the download is not. I also just ran it 4' away - line of sight- and get 28/18. It seems no matter what device I use, the download stinks and the upload is better than specs. It makes no sense.

nadams5755
join:2001-11-13
San Jose, CA

nadams5755 to jonquiljo5

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to jonquiljo5

Re: [Speed] Raised Comcast (bus.) speed to 75/15-now routers seems to limit?

do you maybe have qos enabled on the wan interface?

if you can have 2.4ghz and 5.8ghz wifi enabled, you should. auto 20/40mhz channels too.

SuperNet
Go Ninja,Go Ninja Go..
Premium Member
join:2002-10-08
Hoffman Estates, IL

SuperNet to jonquiljo5

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Your iPhone 6 supports 5ghz, try it, I bet you will see your speeds you will like
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

jonquiljo5

Premium Member

Nope. I think my router must be broken. Only if I use an external (USB) wifi device do I get any speed at all on anything. At 4 ft away? Something isn't right!
sabretooth
join:2012-02-14
Marietta, GA

sabretooth

Member

What is your link connection rate as reported by the OS? You can't do anything unless you know this speed.

bradyr
YCCD - Network Operations
Premium Member
join:2008-10-27
Sonora, CA
(Software) pfSense
Netgear CM1200
Ubiquiti UAP-AC-HD

bradyr to jonquiljo5

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to jonquiljo5
the RT-N66U is a great router, if setup properly. but remember, with wireless, you're only going to see a real-world speed of around 60% of your connected rate. so if you're connected at 144Mbps wireless-n connect rate, your "best case scenario" real world speed would be around 85Mbps.

if you're connected at 300Mbps on the 5GHz band, expect around 175-180Mbps real world speeds.

obviously i'm not quoting exact speeds, just round about what to expect if your wireless network is configured properly.

I ran a rt-n66u for a long time with no problems getting 100-150Mbps wireless speeds on the 5GHz band, and easily 75Mbps on the 2.4GHz band with great range. the only reason i upgraded to a AC router (asus RT-AC68U) was because I do have a couple wireless-ac devices now.

anyways, on your config, just setup the basic de-facto standard wireless network: 20mhz width on the 2.4GHz band, 40mhz on the 5GHz band, WPA2-AES, WMM enabled, etc etc.

dont toss that router just yet..

edit: verify your connect rates when you're sitting on top of the router -- this will help you verify you're getting that 144Mbps or 300Mbps connect rate, that your router is configured properly.

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ to jonquiljo5

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to jonquiljo5
The Asus RT-N66U should be ok for decent wireless N speeds if you can get wide (40 or 80 mhz) channels.

Using iperf to test the speed across my N66U via 802.11n - with an iMac connected to the 5ghz channel showing transmit rate of 405mbit, I see this iperf result:

Server listening on TCP port 5001
TCP window size:  256 KByte (WARNING: requested  512 KByte)
------------------------------------------------------------
[  4] local 10.0.0.1 port 5001 connected with 10.0.0.33 port 58201
[ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]  0.0-10.0 sec   264 MBytes   221 Mbits/sec
 
which should be more than fast enough for your network. If I drop down to the 2.4ghz N connection the mac won't do wide channels, and I get a transmit rate of 176mbit and the speed test shows:

[  5] local 10.0.0.1 port 5001 connected with 10.0.0.33 port 58997
[  5]  0.0-10.0 sec   154 MBytes   129 Mbits/sec
 

I'm not sure why you're not seeing decent speeds.
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

jonquiljo5 to sabretooth

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to sabretooth
said by sabretooth:

What is your link connection rate as reported by the OS? You can't do anything unless you know this speed.

Good point. It is currently 216 with the computer 5 ft from the router. That's on my desktop computer (a semi-old Dell XPS 8500). When I use a 300mbs external USB WiFi adapter I get a max connection speed of 144. Ironically I get a far better signal (and more speed) when I use the external USB adapter.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I use inSSIDer to get these connection speeds.
jonquiljo5

jonquiljo5 to bradyr

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to bradyr
said by bradyr:

anyways, on your config, just setup the basic de-facto standard wireless network: 20mhz width on the 2.4GHz band, 40mhz on the 5GHz band, WPA2-AES, WMM enabled, etc etc.

Both 2.4 and 5 Ghz are set at "20-40." WPA2-AES is enabled.

I can't find WMM?

My brother in law just gave me a (brand new - or used for a week) spare RT-N66U. I'd swap them out but I have yet to see a reason to do so. The current RT-N66u has good reception on laptops all over the house - until you try to use them. Then I find that the signal strength may be high - but the throughput is terrible. Again, upload is better than download. I know my broadband connection is good because the hardwired speeds are 85/18 or so. I can have a -45dbi connection downstairs, but the speed drops to about 20mb/s. That is not normal! Something here is messed and I likely never noticed until I had my speed increased by Comcast.

Connect rates are always less than 300 (usually 144). I have the power set at 160mw for 2.4Ghz (more doesn't seem to help), and 5Ghz is at 120mw (again more does not seem to change things).

Is it OK to set both to 200 mw if the router is in my bedroom? I have a small office set up in there. I don't know if that is enough EM radiation to want to avoid sleeping (and working) next to many hours per day. Thanks.
sabretooth
join:2012-02-14
Marietta, GA

sabretooth to jonquiljo5

Member

to jonquiljo5
said by jonquiljo5:

said by sabretooth:

What is your link connection rate as reported by the OS? You can't do anything unless you know this speed.

Good point. It is currently 216 with the computer 5 ft from the router. That's on my desktop computer (a semi-old Dell XPS 8500). When I use a 300mbs external USB WiFi adapter I get a max connection speed of 144. Ironically I get a far better signal (and more speed) when I use the external USB adapter.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but I use inSSIDer to get these connection speeds.

Well every external USB adapter will give you different results. Suggest you try another brand like the Edimax AC600. I have 3 different brands and they all connect at different rates.
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

jonquiljo5

Premium Member

said by sabretooth:

... Well every external USB adapter will give you different results. Suggest you try another brand like the Edimax AC600. I have 3 different brands and they all connect at different rates.

I still think the fact that regardless of the adapter I am seriously short of the 300mb/s link I should get. Every adapter in every computer I have tried gets less than 300mb/s sitting on top of the router (almost literally). As a test, I took an older TP-Link low end wireless-N router and put it at the other end of my house. I can connect to it from most places in the house (and next to it as well) with a 300mb/s connection. This says to me that the Asus router must have some sort of problem. With the Asus, no matter how strong a signal - I get poor connection speeds. With the test router, I get 300mb/s all the time and in every location - all with different signal strengths. With every Wifi device in the house (phones, tablets, laptops, etc.) shut off, I still can't connect to the RT-N66U at better than 216. And that is with an external (hi-gain) adapter only.

JohnInSJ
Premium Member
join:2003-09-22
Aptos, CA

JohnInSJ

Premium Member

When was the last time you updated the router firmware? Current firmware version is 3.0.0.4.x (there is a very recent upgrade patching a critical security issue, but just wondering if you're way out of date?)

It's under Admin/Firmware update...

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721 to JohnInSJ

Member

to JohnInSJ
The N66U is a N router so it will only support 40mhz max.
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

jonquiljo5 to JohnInSJ

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to JohnInSJ
I'm running 3.0.0.4.374_4561 which is the firmware that came with it when I bought it in April 2014. I've read that updating firmware on these routers can be a pain in the butt. I need the Internet 24/7 for business reasons. I could lose out on a great deal of $$$ if I can't get online. I receive large downloads of "documentation" for this and that's why I had my speed raised.

I didn't think that changing firmware would be an issue, but apparently it was a problem in 2012-2013 when this router first came out.

The irony to all of this is that I wanted to use a small apartment over our detached garage for a better office. The garage is only 10 ft away, but running Ethernet cable there (unless I went all out and paid a pro) is next to impossible. This "detached" office is 10' to a wall and then 10' to the house then 10' to the router. It's therefore 30' and 2 (crappy California) exterior walls and this router won't deliver a signal over there that's stable enough to use. This should have told me that this router can't do very much. I was going to use my brother in laws Rt-N66U as a wireless repeater. Knowing that I was going to lose throughput that way was one reason to have Comcast raise my speed. Now I don't know what to do. In 2015, even a repeater setup between buildings that way should be a no brainier. Apparently not. I'm now desperate enough to try power line adapters or hang a cat 6 cable out and in the windows - though it is 2nd floor and my wife will kill me.

If only I could figure out if this router problem now is unique ...

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

2 edits

Jim721

Member

said by jonquiljo5:

I've read that updating firmware on these routers can be a pain

Upgrading firmware on all Asus routers is a piece of cake dont be afraid. In fact i recommend it there have been a few security issues that have been fixed recently. The latest stock Asus firmware for the RT-N66U is 3.0.0.4.376.3754 and the latest Merlin build for that router is 378.49_5 i can supply links to both of them if you would like. Also if you do decide to upgrade you WILL need to do a complete factory reset after the install and reconfigure your setting from scratch since you will be coming from such a old version.
jonquiljo5
Premium Member
join:2003-10-25
Novato, CA

1 edit

jonquiljo5

Premium Member

Thanks. .... I can get the latest firmware, but will it really help? If it's for security issues, then will that affect speed?

I still can't wrap my head around the total lack of speed this router is giving me. I set the channel bandwidth from 20/40 to 40. It allowed me to connect at 300, but when I did a speed test the download was less and the upload was a lot less.

bradyr
YCCD - Network Operations
Premium Member
join:2008-10-27
Sonora, CA
(Software) pfSense
Netgear CM1200
Ubiquiti UAP-AC-HD

bradyr

Premium Member

i would keep the channel width set to 20MHz on the 2.4 band (and make sure you are on a non-congested channel, you want to use channel 1,6 or 11 -- try bouncing between those channels, or get a wifi scanner and see which channel is cleanest).

for 5GHz band go with 40MHz width.

upgrade to latest firmware if you have to and do a factory reset, just start over from scratch. for testing, name each of your wifi networks differently, something like Home-2.4GHz and Home-5GHz so you know which one you're connecting to, makes it easier for troubleshooting IMO.

stick with stock power levels, let the router figure out what channels to use on the 5GHz band on its own.. make sure (if applicable) you're running latest wireless drivers on your equipment. I'm sure you've verified you get full speeds while connected to one of the wired switchports on the asus router.

just some things to try that may or may not help.

Jim721
join:2014-07-31
Belleville, MI

Jim721 to jonquiljo5

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to jonquiljo5
I cant speak as to if your router has a hardware issue but updating your firmware will not affect speeds at all. There is another third party firmware for that router as well its John's Merlin fork it has all the security issues fixed but based on Merlins older build 374.43_2 and there is a plus for the N66 it has a much higher signal and range of the newer 376/378 builds.