M1 FIBRE BROADBAND DISCUSSION - Part 2

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
Yup, tried that with different cat 5e and cat 6 cables. I rule out cable issues (within the wall) by testing using direct cable connection to the router.
Yes, I found that the adaptive QOS and AI Protection does affect the speed, but these were the exact same settings that I had in my previous location and speed was at 800+ mbps then. If I turn off all additional rules or protection settings, the speed back then was 900+ mbps.
However, in my current location, I am getting only half the usual speed. With all settings and protection off, it climbs to 600+ mbps only.
:(

Factory reset the Asus router and try again.

Have you upgraded the Asus router FW recently? RT-AC86U is an excellent AC router but I would not be surprised that Asus FW upgrade quality issue may cause your issue.

Are you using Ethernet backhaul or Wireless backhaul or mixed?

Switch off the RT-AC88U and second RT-AC86U to check iif AImesh is causing the issue or not, especially the RT-AC88U may have bad FW version and cause the Ethernet backhaul to become wireless backhaul.
 

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
One of the brother here recommend the following (I do not need to do this with my single RT-AX82U though). There are multiple reports of Asus FW upgrade issues in this forum: Asus Zenwifi XT8, RT-AX88U and RT-AX92U.

https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/...aving-no-network-almost-once-per-day.6544782/
If you have no issue before firmware upgrade, then after firmware upgrade you need to do a reset, this is asus style, no choice, if not, then strange problem may come out. Usual method - power up, wait 2 mins, then hold reset button for 10 secs until power led blinks, 2 mins later then reconfigure again (usual ssid + login) and then reset mesh node + setup mesh again.
 

elanwy

Member
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
113
Reaction score
4
Sounds like a fault, either with your own equipment or with the line. I would investigate the cause and try to remedy it.
Where exactly are you downloading from, how are you testing it, and what speed do you get during the day?
Using wired connection with Asus router RT-AC1200G+. Tested with Speedtest Single connection, right now (5pm) it is only 65Mbps. It goes back up to 500Mbps occasionally but it's bad half the time.
 

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
I occasionally noticing the same behaviour

In your case, if majority of the the time it is okay but occasionally you get low speed, it could be M1 SpeedTest server issue, try Viewquest test server to see if the issues go away. But if you test different servers and the issues are still there, it could be really M1 problem. It is said M1 has worse contention ratio (more people sharng the back end equipment) compared to SingTel and Starhub, which means occasionally M1 may have lower guaranteed local speed compared to the other two ISPs.
 
Last edited:

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
Using wired connection with Asus router RT-AC1200G+. Tested with Speedtest Single connection, right now (5pm) it is only 65Mbps. It goes back up to 500Mbps occasionally but it's bad half the time.

If you encounter the issue very often, then most likely it is the equipment issue, contact M1 to change the ONT to see if problem goes away. If M1 tests the ONT and it is okay, then it is most likely your router stability issue. RT-1200G+ is probably the lowest end router from Asus so you may want to consider changing to a better router as well.
 

elanwy

Member
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
113
Reaction score
4
If you encounter the issue very often, then most likely it is the equipment issue, contact M1 to change the ONT to see if problem goes away. If M1 tests the ONT and it is okay, then it is most likely your router stability issue. RT-1200G+ is probably the lowest end router from Asus so you may want to consider changing to a better router as well.
Thanks for the advice! I'll go into the router settings and poke around first.
 

ruffruff

Master Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
4,443
Reaction score
17
Factory reset the Asus router and try again.

Have you upgraded the Asus router FW recently? RT-AC86U is an excellent AC router but I would not be surprised that Asus FW upgrade quality issue may cause your issue.

Are you using Ethernet backhaul or Wireless backhaul or mixed?

Switch off the RT-AC88U and second RT-AC86U to check iif AImesh is causing the issue or not, especially the RT-AC88U may have bad FW version and cause the Ethernet backhaul to become wireless backhaul.

yup, tried that several times. I just bought a new AX88U router from M1 today (their price is cheaper then challenger/lazada/shoppe), but the results are the same after all is setup. But during the process, I found something as well:

1) The original firmware of AX88U, I was able to hit 800-900mbps down after all the router configuration (not yet added the aimesh nodes). Once I upgrade the firmware to the latest, immediately speed goes down to 600+mbps.
2) After adding the aimesh nodes on the new firmware, speed further drops to 400-500 mbps.

I tried downgrading the firmware to the earlier versions, but speed doesn't cross over 600mbps anymore. Seems likely to be a firmware issue then .. pissed ...
 
Last edited:

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
yup, tried that several times. I just bought a new AX88U router from M1 today (their price is cheaper then challenger/lazada/shoppe), but the results are the same after all is setup. But during the process, I found something as well:
1) The original firmware of AX88U, I was able to hit 800-900mbps down after all the router configuration (not yet added the aimesh nodes). Once I upgrade the firmware to the latest, immediately speed goes down to 600+mbps.
2) After adding the aimesh nodes on the new firmware, speed further drops to 400-500 mbps.
I tried downgrading the firmware to the earlier versions, but speed doesn't cross over 600mbps anymore. Seems likely to be a firmware issue then .. pissed ...

You can check out the RT-AX88U thread. There are multiple reports of Firmware upgrade issues reported. Same for the Asus Zenwfi XT8.

You may want to try factory reset or contact Asus for help.

Actually RT-AX86U seems to be better than RT-AX88U based on the feedbacks in this forum and there was a 618 promotion from Courts at S$312 for the Gundam special edition. But that promotion is no more.
 

AlvinDj

Supremacy Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
8,676
Reaction score
173
May I seek for the kind guru's advices..

M1 is now offering me either a free Asus RT-AX55U or TP-Link Archer AX73 AX5400

On paper, it definitely seems like the TP-Link's AX73 AX5400 is a much better choice but I would like to affirmation on it before making the decision..

If anyone can share some thoughts on the comparison between these two?

Cheers!
 

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
Technically of course TP-Link Archer AX73 is better than Asus RT-AX55. It also usually costs higher. So if you only plan to get a single router, then AX73 is probably the way to go.
https://www.tp-link.com/sg/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax73/#specificationshttps://www.asus.com/sg/Networking-IoT-Servers/WiFi-6/All-series/RT-AX55/techspec/
However, Asus usually gets better long term support, and RT-AX55 can be a very good AIMesh node. If you plan to use mesh, then I will actually suggest getting the RT-AX55.
 

AlvinDj

Supremacy Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
8,676
Reaction score
173
Technically of course TP-Link Archer AX73 is better than Asus RT-AX55. It also usually costs higher. So if you only plan to get a single router, then AX73 is probably the way to go.
https://www.tp-link.com/sg/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-ax73/#specificationshttps://www.asus.com/sg/Networking-IoT-Servers/WiFi-6/All-series/RT-AX55/techspec/
However, Asus usually gets better long term support, and RT-AX55 can be a very good AIMesh node. If you plan to use mesh, then I will actually suggest getting the RT-AX55.
Thank you for your kind inputs!!!

Yea, I felt the same on AX73 being the better choice but just alittle worried on it's reliability as I have never tried nor used any TP-Link routers before lol

Can't really find much infos or posts shared on this particular model at all in this forum..

Yes I only plan to use it as a single router, so for now, I guess AX73 it is then!
 
Last edited:

magix

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
May 28, 2000
Messages
16,849
Reaction score
64
Thank you for your kind inputs!!!

Yea, I felt the same on AX73 being the better choice but just alittle worried on it's reliability as I have never tried nor used any TP-Link routers before lol

Can't really find much infos or posts shared on this particular model at all in this forum..

Yes I only plan to use it as a single router, so for now, I guess AX73 it is then!

I think reliability is there for tp-link. Just don’t expect firmware support of 2 or 3 years as compare to Asus (so far some old model are still getting Adhoc security update).

TP-LINK firmware update very little not sure if really their product no security issue.
 

AlvinDj

Supremacy Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
8,676
Reaction score
173
I think reliability is there for tp-link. Just don’t expect firmware support of 2 or 3 years as compare to Asus (so far some old model are still getting Adhoc security update).

TP-LINK firmware update very little not sure if really their product no security issue.
I also hope the setting up of TP-Link isn't complicated to do..

The only few positive things for AX55 over the AX73, one of them would be the quad-core processor vs only triple core on the AX73

Wondering if it would hinder the loads I may put on the AX73 as compared to AX55's quad-core?
 
Last edited:

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
I also hope the setting up of TP-Link isn't complicated to do..

The only few positive things for AX55 over the AX73, one of them would be the quad-core processor vs only triple core on the AX73

Wondering if it would hinder the loads I may put on the AX73 as compared to AX55's quad-core?
TP-Link product is easy to set up. It lacks the feature and long term support of the Asus routers.

BCM6755 (quad core ARM Cortex A7 1.5GHz, mainly for AX1500/AX1800 router) is actually a bit lower end than the BCM6750 CPU (tri-core Arm Cortex A7 1.5GHz, most often used for AX3000 and AX5400 router). They are basically the same in terms of CPU power, BCM6755 might be slightly more powerful because of the extra core but practically speaking they are the same.

BCM6750 is used in Asus RT-AX58U/82U as well as Asus Zenwifi XT8. I am using the RT-AX82U, the CPU is fine to me. Of course you do not want to enable QoS as the CPU is too weak for that. On the other end, even the BCM4098 CPU used in RT-AX86U is not really good for QoS at 1Gbps.

Problems with RT-AX55 is actually the 256MB RAM compared to the 512MB RAM in RT-AX56U (same CPU), if you have a lot of clients. TP-Link AX73 uses BCM6750 and at least it has 512MB RAM, the same CPU and RAM as Asus RT-AX58U and RT-AX82U. You can consider it as a low cost alternative to RT-AX82U.

TP-Link HW/FW are pretty stable. I have used multiple TP-Link product like TP-Link Deco M4, RE350 and RE305. Problem is long term support where Asus is the best among the consumer router vendors. Asus FW also has more features which may be useful for power users (eg: built-in SSH access, more wireless tuning). But a lot of users probably not really using the features.
 
Last edited:

AlvinDj

Supremacy Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
8,676
Reaction score
173
TP-Link product is easy to set up. It lacks the feature and long term support of the Asus routers.

BCM6755 (quad core ARM Cortex A7 1.5GHz, mainly for AX1500/AX1800 router) is actually a bit lower end than the BCM6750 CPU (tri-core Arm Cortex A7 1.5GHz, most often used for AX3000 and AX5400 router). They are basically the same in terms of CPU power, BCM6755 might be slightly more powerful because of the extra core but practically speaking they are the same.

BCM6750 is used in Asus RT-AX58U/82U as well as Asus Zenwifi XT8. I am using the RT-AX82U, the CPU is fine to me. Of course you do not want to enable QoS as the CPU is too weak for that. On the other end, even the BCM4098 CPU used in RT-AX86U is not really good for QoS at 1Gbps.

Problems with RT-AX55 is actually the 256MB RAM compared to the 512MB RAM in RT-AX56U (same CPU), if you have a lot of clients. TP-Link AX73 uses BCM6750 and at least it has 512MB RAM, the same CPU and RAM as Asus RT-AX58U and RT-AX82U. You can consider it as a low cost alternative to RT-AX82U.

TP-Link HW/FW are pretty stable. I have used multiple TP-Link product like TP-Link Deco M4, RE350 and RE305. Problem is long term support where Asus is the best among the consumer router vendors.
I really appreciate your great sharings!!

TP-Link AX73 it is for me then! Will try it out for 2 years and see how it goes from there..

ps. I saw that the AX73's firmware latest update was only up till 2020-09-29 lol
 

AlvinDj

Supremacy Member
Joined
Aug 29, 2004
Messages
8,676
Reaction score
173
Compare to Asus RT-AX55 : Version 3.0.0.4.386.42844 2021/05/19
Haha.. I honestly not sure how would the benefit of a frequent firmware update vs one that rarely has any updates affect me..

To be honest, I only update it to the latest once, on the very first time I set it up and then leave it be all the way unless there're impending issues arising..
 

ruffruff

Master Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
4,443
Reaction score
17
You can check out the RT-AX88U thread. There are multiple reports of Firmware upgrade issues reported. Same for the Asus Zenwfi XT8.

You may want to try factory reset or contact Asus for help.

Actually RT-AX86U seems to be better than RT-AX88U based on the feedbacks in this forum and there was a 618 promotion from Courts at S$312 for the Gundam special edition. But that promotion is no more.
Thanks for the info, but I am too late for the promotion. In any case, I did have the intention previously to get a second ac88u as the main router (I have 7 LAN ports in the utility room, so i can do away with the 8 port switch) .

I just tested a second option is to use my Asus secondary routers as AP mode, which will resolve the bandwidth issue, but create a bunch of other issues, i.e. wifi hopping between AP is not as seamless as AiMesh, thus unhappy wife :p

So i guess i will stick with AiMesh for now and pray for a firmware release soon.
 

Apex

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
2,373
Reaction score
162
Thanks for the info, but I am too late for the promotion. In any case, I did have the intention previously to get a second ac88u as the main router (I have 7 LAN ports in the utility room, so i can do away with the 8 port switch) .

I just tested a second option is to use my Asus secondary routers as AP mode, which will resolve the bandwidth issue, but create a bunch of other issues, i.e. wifi hopping between AP is not as seamless as AiMesh, thus unhappy wife :p

So i guess i will stick with AiMesh for now and pray for a firmware release soon.

This Asus firmware fixed security issue but not sure if this introduce a lot issue on their AI-mesh. I’m getting WAN disconnection issue on my router and it just happen when it feel like it. I check the logs can’t tell or see any issue (not a linux expert also lah).

Now also convert my Asus wifi 6 router to AP mode
 

xiaofan

Arch-Supremacy Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2018
Messages
18,107
Reaction score
2,880
I think you got the idea wrong, more ram is for loading programs like Aiprotection or vpn clients. More clients does not need more ram, you will need more cores, while higher speed per core will give you faster speedtest

From the following URL.
Faster CPUs are generally better and may be able to increase your performance. But RAM is typically where most routers fail. More and faster RAM can handle more threads, which is especially important is you have a lot of network traffic going back and forth, such as a lot of devices or even torrenting.
https://www.ncconsumer.org/news-art...am-or-a-slow-cpu-in-your-modem-or-router.html
 
Important Forum Advisory Note
This forum is moderated by volunteer moderators who will react only to members' feedback on posts. Moderators are not employees or representatives of HWZ. Forum members and moderators are responsible for their own posts.

Please refer to our Community Guidelines and Standards, Terms of Service and Member T&Cs for more information.
Top