Question:WAN Aggregation on RT-AX88U?

[miloaisdino]

So in the end it is just terminalogy usage difference. You use the word "bonding", router vendors use the word "aggregation".

Router vendors differtiate WAN aggregation (up stream, or the ISP) and LAN/Link aggregation (down stream, devices connected to the router).

This "bonding" or "aggregation" requires support of LACP (802.3ad), either upstream (ISP ONT/ONT) for WAN aggregation, or downstream (device, with dual sport Ethernet, like NAS or PC) for LAN/Link aggregation.

yup thats right! "wan aggregation" might create the wrong impression that it can be used to "aggregate the bandwidth" of two different wan connections, when its actually link bonding to a single wan connection (single public ip), or the "aggregation of 2 ethernet links to form a single wan connection"! what i meant to say is that the "wan aggregation" feature is for link bonding and not the combination of 2 wan connections. thats why usually the words load balance or link bonding/link aggregation (with the word link) are more commonly used in enterprise networking (eg cisco, juniper etc)! link aggregation can refer to both upstream and downstream connections

 

[LexenZ]

yup thats right! "wan aggregation" might create the wrong impression that it can be used to "aggregate the bandwidth" of two different wan connections, when its actually link bonding to a single wan connection (single public ip), or the "aggregation of 2 ethernet links to form a single wan connection"! what i meant to say is that the "wan aggregation" feature is for link bonding and not the combination of 2 wan connections. thats why usually the words load balance or link bonding/link aggregation (with the word link) are more commonly used in enterprise networking (eg cisco, juniper etc)! link aggregation can refer to both upstream and downstream connections

So at the end of the day, does WAN aggregation of 2Gbps provides a better overall internet connection or does doing 2Gbps separately (1Gbps directly to desktop and 1Gbps to other devices) does it better?

 

[xiaofan]

So at the end of the day, does WAN aggregation of 2Gbps provides a better overall internet connection or does doing 2Gbps separately (1Gbps directly to desktop and 1Gbps to other devices) does it better?

As mentioned, WAN aggregation does not work for Singapore ISPs, rather it is Dual WAN Load Balancing which will work if you have dual 1Gbps plan.

As for which is better, it will depend on people. If you feel the need of above 1Gbps bandwidth, then use dual load balancing.

If you want to have two separate networks then use the normal way.

But for most people it is probably not necessary to have dual 1Gbps plan from the same ISP.

For those who want to have failover redundancy, then it is better to have two different ISPs.

 

[LexenZ]

As mentioned, WAN aggregation does not work for Singapore ISPs, rather it is Dual WAN Load Balancing which will work if you have dual 1Gbps plan.

As for which is better, it will depend on people. If you feel the need of above 1Gbps bandwidth, then use dual load balancing.

If you want to have two separate networks then use the normal way.

But for most people it is probably not necessary to have dual 1Gbps plan from the same ISP.

For those who want to have failover redundancy, then it is better to have two different ISPs.

Thanks for the quick reply Xiaofan.
So meaning that the given ISP plans from Singtel and Starhub offering 1+1Gbps (2Gbps) is sort of useless ? I was intending to subscribe to the 2Gbps one when AXE-11000 is available by making use of the WAN Aggregation.

If that is the case seems like 1Gbps is sufficient enough.

I agree with the redundancy portion, meaning subscribing to 2 different ISPs instead of relying on 1 ISP.

 

[xiaofan]

Thanks for the quick reply Xiaofan.
So meaning that the given ISP plans from Singtel and Starhub offering 1+1Gbps (2Gbps) is sort of useless ? I was intending to subscribe to the 2Gbps one when AXE-11000 is available by making use of the WAN Aggregation.

If that is the case seems like 1Gbps is sufficient enough.

I agree with the redundancy portion, meaning subscribing to 2 different ISPs instead of relying on 1 ISP.

For most of the people 1Gbps or even 500Mbps is sufficient.

But there are people who really need dual 1Gbps plan (Starhub 2Gbps, SingTel 1+1 and Myrepublic 1+1), for example, they have tenants and think it is better to have two separate networks, one for the tenants and the other for the owner.

Some of the people may want to have a dedicate network for their own use (gaming, BitTorrent, etc) and another network for the other family members.

Then some dual 1Gbps plan like SingTel 1+1 Gbps gamer plan comes with a nice router (Asus RT-AX86U) and free WtFast gaming acceleration. So there may be people who feel the interests as well.

Avoid SingTel 2Gbps plan and Vuewquest 2Gbps plan where ONR is used. They are so called aggregated 2Gbps plan and are usually useless.

 

[LexenZ]

For most of the people 1Gbps or even 500Mbps is sufficient.

But there are people who really need dual 1Gbps plan (Starhub 2Gbps, SingTel 1+1 and Myrepublic 1+1), for example, they have tenants and think it is better to have two separate networks, one for the tenants and the other for the owner.

Some of the people may want to have a dedicate network for their own use (gaming, BitTorrent, etc) and another network for the other family members.

Then some dual 1Gbps plan like SingTel 1+1 Gbps gamer plan comes with a nice router (Asus RT-AX86U) and free WtFast gaming acceleration. So there may be people who feel the interests as well.

Avoid SingTel 2Gbps plan and Vuewquest 2Gbps plan where ONR is used. They are so called aggregated 2Gbps plan and are usually useless.

I see Xiaofan.
Thanks so much for the info.

I am currently using Singtel 1Gbps.
However past few months working at home the internets are pretty horrible to say. There are no disconnects, but the speed is just too slow.
Take gaming at night, my friends using starhub all has low latencies, correct download speeds (literally 100mb/s while mine is like 10-20mb/s for a 20gb update file)

I was quite interested in the Starhub's 2Gbps plan instead before i chanced upon this post. I noticed that unlike Singtel which ONT To ASUS routers there is re-routing involved. But Starhub does not require.

Personally the WtFast gaming acceleration is pretty useless in my opinion unless we really want to tap into America/Europe servers, but for Asia servers alone there shouldn't be an issue.

As for the ONR point of view, that can be easily changed by simply removing the integrated ONR and requesting for ONT instead. So configuration would like my current setup. (ONT>ASUS ROUTER>DESKTOP)

Therefore i wanted to try out the starhub's plan instead for the 2gbps.

https://www.starhub.com/personal/home-broadband/fibre-broadband-plans/fibre-2gbps.html

 

[xiaofan]

Starhub 2Gbps plan is actually dual 1Gbps plan (using ONR Port 1 and Port 3), so you have two networks with two independent IPs.

Your problem with SingTel for gaming and download is not because of local bandwidth, but rather latency and international download speed. Bad international routing is the main problem for SingTel when it comes to gaming. And indeed WtFast may not help.

So if Starhub users are okay and you can switch to Starhub 1Gbps. No point to go for Starhub 2Gbps.

Or you can consider MyRepublic 1Gbps plan. It is said that MyRepbublic may have better routing than Starhub and M1. But you may need to pay for the one time charge of S$50 for the static IP to remove the limitation of CGNAT (no public IP).

As for SingTel ONR, it can be complicated so you can refer to my other posts about SingTel ONR. You can not bridge the ONR for SingTel 2Gbps plan and Viewquest 2Gbps plan.

 

[yusoffb01]

you can try using VPN. if speed is faster means Singtel throttles. You're better off signing with myrepublic which doesnt throttle

 

[hyperfuse]

Confirm that WAN Aggregation will not work with Asus AX88U (or AX86U) with local ISP 2Gbps plan or dual 1Gbps plan.

Dual WAN load balancing will work.
Ref: Asus Dual WAN FAQ
https://www.asus.com/sg/support/FAQ/1011719/

As per the expert you may hit above 1Gbps with SpeedTest or other multithreaded applications. But I have doubts since I have not seen the testing results yet to prove the theory.

hi bro, sorry to bring up old comment hehe..

Isnt WAN aggregation also load balancing?

 

[xiaofan]

hi bro, sorry to bring up old comment hehe..
Isnt WAN aggregation also load balancing?

Asus FAQ for WAN Aggregation. Anyway, just ignore this as the local ISPs do not support WAN Aggregation.
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1039053/

 

[eBuddy]

Hi @xiaofan, I just recontract to Singtel 2Gbps plan at $42.90 per month. My existing ONT will be replaced with ONR. What's the best setup for my Asus RT-AX88U router to maximize the speed since WAN aggregation not supported.

For my case, does Xiaomi BE6500 Pro a good replacement for RT-AX88U ? Thanks

 

[xiaofan]

Hi @xiaofan, I just recontract to Singtel 2Gbps plan at $42.90 per month. My existing ONT will be replaced with ONR. What's the best setup for my Asus RT-AX88U router to maximize the speed since WAN aggregation not supported.

For my case, does Xiaomi BE6500 Pro a good replacement for RT-AX88U ? Thanks

No need, you can reuse your RT-AX88U.

WAN side: Dual WAN Load Balancing
https://www.asus.com/sg/support/faq/1011719/

LAN side: Link aggregation
https://www.asus.com/sg/support/faq/1016088/

 

[eBuddy]

After change to use ONR, my Asus RT-AX88U setup as AP or router mode? Thanks

 

[xiaofan]

After change to use ONR, my Asus RT-AX88U setup as AP or router mode? Thanks

If you want to keep the feature of your Asus router, you have to use router mode (Double NAT).

Basically it is a bad move to change to 2Gbps plan because of the change from ONT to ONR, when you use a good router like RT-AX88U.

But Double NAT is not so bad and it will not affect the normal browsing or media streaming.
https://kb.netgear.com/30186/What-is-double-NAT-and-why-is-it-bad

If your use cases are affected by Double NAT, then you have to use AP mode. Most of the FW feature (non-wireless) do not work in AP mode, including Dual WAN Load Balancing.

 

[eBuddy]

Singtel no longer offer 1Gbps plan nor issue ONT. So got to live with ONR.
Is it a good move to replace RT-AX88U with Xiaomi BE6500 Pro?

 

[xiaofan]

Is it a good move to replace RT-AX88U with Xiaomi BE6500 Pro?

I will say no.

RT-AX88U --> the right replacement is Asus RT-BE88U. Minimum is probably Asus TUF-BE6500.

 

[eBuddy]

Thanks xiaofan. Will see what's the impact of double NAT .

 

[i.Singaporean]

I will say no.

RT-AX88U --> the right replacement is Asus RT-BE88U. Minimum is probably Asus TUF-BE6500.

Hi xiaofan, is the Asus TUF-BE6500 alot better than Xiaomi BE6500 Pro?

 

[xiaofan]

Hi xiaofan, is the Asus TUF-BE6500 alot better than Xiaomi BE6500 Pro?

If you enjoy the rich firmware features of an existing Asus router, then you will feel like downgrade when switching to Xiaomi, or other consumer brands like Linksys, TP-Link, D-Link and ZTE/Ruijie/etc

If you have never used Asus or you just care about wireless and no worries about firmware features, then the two are pretty much comparable.