My Router is behaving oddly - can you help?

Networking Networking Hardware
1

I have an RT-AX89X ASUS router - this router was working fine for a long time.

Now this is my peculiar problem.

If I run a speedtest on the router (it has one inbuilt from Ookla).

I get ~150Mbps down and about ~950Mbps up.

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Ok that is depressing, it used to be 950Mbps either way.

That isn’t odd - what is odd, is that if I run a Speedtest from my desktop, which is connected via fibre, through a 10gb switch to a 10gb SFP+ switch, which receives WAN directly from that router via the SFP+ port on the Router…

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The same is true of my Laptop - again wired via fibre to a switch…

This I could live with, an oddity - but big deal.

The issue I have is that my TrueNAS box - gets Router speeds. It doesn’t get the Desktop/Laptop speeds. Which is a bit of a problem for me.

For the record, the TrueNAS Box, is wired via fibre, to a switch of the same make and brand as my desktop to the same 10gb SFP+ switch.

I can see no reason why my Desktop/Laptop would get increased speed, but my TrueNAS box and Router itself would get this reduced speed?

Has anyone ever seen anything like this?

I have also unplugged, plugged in, restarted, reset to factory defaults everything - and it makes no difference.

ALL the 10gb Routers report a 10gb connection - but just the TrueNAS doesn’t get that speed. The TrueNAS is connected via a 10gb NIC - but this was working fine before and it is odd to me that it shares the same speed as the Router does via Ookla.

If it was JUST the box, I would imagine that the NIC had broken, but as it is - that does seem unlikely?

2

It might be as simple as a temporary problem with the speed tests themselves. Different places like Google speed test give the same or different results?

3

Unfortunately, it has been like this since the 3rd October, my Provider did some maintenance and ever since this problem.

Yes, I have reached out to them - but this is too odd to be their problem and they tested the line and are delivering 1Gbps - I connect directly to the providers hub and I get 1Gbps - it is just through the router that there appears to be this odd issue.

4

Does a traceroute between your router and the speed test server show anything weird?

5

Joe have you tried searching or posting over at the snb forums where a lot of asus focused power users reside?

I would also caution against solely relying on speed tests to determine if my internet is working. They are one tool in the box and because the results rely upon hops outside of your control, the results can be suspect.

Depending on how much you want to dig into this you can do some iperf testing. Where you control the server and client devices. That would be more accurate of a test IMO.

6

I have done iPerf testing in the past, but I don’t think this will be an issue for me as I have fibre across all devices so tend to get reasonably high speeds - the issue seems to be WAN related rather than internal.

I will check out that forum - there is definitely something up with the router - as how can it report an internal test of only 150MBps but be supplying 800Mbps?

not sure to be honest, the first hop seems to be a * * * - then after that it appears fine - not sure whether this is weird though as I can’t remember the last time I did a traceroute on anything.

7

If the router’s test server is different than the other PCs you ran the speedtest on it will usually be different.

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8

When i suggested iperf i meant taking your router off the internet to run iperf through your wan interface from both the router as a client and a pc on the lan as a client. Puting a “server” on the wan interface of your router (in place of your isp).
Of course you first have to install iperf on the router and test devices.

Can you run and share the traceroute results from the router & pc when experiencing the download slowdown & the client pc not experiencing the download slowdown?

Have you run top or htop on the router to monitor resources?

Which dns servers does the router use and are they the same the uneffected client uses?

Lots of variables involved which is why i suggested iperf where you 100% control the variables.

9

This is about the connection between te boxes and the internet.

How fast do the boxes comunicate to each other ? can you get close to 10gb over the fiber connectionss. ?

How mutch horse power do’s the Truenas Box have ?

can the router reach full speeds when none of the 10gb ports are connected ?

If you connecct a box directly to the outside without a router (in Europe this is most of the time posible because we are allowed to use our own routers) Do u get the full connection then ?

10

This thread is when I first installed everything and it was working fine - it has iPerf tests in it from that time and also details each piece of equipment:

A quote from that time:

Using iPerf3 to the server - honestly seems a bit hit and miss…from the desktop:

7.00 GBytes
5.08 GBytes
7.20 GBytes
6.83 GBytes
6.15 Gbytes
6.04 GBytes
6.43 GBytes

I will look to run it again tonight and see if the results are any different - I am not expecting any difference to be honest.

It is running on a i7-12,700k with 64gb of RAM so I think horsepower wise we should be good.

I have not tried that - you mean, unplug everything else from the router and just see what it gets alone… I will try that tonight.

I have not tried the TrueNAS box because honestly, it weighs a bloody tonne with all the HDD in it - but if I connect my laptop - then it runs at the 1Gbps when connected directly to the outside box.

11

That must be enough, Its just a case of cross of all the posibility’s of other problems.

Is there a posibility to update the routers firmware. That might help.

If you connect the 10gb switch to an other router and connect that one to the interenet. Do u get proper speeds on that moment. If that is the case you singled out the router as the problem.

Are you the Joe Bloggs from that economic youtube channel ?

12

I just run iPerf again, and it is at 4.5 GBits/s so appears to have dipped a little…not sure why, but it it still significantly better than 150Mbps that I am getting from the Internet, so figuring that it is not a network issue so much.

I updated the firmware last night, didn’t make any difference.

I don’t have another router - I have one provided by the ISP - but I can’t find the power supply for it - as its been a year and I never used it.

No, I don’t have a Youtube channel so that wouldn’t be me.

I will go through and test out a few steps - may even look at getting a better Router, this one annoys me in many ways…

13

A router like this should do it with ease, But if you get an other router, why not a n100 box with 4 nic’s in it, and put pfsense on it. Then you have all the control you really want.

What do’s assus say ? and why did assus stop making great products.

14

You know you reminded me - I was thinking of doing this awhile back…

And for some reason, I forgot…

I actually have a box ready to go for it as well - just need to move it into the room with the router.

God damn my brain sometimes, utter failure…

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15

That sounds like an amazing project for this eavening, I really want to hear how this ends.

Do u already know if you are going with pfsense or opnsense ?

[pfSense vs. OPNsense: Side-by-Side Comparison in 2023](https://pf vs Opn sense)

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16

I did install pfSense on a box but inside of ProxMox - which I learnt that I do not enjoy using.

So I will opt to just make it pfSense alone and see where it goes instead of trying to include proxmox as a virtual machine set up…

17

Proxmox is nice if you want the box to do difrent stuf. But i think in case of a router firewall box. That box should do that and only that. Every virtual machine feels for me like an extra entry posibility in to that box. It feels like building a nuclear buncker, and then put stained class windows in it. And i allow windows on my desktop because i Need to use cubase and vst plugins. And i don’t like Apples.

18

Ok so added pfSense, relatively easy once I changed the default ip to match what the old Routers ip system was based on - it just worked.

Didn’t even have to restart anything.

Didn’t really change the speed test on the TrueNAS box.

Wondering if maybe there is an issue with the NIC there might have to see if I can test it in someway.

iPerf results actually bypass the pfSense router because it all goes to a TP Link Router so it doesn’t need the Router or pfSense…but it is still a bit crap.

19

Have you tried running speedtest.net from a internal client connected with ordinairy 1Gbe interface?

20

It’s indeed an unusual situation you’re facing. The fact that your TrueNAS box is getting the reduced speed while your desktop and laptop are not is puzzling. Here are a few things you might want to consider:

  1. NIC Configuration: Check the configuration of the NIC on your TrueNAS box. Ensure it’s set to negotiate at 10gb and is not inadvertently limited.
  2. Firmware/Driver Updates: Make sure your TrueNAS box has the latest firmware and NIC driver updates. Sometimes, these updates can address performance issues.
  3. Network Cable: Even though it’s working, consider testing a different fiber cable between your TrueNAS box and the switch. Faulty cables can sometimes lead to reduced speeds.
  4. Switch Configuration: Confirm the configuration on the 10gb SFP+ switch. Ensure it’s correctly set up to handle the 10gb connection from both your TrueNAS box and the router.
  5. Router Settings: Check if there are any specific settings on the ASUS router that might be affecting the speed for the TrueNAS box. Look for any QoS (Quality of Service) or bandwidth management settings.

Though it is not directly related but I wanna share my experience of using refurbished routers, while it might not directly relate to your current issue, incorporating refurbished routers from reputable brands like Dell or HP can be a cost-effective and sustainable solution for network setups. These routers often undergo thorough testing and refurbishment processes, providing reliable performance at a lower cost compared to brand-new counterparts.

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