Question adding a 2.5 gbps lan port to Asus RT-AX86U

[roieco]

hi there. i use an Asus RT-AX86U router.
the 2.5 gbps port on the router is connected to WAN (i have 2.5 gbps internet), so despite my main pc supporting better speeds it is currently connected via a 1 gbps to the router.
i thought of adding a 2.5 gbps lan port via usb through the usage of a dongle such as this one:
https://www.amazon.com/-/he/gp/product/B093FB9QWB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2XZ7JICGUQ1CX&psc=1
which could then be used as a lan port or wan port (thus freeing the 2.5gbps native lan port)

is this a good idea? will it work? has anyone tried it?

 

[Lutfij]

I wouldn't do it if I were you and implement a router that had the ports you're looking for, sans any adaption but this and this might interest you. I mentioned prior that I wouldn't do it, this user states why in the simplest way.

 

[kanewolf]

hi there. i use an Asus RT-AX86U router.
the 2.5 gbps port on the router is connected to WAN (i have 2.5 gbps internet), so despite my main pc supporting better speeds it is currently connected via a 1 gbps to the router.
i thought of adding a 2.5 gbps lan port via usb through the usage of a dongle such as this one:
https://www.amazon.com/-/he/gp/product/B093FB9QWB/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2XZ7JICGUQ1CX&psc=1
which could then be used as a lan port or wan port (thus freeing the 2.5gbps native lan port)

is this a good idea? will it work? has anyone tried it?

Won't work. There is no way that the USB driver will be part of the OS and you have no way to add a driver.

 

[roieco]

Won't work. There is no way that the USB driver will be part of the OS and you have no way to add a driver.

could you please see this link shared by @Lutfij ? they say it works out of box.

 

[kanewolf]

could you please see this link shared by @Lutfij ? they say it works out of box.

You did not say you were running Merlin FW. Merlin may have selective drivers installed.

 

[roieco]

You did not say you were running Merlin FW. Merlin may have selective drivers installed.

yes sorry forgot to mention that i run the latest merlin.

 

[bill001g]

The question will be does the USB port use the hardware nat acceleration. If not you will not even get 1gbit.

This is a tricky thing to say since the support for the NAT acceleration is not public domain software which mean merlin is using the one provided by asus.

In the end you likely are better off saving some money and dropping your internet speed to 1gb. In many cases there are limits on the site you are downloading from. Things like steam varies a lot by game, you see people complain they can't even get 1gbit speeds on some game downloads.

I would first test by plugging your pc directly into the fiber box that the router currently connects to. Do some testing and see what the best case you can get is.

 

[roieco]

The question will be does the USB port use the hardware nat acceleration. If not you will not even get 1gbit.

This is a tricky thing to say since the support for the NAT acceleration is not public domain software which mean merlin is using the one provided by asus.

In the end you likely are better off saving some money and dropping your internet speed to 1gb. In many cases there are limits on the site you are downloading from. Things like steam varies a lot by game, you see people complain they can't even get 1gbit speeds on some game downloads.

I would first test by plugging your pc directly into the fiber box that the router currently connects to. Do some testing and see what the best case you can get is.

i run the built in speed test from within the router and get the full 2.5 gbps, plus when i just upgraded i tested once directly with the pc and also got full speed.

 

[kanewolf]

i run the built in speed test from within the router and get the full 2.5 gbps, plus when i just upgraded i tested once directly with the pc and also got full speed.

What @bill001g is saying is that to run at 2.5Gb the hardware acceleration internal to the router is required. A USB attached device may not be supported by the hardware acceleration and therefore won't support 2.5Gb. It might link at 2.5Gb but the throughput would be limited.

 

[bill001g]

I did not mean you test it with speedtest. That site is designed for maximum throughput but only for short periods of time. Try to download something from steam, there are many free games that are huge. I am going to bet it will most times not even get 1gbit. Speedtest means nothing if the sites you actually download from have limits. The sites you download from do not have unlimited bandwidth and it does not take many uses with large internet connection to exceed the companies internet connection.

 

[roieco]

i ordered it so i will soon let us all know if it works and how well.