Question Router Upgrade Question

[Kaitaborgsf]

Hello forums!

I have just bought and will be soon building a second gaming PC for my significant other and when my ISP was over troubleshooting some line issues he pointed out that the router I was using was bottle-necking my system based on the speeds I was paying for.

The router is this Asus RT-AC1200GE (which was bought when we were super low on funds)

Currently we have a 200mbs package from our ISP and we have already purchased another cat5e for the new tower but we are a little lost on whether this router needs upgrading or not and if it does precisely what aspects of the router we should focus on.

The MOBO's we have support gigabit LAN and these are an Asus P6X58D-P and the Asus Prime x570-P and the router we have also supports this but if anyone could offer up any advice or links to guides that would be super appreciated!

Note; We did look up guides to inform our purchases but found this area was rather lackadaisical compared to more popular guides on CPU/GPU's and felt that the forums was a good place to go.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[jimmysmitty]

Unless the router is malfunctioning or not giving your home enough coverage (wireless) you shouldn't need a new router. It has GB ports so it will be able to provide the fastest connection to your desktops.

Now if you wanted a newer router thats different. Some of the newer high end Asus routers are pretty nice. I have the RT-AC88U and it covers my entire home (even my back yard) plus it has more memory and better processing power than what you have. The main benefit to that is it can handle more data. But a 200Mbps connection shouldn't really bog down your current router.

 

[Brian_180]

I'm currently a cybersecurity student and very much still learning so take my advice for what it is.

Since you're connecting the gaming tower via the RJ45, I don't know what your ISP tech was talking about. As Jimmy said above, your router has gigabit transfer ports so with your 200mbps plan with your ISP, there's no way your router would bottleneck... you can't even hit the top capacity. Unless of course he somehow noticed your router was malfunctioning (an issue I just recently ran into) but I imagine he'd have specifically said that.

While the AC1200GE is certainly not a top of the line router, it seems sufficient for your needs. If your ISP ever offers fiber in your area you'd have to upgrade, but you're sitting pretty right now.

Also as a funny aside, on the router page you linked to, it demonstrates setting up a usage clock and instead of "bedtime" it says "badtime". This made me spit out my drink.

 

[bill001g]

I agree with the above you will not get a bottleneck using ethernet. You should be able to test the internet with your current pc. Even very inexpensive routers can run at gigabit speeds wan to lan now days. It should have no issues running only 200mbps.

 

[SamirD]

If you connect wired to the router and run a speedtest and get less than the speeds you are paying for, and then connect directly to the modem and get the speeds you are paying for, then your router is slowing things down or being a bottleneck. Otherwise, it is not.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

So, I did test the router-modem and modem-pc connection and I am getting ~90-100 mbs on the google speed test with the router but directly to the PC I am getting 200-215. I tested several cables in the router config and this was the case on all cables.

So, it appears the router is causing some sort of bottle neck. Ideas on how to fix this?

 

[jimmysmitty]

I would check the routers firmware to make sure its up to date first. Then verify that the ports are set to Gigabit on the router and not being throttled down to 100Mbps. It might be the negotiation between the modem and router is throttling to 100Mbps.

Another thing to do its backup your router config and factory reset it then test.

As I said that router has Gbe ports and is decent enough it should be able to handle a 200Mbps connection.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

I would check the routers firmware to make sure its up to date first. Then verify that the ports are set to Gigabit on the router and not being throttled down to 100Mbps. It might be the negotiation between the modem and router is throttling to 100Mbps.

Another thing to do its backup your router config and factory reset it then test.

As I said that router has Gbe ports and is decent enough it should be able to handle a 200Mbps connection.

I'm not sure which settings to look into to determine I have my LAN ports set to any specific connection type nor does googling this router for such setup provide any information on this subject.

Any ideas?

I updated the firmware and no change.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Not off the top of my head. I will be able to help more when I get home as I have an Asus router and looks like your firmware is similar, although has a few less options.

 

[bill001g]

It should show you the lan and wan port and the status on the main screen where it shows the wan ip. It might be different if this is the older asuswrt but I think it had that even in the first versions.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

It should show you the lan and wan port and the status on the main screen where it shows the wan ip. It might be different if this is the older asuswrt but I think it had that even in the first versions.

I mean, sure, I can see under the client list that I have two computers connected via ethernet but I have no option to change the speed of these ethernet ports nor does it describe what speeds they are... I would paste a screenshot (excluding various mac addresses etc) but it keeps saying it's spam-like so I can only describe to you that, yes, this is true but not helpful from what I can see now.

**EDIT

My modem is this tp-link docis 3.0 cable modem which suggests that it supports up to 343 Mbps but then it also suggests that it is only compatible with 150 Mbps plans?

 

[jimmysmitty]

I see that. Thats odd. Still when directly connected you get up to 200Mbps so it seems like its pushing it. I did some googling and others have run into this issue where they are getting stuck at 100Mbps, multiple router models, so its not a new issue. But solutions can vary from person to person.

As I said I have an Asus RT-AC88U and a 300Mbps plan and get even above that. However I do have a different modem. I have the Arris SB8200 which is a DOCSIS 3.1 and can support the Cox Gigablast plan.

What color are the LEDs on your modems NIC port? If they are both amber its negotiated to 100Mbps. If one is green then it should be negotiating at 1Gbps.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

I see that. Thats odd. Still when directly connected you get up to 200Mbps so it seems like its pushing it. I did some googling and others have run into this issue where they are getting stuck at 100Mbps, multiple router models, so its not a new issue. But solutions can vary from person to person.

As I said I have an Asus RT-AC88U and a 300Mbps plan and get even above that. However I do have a different modem. I have the Arris SB8200 which is a DOCSIS 3.1 and can support the Cox Gigablast plan.

What color are the LEDs on your modems NIC port? If they are both amber its negotiated to 100Mbps. If one is green then it should be negotiating at 1Gbps.

In order from top to bottom based on the modem link provided it is:
White;
Green;
Green;
White;
White;

 

[jimmysmitty]

Not the front but the NIC port should have LEDs of its own. Like this:

1 is normally the Link LED and 2 is normally the Activity LED. We would want to see Green for the Link LED on both the router and modem. If the Link LED is amber then its in 100Mbps not 1Gbps.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

Not the front but the NIC port should have LEDs of its own. Like this:

1 is normally the Link LED and 2 is normally the Activity LED. We would want to see Green for the Link LED on both the router and modem. If the Link LED is amber then its in 100Mbps not 1Gbps.

There is no LED on the back....for either of the modem or router....

**EDIT - 1 is orange-red and 2 is orange on my PC's NIC port, if that helps?
**EDIT - on both PC's

 

[jimmysmitty]

Its probably negotiated to 100Mbps on the PCs since thats all the router is pulling from the modem. I will double check a few settings on my home router when I get there and see if I see anything that can help.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

Its probably negotiated to 100Mbps on the PCs since thats all the router is pulling from the modem. I will double check a few settings on my home router when I get there and see if I see anything that can help.

Greatly appreciated!

 

[bill001g]

I mean, sure, I can see under the client list that I have two computers connected via ethernet but I have no option to change the speed of these ethernet ports nor does it describe what speeds they are... I would paste a screenshot (excluding various mac addresses etc) but it keeps saying it's spam-like so I can only describe to you that, yes, this is true but not helpful from what I can see now.

**EDIT

My modem is this tp-link docis 3.0 cable modem which suggests that it supports up to 343 Mbps but then it also suggests that it is only compatible with 150 Mbps plans?

There is a tab called status you must click on the right under the main tab network map

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

There is a tab called status you must click on the right under the main tab network map

The system status tab on the right only shows the CPU and RAM usage of, I assume, the router.

 

[bill001g]

That must be one of the addon that asuswrt-merlin firmware has. Every asus router I have i loaded merlin on it. I don't think that model of asus supports it. They have been taking features from merlin into the base code but I guess not that one.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

That must be one of the addon that asuswrt-merlin firmware has. Every asus router I have i loaded merlin on it. I don't think that model of asus supports it. They have been taking features from merlin into the base code but I guess not that one.

So, if merlin isnt supported, what are your thoughts on troubleshooting this problem? (a quick google search shows that it isn't supported but please correct me if I am wrong)

 

[bill001g]

This thread is getting long and I forget what was tried. You should be able to see the speed in the pc by looking in the status page on the ethernet cable. You should see 1gbit here. If this is 1gbit it means the problem is likely between the router and the modem. It is really bad when neither has a internal display or lights that will tell you.

In any case the fix to a port getting stuck at 100mbps is a new ethernet cable. You could blindly swap some around and see if you get lucky. Cables are really strange when they go bad. They will work on some machine at 1gbit but not others. It just means they are slightly out of spec and some devices tolerate it more than others.

The problem could be you have fake ethernet cables since there are massive numbers of these being sold. The cable must be pure copper (no cca) and have wire size 22-24 (no flat or thin cables). Many times it is marked on the outside of the cable the size of the wire and type of wire. Generally if you see eia/tia it is a good indicator but some china manufactures put that on fake cables.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

This thread is getting long and I forget what was tried. You should be able to see the speed in the pc by looking in the status page on the ethernet cable. You should see 1gbit here. If this is 1gbit it means the problem is likely between the router and the modem. It is really bad when neither has a internal display or lights that will tell you.

In any case the fix to a port getting stuck at 100mbps is a new ethernet cable. You could blindly swap some around and see if you get lucky. Cables are really strange when they go bad. They will work on some machine at 1gbit but not others. It just means they are slightly out of spec and some devices tolerate it more than others.

The problem could be you have fake ethernet cables since there are massive numbers of these being sold. The cable must be pure copper (no cca) and have wire size 22-24 (no flat or thin cables). Many times it is marked on the outside of the cable the size of the wire and type of wire. Generally if you see eia/tia it is a good indicator but some china manufactures put that on fake cables.

I doubt it's the ethernet cable because a direct connection to the modem shows proper speeds. Thoughts?

 

[bill001g]

That is the problem just because it works on one device does not mean it works on another. I really wish cables would just not work at all when they go bad.

The key indicator it is a cable is that you are getting about say 94 on your speed test. That is the number you see all the time when have a port at 100mbps. There is some variation using speedtest but generally you would see some cases where you get say 110mbps which means the port must be in gigabit mode.

I can't think of a easy way to really tell the speed of the cable between the modem and router if neither device will tell you and there are no lights.

 

[Kaitaborgsf]

That is the problem just because it works on one device does not mean it works on another. I really wish cables would just not work at all when they go bad.

The key indicator it is a cable is that you are getting about say 94 on your speed test. That is the number you see all the time when have a port at 100mbps. There is some variation using speedtest but generally you would see some cases where you get say 110mbps which means the port must be in gigabit mode.

I can't think of a easy way to really tell the speed of the cable between the modem and router if neither device will tell you and there are no lights.

I have tried multiple cables which should decrease the possibility that it is a cable issue significantly (such that; it is a very low probability that 4 cables are all bad)