Bandwidth reduced to half following the second router.
Bandwidth reduced to half following the second router.
So this is a somewhat continuation of my previous question on this forum : After installing the new ethernet cable for an ethernet backhaul for my 1st AiMesh node, I connected another ethernet cable to it that goes to a wall jack. I then tested the bandwith using iperf3 and saw that my bandwith is cut in half. So I did more testing, here's the result : - From 2nd router -> cat6 -> Rj45 Wall Plate -> Cat 6 - Laptop Bandwith is cut in half - From 2nd router -> Cat 6 -> Laptop Bandwith is cut in half - From 1st Router -> 30 meters Cat 6 -> Laptop Bandwith is normal Is that normal or what ? I expected some loss, but definitely not 50% loss. Is there something that can be done to "fix" it that doesn't require me to buy more stuffs ? If there is really nothing that can be done about it / can be done but I have to buy more stuffs : Will buying a gigabit switch and then use it like a splitter on 1st floor will do ? I mean, so that my 1st floor node can get ethernet backhaul & my rj45 wall plate gets normal bandwith at the same time (or atleast not cut in half). (1st router -> cat 6 -> Gigabit Switch -> 2x Cat 6 -> One to 2nd Router & the other one to wall plate) Because that seems cheaper & simpler than buying another 30 meters quality cable and installing it on my ceiling. At least if a cheap gigabit switch is fine to use that is. Cheapest I can find is 5ports one branded Tenda or Mercusys here. They're like half the price of 30 meters Belden Cat6. https://www.mercusys.com/en/product/details/ms105g https://www.tendacn.com/us/product/sg105.html Peripherals info : - All router is the same model & firmware version : ASUS RT-AC59U v2 - All router uses ASUS AiMesh - All ethernet cables uses Belden Cat6 UTP cable Below is a pic of my network layout just in case someone needs it : Also I'm sorry for directly tagging like this, since you guys are the one answering my question on my previous one, thought maybe you can help me out more. @Needfuldoer @mariushm @Lurick
The second and third routers seem to be functioning mainly as access points, not handling routing tasks. The lack of connectivity on the second router might be due to a half-duplex issue unrelated to its routing role.
It seems the 2nd and 3rd routers are operating in AiMesh Node mode on the router interface. I’m not sure if this refers to AP functionality or another setting. Could you clarify how to verify this? I only interacted with the 2nd and 3rd routers by connecting them as mesh nodes via ASUS AiMesh scan & add, and setting the 3rd router’s preferred uplink AP to the 2nd router to avoid poor signal unless the 2nd is unreachable.
What bandwidth do you get where it is normal? Half duplex would be 10Mb/s or 100Mb/s only, if you're above that then the link is negotiated to gigabit and it's full duplex. When you say half and half is the 3rd router getting 25% of the bandwidth or the same as what you get off router 2? All the routers are LAN port to LAN port right? you didn't connect the cable to any of the WAN ports on them did you?
Testing iperf3 via just the first router at 700-800 Mbit range shows much lower speeds—around 300-400 Mbit. Using the second router brings it back up to 700-900 Mbit. It seems I haven’t used the third router before, as it’s only needed for my mom’s Wi-Fi in her room. The connection doesn’t rely on Ethernet backhaul; instead, it uses 5G from the second router. The setup connects the first router to the laptop and desktop via LAN, then switches to WAN through the second router, which is linked to the 2nd floor. The ASUS guide for AiMesh System explained this configuration.
I forgot the second and third segments were a WiFi backhaul, so I won't be concerned about that now. For the first two routers, I'd attempt to swap the cable to connect them directly on the LAN. I think because it's using the WAN port, it's overloading the CPU and attempting NAT which is causing performance issues.
Sure, I'll make sure to follow up tomorrow after my last attempt at climbing stairs at 1 AM. Thanks for your response and the guidance so far. Cheers to you @Needfuldoer!
I attempted to link the Ethernet backhaul cable to the second router's LAN port instead of the WAN as suggested by @Lurick. The outcome was unsuccessful. The second router lost its Ethernet connection and switched back to using a wireless uplink. When measuring with iperf, the results were very poor. I carried out additional testing. Before sharing the findings, here are the key points:
- The modem operates in bridge mode; the first router functions as a wireless router/AiMesh Router, while the second and third routers run in AiMesh Node mode.
- LAN ports on the first router are assigned to different devices: Port #1 connects to a desktop, Port #2 to a laptop dock on the second floor, Port #3 is unused Ethernet cable for temporary use, and Port #4 serves as the Ethernet link to the second router's WAN port.
- CPU usage varies between 30% and 43%, with RAM utilization at 75%.
- After purchasing a 30m Cat6 cable, I ran iperf3 on my current setup (LAN port #2 connected to a USB-C dock with RJ45 → laptop USB-C). The results were disappointing.
- I tested the 30m Cat6 directly from Port #4 to my laptop's Ethernet port. The speed was around 450–650 Mbits.
- Connecting the cable at Port #4 directly to the laptop's port gave similar speeds.
- Testing with a female-to-female adapter and an additional Cat6 cable also produced comparable outcomes.
- I discovered that iperf doesn't support UDP mode, and when I tried to run it as a server on my laptop while using the desktop as client, it failed to connect, showing a timeout error.
- Shared folders are accessible from any device, whether from laptop to desktop or vice versa.
I apologize for using many spoilers; I thought this would help clarify things quickly.