ASUS N55U on Plusnet Fibre & some other questions...

Hi, long time member, haven't posted in ages, but I have two questions I hope you can help me with:

Setup:

Plusnet Fibre
ASUS N55U Router

Question 1:

I am using:

DSL-N55U_3.0.0.4_335_Annex_A

This is the latest Beta firmware direct from ASUS that allows you to use one of the N55U's ethernet ports as an EWAN port. Out of the box, it is just an ADSL router.

Was looking thought plusnet forums and saw that MTU AND MRU should be set to 1492. I initially had them different and was getting poor speeds with my ASUS compared to the supploed Technicolor. So...changed and got this result with the N55U:

[img]http://www.speedtest.net/result/2482924297.png[/img]

This is the result with my Plusnet supplied Techniclor, as you can see the upload is higher & my ping is lower than with my N55U:

[img width=300 height=135]http://www.speedtest.net/result/2482877069.png[/img]

So, I have my download speed on par, but my upload and ping is worse, perhaps another setting I've overlooked an need to change?

This is what I have on the main WAN page:

[img width=600 height=670]http://i.imgur.com/Y3jcH2D.jpg[/img]

Thanks!

QUESTIONS 2:

The Wi-Fi of my router seems quite poor compared to the excellent performance suggested in the reviews. Is it right that I get MAX 65mbps on all my devices? (when sat right next to the router).

Devices include Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Xperia Play, Xperia ARC, Xperia U and an Iphone 3GS, as well as 2 Sky on demand wireless boxes.

The wireless signal is max 65mbps and deteriorates dramatically with distance, it seriously under performs compared to the supplied technicolor. For example, in the upstairs bedrooms, with the Technicolor, I get around 19mbps, but with the N55U, I am lucky to get 5mbps...and sometimes even dropouts. Surely this isn't right? I expected a strong Wi-FI signal of 150mbps with this router? No?

Thank you for your help.

Your WAN settings look correct. Without RFC 4638 support (which is supported by the BT Openreach FTTC modem and BT Wholesale backhaul network), 1492 is the maximum MTU and MRU supported by PPPoE anyway - if you try to set higher, it will be negotiated down to 1492.

The two speedtest results are within a few percent of each other. It looks like you got a different IP address and possibly a different routing through the BT Wholesale network between the two tests, so there's no direct comparability anyway. I'd be content that the two runs are broadly similar.


So far as wireless goes, it may be the router has settled on a congested channel on 2.4GHz. It would help if you post the wireless settings you have configured, blanking out any passwords or encryption keys and, if you wish, the SSID.


It looks like it's time to update your signature, too!

Thanks, I think you're probably right. I've been doing speeds test on the N55U and it did go up to 16mps in one of them but does seem to stay around 14mbps, whereas it is inconstantly 16mps+ on the techniclor.

These are my Wi-Fi settings.

The only thing I've changed is the channel (to see if it was any better, it was initally set to 'auto'). Everything else is default.

Sadly, I can't use the 5GHZ network as none of my devices (despite being new), support this. So I have to use the 2,4ghz network only.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cS8AIHf.jpg[/IMG]

I wish all dual band wireless access points were simultaneous dual band - the access points I use are. Some of my devices support 5GHz - my laptop does, as does my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and another family member's Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. I've got two more laptops, a couple of older mobile phones and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 that are 2.4GHz only.


Set the "channel bandwidth" to 20MHz - there's little hope of getting 40MHz successfully into the crowded 2.4GHz band.

If all your devices support 802.11n, set whatever "wireless mode" is 802.11n only and turn off "b/g protection" - experiment with these settings and only revert them if a device stops working.

For channel, there's really only three non-overlapping 20MHz channels on 2.4GHz - 1, 6 and 11 (or 13), though 1, 5, 9 and 13 are almost non-overlapping and would be a better option if so much equipment didn't default to 6. Load this free app on your Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 - you can walk around the house checking the occupancy of the various wireless channels, then choose the least occupied.

Thank David.

I seem to have improved the wi-fi strength a decent amount with your suggestions.

One thing that is bothering me with this Router and Plusnet is despite the speedtest I showed above, webpages seem to be hanging (on all devices).

Downloading is completely fine, just regular browsing.

I didn't have this problem using the router on my previous ISP, nor do I have it when I use the supplied router.

I guess it must be the updated firmware, I don't know. It's kind of annoying.

Edited by deleted (Mon 04-Feb-13 17:24:53)

Stalls on browsing sounds like an issue with DNS servers. You could try manually configuring Google's public DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 - does that improve the situation?

I'm glad that the wireless is working better.

You know, that's a good point about the DNS servers.

I believe I've been using the ones recommended by COMODO (my antivirus/Firewall) for years now.

I will try Google's, and if they're still a bit sticky, I'll try my ISP's DNS.

I remember reading a while ago that Google's servers weren't ideal outside of the US? That still the case you know?

Edited by deleted (Mon 04-Feb-13 18:33:19)

OpenDNS use anycast so with the IPs they provide it will be the UK servers (London I think) and only 6 hops from my router (at least on IDNet).

So, I've tried Google and Open DNS, and I am of the opinion that I get better response times with the standard Plusnet DNS.

I guess that is what I was using with the supplied Plusnet router as it comes per-configured, and it was overwriting my windows DNS settings? Is that what happens? What takes precedence?

I now have my N55U to detect DNS automatically, or maybe I should input the DNS listed on the Plusnet site?

Every device, including the router, will use whatever DNS servers are configured on it. Explicitly configured DNS server override any picked up by DHCP (client devices) or PPP (the router).

For the sake of flexibility, it's better not to configure DNS servers on client devices, but leave them configured to pick up DNS servers via DHCP. This means you can change DNS servers for your entire network simply by reconfiguring the router.


The router may need DNS servers for any name resolution it does itself (such as resolving the address of NTP servers), also it will hand out DNS server addresses via DHCP. Almost certainly it will hand out the PlusNet DNS servers unless you configure different DNS servers.