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.

re: Warp_Man (and David_W)

Some routers give out the DNS they receive on WAN, some give out themselves as the DNS.

The ASUS DSL-N55U is one that gives out itself, and will also resolve LAN IPs for the local network - if a client device supplies (registers) a hostname when it requests IP (DHCP).

Depending on the firmware version, when the router is set to receive its WAN IP automatically from the ISP it isn't using any custom DNS settings (unless you also set the WAN IP manually.

I'm waiting to see if the next firmware* will fix this (and IPv6 - which worked on an old firmware it arrived with).

But yes for computers and other things on the LAN if they have any specific DNS set they will use that regardless of what it on the router. However as per above I also prefer a home router to be a single point of network config (and everything else on auto config).

* Edit: oh I am still on 3.0.0.4.314 - has .335 been released on an ASUS forum (as opposed to the support/download page for this model?

Edited by prlzx (Tue 05-Feb-13 20:13:08)

Thanks guys, very interesting.

All appears to be working well now, having a problem with my Twitter interactions page not loading on web interface (fine in apps on tablets, phones), but since that is the only site affected, I don't think it is related.

re: prlzx

Yes, .355 is out in the ASUS forums and it is what I am currently using since this allows the conversion of an Ethernet port for use with my new fibre.

It is a BETA however, and has not been officially released on the download page.

The forum link is here: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=2013012816362...

Direct Download from ASUS: https://www.asuswebstorage.com/navigate/s/8EE79F1CE0...

Twitter makes heavy use of Javascript

It follows a pattern of sites like these where the first page is loaded from Twitter but contain little or no "content" and client-side scripts load stuff as you "navigate" around. (The scripts also update the address bar and browser history but don't reload the whole page if they can avoid it.)

So - perhaps if your anti-malware software is hooked into the browser and scans scripts before letting them run, it may slow things down (scripts if dynamic may appear to be "different every time" and need scanning) whereas for files that change infrequently, anti-malware can record these as "already scanned this" (by date+checksum). Ad blockers (if they check anything that looks like a URL) probably also slow down on sites that dynamically fetch things, from client-side scripts.

Naturally if you do try turning off security s/w don't leave it off too long on any social media site!

I suggest this because I'm assuming your tablet/phone apps aren't security scanning at least on web pages (I guess such tools are more likely to scan app downloads and local storage)

Other quick comparison would be Chrome vs other browsers (Chrome tends to have decent Javascript speed) - if you can feel a difference it is less likely to be the network.

Re: firmware
I had previously read talk about community-contributed firmwares and ethernet WAN but then couldn't find it.
So thanks muchly for the link - something to try tomorrow.
Hoping ASUS support this as a core feature as the option of ADSL/3G/Ethernet - means not having to swap routers or add another box if moving to/from cable (or to FTTx).

(edit haha changelog "Fixed WAN -> Internet Connection, Static DNS fails to work issue." so I wasn't imagining it

Edited by prlzx (Wed 06-Feb-13 01:05:07)

Just an update.

Gone back to my Plusnet Router.

The N55U was an amazing router on my 5mb/s ADSL, but I am still suffering web page lag when using it with my Plusnet Fibre.

I have tried all the DNS servers above (including PN's own) with my N55U but still get the browsing lag on each, Twitter especially is unusable. But it is generally slower too on other sites.

It's a shame, because the Wi-fi in my home network is vastly improved now in terms of speed and range, but I just can't put up with this laggy browsing.

The PN router loads pages instantly however, so I know it is something to do with the N55U and not browser/PC settings.

Going to put it down to the N55U's beta firmware, and the fact that it's original use was not what I'm using it for now (neither was PN's router for that matter - modified LAN port). Can't really think why else I would be suffering this problem.

So, it's with great regret that I think I'm going to sell my N55U. Think I will go with a straight swap for the N56U. Hopefully that is better.

ps. Anyone want to buy a Asus N55U? lol

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