AC3200 - is it worth it?

Thinking about getting an AC3200 tri-band router because the current ASUS RT- N66U is just too slow for streaming videos. Usually have three to five computers accessing the router. Current down speed is tested at 2.75 Mbps with a paltry 470 kbps up.

 

Replacing a router won't help - these speeds are nowhere near what RT-N66U can do so router is not a limiting factor here. Something else has to be - wither distance, or configuration of client machines.
You'd have to describe your setup and settings in more detail for us to be able to figure it out.

 

Download speeds are mostly about the site you are downloading from,"your Internet service",time of day and a host of other variables.

Why Tomato?.Was it preinstalled on the router when you bought it?
Do you need a VPN?

Need better Internet service than you're getting.

There's still some issues with Windows 10 connectivity that needs to be addressed by MS if that's the OS

 

There isn't any software for the router. It's running Tomato firmware.

The modem is far away from the ADSL central office which is why bandwidth is slow.

Also ran Steve Gibson's DNS Benchmark which said:

It appears that only one local (router gateway) DNS nameserver, with the IP address of [192.168.1.1], is currently providing all DNS name resolution services to this system. This configuration is not recommended because most consumer-grade routers provide inefficient and under-powered DNS resolution services.

You should give serious thought to disabling your router's provisioning of DNS services (which it is providing for all computers on your local network). After this is done, a fresh reboot of your computers will likely reveal the multiple DNS nameservers provided by your ISP. This is a superior configuration, without an under-powered router acting as a incompetent middleman and impeding all DNS access.

Note that if you can determine the IP addresses of your ISP-provided nameservers (which may be visible in your router's web configuration) you could manually add them to the nameservers being tested by this benchmark, while also leaving your router providing DNS. This would allow you to compare the performance when running through your router versus "going direct".
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I'm not understanding what it is saying. How do I disable the DNS services?

Also after running speedtest had a bufferbloat rating of F. This thread describes a similar instance with that issue. Somebody there has a Linux solution. Since I am using Tomato can I use the script to fix the issue?

Thanks

 

The whole point of disabling your router working as DNS is for your computer to use actual DNS servers rather than your router, which in turn will use those actual servers. This settings is not always available and with powerful routers like yours it does not change much if anything - only slow routers would be better off bypassed.

I am not sure bufferbloat is a problem either.

Could you use speedtest via Wi-Fi and Ethernet and compare the results?
Send thing - could you transfer files from a computer connected via Ethernet wire to a notebook using Wi-Fi (like from a shared folder)
and back and take a note of the speed?
Third question - can you log in to the modem and report on the connection speed, noise (it can also be called SNR ratio or signal to noise ratio) and attenuation?

 

So the house has only one good phone jack. All the rest have line noise. The original location had to be switched because of that. How do I log into the modem? It's a D-Link DSL-30B.

I was also reading about TCP Optimizer. Don't know if that would improve things.

 

By default it's 192.168.1.1 and both the password and login are "admin".

 

Nothing will help if you are bottleneck by adsl... Get a better internet connection first.

Sent from my 306SH

 

That address is to the router?

I've been going over some transcripts with my DSL rep and here is what he had to say about the DSL line:

The speedtest results you had posted earlier, 2.6 and 0.43, are actually above average, so there's not much room left for optimization beyond that. Unless you're seeing a problem with significantly lower speeds, I'd leave things as they are now, as they seem to be working well (unless I'm missing something here).
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Another issue is that we get knocked offline every now and then. I have to contact the DSL office to rebuild the line.

 

As mentioned, the DSL speeds are just too slow for multiple Video stream. Even one stream with other devices accessing the web could cause issues, depending on server and video bit rates. Five devices is not enough to justify multiple 5GHz radios unless you are doing NAS access as well.

 

Yeah it just kills the bandwidth whenever someone is streaming videos. There is also a PS4 attached which is constantly updating itself.

 

It's default address of the D-Link modem - I have no way of knowing if it's been changed.
If it has been and you don't know the new one the simplest solution would be to connect the computer straight to modem and check Windows Networking Center (or whatever it's called) to see what default gateway is showing - this would be the modem.

 

I assume you live pretty rural? How is mobile 3g or 4g price for you.

Sent from my 306SH

 

Los Angeles is nowhere near rural!

The default address is also for the ASUS router. I guess as you said has to be directly connected into the modem with an ethernet cable? Thing is the modem and router have been placed into an awkward area to connect something like that. I have been connecting to the router via wi-fi. I have been looking to see if I can obtain the data through the RT-N66U.

I also have TCP Vegas (Network Congestion Control) enabled instead of QoS with settings at Alpha 2, Beta 6, Gamma 2.

 

Look into fios or cable? I mean tinkering around is not going to solve the problem ~~

 

Just too far away from the CO is screwing things up I suppose.

I was going to get at the modem as I downloaded the manual. Need to wait until the traffic is quiet though. It was provided by the DSL company. I haven't ever set up anything inside it. Just plugged it in.

 

Okay, so I was able to log into the modem and pulled up these statistics:

Line Rate -
Upstream (Kbps): 512
Downstream (Kbps): 3008

Down Up​

SNR Margin (dB): 9.0 18.0
Attenuation (dB): 51.0 31.5

Attainable Rate (Kbps): 4192 1044
Rate (Kbps): 3008 512

 

That kind of explains everything. As you can see your actual speed is very close to the line speed, so router is not to blame.
The reason why your line speed is low is attenuation - with 51dB you couldn't possibly get any faster connection.
Either way - if you want faster streaming you need new ISP (nor ADSL based).

 

I see. Not what I wanted to hear.

Well I certainly do appreciate your help! I guess the RTN66U is a decent router. Now to find something perhaps fibre optic? Would that router support something of that nature?

I read in another post of yours that an AC3200 router is just dumping money down the drain. So that then sums up this thread.

Interesting enough, an article entitled Speedy gigabit Internet may arrive in L.A., but don't hold your breath was published in the LA Times a few days ago. I guess we'll have to wait for it.

 

Avoid this router by all means! I bought it on day one and been desperately trying different firmwares, both official and Merlin builds, it has a nasty bug of frequently disconnecting you while you are in the middle of downloading something or working online. It is a great router features wise ruined by the lousy ASUS firmware

The RT-AC87U was not so great as well, didn't disconnect as bad as the AC3200 did but still it did disconnect a lot.

I went back to buying an AC68U which is rock solid, but, only on the first firmware that came with it. All these new firmwares with new features, AI Protection and other gimmicks just seem to ruin these great routers.

 

how come in los angeles u have so crap internet? there suppose to be like optic or cable ?