FTTP with a 3rd party router - Speed Issues

[ripface]

Hi All,

I recently moved into a property with FTTP and was looking forward to lightening fast broadband.  As I've been an ASUS router user for some years I just ignored the BT SmartHub 3 and plugged my trusty RT-AX82u into the focom and away she went.  However checking the speeds revealed a disappointing 80-90 mbps when I'm paying for 500mbps.  

I reported this to BT but they will not do anything as I'm not using their router.  I like the ASUS as I can protect the entire house with VPN client, something the BT Smart (?) hub cannot do.  

To check how the Smart Hub 3 performed I plugged it in ... and immediately started seeing speeds of around 400-450 mbps.  Went back to Asus and it drops now to around 200 mbps.  Better than I was seeing but not quite up to par.

Anyone know if there are settings on the Asus router that will get it working as well as the BT Smart Hub 3?

Cheers,
Ripface

[licquorice]

Suspect the Asus is simply past it's sell by date and not up to the job. BT only guarantee speed to the the ONT, not to the end device.

[WSH]

It could also be pushing everything through a VPN, so it has to go through a third party server and then be rerouted to its final destination.  Frankly, now all internet traffic is encrypted with HTTPS, encrypting the traffic twice is just inefficient.

[ripface]

Good point, but I still prefer to use VPN for other reasons that just security ...... 

Can you recommend a more performant router that might be better?  I guess the Asus RT-AX82u is a little behind the times!

[WSH]

Your reference to 80-90Mb/s also smacks of a connection issue.  If one pin out of the 8 is not connecting the best you’ll achieve is 100Mb/s.

Are you using the same cable as the Smart Hub or a different cable?  If so, I’d try the other cable.

[ripface]

Thanks for the input, but different cables did not make any difference. Strangely since I've put the Asus back in operation it seems to be working a bit better as I'm now seeing ~200mbps with the VPN switched on.

[WSH]

After the last few days it could be an overheating issue causing the processor to throttle.

[ripface]

Overheating?  Yeah, I'm in NE Scotland ... been a bit warmer but not *that* warm!!

Thanks for the suggestion though .....

[WSH]

How old is that Asus?  I’ve not checked, but as Licquorice suggested, it might not be up to the job.

A lot of the pre-full fibre generation of routers had firewall through-puts limited to 350Mb/s sort of region.  Afterall, back in the day 80Mb/s was the best broadband connection you could get.  Even if it had gigabit ports, they were more to service the internal network traffic than the internet connection.

[gg30340]

Your router VPN will cause at least 10% to 20% loss in speed and often even more if it is a free VPN.

The speed can be affected by where the country is that the VPN servers are using because the "traffic" has to travel there and then to the site that you want to see then then back to the UK.

It can also be affected by the load on the VPN servers where more users equals slower speeds.

If your router's VPN is not a subscription VPN it will have a relatively low number of servers for "free" customers. which will affect the speeds because the servers can become over loaded.

Because your speeds are vastly improved to what they should be when you use the Smart hub 3 it would point to the problem being your Asus router and as you have found out BT will not help when you use a 3rd party router.

I would say that you are better to have a VPN on each device and only use it when necessary rather than a router based VPN which is slowing all your traffic all the time..