Question Issues are more consistent than running stable

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I've had my RT86U for close to 2 years now. I've been using Merlin firmware for it's QoS and firewall enhancements, most of that time, and that's the reason why I have this router. It seems I am constantly having issues with the firmware going corrupt, even when the router is left alone. My cable modem is solid: all my power levels are within great range, hardly ever any uncorrected errors, t3 timeouts, etc. yet every so often I find myself reinstalling the firmware and manually setting things up. I usually do a full reset every-time, too. Next thing I know my dslreports speed test has a solid red upload buffer-bloat for the entire length of the upload. This matters to me because I am a competitive gamer. I know the nets are not always 100% consistent but I feel I'm a little more in tune with how things are acting.

Is it bad hardware? Firmware? A bad setup? Do I need to do a different router? I have an X58 rig available if need be, or an older Q9650, if that'll work with pfsense. pfsense actually kinda intimidates me because for the most part I'm just an average to avid pc user.

I'm a little frustrated at this point

 

[JackMDS]

You can put a Ferrari Engine into Fiat 500.

Doing so would not turn the Fiat 500 into an inexpensive Ferrari.

Network chipset are Not very expensive putting them into a fancy plastic box without accurate pro desgine (that cost money time and real research) does not turn the box into equivalent to more expensive IT Pro boxes that really adhere to the total Specs.

I.e., (beyond "Drama Kinging") the solution is to get a real Pro Router (No Wireless), and then get pro Access Points just to the deliver Wireless signals.

 

[SamirD]

Interesting. It does sounds like the hardware could be starting to have issues. Are you seeing these issues on wired or wireless? Have you tried the stock firmware?

I wouldn't think about pfsense as that's overkill for setting up a basic router for the home. Almost any solid consumer router should be good.

And one thing you might want to consider is getting a used enterprise class router--these are designed for low latency while handling business levels of connections so they should work really well for just a single home connection. These usually don't come with wireless so you can then use your asus as an access point.

 

[Muadib]

Never had an Asus router last longer than 3 years before I had to replace it. For me it was always the hardware, and since you have to keep installing the same firmware, I'd say yours it toast.

 

[mxnerd]

Seems no other firmwares (DD-WRT. OpenWRT) available though.

Why not revert back to factory firmware and see what happens?

 

[mxnerd]

Someone said you shouldn't reboot on a schedule (if you do that on a regular basis), there is a bug. (Guess power off then power on is OK?)

DD-WRT :: View topic - Asus RT-AC86U [BCM4906 1.8Ghz]

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

The Buffer bloat issue went away on two different trouble shoots. The first time the buffer bloat was fine, even better that using Adaptive QoS, was when I setup Bandwidth Limiter. DSLreports speedtest was fine. The limiter didn't allow any brief threshold crossings just conistent speeds set at the limit, I was impressed tbh. However, I went back to Adaptive QoS, no FreshJR, and the test consistently failed on two wired machines both using two different browsers. I went into the advanced settings for the test and enabled Websockets on both up and download. It failed once and then things were fine after that.

So that issue seems to be straightened out, but that's only been going on for about a month now VS the consistent funk for the past year or so.
@mxnerd I don't reboot the router on a regular reschedule, or at all.

@SamirD I think I'll keep away from pfsense, thanks. It's the entire router just needs a refresh almost monthly.

I stopped using FreshJR for the time being and that seems to give me more of a consistent feel when gaming. It's one less thing to wonder about, and it gives me time to look into other possibilities.

I like the idea of getting an entry level prosumer router and using the Asus as a Wireless AP. If things are the same months from now I'll probably look into it.

 

[SamirD]

Glad you're making headway.

Don't look at the prosumer line as that's going to be the same as high-end consumer. Enterprise offerings are by companies like Fortigate, Watchguard, Cisco, Palo Alto, Juniper, et al. You can find older versions on ebay for below the price of a high end consumer router and that will spank one and have it crying back to mommy. And if you have the budget for high-end consumer, you can get entry level enterprise close to new (open box, etc).

I have a watchguard M200, and just look at these crazy specs:

Compare Firebox M200 & Firebox M300 Appliances | WatchGuard Technologies

www.watchguard.com

I picked it up for cheap in the CDW outlet about 4-5yrs ago now. I don't think I've ever seen the cpu usage go above 0, lol. And I've got almost 100 things on the network, half of them computers. Just shows how powerful these things are...

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Glad you're making headway.

Don't look at the prosumer line as that's going to be the same as high-end consumer. Enterprise offerings are by companies like Fortigate, Watchguard, Cisco, Palo Alto, Juniper, et al. You can find older versions on ebay for below the price of a high end consumer router and that will spank one and have it crying back to mommy. And if you have the budget for high-end consumer, you can get entry level enterprise close to new (open box, etc).

I have a watchguard M200, and just look at these crazy specs:

Compare Firebox M200 & Firebox M300 Appliances | WatchGuard Technologies

www.watchguard.com

I picked it up for cheap in the CDW outlet about 4-5yrs ago now. I don't think I've ever seen the cpu usage go above 0, lol. And I've got almost 100 things on the network, half of them computers. Just shows how powerful these things are...

Does something like that offer fq_codel, and a manual bandwidth limiter?

 

[mxnerd]

Codel Wiki - Bufferbloat.net

www.bufferbloat.net

Deployments

OpenWrt Barrier Breaker, Chaos calmer and later, CeroWrt, dd-wrt, IPfire and many others now use fq_codel in their main QoS system.​

​

Free.fr’s revolution V6 router uses it by default. It is also available in ubnt’s edgerouter series of products.​

It is a component of Qualcomm’s “streamboost” QoS system. It is in Netgear’s “Dynamic Qos” feature for their X4 product.​

​

And in many places elsewhere. Linux version 3.6 and greater has support for it (not turned on by default). The sysctl​

knob landed in 3.12, and systems that use systemd, like fedora 22, now default to fq_codel.​

​

We are nearly done creating a successor to fq_codel and the “sqm” system, called cake which we addresses a few edge cases fq_codel had, is faster code, and better all across the board.​

==

UBNT Edgerouter is an enterprise device at consumer price.

==

I'm no gamer and do not own ASUS or UBNT routers.

 

[SamirD]

Does something like that offer fq_codel, and a manual bandwidth limiter?

What is fq_codel? Yes on bandwidth limiter.

Edit: read next post. I'm not sure, but it manages bufferbloat and everything excellently. I literally just ran this test:

Speed test result

I tested my connection at DSLReports.com/speedtest ..

www.dslreports.com

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

What is fq_codel? Yes on bandwidth limiter.

Edit: read next post. I'm not sure, but it manages bufferbloat and everything excellently. I literally just ran this test:

Speed test result

I tested my connection at DSLReports.com/speedtest ..

www.dslreports.com

What options are in your QoS? I found an M200 for relatively cheap, and without any software licenses. Does it still fully function without any license? And my dslreports are starting to fail again

That's an excellent report. So does your M200 have Codel, fq_codel, Cake, or anything like that?

EDIT: people are saying dslreports is starting to become unreliable so this may be the issue for me