Detect correct DL/UP speeds on R2

[Alias 1aB]

I was able to get a 1Gbps / 50 Mbps connection from my cable ISP. How do I get the R2 to detect the correct download speed? I ran multiple speedtest directly to the ISP speedtest server and was consistently pulling down between 912 - 927 Mbps. I did this with QoS and Goodput turned off on the R2. Using an Arris SB8200 cable modem. I have currently manually entered 900 Mbps / 50 Mbps as the speeds as auto detect never detects over 477 Mbps. The upload speed detects at 49 Mbps. Any special tricks to make it work?

[Netduma Liam]

Have you updated your speeds in QoS -> Congestion control Sub-menu -> Set Bandwidth speeds?

If you run a Connection Benchmark test, what results do you see?

If you run a third-party speed-test, such as speedtest.net, are the results also the same?

[Alias 1aB]

yes, I updated the speeds in QoS and manually set the bandwidth speeds to 900 / 50. When I run connection benchmark with QoS disabled, the max download speed it has ever detected i is 477 Mbps. When I run the speedtest from my ISP, it topped out at 927 Mbps. It is never consistent but I can ran it 3 times in a row and it was between 912-927 for those 3 tests. Any speedtest from speedtest.net all result in lower speed results. Anywhere from 600-800 Mbps.

I have been waiting to switch to ATT Fiber when they ever turn the fiber on as they buried it in my front yard back in July. I basically want to see if it is worth it for me to get the 1 Gb / 1 Gb service or just stick with 500 Mbps/500 Mbps depending on how the R2 router will function. No point on paying $20 more a month if I have a router that doesnt fully support 1 Gb. 

[Netduma Liam]

9 hours ago, Alias 1aB said:

yes, I updated the speeds in QoS and manually set the bandwidth speeds to 900 / 50. When I run connection benchmark with QoS disabled, the max download speed it has ever detected i is 477 Mbps. When I run the speedtest from my ISP, it topped out at 927 Mbps. It is never consistent but I can ran it 3 times in a row and it was between 912-927 for those 3 tests. Any speedtest from speedtest.net all result in lower speed results. Anywhere from 600-800 Mbps.

I have been waiting to switch to ATT Fiber when they ever turn the fiber on as they buried it in my front yard back in July. I basically want to see if it is worth it for me to get the 1 Gb / 1 Gb service or just stick with 500 Mbps/500 Mbps depending on how the R2 router will function. No point on paying $20 more a month if I have a router that doesnt fully support 1 Gb. 

OK, thanks. Given that your service has changed, it's advised that you now factory reset the R2 and set it up fresh with the new speeds. You should then see that it's detecting much closer to what you expect.

If it still isn't, can you let us know whether your ISP requires you to use PPPoE, DHCP identifiers or VLAN tags?

[Alias 1aB]

ok thank you. I will try factory resetting the router tonight and see what comes of it. I had to swap out my docsis 3.1 cable modem this morning because it wont connect to the my isp anymore (bad modem) and go back to the older docsis 3.0 modem I had before i upgraded to the 1 Gb service. It will only pull down a little over 800 Mbps which I am fine with. 

And my cable internet provider is straight DHCP. I enable upstream DNS on the R2. It's good to go. Nothing else to set up.

[Alias 1aB]

I factory reset the R2. R2 auto bandwidth detect is now topping out at 447 Mbps. I ran 10 speedtests to one of the closest, fastest servers to me with the windows speedtest app. The average speed was about 780 Mbps. So what I have done now is set the DL bandwidth to 500 Mbps and set QoS at 100%. QoS is set to always. When I run speedtests, they all still show the 700-800 Mbps range DL speeds. I ran a speedtest on the Xbox Series X in the network settings. It showed over 700 Mbps. Do you think that setup will work properly?

[Netduma Liam]

4 hours ago, Alias 1aB said:

I factory reset the R2. R2 auto bandwidth detect is now topping out at 447 Mbps. I ran 10 speedtests to one of the closest, fastest servers to me with the windows speedtest app. The average speed was about 780 Mbps. So what I have done now is set the DL bandwidth to 500 Mbps and set QoS at 100%. QoS is set to always. When I run speedtests, they all still show the 700-800 Mbps range DL speeds. I ran a speedtest on the Xbox Series X in the network settings. It showed over 700 Mbps. Do you think that setup will work properly?

I would suggest setting the bandwidth speeds in QoS to be what you get through your speedtest, ~800mbps. Then, adjust the sliders down to 50/60% roughly and set Congestion Control the Auto-enable. That should allow QoS to work properly with your network.

[Alias 1aB]

ok, i will give that a shot. I know when I have congestion control on auto-enable, the upload ping is crazy high in the benchmark connection tool. A lot of times at night if I am up playing online on Xbox, there is no other internet traffic even though every one of my devices is hardwired. QoS wont really enable. 

[Netduma Fraser]

55 minutes ago, Alias 1aB said:

ok, i will give that a shot. I know when I have congestion control on auto-enable, the upload ping is crazy high in the benchmark connection tool. A lot of times at night if I am up playing online on Xbox, there is no other internet traffic even though every one of my devices is hardwired. QoS wont really enable. 

For Benchmark you'll need to set to Always to see a difference on that but once you have Benchmark giving good results you can set to Auto-Enable and it will apply when gaming.

[Alias 1aB]

QoS is set to always. I set bandwidth speeds to 780/47. Connection benchmark has showed max 447 Mbps. It's ok though. I was finally able to sign up for ATT Fiber today. Supposed to come install it Wednesday morning. I am so excited to finally (hopefully) be rid of my cable internet provider as I have been stuck with them for the last 15 years. When I get the fiber up and running, I will see if I can get the R2 to work with it. I did sign up for the 1 Gbps so lets see what happens. Im putting a screen shot of my connection benchmarks. The ping is about as good as its going to be with my ISP.

[Netduma Liam]

OK, once the new connection is installed, can you please factory reset the R2 and set it up fresh with the new connection? Then set up QoS how you like it again and you should be good to go! Hopefully that base ping comes down a little more with the new connection.

[Alias 1aB]

Alright guys, great news for me. ATT Gigabit Fiber is up and running. I ran a speed test to the closest ATT server and it was pulling 950/950. Right now I do not have the R2 hooked up. Im sure someone knows exactly how to configure the fiber modem for passthrough mode to allow the R2 to work as the primary router. AT&T Fiber modem is a HUMAX BGW320-500. It has an option for cascaded router under Home Network / DHCP & Subnets. This is what it says are the descriptions for the 4 boxes you have to type into: 

Cascaded Router Enable: When enabled, indicates another router will be behind this device.

Cascaded Router Address: The IP address for the router behind this device. The Cascaded Router Address should be in the LAN Private IP subnet range. Use 0.0.0.0 if IP Passthrough is enabled to have the cascaded router get the IP Passthrough address.

Network Address: The Network Address that defines the range of IP addresses available to clients of the cascaded router.

Subnet Mask: The subnet mask that with the Network Address defines the range of IP addresses available to clients of the cascaded router.

I know how to put the modem into passthrough mode but do I need to use this cascaded router setup to be able to use the R2?  Also, lets say I decide I only want to use the R2 for the Xbox Series X. I know it is possible and yes I know Qos wont work accurately but I usually dont play Xbox until late in the evening so no other devices are really online and kids are alseep. Would I still use DHCP on the R2 for this this? Any suggestions from you guys would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[Alias 1aB]

I forgot to add that my ping now is at 13 ms on the Fiber. It was between 30-35 ms before on the cable internet. BIG difference.

[Alias 1aB]

Ok, put in passthrough mode and R2 is connected now. Factory reset it by holding the reset button in with a paper clip for 30 secs. In the initial setup, the speed test is detecting 880 Down / 672 Up. Why so low on the UL? I am going to run tests with this configuration. 

in the benchmark with QoS completely off,  the speeds are fairly close to what the R2 initially detected but the ping is still at 28 ms. Im guessing this because of whatever server it is going to to test???

When I turn QoS to 70%, DL speed significantly drops, 427 Mbps. Upload speed is fine. Ping is still at 28 ms.

Any suggestions on what can be done to improve these results

[Netduma Liam]

The ping is likely due to the speedtest server in use, yes.

When you set QoS to 70%, what mode was Congestion Control set to? 

If you run a speedtest through speedtest.net, what results do you get?

If the ping is high to the speedtest server, it's likely that the speeds will also be reduced.

[Alias 1aB]

I had QoS set to always enable. When I run speedtest through the speedtest.net app in windows, I get speeds that are more than 70% of the speeds set in the R2 with QoS set at 70%. honestly, the speeds are negligible to me. Do you really need 1 Gbps internet speed? I will probably reduce to 500/500 after a couple of months and save $15 a month maybe. Speedtest.net defaults now to the closest AT&T server which is 230 miles from me and pings at 13 ms. The closest server to me is 23 miles away pings at 26 ms. Any other server near the AT&T server (near Dallas, TX) pings between 12 and 16 ms. 

I played a few games of Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer last night to test it out. When my ping was in the 20's during the game, I could kill people easily. Games where it was in the upper 30's and 40's, they got the jump on me often. The online multiplayer coding is so poor in the modern games. They still think everyone has 6 Mbps DSL. I am actually ok with this ping because with cable internet, the lowest ping i got in any game of MW2 was 45 ms and that was rarely. Now if I can just use the R2 to simply geo-filter on the Xbox Series X, I could live with that. 

So how can I do that? Use the cascaded router option? or use the IP passthrough option while enabling DHCP on the fiber modem? All my internet devices are hardwired. I have 3 8-port switches on my network as every room in my house has an ethernet jack. First switch connected to all the rooms and VOIP box. 2nd switch is behind TV / entertainment stand. Using every single port. 3rd switch is with desktop computer and network printer. I can put the R2 behind the 2nd switch behind the TV and connect only the Xbox to it.

[Netduma Liam]

If you only want to use it for Geo-filter, you can simply connect it to the switch port in the room, then connect the Xbox to the R2. You shouldn't need to setup and IP passthrough/DMZ/Port Forwarding, UPnP on the R2 should handle it fine.

If you do have any issues with NAT, let us know and we can help you resolve that too.

[Alias 1aB]

ok thanks Liam. I will give it a shot tonight after my kids go to bed. I have a HTPC on my entertainment stand I can use to set the R2 up with for the Xbox. I know when I connected the R2 to the fiber modem the other night, I had DHCP still on on the fiber modem so it gave the R2 an IP on its subnet. And I already opened the ports needed for Xbox on the fiber modem so it should be just plug and play from what you are saying.

[Alias 1aB]

I was able to connect the R2 to the network and connect only the Xbox Series X and my HTPC to it. I had the double NAT problem on the Xbox until i put the R2 in IP passthrough mode. Now the R2 has the same broadband IP as the fiber modem does but it is a strict NAT in the Xbox. I forwarded all the ports for the Xbox in the R2 and even turned UpNp on. Still strict NAT. I cannot add the Xbox to IP passthrough list on the fiber modem as it is not on the list to choose from. The Xbox and HTPC both have a 192.168.77.*** ip address. Do I need to turn DHCP off on the R2? Do I manually try to add the Xbox to the IP passthrough list? you enter the mac address of the device you want to passthrough.

[Netduma Fraser]

5 hours ago, Alias 1aB said:

I was able to connect the R2 to the network and connect only the Xbox Series X and my HTPC to it. I had the double NAT problem on the Xbox until i put the R2 in IP passthrough mode. Now the R2 has the same broadband IP as the fiber modem does but it is a strict NAT in the Xbox. I forwarded all the ports for the Xbox in the R2 and even turned UpNp on. Still strict NAT. I cannot add the Xbox to IP passthrough list on the fiber modem as it is not on the list to choose from. The Xbox and HTPC both have a 192.168.77.*** ip address. Do I need to turn DHCP off on the R2? Do I manually try to add the Xbox to the IP passthrough list? you enter the mac address of the device you want to passthrough.

Setup the cascade option and select the option for passthrough as well on that page, that should then allow you to get an Open NAT through the R2

[Alias 1aB]

Get this. On the Xbox networking info screen, it says strict NAT. When you go into Call of Duty and look at the network info, it says NAT:Open. It's working fine. I have been easily able to connect to games. Geo-filter is working because my ping has been the lower and it's the most playable it has ever been.

On a side not, I ran the web based bufferbloat test on my HTPC. It tested with a score of A. I ran the same test on my desktop PC that not connected to the R2, it tested with a score of C. I am going to keep the setup I have. I have never been a fan of combo modem/routers but Im going to give it a chance since I can still use the R2 effectively.

Thanks for the help guys.

[Netduma Fraser]

Sounds like a misreading on the console side then, glad to hear you're having a good experience, thanks for the update!

[Alias 1aB]

it was. now it shows Open NAT on the Xbox too. I did want to say the benchmark tool still does not accurately detect the download and upload speeds. It is hit or miss one or the other. If DL is near correct, upload is off. When upload is correct, DL is way low. 

[Netduma Fraser]

1 hour ago, Alias 1aB said:

it was. now it shows Open NAT on the Xbox too. I did want to say the benchmark tool still does not accurately detect the download and upload speeds. It is hit or miss one or the other. If DL is near correct, upload is off. When upload is correct, DL is way low. 

We use a different speedtest site to calculate it - either it's not picking the correct server or there isn't a super close server to you. As long as speedtest.net reports correctly you won't be limited

[Alias 1aB]

yeah, it is working fine.  1 Gbps is so much unnecessary bandwidth considering most servers you connect to cannot reciprocate.