Speed issues depending on which channel I connect - Possible hardware issue:

Hi Elaine,

Should this discussion be moved to another forum?  I have found others experiencing speed issues with the R8500.

Regardless, I will answer your questions here for now.

I have not tried other firmware, yet, and will probably try further along the troubleshooting path.  I have eliminated additional network hardware for now to see if that helps any.  I had a NetGear GS108T connected to the router and was using port aggregation between the router and the switch.  Additionally, I had my NAS connected to the switch also using port aggregation.  Both port channels were operating 802.1ad.  As it takes about two hours for the probably to manifest itself these tests are taking a bit of time to note whether any changes resolved the issue.

When there is no degradation in performance my average speed has been about 125Mbps down, 23Mbps up.  At the moment of degradation I see the download speed creep towards about 34Mbps down.  This happens over a period of about two hours at the onset of the degradation.  Thus, at the beginning of the degradation which occurs within two hours of rebooting the router I will see my speed drop to about 100Mbps and then over a span of two to three hours it will finally settle in at around 34Mbps.  The upload is unaffected.  When I perform the speed test from the router (in the QoS test) the speeds down and up are always comparable if not equal to that which I experience before the degradation occurs.  Also, during the time that it has settled in around 34Mbps the download speed was not as stable; i.e. there were a lot of peaks and valleys as the download progressed.  When there is no degradation the speed ramps up to the maximum possible and remains at that level until the download completes.

My current network configuration has two, sometimes three, computers connected via wire to the router.  There is no switch attached to the router anymore.  My NAS is connected to the two ports on the router that provide port aggregation and is configured for 802.1ad.  All other devices are connected via wireless.  Thus far my Galaxy Note 5 has yet to experience the degradation and I am beginning to wonder if this may be an issue with Windows machines connected to the router.  Android devices don't seem to have a problem but, too, they are connected via wireless.  However, further testing needs to be made before I can definitively associate Windows and the router's interaction with Windows machines as a possible element.  Meanwhile, I have also began testing the wireless with Windows machines.

Testing continues.  Updates to follow.  I will eventually get around to accomplishing packet captures once I have eliminated all possible hardware issues.

Hi Elaine,

Here is the latest.

I have tried other versions of firmware and even went to the initial release.  I did not test them all but the problem persisted with each firmware version.  Afterwards, I returned to the latest version.

I noticed on a couple of my tests that there was hesitation and then suddenly a burst of data such that the speed test reported that I had a 220Mbps connection---if only this could be true for the same price.  My first thought was that this this could be a memory problem or a buffer allocation, utilization or release issue on the router.  Unfortunately, this router does not afford me the tools I am accustomed to for troubleshooting router issues and its internal processes.

I tried a Windows laptop that does not have the latest Windows updates and found that it doesn't exhibit the same problem as my primary laptop.  For the record the two laptops are Dell, both contain 32GB of memory, the lesser is an M4700 while my primary is an M6700.  I decided to use the two to test the router using LAN Speed Test and LAN Speed Test Server on each machine.  The test consisted of the following:

Packet size 1GB

Transfer test: 1GB packets, 5 packets, pause 5 seconds and repeat for thirty minutes.

Test scenario 1

Directly connected both machines.

This resulted in a bit rate up and down of about 850Mbps.

There was literally no degradation.  The bit rate would fluctuate within +/-10%.

Test scenario 2

Both machines connected to a NetGear GS108T switch.

The switch was not connected to the router.

This resulted in a bit rate of approximately 750Mbps, +/- 10% with no degradation.

Test scenario 3

Both machines connected to the router.

The initial bit rate was approximately 650Mbps.

The interesting aspect in this test was that the download speed began to creep downward while the upload speed stayed within reasonable expectations.  Here I watched the creep down to approximately 380Mbps before stopping the test.  When I restarted the test a few minutes later I found that the download speed was down to about 170Mbps.

Sincerely,

Charles