CM1200, Asus AX-86U & Comcast 1.2Gb internet

[TONEHZ]

Issue: I've got comcast 1.2GB speed, provisioned 1400Mbps and I want to take full advantage of what is paid for. Currently getting 940mbps.

Equipment:
CM1200 modem.
Asus AX-86u router.
Currently 1Gb intel ethernet chipset on pc motherboard, upgrading to 2.5Gb Asus Ethernet lan card.
Cat6a patch cables.

Question: How can I get this to work or is it already working?

Method: I've got Ethernet Port Aggregation turned on the CM1200 and have 2 cat6a cables going into my Asus router from its 1 & 2 ports... The asus router has WAN aggregation turned on and instructs to plug the cables into the 1Gb wan port and Lan port 4.

I would then use the 1 mixed 2.5G wan/lan port and plug that into my 2.5Gb asus ethernet card and get the full speed.

Notes: The network card is currently in the mail, wont be afraid to return if this experiment doesn't work. I do not get anything more than 940mbps currently as I think its limited do to my motherboards lan chipset.

Anything else wrong here, do I just need the network card? Or am I forced to get a new modem with 2.5G ports or even a new router as well?

[TONEHZ · Accepted solution]

^ for sure, rest assured the modem was restarted many times and so was the router, being left off for periods of 10 minutes or more. I want to point that out so the issue isn’t downplayed into me just not letting the modem lose power. I also got a new CM2000 modem and that should have been correctly configured with the provisioned speeds but still limited bandwidth to 940mbps, nothing was changed on the router. I’ve had gigabit service for years and the 1200mbps has been available in my area for months now while I’ve been receiving 940mbps, of course I didn’t have aggregation turned on so I wouldn’t have noticed but even when I did it didn’t work until the main tap cable lines were messed with. Of course it could also have been during that downtime when the line was messed with it was the sufficient time needed to reprovision the modem but I highly doubt that to be the case, a new modem rules that out, so do the numerous power outages that would have reprovisioned the modem during the months I’ve had the 1200mbps service. Such an odd issue. If anyone struggles, definitely leave modem and router devices unplugged for atleast 5 minutes to rule them out and to check your main cable lines directly from the tap. In the very end it’s most likely I just wasn’t provisioned correctly and the Comcast reps couldn’t tell otherwise.

[FURRYe38]

Techincally the CM1200 max rate is 1000Mbps on all RJ45 ports. So WAN to LAN you'll not see much over 900Mpbs. I've seen 950Mpbs on occasion with mine. 

IF LAG is enabled on the CM, then you may get over 1000Mpbs however you'll need a router with LAG support on it's WAN and have LAN ports with 2.5Gb or higher speeds on it's RJ45 LAN ports. If the router Supports WiFi 1733Mpbs on 5Ghz AC or 5Ghz AX modes, then wireless could see over 1000Mbps if your client wifi devices support those rates as well. 4x4 devices are needed for most anything over 600Mbps on wifi. 

[TONEHZ]

Right so, LAG is enabled on the CM and the Asus AX-86U does support wan aggregation. it uses its 1Gb wan port and 1Gb lan port 4, combined to make that happen. It also has a 2.5G lan port which can be used to connect to my 2.5G ethernet card and thus, in theory I should have over 1000mbps. Disregarding wifi as I have no devices capable of more than 700mbps. I guess I will truely know if this will work tomorrow but I am looking for anyone with direct experience with this who can tell me to potentially stop wasting my time and just get a router & modem that directly supports it.. otherwise this is MUCH more cost effective.

otherwise, I'm just looking for a "in theory, that should work fine" kind of answer.

[FURRYe38]

Yes if the Asus router has a 2.5Gb LAN port and LAG enabled on both...Let us know what you find out. 

My ASUS GT-AX11000 has same. I use it as a wireless client and connect my 2.5Gb supporting PC to it's 2.5Gb port. 

[TONEHZ]

I ended up buying a CM2000 and replacing the cable line.. and now I have more than 1200mbps. Still unsure if aggregation would have worked with the CM1200 and I have no way of giving all 1200mbps to any single device still as well. I will retest and update.

[FURRYe38]

Only way to test that with the CM1200 and Asus would be to connect a 4x4 supporing wifi device. The other LAN ports on the ASUS would be 1000Mbps so can't get past that. Wifi maybe if the connection rates were 2400Mpbs or higher.

[TONEHZ]

Yea, I cancelled the 2.5g ethernet card for my PC but I reordered it. The way I'll get 1200mbps will be with aggregation through the Cm1200 and AX86u which will free up the 2.5g lan port the router and plug that into my $40 ethernet card and bam I have 1200+mbps for $40... The headache was caused by a bad cable line, yet my cable signal strength was A+, verified by multiple different reps.. anyways later I will double check that aggregation works and if it does I will return the CM2000 as it wont be needed.

[FURRYe38]

Let us know how it goes...

[TONEHZ]

Update: I had the old cable line hooked back up and plugged the CM1200 back in, reactivated, and now I am getting 1300+mbps over aggregation between the RT-AX86u and the CM1200 across multiple devices, totaled. This process has been insanely frustrating for me but I have learned a lot but ended up doing nothing. At this point in my conclusion, it seemed like "unplugging the cable line & plugging it back in" worked, (for whatever reason that may have sent a new provision from 940mbps to 1200mbps, all ethernet cables kept the same, so I'm not sure if any/what variable actually changed, connections were super tight before, all reps said I was receiving the correct strong signal the entire time, maybe nothing happened), moving on, I'll be returning the CM2000.  I'll update once again when I get my network card for my PC and can access all 1200mbps+ from one device and see if everything is working properly that way.

So far if you have these 2 devices you can at least save yourself money and don't need to upgrade your modem to access higher than gigabit speeds. So if you have weird issues where it isn't working as intended, don't give up.

[FURRYe38]

Good to hear. Thanks for the update. 

One thing to remember and the ISP should tell you this as well. If there is ANY change in modem services from the ISP, the modem needs to be powered OFF fully for at least 1 minute. Then back ON. Then any updates and config changes should be seen by the modem. 

Glad you got it working. Please mark your thread as solved so others will know.

Enjoy. 

[TONEHZ · Accepted solution]

^ for sure, rest assured the modem was restarted many times and so was the router, being left off for periods of 10 minutes or more. I want to point that out so the issue isn’t downplayed into me just not letting the modem lose power. I also got a new CM2000 modem and that should have been correctly configured with the provisioned speeds but still limited bandwidth to 940mbps, nothing was changed on the router. I’ve had gigabit service for years and the 1200mbps has been available in my area for months now while I’ve been receiving 940mbps, of course I didn’t have aggregation turned on so I wouldn’t have noticed but even when I did it didn’t work until the main tap cable lines were messed with. Of course it could also have been during that downtime when the line was messed with it was the sufficient time needed to reprovision the modem but I highly doubt that to be the case, a new modem rules that out, so do the numerous power outages that would have reprovisioned the modem during the months I’ve had the 1200mbps service. Such an odd issue. If anyone struggles, definitely leave modem and router devices unplugged for atleast 5 minutes to rule them out and to check your main cable lines directly from the tap. In the very end it’s most likely I just wasn’t provisioned correctly and the Comcast reps couldn’t tell otherwise.

[FURRYe38]

Enjoy. 

[TONEHZ]

This is how that network card is doing. A nice steam download.