ASUS – DSL-AC88U / DSL-AC3100 Firmwares (beta's) etc. Looks like a new Beta Release for the DSL-AC88U is available, this version has Telnet enabled and improved 2.4GHz wifi (I believe). DSL-AC88U_v9.10.06_build581_debug.w.zip https://www.asuswebstorage.com/navigate/s/604D61534F2541D1B3CE1CC031A697E4Y UK Sentinel In a completely...

[KitsuneDave]

Since this morning ive been on latest official 591, as expected i knew the outcome of my testing but ran them anyway. Ai protection may have had an update but the trend micro engine is still centre of problems for me anyway. I still think the intense workload for Ai to work properly is too much for the cpu of this router especially under heavy usage the router begins to struggle.

Ai Protection = Off

Full connection speed 330Mbps in steam downloads etc,

Low cpu usage and memory usage,

3 wired 15 wireless devices running seamlessly.

 

Ai Protection = On

Losing around 100-120Mbps in speed of my 330Mbps connection,

Both cpu cores maxing out to 100% when any type of heavy usage, like downloads from steam, watching multiple streams on Twitch etc causing router lag and degradation in performance for other connected devices,

Nat acceleration being disabled due to trend’s packet inspection could be why my speeds suffer when heavy usage is applied and also why cpu usage hits max constantly.

 

I’d be interested to see if people who have got connection speeds below 100Mbps are experiencing the speed decrease with ai on like i have or if they’re still getting their full speed?

 

 

 

 

 

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[UK Sentinel]

The processor is only a dual core 1GHz, so this is interesting, I will pass this back to ASUS to see if they have any comments, but do not worry, they will not contact you ;-)

I am on a 50/10 service and previously not noticed any speed reduction

Are you on IPv4 or IPv6?

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[KitsuneDave]

UK Sentinel wrote:

The processor is only a dual core 1GHz, so this is interesting, I will pass this back to ASUS to see if they have any comments, but do not worry, they will not contact you I am on a 50/10 service and previously not noticed any speed reduction Are you on IPV4 or IPV6?

 

So in that case ai protection is fine for connections below 100Mbps.. any speed above that and it struggles when enabled.

IPV6 is not working for me, in fact it never has since i got the 88u. It was working fine on the 68u router but on this 88u it gives the wrong prefix like another user on here. But i saw recently you said Asus are looking into the issue?

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[UK Sentinel]

It will be interesting to see if any <100 Mbps users also test for comparison with AiProtection, my download speed is 50Mbps, so an 80Mbps user may notice a difference.

Yes, the DSL-AC88U – IPv6 /56 issue is being looked at by an ASUS engineer, fingers crossed for that to be fixed would be a great result.

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[KitsuneDave]

Going from memory i believe when ai protection is enabled and the nat acceleration is disabled because of the packet inspection trend uses that will affect anyone with speeds of 100Mbps plus. However it may be fine for people like you with 50Mbps and people who are 80Mbps as the nat acceleration only really comes into effect when above a certain speed like 100Mbps.

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[Cozak]

KitsuneDave wrote:

UK Sentinel wrote:

The processor is only a dual core 1GHz, so this is interesting, I will pass this back to ASUS to see if they have any comments, but do not worry, they will not contact you I am on a 50/10 service and previously not noticed any speed reduction Are you on IPV4 or IPV6?

So in that case ai protection is fine for connections below 100Mbps.. any speed above that and it struggles when enabled. IPV6 is not working for me, in fact it never has since i got the 88u. It was working fine on the 68u router but on this 88u it gives the wrong prefix like another user on here. But i saw recently you said Asus are looking into the issue?

Unfortunately it’s no good for any connection speed as it also kills WiFi throughput. Try copying a large file over WiFi to a device connected via ethernet. Without ai on copy speed is 60MB/s with ai on this falls to about 13MB/s. This is because both cpu go to 100%, it just can’t handle it. Plus why is it inspecting packets not destined for the wan interface?

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[pavlf]

Whilst time, as someone once said, is the master, ASUS’s download master is a bit of a disaster.

I’ve been noticing some rather intense periods of cpu usage, something that definitely wasn’t evident in 585.

 

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[UK Sentinel]

KitsuneDave wrote:

Going from memory i believe when ai protection is enabled and the nat acceleration is disabled because of the packet inspection trend uses that will affect anyone with speeds of 100Mbps plus. However it may be fine for people like you with 50Mbps and people who are 80Mbps as the nat acceleration only really comes into effect when above a certain speed like 100Mbps.

For ASUS NAT Acceleration (CTF) I believe (I think) the speeds was around 150Mbps , but as you correctly say, AiProtection disables (CTF) and thus cpu maxis out.

I will chat with ASUS and see what they say?

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[UK Sentinel]

Cozak wrote:

KitsuneDave wrote:

UK Sentinel wrote:

The processor is only a dual core 1GHz, so this is interesting, I will pass this back to ASUS to see if they have any comments, but do not worry, they will not contact you I am on a 50/10 service and previously not noticed any speed reduction Are you on IPV4 or IPV6?

So in that case ai protection is fine for connections below 100Mbps.. any speed above that and it struggles when enabled. IPV6 is not working for me, in fact it never has since i got the 88u. It was working fine on the 68u router but on this 88u it gives the wrong prefix like another user on here. But i saw recently you said Asus are looking into the issue?

Unfortunately it’s no good for any connection speed as it also kills WiFi throughput. Try copying a large file over WiFi to a device connected via ethernet. Without ai on copy speed is 60MB/s with ai on this falls to about 13MB/s. This is because both cpu go to 100%, it just can’t handle it. Plus why is it inspecting packets not destined for the wan interface?

Is this also with the latest 591 stock firmware?

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[KitsuneDave]

 

UK Sentinel wrote:

For ASUS NAT Acceleration (CTF) I believe (I think) the speeds was around 150Mbps , but as you correctly say, AiProtection disables (CTF) and thus cpu maxis out. I will chat with ASUS and see what they say?

Yes that will be good to hear what they say ;)

I have a friend that is near and is willing to let me test out the theory of the NAT acceleration with ai protection on and off tomorrow, he has same ISP as me but is on 80/20 package, so i’ll report back to see if it has any difference :)

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[Cozak]

Yes happens with latest firmware, and pretty much every firmware after 503.

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[UK Sentinel]

Had a early email from ASUS and they (ASUS) confirm that using AiProtection, does indeed disable NAT Acceleration (CTF).

Will post any updates regarding AiProtection (G.fast) when I hear again from ASUS.

 

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[Cozak]

UK Sentinel wrote:

Had a early email from ASUS and they (ASUS) confirm that using AiProtection, does indeed disable NAT Acceleration (CTF). Will post any updates regarding AiProtection (G.fast) when I hear again from ASUS.

Guys we already know it disables NAT acceleration…… it even says so on the main AI page ‘NAT acceleration will be disable for more precise packet inspection.’

The problem with reduced bandwidth is nothing to do with NAT acceleration, it is because the packet inspection maxes out the cpu and so it can’t physically cope with anything more than around 130mbps on the downstream. Hence also that local wireless to Ethernet traffic is effected and maxes out at around 13MB/s (which is approximately 130mbps) for the same reason, cpu maxed out. However this is clearly a bug as AI protection should only be inspecting packets destined for the WAN interface and not local network traffic. Can we have ASUS look into why AI protection is inspecting local lan packets causing loss of throughput? In firmware 503 this did not happen.

 

 

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[UK Sentinel]

That is a credible theory and I have already put this to ASUS a few weeks back, it would be handy if we had a user whom was on IPV6, just to validate no other issues (bugs) exist, as IPv6 does not require NAT. (i.e. if AiP with IPv6 still is throttled to 130Mbps, then we know issue is CPU and /or Content Inspection related etc.)

A major part of this (feature) is the way SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) works.

Edit1: just looked at my notes, I did not mention to ASUS why LAN to LAN traffic was/may also being inspected via AiP, so will add this also.

Edit2: AiProtection does have the option for Infected Device Prevention and Blocking,  which stops/identifies LAN based clients infecting others, so if this option is enabled, LAN speed could be impacted by AiProtection? (ignore Edit1)

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[Cozak]

UK Sentinel wrote:

That is a credible theory and I have already put this to ASUS a few weeks back, it would be handy if we had a user whom was on IPV6, just to validate no other issues (bugs) exist, as IPv6 does not require NAT. (i.e. if AiP with IPv6 still is throttled to 130Mbps, then we know issue is CPU and /or Content Inspection related etc.) A major part of this (feature) is the way SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) works. Edit1: just looked at my notes, I did not mention to ASUS why LAN to LAN traffic was/may also being inspected via AiP, so will add this also. Edit2: AiProtection does have the option for Infected Device Prevention and Blocking, which stops/identifies LAN based clients infecting others, so if this option is enabled, LAN speed could be impacted by AiProtection? (ignore Edit1)

I previously attempted to narrow it down by disabling each of the AI features one at a time, but even with them all off (but AI enabled at the top) it still does it.

 

Edit – Found this thread: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac88u-version-3-0-0-4-384-10007.43101/

It’s for a different router but this ai protection cpu issue has effected several other asus routers as well as this one. Looks like it was solved by ASUS in the end judging by the final comment in the thread. Perhaps this is a clue for them as to what is going wrong with this router.

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