[Kovon]

Hello

I am not certain if I am posing this query to the right place but my problem is as follows:

I have a Linksys e1200 v2 that I had flashed to dd-wrt r32170. It has been working but last night I noticed that my download speed was capping at 50 Mbps while connected via Ethernet.

My internet package gives me 150-200Mbps down and 58Mbps up. The e1200v2 has fast Ethernet ports so I know that I should be capping at 90-98Mbps on the download. When I connect directly to my ISP device I get full speed and if I connect via fast ethernet switch I can get 90-98 Mbps down. Now I have noticed that when I connect via the e1200v2 router flashed with DD_WRT firmware I am getting 50-57Mbps down and 50-57 Mbps up. As you can see I am getting my full upload but only half of the download.

I spent all last night and today researching the DD-wrt forums and wider internet and to date I have tried the following troubleshooting:

1.Enable QoS with download at first 200,000 then 100,000 and then 99,000 - Each case this gave me lesser speeds (capping at 30-35Mbps)
2.Disable Firewall - still capping at 50Mbps
3.Disable auto negotiate to force full duplex on the WAN port - still capping at 50Mbps
4.Disabled wireless all together- still capping at 50Mbps
5.Disable WMM support - still capping at 50Mbps
6.tested MTU and set it at optimum plus 28 (1300) in WAN settings - still capping at 50Mbps
NB: I have no port forwarding or VPN configured at the moment
7.Upgraded dd-wrt firmware to r32597 - still capping at 50Mbps
8.downgraded to dd-wrt r29519 (the version tested on the e1200v2 instructions page) - still capping at 50Mbps. Note: I am still on this version.

I have a Linksys e900v1 with original Linksys firmware. So as a test, I connected that and the e1200v2 to a switch coming from ISP device and then connected a computer to each router simultaneously. I then did speed test on both computers at the same time. On the e900 I am getting 94Mbps down but on the e1200, it is capping at 50Mbps. This leads me to believe that the issue is the dd-wrt firmware.

Now, it is possible that the issue could be the e1200 but I do not have another e1200 with the original stock Linksys firmware to rule out that possibility. However, seeing that the e1200 is basically an upgrade from the e900, I believe that they both have similar stock Linksys firmware installed and I suspect that if I did a test with the e1200 with original stock Linksys firmware that it too would test at 94Mbps. Unfortunately I am reluctant to flash back my e1200 to the original stock Linksys firmware to confirm this suspicion.

As said before, I believe that there is a setting in the dd-wrt firmware that is causing the e1200 to cap at 50Mbps while connected via ethernet. Or maybe, there is some sort of bandwidth capping going on on the WAN and/or LAN ports.

Most issues with speed I have found on this forum, is persons getting slower speeds on WIFI than on Ethernet. THis I already know happens so if my situation was along this line I would not think twice. But my situation seems to be unique as I have not found any forum (based on my search query) that speaks to my issue. From my experience, I should not be getting half my download speed when connected via Ethernet.

I am hoping that another user or maybe one of the developers can point me in the right direction. I would like to test 90-98Mbps down and 45-55Mbps up via Ethernet on my DD-WRT device.

Please advise
Thank you in advance.

[Per Yngve Berg]

What clock frequency is it running on?

You are maxing out the CPU. Enabling QOS will only make more work for the CPU.

Try to over-clock it.

Try a speed-test between two private networks 192.168.1.0 and 192.168.2.0 with the router in router mode.

[Kovon]

Further to my original post, I decided to flash to Linksys stock firmware v2.0.07 build 5 (7/13/2016)

I did a speed test. And was able to get 93.45Mbps download on my e1200v2.

This confirms its the DD-WRT firmware that is capping my download speed to 50Mbps and not the e1200 v2 router itself.

In response to Per Yngve Berg - I am trying to reply to your post but I cannot figure out how. It seems I can only reply to my original post.

I have considered Per Yngve Berg suggestions but now that I know that I can get up to 95Mbps on my download with the stock firmware, I can't see how the problem can be a limitation of my CPU in the router. I am thinking its the DD-WRT firmware. Please explain further.

Also, note I no longer have access to the e900 at the moment. Its just my ISP device which is a Calix 836GE and my e1200 v2 router. So i am not certain I can do the speed test between the two private networks. I can try but I think I will lose internet access when I change the operating mode from Gateway to Router on the e1200 v2. But I will try.

At the moment I am still on the Linksys stock firmware and it is testing at the 90+ Mbps download. However, I need the DD-WRT firmware flashed to set up the OpenVPN client page to VPN all my devices. But I need to get the DD-WRT firmware to test at the full 90+ Mbps download speed first.

[jwh7]

[mrjcd]

the e1200v2 will hold close to stock speeds across WAN if you put a k26 build on it

[Kovon]

[mrjcd]

[Kovon]

[mrjcd]

If you do install a k26 build you probably should stay away from the latest release.
use 31899 --- and to be honest yes they were some problems with the e1200v2 & dd-wrt k2.6/k3x builds.
Usually lose the ports & required reinstall of firmware wirelessly ... just don't use any old k3x or old k26 builds.


When you install the k26 and you loose communication with the router just unplug it for 20 seconds.
This will probably happen anytime you reset the E1200v2 using a k26 build but taint near
as bad as twas in the old days

I actually had to power cycle mine twice going from tomato using thorough nvram clear and
install dd-wrt k3x direct .... generally that is not recommended.
be patient and if you need to power cycle it for any reason wait at least 20 ~ 30 seconds before powering back on
and give it atleast couple minutes to bootup.

also know that this should work ok for a gateway but
repeater / repeated bridge have been broken in k26 builds for a very long long time. Most anything you need to add a VAP with--- like a guest network may not work with the k26 build.

[Kovon]

Thanks mrjcd

So I decided to flash the dd-wrt.v24-31899_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega-nv64k.bin on my e1200 v2 because I plan on using OpenVPN client and that's not available on mini.

Just did a speed test and it's now capping at 72-73Mbps download via ethernet. So progress. Yay.

Still not getting 92-93Mbps though, sigh. So I am jealous that you are getting those speeds. Whats your ISP internet package?

I tried disable Auto Negotiate and Gigabit leaving on Full Duplex and Full duplex. No dice. At least I got an additional 23Mbps on my download. Just another 20Mbps to go, lol.

[mrjcd]

I only have a 20/20 line.
Was testing locally across its WAN to local flash based speedtest on local webserver.
It was just in defaults... didn't even set time... nothing connected to it but the one computer & e1200v2 WAN plugged into a switch.

you mentioed ovpn .... you will probably be disappointed. Remember you are playing with only a 300MHz processor.
We had a few e2500 & e1200v2 (both same processor) setup as ovpn TAP connecting 3 locations and all worked fine but remember about 6 - 8 Mbps was about all thru the ovpn TAP.
I also used shibby tomato fw ... tis much easier to setup ovon server or client.

recommend a dual core router 1000MHz or better for vpn these days

good luck

[Kovon]

thanks mrjcd

I went to the Administration page and set the Overclocking to 400Mhz to see if it would change anything but I got the same 73Mbps download. So there is probably more involved into overclocking.

I later found this site on Overclocking DD-wrt broadcoms, which said a telnet session is required but I am not certain I want to try that.

I may try the Shibby Tomato. If that gives me more speed then I wont have to overclock. I will have to check to see the difference between the Tomato and DD-WRT feature wise.

Anyhow thank you all for your responses. I understand the issue better now. Hopefully a DD-WRT build is released soon that allows you to get full speeds.

Regards

[Per Yngve Berg]

You want get more speed with Tomsto using a VPN. With VPN, Nat is mot used and the heaviest task is the encryption of the VPN.

[Kovon]

I would like to reiterate and thank everyone for their assistance on this issue I had.

As an update to my last post, I decided to try the Shibby Tomato firmware K26RT-N build5x-140-Multiwan (tomato-E1200v2-NVRAM64K-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-140-Max)

The flash was successful but I made a mistake and missed the point of retrieving the dd-wrt password before flashing to Tomato. As a result, I could not log in. Had to reset multiple times. 30/30/30 didn't work nor none of the other usual hard reset. Finally, I held the reset button down for a full 2 1/2 minutes and I finally was able to log in...whew. This is my first time dealing with dd-wrt and tomato...so you live you learn, you mess up, you learn more. At least I didn't brick it...lol.

Anyhow on Tomato I did a speed test and got 86Mbps, an additional 13Mbps. So I was like super yay. I remembered in reading about Tomato someone had enabled fast nat and got more throughput at the lost of QoS and access restriction.

I don't have any use for QoS nor access restriction at this moment, so I decided to go for it.

I ssh-ed into the router using putty and enabled bcm_nat...set the a script to enable bcm_nat if it reboots.

I then speed tested again and now I am capping at 93Mbps on Shibby Tomato. Success.

So thank you everyone for your assistance.

[jwh7]