I have a balance 20x running 8.4.1 on Comcast 1Gbps/20Mbps service and I am having download speed issues w/ the peplink.
I have tested direct from my cable modem to my hardwired laptop as a baseline & get close to the speed i should be getting (first screenshot- 945mbps/24mbps) but when testing from cable modem —> peplink —> hardwired laptop (w/ wifi off on the peplink & no other computers hardwired into the peplink), I get anywhere from 250mbps-600mbps on download speed test(see second screenshot). (upload speeds are fine as Ive gotten up to 26mbps through the peplink).
I do have a VPN to my shop router (balance 20x as well) but i cant imagine this will affect my speed by 300-600mbps
I thought maybe it was a firmware issue so i tried downgrading to 8.2.1 but that made no difference.
Ive dug through the settings and not noticing anything suspect.
I did check the peplink reported speed under usage report/real time and they matched the speed test website speeds so its not an anomaly w/ the speed test website.
You may want to review the discussion thread from Sept 2023 on what it took me to achieve the maximum speed rating of my Balance One Core (600Mbps): Are all Balance One’s running half speed on 8.3?
If you read the entire thread, you will see that I also did a factory reset and then made only the changes absolutely needed for testing since there are many options which can increase the load on the Balance One’s cpu and thus decrease throughput. And there are options like Mitigate Bufferbloat which restrict internet speeds to deliver low latency.
Yeah doing a factory reset was my next move but i have a lot of stuff programmed including DHCP reservations and the VPN so it will take me awhile to reset up and dont have the time for that right now. I will check the bufferbloat to see if thats turned on
As far speeds without the Peplink, I did cover that in the OP but just realized my OP was messy and not clear so I edited it. Should be more clear now.
Without the Peplink, cable modem direct to laptop i get about 945mbps/24mbps, so i know my connection is good….
You may want to look at CPU utilization on the main dashboard. If the Balance 20x is slowing down things, it almost certainly will be because of CPU usage up in the 90% or higher range.
As you probably know, you can save your configuration, then do a factory reset, and then restore the configuration. I believe all of the configuration, including the DHCP reservations and the VPN you mentioned, are saved and restored.
There is likely something in your configuration which is using up the cpu compared to a B20x out of the box or factory reset. So you probably want to factory reset your B20x and then run the same test to see what the cpu usage is. If it is less, then you have the challenge of figuring out what it is that is eating up your cpu.
ok just factory reset my unit. Did a speed test and got the same results. noticed CPU was maxing out. (InControl2 did reconnect without me doing anything and i made sure to disable site to site VPN)
I even tried updating to latest firmware…
At this point there has to be something wrong with my unit. Gonna open a support ticket
try reading my first post. my router has been running 8.4.1 for a long time now. It didnt make a difference being on the latest firmware. I only downgraded to see if it was a firmware issue.
I have a bunch of b20x’s in the field. I also never use them on gigabit connections because they aren’t really a true gig router.
Basically, the 1Gbps throughput is for the device in its default state performing only (and ONLY) stateful routing.
Each feature enabled on the router reduces its throughput. In my experience, with all features enabled, stateful routing caps out around 300Mbps.
Your biggest offenders are VPN, QoS, and enabling anything on the Content Blocking page.
If I want to hit gig throughput more comfortably, BR1 Pro’s are considerably more powerful. If I’m wanting to chug a gig pipe all day with all features enabled, I use a Balance 310 5G’s.
I wonder where the new B One fit into that, I might have to wait till they show up on Amazon so I can get 30nday returns. I don’t want to pay a 25% restocking fee because it can’t handle 500Mbps.
i would never buy the product from amazon no support at all. If you have any problems at all i had a configuration problem when i first purchased my b20x. And the partner remoted in and fixed everything.
Iperf just reports transport layer throughput. The actual bandwidth throughput is a few percentage points higher after you account for ethernet overhead. Not sure about the throughput reported on the Peplink dashboard though. It does not appear to include the Ethernet overhead either.
I am curious, what settings did you have on the router when running the speed test? Any firewall rules, content blocking, etc. I’m considering purchasing a B one for home use but would like to make sure it hits 1Gbps with some set up beyond just the basic out of the box configuration.
