[Problem] USB 3.0 ASIX AX88179 LAN Adapter does not receive even 30 Mbps of download speed

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jidobarbeiro

Mar 19, 2018
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Hi, I have a problem with a LAN adapter that I bought a while ago. It's the HORI LAN Adapter for the Nintendo Switch. It is the same as any other LAN adapter that uses the Asix AX88179 chipset. The problem is that already in the same console does not deliver the speed that I have contracted with my ISP which are 30Mbps, I get 10mbps download speed normally, sometimes a little more. I tried the adapter on the PC to verify that the console is not the problem and although I have more speed, still does not use all my bandwidth, reaches between 14 / 20Mbps, while if I connect the ethernet to the native LAN of the PC I then get all the bandwidth.
My PC has USB 2.0 so I can not use the full potential of the adapter (1Gbps), but I tried another netbook that actually has USB 3.0 and the results were more or less the same.
USB 2.0 if I'm not wrong, it gives up to 480Mbps which is more than enough to fully support my speed, any ideas? maybe the adapter is faulty and I should buy another one?.
Thanks in advance!
 
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anotherdrew

anotherdrew

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Dec 27, 2017
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I have read reviews of this adapter and according to them, the adapter is capable of Gigabit ethernet speeds. You might have faulty adapter, though I didn't read that you tried it with a different cable.

How are checking the speed? I have a 50Mbps connection and checked mine at 4 sites:
ATT - 50 Mbps
google - 50 Mbps
DSL reports - 47 Mbps
speedof.me - 15 Mbps (tested again and got 5 Mbps!!)
 
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J

jidobarbeiro

Mar 19, 2018
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Oh you are right, I forgot about trying with another cable, all my cables are Cat5e, I don't have a CAT6 one but I think that is not a problem.
I didn't thought about using another cable since I got my full internet speed on a built-in Ethernet port, so I thought that the cable may be fine, I will try another one.

On my PC the test was done with speedtest.net's Windows 10 app, I didn't try another website so I will test on others soon and post the results. Thanks for the answer!
 
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jidobarbeiro

Mar 19, 2018
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Ok! Great to hear that Cat 5e is enough!

I tried all the sites that you posted, but I should note that I'm not from the US so my speed may be a bit lower than a local server.

(Built-In Ethernet)
ATT- 26.4 Mbps (3300 KB/sec transfer rate)
Google Fiber- 29.1 Mbps
DSL Reports- 29.6 Mbps
speedof.me- 12.89 Mbps (Not sure why this site always gives slower speed than the others)
Speedtest Windows 10 app (Local server)- 31.04 Mbps.

(ASIX AX88179)
ATT- 19.78 Mbps (2472.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Google Fiber- 23.7 Mbps
DSL Reports- 25.8 Mbps
speedof.me- 3.83 Mbps!!! (What? This is ridiculous low!, on my Built In Ethernet I got 12Mbps!)
Speedtest Windows 10 app (Local server):
First test: 30.43 Mbps (Strange)
Second Test: 30.41Mbps
Third Test: 26.41Mbps

Somehow the adapter works better than yesterday, but on the Nintendo Switch the speed is still horrible, and is also slower on PC than the built-in ethernet, all these tests were made using the same Ethernet cable, but I will try another one soon.
What is odd is that the upload speed is fine, only download is failing on the ASIX adapter.

EDIT2: Here are the tests with another 2 cables:
(ASIX AX88179)
ATT- 14.21 Mbps (1776.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Google Fiber- 18.8 Mbps
DSLreport- 23.70Mbps
speedof.me- 2.6Mbps
Speedtest.net app: 21.11Mbps

Built-In Ethernet
ATT- 29 Mbps (3625 KB/sec transfer rate)
Google Fiber- 29.3 Mbps
DSLReport- 30.1 Mbps
speedof.me 8.31Mbps
Speedtest App: 31.36Mbps

I don't really know what happend there... the results on the LAN Adapter are even worse!, the upload speed is always strangely fine, but this cable works perfect on the built in ethernet port... I don't what is happening...

Cable 2:
(ASIX AX88179)
ATT- 14.35 Mbps (1793.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Google Fiber- 21.1 Mbps
DSLreport- 21.51 Mbps
Speedof.me- 2.82 Mbps
Speedtest App- 19.41 Mbps

So I tried differents cables... but I'm still no getting my full internet speed, I also don't know of someone with an adapter using the same chipset to test... Is there another thing I could do? Thanks!


 
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anotherdrew

anotherdrew

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So, what I notice is there is some variability. That is usually a sign of congestion .. either on your network or the ISP. Pretty normal.

I don't know much about the switch, so I did some reading. There are some complaint, but mostly about the WiFi. A few people were getting good speeds, but some were getting about half. My son has one and so I am going to mess around with it a bit.
 
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J

jidobarbeiro

Mar 19, 2018
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When doing the internet test I had disabled Wi-Fi in my gateway, so the only machine that was connected to my gateway was my PC. However I find really strange this whole situation, on the Nintendo Switch my 5GHz Wi-Fi gives me 26Mbps of download speed, and since it's pretty probable that the test is being done on Nintendo servers the speed may be a little capped. But the LAN Adapter was the thing that worried me most, since it doesn't really catch my full speed even on PC which is a mere 30mbps of download speed and the adapter is rated for up to 1000mbps, I don't know what to do. I wish they just have included a Ethernet port on the dock and problem solved... Thanks for all your help!
 
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anotherdrew

anotherdrew

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26 Mbps out of 30 Mbps connection is pretty good. Especially connecting to the Nintendo servers. Interestingly enough I got 25 Mbps on our Switch via WiFi.

Because it's a USB to Ethernet adapter, I would not expect it be quite as good as a straight Ethernet. There is some extra overhead and I have heard there is more lag (issue for gaming, not really for downloading). Also, since the overhead is done by the CPU, a weak CPU may limit it even more. I would have guessed only a couple percent, but it might be more than that. I found a site that tested that chipset at full speed and they got 600-750 Mbps. On my LAN I get about 900 Mbps.
 
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J

jidobarbeiro

Mar 19, 2018
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Yeah, that was why I'm shocked at the bad performance of the adapter, when I installed it on my console I thought that in the worse case scenario I would not improve my internet speed and get more or less the same as Wi-Fi (I bought it for stability purposes anyway).

But just 10mbps? really?, is not even half the speed of Wi-Fi! that's why I tried on my PC to see if it was a Nintendo Switch issue or the adapter itself, but since it can't provide my full speed on my PC either then I think the adapter is not working correctly.

I still not understand about the adapter being capable of handling at least 600mbps but not 30mbps of my network, maybe the issue is the CPU on my computer? I'm not running anything that may be demanding, everything is running smooth.

I do understand your explanation about the Built-In Ethernet port having less latency than a USB one, that makes perfectly sense, and I don't know why Nintendo didn't went for the Built-In Ethernet... It would be easier and better for everyone.

This is giving me a headache, I guess the adapter may cap a bit the speed of everyone connection and that's it. But it makes some sense, since at times I get between 14-20mbps using the ASIX adapter, that number gets reduced to 10mbps due to also the Nintendo server cap, I dont' really find a logical answer for this.

EDIT: I tried something interesting, I connected the LAN Adapter into a netbook, and then with the netbook I have created a Wi-Fi hotspot to see if the Switch caps LAN speed.
After trying the speed on the netbook hotspot in the Switch, it was exactly the same as the adapter being connected right to the USB from the dock of the Switch, that theorically means that the Switch is not the problem, the problem cames straight of the adapter being unable to utilise my speed. I guess then the LAN Adapter is faulty.
 
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