How to configure BGW320-505 for passthrough?

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by dharalanov » Wed Jan 12, 2022 1:59 pm
Hi everyone,

I recently go Sonic 1Gb fiber installed at my house and I wanted to be able to use the modem in combination with my own router. The ONT that I got is the BGW320-505 and I have a Asus RT-AX3000.

I found that I could configure the BGW320-505 in passthrough mode (although, I seemingly can't turn off the DHCP server) and then use my own router. However, when I do that, the speed that I am getting through the Asus router when using a wired device is very low (~300mbps). When the same wired device is connected to the BGW320, I get almost full bandwidth. Both the Asus and the BGW report that the connection between the two devices is 1000Mbps.

The first question that I have is: how do I properly configure the BGW320 for passthrough so I can use my own router? Secondly, has anyone had any similar experiences with low bandwidth through a secondary router?

Thank you.
by ngufra » Wed Jan 12, 2022 4:54 pm
Wrt dhcp, did you follow the instructions from https://help.sonic.com/hc/en-us/article ... RIS-BGW320 ?

Are you testing speed between wired devices connected to the asus switch or to the internet?
by dharalanov » Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:39 am
ngufra wrote:Wrt dhcp, did you follow the instructions from https://help.sonic.com/hc/en-us/article ... RIS-BGW320 ?
Yes, not only did a configure passthrough but I also disabled all packet filtering. After that, I was able to see my Asus router getting the WAN IP on it's WAN port. Also, in order for the DHCP-fixed to work, the DHCP server on the BGW320 has to stay on, right?
ngufra wrote:Are you testing speed between wired devices connected to the asus switch or to the internet?
The test that I did was:
  • Laptop -> Asus -> BGW320 -> Internet
versus:
  • Laptop -> BGW320 -> Internet
In both cases, laptop used a wired connection, which was reported to be 1000Mbps.
by ngufra » Thu Jan 13, 2022 12:11 pm
I like how you write "the speed that I am getting through the Asus router when using a wired device is very low (~300mbps). "

I am sure everyone on DSL getting speeds in the 20 Mbps down/3 Mbps up appreciates your complaining about 300 Mbps.
Is your question academic or could you actually use 1Gbps connection?

300 Mbps > 100 Mbps so it's a problem with wire between two routers being missing some pairs and used at 100 Mbps.
Are there any other devices on when you do the test?
Ideally we could capture what is happening on the wire and see if you get some retransmissions, check the frame size etc.
by dharalanov » Thu Jan 13, 2022 3:51 pm
ngufra wrote:Is your question academic or could you actually use 1Gbps connection?
It's not academic but a question of realizing the full potential of my connection. I can get ~800Mbps if I am directly connected to the BGW320 so I should be able to get the same from my Asus router.
ngufra wrote:300 Mbps > 100 Mbps so it's a problem with wire between two routers being missing some pairs and used at 100 Mbps.
Not sure what you mean here. I am using the same cable that goes from the BGW320 to the other device (router or laptop). So, it should be an issue with missing pairs.
ngufra wrote:Are there any other devices on when you do the test?
Ideally we could capture what is happening on the wire and see if you get some retransmissions, check the frame size etc.
Yes, there were a couple of smartphones but those same smartphone were present with or without the Asus router.

My understanding here is that when passthrough is enabled and set to DHCP-fixed, that's the only thing needed in order for the BGW to act as just a modem and pass the full bandwidth of the fiber connection to the downstream device. Is that correct?
by ngufra » Thu Jan 13, 2022 6:02 pm
What I meant about the cable is 100 BaseT uses the two inner pairs while 1000BaseT uses all 4 pairs, so a cable with bad wire on the outside pairs will still work but with degraded speed.


There is a thread with people mentioning a similar issue with similar ONT
https://forums.att.com/conversations/at ... 54609772ae

With sonicwall they were seeing the speed lower to 120 Mbps, with netgear orbi it was working at their full 500 Mbps.
Maybe try with a different brand or a different version of firmware.
Can you enable/disable jumbo frames?


Also related support thread at netgear: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighth ... -p/1885295


Finally, some people report that the BGW320 does not work well in pass through mode. You could leave in standard configuration and use double NAT on your asus router. If you run services you will need to set port forwarding in two places.
by charles2 » Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:06 pm
A reasonable solution seems a wired versus wi-fi split of function:
* Connect wired devices directly to the BGW.
* Turn off the BGW wifi radios, put the ASUS behind the BGW and configure the ASUS for your wi-fi.
Your wired devices should get 800 Mbs, if you have any use for that; your wifi devices will work as fast as wifi can talk to them.
by dharalanov » Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:14 pm
charles2 wrote:A reasonable solution seems a wired versus wi-fi split of function:
* Connect wired devices directly to the BGW.
* Turn off the BGW wifi radios, put the ASUS behind the BGW and configure the ASUS for your wi-fi.
Your wired devices should get 800 Mbs, if you have any use for that; your wifi devices will work as fast as wifi can talk to them.
Unfortunately, that does not solve my problem. I want to use my Asus router as the only router with BGW just a "dump" modem. Your suggestion would keep the BGW as the router and make the Asus an Access Point.
by charles2 » Tue Jan 18, 2022 2:58 pm
dharalanov wrote: I want to use my Asus router as the only router with BGW just a "dump" modem.
Why?
by js9erfan » Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:35 am
According to reports, the BGW's passthrough mode is still maintaining NAT sessions that can limit your throughput. A workaround is to get a static IP and set the Asus as a cascaded router though I have no idea whether a static IP is even an option here.

With that said you might try setting both boxes to defaults to rule out any previous settings (Qos/traffic shaping) that could also be contributing to this. On another note Merlin makes a 3rd party firmware for that Asus. I used a fork of it on a R7000 long ago and it was much more responsive than the default firmware. You might give it a shot to see if it improves your Asus' performance. Otherwise you might be limited to charles2 suggestion of using the BGW as a router and the Asus as an AP (it does have an AP mode...).
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