Confusion regarding WAN IP addresses

[BondiBlue]

Hi all. I've been looking into some performance issues I've been having with my internet connection, and I'm a bit confused by what I've found. I'm located on the East Coast of the US, and I have a 500/20 plan from Spectrum (cable). Below is a list of devices in the order they're connected:

• Netgear C7000-100NAS Modem/Router combo - router mode is turned off
• ASUS RT-AC68R Router - handles all router functionality as well as a couple small Wi-Fi clients
• ASUS RT-AC68U Router - handles almost all wireless clients (the main RT-AC68R has issues with wireless these days), connected to the main router through gigabit ethernet

 

The second RT-AC68 router is essentially just used as an access point. It's located more centrally in the house for better coverage, and it's a replacement for the built-in wireless AP that's failing in the main router. My main desktop computer is connected directly to the main router via gigabit ethernet, and local network performance across all devices is perfectly fine. I can saturate gigabit links between multiple devices without issue, so that part of my router is still working fine. 

 

However, my WAN connection isn't working so well. For quite a while now my speeds haven't been as good as they should be. I pay for a 500/20 connection (was previously 400/20, but they bumped it for free), but the best I've ever been able to get from anything connected to the ASUS router is ~270 down. Upload speeds have been fine. I connected my desktop directly to the Netgear modem through ethernet, and with that I'm able to get up to ~470 down. Not perfect, but much better than before. 

 

What's confusing me is the WAN IP though. My ASUS router has reported having the same WAN IP for about three years now, and external services show that IP as being the address I'm connecting from. When connecting through the Netgear modem itself I get a different WAN IP, and it's one I've never seen before. Google Maps doesn't know the proper location for this IP, and it thinks I'm in a different town. The Netgear modem isn't being used as a router, and nothing else is connected to it. 

 

Can someone explain why this setup is working the way it's working? I don't understand why the speeds of everything behind my ASUS router are so much slower, and I don't understand why that WAN IP is different. It's probably something super simple that I'm just overlooking, but it's still a bit confusing to me. 

 

 

Side note: I also have phone service through Spectrum, and I do have a modem provided by Spectrum for voice services. This modem isn't connected anymore though, and even when it is connected it never gets an IP address for network service. The Spectrum billing site doesn't show any connections from my own modem though, so I don't know what's going on with that. 

[Levent]

By getting different WAN IPs, how different are talking about? Is it within CGNAT ip ranges, private IP ranges?

 

What IP does your PC gets when you straight up connect it to your modem? (Does it match between ipconfig printout and real ip?)

[Windows7ge]

I don't have hard facts, only speculation since I don't regularly work with this equipment but the IP provided to you by your ISP is likely tied via the MAC address on the WAN interface of your router if you didn't enter it manually yourself. I don't know the name of the protocol but by connecting a Windows computer directly to the Modem it will self-identify and negotiate an address for that network. I know on Linux/UNIX a network protocol known as SLAAC may be used for a server to give itself an IP in the absence of a DHCP server.

 

This isn't a good thing but it can work. Windows has firewall rules for public networks and is how computers used to be connected to the very early Internet before the era of NAT and a router in everybody's home.

 

As for speeds bring up NAT again you've daisy-chained a few routers together. Did you set them to AP Mode or otherwise disable the Router function? If not they're behind Double NAT which may be part of the issue. You can check this by looking at the client IP's and see if their gateway matches the IP of the primary router.

[Donut417]

2 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

Not perfect, but much better than before. 

According to the product specs sheet at Netgear's website, the max speed for that Netgear box is the 500 Mbps plan for Spectrum, because its the max they will allow you most likely are hitting interference or congestion on some of your downstream channels. Having more channels then is required helps cut down on the congestion. 

 

2 hours ago, BondiBlue said:

When connecting through the Netgear modem itself I get a different WAN IP, and it's one I've never seen before.

Are you for sure its in Bridge mode? 

[BondiBlue]

3 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Are you for sure its in Bridge mode? 

Yes, it is in bridge mode. 

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

As for speeds bring up NAT again you've daisy-chained a few routers together. Did you set them to AP Mode or otherwise disable the Router function? If not they're behind Double NAT which may be part of the issue. You can check this by looking at the client IP's and see if their gateway matches the IP of the primary router.

Yes, the only router that is actually configured as a router is the first RT-AC68R, the one with failing Wi-Fi. The Netgear combo unit is in bridge mode and the second Asus unit is in AP mode.