2018 15" MBP Ethernet Throughput Issues & Link Aggregation

Hi all,

I recently decided to reduce Wifi clutter in my home and began wiring as many devices as I could to my home LAN through ethernet cable.

I've been running CAT 6A cable throughout the house and mounting wall jacks for my TV's, game consoles etc.

I've come to my office now in which I wanted to take my MacBook Pro off the wifi and hard wire it.

Being I have an internet speed of about 1.4 Gbps (over provisioned) . Now I'm using LAG between my cable modem and router utilizing two 1 Gbps ports. This seems to work fine and when speed testing on multiple devices simultaneously I can see the total throughput pushing around 1.1 - 1.2 Gbps.

I wanted to setup my MacBook to also utilize this bandwidth. So I ran two LAN cables to the computer and purchased two identical USB-C -> Ethernet adapters.

Once hooked up I went to network preferences as per instructions on Apples website and setup a Bond between the two ethernet adapters. I also configured my router for link aggregation (Ports 1&2 on my Asus RT-AX88U).

It connected fine on both adapters and showed green dots for Send/Receive status in the bond status menu. Occasionally two would turn red then back green. Not sure what this means but it kept saying no problems detected so I ignored.

Well... the strange this is when I run a speed test using just one ethernet adapter I reach about 750-830Mbps. This is disappointing as I have another much older MacBook (2012) in the house with a similar setup that hits 940Mbps.

I tried changing cables and even purchased three different brand USB-C -> Ethernet adapters. (The last being a Belkin brand right from Apple store) Same results.

It's hard to believe that my older Macbook can perform better with ethernet speed than my newer much more expensive laptop. Any suggestions on this?

The other issue I'm having is with the LACP 802.3ad.

When running a speed test (that consists of multiple streams) with both ethernet adapters active and bound my speed results are in the toilet. Average 200-400 Mbps.

If I disconnect one of the ethernet cables the speed goes up to the 700-840Mbps. It seems the be cutting my throughput in half rather than adding.

Am I forgetting something here? Would a network reset help or is there another test I can perform. This is rather disappointing and I have several network adapters now I need to return as I've ruled out it was an issue with them.

Thanks in advance!