USB-C Ethernet unreliable

[Yebubbleman]

No it's not. It's a regular Realtek RTL8153 chipset which operates in ECM mode and is therefore as slow as all the other adapters with that chip (which are almost all USB-C Ethernet adapters out there). Apple has NO driver for that chip, and Realtek has only one for up to Catalina because Apple blocked the kernel APIs in Big Sur. They will probably never change the driver. It's simply not worth it for them. Compared to all devices out there, macOS is still a niche and the adapter still "works" in ECM mode.

The point that I was trying to make was that it works out of the box, is Apple's official answer to "how do I do USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet without using Apple's Thunderbolt 1/2 to Gigabit Ethernet adapter and a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter and without needing to install anything on either an Intel or an Apple Silicon Mac". It's not first party, but, like many Belkin adapters these days, Apple is directing people to it as though it was their own adapter.

 

[indiekiduk]

I've always used AX88179 (Pluggable USB3-E1000) but was annoyed by it needing a driver so when requiring a USB-C model I thought this time I'd get a Realtek and got a RTL8153 (Anker A8341) but was shocked to find out its using a software compatibility driver causing high CPU but the biggest problem is the M1 Air won't sleep when the Anker is left connected. So I'm back to using the Pluggable into a USB-C to USB-A dongle and its working with the new M1 driver 1.3.0b1 good on them for updating it, not sure about sleep problems yet will have to see, only just managed to get the driver loaded took many reboots and tinkering with their app that installs the driver.

 

[mikeboss]

both adapters I mentioned in the 1st post of this thread appear to now be working reliably if used with macOS Monterey beta 5.

 

[mikeboss]

tested again with macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 and the adapter from DELL: seems also to work stable, too.

EDIT:
nope, spoke too soon: the connection dropped again with Big Sur (and DELL adapter).

 

[loyking]

both adapters I mentioned in the 1st post of this thread appear to now be working reliably if used with macOS Monterey beta 5.

My Realtek based adaptor works but it’s still demanding tons of CPU overhead

 

[jdb8167]

My Realtek based adaptor works but it’s still demanding tons of CPU overhead

As noted above, it works because the Realtek adapter implements USB CDC-ECM but doesn't have a custom driver. Apparently the ECM mode requires more CPU overhead than a driver that would allow features like checksums to be done by the hardware.

 

[iandk]

It sucks that they still didn’t solve this issue

 

[Topewan]

MBA 2020 i5
Experiencing slow ethernet speeds using USB hubs all with Realtek chips, so following this thread with interest.

I did install the 'latest' Realtek driver from their site which enabled the ethernet speeds to get to 1gb/s but caused the system to be unstable, random reboots especially after sleep so uninstalled the driver. Now back to no more than 320 mb/s speed.

However, I did connect the same usb-c hub to my iPad air and that had no issues with reaching 1 gb/s speeds.

My open question therefore is - does iOS contain some kind of driver that removes the overhead from the CPU, and subsequently, could that driver not be relatively simply ported from iOS to MacOS?

 

[bobcomer]

I've noticed network speed issues when using those external gigabit adapters on my M1 air.
Even the Belkin one has those issues

Same here.

 

[rajs]

Anyone find a new solution or device in the market that works well for USB Gigabit adaptor that doesn't overload the CPU and actually works after a MacBook sleep / wake cycle ?

Realtek 8153 based devices that I tested a few days ago don't work.
AX88179 based device has so many issues with it's driver it's not worth it based on what I read

 

[lixuelai]

I use a RTL8156B based adapter for 2.5gbe. Works fine at both 2.5gbe and 1gbe.

edit: checked the cpu utilization and on 2.5gbe it gets up to ~100% kernal_task on my base MBP14. Should be a good bit less if used at only 1gbe. This chipset supports offloading and Realtek provides a driver (i think it is natively supported as well). For comparison 8153 on my system gets up to ~140% kernal_task + ECM kext and thunderbolt gigabit utilizing the E1000 kext gets up to ~50% kernal_task + E1000 kext. Did not notice a kext taking up significant cpu with 8156B. Test was done over a smb share to a network ssd. Quick test so take it with big grain of salt.

 

[rajs]

Thx. Was hoping to find something that is 1gbe chipset that is natively supported with drivers already built into Monterey.

 

[lixuelai]

8156 works fine at 1gbe. It's like less than $30 on amazon.

 

[rajs]

@lixuelai -- on your system with the Realtek 8156 @ 1gbe did it use a native driver built into Monterey and support offloading from CPU ?

I don't want to have to install a separate driver that isn't shipped from Apple itself in Monterey. Thanks

 

[rajs]

FYI -- Probably best info I am seeing here and elsewhere is from @ekwipt postings here and links @ekwipt provided:

Thunderbolt and PCIe Ethernet in macOS

So with the purchase of a 14” MacBook Pro, I’ve been in the market to buy a Thunderbolt dock to live to 1 cable life style. Unfortunately it’s been a bit difficult to find much information on the parts used in many docks, thus I’ve decided to document my research on Ethernet controllers built...

khronokernel.github.io

Seems like CPU offloading properly via USB gigabit ethernet isn't baked in to Monterey for Realtek

So I am most likely not going to find a USB ethernet gigabit adaptor for a single cable solution I am looking to implement.

MacBook Pro 14 <--USB C cable that came with monitor --> LG 32UN880-B Monitor with USB A ports built in <-- USB A Cable --> USB A Gigabit Ethernet Dongle or USB 3.0 Hub with USB A ports and gigabit port

note -- the monitor is providing power to the laptop via the USB C cable included.

 

[lixuelai]

That list doesn't have 8156. I have no reason to want to uninstall the Realtek driver so I cannot check for you. That said, I don't remember the cpu utilization changing after I installed the driver.

p.s. I have every chipset on that list and I am using 8156 at the moment. I suggest just buying it from Amazon, return it if you have issues...

 

[rajs]

Will try that and see if it works natively and off loads properly.

 

[mario0]

MacBook Pro 14 <--USB C cable that came with monitor --> LG 32UN880-B Monitor with USB A ports built in <-- USB A Cable --> USB A Gigabit Ethernet Dongle or USB 3.0 Hub with USB A ports and gigabit port

Which adapter you have on your LG monitor?

 

[rajs]

Uni USB dongle Gbe based Realtek 8153 sh*t the bed
uGreen USB dongle Gbe based Asix AX88179 sh*t the bed too

So currently I have NO dongle connected at all and relying on sad ole wifi.

Unless someone recommends something otherwise I am going to order a USB dongle 2.5gbe device that has the Realtek 8156 chip and set it to run at 1gbe and see if the following actually works:
- the dongle it doesn't overheat and start freaking out on sustained long duration transfers
- it actually works using native drivers in Monterey (shipped with Monterey)
- it actually doesn't peg 1 core CPU (by actually offloading properly and using the 8156 capabilities for network offload)

If above doesn't work -- I'll just be sad -- suck it up and plug in a Apple Thunderbolt 2 adaptor and plug into that Apples Gbe thunderbolt dongle. (Won't be a 1 cable setup in this case).

 

[iandk]

is there any response from apple?

 

[rajs]

is there any response from apple?

You must be joking right ? Apple respond ... LOL

You made me laugh. Thanks

 

[mikeboss]

using the Microsoft adapter I mentioned in the 1st post (running macOS Monterey 12.1 on MacBook Air M1):

- I have a stable connection over ethernet (transferred approx. 150 GB (100 down and 50 up))
- connection over ethernet works reliable after wake from sleep
- I still see the high load on the CPU during filetransfers over ethernet

 

[mario0]

There are no other USB based GbE chips that I'm aware of on the market. Only solution is thunderbolt, but that's expensive (either Apple's Thunderbolt 3 -> Thunderbolt 2 -> Apple GbE adapter) or one of the various 10GbE adapters that use the Aquantia Chips. macOS includes several drivers for Aquantia Chips (at least the Intel version of macOS). Some vendors say that they will not work with the M1 (yet).

So would you prefer the TB3 > TB2 > GBE adapter or the Belkin USB-C GBE but adapter?

Until now I don't have one for my MacBook Pro 14

 

[Fair Witness]

I use the TB3 > TB2 > Apple GBE adapter combo and it works really well. It may look goofy but you can find the TB3>TB2 adapter and the Apple GBE adapter super cheap on the used market.

 

[Topewan]

As an update. installed the 12.2 public beta of Monterey and I now am getting 1gb/s speeds again via ethernet. This is with using the inbuilt driver
com.apple.DriverKit.AppleUserECM
and a realtek 8153 chipset