AC56/AC68 wireless range

[mad_ady]

Hello everyone,

Circumstances beyond my control are pushing me to buy a new router to replace my WRT54GL. RMerling suggested I go with either AC56 or AC68 but there's a bit of a price difference, and I'd like to know more about wireless range/performance between them.

From what reviews I've read, AC68 has better wifi performance - both in 2.4 and 5GHz bands (and it has external antennas - duh!). I need to cover a 65sqm apartment, with the access point located in the center, close to the ceiling and to two concrete girders. My apartment's radius is about 6-7m. Currently my WRT54GL covers the apartment and gives between 18Mbps (direct line of sight) to 10 Mbps (farthest distance, through two concrete walls). Unfortunately the 2.4GHz band is overloaded (kismet sees about 200 APs in one hour of scanning), so I get a lot of interference in the 2.4GHz band (I think my baby monitor jams channel 6 because I can barely get 1Mbps if I leave my AP on channel 6 - and it's the least used channel around).

Most devices will be wired (TV, WDTV, NAS, Odroids, etc), but I will also have wireless clients (Laptop, 2 phones) that won't have real-time streaming constraints, but it would be nice to get fast/stable downloads from them.

I'd like the opinion of AC56 users - how's the wifi in a setup similar to mine? Also, how's the 5GHz signal? I'm thinking that AC68 may be overkill for my home - I don't want too many neighbours to pick up my AP.

Some additional questions for RMerlin, if I may:
1. I suppose the switchports can't be shut down individually, or can they (either via shell or webend)
2. Can I add a textual description for each switch port (to have a label of what is connected there)?
3. Can I enable SNMP and have IF-MIB statistics for switch ports? (I'm a monitoring freak)

Thanks!

 

[mad_ady]

Ok, I might have asked the wrong question. Let me rephrase.

Has any AC56 owner been unhappy with wifi range/performance? If yes, at what distances?

 

[Hawk]

Ok, I might have asked the wrong question. Let me rephrase.

Has any AC56 owner been unhappy with wifi range/performance? If yes, at what distances?

I don't have Ac56, but Instead I own AC68U and I am happy with performance with current router. As for signal strength you can adjust transmit power and see how it works out for you.

Just bit background I have 5 story house with 3600 Sq ft, I put ac68u on 3 floor and it covers whole house on 2.4 GHZ but 5 GHZ doesn't do that bad either.

 

[charlie2alpha]

I cover an 100sqm meter apartment with my RT-AC56U, I think it'll be more than fine for your own 65 sqm space.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

 

[mad_ady]

Thank you both for your feedback. It seems that indeed AC68 is overkill for my needs (unless I want to drown my neighbors in noise).

 

[Al Zieba]

Mad Ady, I have a 3000+ sq ft brick house. I own both a 68U (Main Router basement center of house) and a 56U (2nd Floor Access Point center of house near ceiling). Both cover my whole house and 15 ft around the perimeter in 2.4ghz. I only have a 2nd AP because I need the 5ghz range, either one will do fine for 2.4ghz. The 68U will give you more range, but not much more -- internally I understand that the guts are pretty much the same, with the 68U have a newer WiFi chipset (experts correct me if I am wrong). I can tell you that 68U is more popular product on these boards so there is more discussion about it.

 

[mad_ady]

Thanks for the feedback Al Zieba! I'll go with AC56 then...

 

[mad_ady]

Sorry to revive this thread, but here's some wifi feedback:

* 5GHz covers the whole apartment with high enough data rates (based on the client). For example, my phone can generally get 20Mbps from the farthest place in the house and the laptop can get as high as 90Mbps (on a 100Mbps uplink).
* 2.4GHz coverage is fine as well, but I don't use it directly

However, there is a blind spot. In the corner of one room I get poor signal on 5 GHz (about 1-2Mbps) because the radio wave has to travel through about 6m of reinforced concrete (a girder, but the signal has to travel across the beam at an angle).

 

[L&LD]

Sorry to revive this thread, but here's some wifi feedback:

* 5GHz covers the whole apartment with high enough data rates (based on the client). For example, my phone can generally get 20Mbps from the farthest place in the house and the laptop can get as high as 90Mbps (on a 100Mbps uplink).
* 2.4GHz coverage is fine as well, but I don't use it directly

However, there is a blind spot. In the corner of one room I get poor signal on 5 GHz (about 1-2Mbps) because the radio wave has to travel through about 6m of reinforced concrete (a girder, but the signal has to travel across the beam at an angle).

Thanks for the feedback.

6 metres of reinforced concrete and you still get a signal? Yes, the RT-AC56U is a real gem.

What firmware are you running on it?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-55-3_hgg-final-mod.26524/page-2#post-199549


The link above shows what an RT-AC56U and hggomes firmware can do. The latest hggomes 380.57.2 is even better.

 

[mad_ady]

Interesting, I'll keep that in mind. I'm currently running RMerlin's 380.57 build. Anyway, the '6m through reinforced concrete' statement is not 100% accurate. Although I do have 6m through reinforced concrete via line of sight, I do have hallways and openings that allow reflected signals to travel and cover that area. So the weak signal I assume is from reflections, not from direct signal.