ac68u increasing the range

[jeegnesh]

Hi,

First time on this forum, after loads of reading I finally purchased the ac68u so the whole family would stop blaming me personally for wi-fi issues.

Setup and installed latest Merlin firmware. Only been a few hours however speeds are far better, the range is slightly better, more so I have noticed even on weak connection the speeds are far greater. The 5Ghtz is awesome but again the range is not all over the house and I have to use 2.4 in some places.

There are only 2 other wifi networks closeby to my house, both 2.4bgn.

Wanted to know if there was anyway of tweaking the range, the one thing I am considering if I have too, is moving the router to the center of the house, right now its at one end of the house (so you all know which side of the house has issues). The only way I can do this is by running homeplugs is that still a good option? I would much rather tweak a setting I don't know about

Appreciate any direction.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,

First time on this forum, after loads of reading I finally purchased the ac68u so the whole family would stop blaming me personally for wi-fi issues.

Setup and installed latest Merlin firmware. Only been a few hours however speeds are far better, the range is slightly better, more so I have noticed even on weak connection the speeds are far greater. The 5Ghtz is awesome but again the range is not all over the house and I have to use 2.4 in some places.

There are only 2 other wifi networks closeby to my house, both 2.4bgn.

Wanted to know if there was anyway of tweaking the range, the one thing I am considering if I have too, is moving the router to the center of the house, right now its at one end of the house (so you all know which side of the house has issues). The only way I can do this is by running homeplugs is that still a good option? I would much rather tweak a setting I don't know about

Appreciate any direction.

One factor is the location of the router in the house. Higher and central location.
Living in a 2 story house, my router is located on the top floor loft, almost center
of the perimeter. One router covvers every thing from basement to up stairs and
garage. Sounds like you have a BIG house?

 

[sm00thpapa]

On my AC68P the 5GHz band is very short on distance. 20 feet away I lose connection.

 

[RMerlin]

On my AC68P the 5GHz band is very short on distance. 20 feet away I lose connection.

Direct line of sight, or with obstacles? 5 GHz should easily be able to give a stolid signal at 20 feet away, provided there's no obstacles. Those obstacles are what are problematic with that frequency.

My Thinkpad Yoga 15 gives me between 780 and 866 Mbps link rate when I'm about 10-15 feet away from my own router.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Hi,

The only way I can do this is by running homeplugs is that still a good option? I would much rather tweak a setting I don't know about

Appreciate any direction.

If by any chance you have coaxial cable I would try MOCA first. Homeplugs can work well. Your results may vary depending on your homes electrical system. There is a tutorial on this site on how to improve maximize performance. There is always a chance you won;t be satisfied with their performance so purchase from some place you can return them if necessary.

Use them as the Ethernet link between your modem and your router.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Direct line of sight, or with obstacles? 5 GHz should easily be able to give a stolid signal at 20 feet away, provided there's no obstacles. Those obstacles are what are problematic with that frequency.

My Thinkpad Yoga 15 gives me between 780 and 866 Mbps link rate when I'm about 10-15 feet away from my own router.

This is going through one thin sheetrock wall and French patio glass doors. No way I should be losing connection at this distance.

 

[RMerlin]

This is going through one thin sheetrock wall and French patio glass doors. No way I should be losing connection at this distance.

Yeah, these shouldn't be too bad, unless that sheetrock has something else embedded. I can still use my Nexus 9 from the bathroom (802.11ac 2x2 interface), going through one door and three walls myself - signal is at about 50% strength, with zero disconnections.

Make sure all antennas are vertical and fully screwed in if you are only covering one single floor - just drop some of them at 45 degrees is covering multiple floors.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Yeah, these shouldn't be too bad, unless that sheetrock has something else embedded. I can still use my Nexus 9 from the bathroom (802.11ac 2x2 interface), going through one door and three walls myself - signal is at about 50% strength, with zero disconnections.

Make sure all antennas are vertical and fully screwed in if you are only covering one single floor - just drop some of them at 45 degrees is covering multiple floors.

I have a 2 story home so the middle antenna is vertical and the sides are at 45 degree angles. Inside the home there is no issues just out on the patio is where the 5GHz band dies.

 

[RMerlin]

I have a 2 story home so the middle antenna is vertical and the sides are at 45 degree angles. Inside the home there is no issues just out on the patio is where the 5GHz band dies.

Just out of curiosity, does it make a difference if you move them all vertical?

Maybe something else outside is interfering on the 5 GHz band, which would explain why it's the only problematic location.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Just out of curiosity, does it make a difference if you move them all vertical?

Maybe something else outside is interfering on the 5 GHz band, which would explain why it's the only problematic location.

I will try that Merlin thanks for your input.

 

[red_pope]

Just out of curiosity, does it make a difference if you move them all vertical?

Maybe something else outside is interfering on the 5 GHz band, which would explain why it's the only problematic location.

Merlin
For my own experience, raising them up and mounting them in a shelve or mounting them vertical does resolves the range access to some rooms upstairs. That if the wall is not full of other electrical outlets, plumbing or cement footing walls. Then you will have to move it around until you reach the maximum coverage. I did that with my Barn, 2nd floor. didn't felt installing more LAN cable.Until I found a good spot for it. But since, I'm using my Ubiquiti center high in my barn, don't need to use my old spot again.

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin
For my own experience, raising them up and mounting them in a shelve or mounting them vertical does resolves the range access to some rooms upstairs. That if the wall is not full of other electrical outlets, plumbing or cement footing walls. Then you will have to move it around until you reach the maximum coverage. I did that with my Barn, 2nd floor. didn't felt installing more LAN cable.Until I found a good spot for it. But since, I'm using my Ubiquiti center high in my barn, don't need to use my old spot again.

Antenna positioning is a science, with no generic fits-all setup. How the waves bounce around in your particular house will determine the optimal positioning, in addition to the location of the clients themselves. That's why the only way to be sure is to experiment.

 

[jeegnesh]

So can't use MOCA as no coax in the right places.

I did use the homeplug to move the Asus to the centre of the house with excellent effect.

Before:

After:

Last 2 results are from the 2 rooms that used to struggle to even get a signal. Oh my connection to ISP is 44 down and 9up. So I'm thrilled with the result.

Even better so far it looks like I can get 5Ghtz throughout the house. Will know better over the coming days.

So I was concerned that my sky router was serving 192.168.0.x addresses (all to wired devices) and my asus was serving 192.168.1.x to all wireless devices. However I thought that's pretty cool when I could see they were fine and could see each other.

Next morning they couldn't see each other, I knew it was going to cause some issue. After a little reading, I've setup the Asus as an access point and left sky as the modem and the drop server. Now everything has a 192.168.0.x address and they can all talk to each other.

After that long story I wanted to know by doing this am I missing any particular benefit of the Asus router? Or making the Asus as a dedicated wireless access point allows it to focus on just that?

Damn networks can be frustrating [emoji2]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[red_pope]

Antenna positioning is a science, with no generic fits-all setup. How the waves bounce around in your particular house will determine the optimal positioning, in addition to the location of the clients themselves. That's why the only way to be sure is to experiment.

Merlin

I agree it is a science, but most of the time, you have to experiment with trials and errors in the positioning of antennas, until you get it right. I believe that requires a bit of knowledge and understanding of the equipment, environmental effects and keep trying until you get it right with the experiment.

Good one, Ill guess in your experience, you have done lots of experiments. Maybe one day, Ill be the:
"Alquimist Guru of WIFI", since you are already the "wizard of WIFI" Just joking..

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Hi,

First time on this forum, after loads of reading I finally purchased the ac68u so the whole family would stop blaming me personally for wi-fi issues.

Setup and installed latest Merlin firmware. Only been a few hours however speeds are far better, the range is slightly better, more so I have noticed even on weak connection the speeds are far greater. The 5Ghtz is awesome but again the range is not all over the house and I have to use 2.4 in some places.

There are only 2 other wifi networks closeby to my house, both 2.4bgn.

Wanted to know if there was anyway of tweaking the range, the one thing I am considering if I have too, is moving the router to the center of the house, right now its at one end of the house (so you all know which side of the house has issues). The only way I can do this is by running homeplugs is that still a good option? I would much rather tweak a setting I don't know about

Appreciate any direction.

Besides looking for a better location for your wifi-router you might also consider 3rd-party firmware from John and HG.

 

[red_pope]

To summarize the happiness of everyone, Ill suggest try your experiment with an original updated factory firmware. If that does not meets your standard, then try 3rd party firmware. Take notes and have a creative learning curve. Remember that your router is the lab Rat, and your WIFI is your cheese trap. After all is an experiment...

 

[jeegnesh]

Got you. Currently just moved to this new place, getting lots of work done, still in the unpack and putting things together stage. So now I have wifi reaching every part of the house on 5ghtz with speeds close to my ISP connection speed and better still not a single complaint from any family member for days now. Hence I am reluctant to do any experiments right now, not sure how much better I could make it or need it to be.

However that may all change when the router gets placed in a bookshelf unit which is yet to arrive, then the fun and games may start all over again

 

[jeegnesh]

Just to confirm the obvious, but it may help someone. Location, location, location (no not buying a house).

I have moved the asus for a few days as I have some painting going on, and the dust is crazy, and guess what my coverage is not so great round the house. At least I know the reason for this and it is temporary, phew.

 

[red_pope]

Just to confirm the obvious, but it may help someone. Location, location, location (no not buying a house).

I have moved the Asus for a few days as I have some painting going on, and the dust is crazy, and guess what my coverage is not so great round the house. At least I know the reason for this and it is temporary, phew.

LOL, I hate dust! Specially the nasty side effects that your equipment will suffer. Specially electronic devices, Hopefully you had that piece of equipment rap-up! Good Luck!

 

[jeegnesh]

LOL, I hate dust! Specially the nasty side effects that your equipment will suffer. Specially electronic devices, Hopefully you had that piece of equipment rap-up! Good Luck!

Thanks, I moved it upstairs to a room with no work and closed the door, never to be seen again till work is completed.