AC86u 2.4 dying or add-on issue?

[NinjaTortuga]

Hello all, recently I seem to be having noticeable web browsing delay and what seem to be lag spikes or brief connection drops. I believe the 2.4 radios are possibly going out like so many other ac86u devices have. Upon poking around I noticed my 2.4 speed seemed to be capped in th 50Mbps range (ISP 150\10) and my link as reported by windows is 72.2Mbps. Iv'e checked and switched to a fixed channel. I've tried changing to just 20MHz and smart connect is off. I have also recently started using some of the common addons.

My question is... Could I be overlooking something within the addons that would be bottlenecking my 2.4 speeds?

AC86u running 386.3_2 clean install.
YazFi
Diversion
Skynet
Connmon
ScMerlin

 

[ColinTaylor]

Upon poking around I noticed my 2.4 speed seemed to be capped in th 50Mbps range (ISP 150\10) and my link as reported by windows is 72.2Mbps.

That would be correct for a single stream client device connecting at 20MHz.

 

[Tech9]

Upon poking around I noticed my 2.4 speed seemed to be capped in th 50Mbps range

This is excellent. I have an apartment downtown and I can get about 30Mbps, sometimes a bit more. There are 20+ visible 2.4GHz networks around.

 

[NinjaTortuga]

That would be correct for a single stream client device connecting at 20MHz.

Noted. However, I noticed the link speed is also the same with the default setting of 20\40 which is where I now have it set.. It's been a while since I was wireless exclusively but I'm about 90% sure that I could get my link speed to 150Mbps with my old ac68u. Would having the same link speed of 72.2 running 20\40 be a sign that one of the radios has failed? I'm asking because I'd like to sell the device but don't want to rip somebody off or at least not be honest about the condition of the 86u.

 

[ColinTaylor]

If you have set the bandwidth to 20/40 and the router detects other AP's nearby using overlapping channels it will switch to 20MHz. If you were previously getting 150Mbps that probably indicates that there wasn't any co-channel interference back then.

You can check the bandwidth currently being used in the router's Wireless Log.

Alternatively you can set the bandwidth to "40" to force it to stay that way.

 

[NinjaTortuga]

Alternatively you can set the bandwidth to "40" to force it to stay that way.

You are correct. I can force it and the radios seem to work just fine. Thank you for the suggestion. Seems odd though, the properties around me are all large. Everyone sits on an acre or so and any other visible access points (3) have almost nonexistent signals of 85+ dBm from anywhere in my home. The router seems to be more polite or picky than it used to be.

Good news that radios seem to be working fine. Wish I knew where these delays during browsing and gaming are coming from. I've never had issues in the past with any device so it's new territory for me trying to diagnose. Be it my phone or desktop I get hangs loading webpages and a poor connection message intermittently in a particular game I like to play. I would rate my ISP as having excellent service in the 8 years I've been at this location, strange for me to experience.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Even the best ISP's can suffer from network issues from time to time so don't rule that out as a possibility.

If the problem occurs frequently then setup a continuous ping on a PC to google (ping -t www.google.com) and let it run for a while. If you see the problem try the same thing from the router itself (Network Tools - Network Analysis).

 

[NinjaTortuga]

I appreciate the feedback an your quick replies, thank you Colin. Going to keep an eye on things for the next week and hopefully the issue disappears. If not, I may return with some logs but I imagine I should question my ISP if that is the case.

Also thank you to Tech9 for providing some perspective.

 

[Tech9]

I'm asking because I'd like to sell the device but don't want to rip somebody off

I believe your AC86U is performing as expected. If you want to test it, do it with current Asuswrt. The code is few months newer than Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[NinjaTortuga]

Copy that.

 

[LimJK]

NinjaTortuga,

Just another input for your consideration. I have been watching both my RT-AC86U AiMesh Nodes for the last many months. I observed that after Factory Reset and Fresh setup with either Stock or Merlin Firmware, the both RT-AC86Us 2.4GHz Channel end up degrading from 3 streams (216.7 mbps) to 1 stream (72.2 mbps) after less than a day. I reported here (the 2nd issue).

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...-version-3-0-0-4-386_44266.73448/#post-698449

• I use WiFiExplorer on my MacBookPro to monitor the number of streams.
• My workaround is to SSH in to the offending RT-AC86U Node and did "service restart_wireless" on the Command Line to get back 3 streams for 2.4GHz band. After a few days it sticks to 3 streams. I do not know how to technically explain it, but, it works for me for my current configuration shown in my signature. Hope it works for you.
• I have provided feedback to Asus with stock firmware with all the logs.