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ASUS AC-87R Constant Connection Drops with Large Number of Devices on 2.4ghz band

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chuckles

New Around Here
Running an AC-87R with stock 3.0.0.4.380_3459 firmware. Been adding a number of devices to the 2.4ghz band and have been seeing a large number of connection to the router drops as total connected on the 2.4ghz band gets over 40, especially when new devices are added or devices request significant bandwidth.

I'll see the connections drop out, and my network will disappear from the devices' search menus for about 15-30 seconds. Or they'll be able to see the network, and the networks will briefly return and display "authentication error" for a bit until a few more retries. I might be able to add the device back, only to have another device get kicked off very shortly, or after I try to download something onto one device. 5ghz band and ethernet connected devices do not see disruption, but these only have a few devices. Other devices do not support 5ghz connections.

I've tried disabling QOS, an internet-only guest network, and tried placing a cooling fan under the router, all of which don't seem to have helped. Also tried switching the 2.4ghz bandwidth to 20 mhz, tried legacy-only, as well as N-only connections with no change in the situation. Connection drops can occur as close as 5 feet from the router, and signal is strong wherever measured, so I don't think interference is an issue.

Is there something else I can try? Some setting under Merlin, possibly? These devices don't need an extraordinary bandwidth, but they do need a constant connection.

Edit: Disabling the firewall seems to have reduced the rate at which connections drop- I think? It's still happening, but less often. Devices also are able to re-establish their connections faster.
 
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Also tried switching the 2.4ghz bandwidth to 20 mhz, tried legacy-only, as well as N-only connections with no change in the situation. Connection drops can occur as close as 5 feet from the router, and signal is strong wherever measured, so I don't think interference is an issue.


what about actually selecting a 2.4 gig channel instead of using auto for channel select ?
 
what about actually selecting a 2.4 gig channel instead of using auto for channel select ?
I have tried that without any change. Using a Wifi app, I saw little overlap on bands 1 and 2 and switched to those. No improvement. Devices have a decent connection strength and speed when they are connected, it's only since I started added more devices that this became an issue. It feels like playing Whack-a-mole, in that as soon as I add another connection or two it seems like another will drop and need to be re-added. As a result, I don't think it has anything to do with device interference, but maybe some sort of resource that's otherwise getting overwhelmed.
 
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I mentioned this same issue elsewhere on this forum. I have events that go on several times a year and the drops only happen when I have a bunch of people connected. I changed the channel from auto but haven't had enough devices on my network to see if the issue is fixed. From your experience so far maybe the change didn't fix my issue. Have you tried other channels?
 
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I mentioned this same issue elsewhere on this forum. I have events that go on several times a year and the drops only happen when I have a bunch of people connected. I changed the channel from auto but haven't had enough devices on my network to see if the issue is fixed. From your experience so far maybe the change didn't fix my issue. Have you tried other channels?

I've tried channels 1 and 2, which appear to be the least congested. As the signal strength is otherwise good and there are no issues when only a few devices are congested, and drops can occur on devices just a few feet from the router, I'm uncertain as to why we think it'd be due to interference.

I'm continuing to experiment here and move the fan to sit over what should be the 2.4ghz portion of the chipset and disabled the firewall. Connection drops do seem reduced, but I'll haven't been pulling much bandwidth from connected devices. I may upgrade to Merlin to see the chipset temperature and maybe what's going on in more detail.
 
Right now I think it might be an overheat issue. Seems to occur less when the ambient temperature is below 75F. With a small fan on, over the 2.4ghz side, the connection generally has been more stable and drops are less frequent.

Datapoint: Experienced what I'll call rolling blackouts when trying to download from one mobile device, inside temperature was around 77. It appears all devices eventually reconnect, so I just sort of let it sit.
 
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