Asus RP-AC55 is driving me nuts!

[freaknout]

Warning. I know enough to get myself into trouble, but not to get me out of it!

I’ve added an Asus RP-AC55 to my well used RT-AC68U to extend internet to a wing of the house (that sounds more impressive than it really is). The RP can obviously work in a variety of ways but I’ve chosen the 5ghz Expressway and extend the 2.4ghz (under a different SSID).

I won’t bore you all with the up and downs of it all but I’ve come to thinking that once the AC55 sleeps or goes into power saving mode or such like, new connections to it can’t get an internet connection. Connection to the AC55 itself is fine.

I can’t see any power saving options in the interface but there options in the 68’s 5ghz tab, like WWM APSD and I wonder whether that’s causing issues (not knowing how it works).

It’s enabled in the 68U but I can’t seem to disable it to eliminate it as the potential issue.

Well, any further thoughts would be very welcome. I think I’m doing the basics like rebooting after changes etc so I hope to be eliminating some of the more basic problems. I also have a RP-AC68U set up as a media bridge and it’s been 100% stable.

Many thanks in advance.

J

 

[Natey2]

Got an RP-AC55 today to use as an AiMesh node with my RT-AC88U router.

RP-AC55 firmware on 1/4/2020:
Device arrived pre-installed with v3.0.0.4.384_81156
Latest on Asus website is still the older v3.0.0.4.384.80710 (I believe that's the minimum firmware version for AiMesh use)

Good thing I didn't try to "upgrade" firmware directly from their website. [emoji16]

It's working so far: I have a 2.4GHz client connected to the AiMesh node.
Too soon to say if all works as expected..

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[Natey2]

I can confirm that at least one of the devices that indicates as connected via the AiMesh node is not getting access to the network/internet. Turning off the AiMesh node caused that device to connect to the main router and all was fine for that device again.

The Asus AiMesh nodes really need some mechanism to turn on/off bands, and block selected devices from connecting, like routers can.

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[L&LD]

I can confirm that at least one of the devices that indicates as connected via the AiMesh node is not getting access to the network/internet. Turning off the AiMesh node caused that device to connect to the main router and all was fine for that device again.

The Asus AiMesh nodes really need some mechanism to turn on/off bands, and block selected devices from connecting, like routers can.

Sent using Tapatalk

It sounds like a good 'ticket' to open with Asus.

 

[aurizn]

The RP-AC55 only supports lower 5Ghz channel.

If your main router happen to run on higher 5Ghz channels (149 and above) you will have stability issues with RP-AC55.

 

[Natey2]

The RP-AC55 only supports lower 5Ghz channel.

If your main router happen to run on higher 5Ghz channels (149 and above) you will have stability issues with RP-AC55.

I use an upper 5GHz channel; lower ones are congested (multiple neighbors and their range extenders).

Upper 5GHz channel works via the AiMesh node, but I can't vouch for stability. How would you measure that?

The noticeable problem I had was with the 2.4GHz channel operation that looked like it worked but didn't, for the network printer.

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[Artz]

Hi @Natey2 I'm planning to have the same setup. How's mesh working for you now? Would you go with the same setup if you would do it now?

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[Natey2]

@Artz I've turned off the AiMesh node. While it may help in extending range a little (at the expense of speed), I wanted a stronger signal where the primary router could already reach. The Mesh node gave a 10dbm stronger signal for an external wifi doorbell, but caused a problem for a printer connecting through it.

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[andresmorago]

I can confirm that at least one of the devices that indicates as connected via the AiMesh node is not getting access to the network/internet. Turning off the AiMesh node caused that device to connect to the main router and all was fine for that device again.

The Asus AiMesh nodes really need some mechanism to turn on/off bands, and block selected devices from connecting, like routers can.

Sent using Tapatalk

@Natey2
how is your experience so far with this unit. i got one of them today and im the process of adding it as a aimesh node. i also noticed that the firmware version that came with is higher than the one on the website. did you keep it this way?

 

[Budgeter]

In the lastest firmware, does Asus remove express way mode? If not, how to enable it?

 

[L&LD]

What is express way mode? Never heard of this.

 

[Budgeter]

An Asus name of functionality which uses 1 band for fronthaul, 1 for backhaul to avoid 50% lost in retransmission. I just got this and with its out-of-box firmware (already has AI mesh, this version is not on the site though), there are only repeater mode, ap mode, bridge mode, and mesh mode. Nothing changes with the latest firmware.

At the moment, I connect this extender to my R7800 using normal repeater mode on 2.4 ghz, and the extender broadcasts both 2.4/5 ghz wifi band. I don't use 5ghz as a backhaul since it somehow breaks my extender (signal keeps dropping, can't not access config interface due to IP assignment being messed up, etc).

Btw, this one only has 64mb ram for some reason (ver A1), same to what is shown in RedesZone review. Although deviwiki suggests it has 128mb ram (https://deviwiki.com/wiki/ASUS_RP-AC55).

 

[L&LD]

@Budgeter thanks. I don't think this is a viable 'feature' unless the router has three radios as a minimum. At least not for the faster ISP offerings (anything above about 250Mbps).

Hope someone can answer your question.

For myself, a dedicated 'repeater' is not the hardware I would waste my money on. Many better options available, even if they cost a bit more (i.e. a full router).