ASUS RT-AC5300

[sm00thpapa]

There won't be an official MU-MIMO firmware until Q3 or Q4 of 2016.

 

[thiggins]

There won't be an official MU-MIMO firmware until Q3 or Q4 of 2016.

What is your source for those dates?

 

[sm00thpapa]

What is your source for those dates?

JJ and Asus tech support for AC5300 and AC88U.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[thiggins]

JJ and Asus tech support for AC5300 and AC88U.

That's later than the Q2 I was hearing at CES. At this point, I think they just don't know.

If you want working MU-MIMO, better buy a QCA-based router.

 

[wsarahan]

802.11ad support can be added by fw ow we will see a new router soon with the support?

Thanks

 

[sm00thpapa]

That's later than the Q2 I was hearing at CES. At this point, I think they just don't know.

If you want working MU-MIMO, better buy a QCA-based router.

That's what I was thinking. They are not even sure of the release date. We'll just have to wait.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

 

[sfx2000]

802.11ad support can be added by fw ow we will see a new router soon with the support?

Not on this device... 60GHz isn't there, and for most folks, it won't matter..

 

[sfx2000]

There won't be an official MU-MIMO firmware until Q3 or Q4 of 2016.

Sources (undisclosed) - I've heard is sometime 2Q-2016 for North America - which isn't that big of a deal - the driver is not the Router/AP, it's the clients... and most of them will be handsets/tablets at first...

Which is probably best for all...

 

[sm00thpapa]

Sources (undisclosed) - I've heard is sometime 2Q-2016 for North America - which isn't that big of a deal - the driver is not the Router/AP, it's the clients... and most of them will be handsets/tablets at first...

Which is probably best for all...

We'll see if Asus makes that release date in which I doubt they will.

 

[sfx2000]

We'll see if Asus makes that release date in which I doubt they will.

Sources upstream - not Asus...

Some vendors will release builds before then...

 

[jonstatt]

I just purchased the AC5300 so that I could use my AC68 as a wireless bridge. While one cannot fail to be impressed or even overwhelmed with the size of this thing, so far, it hasn't quite met my expectations. I am in the UK, so one of the 5GHz frequencies has to be between 36-60, and the second one over 100.

The high 5GHz and the 2GHz perform at least as well as the AC68 did, possibly slightly better. But I am having challenges with the low 5GHz output. I have a Sony cordless headphone that unfortunately uses the same 5GHz frequencies as 36-44. With the AC68, the AC68 won the battle and it would not be affected by using the headset. In contrast the headset didn't like it if the AC68 was busy at the time on 5GHz creating some interesting sound effects through the headphones.

Even if the headphones are switched off, the base scans for the headphones at a low level so it can "wake up" as soon as they are detected. But with the AC68, this had zero effect on WiFi range or speed.

With the AC5300, if the headphone base unit is powered on just in scanning mode, it obliterates the WiFi completely, even channels that are near but don't overlap such as 60. The AC5300 shows a reasonable signal strength on my tablets or phones, but the throughput is low as 0.5MBits!! As soon as I switch off the headphone base unit, the AC5300 recovers. However, it seems to be at least 15dB down on the AC68 when on the same channel in certain parts of the house (according to an Android app I am running on the tablet). I am suspecting that one of the RF units in my AC5300 may not be outputting the power it should be which is why it is losing the battle with the headphone base unit.

Is there an easy but scientific way of validating whether I have a duff radio unit? Or is it just that in the AC5300 it backs off if it detects any kind of RF contention which the AC68 did not? I wish I could make the second 5GHz the lower channel and swap them around so I can compare!

If I am standing right next to the router, does anyone know for the UK what dB figures I should be seeing for the various channels (assuming this Android app is giving me correct numbers)?

Many thanks for any advice...

 

[dlandiss]

If I am standing right next to the router, does anyone know for the UK what dB figures I should be seeing for the various channels (assuming this Android app is giving me correct numbers)?

RSSI will vary wildly with distance, reflections, etc; but my US model RT-N66U 5GHz signal within a meter or three from the router ranges in the -20dB to -30dB area. I would expect your AC5300, given more antennas, would be higher (i.e., less negative).

 

[wsarahan]

Any news about the fw that was pulled off from the website?


Enviado do meu iPhone usando Tapatalk

 

[jonstatt]

RSSI will vary wildly with distance, reflections, etc; but my US model RT-N66U 5GHz signal within a meter or three from the router ranges in the -20dB to -30dB area. I would expect your AC5300, given more antennas, would be higher (i.e., less negative).

That is very helpful, thank you! I put my Android tablet 1m from the router, and I got -25dB. So it doesn't seem like the radio output is weak. So could the AC5300 have a "back-off" algorithm if it detects "something" else on the same frequency? (i.e. my digital surround sound Sony cordless headphones). As I mentioned, the AC68 was totally unaffected by it.

 

[Puppa]

@jonstatt I have seen, on other models, cases where I had throughput issues on Wifi when my neighbor's device was on a nearby channel. The situation improved for me when I put the main channel on the exact same channel as the neighbor's router. It seems that encountering interference on the extension channel from another device's main channel is handled more poorly than encountering interference on the control channel! So if you can experiment by changing your control channel manually, you may see improved results.

 

[jonstatt]

@jonstatt I have seen, on other models, cases where I had throughput issues on Wifi when my neighbor's device was on a nearby channel. The situation improved for me when I put the main channel on the exact same channel as the neighbor's router. It seems that encountering interference on the extension channel from another device's main channel is handled more poorly than encountering interference on the control channel! So if you can experiment by changing your control channel manually, you may see improved results.

I did try flicking through the channels one by one, but in my instance, it doesn't seem to make a difference. I read back to earlier pages where forum poster wsarahan experienced identical issues with his wireless headset. For whatever reason, the 5300 gets very upset with non WiFi devices on the same frequency when other Asus router models like the 68 do not. I would be fascinated to know why. In the meantime I have put the headphones on 2.4Ghz where it doesn't seem to interfere with the 5300, but the headphones pick-up interference from neighbours so it's not ideal either.

 

[dlandiss]

For whatever reason, the 5300 gets very upset with non WiFi devices on the same frequency when other Asus router models like the 68 do not. I would be fascinated to know why.

I cannot answer why one product would be more affected than another. But it IS often published that adjacent-channel interference is more harmful than same-channel. The explanation given is that two radios on the same channel can synchronize their frequency-hopping to avoid each other, while this is not possible on adjacent channels.

That suggests that your headphones do not implement that feature at all and thus clobber any nearby channel.

Do you have both ends of the 5G band available? If you can figure out which end (36, 40, ... versus 165, 161, ...) the headphones use, does it help to put router at the opposite end?

 

[jonstatt]

I tried Smart Connect but had to back it out. In the UK the only 80MHz capable channels for the higher numbers are 100,104,108,112. For some reason it locks 5GHz-2 to AC only connections, but then chooses channel 140 which doesn't support the full bandwidth!! Once you go to smart connect it seems impossible to choose the WiFi channels used.....

 

[jonstatt]

I cannot answer why one product would be more affected than another. But it IS often published that adjacent-channel interference is more harmful than same-channel. The explanation given is that two radios on the same channel can synchronize their frequency-hopping to avoid each other, while this is not possible on adjacent channels.

That suggests that your headphones do not implement that feature at all and thus clobber any nearby channel.

Do you have both ends of the 5G band available? If you can figure out which end (36, 40, ... versus 165, 161, ...) the headphones use, does it help to put router at the opposite end?

The headphones ruin all channels that are offered for 5GHZ-1 in the UK (36-60). Channels 100-140 are fine. So the headphones seem to hop around, covering a rather wide channel range. It is unfortunate I cannot choose 5GHz-1 as 100, and 5GHz-2 as 112

 

[acnoob]

So, I thought I knew a little bit about Wi-Fi, turns out, my knowledge has been outdated since N was released

I have >100 mbit fiber in my appartment, and used to have a 300N router (new at that time). As performance wasn't good enough, I added 500mbit powerline adapters to the mix, and to my surprise got 100mbit actual throughput between the two outlets farthest from eachother. The electricity company replaced part of the system in my apartment recently, and now powerline speeds have been decimated. I already wanted something faster, but now I'm forced to get it done ASAP.

I can't put ethernet in this appartment without violating a lot of housing rules or putting cable in visible areas (ugh) so I'm looking into this AC5300 unit. In fact, two of them, or a combo with AC88U. The second unit would be in media bridge mode in my home office, approximately 35 feet from the main unit connected to the fiber modem (two single-brick walls and one window in between). In case you are wondering why I would use a second AC5300 instead of an AC88U, the latter is not yet available in my country, while the former is, and the price difference isn't big enough for me to care.

(1) My TV/media room is even further than the main router from my office, but tends to stream everything from my main office desktop. Others have tested my media player to be able to reach 300mbit actual throughput on AC, but for my needs 100mbit would easily be enough. Is it realistic to expect with such a setup? (desktop->gbitEth->bridge->5ghz(35ft)->main->5ghz(15ft)->player). FWIW, I did use the player with the 300N router (before powerline) and got about 35mbit actual throughput.

(2) If I understand correctly, the bridge unit would simply connect on a single band, and not link both 5ghz bands simultaneously for even more speed? So this means 2167mbps link speed is the theoretical max?

(3) In one of the manuals I was able to download, I found a note saying that in bridge mode, the main router only connects wirelessly and bridge only connects wired. While I'm a bit miffed that the bridge can't also be an AP at the same time (seems the AC5300 would have enough bands for that?), I can live with that. What really strikes me is that statement that the main router only connects wirelessly, as I am considering hooking up my NAS to the main router instead of the bridge. I suspect this is just a faulty/ambiguous statement and you can still connect to the main router through ethernet as well, but it would be great if someone could confirm this!

I hope someone has some answers for me, thanks in advance. Any tips on improving the setup are of course always welcome.

Following up in case anyone cares, I did get an AC5300 and an AC88U (both are available in my country now), the former acting as internet router and wireless, the latter as bridge in the office (I use 5G-2 as a hidden network exclusively for this connection).

To answer my own questions:

(1) Yes, 100mbit throughput can be had wirelessly from anywhere in the house on AC. Surprisingly, even on N I'm now reaching 70mbit speeds everywhere. I am quite pleased with the speeds, and surprised by the stability and ping.

(2) Yes, only a single band is used. Still, I can get about 300mbit actual throughput through the bridge, which covers almost 35 feet of air, two brick walls, and a wooden wall.

(3) The statement was indeed faulty/ambiguous. You can still connect whatever you want wired to the main unit. Interestingly, I found a statement somewhere the AC5300 doesn't support bridge mode either, which it most certainly does.

Observations:

Both the AC5300 and AC88U firmwares are a bit buggy.

The AC88U (bridge) will randomly stop accepting outside connections, so devices connected to the AC5300 will not be able to connect to devices connected to the AC88U (the other way around works fine). Only a reboot of the AC88U (which takes forever and disconnects the entire office) fixes the issue.

The connected devices list is random on both devices. While names and IP addresses show up in the list, they are disconnected from eachother. For example, the IP of my main desktop may be connected to the name of my blu-ray player. This randomizes with every refresh of the page pretty much. Additionally, the AC5300 only shows devices directly connected to it, excluding the bridge, while the AC88U (bridge) shows all devices connected to either router.

The single login admin thing is the most retarded security feature I have ever seen. You can only login from one client at a time, and another device cannot login until that user is logged out. Auto logout has a minimum setting of 10 minutes. This creates a larger security issue than it actually solves, aside from being incredibly annoying during network setup. It's like those websites that require overly complex passwords people just end up writing down... the idea is good, it just doesn't work that way.