Asus RT-AC66U issues connecting to 5 ghz band

[psfc_yojimbo]

Mikeg, Take a look at some of the recent RT-N66U threads regarding similar wireless disconnection issues. There may be solutions that work for both models of these routers. Many of the problems were solved after users updated the drivers for their laptop's internal wireless radio.

Hey, OP here... I think the wireless radio (baseband) in my Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket is the issue there. I've got a custom ROM and I've read reports of users having the same issue when trying to connect to 5Ghz wireless. So I can probably fix that with a different baseband. However, I have no idea what it could be with the iPad... I still need to test it out with the latest Asus and Merlin firmware.

 

[SoCalReviews]

I have already looked at the RT-N66U threads and have not found any solution
to my problem. I have already checked that my laptops drivers are up to date.
I get the same problem with pc:s that have Asus USB-N53 ....

I didn't mention this before because I posted about it in the RT-N66U forum...The first few days I used my recently purchased wireless media bridge I had one complete wireless disconnection using the 5Ghz band. I had only been using the 5Ghz radio on the router for two days so I hadn't tested it before this. Since the TEW-680MB media bride was new to me I didn't completely rule that device out as the one having an issue. Although at first I thought it was the bridge what actually happened was that the 5Ghz wireless radio on the RT-N66U had completely shut down after about two days being connected to the wireless bridge. I couldn't get the 5Ghz radio to re-start by using the firmware reboot option but thankfully it did come back after I powered cycled the router.

This all happened within a day or two of the 4.220 firmware release but I was using the Asus .178 firmware when these problems occurred. I suspected that it was most likely a firmware or settings related problem so I decided to update from the .178 firmware to the newly released official Asus 4.220 firmware. I did a fifteen button hold down reset on the router...rebooted...went through the minimal setup...flashed with 4.220 firmware...rebooted...minimal setup again...then did another fifteen second reset...went through setup and then tested both 2.4 and 5 Ghz radios. At this point I seemed to now have connection issues with the 2.4Ghz radio...connecting to my Android phone which had been working solidly for weeks before this. Running the online speedtest.net from the phone app showed network connectivity problems for upload. I noticed that my wired connection to my PC was also unreliable. I power cycled the router and that brought back the 2.4 Ghz connection but it turned out that I also had to power cycle my modem before it was working properly (for WAN IP, etc.) with the just flashed router.

It has been more than a week and since then I have had zero issues with wired or wireless 2.4 and 5 Ghz connectivity with the RT-N66U router using Asus .4.220 firmware. I just checked the TEW-680MB bridge status right now and it shows that it has been connected with the RT-N66U (broadcasting 80mw) for 7 days, 10 hrs and 30 min. with 5Ghz and 40Mhz bandwidth...on both Ch. 149 and Central Ch. 151 and the wireless bridge status reports 90% link quality, Tx 162 and Rx 216 Mbps. The 2.4Ghz radio connection has been working perfectly and staying connected with my Android phone. I realize that your RT-AC66U does have different 5Ghz radio hardware and drivers than the RT-N66U. I can't say whether your problem is similar to the problems I was having with wireless connectivity but from my many years of computer debugging experience I usually suspect software (firmware, drivers, settings, required power cycling to reset, bugs, etc.) as being the source of problems before anything else.

 

[disenter]

help!

Hi,
I just got the AC66u as well, and having some issues.
I have a billion 7800N that is kind of on its way out, loses settings sometimes, and was just struggling with to many wireless devices etc hanging off it, so i've got the AC66u to handle routing and wireless, and just use the 7800N as a pure bridge.. effectively, its now a modem and nothing but.

That's fine, and its working ok so far, via ethernet, to my pc. But I cannot seem to get any wireless devices to see it, let alone connect to it.

For some reason, the 2.4ghz light is not even coming on on the AC66u, only the 5Ghz light. I cannot seem to find any on/off switch in the firmware setup to enable/disable either 2.4 or 5ghz .. it does seem like they're supposed to both be always on...

I suspect my Iphone 4S, can't use 5ghz band, and so can't see it, and 2.4ghz is not running at all.. I haven't tried any other devices yet, but i figure if my phone can't see it, when it worked perfectly with the 7800N's wireless before that, there really isn't much point!.

I would like to try Merlins firmware that I have read about, but I would like to see how the stock firmware fares first... if I can get it to work properly!

Can anyone shed some light?... what am i doing wrong?

I did update it as soon as i got it, to the latest 220 firmware also (maybe that was a bad move?)

 

[disenter]

oops.. scratch that.... i found the reason it wasn't kicking 2.4ghz up... radio was off for some reason on 2.4ghz... flicked that back on and its apples

 

[Billybatson]

Same

Hello SNB! My first post here I'm coming over from forums.anandtech
I upgraded my linksys wrt400n dual-band N router yesterday (I've had it 4-5 years) for the Asus ac66u. I know I don't need 11ac for another 18 months but its cheaper to pay the $40 above the n66u price today instead of selling the n66u in 18 months for $60 and pay for a top tier router again.
I did as much online research as I could and couldn't decide between the asus, Cisco ea6500, or netgear 6300. I went with the asus with hopes of having the best signal range but in having similar problems. I love the router so far but signal is only great when I am near the router, my linksys would reach my garage (it's our hangout spot and connected to the house with a door from inside the house but does have the thickest wall) on the 5ghz band but so slow that it wouldn't be useable but 2.4ghz worked in there fine. With the ac66u the moment I step into the garage I lose the 5ghz band completely and if it does appear briefly for some reason I can't connect to it just like the OP despite it asking me for a password. The 2.4 ghz band reaches the garage but so slow that it's now unusable and will cut out every few mins.
I'm running the latest asus firmware nothing 3rd party, no house phones or other wireless devices near the router, router is actually 2 feet closer to the garage than the old router was, I live in a house not not an apartment with only 2 neighbors with wifi both running 2wire 54g, and I'm only running two iPhone 5's an iPad 2 and HP laptop all on the 5ghz band, and 1 iPhone 4 on the 2.4ghz band.

If I can't resolve within a week I might return and try the Cisco 6500 if that doesn't work I would want the asus n66u however it is supposed to have nearly identical N performance which isn't looking great right now.....

 

[RMerlin]

First, make sure you do have firmware 3.0.0.4.220.

Try setting the 5 GHz to a fixed channel rather than to Auto. Try both a low-numbered channel and a high-numbered to see if it makes any difference.

Antenna orientation can have a big impact, so experiment a bit with it as well (both orientation and location of the router). And make sure the antennas are well screwed in place (it's easy to accidentally unscrew one of them while playing with the orientation).

 

[Billybatson]

Hey RMerlin thanks for the quick reply!
I checked everything, I am on the newest 220 firmware, the antennas are secure, I've tried a few positions and the 45 90 45 seems to works best I haven't tried any of of them at 180 to the ground though I assume that's if I wanted the signal to go up/down?). Unfortunately I can't change the location of the router it needs to be next to the uverse box but it is 2 feet closer to my garage and further from the wall than my wrt400n was (could the wall actually have been helping the 400n direct the signal back towards the house?). I went ahead and set both 2.5 and 5 on 40mhz, choose a specific channel for both, and set tf to 500mw and 250mw respectively.
End result:
performance- huge improvement I seem to have a much steadier transmission rate with higher speeds on both bands over all the devices
range- this is what I'm more concerned with... Did improve! I now have a steady strong connection in my garage and down the driveway all the way to the sidewalk 1 house over and into my car. On the 5ghz my signal actually leaves the livingroom! into the garage down the driveway to he sidewalk but only to the end of our property cuts out as I walk in front of th neighbors house which is amazing!!!!! The only issue is even with a decently strong signal in the garage I'm getting increased drop in speed there but I think the fridge in there between me and the router might have something to do with it. That's still a huge improvement on 5ghz over my 400n and a massive improvement on 2.4.

Is there anything else I can tweak to get better performance? Other than 3rd party fw I want to stick to asus for now while still in draft stage.

I had listed my wrt400n on Craigslist but last night flashed it to the latest wrt-dd in the hopes to try and use it as a wireless repeating bridge with the idea of repeating the the signal in the garage. That's no longer needed but I want to experiment any way lol. I haven't gotten it to work yet, but would this cause any problems with the asus signal? Both dual-band but 400n is 150n? 300n?

 

[RMerlin]

5 GHz will always be shorter ranged than 2.4 GHz, because higher frequency waves travel shorter distances. Just like a sub woofer can be heard much farther away than high frequency audio.

Bridged/repeater setups come at a price in terms of both stability and performance. I've never really used one myself, so I don't know how it would work out with your particular scenario.

 

[Billybatson]

Yeah and at a 10ft Difference it's definitely closer in range than my old router.
I've been messing around with different channels with the lower ones producing better results for 5, and 6L seems to work great on 2.4. I'm leaving the tx strength at 250/500mw.
At this point now I'm extremely happy with the performance of this router and don't think I'll be trying out the netgear or Cisco after all.
I would definitely recommend this router as long someone is willing to deal with trial and error in settings. The aicloud app seems completely useless for anything other than access USB storage. Storage works as advertised, takes about 15 seconds to load a 100mb .mov from a USB thumb drive. Only odd occurance was when I used the on/off switch on the router, the 2nd time it booted up to factory settings thankfully I had made a backup...

Thanks for the help! I'll definitely be lurking here at SNB more often

 

[SoCalReviews]

Yeah and at a 10ft Difference it's definitely closer in range than my old router.
I've been messing around with different channels with the lower ones producing better results for 5, and 6L seems to work great on 2.4. I'm leaving the tx strength at 250/500mw.
At this point now I'm extremely happy with the performance of this router and don't think I'll be trying out the netgear or Cisco after all.

Two things you should seriously consider....#1 consider placing the RT-AC66U in an optimal location or wall mounting the wireless router up as high as possible or at least four to five feet from the floor or higher (consider side mounting the router on the wall with the antennas pointing to the right or left for better aesthetics and functionality for Ethernet cable access). Also test the signal difference in the locations of your house that are not getting a strong signal by moving the router several feet on one side or the other of devices such as audio video equipment. I have found that this makes a big difference and can add one to two bars of signal strength and quality for those devices in the remote areas of the house.

#2 If you have a group of devices in one one distant location you should consider getting another RT-AC66U an configuring it as a AP (access point) or wireless bridge or use a separate wireless media bridge like the Trendnet TEW-680MB (with three stream 450Mbps capable 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz radios) that I described before in this thread. Trendnet is suppose to release a newer wireless ac media bridge this next month. Using another RT-AC66U in bridge or AP mode or using other media bridges with three stream capability and three antennas instead of the weaker internal radios used individually by a cluster of devices in a remote location should significantly improve the range and signal quality compared to using the built in wireless g or n radios that the clients use. This would also allow you to turn down the radio Tx power on the RT-AC66U to lower levels.

 

[Billybatson]

What is th down side or having high TX power?

 

[RMerlin]

What is th down side or having high TX power?

It can introduce distortion in the radio signal, which means more transmission errors, and the end result will be slower transfers.

 

[Billybatson]

If I ramped it down how would I figure out what the ideal strength will be?

 

[RMerlin]

If I ramped it down how would I figure out what the ideal strength will be?

Without advanced equipment, it will probably be a trial-and-error process. I'd recommend increasing by 30 mW steps until you reach a stage where you can provide adequate coverage for the desired area.

You could also check for the number of errors your clients reports - if there is a high number of errors, try reducing power output to see if it stabilizes.

 

[mikeg]

Without advanced equipment, it will probably be a trial-and-error process. I'd recommend increasing by 30 mW steps until you reach a stage where you can provide adequate coverage for the desired area.

You could also check for the number of errors your clients reports - if there is a high number of errors, try reducing power output to see if it stabilizes.

I have the inSSIDer running and I notice a strange thing with the 5 GHz.band.
According to the inSSIDer I suddenly start to get dips on the amplitude , 15dBm drops and when I just make an apply on the Professional settings in the web gui without changing any values the dips vanish and I get a steady value on the amplitude of the 5 GHz-band. I just went down from 150 to 120 mW and got an even stronger amplitude ; 3-4 dBm. Seems something strange is happening. When I have dips my wireless connects with 135 Mbps , without the dips 270 Mbps. As Jeremy from Asus mentioned somewhere else in this Asus wireless the experience from Asus is that 120 mW is the limit before distortion appears.

 

[dvgeek]

Tx Power adjustment

The 500 mW limit is for 2.4 GHz only. 5 GHz is limited to 250 mW.

Hi,

Just uploaded the 3.0.0.4.266.23b firmware and I cannot set the power more than 200 mW in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. And oh - this is in North America (California).

Thanks,

 

[TonyH]

Using something like inSSIDer check your signal level on 5GHz band.
In my case 2.4GHz signal is ~10db stronger than 5GHz one. Typically
in my house they are more or less 50db and 60db. 5GHz is only used by my wife streaming real time HD video every night w/o any problem. If you
jack up the TX output too high it can degrade signal quality with increased noise and/or distortion I use channel 9 and 149 which gives
best signal strength.

 

[RMerlin]

Hi,

Just uploaded the 3.0.0.4.266.23b firmware and I cannot set the power more than 200 mW in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz. And oh - this is in North America (California).

Thanks,

Asus has reduced the max power output a few revisions back, to be more compliant with regulations, and also because at those high power values, you would introduce too much signal distortion, which would result in a worse signal performance.

 

[mikeg]

I have Tx value set to 90 mW on both bands. Still problems to connect with laptop 2 meters away in the same room as the AC66U. I have installed an Asus USB-N53 on my laptop instead of the integrated wireless card. Still not getting a high connection speed , 108 Mbps. I updated the fw. to the Beta .231 which has new Broadcom drivers but still not getting higher connection speed on the laptop.Got this answer from Asus regarding the new drivers on .231 fw : After double-checking, the BETA firmware does contain new drivers but they are no official release as we are still tweaking it for stability.
So still no stabile drivers for the AC66U. And for those who think it is something in my laptop : I can connet with a speed of 300 Mbps to a TP-Link WDR4300 on it¨s 5 GHz-band and a stable connection when I am connected to this router. My patience for waiting for a stable driver is getting very thin now.

Update ; Cganged Tx - value to 80 mW on both bands. All of a sudden the router rebooted itself. Now I have a stronger signal on the 5 GHz band , -21 dbm , the 2.4 GHz band , -23 dbm , reported from inSSIDer. Still problems to connect to my laptop with higher than 108 Mbps.

I have the inSSIDer running and I notice a strange thing with the 5 GHz.band.
According to the inSSIDer I suddenly start to get dips on the amplitude , 15dBm drops and when I just make an apply on the Professional settings in the web gui without changing any values the dips vanish and I get a steady value on the amplitude of the 5 GHz-band. I just went down from 150 to 120 mW and got an even stronger amplitude ; 3-4 dBm. Seems something strange is happening. When I have dips my wireless connects with 135 Mbps , without the dips 270 Mbps. As Jeremy from Asus mentioned somewhere else in this Asus wireless the experience from Asus is that 120 mW is the limit before distortion appears.

 

[bellator7]

Thanks to RMerlin for the advice about trying lower and higher channels: I couldn't connect my SGH-T889 to the 5 GHz band until I switched to a lower channel. Then, boom, high-speed heaven.