ASUS RT-AC88U poor range compared to AC68U

[Sachb]

I just recently bought the RT-AC88U as i needed one router for my home country. I live in Middle East and we have very thick cement walls which blocks signal, and my router is placed one meter above the ground as wall mounting isn't an option because of my apartment which is rented.

I've noticed as soon as i switched to my new RT-AC88U the signals have dropped considerably, which causes speed issues in the opposite room and the room next to it.

So my thoughts on this are that the RT-AC88U is not doing any better for the price which i paid. Although NAS file transfers went from (AC68U) 26 MB/sec to (AC88U) 35 MB/sec on the link rate of 866.5 MBPS with the broadcom chip.

As far as my understanding goes, the Standing position of the AC68U helps quite a bit in spreading the signals further more but the AC88U is the opposite.

Any suggestion for the settings or placement etc??

 

[Mikeharris500]

When I set the side antennas angled out like the manual says instead of straight up it helped.

 

[Sachb]

If i put the side antennas wouldn't my neighbours get the signal of my router?? Also my router isn't placed on the central location, just a meter above the ground.

I could place it in the center but then then the extender would get slighly lower signals then usual and causing more problems, as currently my router is directly aimed at the repeater which TP-LINK RE450.

I got 2BHK flat and still have to use a repeater as i stated earlier we have a very thick Walls and on top of that the washroom is joined to the opposite room, so the signals have to travel 2-3 walls before it reaches the repeater/client.

But i was amazed at how poor the signal was compared to the ac1900 for double the price.