Asus RT-AX88U - 160Mhz Channel bandwidth issue

[Geo1983]

hello everyone,

I have an issue with my AX88U router. Even if I enable the 160MHz channel bandwidth in the 5GHz page wifi page, my clients are not connecting to 160MHz.
I'm using 20/40/80/160 MHz setting (Auto select channel including DFS channels is also checked). If I'm forcing only 160 Mhz channel bandwidth, I'm not able to see the 5Ghz network anymore.
I have tried with different stock firmwares and merlin firmwares.
The only firmware that is working as expected is Merlin 384.18. With this firmware all the clients are connecting to the correct speed (1.7Gbps for AC and 2.4Gbps for AX).
For testing I'm using different clients with 160 MHz (huawei Mate 20 Pro and huawei P30 Pro with AC 160mhz, Intel AC 9260 wifi card and Intel AX 200 wifi card).
With all other firmwares the connection speed is 887Mbps for AC and 1.2Gbps for AX.
Do you have this issue with your AX routers?

Thank you!

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @Geo1983.

No issues here. What control channel are you using?

 

[Geo1983]

Welcome to the forums @Geo1983.

No issues here. What control channel are you using?

I'm using Auto, but current selected channel is 36

 

[L&LD]

Sorry, I meant when you were in 160MHz width.

 

[Geo1983]

Sorry, I meant when you were in 160MHz width.

With firmware 384.18, when 160Mhz is working I'm using auto and channel 36 is automatically selected.
With other firmwares channel 100 is automatically selected and 160Mhz is not working.
I've selected manually channel 36 with firmware 384.19 and 160 MHz is back.
It seams that is not a firmware issue. Is a channel selection problem. Which channel are you using with 160Mhz?

 

[Adreno]

Which channel are you using with 160Mhz?

36.

 

[L&LD]

I'm using channel 48. Through trial and error. Even without nearby Wi-Fi interference, that channel still gives me the fastest throughput and most responsive network I've seen yet.

 

[AntonK]

I'm using channel 48. Through trial and error. Even without nearby Wi-Fi interference, that channel still gives me the fastest throughput and most responsive network I've seen yet.

Hi @L&LD Do you know of a tutorial/best practices on the various WiFi settings with regards to AX routers? I thought I'd seen a wireless settings tutorial before, but I couldn't find one.

Thanks,
Anton

 

[Squall Leonhart]

With other firmwares channel 100 is automatically selected and 160Mhz is not working.

interesting, when i let ax88u do auto, it uses 52-60 and my rt-ac 86 and 68 media bridges can't connect
if i do 44 or 48 everythings guchi with 160mhz devices able to do 160mhz
if i do 36, the 160mhz devices are limited to 80.

sorry for old bump, just trying to figure this one out.

 

[Volt]

When forcing 160MHz on DFS channels (100 and above), make sure that you wait for at least 10 minutes for 5GHz to appear. I see similar behavior on the RT-AX82U:

• When selecting Auto and forcing 160 MHz, the router usually selects a non-DFS channel and 5GHz SSID with 160 MHz support appears almost immediately.
• When forcing both a DFS channel (for example, 100) and 160 MHz only, it takes about 10 minutes for the 5GHz to appear (as required by your local regulations).
• When selecting Auto and 20/40/80/160 MHz, the router usually selects a DFS channel (at least in my environment) and 80 MHz. However, the router's further behavior in this combination of parameters is not entirely clear to me, since even despite the messages in the log that 160 MHz channel width has become available on the current channel, for some reason the router still never switches to 160 MHz, but, for example, if you change some parameter that leads to a reboot of the wireless module (for example, enable WiFi Agile Multiband), then after the network appears, the devices connect using 160 MHz.

 

[Ripshod]

160MHz operation dpends on two things.
First, the channel must be clear of any traffic that you could interfere with. Hence the 10 minute delay when "forcing" 160MHz.
Secondly there must be AX devices connected that are 160MHz compatible and set up to use the 160MHz bandwidth. Even if it's stated a device is AX compatible, doesn't mean it'll do 160MHz.
If you're in europe or the uk you could try 124/160. Not everyone is in range of weather radar.

 

[Squall Leonhart]

The above 2 posters may be bots, with blind replies like those.

Wireless-AC 9260 is definitely 160 capable lol.

 

[Ripshod]

The above 2 posters may be bots, with blind replies like those.

Wireless-AC 9260 is definitely 160 capable lol.

I'm a bot? That's a compliment! Thank you.

 

[Squall Leonhart]

I see whats happened, Asus have cocked up the AC firmware's Country setting somehow, causing it to not reflect that regions actual capability (Atleast for Australia)

Heres what we should have

Channel Information
----------------------------------------
Channel 36 A Band
Channel 40 A Band
Channel 44 A Band
Channel 48 A Band
Channel 52 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 56 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 60 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 64 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 100 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 104 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 108 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 112 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 116 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 132 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 136 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 140 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 149 A Band
Channel 153 A Band
Channel 157 A Band
Channel 161 A Band
Channel 165 A Band



When Australia is selected as the radio region (which you can access and change by appending the page name to the media bridges ip address) you lose access to most of these and only have

Channel Information
----------------------------------------
Channel 36 A Band
Channel 40 A Band
Channel 44 A Band
Channel 48 A Band
Channel 149 A Band
Channel 153 A Band
Channel 157 A Band
Channel 161 A Band
Channel 165 A Band

AX Routers are affected too, in being limited to

Channel 36 A Band
Channel 40 A Band
Channel 44 A Band
Channel 48 A Band
Channel 52 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 56 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 60 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 64 A Band, RADAR Sensitive, Passive
Channel 149 A Band
Channel 153 A Band
Channel 157 A Band
Channel 161 A Band
Channel 165 A Band

 

[Tech9]

Asus have cocked up the AC firmware's Country setting somehow

Whatever it was years ago at the time of FCC certification most likely.

Otherwise 160MHz wide channels on AC are supported, but very few clients were compatible.

 

[Squall Leonhart]

Whatever it was years ago at the time of FCC certification most likely.

Otherwise 160MHz wide channels on AC are supported, but very few clients were compatible.

nah, its not that, on some of the ac models the aussie setting was different in older firmwares, if you upgrade from those older ones to newer ones the selected region isn't populated, if you then select australia again you lose ones that the region had earlier.