ASUS RT-AX89X COMBINE 2he 2.4 and 5

[wellandman]

ASUS RT-AX89X just got​

when i combine the 2 chans into one not seperate0
The wifi speeds drobs really slow say 60mps
on my older ac 88 can get 250 plus easily


just dont waant the ball ache of setting up lots of amazon devices so 1 password for all etc

 

[Tech Junky]

In your client WiFi properties set 5ghz preferred.

Using my Zyxel ap with an ax411 that combines both bands I can hit 1.5gbps on the lan. So, it's possible to get speeds with the right settings and hardware over WiFi.

 

[wellandman]

Im very new to this more complex setups is that in router or my laptops in wifi

 

[Tech Junky]

laptops in wifi

Go into networks / right click on the adapter / properties / configure / advanced

 

[OzarkEdge]

ASUS RT-AX89X just got

when i combine the 2 chans into one not seperate0
The wifi speeds drobs really slow say 60mps
on my older ac 88 can get 250 plus easily

just dont waant the ball ache of setting up lots of amazon devices so 1 password for all etc

If you enable Smart Connect, the same SSID name is used for both the 2.4 and 5.0 main WLANs... two WLANS; each with the same SSID name; and both displayed as one by most wireless clients, but still two WLANs.

If you disable Smart Connect, you can name the WLANs SSIDs whatever you want... same SSID name or different SSID names.

I suggest you troubleshoot with one or two test clients by disabling Smart Connect and defining different SSID names... use new/temp names to keep your other existing clients off the network. Then you can knowingly connect a test client to just one WLAN at a time and proceeed to troubleshoot that connection and configure your router WiFi for best connection details as are listed in the Wireless Log.

Later after you have the router WiFi configured and working, you can experiment with using the same SSID name for all main WLANs, with and without Smart Connect enabled, and see how your clients behave.

My clients are fine with Smart Connect disabled and same SSID names.

Tweaking wireless client settings is the last thing you may need to do for difficult clients, if any... most IoT clients have no settings to tweak. Configure the router/network first.

OE

 

[wellandman]

Thanks redid on the pic now getting 600 but on old 88u router was getting 850 plus
Anything else to change

I have 27 days to send this back is there a better asus router if all else fails (amazon)

 

[Tech Junky]

(amazon)

Plenty of good stuff but, it might not be Asus. Adding a straight AP might be the better option. They tend to be cheaper than a router and perform better because they only do WiFi. Of course costs differ by region and that might play into the recommendation.

Speed seems to be a factor here but, what is your goal?

 

[RTWZ80]

Thanks redid on the pic now getting 600 but on old 88u router was getting 850 plus
Anything else to change

I have 27 days to send this back is there a better asus router if all else fails (amazon)

Have you tried disabling the Extended NSS setting? Keeping that setting enabled allows the RT-AX89X more compatibility with certain devices. However, this'll likely limit you to the 80MHz channels instead of the full 160MHz spectrum, which halves the connection speed to most Wi-Fi 6 enabled devices.

Here are the steps to disable Extended NSS if needed.

Log into your RT-AX89X's web GUI, look for Advanced Settings and click on the Wireless tab.

When there, search for the Professional tab and click on it.

Select the 5Ghz band in the first setting.

Then scroll all the way down and the Extended NSS setting should be the second last option.

Using SmartConnect is usually a bad idea IMHO because you have no control over which band, 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz, your devices connect to on Wifi, it'll be decided by the router. From what I've seen, most older generation Smart Home Devices will connect to the 2.4Ghz band due to the better range, but at the cost of slower speeds. I separate my 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands like what OzarkEdge does with most of my devices on the faster 5Ghz band.

 

[wellandman]

as with previous advice i split the 2.4 and 5 much better had to reset every alexa thing and smart bulbs
but with open vpn nord speed drops really low
but on laptop using the nord app almost no drop

question is do i send this back and get the newer version wifi 7 etc for future proofing
EJ ROG Rapture GT-BE98
as im 65 years old now this should outlast me
on a bt 900 line btw

end result i want is maximum download speed and range

 

[RTWZ80]

as with previous advice i split the 2.4 and 5 much better had to reset every alexa thing and smart bulbs
but with open vpn nord speed drops really low
but on laptop using the nord app almost no drop

question is do i send this back and get the newer version wifi 7 etc for future proofing
EJ ROG Rapture GT-BE98
as im 65 years old now this should outlast me
on a bt 900 line btw

end result i want is maximum download speed and range

Unfortunately, wifi speed and range seem to have an inverse relationship. Higher speeds by using the 6Ghz band will also mean shorter range. Both Wifi 6E and Wifi 7 use the 6Ghz band. Wifi 7 has yet to be certified though and as of now, there are no devices that can utilize it at the moment.

Good article on Tom's Hardware here explaining the relationship:

'With all of this space, network traffic now comes with a massive amount of headroom. So when your Wi-Fi 6E network is cluttered up with lots of devices, it should still be speedy (limited Internet bandwidth notwithstanding). And in part, this will be true because there won’t be any old devices on the 6 GHz band. You can’t get Wi-Fi 6E compatibility via firmware upgrade; products must be designed specifically to take advantage of the new tech.

Of course, there are other drawbacks to the new technology: Solid objects become a bigger issue, for example. As radio waves increase their frequency, they have a tendency to become more sensitive to interference, particularly by physical barriers, reducing their already-shorter range. This is why you may still get a signal at greater distances with a 2.4 GHz transmission than a 5 GHz one.

Some routers compensate for this by simply boosting the signal, which is why you see gaming routers with arachnophobia-inducing antenna arrays. Unfortunately, that approach may not be as effective with Wi-Fi 6E, as transmitted data on the 6 GHz band falls under FCC regulations identical to the 5 GHz band. In other words, an access point may transmit with up to 30 dBm conducted power, or 36 dBm of equivalent isotropically-radiated power (EIRP), where a client device has more stringent requirements, at 24 dBm and 30 dBm, respectively. With the slightly higher frequency of 6 GHz, this effectively means the capped-out usable range is lower than that of devices transmitting on the 5 GHz band.

This was also borne out in testing. While our previous test data showed quite fast speed over great distances, testing with Wi-Fi 6E showed a massive dropoff even 25 feet from the router. At that distance, the signal dropped below -60 dBm and barely extended out to about 50 feet. Beyond that, the 6E-capable device we tested with completely lost its signal and the 6GHz band of this network was no longer visible.'

That said, the RT-AX89X is getting on its years and it would probably be wise to get newer hardware.

Most people on the forum would look at the ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 for a more affordable modern Wifi 6 option with good range thanks to the RangeBoost feature, or the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 for a more 'future proof' albeit costly Wifi 6E option that also has great range on the non-6Ghz bands thanks to the RangeBoost Plus feature.

 

[bbunge]

I've had four Asus routers since I turned 65 and that was 11 years ago.
Speed or high bandwidth is not as important as solid reliability. I would send the spider back and get one of the Asus Pro routers like the AX86U Pro.
If you must connect to a VPN service use a VPN on your client and not the router.
WIFI 7 is too new to invest in right now unless you are filthy rich.

Edit: and the best WIFI settings are the default including SmartConnect!

 

[OzarkEdge]

I separate my 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands like what OzarkEdge does with most of my devices on the faster 5Ghz band.

Actually, I disable SC (and RA) and use same SSID name for both bands/WLANs. My clients decide which band/WLAN (and node) to connect to.

OE

 

[RTWZ80]

Actually, I disable SC (and RA) and use same SSID name for both bands/WLANs. My clients decide which node and band/WLAN to connect to.

OE

Yup same here. Most of my Wifi 6 clients do tend to connect to the 5Ghz band though on either AiMesh node.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Yup same here. Most of my Wifi 6 clients do tend to connect to the 5Ghz band though on either AiMesh node.

Understood... I would say that if you are using the same SSID on each band, you are not 'separating your 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands'... your clients have to decide which band to connect to.

OE

 

[Tech Junky]

open vpn nord speed drops really low

It's the slowest option for VPN no matter the provider.

When I was testing different providers with a gig+ ISP connection it always came in last for speed. This is running it on a full CPU / RAM setup vs a dinky little router off the shelf. The most I could squeeze from any OVPN profile / provider was ~600mbps while anything wireguard based hit line speeds or just shy of.

 

[wellandman]

Thank you all very interesting reading for a total noob
sent the other back refund amazon
but my q is if yours was stolen what would you buy today

 

[RTWZ80]

I'd still get the RT-AX89X, simply because it fits my current use case. My ISP provides fiber broadband on an active network, meaning I just need to connect the fiber patch cable to the termination point in the home at one end and then directly to the RT-AX89X's SFP+ port with the ISP's SFP+ transceiver module at the other end. No ONT or modem needed in-between. TP-Link's newer Wifi 6E and Wifi 7 routers also have SFP+/10GBase-T combo ports. However, those routers are somewhat lacking in the firmware aspect vis a vis Asus' and you can't Mesh their routers the way you can with Asus'.