Asus XT8 optimal Wi-Fi settings for stability, compatibility, and performance

[HouseMusicRules]

Hi,

Just wanted to pick the community's brain on optimal Wi-Fi stability, compatibility, and performance on the Asus XT8 AiMesh router running the lastest Merlin/Gnuton 388.8_2 firmware.

After reading through the forums I've made these changes (assume nothing else was changed from Default):

Enabled Smart Connect: Off

2.4GHz:
General settings:
- wireless mode: N only
- channel width: 20 MHz
- control channel: 1
- authentication method: WPA2-Personal
Professional settings:
- enable WMM APSD: disable
- modulation scheme: up to MCS 7 (802.11n)
- explicit beamforming: disable
- universal beamforming: disable

5GHz-1:
General settings:
- wireless mode: N/AC/AX mixed
- channel width: 80 MHz
- control channel: 36
- authentication method: WPA2/WPA3-Personal
Professional settings:
- universal beamforming: disable

5GHz-2
General settings:
- wireless mode: N/AC/AX mixed
- channel width: 80 MHz
- control channel: 149
- authentication method: WPA2/WPA3-Personal
Professional settings:
- universal beamforming: disable

Anything else I should add? Again the preference is for Wi-Fi stability, compatibility, and performance.

Kind regards,

 

[Tech9]

Fail safe enough. If it works properly - no point optimizing it further.

 

[RogerSC]

If you're in the US and using wireless backhaul, you can use the 5GHz-2 radio channels that are above the old ones for the wireless backhaul (UNII-4 channels 169 - 181). This allows 160MHz. backhaul bandwidth without using the DFS channels. You can read about this elsewhere on this forum by searching for UNII-4 and XT8. Recent firmware for the XT8 will allow you to configure your XT8's to use these channels for backhaul.

 

[HouseMusicRules]

Thanks for the replies.

I am using a wireless backhaul for one of my nodes. Using the 5GHz-1 as backhaul (instead of 5GHz-2) would be great as that band is currently unused for me. However, since I live in Canada neither of the 5ghz bands support 160MHz as far as I can tell. Unless there is a way to modify it?

 

[OzarkEdge]

Again the preference is for Wi-Fi stability, compatibility, and performance.

I'd bet the defaults would be equally stable, performant, and more compatible.

OE

 

[Tech9]

Unless there is a way to modify it?

Don't modify anything and don't poke AiMesh too much. Otherwise you'll come back with many more questions.

Also make sure you have a good reason for replacing the original firmware. I would run stock Asuswrt on this mesh set.

 

[HouseMusicRules]

Any reason why stock is preferred over Merlin/Gnuton for this router? Will definitely consider it.

Also, is it better to have Merlin/Gnuton on the main router and the nodes or not the nodes?

 

[Tech9]

Any reason why stock is preferred over Merlin/Gnuton for this router?

Pretty good reason. Quite a bit Asus routers were hit by malware recently and the fix path is this:

Asuswrt -> Asuswrt-Merlin 388.8_4 -> GNUton 388.8_4 (Alpha 1) Your firmware is GNUton 388.8_2

 

[Tech9]

Also, is it better to have Merlin/Gnuton on the main router and the nodes or not the nodes?

Someone may jump right on and start calling me names for this, but... if your ultimate goal is stable AiMesh - use stock Asuswrt on all units. AiMesh is closed source Asus component, a black box for 3rd party developers. Asus own developers know best how it interacts with other available firmware components and options. Especially valid for mesh sets like yours - most likely factory paired units, they look for each other with hidden networks, preconfigure themselves after reset, etc. Messing up with all this is looking for trouble.

 

[bbunge]

Someone may jump right on and start calling me names for this, but... if your ultimate goal is stable AiMesh - use stock Asuswrt on all units. AiMesh is closed source Asus component, a black box for 3rd party developers. Asus own developers know best how it interacts with other available firmware components and options. Especially valid for mesh sets like yours - most likely factory paired units, they look for each other with hidden networks, preconfigure themselves after reset, etc. Messing up with all this is looking for trouble.

Nope. No name calling and you are spot on about AiMesh and Asus firmware. And OE is right about not messing with WIFI settings.

 

[naitkris]

I have a GT-AX11000 Pro as the Router on latest Asuswrt-Merlin (though your Router could be an XT8 or other on gnuton) while the XT8 Nodes I have are on the latest official stock firmware and this seems to be the best way after many months now. I posted about the same (having both Router and Nodes on Asuswrt-Merlin / gnuton) at https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...e-version-3-0-0-4-388_24621.89343/post-927315 and since later changing all the Asus AiMesh Nodes to be on stock firmware everything has been super stable while I am also able to maximize the features available thanks to the Router being on Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[DalleV]

I've had the xt8 for a week now and i'm not impressed. Had the Orbi RBR50 previously and was thinking the xt8 would be an upgrade, i was wrong. Although the orbi had it's own quirks it was mostly stable. What i dont like about the Orbi is that the hardware is so slow, so making any change is a painful process and it takes a long time for it to reboot and stabilize, that and that a alot of features are behind a paywall, features that are there for free and included on the Asus.

Firstly, i live in Europe, Sweden. I have a three store house at about 1600ft2, roughly 500ft2 on each floor. Building materials is mostly wood and plaster, insulation in every wall and in the floors. The basement walls are concrete. And I have a chimney in the centre of the house running all the way from the basement upp to the top. Build year 1924.

I have my incoming fibermodem in the basement and there i also have my router. The second XT8 node i have on the third floor in my sons gaming room. With a birds eye it's not that many ft across, meaby around 30feet. But the wireless backhaul would just not work. The Orbi struggled with this also, but I hade a third Orbi node and had them daisy chained. So with having alot of trouble with the mesh, i finally did my own wirring. So i ran cable from basement to attic. Setup a patchpanel and a unmanaged switch and now I have wired ethernet to a couple of rooms on the third floor and in a room on the second and one in the basement offcourse. So i run the XT8 in wired backhaul. And that seems to work flawless, everything thats wired is getting full speed 250/250. And the second 5ghz chanel i can free upp and use @160mhz dedicated for a Quest3. The wifi however is so so. Most of the time my cellphone keeps getting kicked to 2.4ghz and when on 5ghz i get poor quality, except when i'm near a node. The wireless devices keep jumping back and forth between the router and the node in a not so logical manner. Thank god that my kids PC:s are wired, else i would get a meltdown. What to do? Is my house to small for a two pack of XT8 or are these xt8 just pure garbage? I've tried some different settings but nothing seems to make any significant difference. Oh and yeah i have a extension on the second floor, just passed the kitchen and when stepping out in the extension the wifi goes in rapid downhill.

As a sidenote, i run them on the latest Gnuton fw. Didn't even try the Asus official.

 

[naitkris]

The wireless devices keep jumping back and forth between the router and the node in a not so logical manner.

Often this is the wireless devices who make the decision to switch acordingly when it sees a stronger signal from another node in areas where the signal from both is similar or when the wireless device moves around the home. However perhaps in your case you need to adjust in the XT8 Router under "Wireless -> Professional" the setting for "Roaming assistant" if it is enabled and the value for "Disconnect clients with RSSI lower than : X dBm" - this setting is there also for each band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz-1, and 5 GHz-2 separately). From the XT8 side also you do have an option under AiMesh to click on a node and view the clients then select a client and "Bind" them to either the XT8 Router or XT8 Node that way they will always be connected to just that XT8 Router or XT8 Node that you select.

In my case I tweaked my settings a lot to get everything working really well. This is what I really like about ASUS wireless equipment and the Asuswrt-Merlin firmware support (the huge amount of settings that are configurable, being able to SSH in to the router, create scripts, etc). Out of the box settings may not be perfect for every location and situation.

You also tried to have the wireless backhaul pass through two floors (from Router in basement, through 1st floor floor and through the ceiling and floor of 3rd floor to the Node on 3rd floor). This was perhaps too much depending on the density and material in between. Try also moving slightly the location of the XT8 Router and the XT8 Node a little and observe how is the backhaul. Wireless Router and Node placement is very important. I always try to have the main Router as much as possible in the center of the home or wherever I am setting up - with the Nodes then further out in different directions. Also don't set them too close to the floor or to thick walls and try to have them a bit higher up if possible. If all else fails then with 3 floors in your situation a 3rd XT8 may make everything work much better.

As a sidenote, i run them on the latest Gnuton fw. Didn't even try the Asus official.

Try having the XT8 Router in the basement on Gnuton firmware and the XT8 Node upstairs on ASUS official firmware. The Gnuton features make sense for the XT8 Router but for the XT8 Node the official firmware should be very stable and work well - it does so in my case. This is how I run it and everything is now really stable and running well. I do however set a weekly reboot once a week in the early morning hours just to always keep everything running well and it does the trick (all nodes in the AiMesh get rebooted at the same time and all come back online and in to the AiMesh within a couple of minutes or so).

Lycka till!

 

[DalleV]

Often this is the wireless devices who make the decision to switch acordingly when it sees a stronger signal from another node in areas where the signal from both is similar or when the wireless device moves around the home. However perhaps in your case you need to adjust in the XT8 Router under "Wireless -> Professional" the setting for "Roaming assistant" if it is enabled and the value for "Disconnect clients with RSSI lower than : X dBm" - this setting is there also for each band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz-1, and 5 GHz-2 separately). From the XT8 side also you do have an option under AiMesh to click on a node and view the clients then select a client and "Bind" them to either the XT8 Router or XT8 Node that way they will always be connected to just that XT8 Router or XT8 Node that you select.

In my case I tweaked my settings a lot to get everything working really well. This is what I really like about ASUS wireless equipment and the Asuswrt-Merlin firmware support (the huge amount of settings that are configurable, being able to SSH in to the router, create scripts, etc). Out of the box settings may not be perfect for every location and situation.

You also tried to have the wireless backhaul pass through two floors (from Router in basement, through 1st floor floor and through the ceiling and floor of 3rd floor to the Node on 3rd floor). This was perhaps too much depending on the density and material in between. Try also moving slightly the location of the XT8 Router and the XT8 Node a little and observe how is the backhaul. Wireless Router and Node placement is very important. I always try to have the main Router as much as possible in the center of the home or wherever I am setting up - with the Nodes then further out in different directions. Also don't set them too close to the floor or to thick walls and try to have them a bit higher up if possible. If all else fails then with 3 floors in your situation a 3rd XT8 may make everything work much better.


Try having the XT8 Router in the basement on Gnuton firmware and the XT8 Node upstairs on ASUS official firmware. The Gnuton features make sense for the XT8 Router but for the XT8 Node the official firmware should be very stable and work well - it does so in my case. This is how I run it and everything is now really stable and running well. I do however set a weekly reboot once a week in the early morning hours just to always keep everything running well and it does the trick (all nodes in the AiMesh get rebooted at the same time and all come back online and in to the AiMesh within a couple of minutes or so).

Lycka till!

These devices I am talking about are stationary and them switching to the router, but they had stronger connection with more throughput on the node. And my phone want to use 2.4ghz more often on the xt8 system then on the orbi. Then again I had three orbi:s. I will do some more testing. Meaby i need a third node? Just i keep reading about people with these gigantic houses and only having 2 nodes. But meaby the houses in Sweden are made with more dense materials.

Oh yeah i run my xt8 with wired backhaul. I cant really move either xt8 much, they have to be where they are.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I've had the xt8 for a week now and i'm not impressed. Had the Orbi RBR50 previously and was thinking the xt8 would be an upgrade, i was wrong. Although the orbi had it's own quirks it was mostly stable. What i dont like about the Orbi is that the hardware is so slow, so making any change is a painful process and it takes a long time for it to reboot and stabilize, that and that a alot of features are behind a paywall, features that are there for free and included on the Asus.

Firstly, i live in Europe, Sweden. I have a three store house at about 1600ft2, roughly 500ft2 on each floor. Building materials is mostly wood and plaster, insulation in every wall and in the floors. The basement walls are concrete. And I have a chimney in the centre of the house running all the way from the basement upp to the top. Build year 1924.

I have my incoming fibermodem in the basement and there i also have my router. The second XT8 node i have on the third floor in my sons gaming room. With a birds eye it's not that many ft across, meaby around 30feet. But the wireless backhaul would just not work. The Orbi struggled with this also, but I hade a third Orbi node and had them daisy chained. So with having alot of trouble with the mesh, i finally did my own wirring. So i ran cable from basement to attic. Setup a patchpanel and a unmanaged switch and now I have wired ethernet to a couple of rooms on the third floor and in a room on the second and one in the basement offcourse. So i run the XT8 in wired backhaul. And that seems to work flawless, everything thats wired is getting full speed 250/250. And the second 5ghz chanel i can free upp and use @160mhz dedicated for a Quest3. The wifi however is so so. Most of the time my cellphone keeps getting kicked to 2.4ghz and when on 5ghz i get poor quality, except when i'm near a node. The wireless devices keep jumping back and forth between the router and the node in a not so logical manner. Thank god that my kids PC:s are wired, else i would get a meltdown. What to do? Is my house to small for a two pack of XT8 or are these xt8 just pure garbage? I've tried some different settings but nothing seems to make any significant difference. Oh and yeah i have a extension on the second floor, just passed the kitchen and when stepping out in the extension the wifi goes in rapid downhill.

As a sidenote, i run them on the latest Gnuton fw. Didn't even try the Asus official.

Couple thoughts...

I would have commissioned the network with latest stock ASUSWRT first to establish a baseline experience.

The narrow and vertical coverage required for three levels with dense masonry blocking WiFi up/down through the center might be tricky to cover with just two APs... the three Orbi APs may having been able to daisy-chain around the chimney obstacle.

In my experience, I get better coverage when APs are not located directly over/under each other (poles aligned)... but staggering your APs left and right of center may put the masonry obstacle between them... so now your clients on the oppossite side of the masonry from the closer AP are instead roaming to the unblocked but a weaker signal coming from above or below instead of the AP on their level. You may need an AP on each level, staggered around the masonry to spread the coverage.

I would have been tempted to step through your network upgrade by first installing a new router in the basement and wiring the three-node Orbi system in AP mode, one AP on each level, staggered around the masonry.

OE

 

[Tech9]

Didn't even try the Asus official.

Run Asuswrt on both units. They are not the the greatest, but you have better chances for somewhat stable AiMesh. When you have enough with off the shelf consumer toys - look at UniFi or Omada. May cost you more initially, but you'll never look back.

 

[DalleV]

I will try stock AsusWrt when I get time for it. In the mean time I will be on the lookout for a third xt8. Or is there any other asus aimesh compatible router that i could use? Preferably one with great range in the 5ghz@160mhz for the quest3. Then i can use that one as AP in the gaming room and place that xt8 node on the second floor.

And yes, i suspect i'll grow tired of this and just get UniFi as a friend of mine suggested from the beginning

 

[kaktus]

I have the latest Asus stock on my mesh-node and gnuton Merlin on my main router. I have a rock solid (wireless) backhaul connection, even better then using stock on my main router.
As mentioned (in this topic) you should disable the roaming assistant on the backhaul radio, I left the other wireless settings on factory default.

 

[DalleV]

I've mentioned this in every post, i have wired backhaul.

I will try stock FW on the node and try to reposition it when i have time and the kids are not home.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I will try stock FW on the node and try to reposition it when i have time and the kids are not home.

Do them a favor... do it while they are at home.

OE