Release Asuswrt-Merlin 3006.102.3 is now available for WIfi 7 devices

[junior120872]

What are you seeing as unstable. I'm running the latest on mine with 3 ET12's as aimesh nodes with wired backhaul. It has taken me quite a while to fine tune this network. I do have Wifi 7 mode turned off as well as MLO though since my ET12's don't support. My IoT network is finally stable after adjusting some settings on the 2.4Ghz. I have roughly 70 IoT devices. I was getting drops quite often till I tuned the 2.4Ghz, as well as found the right channels with the least interference.

 

[ExtremeFiretop]

Thank you for the reply! No, I have not installed any additional packages post Merlin. Was waiting to get everything up and running smoothly on the base code before venturing into that direction.

No worries, just wanted clarify if you had the add-on installed (or any installed)

Unfortunately, this whole experience has been rather awful thus far these first few weeks. The IoT network is a pain, but even the ‘regular’ WiFi networks are currently a mess. Not solely blaming Merlin here. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was something I’d similarly experience on stock fw, but it’s just overall not good right now. Not sure how much longer I can put up with this.

3006 is still in heavy flux, stuff should improve over time as ASUS improves the GPLs. In the few releases I've seen so far they completely changed the design of the "Network/Guest Network Pro" as an example.

Questions off the top of my head:

1. Have you done a factory reset and reconfigure from scratch on this specific firmware? If not that would usually be a good first step
2. Do you have MLO enabled? If so, have you tried to disable it? It's still a new feature and some devices don't work well with MLO, could potentially cause some issues.
3. Did you enable the specific IoT network and connect your problematic devices to that network? If not, that may help eliminate some of the pain your feeling.

 

[chA]

Questions off the top of my head:

1. Have you done a factory reset and reconfigure from scratch on this specific firmware? If not that would usually be a good first step
2. Do you have MLO enabled? If so, have you tried to disable it? It's still a new feature and some devices don't work well with MLO, could potentially cause some issues.
3. Did you enable the specific IoT network and connect your problematic devices to that network? If not, that may help eliminate some of the pain your feeling.

Really appreciate you following up! To answer your questions:

1. I didn't technically perform a 'factory' reset, but the first thing I did after unboxing these units was to install Merlin 3006.102.3 immediately after going through the most basic of setups with the stock shipping fw. At this point, I guess I'd be willing to go ahead and try a true factory reset on the three devices as things can't be much worse, but hopefully that will not be necessary.
2. MLO is disabled.
3. Yes, I am referring primarily to issues with the IoT network that can be setup in the fw. My setup currently consists of the following:
   • Dedicated 2.4GHz SSID (WiFi 7 disabled / MLO Fronthaul disabled), running at 20MHz on a fairly clean channel 1 in my area (based on recent scan)
   • Dedicated 5GHz SSID (WiFi 7 disabled / MLO Fronthaul disabled), running at 80MHz on a fairly clean channel 36 in my area (based on recent scan)
   • Dedicated 6GHz SSID (WiFi 7 enabled / MLO Fronthaul disabled), running at 160MHz on a fairly clean channel 69 in my area (based on recent scan)
   • Dedicated 2.4GHz IoT SSID (WiFi 7 disabled)
   • Dedicated 2.4GHz / 5GHz Kid's SSID (WiFi 7 disabled)
   • MAC filtering + AP Isolation is disabled on all wireless networks
   • only running one VLAN currently (again, was waiting until I got everything running smoothly on a basic configuration before venturing into more exotic setups)
   • My backhaul setup consists of a 1Gbps connection from the WAN to the BE96U, then 10GbE from the BE96U to a 10GbE switch which then feeds 10GbE to one of the BE7200 units. The other BE7200 unit uses wireless 5GHz backhaul.
   • I have manually assigned LAN IPs to all devices (114 of them) on my network via MAC address assignment
   • 'New' LAN devices are assigned an address from x.200 through x.254
   • Based on my current setup, I should have 27 devices connected to the IoT network at any given time; I am currently seeing only 17 devices as connected, with the devices not showing as connected definitely not connected as I am unable to interact with them via WiFi or other network methods. This should not be a range issue for these devices, as most of the ones that drop connections are well within range of the AP in that room

 

[chA]

What are you seeing as unstable. I'm running the latest on mine with 3 ET12's as aimesh nodes with wired backhaul. It has taken me quite a while to fine tune this network. I do have Wifi 7 mode turned off as well as MLO though since my ET12's don't support. My IoT network is finally stable after adjusting some settings on the 2.4Ghz. I have roughly 70 IoT devices. I was getting drops quite often till I tuned the 2.4Ghz, as well as found the right channels with the least interference.

I only have a few devices which support WiFi 7 / 6GHz (and they're just phones), so I'm only enabling WiFi 7 on the 6GHz network at the moment as I don't have a ton of use for it. The main purpose of upgrading to this equipment was to provide a much stronger wireless backhaul to my detached garage. My previous setup consisted of a AX89X main router with an Orbi mesh setup. The AX89X provided 5GHz WiFi while the Orbi handled 2.4GHz since range was the most important for my use case with my property. The AC wireless backhaul was typically in the 500-600Mbps range, which wasn't all that bad tbh (especially given the age of those units). But the AX wireless backhaul with this new setup is in the 1800-2000Mbps range, so at least that aspect of things has panned out as I was hoping.

As stated in my last post, MLO is also disabled. I did briefly try enabling MLO after about a week of having issues, but it certainly didn't help. (Not that I was expecting it to, but just figured, "what the heck?")

I'd love to hear any personal tips you have for configuring the 2.4GHz network in general for this release. I believe I have isolated the broadcast channel appropriately for my environment (which isn't the most dense, but there are a number of other networks which can occasionally peek through under the right geological conditions), so I don't think this is an issue caused by congested bandwidth interference – unless the issue could be related to running so many SSIDs on the same channel in an AI Mesh setup , though I didn't think that should actually have a negative effect. Willing to try anything at this point however.

For reference, here is what Netspot shows in terms of local wireless interference (I'm sitting <10' from the BE96U):

All of the networks from top through 36 in this screenshot are 'my' networks. I must admit to previously failing to note the mode that was being defaulted to (this column is by default pushed to the far right in the UI of Netspot). My previous mesh setups had this limited to b/g/n or ac modes. I can see this being problematic for some of these IoT devices. Wouldn't really explain the issues I've been seeing on 5GHz, but at least that might be a start at places to investigate.

However, when I look into forcing b/g/n/ac only modes in the merlin fw, all I find is 'Auto' with b/g protection (which I have checked). Is there a method to control this via ssh or telnet?

Really appreciate the community's help on this!

 

[junior120872]

I only have a few devices which support WiFi 7 / 6GHz (and they're just phones), so I'm only enabling WiFi 7 on the 6GHz network at the moment as I don't have a ton of use for it. The main purpose of upgrading to this equipment was to provide a much stronger wireless backhaul to my detached garage. My previous setup consisted of a AX89X main router with an Orbi mesh setup. The AX89X provided 5GHz WiFi while the Orbi handled 2.4GHz since range was the most important for my use case with my property. The AC wireless backhaul was typically in the 500-600Mbps range, which wasn't all that bad tbh (especially given the age of those units). But the AX wireless backhaul with this new setup is in the 1800-2000Mbps range, so at least that aspect of things has panned out as I was hoping.

As stated in my last post, MLO is also disabled. I did briefly try enabling MLO after about a week of having issues, but it certainly didn't help. (Not that I was expecting it to, but just figured, "what the heck?")

I'd love to hear any personal tips you have for configuring the 2.4GHz network in general for this release. I believe I have isolated the broadcast channel appropriately for my environment (which isn't the most dense, but there are a number of other networks which can occasionally peek through under the right geological conditions), so I don't think this is an issue caused by congested bandwidth interference – unless the issue could be related to running so many SSIDs on the same channel in an AI Mesh setup , though I didn't think that should actually have a negative effect. Willing to try anything at this point however.

For reference, here is what Netspot shows in terms of local wireless interference (I'm sitting <10' from the BE96U):
View attachment 64284

All of the networks from top through 36 in this screenshot are 'my' networks. I must admit to previously failing to note the mode that was being defaulted to (this column is by default pushed to the far right in the UI of Netspot). My previous mesh setups had this limited to b/g/n or ac modes. I can see this being problematic for some of these IoT devices. Wouldn't really explain the issues I've been seeing on 5GHz, but at least that might be a start at places to investigate.

However, when I look into forcing b/g/n/ac only modes in the merlin fw, all I find is 'Auto' with b/g protection (which I have checked). Is there a method to control this via ssh or telnet?
View attachment 64285

Really appreciate the community's help on this!

This is found what works best for my 2.4Ghz. YMMV. I only run IoT devices on my 2.4Ghz network. I did delete the default created IoT network and created a new one after factory reset. For some reason the IoT network after factory restore was wonky.

 

[Ripshod]

Yes, I am referring primarily to issues with the IoT network that can be setup in the fw

First day I had my router I had nothing but problems with an IoT network set up directly, specifically getting all my devices connected stably (amongst other things). I forget who it was but another member here suggested I set up a "Customised Network" with just the most basic settings instead. This was enough to get a stable VLAN52 guest network up and running, with all my ioT devices connected and stable. Then I added the VPN using VPN Director and I haven't had a problem since.
Seems Asus's idea of an IoT network is, at the very least, flaky.
EDIT== Found it

Use Customized Network instead to have a little more control over the guest network rather than borked IoT that Asus preconfigured.IoT (or other preset choices).

 

[chA]

This is found what works best for my 2.4Ghz. YMMV. I only run IoT devices on my 2.4Ghz network.

Thank you! I have applied these settings to see if things improve, and will report back on my experience. I recall now having most of these settings also applied with my previous AX89X setup and similarly in the Orbi (as 1:1 as possible given the differences). Unfortunately, I was unable to import the AX89X settings into this new setup due to an import issue. I assume that was likely just due to the AX89X not supporting Merlin however and trying to import a settings config from stock to Merlin. And like you, I mostly only run IoT devices on the 2.4GHz network, though I do have 2 cameras and one old laptop that is still limited to that band, so it's not 100% IoT.

 

[chA]

First day I had my router I had nothing but problems with an IoT network set up directly, specifically getting all my devices connected stably (amongst other things). I forget who it was but another member here suggested I set up a "Customised Network" with just the most basic settings instead. This was enough to get a stable VLAN52 guest network up and running, with all my ioT devices connected and stable. Then I added the VPN using VPN Director and I haven't had a problem since.
Seems Asus's idea of an IoT network is, at the very least, flaky.
EDIT== Found it

Thanks for the tip. I too had similar issues with the default 'Kid's' network configuration, and had to resort to using the Customized Network configuration. These additional network setups do seem rather flaky with the default configuration as provided.

 

[visortgw]

Thanks for the tip. I too had similar issues with the default 'Kid's' network configuration, and had to resort to using the Customized Network configuration. These additional network setups do seem rather flaky with the default configuration as provided.

Yes, I customized my IoT networks as well. Also, make sure that you explicitly enable any node that you want to push IoT (and other networks) to...

 

[chA]

I have applied these settings to see if things improve, and will report back on my experience.

Only been an hour or so now, but I can already tell that the latency with interaction between 5GHz and the 2.4GHZ IoT networks is drastically reduced. I have some WiFi power strips and it was previously taking many seconds for commands to be received. With these changes, responsiveness is nearly instantaneous, just as it was with my prior network setup. These IoT suggestions should really be in a sticky for this sub.

 

[visortgw]

Only been an hour or so now, but I can already tell that the latency with interaction between 5GHz and the 2.4GHZ IoT networks is drastically reduced. I have some WiFi power strips and it was previously taking many seconds for commands to be received. With these changes, responsiveness is nearly instantaneous, just as it was with my prior network setup. These IoT suggestions should really be in a sticky for this sub.

It's possible that AiMesh nodes were not enabled, causing devices to stretch to reach primary router. The new Network tab (formerly Guest Network Pro) changes the way that guest networks are enabled on AiMesh nodes.

 

[chA]

It's possible that AiMesh nodes were not enabled, causing devices to stretch to reach primary router. The new Network tab (formerly Guest Network Pro) changes the way that guest networks are enabled on AiMesh nodes.

I was actually seeing more of the opposite. I noticed a few of these problematic devices on the IoT network (which reside in the same room as the BE96U) connecting to one of the BE7200 nodes rather than the BE96U. And I did previously ensure in the setup of these other networks that all nodes were relaying all of the SSIDs, so I doubt this was the issue. Rather, it thus far seems that leaving the Roaming Assistant enabled and not dialing down the multicast rate were the largest culprits in preventing stable access with these devices. Time will tell if the 5GHz network is improved. I won't know more on that until later tonight as I am primarily using wired connections for any device that supports it.