Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.2 is now available

[dcsang]

Universal Beamforming = OFF
DTIM = 3 (Apple products, also helps increase time between battery recharges on phones)

Is it recommended to disable Universal Beamforming even when fixed WiFi channels are designated?

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Is it recommended to disable Universal Beamforming even when fixed WiFi channels are designated?

Yes.
Explicit Beamforming is ON for me. Some disagree but my ROKU gets much better speeds.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Yes.
Explicit Beamforming is ON for me. Some disagree but my ROKU get much better speeds.

Problem is Roku are cheap with there wifi cards. Even the 100.00 Roku ultra is only 1 stream 20mhz. Max speed less then 100 mbps

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Problem is Roku are cheap with there wifi cards. Even the 100.00 Roku ultra is only 1 stream 20mhz. Max speed less then 100 mbps

On 5G band 80Mhz only: off = low 60's vs on = mid 80's, channel 40.

 

[Morris]

Is it recommended to disable Universal Beamforming even when fixed WiFi channels are designated?

Universal Beamforming has noting to do with the channel. It allows the router (AP) to send a stronger signal to the client. This issue with Universal Beamforming is the clients will not have enough power to get back to the AP. This is why it should be disabled. AC Beamforming on 5-GHz should be enabled as it will be negotiated between the client and the AP and can result is a stronger signal in both directions.

Morris

 

[dcsang]

Universal Beamforming has noting to do with the channel. It allows the router (AP) to send a stronger signal to the client. This issue with Universal Beamforming is the clients will not have enough power to get back to the AP. This is why it should be disabled. AC Beamforming on 5-GHz should be enabled as it will be negotiated between the client and the AP and can result is a stronger signal in both directions.

Morris

Thanks for the clarification. I misinterpreted "...the router estimates the channel and determines the steering direction..." as displayed when hovering the field.

 

[chichow]

Update:

For my setup, the AiMesh wireless network after one week would become unstable for a desktop wireless connected to a AC88U node running Merlin based on 386 code.

However, once I moved the AC88U node back to stock AsusWRT (main router Merlin and all nodes stock) then I no longer had the instability issues.

I don't blame Merlin. I am quite happy with the additional Merlin OpenVPN features.
I fully understand that the wireless AiMesh code is fully closed and Asus.

 

[olib756]

Hello,

I have an RT-AC86U, I upgraded to 386.2_0 and Wi-Fi performance when working on another floor has been seriously degraded (my MacBook says 65mbps instead of 145mbps before).
I went back to 386.1_2 and Wi-Fi performance is back to normal.
Same issue with 386.2_4, any idea ?

Thank you !

Hello, am I the only one with this issue ? Thx !

 

[Hazel]

Hello, am I the only one with this issue ? Thx !

WiFi = closed source = out of RMerlins control, so regardless whether you're the only one or not, there's nothing we can do, besides suggesting that you make a fresh start following the guides by, for example, member L&LD: https://www.snbforums.com/members/l-ld.24423/#about (lots of useful links, but the one I meant is the 2021 link at the bottom of his about page.)

 

[New2This]

There’s a wifi issues running 14.5 IOS. Need to update to 14.5.1 to fix the issue.

 

[Tech9]

It allows the router (AP) to send a stronger signal to the client. This issue with Universal Beamforming is the clients will not have enough power to get back to the AP. This is why it should be disabled.

This is not how beamforming works. It uses antenna arrays to direct the signal with no change in tx power. Universal beamforming is an attempt to guess where the client is with no response back from the client. It's a non-standard approach and may create connection stability issues. This is why it should be disabled.

 

[Kanji-San]

Universal Beamforming = OFF
DTIM = 3 (Apple products, also helps increase time between battery recharges on phones)

Interesting!
Here is more background.
Be careful with DTIM if you use WiFi Calling, see last comment in above link.

 

[Morris]

This is not how beamforming works. It uses antenna arrays to direct the signal with no change in tx power. Universal beamforming is an attempt to guess where the client is with no response back from the client. It's a non-standard approach and may create connection stability issues. This is why it should be disabled.

Yes, and the "aimed" antenna array results in a stronger signal. I did not say TX power is increased.

 

[Tech9]

Yes, and the "aimed" antenna array results in a stronger signal. I did not say TX power is increased.

Still, your statement and conclusion are both incorrect. A router attempting Universal Beamforming has to see the client. If it doesn't, it can't determine where the client is. There is no possible situation when beamforming helps reach the client and the client has not enough power to reply back. If the client is too weak, there is no beamforming of any kind. Beamforming can only improve an existing connection.

This issue with Universal Beamforming is the clients will not have enough power to get back to the AP.

 

[Morris]

Still, your statement and conclusion are both incorrect. A router attempting Universal Beamforming has to see the client. If it doesn't, it can't determine where the client is. There is no possible situation when beamforming helps reach the client and the client has not enough power to reply back. If the client is too weak, there is no beamforming of any kind. Beamforming can only improve an existing connection.

Yes, and the AP can see the client with a week signal and universal beamforming dose not change that. The result is pore communication due to the AP getting a week signal from the client. We both agree universal beam forming is not good and should not be used. I agree you don't like the way I word things.

 

[Tech9]

We both agree universal beam forming is not good and should not be used.

We have a deal. We found one guy who claims benefits from it. Now we have to find one who claims benefits from MU-MIMO.

 

[Morris]

We have a deal. We found one guy who claims benefits from it. Now we have to find one who claims benefits from MU-MIMO.

I've seen MU-MIMO work in the lab. For it to help the network needs to be overloaded and while it helps, the network is still overloaded.

 

[RMerlin]

Closing this release thread since it has now run its course.