AX86S Upgrade

[bottos]

Hi! I live in Germany, in a two store apartment, and have a AX86S refurbished for 18 months now (paid 94 Euro directly from Asus). The router sits in a "strategic" position, where the whole family benefits from it through wireless-only. No hardcore use, besides Wireguard VPN setup on Asus stock firmware. My internet speed is 250mb, from Deutsche Telekom. Before that, I had an ISP router, a Speedport Smart 3, which worked fine, but I needed the VPN option to be applied to a couple of devices only. To be honest, going to the Asus solution seemed that speeds were not as good, but still not meaningful for the family to complain. Half of our devices is AC, and the other half is AX.

The router is running the latest stock firmware, and besides the 3-4 weeks auto-reboot, it runs fine.

So, will I benefit regarding range, and mostly speed, by upgrading to a newer device?

Thanks!

 

[Tech9]

Unlikely because all Euro models have limited to 100mW 2.4GHz band and limited to 200mW 5GHz non-DFS band. Replacing the router may (minimum difference) or may not (more likely) give you any range advantages to the same clients. What you can try for somewhat extra range and download speed is Ch.100 on 5GHz band, not guaranteed to work (DFS range), but allows higher Tx power. Upload speed won't change, limited by your clients.

 

[bottos]

Unlikely because all Euro models have limited to 100mW 2.4GHz band and limited to 200mW 5GHz non-DFS band. Replacing the router may (minimum difference) or may not (more likely) give you any range advantages to the same clients. What you can try for somewhat extra range and download speed is Ch.100 on 5GHz band, not guaranteed to work (DFS range), but allows higher Tx power. Upload speed won't change, limited by your clients.

Thank you for the reply. I will give a try. I am sure I could try to put the IOT stuff on the guest network, and maybe try different settings.

What about the auto-reboot? The option is not on, but suddenly devices loses connection, and then either router finishing rebooting and everything works, or I need to power it off and on, to fix it (I know more context is needed, but I could not find anything on the logs).

 

[Tech9]

What about the auto-reboot?

Not needed in general, your devices may lose connection if your router is set on Auto channel and switches the channels and bandwidth too often. Some clients don't like that and stay off-line. You can try fixed channels, 20MHz channel bandwidth for 2.4GHz band and 80MHz for 5GHz band. This will stop the Auto hunting for channel and bandwidth and stabilize your network. In case of IoT issues you may try this:

[Wireless Router] How to improve compatibility of IoT device with ASUS WiFi 6(802.11 ax) router? | Official Support | ASUS Global

Or see my example compatibility settings for similar RT-AX86U here:

AX86U Check my settings please

Can anyone chime in on these settings AX86U Merlin 388.1_0

www.snbforums.com

 

[bottos]

Not needed in general, your devices may lose connection if your router is set on Auto channel and switches the channels and bandwidth too often. Some clients don't like that and stay off-line. You can try fixed channels, 20MHz channel bandwidth for 2.4GHz band and 80MHz for 5GHz band. This will stop the Auto hunting for channel and bandwidth and stabilize your network. In case of IoT issues you may try this:

[Wireless Router] How to improve compatibility of IoT device with ASUS WiFi 6(802.11 ax) router? | Official Support | ASUS Global

Or see my example compatibility settings for similar RT-AX86U here:

AX86U Check my settings please

Can anyone chime in on these settings AX86U Merlin 388.1_0

www.snbforums.com

Wow, great! I will try that and share my feedback. Much appreciated

 

[Tech9]

Keep in mind there is no best settings. Settings depend on your unique Wi-Fi environment and your clients. The above is suggestions only based on testing experience and what really works and is usually needed, but you may have to find what works best for you. In case you want to replace the router popular models around on somewhat acceptable price and with reported better range (?) are GT-AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro. They also run newer Asuswrt 5.0 firmware with new features and have expected longer support. Both quite large units though, wife approval may be needed.

 

[bottos]

Keep in mind there is no best settings. Settings depend on your unique Wi-Fi environment and your clients. The above is suggestions only based on testing experience and what really works and is usually needed, but you may have to find what works best for you. In case you want to replace the router popular models around on somewhat acceptable price and with reported better range (?) are GT-AX6000 and RT-AX88U Pro. They also run newer Asuswrt 5.0 firmware with new features and have expected longer support. Both quite large units though, wife approval may be needed.

No problem, I understand, and learned on this forum that there is no "magic" one-fits-all settings. Regarding the router suggestions, yes, wife will need to be involved: our current one is seating nicely behind an IKEA cabinet, about 140cm high, without apparent cables around. Any change on this would require some negotiation.

 

[Tech9]

There is an RT-AX86U Pro model with similar vertical design to yours, it also has Asuswrt 5.0 firmware and expected longer support, but is unlikely to improve your range. It has exactly the same 2.4GHz radio and similar 5GHz radio. This upgrade is going to be for features and support only.

 

[bottos]

There is an RT-AX86U Pro model with similar vertical design to yours, it also has Asuswrt 5.0 firmware and expected longer support, but is unlikely to improve your range. It has exactly the same 2.4GHz radio and similar 5GHz radio. This upgrade is going to be for features and support only.

I think I would rather purchase something to try to improve range/speed, because it will be easier to convince the wife, I think. I am already hearing the question "why spending money if the result is the same?", or something like that. I looked on recent suggestions here, but besides these two, there was a Flint 2 option, or TP-Link AX55, but I am not sure. I used TP-Link before without issues, but being able to setup the VPN for a couple devices only is a must.

 

[Tech9]

Your router is good. You may just get a repeater for the weak Wi-Fi area and call it a day.

 

[bottos]

Your router is good. You may just get a repeater for the weak Wi-Fi area and call it a day.

Just returning to thank you for the advice. I updated the router's firmware, did factory restore, applied your config, changed a thing or two after testing it, and the router is working very well. No more disconnects and I am able to reach the max hired speed again. So, really appreciate your time and support.

 

[Tech9]

Glad to hear it’s working for you.