AXE16000 Satellite Internet Access Issues

[dsmullen]

Hi all. I've got two AXE16000s, one running as my core router using the 10gbE connection to my 5gbps symmetric AT&T fiber router/modem/ONT combo (which is running in passthrough mode), and servicing the rest of the network through the other 10gbE port. I've got a second AXE16000 connected via an unmanaged 10gbE switch acting as an AiMesh satellite (in Ethernet backhaul mode connected through the 2.5gbE port, and I've tried the 10gbE port as well but it seems to make no difference). The problem is that anything which is connected via the satellite's WiFi seems to be getting intermittently blocked from accessing the internet. My cellphone (connected via 6E when standing right next to the router), will exhibit voice signal dropouts on WiFi calling (T-Mobile) and apps will behave as though the internet connection isn't connected, and time out, yet the device insists it's connected to the internet. The WiFi signal strength everywhere in my home is very strong, and I have no trouble connecting all my devices high signal strength so I'm certain this isn't a WiFi signal issue. Disconnecting and reconnecting to the WiFi appears to fix the issue for a short period of time, but it's unclear whether it's just the 5G signal taking over. My television, which is connected to the satellite via WiFi6, has no trouble connecting to devices on the internal network and neither does my cell. It really seems as though there's some kind of routing problem or a firewall blocking packets transmitted through the satellite, but I'm not sure. I haven't observed any routing or firewall settings that are configurable on the satellite, at least none which are exposed using the webif. Anything that's connected to the main router works completely fine. It's puzzling. Any suggestions?

Edit: I'm running stock ASUS firmware, 3.0.0.4.388_23012-g1166fba on both the core router and the satellite.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi all. I've got two AXE16000s, one running as my core router using the 10gbE connection to my 5gbps symmetric AT&T fiber router/modem/ONT combo (which is running in passthrough mode), and servicing the rest of the network through the other 10gbE port. I've got a second AXE16000 connected via an unmanaged 10gbE switch acting as an AiMesh satellite (in Ethernet backhaul mode connected through the 2.5gbE port, and I've tried the 10gbE port as well but it seems to make no difference). The problem is that anything which is connected via the satellite's WiFi seems to be getting intermittently blocked from accessing the internet. My cellphone (connected via 6E when standing right next to the router), will exhibit voice signal dropouts on WiFi calling (T-Mobile) and apps will behave as though the internet connection isn't connected, and time out, yet the device insists it's connected to the internet. The WiFi signal strength everywhere in my home is very strong, and I have no trouble connecting all my devices high signal strength so I'm certain this isn't a WiFi signal issue. Disconnecting and reconnecting to the WiFi appears to fix the issue for a short period of time, but it's unclear whether it's just the 5G signal taking over. My television, which is connected to the satellite via WiFi6, has no trouble connecting to devices on the internal network and neither does my cell. It really seems as though there's some kind of routing problem or a firewall blocking packets transmitted through the satellite, but I'm not sure. I haven't observed any routing or firewall settings that are configurable on the satellite, at least none which are exposed using the webif. Anything that's connected to the main router works completely fine. It's puzzling. Any suggestions?

Edit: I'm running stock ASUS firmware, 3.0.0.4.388_23012-g1166fba on both the core router and the satellite.

How far apart are the wired APs?

Did you enabled Ethernet Backhaul Mode to disable the wireless backhauls?

Did you Hard Reset both router firmwares before configuring the main router only from scratch?

OE

 

[dsmullen]

How far apart are the wired APs?

Did you enabled Ethernet Backhaul Mode to disable the wireless backhauls?

Did you Hard Reset both router firmwares before configuring the main router only from scratch?

OE

They are approximately 30 feet apart with a few walls between them. Ethernet backhaul mode is enabled. Both routers were hard reset and the AiMesh setup was performed using the main router from scratch. I had no trouble with the setup, they connected wirelessly and I configured Ethernet backhaul afterwards. The router and satellite are connected in AiMesh and I can see clients connected to both, and my phone roams between them -- that's how I can tell it's working when I am connected to the core router, and how I can tell that the TV is connected to the satellite.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Maybe something is not right with the multigig Ethernet ports/switch/backhaul. APs thirty feet apart is close enough to run a temp Gigabit Ethernet patch cord/ports/backhaul (no multigig hardware) to see what you get (?)

OE

 

[bbunge]

Enabling Ethernet backhaul mode can cause issues. Leave it disabled. Make sure WPS is enabled. Remove the switch if you can. Set up the node initially with the Ethernet connected to the node WAN port.

 

[dsmullen]

Enabling Ethernet backhaul mode can cause issues. Leave it disabled. Make sure WPS is enabled. Remove the switch if you can. Set up the node initially with the Ethernet connected to the node WAN port.

Unfortunately I can't remove the switch as I really need local 10gbE connectivity between a few devices in the satellite location, but it had been working for months independently of the introduction of the new satellite. I get that you're saying the switch might be potentially causing issues but I'm not sure what the technical issue is. I'm not using link aggregation anywhere. I'll still see if isolating the switch helps, maybe I can connect the satellite directly to the core router and use the other 10gbE port to service the switch and the devices behind it?

Also, if I leave Ethernet backhaul mode disabled, it'll still use the wired backhaul anyway if it's connected, right?

 

[OzarkEdge]

I've not had any issue disabling the wireless backhauls.

When there are multiple backhauls, confirm the preferred one set is being used. When it prefers Ethernet, the wireless backhauls should stay OFF until needed.

OE

 

[follower]

They are approximately 30 feet apart with a few walls between them. Ethernet backhaul mode is enabled. Both routers were hard reset and the AiMesh setup was performed using the main router from scratch. I had no trouble with the setup, they connected wirelessly and I configured Ethernet backhaul afterwards. The router and satellite are connected in AiMesh and I can see clients connected to both, and my phone roams between them -- that's how I can tell it's working when I am connected to the core router, and how I can tell that the TV is connected to the satellite.

Is STB connected to the node?
Have you enabled IGMP, IGMP Snooping?

 

[dsmullen]

Is STB connected to the node?
Have you enabled IGMP, IGMP Snooping?

The gateway is connected to the core router. I don't have any other devices provided by my ISP, just the ONT/router combo set to passthrough mode. IGMP Snooping is enabled on all wireless interfaces.

Enabling Ethernet backhaul mode can cause issues. Leave it disabled. Make sure WPS is enabled. Remove the switch if you can. Set up the node initially with the Ethernet connected to the node WAN port.

I did have WPS disabled, and I've re-enabled it. I've also set Ethernet backhaul mode to disabled. The node was set up initially using the node WAN port and I've left it connected that way since I'm not daisy chaining (using the 10gbE port). I'll test this out for a day or so and see how it works.

 

[follower]

They are approximately 30 feet apart with a few walls between them.

How many walls? What type of walls?
Concrete walls?
Brick walls?
Wooden walls?
Thickness of the walls?
Can you draw a network topology?

 

[dsmullen]

How many walls? What type of walls?
Concrete walls?
Brick walls?
Wooden walls?
Thickness of the walls?
Can you draw a network topology?

The walls are fiberglass insulated drywall with metal studding, approximately 9 inches thick. There are around 4 walls between the core router and the satellite.

The network topology is: WAN Gateway (Nokia BGW320-505 ONT/Fiber Router in passthrough mode) <- CAT6 (3ft) -> Core router (AXE16000) <- CAT5e (40ft) -> TP-Link 10gbE unmanaged switch <- CAT6(25ft) -> Satellite (AXE16000)
There are 3 devices wired into the unmanaged switch in addition to the satellite.

Just so we're clear, I plan to use AiMesh in a wired backhaul configuration only. I want to keep the 5GHz channels freed up for wireless traffic as much as possible. For this reason I've had to re-enable Ethernet backhaul mode, so the 2nd 5GHz wireless network doesn't get dedicated to wired backhaul. I've also been using Smart Connect to encourage devices to use the 5GHz and 6GHz networks as much as possible, because my Smart TV is predisposed to connecting to the 2.4GHz network, but this doesn't provide enough bandwidth to get 4K HDR content across the network. My cellphone was already defaulting to 6E for the most part, with the occasional change to 6 from time to time. I'm not sure if this has affected anything, I should've probably mentioned it from the beginning but I never observed any issues related to network dropouts so I assumed it wasn't a problem. Please let me know if I've done something stupid with my Smart Connect configuration in general, even if it may not have been the cause of the problem I've been experiencing. Ideally I'd like to prioritize use of 6GHz, then 5GHz, then 2.4GHz only as a last resort (or for IoT devices that can't support other channels). The rules look like this:

The results of my testing so far seem to have shown that disabling WPS was the most likely culprit, as that's the only change I've made to the configuration but my cell seems to be perfectly happy with the 6E network now. I will keep monitoring over the next couple of days to see if things stay this way.

 

[follower]

The walls are fiberglass insulated drywall with metal studding, approximately 9 inches thick. There are around 4 walls between the core router and the satellite.

The network topology is: WAN Gateway (Nokia BGW320-505 ONT/Fiber Router in passthrough mode) <- CAT6 (3ft) -> Core router (AXE16000) <- CAT5e (40ft) -> TP-Link 10gbE unmanaged switch <- CAT6(25ft) -> Satellite (AXE16000)
There are 3 devices wired into the unmanaged switch in addition to the satellite.

View attachment 53974

Just so we're clear, I plan to use AiMesh in a wired backhaul configuration only. I want to keep the 5GHz channels freed up for wireless traffic as much as possible. For this reason I've had to re-enable Ethernet backhaul mode, so the 2nd 5GHz wireless network doesn't get dedicated to wired backhaul. I've also been using Smart Connect to encourage devices to use the 5GHz and 6GHz networks as much as possible, because my Smart TV is predisposed to connecting to the 2.4GHz network, but this doesn't provide enough bandwidth to get 4K HDR content across the network. My cellphone was already defaulting to 6E for the most part, with the occasional change to 6 from time to time. I'm not sure if this has affected anything, I should've probably mentioned it from the beginning but I never observed any issues related to network dropouts so I assumed it wasn't a problem. Please let me know if I've done something stupid with my Smart Connect configuration in general, even if it may not have been the cause of the problem I've been experiencing. Ideally I'd like to prioritize use of 6GHz, then 5GHz, then 2.4GHz only as a last resort (or for IoT devices that can't support other channels). The rules look like this:

View attachment 53975

The results of my testing so far seem to have shown that disabling WPS was the most likely culprit, as that's the only change I've made to the configuration but my cell seems to be perfectly happy with the 6E network now. I will keep monitoring over the next couple of days to see if things stay this way.

I think the problem is not WPS but Smart Connect maybe. Try to disable Smart Connect, then watch it.
WPS: Disable.

You may try this.
Wireless>Professional
Roaming assistant: Disable
Enable TX Bursting: Disable
Enable WMM: Enable
Enable WMM No-Acknowledgement: Disable
Enable WMM APSD: Disable
Optimize AMPDU aggregation: Disable
Airtime Fairness: Disable
Multi-User MIMO: Disable
Explicit Beamforming: Disable
Universal Beamforming: Disable

 

[dsmullen]

I think the problem is not WPS but Smart Connect maybe. Try to disable Smart Connect, then watch it.
WPS: Disable.

You may try this.
Wireless>Professional
Roaming assistant: Disable
Enable TX Bursting: Disable
Enable WMM: Enable
Enable WMM No-Acknowledgement: Disable
Enable WMM APSD: Disable
Optimize AMPDU aggregation: Disable
Airtime Fairness: Disable
Multi-User MIMO: Disable
Explicit Beamforming: Disable
Universal Beamforming: Disable

That's disabling a lot of features I saw as potentially useful. Are you suggesting that I configure this way for both the 5GHz and 6GHz networks? What is the reasoning? I'm not getting any indication that the actual wireless itself is the issue, rather, the routing of packets.

 

[follower]

That's disabling a lot of features I saw as potentially useful. Are you suggesting that I configure this way for both the 5GHz and 6GHz networks? What is the reasoning? I'm not getting any indication that the actual wireless itself is the issue, rather, the routing of packets.

Those features are actually useless and make a lot of issues like ECO or Power Saving features something like that. Apply them for 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz. Disabling ECO or Power saving features are applicable to all devices like Router, Switch, NIC, IoT devices etc. I'm not sure if you know about disabling Offload features for your NIC. If you are not a gamer it's ok. If you are a gamer you have to disable them all.

 

[dsmullen]

The main functionality I need is high bandwidth wireless, I'm not worried about gaming. That said, my current configuration (WPS enabled, Ethernet backhaul enabled, no other changes from what you saw above yet) hasn't fixed the issue with WiFi calling (T-Mobile). I'm getting audio dropouts during the calls, though the call isn't disconnecting, when I'm connected to the satellite. Frustrating. I don't have any traffic shaping enabled which would prioritize voice data, but I should have more than enough bandwidth for everything and that as well. I will give your suggested settings a try.

 

[follower]

The main functionality I need is high bandwidth wireless, I'm not worried about gaming. That said, my current configuration (WPS enabled, Ethernet backhaul enabled, no other changes from what you saw above yet) hasn't fixed the issue with WiFi calling (T-Mobile). I'm getting audio dropouts during the calls, though the call isn't disconnecting, when I'm connected to the satellite. Frustrating. I don't have any traffic shaping enabled which would prioritize voice data, but I should have more than enough bandwidth for everything and that as well. I will give your suggested settings a try.

There is no relationship between your issue and WPS. Just disable WPS unless you need it.
Do this for flexible connections(port forwarding issue).
UPnP: Enable.

Do this for your Phone(VoIP).
Go to WAN>NAT Passthrough.
RTSP Passthrough: Disable.
SIP Passthrough: Disable.

 

[dsmullen]

It seems that the the issue was related to Smart Connect after all. After testing all your suggested settings I saw no improvement so I went back to the drawing board. I tried dialing my voicemail and walking around the apartment to see if there was anything I could do to trigger the intermittent issue and I discovered it seemed to be cutting out every time the signal strength changed even though my phone was still reporting being connected to 6E. I tried fidgeting with the Smart Connect settings to make it less likely to steer back and forth between 6GHz and the 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2 and it seems to have fixed the problem. I will continue testing for another few days but if this has resulted in a sustainable fix then hopefully this will be of use to someone. I really need to use Smart Connect in my specific use case (not worth going into detail) but it seems that if it can be avoided then it's better not to use it to avoid this kind of annoyance. Or at least the OEM should provide better documentation, because it was very difficult to understand how this might have impacted my issue.

 

[follower]

It seems that the the issue was related to Smart Connect after all. After testing all your suggested settings I saw no improvement so I went back to the drawing board. I tried dialing my voicemail and walking around the apartment to see if there was anything I could do to trigger the intermittent issue and I discovered it seemed to be cutting out every time the signal strength changed even though my phone was still reporting being connected to 6E. I tried fidgeting with the Smart Connect settings to make it less likely to steer back and forth between 6GHz and the 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2 and it seems to have fixed the problem. I will continue testing for another few days but if this has resulted in a sustainable fix then hopefully this will be of use to someone. I really need to use Smart Connect in my specific use case (not worth going into detail) but it seems that if it can be avoided then it's better not to use it to avoid this kind of annoyance. Or at least the OEM should provide better documentation, because it was very difficult to understand how this might have impacted my issue.

I don't understand. I already told you about Smart Connect with my 3rd reply. But I think you didn't follow my suggestion.
'I think the problem is not WPS but Smart Connect maybe. Try to disable Smart Connect, then watch it.
WPS: Disable.'
Smart Connect is unstable, useless. It looks like working fine. Actually it doesn't. It makes a lot of issues. However, you still want to use Smart Connect for somewhat reason.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Smart Connect is unstable, useless.

SC is enabled by default on all ASUS routers... integrated into the WiFi chipset by its OEM, I believe.

OE

 

[KevTech]

SC is enabled by default on all ASUS routers... integrated into the WiFi chipset by its OEM, I believe.

OE

If you select to use separate 2.4 and 5 during setup then smart connect disables.