Best iphone 5 settings for Asus RT-AC66U

[tdpol]

Best settings for Asus RT-AC66U for range for ipads and iphone 5

I recently bought the Asus AC66U, and have flashed it with the latest Merlin build. 3.0.0.4.376.49_5

I am in a 1400 sq ft rancher with only one other signal around me from my next door neighbour on 2.4Ghz. I thought I would get some good range with this router, but to my shock, it's not that noticeable compared to me E3200 running tomato.

I've even raised the router higher than the floor, almost on my desk, and it still doesn't extend or give me as much range as expected.

I've tried 2.4ghz and the 5ghz settings. I don't have AC on the iphone so i'm limited to N technology. it seems as though my settings, and range increased, when i selected 5Ghz network, N-only and 40 Mhz channel.

What are you other guys using for your 2.4 and 5Ghz settings?

I have an old Hp wireless printer so I kindda need the "G" wireless enabled.

Mine are:
2.4Ghz
Wireless Mode - Auto
Channel bandwidth - 20/40Mhz
Control Channel - Auto
Extension Channel - Auto
WPA2-personal

5Ghz
Wireless Mode - N only
Channel bandwidth - 40 Mhz
Control Channel - Auto
Extension Channel - Auto
WPA2-personal

 

[jegesq]

Use a good wifi analysis tool, e.g., an app you can use on your iPhone or a laptop, like Netgear's "Wifi Analyzer" or "InSSIDer", or any number of other tools that will give you a survey of which channels are least crowded, so you can insure you're not overlapping with your neighbor's signals. The fact that you only have one neighbor with wifi doesn't necessarily insure that you aren't also on the same channel as your neighbor.

Once you find the best channel to use, turn off the "auto" selections and set the desired channel manually, and also set the extensions as well manually. On 2.4ghz, just switch to 20mhz only, unless you can insure that your neighbor isn't using channel 6, in which case, you can then pick a channel that will allow you to use 40mhz width. Same thing for 5ghz as well: If your neighbor isn't using 5ghz at all, then just set it to 40mhz and use it. If the neighbor is, using the lower channels on 5ghz 36, 40, 44, or 48, then use the upper band, i.e. 149, 153, 157 and 161.

I know that a lot of people who had iOS8 Yosemite on their phones complained about iPhones having difficulty connecting or staying connected to some of the Asus routers (and Netgears as well), so you might try doing a search here for some of those message threads. My suggestion though from what I recall is that you should avoid channel bonding (so use 20mhz widths) and try to connect to the 2.4ghz band instead of the 5ghz to see if you can keep a stable connection; and you'll get better range from 2.4ghz in any event, because at a lower frequency than 5.0ghz, that's just the way the radio waves behave.

But in short, I don't think it's really so much an issue with the Asus AC66U as much as it is an issue with the iPhone's OS. But as for range, the AC66U has terrific range, so unless the rest of your settings are completely wacky, or your home is made out of metal (or water, or sand), you should be getting great range from the AC66U. Perhaps you should try rolling back the firmware to an older version. Try John's 374.xx fork of Merlin's FW to see if that works, and then slowly work your way through the newer iterations of firmware, instead of just making a huge leap all at once.

Surprised that you'd say you need "11g" so you can use your printer. Why not get your printer off the wifi and put it either on USB or on one of the LAN ports of the AC66U. Your wireless clients will thank you for it. And so will your printer too, since it will operate at a much faster rate than 54Mbps. Better yet, you can spend way less than $100 and get a nice modern printer with a speedier 802.11n interface and a GigE LAN port built in, that will probably use 1/10th the power of your old printer. So do yourself a favor....it's time to upgrade from 802.11g to something that won't hinder the rest of your devices, including your iPhone.

 

[tdpol]

Thanks Jegesq! I managed to scan my network, and find my neighbours networks. There are 3 other 2.4Ghz networks around, none of which are on my default channel 6, they're on 1 and 11.

I've changed some settings which appear to have given me better range, and great speeds at those ranges. I'm using the 2.4Ghz set to 20Mhz, and I've left the channel to auto, which is set at 6. Should I bother changing that and locking it in, or leaving it at auto?

Also, turns out i was wrong about the printer. It's "n" compatible so I don't have any legacy devices on my network. That being said, should I turn off legacy mode on the router or is it smart enough to get me the best performance with the legacy mode checkmark turned to "on" ? I suspect it is, as it shouldn't slow down traffic unless other b/g devices are connected. Can you confirm?

You mentioned extensions - What extensions should I set manually?

 

[tdpol]

I've also read to disabled 5ghz if i'm not using it.

Also:
- Do not use 'N Only', use Auto for Wireless mode.
- choose the channels for both the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band. Do not leave this setting at auto.

I thought overclocking the router would give me better range, but that's not the case.

As per this post here:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=107075&postcount=3

 

[RogerSC]

Any wireless router should be as high as you can manage and clear of obstacles. My router is on top of the bookshelf on the back of my computer desk, and then on top of a pile of books to get it above even the wood coming up on both sides. The orientation of the router also is important...orient it so that the speed/signal at the farthest points in your house that you regularly use get the best speed. The rest should take care of itself. If that isn't enough, then using a wireless AP is probably in order.

I usually leave my routers in "Auto" mode, and let them figure out that I only have wireless-N and wireless-AC clients. On the other hand, I set the channel width to 20MHz. on 2.4 (no devices there, just for guests *smile*), and the 5GHz. channel width on 80MHz. for wireless-AC. And also pick the clearest channels that I can find...on 5GHz. I've had the best experience with the highest channels. I think that I'm using 161 now. If there's a b/g protection box, I would leave that unchecked (unless you have b or g clients), since you don' t need it.

The above works well for me.