Can't Change 2.4 GHz Channel

[johnzprecision]

I just bought a RT-AC66U router and installed Asuswrt-Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.33 firmware. All the routers around me are either on channel 1 or 6. I started out with control channel set to auto and the channel the router set it self to is 6+8 since most of the routers around me are on channel 6 I changed the control channel to 11u I have applied my settings rebooted the router and it continues to use channels 6+8 even though the control channel setting is set to 11u can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Try changing the 2.4ghz to 20 mhz only and see if it holds the channel you select. You really dont want to use 20/40 on 2.4 anyway.

 

[johnzprecision]

It will change to channel 11 on 20MHz only but I want the extra bandwidth do not see way it will not work on 20/40MHz setting

 

[Deleted member 22229]

It will change to channel 11 on 20MHz only but I want the extra bandwidth do not see way it will not work on 20/40MHz setting

Not sure why either I have read posts from others with the same issue. Maybe Merlin will see your post and respond if anybody knows it will be him.

 

[RMerlin]

20/40 means the router will downgrade if there is any interference at all (this is enforced by the 802.11n specifications). Maybe what is happening is that the router is downgrading to 20 MHz, which makes it switch to a different channel.

 

[johnzprecision]

The log shows 20/40 just the channel is 6+8 when I have it set to 11u it is working fine I just thought it would be better on 11 because there are 3 other routers on channel 6 and one on channel 1 around me.

 

[PrivateJoker]

The log shows 20/40 just the channel is 6+8 when I have it set to 11u it is working fine I just thought it would be better on 11 because there are 3 other routers on channel 6 and one on channel 1 around me.

A 40mhz wide channel 11 would stretch down into channel 5 and interfere with your neighbor on 6 (FYI a 20mhz ch 6 bleeds RF down to 4 and up to 8). A 20mhz wide channel 11 uses the RF space between 9-13.

If you have 2 other routers visible in 2.4ghz spectrum with decent RSSI, that pretty much eliminates you from having the spectrum to use to do 40mhz.

 

[johnzprecision]

All I want to do is change to channel 11u and I cannot do that if there is a conflict problem it should be worse now most of the networks around me are on channel 6 and I am on channel 6 that's why I want to change to 11u there is no one around me on that channel.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

You can change the channel just switch to 20mhz only and use any channel you want. As stated using a 40mhz on the 2.4 G band is just not a good idea unless you live in the woods with no nieghbors.

 

[PrivateJoker]

All I want to do is change to channel 11u and I cannot do that if there is a conflict problem it should be worse now most of the networks around me are on channel 6 and I am on channel 6 that's why I want to change to 11u there is no one around me on that channel.

By telling it you want 11u, that's trying to force it to do 40mhz channels. 11u pairs w/ ch 7 to make a continuous 40mhz channel. Channel 7 will bleed over 10mhz in each direction (as do all single channels) which puts it in a place that overlaps with your neighboring channel 6, which it is refusing to do, per regulation (and also trampling over another AP is detrimental to the performance of both networks).

Each channel is like a bell curve, setting it to channel 6 is the dead center of the channel, but actually ramps up to that high water mark, and then ramps down, occupying about 22mhz of total bandwidth on channels that are only stepped 5mhz apart from each other.

It would be like having an FM radio station on 97.9 that spilled over from 97.7-98.1, which would make it difficult for radio stations to transmit good signals at high power if they occupied 97.7 or 98.1

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/access_point/channels/lwapp/reference/guide/1140_chp.html

5ghz is intended to be the place to go for high speed short distance, fat channeled wifi.

 

[npoc]

I found this thread on Google as the top result for the search "asus router can't set control channel". I figured out that setting Protected Management Frames to Disable allowed me to correctly set the control channel.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

You responding to a 7 year old thread.

 

[npoc]

I explained why I did so... For the other people that land here trying to find the solution.