DEACTivated Guest Network with WEP disables function of wireless settings

[Grisu]

Hello!

Is there a possibility to "repair" the settings of wireless to work like set for RT-AC68U.

I need sometimes WEP for Guest Network.
So I set it to WEP and key, activate it and works like it should.
Of course it is limeted for normal wireless as well to 52MB/s as it is running in Legacy-mode for 2,4GHz to be compatible for the time Guest is active.

When i deactivate the Guest network I can set wireless again to Automatic-Mode and 40MHz bandwith.
BUT it doesnt change anything in connection speed, still works in Legacy in background, seemless what it is set to!

To get real n-Mode I have to reactivate Guest network, change WEP to anything else, then go back to wireless an change to Auto/40MHz.
Then it works fast in n-Mode.

Next time I need WEP for guests I have to change to Legacy, activate Guest, change it to WEP with key again and activate it.

It should be enough to deactivate guest network to get full speed again on normal regular 2,4GHz WLAN, not each time change guest back to open or WPA2 and then deactivate it.

Background-settings of deactivated Guest Network don't have to effect regular WLAN!

I use it quite often so it is much work each time to change and return afterwards.

Please help - thanks!

Grisu

 

[Grisu]

nobody who can help out of over 100 readers ???

I know the only persons who could help would be Merlin if he has time for this task (or thinks it would help more than me) or Asus themselves?
Of course I opened a task at Asus, but they surely will answer their auto-replay mail ... ;-(((

So I hoped Merlin will take it or answer, still hoping ;-)))

Each change takes 5 minutes as the WLAN restarts on every click and then I have to wait till it is reconnected.
First reactivate Guest, than change from WEP to something else and confirm, than deactivate Guest, and at the end change 2,4GHz to auto/20/40 again.
Every step will restart WLAN connection on my computer ...
Each time I need Guest or close it afterwards (as WEP of course is very unsure and only opened if neccessary).

Kind Regards Grisu


PS: Asus even dont sell the white RT-AC68W in Europe and dont plan to do so, I am really very disappointed, no possibility to get it here in Europe unlike US ...

 

[F5ing]

Lots of very knowledgeable members here. Give it a little time.

In the meantime, you might want to mention which version of Merlin's firmware you've got loaded.

Did you do a factory reset after installing? It seems to me that you shouldn't have to change anything on the main network (especially if you've got it set to auto to begin with) just to use a guest network with a different authentication method.

Just curious though, do you really need to use WEP? I'd guess you know that it's not really that secure but you really do need to use it for some reason. It's been a very long time since I've seen a device that can't use at least WPA. I use the guest networks almost all the time and have them all set to use WPA2. I've had a few hundred or so devices connected to the guest networks over the past couple of years and haven't run across any that couldn't use WPA2.

 

[Grisu]

Hallo!

Thanks for answering.
I use last version 376_45
But this problem is old, just found this forum now so ...
Yes, I did total recall (factory reset) and configure all new.

Never did it before and often changing asus and Merlin, no probs.
But this time I faultly clicked on 1GHz speed and afterwards didnt work ok again.

And yes I need it for 2 older Laptops and my kids nintendos (see here: http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/wfc/en_na/wep-wpa.jsp ).
WEP is still better than nothing and I dont want to open it completely as there could be legal issues!
And 5G isnt an option as well due to very weak signal and so often hangs or goes to less than 10 or 5 and even 2 MB/s (not really working any more).

 

[F5ing]

I understand why you need WEP. Just making sure you knew of the implications.

Also understand you've done factory reset after flashing firmware.

I'm not sure what you mean by this statement:

But this time I faultly clicked on 1GHz speed and afterwards didnt work ok again.

Where did you click on 1GHz speed?

And this statement makes me think of factory reset once again:

And 5G isnt an option as well due to very weak signal and so often hangs or goes to less than 10 or 5 and even 2 MB/s (not really working any more).

This shouldn't be happening. Maybe the last factory reset you did was not successful???

 

[Grisu]

Merlin have the possibility to change CPU to 1GHz instead of 800MHz.
I didnt read the orange hint that my router is not possible to use it, so I changed and than couldnt start, changed back to 800 an worked again, but next day had great problems, so I supposed that something gone wrong with internal settings and made factory reset, since than all work again.

5GHz never worked well because of to weak signal strenght, maybe my modem on HP laptop is too weak, dont know, but I cant use it since I have it, so it is no problem of settings or anything else, just too weak signal where I need it.

But please give your one a try and set a guest with WEP, deactivate it and look at your 2,4GHz WLAN, it wont work with n-mode though it is set to auto-mode and 20/40 band.
This is with all firmware and a fault by asus,
I hoped merlin could fix it and sometime in future asus would import in their firmware.

Please dont search a fault on my modem-HW or settings.
Everybody could test it with his and will see the same issue, thats only 5 min. to make these settings and verify what I wrote.

 

[F5ing]

5GHz never worked well because of to weak signal strenght, maybe my modem on HP laptop is too weak, dont know, but I cant use it since I have it, so it is no problem of settings or anything else, just too weak signal where I need it.

Yeah, maybe just too far away.

But please give your one a try and set a guest with WEP, deactivate it and look at your 2,4GHz WLAN, it wont work with n-mode though it is set to auto-mode and 20/40 band.

I would've tried this when I read your first posts, but I didn't have access to any of my wireless devices to test, and still don't. Probably won't until Wednesday. By the way, I'll be doing this with an RT-N66, not an RT-AC68U.

And how are you determining the reduced speed? Router status page, InSSIDer, a connected device status indication? We've got to do an "apples to apples" comparison as best that can be done (other than the fact I'm using a different router model).

Please dont search a fault on my modem-HW or settings.

I didn't know what you meant when you said you set to 1GHz. So I had to ask. Why bother mentioning it if you know it's not relevant and don't want questions/comments about it?

 

[Grisu]

The problem exists with all firmwares since the first time I used the router.
So there is no config problem, its just a firmware-bug.
I use "only" the connection status in Win7, and it will never rise above 54MB/s.
As I change settings it suddenly will go up to ~150MB/s.
And I will see the different performance while copiing files from one to another device.

And you yourself found this problem a year ago!
Look at this post:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=19109

I think it is very related to my problem!
Merlin wrote: WEP isn't just about encryption, it's also about access control.
Suppose he means that WEP is only usable with g-mode, not n-mode.

Conclusion is: WEP is only available if you change WLAN to Legacy (g-mode).
With auto or n-mode it is not visible (yes correct so).
And it seems to be similar to Guest.
I have first to use legacy in WLAN, than change Guest to SharedKey/WEP.
After deactivating Guest I can change WLAN back to Auto or n-mode.
But it doesnt have the effect to really use n-mode, it will still hang on g-mode so long as guest in background is set to WEP.

And here I think somebody had the same problem (solved by factory reset): http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=19127

 

[F5ing]

I use "only" the connection status in Win7, and it will never rise above 54MB/s. As I change settings it suddenly will go up to ~150MB/s. And I will see the different performance while copiing files from one to another device.

And you yourself found this problem a year ago!
Look at this post:
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=19109

Well actually, that post was just last week. But in that thread I was only suggesting to the original poster to consider upgrading to something better than WEP.

When I get machines back I'll test the same way you did. If I don't respond by Thursday or so, post again to remind me.

I think it is very related to my problem!
Merlin wrote: WEP isn't just about encryption, it's also about access control.
Suppose he means that WEP is only usable with g-mode, not n-mode.

Conclusion is: WEP is only available if you change WLAN to Legacy (g-mode).
With auto or n-mode it is not visible (yes correct so).
And it seems to be similar to Guest.
I have first to use legacy in WLAN, than change Guest to SharedKey/WEP.
After deactivating Guest I can change WLAN back to Auto or n-mode.
But it doesnt have the effect to really use n-mode, it will still hang on g-mode so long as guest in background is set to WEP.

Yeah, I think it may very well be related. You could probably automate by using scripts. Search this forum for something like "guest network time schedule" to give you an idea on how to get started. Check this thread:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18735

There's actually a thread somewhere that better describes what you may want to do if you decide to script it. I just couldn't find it (maybe add the phrase "password" to your search term -- because I'm now thinking it was related to changing guest passwords via scripting).

And here I think somebody had the same problem (solved by factory reset): http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=19127

Not sure it's related. But a factory reset does seem to solve a lot of issues that people experience, due to settings that are incompatible across different versions of firmware. I just always do it, whether required or not. That way if I run into an issue I can be fairly sure it's either a firmware problem or something I did.

Asus, Merlin, or someone else more knowledgeable than I could likely answer this easily.

 

[Grisu]

Thanks, maybe it would work by a script,
but thats too high for my knowledge.
Im happy to do this easy things and little port forwardings.

Maybe asus will correct it sometimes, but I dont think so.
Opened a case, but they only ask back silly questions till I will give it up.
They not even will sell the white RT-AC68W in Europe that I would like so much ...
Case+antennas would be enough for me, I can change it for myself.

 

[Grisu]

Hello Merlin!

Could you please make a fix to the issue postet above?
Deactivated guest network (even with WEP-settings in background) should not affect or limit WLAN settings in any way.

Regards

 

[Grisu]

please answer shortly Merlin - thanks!!!

Hi Merlin!

Could you please answer shortly to show me you have read this?
Its enough to state with 1-7

1) impossible
2) maybe
3) no interest
4) no time
5) must be done by asus
6) my personally problem
7) something other
or something like that ;-)

Regards Grisu

 

[RMerlin]

No idea. I don't really dive in the pure wifi code portions of the firmware (large sections such as the driver are closed source, and the rest would require access to Broadcom's documentation to understand), and I haven't used WEP in countless years. WEP is as secure as opening your window and shouting the encryption key to everyone, and it also forces wifi to operate at 54 Mbps max.

 

[Grisu]

Thanks for anwering, so I will forget it and never ask again here!

But I will write Asus again to correct it.
There are still some things here with only WEP and they will do surely the next 10 years and be used sometimes, and WEP is still better than nothing.

 

[L&LD]

WEP is as secure as opening your window and shouting the encryption key to everyone

and WEP is still better than nothing.

No, no it is not.