Does Auto Channel ever change the channel?

[ablatt]

I have a RT-AC68U running Merlin 376.45 firmware.

I set the 2.4GHz Control Channel to Auto but it always stays on Channel 6.

Wireless Mode is Auto and Channel bandwidth is 20.

If I do a site survey the most congested channel appears to be Channel 6.

Does Auto Channel work for anybody whereby they actually see it changing channels sometimes?

I've had other wireless routers where I can observe the channel changing occasionally so I'm not sure if this is a bug or the way it's supposed to work.

 

[Pierino]

Idk but I also don't know of anyone that uses auto.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I have a RT-AC68U running Merlin 376.45 firmware.

I set the 2.4GHz Control Channel to Auto but it always stays on Channel 6.

Wireless Mode is Auto and Channel bandwidth is 20.

If I do a site survey the most congested channel appears to be Channel 6.

Does Auto Channel work for anybody whereby they actually see it changing channels sometimes?

I've had other wireless routers where I can observe the channel changing occasionally so I'm not sure if this is a bug or the way it's supposed to work.

I use to use auto and found the same results as you it would never switch even though it was on the worse possible channel. I only set my own channels now. I dont think auto works.

 

[john9527]

I use to use auto and found the same results as you it would never switch even though it was on the worse possible channel. I only set my own channels now. I dont think auto works.

Same here.....in addition it also forces single channel mode even though things may be clear enough for a dual channel connection.

 

[ablatt]

I am actually very surprised that Auto Channel doesn't work. I've seen it work on almost every other router I've used including the R7000 recently.

Why would this function not work after so many revisions of firmware? I do believe it doesn't work in the stock Asus firmware as well.

If there are a lot of wireless routers around you and they are on Auto, then channels will change all the time. How can you then pick one for sure?

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

My neighbor across the street got an AC68U a while back and didn't change the channel setting from Auto.

Using inSSIDer, I could see his router hopping all over the spectrum every day. Not being computer-savvy, he was interfering with everyone in the neighborhood without knowing it.

I finally contacted him, explained the issue, and went over to his house and put him on channel 1 and me on channel 11.

 

[john9527]

Interesting.....maybe it's just the status presentation that's not working....

 

[D._Manley]

Interesting.....maybe it's just the status presentation that's not working....

I don't think so. Mine stays on 6 set to Auto even though it's crowded. Confirmed by WiFi Analyzer.

 

[ablatt]

Maybe I'm missing something but isn't Auto Channel a basic fundamental job of a wireless device?

I'm pretty convinced that Auto Channel in the Asus firmware (including Merlin) doesn't do much if anything.

It's one of the things I liked about the R7000 (it did have some other issues) when I tested it. It's Auto Channel seemed to work quite well keeping the R7000 away from other wireless routers as best it could.

The RT-AC68U on the other hand will sometimes slow to a crawl on Channel 6, where it likes to remain, seemingly even when there's lots of interference.

I'd be curious to know if there's any working algorithm behind Auto Channel.

You can use Inssider all you want to pick a channel but all it's going to give you is the signals at that moment.

 

[john9527]

Same here.....in addition it also forces single channel mode even though things may be clear enough for a dual channel connection.

Well.....I decided to try again on my fork of 374.43 (What I relayed above, was my experience early on when I first got my router)

Now, with auto, I've seen two channel switches on the 2.4GHz band, both maintaining dual channel mode. 5GHz hasn't switched, but interference is pretty sparse on that band for me, so really wouldn't expect it. So, for me at least, it now appears to be working.

 

[RMerlin]

From what I remember, the issue with Auto mode actually occurs if you also set the bandwidth to 20/40 MHz. When the router downgrades to 20 Mhz due to interference, it sets an arbitrary channel.

Try using Auto but setting channel width to 20 Mhz.

 

[ablatt]

john, what are your settings under 2.4GHz for Wireless Mode and Channel Bandwidth?

Do you change any other settings from default?

I also notice that even if I set Wireless Mode to N only, it is still picked up on Inssider or Wifi Explorer as b/g/n. This happens with Merlin 376.45 and with the 376.43 Fork version 3.

By the way, I am running the RT-AC68U in Access Point Mode.

 

[ngerasimatos]

From what I remember, the issue with Auto mode actually occurs if you also set the bandwidth to 20/40 MHz. When the router downgrades to 20 Mhz due to interference, it sets an arbitrary channel.

Try using Auto but setting channel width to 20 Mhz.

I have seen this as well and my testing showed the same. Firmware 3.0.0.4.376.45_0

 

[john9527]

john, what are your settings under 2.4GHz for Wireless Mode and Channel Bandwidth?

Do you change any other settings from default?

I also notice that even if I set Wireless Mode to N only, it is still picked up on Inssider or Wifi Explorer as b/g/n. This happens with Merlin 376.45 and with the 376.43 Fork version 3.

By the way, I am running the RT-AC68U in Access Point Mode.

2.4 GHz
Wireless Mode = Auto
Channel Bandwidth = 20/40 (Changed just to test, usually run 40 and specify a channel)
Optimize for Xbox = unchecked, b/g protection = unchecked

5 GHz
Wireless Mode = Auto
Channel Bandwidth = 20/40/80 (Changed just to test, usually run 80 and specify a channel)
Optimize for Xbox = unchecked


Update, I haven't seen the 2.4 GHz channels change all day, but did catch a change in the 5 GHz channels (which then went back to the previous channels)

I don't remember all the defaults, but here are some others I may have changed on the professional page (same for both bands)...

Roaming Assistant = Disabled
Enable IGMP Snooping = Enabled
Preamble Type = Long
Enable TX Bursting = Enabled
Enable WMM APSD = Disabled
Optimize AMPDU aggregation = Disabled
Optimize ack suppression = Enabled

I don't know about Access Point mode ignoring the N only parm.....would have to build a setup to try it.

 

[agilani]

This is an old thread, but has some relevant information for wireless interference. I had my 2.4ghz set to auto and 20/40. If I read this correctly, this disables the router from switching channels if there is a conflict which may explain all of the wireless issues i've had since upgrading to the latest code base. I'm not sure why this was not a problem before though with the old code base.

 

[cdlight]

This is an old thread, but has some relevant information for wireless interference. I had my 2.4ghz set to auto and 20/40. If I read this correctly, this disables the router from switching channels if there is a conflict which may explain all of the wireless issues i've had since upgrading to the latest code base. I'm not sure why this was not a problem before though with the old code base.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but does anyone know if there is a similar setting (or combination of settings) that prevents a router from changing the 5 GHz control channel? I'm using a TUF-AX5400 with GNUton's TUF-AX5400_386.07_2 firmware.

We live in an area with many competing 5 GHz wi-fi networks. I've run the Site Survey and other wi-fi analyzer apps and tried setting different, fixed control channels. But the neighboring networks turn on and off, change their control channels and bandwidth throughout the day, so I still experience intermittent interference.

My 5 GHz network bandwidth is set to 40 MHz and the Control Channel to "Auto," but the router never seems to change the channel. I've made the other changes to my 5 GHz network settings:

Smart Connect = OFF
Wireless Mode = N/AC/AX mixed
Roaming Assistant = Disable
Airtime Fairness = Disable
Multi-User MIMO = Disable
OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO = Disable
802.11ax/ac Beamforming = Enable
Universal Beamforming = Disable

I'm assuming that my settings are preventing auto channel selection from working since I've never heard of an issue like the 2.4 GHz network settings "bug" noted in this thread. Am I doing something wrong? All my 5 GHz settings are shown below. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[drinkingbird]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but does anyone know if there is a similar setting (or combination of settings) that prevents a router from changing the 5 GHz control channel? I'm using a TUF-AX5400 with GNUton's TUF-AX5400_386.07_2 firmware.

We live in an area with many competing 5 GHz wi-fi networks. I've run the Site Survey and other wi-fi analyzer apps and tried setting different, fixed control channels. But the neighboring networks turn on and off, change their control channels and bandwidth throughout the day, so I still experience intermittent interference.

My 5 GHz network bandwidth is set to 40 MHz and the Control Channel to "Auto," but the router never seems to change the channel. I've made the other changes to my 5 GHz network settings:

Smart Connect = OFF
Wireless Mode = N/AC/AX mixed
Roaming Assistant = Disable
Airtime Fairness = Disable
Multi-User MIMO = Disable
OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO = Disable
802.11ax/ac Beamforming = Enable
Universal Beamforming = Disable

I'm assuming that my settings are preventing auto channel selection from working since I've never heard of an issue like the 2.4 GHz network settings "bug" noted in this thread. Am I doing something wrong? All my 5 GHz settings are shown below. Thanks for your thoughts.

View attachment 46989

View attachment 46990

Auto means it looks once, picks it, and stops. You will need to set a script to bounce your wifi radios periodically, or use the feature to reboot the router every night at 3AM or whatever. It should rescan with either of those events. Some brands (ubiquiti is one I know of) do now have a feature for "periodic rescan" but I don't think Asus has anything like that, bouncing the radios would essentially do that for you. But obviously do it at a time where you don't mind losing connectivity for a bit.

Any reason you're not allowing 80mhz channels? 160 I get as that is fairly difficult to get a 160mhz channel especially in congested areas but 80 should be fine and give you more bandwidth to choose from. Also you can select to include DFS channels. If there isn't radar in your area that could actually get you better performance, as many of your neighbors may be avoiding those channels. Worth a try at least.

 

[cdlight]

Auto means it looks once, picks it, and stops. You will need to set a script to bounce your wifi radios periodically, or use the feature to reboot the router every night at 3AM or whatever. It should rescan with either of those events. Some brands (ubiquiti is one I know of) do now have a feature for "periodic rescan" but I don't think Asus has anything like that, bouncing the radios would essentially do that for you. But obviously do it at a time where you don't mind losing connectivity for a bit.

Huh. Thanks for correcting me, @drinkingbird. From Post #6 above, I thought Auto would switch channels based on too many dropped packets or some other threshold. Since the neighboring networks literally pop on and off throughout the day, even forcing a nightly reboot may not guarantee me a clear channel. It may be worth mentioning that a number of these whack-a-mole networks have hidden SSIDs for reasons I can't guess.

Any reason you're not allowing 80mhz channels? 160 I get as that is fairly difficult to get a 160mhz channel especially in congested areas but 80 should be fine and give you more bandwidth to choose from. Also you can select to include DFS channels. If there isn't radar in your area that could actually get you better performance, as many of your neighbors may be avoiding those channels. Worth a try at least.

Unchecking 160 MHz and choosing 20/40/80 MHz Auto noticeably improved performance but we still were experiencing intermittent interference. Limiting our network to 40 MHz bandwidth seems to have helped further, although just set it last night and will see if this holds true during the work week. Should I be seeing a performance improvement between 40 MHz and 20/40/80 MHz Auto?

Regarding DFS channels, we live about a mile from a military base with an airfield and next door to us is a military training area. Whenever they hold a military exercise, we experience increased interference on our wi-fi networks and our garage door opener stops working . For this reason I've not tried enabling DFS channels although I've never seen anything on them during a scan. I do my research before trying a new setting, but admittedly a lot of this is trial-and-error to see what works and I may try DFS channels next. Thanks.

 

[drinkingbird]

Huh. Thanks for correcting me, @drinkingbird. From Post #6 above, I thought Auto would switch channels based on too many dropped packets or some other threshold. Since the neighboring networks literally pop on and off throughout the day, even forcing a nightly reboot may not guarantee me a clear channel. It may be worth mentioning that a number of these whack-a-mole networks have hidden SSIDs for reasons I can't guess.



Unchecking 160 MHz and choosing 20/40/80 MHz Auto noticeably improved performance but we still were experiencing intermittent interference. Limiting our network to 40 MHz bandwidth seems to have helped further, although just set it last night and will see if this holds true during the work week. Should I be seeing a performance improvement between 40 MHz and 20/40/80 MHz Auto?

Regarding DFS channels, we live about a mile from a military base with an airfield and next door to us is a military training area. Whenever they hold a military exercise, we experience increased interference on our wi-fi networks and our garage door opener stops working . For this reason I've not tried enabling DFS channels although I've never seen anything on them during a scan. I do my research before trying a new setting, but admittedly a lot of this is trial-and-error to see what works and I may try DFS channels next. Thanks.

I've never seen a router change channel without rebooting or bouncing wifi (other than ones that have a special "periodic rescan feature"). I guess if interference is bad enough it could happen (each chipset is different, and/or maybe his router did have a feature to rescan periodically, which is separate from the auto channel setting). Also, the version of inssider that poster was using may not have been 40mhz channel aware (clearly they were scanning the 2.4 band give the channel numbers) so what they thought was channel hopping was actually just the neighbor using every channel with a 40mhz width.

DFS is tricky, the range used for weather radar could be perfectly clear near you even with the military base. Other parts of DFS could also be clear. But the only way to see is with something that can monitor the actual spectrum, since you won't see a radar in a normal SSID scan. The router should hide any channels that it senses radar on, but that is only if it is active at that time. If you use a DFS channel then the radar fires up, you can completely lose connectivity (the router has to stop using that channel) or experience reduced speed and range due to the router reducing power and possibly channel bandwidth down to 40 or 20mhz.

80mhz gives you double the bandwidth, and the 5GHZ spectrum has lots of 80mhz channels available (less if you exclude DFS, but still nothing like 2.4). Even if that causes more overlap with other routers in the area, it can still improve performance just from the additional bandwidth. But sounds like in your case 40mhz worked better, though 80mhz on a different control channel might work.

Setting the router to 20/40/80 on Asus lets the router choose what is best, so you might still get 40. You can hardcode it to 80 (if yours has that option) to force it to go on 80 even if it thinks it is too congested, but I guess if it thinks that, then 40 may be better. If it doesn't have an 80 option and only 20/40/80 then you're stuck with letting the router decide what is best. Changing the channel may help it choose 80.

Those networks with hidden SSIDs are probably military related. When they're doing training and the like they could even be sending out jamming signals to ensure nothing accidentally launches a mortar or interferes with their own systems.

Maybe give the 40mhz weather radar DFS range a try.

Bear in mind that if your router senses that radar is in use on a DFS channel, it should hide that channel from you. Or at the very least, it will reduce the transmit power on it.

You could write a simple cron job to bounce the 5ghz radio every so often, but your clients will lose connection for 10 seconds or so each time it does that.

If it is really an issue near you then you could look into a router that has the pereodic rescan feature, but I think those are even just once a day. The cron job does effectively the same thing and you can do it more frequently.

Or you could wrap your house in chicken wire (faraday cage) and cover your windows with aluminum foil. I actually have aluminum siding which gives me excellent signal inside with little interference, just what makes it through the glass windows which is attenuated pretty well anyway.

 

[cdlight]

Wow. Lots of good information. I don't know anything about inssider so can't comment on it, but what you say makes sense.

Thanks for explaining why I shouldn't expect to see radar when I do a Site Survey with the router. The biggest reason I'm hesitant to try the DFS channels is the potential downside if we get knocked off during a VOIP call, in the middle of a remote meeting, or heaven forbid, while my wife is teaching a class online (instant death ). But man, it's tempting when I see my poor SSID competing with all those other networks on either side of that nice, blank DFS canvas.

I'm intrigued, so I set my bandwidth to 80 MHz and enabled DFS channels and will see what happens tomorrow, before the work week starts. What would I search for in my router's log to see if it detected radar, and what it did in response?