Is there a way to force more channel selections in 5Ghz?

[mac_angel]

I live in Canada so the only channel options available are 36 to 48, and 149 to 165. This knocks out any option to be able to use 160MHz and get full speed out of my WIFI.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Nope. There is no legal way to change country regulations. Canada does not allow any DFS channels like here in the states ? Not the best option but if your router don't detect radar then it does work.

 

[JagoUK]

Legal way no. Other ways maybe.

I had read something about FCC or similar removing some restrictions on DFS back in April.

however Ofcom approved channels years ago that Asus still blocked on the ZenWiFi_XT8

https://silextechnologysupport.force.com/s/article/Changes-to-the-5GHz-Wi-Fi-band-in-the-UK

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I had read something about FCC or similar removing some restrictions on DFS back in April.

OP is in Canada so the FCC has no power there.

 

[JagoUK]

OP is in Canada so the FCC has no power there.

I understand that. But normally other countries try to follow suit for compatability.
Ofcom. The UK regulator always looks what other countries are doing when they make changes.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I understand that. But normally other countries try to follow suit for compatability.
Ofcom. The UK regulator always looks what other countries are doing when they make changes.

Yes that's true. And i never understood why the FCC basically sucks. I don't just say that over wifi but i am also a ham radio license holder here in the states.

 

[mac_angel]

Legal way no. Other ways maybe.

I had read something about FCC or similar removing some restrictions on DFS back in April.

however Ofcom approved channels years ago that Asus still blocked on the ZenWiFi_XT8

https://silextechnologysupport.force.com/s/article/Changes-to-the-5GHz-Wi-Fi-band-in-the-UK

yea, I understood that, that's why I was asking about it being forced. I was wondering if there was a way to set a different region in the settings, or if 3rd party firmware like Merlin would give you more access to them.

I do also question at how these companies are able to advertise 160MHz if it is then not actually able to do it for legal reasons. I get the idea that they can say "up to" for speeds, and I think it is marketing BS to add all the speeds together for a number. But if DFS channels are offlimits in North America, and that takes out the option of 160MHz completely, then they shouldn't be able to put it on the box, or web sites that are set for North America.

I also think it was rather stupid to use the 5GHz band right from the beginning, knowing that most of it was taken up by the government.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

DFS channels are legal here in the USA so it's not off limits for North America. All though for some it is problematic. It is also very common for countries to force router vendors to lock down the region they can use. For most it is simply grayed out and can't be changed with out some sort of Linux hack.

 

[mac_angel]

DFS channels are legal here in the USA so it's not off limits for North America. All though for some it is problematic. It is also very common for countries to force router vendors to lock down the region they can use. For most it is simply grayed out and can't be changed with out some sort of Linux hack.

right, which goes back to my original question. Is there a way to 'force' it?
Has anyone been able to get 160MHz to work in North America? I know some routers have/use 80+80 and then claim 160MHz, but I can't find any info on that with the Asus router, or most others. All this info is extremely hard to come by for someone just starting to look into it, and I haven't found any router companies offering this information, nor any tech support or technician that knows these things. I'm friends with the manager at Asus Canada. He's not a tech person, but I've reached out to him, and he's been unable to find anyone that knows a lot of these answers. I actually told him all I found out to help him and Asus out. (Asus outsources their tech support. I'm friends with the manager from Asus Canada, not their outsourced tech support. They are mostly idiots that are hardly better than the tech support you get from India. But at least you can pronounce most of their names, lol).


In my settings, if I set it to Auto, it does have a checkbox to "Include DFS Channels" as well, so I am guessing it 'snoops' and if it finds radar close by, it closes those off from being selected. I am pretty decent when it comes to computers and technology, but learning this much about WIFI is new. I had an Asus RT-AC68U for several years and was happy with it. I still have it and using it to increase the mesh in the house. My main router now is the AX86U. I have a few AX devices now, and finding out that there are so many new and different things with these, and even with the newer AC connections that I didn't know about before. With the new AX router, my other AC cards are connected at 2x2, and the same speed as my AX devices since I can't get the 160MHz to work. Finding exact information has been extremely difficult. I did find a paper on the Canadian government website with Telus that talked about 160MHz suppose to be available.

 

[JagoUK]

yea, I understood that, that's why I was asking about it being forced. I was wondering if there was a way to set a different region in the settings, or if 3rd party firmware like Merlin would give you more access to them.

I do also question at how these companies are able to advertise 160MHz if it is then not actually able to do it for legal reasons. I get the idea that they can say "up to" for speeds, and I think it is marketing BS to add all the speeds together for a number. But if DFS channels are offlimits in North America, and that takes out the option of 160MHz completely, then they shouldn't be able to put it on the box, or web sites that are set for North America.

I also think it was rather stupid to use the 5GHz band right from the beginning, knowing that most of it was taken up by the government.

All wireless devices have to comply with local laws. To that end laptop manufacturers restrict which wifi cards you can use (whitelisting)

I had the ZenWiFi_XT8 which had DFS issues.
I managed to hack it to illegally use DFS channels knowing a local weather radar was disabling channel 124 making 160mhz useless to me if I wanted to obey the law.
(Hack was rock solid with no drop outs)

Not wanting to chance it I returned it within 30 day window and will await the 6e version.

And no, I won't help you break the law so don't ask.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I live in Canada so the only channel options available are 36 to 48, and 149 to 165. This knocks out any option to be able to use 160MHz and get full speed out of my WIFI.

According to Wikipedia Canada is allowed to use channels 50 to 112 and 132 to 144 if DFS is enabled. That would give you 160MHz using channels 36 to 64.

 

[mac_angel]

According to Wikipedia Canada is allowed to use channels 50 to 112 and 132 to 144 if DFS is enabled. That would give you 160MHz using channels 36 to 64.

That's what I found with the Telus paper I found on the government's page. I think I saw those channels once, and ever since they have been gone.

 

[mac_angel]

All wireless devices have to comply with local laws. To that end laptop manufacturers restrict which wifi cards you can use (whitelisting)

I had the ZenWiFi_XT8 which had DFS issues.
I managed to hack it to illegally use DFS channels knowing a local weather radar was disabling channel 124 making 160mhz useless to me if I wanted to obey the law.
(Hack was rock solid with no drop outs)

Not wanting to chance it I returned it within 30 day window and will await the 6e version.

And no, I won't help you break the law so don't ask.

can you tell me what site you got the info from?

 

[ColinTaylor]

That's what I found with the Telus paper I found on the government's page. I think I saw those channels once, and ever since they have been gone.

I don't have your router (or your region) so I don't know what options the router gives you, but basically you need to enable DFS and then set the channel manually (not automatically) and also manually set the bandwidth.

 

[mac_angel]

I don't have your router (or your region) so I don't know what options the router gives you, but basically you need to enable DFS and then set the channel manually (not automatically) and also manually set the bandwidth.

"Enable DFS Channels" is only available to be checked if you set it to Auto. And the selection of channels are the ones I listed, without the DFS ones being an option.
Channel Bandwidth is set to 20/40/80/160, and then there's a box after that for "Enable 160MHz"

A few weeks back, when I first started looking into this, I had the AX92U and I was trying to figure out how to get 160MHz on that one. That's when I started finding out that it was a lot more complicated than I thought, and that none of these companies give the information freely. Even their own tech support and sales staff don't know how to actually get 160MHz to work. They pretty much cover the basics of how to connect and that's it. Looking online, I've only been able to find a couple of people that said they were able to get 160MHz to work, and that's on Channel 100. The other big problem is that other than a couple of Android apps, I can't find any way to actually pull up the information of the connection. How can people verify if they are connected at 80, 80+80, or 160? I don't even know if my phone supports 160.

 

[Flipmode11]

the selection of channels are the ones I listed, without the DFS ones being an option.

More Speed. = More Radiation. I thought US were not as "Liberal" about that? Obviously only some regions will support DFS. I just select Europe.
I thought DFS was designed to coexist and permit radar and Wi-Fi traffic? As all radar traffic takes priority plus it seems you may be in a populated area - I would have thought you would avoid using the DFS channels (unless you had no other choice)??
What firmware are you using? What region have you specified?

Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Flipmode11]

Do you know of anything anything similar, but directly from Asus? Maybe that would help? Wiki is great and all but when does a manufacturer comply with all their devices to a "standard"?

https://kb.netgear.com/000060378/Which-Dynamic-Frequency-Selection-channels-does-my-NETGEAR-device-support

According to Wikipedia Canada is allowed to use channels 50 to 112 and 132 to 144 if DFS is enabled. That would give you 160MHz using channels 36 to 64.

 

[mac_angel]

I'm in Canada. I have actually been looking around in the router to see if I could change the region. I can't find anything about region, other than Time Zone. I've also been trying to see if there's a way to block the radar signal from coming into my home. From what I understand, and what you said, too, is with DFS channels on, it can use them, but if it senses radar, it turns them off for 30 minutes before 'sniffing' if they are okay again. I do believe I did see those channels at least once, so the radar signal can't be too strong, just a matter of tolerance. Or if there's a way to force it with 3rd party firmware. I'm using an AX86U with the latest Asus firmware. Merlin isn't available yet.

 

[mac_angel]

Do you know of anything anything similar, but directly from Asus? Maybe that would help? Wiki is great and all but when does a manufacturer comply with all their devices to a "standard"?

https://kb.netgear.com/000060378/Which-Dynamic-Frequency-Selection-channels-does-my-NETGEAR-device-support

good info. I've been looking around for a long time and it was only last week that I found this site.
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...es/33210-160-mhz-wi-fi-channels-friend-or-foe
and I just noticed now that this forum is part of that, lol.
As far as I know, all AX routers support all the way through the 5GHz range. But certain regions are turned off because of radar. It is interesting that they list specific channels for each of the bandwidths though. Like you can only get 160MHz with channel 50 and 114. I have actually asked Asus, repeatedly, that exact question. "What channels support 160MHz?" You would not believe some of the stupid answers I got back from them (their 3rd party tech support). And I mean, really, really stupid - retarded, like "how the F*** are you in tech support?" stupid.

 

[mac_angel]

the other problem I have with my router, the only way I can let it look at DFS channels is if I set it to Auto, and check the box, "Include DFS channels", most of the time it will select one of the higher channels, 149-165, so even if it does include the DFS channels, it won't be able to use 160MHz bandwidth from those ones.