Lost Use of WiFi Channels 11, 12 and 13

[Gussie]

Hi,

Been using an RT-AC66U for some months with Merlin FW without issues until today!
Always used Channnel 11 in the 2.4Ghz band - suddenly today I lose my WiFi connection - no signal.
I find out that any channel above 9 produces no or very little signal. Channels 1- 9 are OK and the 5Ghz band is OK on all channels.

Upgraded to latest 378.54_1 firmware - made no difference. I'm now using Channel 9 as I type this.
What do you think has happened here - is my router hardware borked? or could there be some other explanation.

To my knowledge nothing has changed in my home environment and I see no competing channel usage using inSIDDer - my SSID is ThomsonFAE003.

 

[ColinTaylor]

My guess is that there is interference from another radio source nearby. Something like a TV video sender, baby monitor, microwave, etc. These devices can operate on the same frequencies as Wi-Fi but wouldn't show up in inSSIDer.

 

[kamaaina]

Have you done a site survey under the wireless settings? You might have to switch to another channel.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Hi,

Been using an RT-AC66U for some months with Merlin FW without issues until today!
Always used Channnel 11 in the 2.4Ghz band - suddenly today I lose my WiFi connection - no signal.
I find out that any channel above 9 produces no or very little signal. Channels 1- 9 are OK and the 5Ghz band is OK on all channels.

Upgraded to latest 378.54_1 firmware - made no difference. I'm now using Channel 9 as I type this.
What do you think has happened here - is my router hardware borked? or could there be some other explanation.

To my knowledge nothing has changed in my home environment and I see no competing channel usage using inSIDDer - my SSID is ThomsonFAE003.

View attachment 3969

First, set 2.4GHz bandwidth to 20MHz if you haven't already.
Second, I would select channel 6 or 1 if you can't use 11 (whichever performs better).
Third, enable USB 3.0 interference protection for the 2.4GHz band (Wireless|Professional).

If that fails then reset to factory defaults and manually re-enter your configuration settings or use John9527's wonderful nvram save & restore utility.

Good luck!

 

[joegreat]

Third, enable USB 3.0 interference protection for the 2.4GHz band (Wireless|Professional).

Hi,

USB 3.0 interference protection is creates a big mess (in my AC68U router) and I would never recommend using it!

The Regulation mode feature (also under Wireless/Professional) is the one who makes sure that busy channels are defected and the switch happens - not sure if you can turn if off on your router, but give it a try!
I have it on on my routers as I live in a very wireless crowded area and the switch to a less busy channel is beneficial in my case.

With kind regards
Joe

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

USB 3.0 interference protection is creates a big mess (in my AC68U router) and I would never recommend using it!

Could you please explain what big mess you are seeing? I'm not seeing any mess.

 

[Chrysalis]

I seen the usb3.0 wifi option on my ac68 and it is a weird one, usb3.0 is somehow interfering? for reference I left it at default (as well as beamforming) and my wifi works as well on the ac68 as it does on the ac66.

 

[sfx2000]

Been using an RT-AC66U for some months with Merlin FW without issues until today!
Always used Channnel 11 in the 2.4Ghz band - suddenly today I lose my WiFi connection - no signal.
I find out that any channel above 9 produces no or very little signal. Channels 1- 9 are OK and the 5Ghz band is OK on all channels.

What country are you in?

Not what country the router is set to, but what country are you physically in?

 

[sfx2000]

What country are you in?

Not what country the router is set to, but what country are you physically in?

Had something similar happen twice - first time was a near by hidden SSID on Ch 11 (2.4GHz)...

Second time was where I lost access to 36 to 52 by having having a neighbor having their router configured as Regulatory Domain TW - one of my devices picked it up as part of a scan, and blacklisted those channels IAW the now depreciated 802.11d - and I like running the low UNII-1 channels due to less interference...

 

[Gussie]

Thanks to all that replied. I'm in the UK.

I now have access to two other routers ...

Netgear WNR2000 v2 running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (05/17/11) mini - build 17084M NEWD-2 K2.6 Eko
TPLINK TL-WDR3600 v1.5 running DD-WRT v24-sp2 (03/01/15) std - build 26405

Both also have issues using 2.4GHz Channels 10 to 13. Very low signal strength with occasional jumps in strength.

The Merlin 378.54_1 firmware on my Asus RT-AC66U gives me these options ...

Enable Radio
Enable wireless scheduler
Set AP Isolated
Roaming assistant
Enable IGMP Snooping
Multicast Rate(Mbps)
Preamble Type
RTS Threshold
DTIM Interval
Beacon Interval
Enable TX Bursting
Enable WMM APSD
Optimize AMPDU aggregation
Optimize ack suppression
Regulation mode
Tx power adjustment

Can't see any USB 3.0 option and the Regulation Mode is either Off or 802.11d.

It seems that here, something has happened recently that prevents me from using 2.4GHz channels above 9 !
Complete mystery to me. Now using channel 9 since 1 and 6 are very conjested.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I now have access to two other routers ...

I think you've just proved that the problem is environmental and not the routers. It also probably explains why none of the surrounding Wi-Fi access points are using channels above 6.

Unless you get yourself an RF spectrum analyser I doubt that you will find the source of the interference. Of course you could go around asking your neighbours if they've just started any new hobbies... like arc-welding!

 

[Chrysalis]

as an update one of my phones was having issues so I disabled the new universal beamforming option, left the other one enabled as that was enabled on my ac66 also.