Merlin 386.1 Beta 4 - AiMesh 2x AX86U, Node constantly disconnecting clients

[TheLyppardMan]

Just updated to beta 5 (I hadn't realised it was out until today).

 

[AndrewJacob]

So I'm having an interesting experience. Permanent drops aren't happening anymore (since beta 5), but when I'm on MS Teams calls, I constantly lose connection and regain it. It's very distracting and not ideal for my use case, but I understand that it may be a normal thing when you have 2 Wi-Fi signals. Is there any way to mitigate this? Is this something that would happen in any Mesh system when the "handover" occurs? What about in an AP-based system such as Ubiquiti?

 

[Sky1111]

So I'm having an interesting experience. Permanent drops aren't happening anymore (since beta 5), but when I'm on MS Teams calls, I constantly lose connection and regain it. It's very distracting and not ideal for my use case, but I understand that it may be a normal thing when you have 2 Wi-Fi signals. Is there any way to mitigate this? Is this something that would happen in any Mesh system when the "handover" occurs? What about in an AP-based system such as Ubiquiti?

Are you wifi radios set to fixed channels?

 

[OlaP]

So I'm having an interesting experience. Permanent drops aren't happening anymore (since beta 5), but when I'm on MS Teams calls, I constantly lose connection and regain it. It's very distracting and not ideal for my use case, but I understand that it may be a normal thing when you have 2 Wi-Fi signals. Is there any way to mitigate this? Is this something that would happen in any Mesh system when the "handover" occurs? What about in an AP-based system such as Ubiquiti?

Try locking the device you run Teams on to one of the (the closest one) routers. This can be done under the mesh tab.

 

[AndrewJacob]

Thanks for your help people!
@Sky1111 , yes I have set a specific control channel as recommended by @L&LD .
@OlaP , that would work if I only take calls from one place, but i do not... I move around during calls.
Question: is it normal behaviour for the Teams call to drop and reconnect like that? This never used to happen when I was in the office and moving between Cisco APs... Other than that, I have no other reference.

 

[Sky1111]

Thanks for your help people!
@Sky1111 , yes I have set a specific control channel as recommended by @L&LD .
@OlaP , that would work if I only take calls from one place, but i do not... I move around during calls.
Question: is it normal behaviour for the Teams call to drop and reconnect like that? This never used to happen when I was in the office and moving between Cisco APs... Other than that, I have no other reference.

One possible workaround is to use 2.4GHz band (not sure what you are using now). You might be able to retain slower but more stable connection...

P.S. While Beta5 definitely brought improvements to AIMesh, I still think it has a long way to go...

 

[HeadBanger]

@HeadBanger is your aimesh connected via 2.5 backhaul?

No, 1.0. My AX88U router does not have a 2.5 port.
I am on B5 for the AX88 and AX86 nodes now and touch wood, I've not experienced the 5G WiFi network collapse again.

HB

 

[AndrewJacob]

Thanks @Sky1111 that's a good way of looking at it. I need more bandwidth and want to keep 2.4ghz dedicated to iot devices. A workaround could be do stick to the single ax11000 that didn't really have that issue. I love the AX86U but if it cannot handover without dropping/interrupting my work calls, then my needs are better met with the AX11000. It's not ideal as it doesn't come with Merlin's great support (case in point the drastic improvement between beta 4 and 5), but I have a funny feeling that's what I'll have to settle for if you're right Sky.
Thanks @HeadBanger, I'm glad to hear that your stability issues seem to have disappeared. Hope it remains that way!

 

[L&LD]

@AndrewJacob were the devices you had issues with freshly rebooted and not just shut down (there is a difference for Windows 10).

Try holding down the shift key when you click on the windows shut down button. Leave it off for a few seconds before you turn it on again.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the RT-AX86U or anything that the GT-AX11000 does better for Teams. The issues you describe were easily fixed by simply rebooting the computers in question for a customer.

 

[AndrewJacob]

@L&LD thanks, I'll reboot the devices. My main one is the iPhone 11 pro that i use most often for voice/Teams calls as i move around. I've rebooted it, but it never once struggled on the ax11000. Single router, the AX86 was superior in responsiveness (not range) than the ax11000, but in mesh, the experience is different when i'm between the router and the node. That's where the struggle has been so far. But beta 5 is MUCH better than the 4

 

[Sky1111]

@L&LD thanks, I'll reboot the devices. My main one is the iPhone 11 pro that i use most often for voice/Teams calls as i move around. I've rebooted it, but it never once struggled on the ax11000. Single router, the AX86 was superior in responsiveness (not range) than the ax11000, but in mesh, the experience is different when i'm between the router and the node. That's where the struggle has been so far. But beta 5 is MUCH better than the 4

I am also using my iPhone X for voice part of the calls as my airpods are linked to the iPhone, and it is sooo much clearer to do conference calls, etc, so I totally understand Andrew.
Even though I only roam within my tiny home office room, I do occasionally get disconnected/reconnected on the iphone, while my hardwired laptop never loses connection to MS Teams.
P.S. and of course that disconnections only happens while I am talking...

 

[AndrewJacob]

Thanks @Sky1111 ! Yep iPhone is much clearer than using the laptop mic. I basically runs the Teams call on my phone and walk around a lot. If I have to dive deeper into something being presented, I'll run to the laptop and view it there concurrently while i continue to use voice on iOS. That being said, I'm still trying to determine if this roaming behaviour is normal in that it'll briefly interrupt/disconnect the Teams call.
The software seems buggy, because we do get occasional blips in the AiMesh. For example, even wired, sometimes there will be Youtube freezes. Or wireless too. My wife for the first time ever told me she had youtube freezing or buffering. Maybe it's not related to the AiMesh from Merlin, but I have a feeling it is. @L&LD I am working so hard to make this solution work for me because I too believe the AX86 is a better router than the AX11000, but if I can't get AiMesh to work reliably, not sure this solution is worth $560 (vs $480 for the ax11000).
I want to get this working and move on to figuring out how to integrate 10GBE networking into my home network.

 

[Teppka]

Hi @AndrewJacob , I have two RT-AX86U in hardwire mesh on stock Asuswrt and interruptions while roaming are normal. Your device disconnects from one router and connects to another, so why shouldn't it briefly interrupt the connection?

I believe issue of disconnection is more related to how a certain app can handle brief disconnections, will it lag for a second and then pickup where it was or drop the call.

I tried it with Skype video call on my Galaxy S21 Ultra, Skype keeps the calls going but introduces short freez/lag to the video. VoWiFi calls on my cellular operator on the other hand, kept going just fine with few millisecond interruptions.

If the app you use (Teams) drops the video call with even slight interruption, the only thing coming to my mind is to bind your iphone to either router so it doesn't roam at all. Assuming the router you will bind it to will be able to keep wifi connection while you're moving around your home. Takes a second to do through the Asus app and can be engaged and disengaged before and after your working hours.

Hope this helps

 

[AndrewJacob]

Thank you @Teppka that makes a lot of sense to do it that way. I will try. It's an additional step but could be helpful. Hopefully the app will bind it nicely even though I am on Merlin.
Out of curiosity, have you used Teams and roamed between the two nodes? I am curious of how it behaves on stock asuswrt. Merlin beta 4 was very unstable for aimesh and it's better now, but i'm not sure how the 2 compare.

 

[Teppka]

Thank you @Teppka that makes a lot of sense to do it that way. I will try. It's an additional step but could be helpful. Hopefully the app will bind it nicely even though I am on Merlin.
Out of curiosity, have you used Teams and roamed between the two nodes? I am curious of how it behaves on stock asuswrt. Merlin beta 4 was very unstable for aimesh and it's better now, but i'm not sure how the 2 compare.

I don't use teams