N66U - Wifi Range issues back again.

[shobhitk]

RT-N66U (@376.48_1)

Hi all,
We all know what N66U has been through. when it was launched it had the best wireless range in the world. even in the 40mhz mode it used to simply blow away the competition! then there were some developments and as we all know Asus had to reduce its range. Then Merlins firmware came to the rescue and things were almost back to normal, like the good old days.

but i guess range issues are back again to haunt n66u users....

till few months back i used to remain on 40mhz only mode but after realising that it was not giving me the best range i switched to 20mhz only. after doing so i was getting a rock solid link speed of 130mbps all the time. even at very distant places the link speed was not less than 117mbps. but for last few weeks again the link speed has started fluctuating between 48, 54, 78 mbps link speeds.

i have tried resetting the router but for no good. what i am now worried about is that switching back to 20mhz was the ultimate cure to reclaim the lost wifi range but now even this method is NOT working! what to do. i know there is wireless interference from my neighbours and all but hey come on....this is N66U man!

even my neighbours' adsl wifi modem (provided by the ISP) is giving much stronger signals than my n66u. inssider reveals:

My n66u on 20mhz (2 rooms apart): -56 dbm
My neighbours adsl wifi modem* (isp provided) on 40mhz: -43 dbm

*please note that my neighbour's wifi modem is obviously farther away than my n66u

So guys please tell me what to do, where to go....any help would be greatly appreciated. and i am sure that there are many who must be suffering from this issue as well.

Thanks

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Have you tried other channels?

 

[L&LD]

Unless your RT-N66U is showing a hardware failure, the culprit is the increased or changed interference from your neighbors routers.

Can you change the router's location? Have you tried a reset to factory defaults and then manually enter just the settings needed to connect to your ISP and to your clients, with a new ssid preferably?

Other channels, as suggested previously?

The latest firmware on both the router, RMerlin 376.48.1 recommended, and update your client's wifi cards' drivers?

Nothing stays the same, even if you try to keep what you can control static.

 

[shobhitk]

Have you tried other channels?

yes all of them, stays fine for sometime but then again starts fluctuating.

Unless your RT-N66U is showing a hardware failure, the culprit is the increased or changed interference from your neighbors routers.

Can you change the router's location? Have you tried a reset to factory defaults and then manually enter just the settings needed to connect to your ISP and to your clients, with a new ssid preferably?

Other channels, as suggested previously?

The latest firmware on both the router, RMerlin 376.48.1 recommended, and update your client's wifi cards' drivers?

Nothing stays the same, even if you try to keep what you can control static.

as i have stated in my post above, i am already on the latest merlin firmware.
i dont think there is any reason for me to believe that there is hardware failure...no such symptoms.
i had reset it to factory defaults today but i restored the settings using the backup option. but even before restoring it i had checked the signal and it was fluctuating like before.
as for the new ssid, when i had reset the router the ssid automatically had changed to 'Asus' and so as i have said above there was no improvement.

one more thing to note is that my neighbour's wifi adsl modem provided by the ISP is already way ahead in wireless performance...and i suppose n66u should atleast perform better than that one...as n66u is closer (distance wise) to me and it is on 20mhz.

cant we just use the wireless driver from the original Asus firmware and keep the rest of the other developments over the years intact?...by original i mean the one which was in use when the router was first launched.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

cant we just use the wireless driver from the original Asus firmware and keep the rest of the other developments over the years intact?...by original i mean the one which was in use when the router was first launched.

No, not when you want a safe environment. The router is a very interesting device for hackers and sometimes the used software shows leaks. Therefor the router's firmware need updates.

You can do the same as I do:
- use a router from your ISP and have it run without wireless on
- attach the Asus as an Access Point: then security issues do not play a role of importance as the router from the ISP takes care of that.

 

[L&LD]

You can try the fork by john9527.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18914

 

[shobhitk]

You can try the fork by john9527.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18914

thanks. it has made 'some' difference. i will now do a factory reset and manually reconfigure everything. may be that will further improve the wireless performance.