Now this is interesting...

[Bad Teddy]

I'm not actually having a problem right now, but I have observed something particularly strange on my firmware. Or... maybe it's not the firmware? I don't know... I really don't.

Aside from the fact that 5GHz ranges from unusable to unstable right now, I've found some sort of oddity with how different browsers are able to "read" settings from the firmware. Specifically, the wireless channels on the 5GHz frequency.

To my knowledge, valid wireless channels for the 5 GHz frequency go from 36-165. However, I tend to only see 36-161 on the router's interface. So imagine my surprise when I decide to use Internet Explorer to view the GUI and channel 165 joins the party.

I typically try to connect to the highest frequency available, hence, I set it to use channel 165. My 5GHz connection has been more stable than usual lately, but I decided to tinker around and checked the link rate and found it at 144 Mbps. Whaaa? Where did my 300 Mbps go?

As far as I can tell, my alleged channel 165 can only be used at 20MHz, and furthermore, I have it set to use ONLY 40MHz on the 5GHz frequency. So it more or less ignored my setting.

While that's interesting in itself. I went and tinkered a bit more to find that channel 165 apparently doesn't exist. At least... not in Google Chrome. I double checked to be sure channel 165 was set, and sure enough, it is according to IE. Just out of curiosity, I decided to see what Firefox had to say about it and found another surprise. My channel is set to Auto. ..... Wait, what?

So what I've come to find is this:

Google Chrome - Channel 165 doesn't exist. The channel is literally blank.
Internet Explorer - Channel 165 not only exists, it gives me a "stable" 5GHz connection
Firefox - Channel 165 doesn't exist, but the channel isn't blank, it says "Auto."

So somehow, my 1 setting is actually 3 different settings on 3 different browsers.

Still following me? Good. Because I'm not done confusing you.

Apparently, not only is my one setting actually three different settings and not actually at 40MHz, but instead at 20MHz, all 3 of the browsers are telling a lie according to inSSIDer. Not only does inSSIDer not see ANY connections on channel 165, it doesn't see any beyond channel 36. And the one connection on channel 36 is mine. You know... the one that's on channel 165, blank, and auto at the same time. Also, literally, no channel immediately below or anywhere beyond 36 is occupied, more or less confirming what I said earlier. I'm connected at 20MHz despite explicitly setting it to only connect at 40MHz.

Fortunately I can just set it to channel 161 and everything looks normal, otherwise this would be frustrating instead of humorous. But just in case somebody actually cares and wants to look into this, I thought I'd share.

Oh, and this nonsense is sponsored by firmware 3.0.0.4.370. I'm not sure whether or not it happened in .354 honestly, but I wouldn't be awfully surprised if it did.

 

[RogerSC]

Okay, just one comment here. I was also under the impression that the highest channel available is 165, and I only see 161 as well (with both Chrome and IE10 here, don't have Firefox installed anymore). I'm using version 270.26b firmware at the moment, RMerlin's firmware, not Asus. However, that's with 40MHz. channel width, which is what I use to get a 450Mbps connection.

It occurred to me that the router is most likely using channel 165 as the extension channel for the channel 161 that I selected, to get the 40MHz. channel width, so I changed the channel width to 20MHz. to see what happened, and in 20MHz. channel width mode, both channels 161 and 165 are available. Which verifies to me that channel 165 is most likely sucked up by being the extension channel to 161 in 40MHz. mode. So it isn't that it doesn't exist, it's just that if you want 40MHz. mode, then you use two channels. In my case, that's apparenlty 161 and 165, listed under 161.

This also implies that the extension channel has to be above the selected channel. I don't see any selection for above or below, but it doesn't really matter to me as long as only one channel is listed for each potential 40MHz. channel pair.

Just thought I'd mention that in case it helps at all, since this makes sense to me. But I don't see any difference between browsers with the firmware version that I'm using, that may be particular to the firmware version that you're using.

Just as a wild guess, have you tried deleting your browser cache and restarting each browser to see if you see the same thing? I've had experiences where the browser was too smart with its caching, and things didn't work quite right with a router web interface.

 

[Bad Teddy]

Nope, didn't bother tampering with anything cache related, though it it shouldn't make a difference.

My Chrome (default browser) is set to erase its cache when I close the browser, it was my 1st time using IE on this laptop, and it was the 1st time I had opened the GUI in Firefox.

And you say your router uses a higher channel for it's extension? That would be another oddity in my case then, as my router uses lower channels for extensions lol.

 

[OpTicaL]

You're right, under IE (I'm on IE9) 165 shows up but using FF or Chrome it only goes up to 161. That is weird, I'm on fw 3.0.0.4.370 as well.

Can you check under Wireless > General > Extension Channel do you have a option to select upper or lower?

 

[Bad Teddy]

Pretty sure that I've NEVER been given an actual choice when it comes to selecting extension channel. I recall an old configuration where my only option was "Upper." And now I'm pretty sure my only option is Auto.

 

[OpTicaL]

Now here's something interesting, lets say your Control Channel is set to 11. When you login to your router and change the number to, lets say 6. You're given the choice to choose upper or lower, BUT after you APPLY your settings it automagically switches to auto. Weird…