Poor Range Asus RT-N66U

[chappelle]

Hey everyone! I bought the Asus RT-N66U router last week hoping that I could finally enjoy wireless in the upper floor of the apartment. It replaced a crappy Dlink DIR-301 router.

The signal does not need to travel that far (about 25 feet) but there are two relatively thick concrete walls inbetween. Please refer to the pictures to see the thickness. I placed the router in the second picture on the left, the first picture is the first wall, the third picture is the second wall.

Is this router really not strong enough for that? Or did I get a faulty unit? Thank you in advance.

 

[NXIL]

5ghz or 2.4?

Hi chappie,

are you using the 5ghz band, or 2.4?

2.4 is going to have problems getting through two concrete bunker walls; 5ghz is not going to make it, I think.

2.4 has greater range and penetration. 5ghz: better signal in many ways, but not in terms of range and penetration.

Dang--that third picture--is that solid concrete? If so, of course it is full of rebar too--making it a near Faraday cage. Signal has to get through that?

Remember too that if the signal is hitting the concrete barriers at an angle, the effective thickness is even greater.

N66 puts out a good signal; I think you are going to have to figure out a way to use wire, maybe powerline networking? Of course if you can use ethernet cable, that is best--

GL

 

[2000wolf]

...
N66 puts out a good signal; I think you are going to have to figure out a way to use wire, maybe powerline networking? Of course if you can use ethernet cable, that is best--

GL

Yes... you need a good hammer or breaker but no wireless router : http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/page/module/product/prca_catnavigation.jsf?lang=en&nodeId=-69772

And I don't think that increasing the TX power is a good idea. I'd prefer not to live with that electric smog.

 

[PaulKemp]

As it's been said, the wall on the 3rd picture looks pretty solid. No way of using a power line adapter to at least get some wifi performance in the 2nd floor? That means adding a AP of course.

 

[SoCalReviews]

Thick concrete is problematic for most wireless signals which is why wireless cell phones and car radios easily lose their signal in parking lots and under bridges. If a hard wired solution such as powerline adapters or MoCA adapters are not possible and wireless is the only solution then using another RT-N66U with it's external antennas...or another brand of wireless N router... as an AP or bridge is a possible solution.

I have had very good results using the Trendnet TEW-680MB wireless N media bridge to connect with the RT-N66U. If you don't want to use another router or if you don't want to purchase another three stream wireless N router to use as an AP or bridge then this is a less expensive solution. It was very simple to set up. It supports both 2.4 and 5 Ghz frequency bands and uses three antennas and uses three stream wireless N mode. It seems to have better connectivity than the built in wireless g or n that most devices have. I have used it in one location of a residence where wireless g and n devices absolutely would not connect to the router but they did connect to this wireless bridge enough to get excellent bandwidth throughput.

If you are going to consider using an AP or bridge that supports the 5Ghz band then definitely try using 5Ghz mode in addition to trying 2.4Ghz. While 5Ghz has less range than 2.4Ghz it also tends to have better signal scatter. In other words depending on the layout of your residence it may not go through the walls any better than 2.4Ghz but it may be able to bounce around corners better at a short range. I also prefer the 5Ghz frequency in terms of electronic pollution or e-smog. While the broadcast power of most routers is not very high (especially compared to the higher broadcast power cell phones use) the 2.4Ghz frequency wavelength energy has a particular characteristic of being readily absorbed by water which is why microwave ovens use it to excite water molecules for cooking (but at tens of thousands of times higher power... 1000w vs. 80mw). For connectivity I don't want to say that what has worked for others will definitely work in your specific residence because there are no guarantees. It's something you will have to do some testing with various wireless equipment to find out what works best.

 

[NXIL]

Bunker

The third picture: it looks like he is in a hardened bunker!

 

[SoCalReviews]

The third picture: it looks like he is in a hardened bunker!

We should all be preparing for 12/21/2012 which is just around the corner.

 

[chappelle]

Thanks everyone for their input (including the fun ones ). I am not sure if the wall in the third picture is solid concrete, I think there is some sort of square aluminium air vent that is going through there and exiting on top. I guess that may further act as a 'metal shielding' so to speak?

Anyway I had no other option than to run a wire to the top of the stairs and place the router there (see picture please).

This setup at least covers the entire apartment, though as soon as there's a corner or wall in between not with full bars anymore. I am using both 2.4 and 5GHZ but I have set the devices to connect to the 5GHZ network.

 

[RMerlin]

5 GHz will always be more limited in terms of range.

Getting 5 bars over a whole house is nearly impossible. As long the signal is stable and usable, then it's the best you can get.

 

[jerry6]

Bars are unimportant , I have 3 bars and transfer rate is 11-12 MB which is great . Measure your transfer rate , as long as the signal is steady you should be good to go .
I have the same type setup in my place for the basement .