R7000 w/Merlin to RT-AX88U pro

[nathan951]

So I have a R7000 with Merlin installed. This router has been a Workhorse for the past 10 plus years. I occasionally need reboots, about once every other month, so I wanted to upgrade. I thought the RT-AX88U PRO would be a good fit.

The R7000s 5g consistently get over 300s anywhere within my 3500 square foot home. Router located in the center of the two-story house.

The RT-AX88U is about the same with only two 700s mbps tests closer to the router.

With that said, that's fine, but the issue I have is with a 2.4 GHz band. My r7000 gets much better range and better speeds, especially at further distances.

Example: I have a wifi IoT plug for my hill lights about 100ft away, through a couple walls in my back yard. My r7000 reaches this with ease and my speed test is from my phone is about 125d/60u mbps.

The new RT-AX88U will not establish a decent connection this far out. It will occasionally see it but will not stay connected to the plug. My cell phone on the other hand will connect, (most likely better antenna?) But my speeds for my cell phone are more like 25d/10up mbps compared to 125d/60up mbps.

Did I get a bad router or is the r7000 radio that much better on the 2.4 side??

Thanks!

 

[Tech9]

Why you have to show your home address for this?

 

[nathan951]

Why you have to show your home address for this?

Lol, if you think you know it and you're close enough to come by and take a look, I'm here for some testing

 

[Tech9]

I know it, but not close enough to stop by.

Play with the new router settings, the best channel for it may be different than the best channel your old router was using. For better range use 20MHz channel bandwidth, for better compatibility disable Wi-Fi 6 on 2.4GHz band, etc. standard recommendations. If still not good - find something better.