Solved Router can't keep up?

[macster2075]

Interesting... I installed the latest stock Asus firmware.. and the issue with wifi went away completely.. no issue with wifi at all... even the 2.4 wifi is great.
Does this mean that it could be Merlin's firmware has issues with 2.4?

 

[dave14305]

Interesting... I installed the latest stock Asus firmware.. and the issue with wifi went away completely.. no issue with wifi at all... even the 2.4 wifi is great.
Does this mean that it could be Merlin's firmware has issues with 2.4?

WiFi is closed source, so Merlin should be the same as stock in this regard.

 

[macster2075]

WiFi is closed source, so Merlin should be the same as stock in this regard.

oh ok.. I wonder why it works fine with Stock firmware, but not with Merlin's.

 

[macster2075]

on Merlin.. if the 2.4 radio is ON.. I get poor speeds on 2.4 wifi and 5ghz.. under 30-35 Mbps and the ping gets to over 100... but if I turn the 2.4 radio OFF.. speeds go back up to 50-55 Mbps with low ping... very, very strange.

 

[macster2075]

This is why I was thinking there was something wrong with my AC68P router.. so I bought an AC86U and the same exact thing happens with it as well.. but now I know it only happens on Merlins firmware, which I've been using for years and really like it..but always puzzle me what was wrong with my 2.4 wifi and always blamed it on the router haha.

 

[sbsnb]

When you flash the Merlin firmware are you doing a hard factory reset after the upgrade and entering your configuration manually (i.e., not loading a saved config)?

 

[macster2075]

When you flash the Merlin firmware are you doing a hard factory reset after the upgrade and entering your configuration manually (i.e., not loading a saved config)?

I've tried many resets and starting from scratch... same issue...but it was only today that I realized the issue goes away when flashing Asus stock...which is a bummer as I run a few scripts on it that I can't do on stock

But... no scripts running at this time.. just stock everything right now to eliminate any possible scripts doing something... which I only run 1 or 2 very simple scripts to like force safe search.. nothing major.

 

[sbsnb]

I've tried many resets and starting from scratch... same issue...but it was only today that I realized the issue goes away when flashing Asus stock...which is a bummer as I run a few scripts on it that I can't do on stock

But... no scripts running at this time.. just stock everything right now to eliminate any possible scripts doing something... which I only run 1 or 2 very simple scripts to like force safe search.. nothing major.

But when you reset is key. It can't be before upgrading to Merlin, it has to be after. I'm just checking that you're doing the reset after flashing Merlin. Also try using a different SSID - one you've never used before.

 

[dave14305]

What version of stock are you using, and what version of Merlin? You might not be making an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[macster2075]

What version of stock are you using, and what version of Merlin? You might not be making an apples-to-apples comparison.

Stock 3.0.0.4_386_41634 and Merlin 384.19

 

[macster2075]

it's just crazy to me how turning ON 2.4 radio makes a significant difference in ping and speeds on both the 2.4 and 5ghz connections.. as soon as I turn that radio OFF.. everything comes down back to normal... I've never seen anything like it.

And it's only affecting the Asus routers.. my old Netgear does not have this issue with its 2.4 radio... but both Asus, old and new act the same exact way. (on Merlin's firmware)

 

[dave14305]

Stock 3.0.0.4_386_41634 and Merlin 384.19

OK, not fair. Either compare stock 384.81992 (equivalent of 384.19) or use Merlin 386.1_beta5 (closest to 41634).

 

[macster2075]

OK, not fair. Either compare stock 384.81992 (equivalent of 384.19) or use Merlin 386.1_beta5 (closest to 41634).

I see what you're saying.. but this issue with the 2.4 wifi has been going on for a very, very long time, many previous versions...but I couldn't tell what was wrong.. so I thought it was the router going bad.
Which is why i've been using an old Netgear router to broadcast the 2.4 signal and only use the Asus for the 5ghz.

I've had this setup like this for a while until recently that I decided to just buy a new router.. the AC86U to finally get this issue resolved...but this new router behaves exactly the same way as my old AC68P....but again.. only when using Merlin's

 

[sbsnb]

it's just crazy to me how turning ON 2.4 radio makes a significant difference in ping and speeds on both the 2.4 and 5ghz connections.. as soon as I turn that radio OFF.. everything comes down back to normal... I've never seen anything like it.

And it's only affecting the Asus routers.. my old Netgear does not have this issue with its 2.4 radio... but both Asus, old and new act the same exact way. (on Merlin's firmware)

That's why I suggested using an SSID that you've never used before with any router anywhere. It sounds like there's a 2.4 GHz device that's dragging everything down for some reason. Could even be a neighbor that cracked your password. Who knows? Using a new SSID and password would eliminate that possibility.

 

[macster2075]

That's why I suggested using an SSID that you've never used before with any router anywhere. It sounds like there's a 2.4 GHz device that's dragging everything down for some reason. Could even be a neighbor that cracked your password. Who knows? Using a new SSID and password would eliminate that possibility.

I've tried that as well.. using different SSID.. it has no effect... if the 2.4 radio is ON, the issue is there no matter what SSID is in place.

 

[dave14305]

but again.. only when using Merlin's

You shouldn’t really blame Merlin’s firmware if you’re only comparing it with an ASUS firmware 6 months newer. Your issue is weird, for sure, but ASUS and Broadcom have already fixed it in 41634 according to you. You’re just not willing to install the corresponding Merlin version.

 

[macster2075]

Not trying to blame Merlin's firmware in a bad way..I really like it as I've mentioned before and benefit from it...but it's just puzzling to me and it's taken me over 2 years to realize that I only had to turn off the 2.4 radio in order to get a decent 5ghz performance...which again makes no sense to me how that 2.4 radio is affecting connectivity on a completely different band.

I am not saying Asus fixed it.. Im just saying I notice the issue is not there when using Asus stock.
I started noticing the issue at least 3-4 versions back. When I started using Merlin, everything was working great and really never had any issues...but then I would say at least 3-5 versions back is when I noticed getting weird issues with wifi....but I thought It was just my router going bad and needed an upgrade.

The reason I never really go back to Asus stock is because I thought the issue was my router, not a firmware issue...and I really like Merlin's firmware, so going back to sock is really not ideal for me.

 

[john9527]

Screen shot all the wireless settings pages for both stock and Merlin and compare them. There may be a default setting which is different between the two.

 

[macster2075]

Screen shot all the wireless settings pages for both stock and Merlin and compare them. There may be a default setting which is different between the two.

Because of the way I am lol... I made sure to use the exact same settings on both... same channel.. same frequency.. you name it.. they are identical.

 

[john9527]

Because of the way I am lol... I made sure to use the exact same settings on both... same channel.. same frequency.. you name it.. they are identical.

Also under Professional? I'm thinking things like Airtime Fairness, Bluetooth Coex, Beamforming...etc