RT-AC3100 - intermittent connection -between- devices

[fatherom]

Do you have any other networking devices connected to your LAN, e.g. switches, repeaters, access points, powerline adapters, etc?

Are you ready? Actually, joking aside, my network is semi-complicated (not crazy). I'll try to describe it best I can.

The rogers cable modem is first. The cable line connects to the rogers modem. I have all the wifi stuff on the rogers modem disabled.

The ac3100 is connected to the rogers modem, to get the internet connection. The ac3100 and the rogers modem sit in our living room, in a tv stand. The ac3100 handles the dhcp for the whole home network. The ac3100 ONLY does 5ghz wifi (I turned off the 2.4ghz radio because a couple years ago the few devices we have that use 2.4ghz couldn't get an internet connection, so I just presumed the 2.4ghz radio started flaking out).

The tv stand also includes an LG OLED tv and Apple TV 4k, which are ethernet-cable connected to the ac3100.

Also behind the tv is an old Asus AC68. It's connected to the ac3100 with a lan cable, and it's sole job is to provide 2.4ghz wifi for the small handful of devices we have that use it. The AC68 is in AP (access point) mode. It's been running like a champ for a couple years now, in that capacity.

Then comes the basement...running ethernet cable down here isn't possible...so...I have ANOTHER AC68 in my basement which is running in Media Bridge mode. It connects, via 5ghz wifi, to the ac3100 in the living room upstairs. I have several devices in my basement (windows PCs, a home theater) all hard-wire connected to a tp-link switch in my basement, which is connected to the basement ac68.

So, yeah, not the simplest home network by any stretch.

From my iphone, I sometimes Remote Desktop or access SMB shares provided by the machines in the basement. From the Apple TV in the living room, I want to access those same shares. I'm accessing everything via IP address (not DNS name). About a month ago, this ability to access things across the network just started getting to the point where it works about 50% of the time. But I've boiled the problem down to it's essence...this pinging is the quickest way for me to test whether the problem is happening at the moment or not.

 

[fatherom]

But before spending money on new hardware

Would the AX6000 be a good/comparable replacement for the AC3100? (if/when I go down that road)

 

[ColinTaylor]

Would the AX6000 be a good/comparable replacement for the AC3100? (if/when I go down that road)

AX6000 isn't a model number. Do you mean GT-AX6000 or the RT-AX88U (AX6000)?

The RT-AX86U and GT-AX6000 would seem like reasonable choices, although I don't really know anything about the GT-AX6000 (I avoid any of Asus' "gamer" gimmick products). It depends on what your needs are.

 

[fatherom]

AX6000 isn't a model number. Do you mean GT-AX6000 or the RT-AX88U (AX6000)?

The RT-AX86U and GT-AX6000 would seem like reasonable choices, although I don't really know anything about the GT-AX6000 (I avoid any of Asus' "gamer" gimmick products). It depends on what your needs are.

Yeah, I meant the RT-AX88U.

I responded earlier with a full description of my home network, but that post is awaiting moderator approval.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yeah, I meant the RT-AX88U.

It depends on whether you prefer 4 extra LAN ports on the AX88U or the extra 2.5G port on the AX86U (and price and availability of course).

 

[degrub]

check the threads in the AX subforum for problem reports and user issues first.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I responded earlier with a full description of my home network, but that post is awaiting moderator approval.

I can see that post now. That all looks OK. Again, I'm assuming you've eliminated all the WiFi connections as a possible cause by testing between two devices connected by Ethernet directly to the AC3100. Check the syslog on the AC68 in AP mode and make sure it's not doing anything odd, like boot-looping or going back to router mode.

 

[fatherom]

Again, I'm assuming you've eliminated all the WiFi connections as a possible cause by testing between two devices connected by Ethernet directly to the AC3100.

I will amend my previous statements about this. I just did another test. Laptop and Apple TV hardwired to the ac3100. Apple TV accessing an smb share on the laptop. It *seems* that, when hard wired, infuse is always able to load the smb shares, although sometimes it's a bit slow...but it does seem to ultimately work.

If this proves the wifi is the culprit, are there any settings I can tweak on the ac3100 to see if things better? The 5ghz wifi is obviously needed to tether to the bridge mode router in the basement, where all my PCs/media are.

 

[degrub]

What bandwidth are you allowing on the ac3100 5 GHz ? 20/40/80/160/auto ?
same question about the AC68 in the basement.

and yes, pls post the basement AC68 log.

if you have any coax between the upstairs TV area and the basement AC68, then that is a candidate for moca2 instead of using 5GHz wireless.

good that the mod released that post. Puts a different spin on the issue.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I will amend my previous statements about this. I just did another test. Laptop and Apple TV hardwired to the ac3100. Apple TV accessing an smb share on the laptop. It *seems* that, when hard wired, infuse is always able to load the smb shares, although sometimes it's a bit slow...but it does seem to ultimately work.

If this proves the wifi is the culprit, are there any settings I can tweak on the ac3100 to see if things better? The 5ghz wifi is obviously needed to tether to the bridge mode router in the basement, where all my PCs/media are.

It's best to confirm this is a WiFi issue before going down that route (and wasting vast amounts of time). I'd guess that the majority of posts in these forums are about "WiFi issues". So there are endless posts with people's own recommendations.

Then again, you said you had to disable the 2.4GHz radio on the router because it was failing, so perhaps it's isn't surprising the 5GHz is also failing. Or maybe there's nothing wrong with either radio but you're just asking more of the WiFi link than it is capable of. People's RF environments change over time and that can impact WiFi connections in all sorts of ways.

 

[degrub]

It’s a great way to detect a leaky microwave

 

[fatherom]

@degrub @ColinTaylor

Thanks so much for continuing to explore this with me.

The ac3100 is set to 80mhz channel bandwidth for the 5ghz radio. The basement router doesn't let me see what that's set to in the UI, but here's its wireless log:

2.4 GHz radio is disabled

SSID: "CJNetwk3"
RSSI: -56 dBm    SNR: 0 dB    noise: -92 dBm    Flags: RSSI on-channel     Channel: 157/80
BSSID: 70:4D:7B:E3:22:AC    Capability: ESS WEP
Supported Rates: [ 6(b) 9 12(b) 18 24(b) 36 48 54 ]
RSN:
    multicast cipher: AES-CCMP
    unicast ciphers(1): AES-CCMP
    AKM Suites(1): WPA-PSK
    Capabilities(0x000c): No Pre-Auth, Pairwise, 16 PTK Replay Ctrs1 GTK Replay Ctr
VHT Capable:
    Chanspec: 5GHz channel 155 80MHz (0xe29b)
    Primary channel: 157
    HT Capabilities: 40Mhz SGI20 SGI40
    Supported MCS : [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ]
    VHT Capabilities:
    Supported VHT (tx) Rates:
        NSS: 1 MCS: 0-9
        NSS: 2 MCS: 0-9
        NSS: 3 MCS: 0-9
        NSS: 4 MCS: 0-9
    Supported VHT (rx) Rates:
        NSS: 1 MCS: 0-9
        NSS: 2 MCS: 0-9
        NSS: 3 MCS: 0-9
        NSS: 4 MCS: 0-9

Mode    : Media Bridge

Stations List                        
----------------------------------------
MAC               Associated Authorized    RSSI PSM SGI STBC Tx rate Rx rate Connect Time
70:4D:7B:E3:22:AC Yes        Yes         -56dBm No  Yes Yes   866.7M      6M 02:58:13

Note that at one point I "eliminated" the basement router as a factor, only in the sense that I was able to reproduce the issue by having laptop and iphone connected, via wifi to the ac3100, and they couldn't ping each other consistently. Of course, the basement router was still talking to the ac3100 over 5ghz media bridge the whole time. So, not really eliminated, but just wanted to mention yet another data point.

I wish the wireless bridge wasn't needed, but no coax/wiring options available, and the wife won't let me run wires due to the work that would need to be done. The wireless bridge has been very stable over the past 3 years. My basement devices can talk to the internet with no issues, no slowdowns, etc.