RT-AC66U Media Bridge Stability

[virtueme]

Repeater mode is fully stable in my case.

Only drawbacks I've seen are the lack of hardware acceleration and that you can't connect to the "repeated" 5ghz network. Note that this was not possible before either (the 5ghz band was only used for the link between the two routers)

I'm running the repeater mode and can access the 5GHz band.

SSID: "MYSSID"
RSSI: 0 dBm SNR: 0 dB noise: -87 dBm Channel: 11
BSSID: 60:A4:4C:68:B1:E8 Capability: ESS ShortSlot
Supported Rates: [ 1(b) 2(b) 5.5(b) 6 9 11(b) 12 18 24 36 48 54 ]
HT Capable:
Chanspec: 2.4GHz channel 11 20MHz (0x100b)
Primary channel: 11
HT Capabilities:
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 ]

Mode : AP Only

Stations List
----------------------------------------
x:FE:01
x:95:FE associated authorized
x:A5:56 associated authorized
x:84:47 associated authorized
x:5B:96 associated authorized

SSID: "MYSSIDBASE5"
RSSI: -71 dBm SNR: 0 dB noise: -89 dBm Flags: RSSI on-channel Channel: 44/80
BSSID: 60:A4:4C:68:C8:24 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 42 80MHz (0xe22a)
Primary channel: 44
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
Supported VHT (rx) Rates:
NSS: 1 MCS: 0-9
NSS: 2 MCS: 0-9
NSS: 3 MCS: 0-9

Mode : Repeater [ SSID local: "MYSSID5" ]

Stations List
----------------------------------------
x:75:53 associated authorized
x4:54 associated authorized

 

[RMerlin]

Have they mentioned a time frame for doing this? As it stands the device is OK as a router, but use with a media bridge (despite impressive bandwidth performance) is unacceptably poor.

They didn't have a specific timeframe, only that they would work on it after they had finished working on other things that were already underway (such as stabilizing the FW for the RT-AC56/AC68).

 

[Igb]

That's quite strange virtueme, I can't connect to that network, just tested with an iPhone 5 that correctly connects to the original network right now. BTW, Are you using the same SSID?

I tested with my notebook on beta release aswell, but was not working either. I will do some quick tests right now with other devices, to see what happens...

edit: My notebook does not want to connect either ("unable to connect to that network" error after introducing the password)

Thanks.

 

[Junky321]

Is Merlin .33 beta 1 the same as Asus .726? I want to try Merlin's as there are a few more features I like to test but I will need this new Repeater Mode as well.

I am too trired to wait for Asus to fix this Client Bridge issue.

Thanks

 

[Igb]

All working, seems that my router needed an old good "clear nvram" after all the firmware dance.

Thanks for letting me now it was working

@Junky321 According to Github readme on merlin's firmware, latest beta is still based on 1XX build of RT-AC56U

 

[RMerlin]

Is Merlin .33 beta 1 the same as Asus .726? I want to try Merlin's as there are a few more features I like to test but I will need this new Repeater Mode as well.

I am too trired to wait for Asus to fix this Client Bridge issue.

Thanks

No. My code is based on the GPL code from about 2-3 weeks ago. Asus hasn't released the new GPL code yet.

Repeater mode and DualWAN has however been available for a long time in my Experimental builds. They are being moved to the main build starting with 374.33 Beta 1.

 

[RMerlin]

All working, seems that my router needed an old good "clear nvram" after all the firmware dance.

Thanks for letting me now it was working

@Junky321 According to Github readme on merlin's firmware, latest beta is still based on 1XX build of RT-AC56U

This is confusing since Asus has separate code branches for the AC56 and AC66, so you can't just follow the numbers themselves. Basically, in chronological order:

AC56 -> 374.34
AC66 -> 374.168
N66 -> 374.257
AC56 -> 374.134
AC66 -> 374.720

 

[babgvant]

I've found the newest FW (.720) to be much less stable in media bridge mode than the previous official or Merlin build (<-the most stable). I flipped it to repeater mode to see if that's any difference this morning. Interestingly running in this mode does not negatively affect bandwidth b/w PCs on either side of the bridge, er..., repeated network.

Hopefully stability is better. Using this mode is closer to how I want it to work (5GHz link b/w AC-66RT + increased 2.4GHz).

 

[babgvant]

Hopefully stability is better.

It was not. Going to try out the newest Merlin Beta.

 

[Junky321]

It was not. Going to try out the newest Merlin Beta.

What? Repeater mode exhibits the same behaviors as Media Bridge mode?

 

[babgvant]

What? Repeater mode exhibits the same behaviors as Media Bridge mode?

Yes. The problem where a specific client's traffic just stops happens in repeater mode as well.

I'm pretty sure the problem is at least partially with the router (it reproduces with a Linksys WUMC710) so that's not entirely surprising. That said, it has not reproduced since I switched to RMerlin's FW on the bridge this afternoon (usually took a few days though).

 

[Junky321]

Beyond sad......

Save us....RMerlin...save us....

 

[babgvant]

I got distracted and forgot to finish this thought:

That said, it has not reproduced since I switched to RMerlin's FW on the bridge this afternoon (usually took a few days though).

... so it has to be at least partially the fault of the MB as well.

 

[babgvant]

So this problem is definitely related somehow to the MAC address of the client. I noticed it on a PC w/ a static IP assignment, went in and changed the MAC (TBC, the IP remained the same) and everything started working again. I could ping it from the router side (this did not work) and it could access the internet again.

 

[babgvant]

Are there any commands/logs that would be useful to capture to assist in troubleshooting this issue?

 

[Igb]

Just want to inform you that i had still not a single crash/stop-routing with 726 firmware on repeater mode. I tested merlin beta for a while and everything went fine, but I can't state for sure It was stable because I had it installed for no more than 1-2 days.

Have you tried a hard reset? Is anoying to spend half an hour configuring all again, but well, may save some headaches in the case it works.

You said that it can be, partially, MB's fault... Maybe you can find new drivers for it?

 

[babgvant]

Just want to inform you that i had still not a single crash/stop-routing with 726 firmware on repeater mode. I tested merlin beta for a while and everything went fine, but I can't state for sure It was stable because I had it installed for no more than 1-2 days.

It could be related to the number of clients on the Media Bridge (MB). One of the boxes hosts several VMs.

Have you tried a hard reset? Is anoying to spend half an hour configuring all again, but well, may save some headaches in the case it works.

Yep on both devices after updating to .726. I didn't reset after installing the Merlin beta until this morning (still seeing if that made any difference).

You said that it can be, partially, MB's fault... Maybe you can find new drivers for it?

MB -> Media Bridge.

 

[Igb]

Ugh, sorry, i understood MB=motherboard, my bad

It may be the number of clients as you said. My client router actually have 8 clients, can be a few more when all the phone, tablet, notebooks, console etc. are connecting to it, definitely no more than 15 clients in any time.

I am no longer using media bridge since now it does not repeat the signal (and is a feature I need for some old devices arround the second router), but in words of Adam (from Asus support) "I appreciate the details. After some discussion with development, it may not be possible to resolve some of the issues with media bridge without more work with our chipset provider. As an alternative, we are testing our repeater mode which should not exhibit as many issues" i assume this mode will take a while to work as it should

 

[Junky321]

A sad thing to hear....

I purchased two of these flagship (expensive) routers from Asus specifically of this "Media Client" feature. Maybe it is time for all of us to contact Asus and scream louder.

 

[llc00ljoel]

A sad thing to hear....

I purchased two of these flagship (expensive) routers from Asus specifically of this "Media Client" feature. Maybe it is time for all of us to contact Asus and scream louder.

Agree - unfortunately, it is making me reconsider the AC68U which seems to be a spectacular piece of hardware, but concerned I'm not going to get the functionality needed to work for my environment. Hoping for some Asus/RMerlin magic