RT-AC86U - Firmware and Settings

[Jbennett360]

Suppose it is possible you are running out of RAM that adding a swap file might or might not help fix.
Would encourage you to at least try the Asus firmware.
Keep in mind that the M&M reset procedure for the AC86U is flawed and really not necessary. A good old WPS button factory reset will do you just fine if you come to doing it.

Happened again tonight on stock Firmware.

So after 18 days and 10 hours, this has reared its head again for no apparent reason? (I feel like this was roughly the same amount of time it would take to do it before too?)

I never got chance to check if it was all ethernet out of the router, or just the one that runs around the outside of the house. ( I rebooted before i checked it)

A simple reboot of the router and speeds are back to normal?

It's bizarre!?

Maybe I'll just have the router setup to auto reboot once every 7 days or something?

 

[RMerlin]

You and several others should be content that this has happened as this stability will get into the Merlin release in time

384.18 has the latest RT-AC86U GPL release merged in.

 

[Jbennett360]

Happened again tonight on stock Firmware.

So after 18 days and 10 hours, this has reared its head again for no apparent reason? (I feel like this was roughly the same amount of time it would take to do it before too?)

I never got chance to check if it was all ethernet out of the router, or just the one that runs around the outside of the house. ( I rebooted before i checked it)

A simple reboot of the router and speeds are back to normal?

It's bizarre!?

Maybe I'll just have the router setup to auto reboot once every 7 days or something?

Edit: The last two times this has happened to me I've been playing it have played on Google Stadia. Streaming 4K games up to 20GB an hour.

I'm wondering if the router is struggling or on its last lags?

Woke up this morning and it's happened again. Computer downstairs connected into the router is running at full speed...

Edit: Created a thread of it's own here - https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac86u-intermittent-speed-issues-cable-issue.64886/

 

[maxbraketorque]

I am writing this as a point of reference for users of the wonderful AC86U router. May 2020 has seen a couple of releases of Asus firmware for this router that, for some of us, has been working very well. The current version of this firmware is 3.0.0.4.384_81918-gc0daad1

...

I strongly recommend you use Dual Band SmartConnect when you set up the router. Leave all WIFI settings under the Professional tab at default. Set the 2.4 GHZ to 20 MHZ bandwidth on channel 1, 6 or 11. 5 GHZ set to 20, 40, 80 MHZ bandwidth on a fixed non DFS channel (I use channel 36). I turn off WPS but it will be needed if you set up AiMesh.

... , here are the default settings:
View attachment 23809 View attachment 23810

I also am a believer in manual channel selection and have WPS disabled. For both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, my settings are different in these ways:

• Smart Connect disabled. I prefer to control what devices are on which band.
• TX Bursting disabled. From everything I've read, this is an 802.11g-only feature, and enabling it is said to reduce 802.11n speeds. I've not had an 802.11g device in years.
• Airtime fairness disabled. Many people have had connection issues with it enabled.
• MU MIMO disabled. Most devices do not support it, and even when they do, the results are a mixed bag.

Some other settings I adjust that are not mentioned here:

• I set 2.4 GHz to N-only. Maximizes N performance. Only do this if you are sure that you have no a, b, or g devices on your network.
• I set 5 GHz to N/AC mixed. Maximizes N/AC performance. Only do this if you have no a devices on your network that you want to connect to the 5 GHz band.

 

[bbunge]

I must confess that I am back to Merlin 384.18 beta 1. After some initial problems flashing the beta and going back to stock Asus, I tried again with a flash of mwelin 384.18 beta 1, WPS reset per Asus (https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1039078), manual config then reflash the beta 1. Another Asus WPS reset then manual config. Disabled UPNP, Media Center and SMB, enabled scripts, QOS, AiProtect, DoT and Manual Assignment. Created a stubby.postconf file to turn off roundrobin and enable DNSSEC via Stubby (I feel Stubby does a better job of DNSSEC than Dnsmasq). Fixed WIFI channels with SmartConnect enabled. So far the family has not complained about the network not working even with three devices streaming media at the same time. Happy so far!

 

[OzarkEdge]

I must confess that I am back to Merlin 384.18 beta 1. After some initial problems flashing the beta and going back to stock Asus, I tried again with a flash of mwelin 384.18 beta 1, WPS reset per Asus (https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1039078), manual config then reflash the beta 1. Another Asus WPS reset then manual config. Disabled UPNP, Media Center and SMB, enabled scripts, QOS, AiProtect, DoT and Manual Assignment. Created a stubby.postconf file to turn off roundrobin and enable DNSSEC via Stubby (I feel Stubby does a better job of DNSSEC than Dnsmasq). Fixed WIFI channels with SmartConnect enabled. So far the family has not complained about the network not working even with three devices streaming media at the same time. Happy so far!

I confess I'm back to different SSIDs for now. Smart Connect seems to work well enough, but there are occasional situations of uncertainty that I feel may be made less so by manually connecting clients to the preferred band. I don't think there is a one-size fits all approach to this, but I do think hardwiring of some client connections can be more certain... and that is a networking goal.

When a SC client seems to have trouble connecting to the preferred band, it often seems to be my client that is confused and that recovers when I restart it or its WiFi.

OE