RT-AC87 5GHz wonkiness

[Carl Pinto]

I am running firmware 3.0.0.4.378_9460 and experience widely varying speeds in the 5GHz network.

The highest speed I see is 585 Mbps, but oftentimes it goes down all the way to 7Mbps. It is not stable. I noticed it first, when I was streaming music to my Apple TV via airplay, and the music started stuttering.

I am really getting frustrated with this router. Nothing I try seems to be able to give me a decent experience.
I am running the default settings for everything, but turned off UPNP.

Anyone has a hot tip for me? Thanks!

 

[L&LD]

Try the RMerlin firmware or the forks off of it like john9527's or hggomes to test if you see any improvements.

That is to say, after you have tried resetting the router to factory defaults and minimally and manually configure the router to secure it and connect to your ISP. Then, use new ssid's (you can use the same password if you want). Now, try different channels to find the best one for maximum speed and minimal latency.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

 

[Carl Pinto]

Try the RMerlin firmware or the forks off of it like john9527's or hggomes to test if you see any improvements.

That is to say, after you have tried resetting the router to factory defaults and minimally and manually configure the router to secure it and connect to your ISP. Then, use new ssid's (you can use the same password if you want). Now, try different channels to find the best one for maximum speed and minimal latency.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Thank you. I am hesitant flashing the router with a non-Asus firmware; however I don't think it could be much worse than the original ;-)

What I did in the meantime is to turn off both beam forming settings for 5GHz. I read that Apple devices don't like those too much.

If this did not improve the 5GHz speed, I'll try your suggestions. Thanks again.

 

[L&LD]

Thank you. I am hesitant flashing the router with a non-Asus firmware; however I don't think it could be much worse than the original ;-)

What I did in the meantime is to turn off both beam forming settings for 5GHz. I read that Apple devices don't like those too much.

If this did not improve the 5GHz speed, I'll try your suggestions. Thanks again.

Don't be.

Closing Thoughts
While open source based firmware like DD-WRT and Tomato are valuable in their own right, ASUSWRT-Merlin adds a lot of value to the ASUS' stock firmware. Eric's main focus on bug-fixing provides improved stability. And his selective approach to feature addition doesn't put that improved stability at risk by possibly introducing new bugs along with features.

The dirty little secret of alternative firmware is that the open source drivers it must use aren't always the best. This is particularly true of wireless drivers, where chip manufacturers work closely with their customers to squash bugs and tweak performance. By using ASUS' own code as the ASUSWRT-Merlin base, Eric is able to provide value to both users and to ASUS, which is a win-win.


While other alternative distros like DD-WRT and Tomato add a wealth of features, they usually introduce problems of their own along with potentially lower performance. Eric Sauvageau's ASUSWRT-Merlin firmware provides improved reliability and a few carefully-chosen new features, while not putting performance at risk. It's a minimalist, first-do-no-harm approach that is very refreshing.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31963-asuswrt-merlin-reviewed?start=2

Almost everyone who tries it has no reason to go back to stock.

 

[Carl Pinto]

Don't be.




Almost everyone who tries it has no reason to go back to stock.

So I installed the latest Merlin firmware now. I'll post back here with my findings.

 

[Carl Pinto]

So I'm running Merlin 380.57 for a few days now. Today, while streaming a movie from my NAS via VLC on the MacBook, the network speed came to a grinding halt in the 5GHz band. The highest I saw was 585Mbps, but it then went all the way down to 7, then to 0, at which point my NAS disconnected... This is really frustrating.

I followed Ricky's instructions http://www.rickygao.com/tuning-the-asus-wireless-router-to-best-performance/ and turned off beam forming. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find the settings for 802.11D+H anywhere. They seem to have gotten removed.

Is anyone interested in buying a 4 week old RT-AC87?
Thanks for your input.

 

[goldenegg]

I don't understand why so many people on this forum automatically jump to 'upgrade your firmware' when people have wireless issues. That shouldn't be the first thing to try.

It's extremely likely the issues being experienced can be solved by changing the wireless channel. On the 5Ghz channel, 149 works best in my house. You may have to try multiple channels before you find one that works well for you.

 

[Carl Pinto]

I changed my 5GHz channel to 48... So far the line portraying the speed for it is straight like an arrow at 585Mbps... Which is good, methinks.

I don't understand why so many people on this forum automatically jump to 'upgrade your firmware' when people have wireless issues. That shouldn't be the first thing to try.

It's extremely likely the issues being experienced can be solved by changing the wireless channel. On the 5Ghz channel, 149 works best in my house. You may have to try multiple channels before you find one that works well for you.

I've done exactly that. I experienced issues on channel 161. So I switched it to 48. While it seemed better for a long time, I noticed that the Macbook after a while switched to 2.4GHz.
This morning I chose channel 41. Let's see how that one pans out.
Sometimes I wonder if the issue is more with my Macbook than with the ASUS. After all, Apple did have issues in previous OSX versions.

 

[Carl Pinto]

Ok. That's it. After running for a few days (no more than 4), and some instability experienced yesterday with various iPads and MacBook, all devices lost wifi network last night. I had to hard reset the router.

As I expected, there was absolutely NOTHING in the log files.
I will reflash the ASUS firmware and then return it. Sadly they will not give me my money back, but simply exchange it, or send it to ASUS for repair.
I simply don't have the time to tweak this piece of garbage for hours every night just to get a decent connection.
Who knows, maybe I got a lemon that is actually defective. But from what I read elsewhere, that device looks at best problematic.

 

[splatee]

On our router running latest RMerlin firmware I have DTIM set from default of 3 to 2. Also all beam forming is off, MIMO off, WPS off and have the wifi channel 153. We have 5 iPads and 3 iphone 6s and 3 Amazon Ftv sticks all on 5ghz and no drop outs.

Also I did not see in your previous posts of how far the clients are from the router? 5ghz has a shorter range than does 2.4 and walls and placement of clients can affect signal strength.

 

[Carl Pinto]

On our router running latest RMerlin firmware I have DTIM set from default of 3 to 2. Also all beam forming is off, MIMO off, WPS off and have the wifi channel 153. We have 5 iPads and 3 iphone 6s and 3 Amazon Ftv sticks all on 5ghz and no drop outs.

Also I did not see in your previous posts of how far the clients are from the router? 5ghz has a shorter range than does 2.4 and walls and placement of clients can affect signal strength.

I am not far from the router. It's in the basement, and I'm on the first floor, almost right on top. It has never been an issue with previous routers. I do get a signal even two floors above. On the first floor I get between 585 and 700Mbps, IF the connection is there. I just changed DTIM to 2 and the channel to 153... Maybe rebooting the router every 2 days would also help - but really I shouldn't have to do that.

 

[splatee]

I just changed DTIM to 2 and the channel to 153... Maybe rebooting the router every 2 days would also help - but really I shouldn't have to do that.

No you really shouldn't have to reboot a router every couple of days. But if it keeps giving you issues and you are able the return it then you probably should before you are unable to.

Also one other thing to mention is after you are installing the firmware you are going back and resetting to "default" ? If not then the old firmware settings are not cleared.

 

[Carl Pinto]

No you really shouldn't have to reboot a router every couple of days. But if it keeps giving you issues and you are able the return it then you probably should before you are unable to.

Also one other thing to mention is after you are installing the firmware you are going back and resetting to "default" ? If not then the old firmware settings are not cleared.

Good point with the reset. I think I remember something about clearing the NVRAM... I'll try that tonight.