RT-AC88U

[TPTommyboy]

I recently purchased this Asus router and have a very odd problem. I have both the 2.4GHz (named "---2G") and 5GHz (named "---5G") bands turned on but it appears only the 5GHz band is seen by my wireless devices. For example, on my HTC One M8 cell phone I can set it to look for 2.4GHz or 5GHz (or auto) wifi networks. If I set it to 2.4GHz only it does not see my router but if I set it to 5GHz only it sees, and connects to, my router but with the "2G" name. Once connected it shows 5GHz frequency with 200 Mbps link speed on the phone's wifi settings. And when I look on the router's connected devices by interface every wireless device is listed under the 2.4GHz list and nothing under the 5GHz list. I pray it's a setting somewhere I messed up and not a hardware issue. I'd really like to get this fixed as I have an ecobee thermostat that is only compatible with 2.4GHz wifi which of course it doesn't see.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[hggomes]

Set a manual channel which your clients support instead using AUTO, also a RESET is recomended.

 

[RMerlin]

To be safe, make sure you only use channel 1-11. If you are in a region that supports channel 13, some clients might not be compatible with that channel.

I would also recommend starting the SSID name with a letter, just in case some clients might have trouble with one starting with a dash or some other non-alphabetical character.

 

[TPTommyboy]

Thanks for the tips hggomes and RMerlin! I will try this tonight when I get home from work. If I manually set the channel for the 2.4GHz then do I need to do anything on the client side (i.e., wireless devices)?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the tips hggomes and RMerlin! I will try this tonight when I get home from work. If I manually set the channel for the 2.4GHz then do I need to do anything on the client side (i.e., wireless devices)?

No.

Also, try a tool like Wifi Analyzer to see if your network is visible at all. If not, and the issue persists after a factory default reset, you might have a defective router.

 

[darivo]

Disable MU-MIMO.

one simply question sir.

i have RtAc88 and 2 pc with PCE-AC88 (each one) working in the 5Ghz band
in this band i have enabled Mu-MIMO

For the other wifi devices (smartphones, tablets, etc...) i use 2.4Ghz band, with Mu-Mimo disabled

am i right?? or do i need to disable MuMIMO in both bands?.

thx!

 

[RMerlin]

one simply question sir.

i have RtAc88 and 2 pc with PCE-AC88 (each one) working in the 5Ghz band
in this band i have enabled Mu-MIMO

For the other wifi devices (smartphones, tablets, etc...) i use 2.4Ghz band, with Mu-Mimo disabled

am i right?? or do i need to disable MuMIMO in both bands?.

thx!

Disable MU-MIMO on both bands. Broadcom's MU-MIMO support is flat out broken.

 

[darivo]

Disable MU-MIMO on both bands. Broadcom's MU-MIMO support is flat out broken.

Thanks sir

Do you think this feature will be used in next years?

 

[Wiredless]

Well my troublesome 88 just $hit the bed completely today.
Hardware went toes up. It let me perform a rescue flash and rebooted, yet never really came back up. LAN ports were dead, no UI to log into, no wifi lights, nothing.
I cannot have any downtime, so I overnighted another 88 while I send this one into ASUS. I sure hope I didn't buy another POS. Should I have bought a 5300? I've had issues with the 88 since I got it, including a non-working 5G band.
I hope this new one works.

 

[ToonTonic]

Well my troublesome 88 just $hit the bed completely today.
Hardware went toes up. It let me perform a rescue flash and rebooted, yet never really came back up. LAN ports were dead, no UI to log into, no wifi lights, nothing.
I cannot have any downtime, so I overnighted another 88 while I send this one into ASUS. I sure hope I didn't buy another POS. Should I have bought a 5300? I've had issues with the 88 since I got it, including a non-working 5G band.
I hope this new one works.

That sucks. That said if youve been having issues with the 88U i cant see why you would want another.

Personally Ive had no real issues that ive not been able to fix myself.

Sorry to hear of your problems.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[ToonTonic]

Thanks sir

Do you think this feature will be used in next years?

Yes, its used now & is a very good feature. Though as Merlin stated......its just not working great right now.

Though its certainly the way forward.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks sir

Do you think this feature will be used in next years?

The problem is apparently in the chip itself. A newer hardware version will be required to fix it.

Apparently, newer revisions of the RT-AC88U use the fixed chip, but no one actually tested it to confirm whether it did fix it or not.

 

[Wiredless]

Can somebody describe how to do a factory reset please?

 

[RMerlin]

Can somebody describe how to do a factory reset please?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

 

[Wiredless]

Got my new 88 in and configured last night. So far so good. Actually have a working 5G radio with this one. Old one's heading back to Asus today. Sure wish there was a Merlins 1 page guide to all the settings for most folks. I know 'it depends' on the environment, but this is a big thread to read through.

 

[Wiredless]

Those are always very specific to your environment. But generally speaking, what I recommend is:

- Disable MU-MIMO
- Disable Nitro/Turbo-QAM
- 5 GHz: disable universal beamforming
- 2.4 GHz: disable both beamforming
- Set a static channel on both bands

Everything else should be left to default, unless you want to experiment with them and see how your specific environment handles these.

Just saw this Merlin, thank you. Good starting spot for sure.

 

[mazo22]

Just saw this Merlin, thank you. Good starting spot for sure.

Well I have all of them Enabled - and works like a charm. AC87 Merlin... several latest versions

 

[Wiredless]

^^ Well I disabled all the thing Merlin said to disable and within 12 hours, my 5G band completely disappeared. Total rerun of my last 88 that I sent in for warranty.
I enabled everything back and have been going strong since.

 

[GoBlue13]

I have had the 88u for a couple weeks now. I've been happy with it so far other than when I set up adaptive or manual qos I've noticed when I try to download stuff using google chrome or firefox I get a network error and the downloads fail. As soon as I disable qos and go back to normal operation this no longer happens. Has anyone else noticed this or maybe know what could be causing this?

 

[Jimmy8881]

The problem is apparently in the chip itself. A newer hardware version will be required to fix it.

Apparently, newer revisions of the RT-AC88U use the fixed chip, but no one actually tested it to confirm whether it did fix it or not.

is There a way to check if our routers have the fixed chip? I recently bought an RT-AC3100 which I believe is the same as the RT-AC88U with less lan ports. would be interested to find out if they fixed the chips on the RT-AC3100 also.