RT-AX3000 is junk unless you hardcode network settings

[azsoccerpop]

I am about to throw this 4 month old router in the trash. I started with and have updated the Merlin firmware on it multiple times always hoping the latest version (currently 386.3_2) will fix my frequent disconnects, drops, internet connectivity and sluggishness. Firmware upgrade have come with both a full reset and reconfig or an in place upgrade with all settings retained. No difference in stability issues. I have the 2.4 and 5ghz set up as separates with up to 20 clients max and also have a guest network for my 10 IoT devices as I am playing with Home Assistant. No QoS is set up and my Cox connection is 500Mbs and often tests higher download speeds. 2 FireTV sticks both setup on the 5Ghz often drop or show network is disconnected or no internet access. one is 30ft away from the router the other upstair at 40-50ft. I have a wireless APEX aquarium controller that also disconnects on the 2.4Ghz network almost daily and this is after scheduling a daily reboot of the router. To fix that I disable and then enable the Yazfi guest network. Sluggishness occurs and then the network drops and then it comes back slowly for no reason at all. Yazfi is setup for the guest network to allow a separate DCHP configuration as I see no point in having a guest network with the same IP as the main that I am protecting. That kind of the 1st security step for isolation and have no idea how Asus decided that guest network config is no required. I come from a DDWRT and OpenWRT background so I am used to being able to fully control all settings but this router has me in fits. The house is 2600 sq. ft. and even outside in the backyard I am -45db so I do not have a poor signal anywhere on my property. CPU and RAM are not running peak. Sorry for the long Rant but before I move to some lame dumbed down, phone apped, mesh or router solution I am hoping someone can give a ray of hope or let me know the AT-RX3000 was always going to be crap I just did not read the fine print. I went Asus because of the Merlin firmware option and the ability to not be limited on configuration.

 

[AlbumMan]

If it's any consolation, I have the same model and after 9 months have been pleased. But then again, I don't have near the number of devices you do which may be the problem. I will say that this Broadcom router doesn't play nicely with my Ambient Weather station. After months of individual 2.4G setting changes, the solution was to set it to Legacy. Yea that means a limit of 54meg but it doesn't need anything faster. Same for my old Honeywell thermostat that only uses 2.4. No problems with 5G on my Roku's and Denon receiver. I tried VPN (with rules) but internet speed really takes a hit so I stick to a client based app when needed.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I have the AX58U same router as the 3000. Never an issue works great.

 

[abracadabra11]

Another happy RT-AX3000 user here. More devices on my network than yours and also have an RT-AC68U AP.

If you've truly done complete reset of your configuration and have issues there, then it may be time to contact Asus to RMA the device.

 

[Morris]

I am about to throw this 4 month old router in the trash. I started with and have updated the Merlin firmware on it multiple times always hoping the latest version (currently 386.3_2) will fix my frequent disconnects, drops, internet connectivity and sluggishness. Firmware upgrade have come with both a full reset and reconfig or an in place upgrade with all settings retained. No difference in stability issues. I have the 2.4 and 5ghz set up as separates with up to 20 clients max and also have a guest network for my 10 IoT devices as I am playing with Home Assistant. No QoS is set up and my Cox connection is 500Mbs and often tests higher download speeds. 2 FireTV sticks both setup on the 5Ghz often drop or show network is disconnected or no internet access. one is 30ft away from the router the other upstair at 40-50ft. I have a wireless APEX aquarium controller that also disconnects on the 2.4Ghz network almost daily and this is after scheduling a daily reboot of the router. To fix that I disable and then enable the Yazfi guest network. Sluggishness occurs and then the network drops and then it comes back slowly for no reason at all. Yazfi is setup for the guest network to allow a separate DCHP configuration as I see no point in having a guest network with the same IP as the main that I am protecting. That kind of the 1st security step for isolation and have no idea how Asus decided that guest network config is no required. I come from a DDWRT and OpenWRT background so I am used to being able to fully control all settings but this router has me in fits. The house is 2600 sq. ft. and even outside in the backyard I am -45db so I do not have a poor signal anywhere on my property. CPU and RAM are not running peak. Sorry for the long Rant but before I move to some lame dumbed down, phone apped, mesh or router solution I am hoping someone can give a ray of hope or let me know the AT-RX3000 was always going to be crap I just did not read the fine print. I went Asus because of the Merlin firmware option and the ability to not be limited on configuration.

You should RMA this router before the warranty expires. I'm sorry you got a lemon.

 

[cptnoblivious]

You should RMA this router before the warranty expires. I'm sorry you got a lemon.

This.

 

[jata]

You should RMA this router before the warranty expires. I'm sorry you got a lemon.

I agree that you should return your lemon but don't give up on these routers as I have been very pleased.

I have 2 of them. One is a AX3000 the other AX58U. I have them working in a mesh with my old AC68U as a node. I have swapped between the AX3000 and AX58U as my main router / node (for a test really) and both worked perfectly in either role.

I have 30+ clients across 5ghz and 2.4ghz using smart connect and mesh. It's all a bit boring as everything just works.

Hope you sort the problem. Good luck.

 

[Unisoft]

sounds like a duff unit. Friend got one and very pleased. As long as you have done a full factory reset and entered config from hand and not backup file (which would just put corrupted config back), then sounds like a duff one.

 

[Andy1932]

Are you using a static/fixed wireless channel? My fire sticks did not like the channel changing and I would have to reboot them several times to get them to find the channel. Using a fixed channel, I have no issues.

 

[azsoccerpop]

Are you using a static/fixed wireless channel? My fire sticks did not like the channel changing and I would have to reboot them several times to get them to find the channel. Using a fixed channel, I have no issues.

I stepped through the setting with Asus online chat support and we changed both the bandwidth the channels to fixed. I am waiting to see if that fixes the issue. yesterday was a step in the positive direction and all clients seemed to stay connected. 2 days an a row and I might retract my original post..

 

[Kingp1n]

I stepped through the setting with Asus online chat support and we changed both the bandwidth the channels to fixed. I am waiting to see if that fixes the issue. yesterday was a step in the positive direction and all clients seemed to stay connected. 2 days an a row and I might retract my original post..

Glad to hear...worst case you might have to RMA but let's hope your problem is resolved.

 

[zackattack784]

If it's any consolation, I have the same model and after 9 months have been pleased. But then again, I don't have near the number of devices you do which may be the problem. I will say that this Broadcom router doesn't play nicely with my Ambient Weather station. After months of individual 2.4G setting changes, the solution was to set it to Legacy. Yea that means a limit of 54meg but it doesn't need anything faster. Same for my old Honeywell thermostat that only uses 2.4. No problems with 5G on my Roku's and Denon receiver. I tried VPN (with rules) but internet speed really takes a hit so I stick to a client based app when needed.

Glad you’re not the only one with Ambient Weather connection issues. I have an RT-AX88U and a RT-AX58U as an AP with a WS2000 weather station. It doesn’t matter which one it connects to, it has constant disconnects. My solution was to create a guest network on the 58U (to force the weather station to connect to the AP) and set the AP to reboot every night at 3am. Has worked like a charm since I figured it out. Might be worth looking into if you want to boost the 2.4 speeds a bit.

 

[azsoccerpop]

For those having issues with client disconnects I will say that my issues seem to be resolved after hardcoding the bandwidth and the control channel for both the 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz channels. The FireTV stick has held network and the Neptune APEX controller for my salt aquarium has not disconnected in 2 days now.

 

[RogerSC]

Yes, I always hard-code the channels and channel widths on routers, learned that the hard way long ago. I'm using my RT-AX3000 as media bridge for the Apple TV box and the Tablo in our upstairs bedroom, and with the latest Asus firmware am now seeing 800+Mbps upstairs on the Apple TV box. Very glad that I updated the firmware...always an adventure. The speed on the former firmware that I was using was about 600Mbps. So I don't know what they've done with the latest firmware, but they seem to have souped it up some. No client disconnects yet on the new firmware, by the way *smile*.

 

[mennamorato]

Im having same issues... even though wifi RF signal is there, no internet connection and the LED's on this piece of junk keep flashing like normal... cannot see anything in LOG file as I have to power cycle it.
What values are people hard coding??? I have turned disabled 802.11ax Wi_Fi 6 mode, but control channels are still 'auto', i set 2.4 GHz channel bw to 20/40, on 5 GHz disabled WiFi Agile multiband, disabled 160 MHz bw.
So should i just randomly pick a Control Channel and Extension Channel or ? thanks.. this thing is truly a POJ as far as I can tell... not sure why some people have no issues and others have constant issues. i am in a house not apartment but i do have 20+ clients thanks

 

[Morris]

Clearly some of the changes you have made indicate you have moved far from defaults. Reset to factory defaults and then change nothing except SSID (Network name) and what ever is necessary to connect WAN and clients. Then leave alone for a week. If you decide to tune after this log every change and make them one at a time. Wait a few days between changes.

Good luck,
Morris

 

[mennamorato]

Clearly some of the changes you have made indicate you have moved far from defaults. Reset to factory defaults and then change nothing except SSID (Network name) and what ever is necessary to connect WAN and clients. Then leave alone for a week. If you decide to tune after this log every change and make them one at a time. Wait a few days between changes.

Good luck,
Morris

Thanks Morris assuming you directed to me. Actually I have always left default settings pretty much except SSID/password and DHCP range. This router has always been flaky where my devices lose internet connectivity for a period of time especially on the 2.4Ghz channel. I am highly skeptical of any new Wi-Fi features. Why? I used to work in the Wi-Fi Alliance lab in Santa Clara so I saw how vendors struggled to make things"work" well enough to pass the min requirements for certification testing. That's why I started to turn off any "new" feature.
Generally I favor Broadcom Wi-Fi chipsets and firmware but.. this stuff is so complicated now it's a wonder it works at all. Every new alphabet soup version from IEEE just adds more complication.
End of ramble... Sorry.
I was really just asking how other people hard coded things. Thanks

 

[Morris]

Thanks Morris assuming you directed to me. Actually I have always left default settings pretty much except SSID/password and DHCP range. This router has always been flaky where my devices lose internet connectivity for a period of time especially on the 2.4Ghz channel. I am highly skeptical of any new Wi-Fi features. Why? I used to work in the Wi-Fi Alliance lab in Santa Clara so I saw how vendors struggled to make things"work" well enough to pass the min requirements for certification testing. That's why I started to turn off any "new" feature.
Generally I favor Broadcom Wi-Fi chipsets and firmware but.. this stuff is so complicated now it's a wonder it works at all. Every new alphabet soup version from IEEE just adds more complication.
End of ramble... Sorry.
I was really just asking how other people hard coded things. Thanks

Yes the suggestions were for you. I lead the team that designed and operated on of the first WiFi campus network and we were received an Intel award so I've been on the same journey. Compatibility is so much better today than it used to be and we found the biggest cause of compatibility problems was people that did not update their drivers, firmware or OS. Older iPhone owners got caught in a catch 22 where if they upgraded they ran out of space yet the upgrade was required to fix there problems.

Can you web or ssh into your router from a wired connection to see the log when the problem happens? I have an RT-AX86u and have no issues unless I turn on WiFi Agile multiband (off by default), I see crashes in my log yet everything continues to opperate. I don't need that as I'm no longer running AI Mesh and for those that do using the Roaming Assistant which is the default works well.

There seems to be a cluster of people having issues with the RT-AX3000 while many more report no issues. I wonder if there was a bad batch.

Good luck,

Morris

 

[mennamorato]

Thanks Morris great suggestion about hooking into router via Ethernet, I will do that next time.
Totally agree about update to drivers! I have a very diverse group of clients from ESP32 sensors and multiple Mac / Windows PC's and android/iPhones, garage door openers, smart power switches, smart BBQ..haha..no joke last time I looked I had well over 25 clients. I run PingPlotter pro version on a Mac 24/7 to monitor WiFi and that is where I saw last night 2.4 and 5 GHz lose internet connectivity even though the router LEDs were flashing normally. BUT the TV that is hardwired to the router worked fine, so the router is passing packets from WAN to Ethernet LAN but not to wireless LAN.
Somewhere it's dropping all the wireless packets I guess.
I'm not doing mesh or anything special.
I bought this because of the good reviews and yes it seems some people have no issues ever yet others like me have intermittent issues often.
Thanks