RT-AX86U (2 in mesh mode) - recommended wifi settings for congested area

[Sky1111]

Hello everyone! I would like to collect some suggestions for recommended wifi settings for AX86U, running Merlin 386.1 Beta4 firmware.
I have around 20 devices on the network, most are wireless connecting to 2.4 and 5GHz bands, and my family is rioting now daily for intermittent wifi issues even though our house is not big and I have 2 AX86U, backhauling via LAN cable.
So the main router is installed in the basement, right under the ceiling and and it has a 120mm fan running of 5v USB (noiseless), blowing on it directly (CPU temperature 64-65 degreed at all times). The cooling fan is not a source of interference as the problem happens even without it, and I added ferrite chole on the fan power line, and on each of LAN cables going into the router.
Modem - is Roger's Hitron gigabit modem in bridge mode, I removed the cover to improve temperatures, and I unplugged wifi antennas in the modem itself as I seen on Rogers forums that Roger continues to broadcast hidden SSIDs even when switch to bridge mode. No improvement

Here are my current settings:

Some of the devices are newer and definitely can take advantage of AX, however, I can't have my kids getting kicked off the wifi during Google class...
Suggestions?

 

[L&LD]

Home network upgrade recommentations

Hi, I’d like to ask for your recommendations for upgrading my current home network infrastructure/setup. I’ll try to provide detailed information but if I’ve left out anything crucial, please let me know. Location I live in Poland, Europe in a 125 m2 (1345 ft2) 2-story house. All the walls...

www.snbforums.com

See the M&M Config link in the links above too.

 

[Sky1111]

Home network upgrade recommentations

Hi, I’d like to ask for your recommendations for upgrading my current home network infrastructure/setup. I’ll try to provide detailed information but if I’ve left out anything crucial, please let me know. Location I live in Poland, Europe in a 125 m2 (1345 ft2) 2-story house. All the walls...

www.snbforums.com

See the M&M Config link in the links above too.

thanks a lot! missed that thread somehow. trying the settings.

ASIDE: it is frustrating that we have to disable all these new features (MIMO, etc.) to make things work...

 

[L&LD]

I'm not.

 

[Sky1111]

Small update:
- long story short- Merlin Beta4 is problematic - all performance is atrocious -and those recommended settings made wifi connections very slow
- Reflashed the FW to Beta3, wired/VPN performance is back, but wireless was still suboptimal
- I am currently testing slightly modified version of L&LD recommended settings (did I say thank you? ), and it seems like I am getting better speeds everywhere except one crappy wireless security camera - Kuna Maximus. For that specific camera, Kura own app reports "Signal - Poor (-76.21 dBM), and Network Map -> View List shows ~20mb up/down
- Also fixed the problem with AiMesh - somehow it was not on ethernet, and even after fixing it, it still shows this:

 

[kernol]

It may well be worth reverting to Asus stock firmware Version 3.0.0.4.386.41535 - it is rock steady ... Adaptive QoS works really well [triple "A+" DSLReports scores] and Aimesh Guest 1 can be pushed to all nodes [without all those "buggy" errors under present Merlin beta releases].

 

[Sky1111]

It may well be worth reverting to Asus stock firmware Version 3.0.0.4.386.41535 - it is rock steady ... Adaptive QoS works really well [triple "A+" DSLReports scores] and Aimesh Guest 1 can be pushed to all nodes [without all those "buggy" errors under present Merlin beta releases].

I was on ASUS stock, and then Beta, and yes I was on 415535... but I really like Merlin's FW a lot more. I am hoping (correction: have full faith) that Merlin will improve AX86 FW... Beta5, where are you?

 

[RMerlin]

It may well be worth reverting to Asus stock firmware Version 3.0.0.4.386.41535 - it is rock steady

It's not. There are known performance issues in it - that's why beta 4 is so problematic, it is also based on 41535. I think Asus pulled at least one of the 41535 releases so far.

 

[Sky1111]

It's not. There are known performance issues in it - that's why beta 4 is so problematic, it is also based on 41535. I think Asus pulled at least one of the 41535 releases so far.

Hi Merlin, do you know if ASUSWrt team is aware of the issues with their latest public release? any hint of new Beta from them?

 

[kernol]

It's not. There are known performance issues in it - that's why beta 4 is so problematic, it is also based on 41535. I think Asus pulled at least one of the 41535 releases so far.

In my experience stock is far more stable than the beta's so far released - particularly with Adaptive QoS and Guest WiFi 1 over Aimesh.
Neither of those features work as yet under beta's released so far.

 

[kernol]

I was on ASUS stock, and then Beta, and yes I was on 415535... but I really like Merlin's FW a lot more. I am hoping (correction: have full faith) that Merlin will improve AX86 FW... Beta5, where are you?

100% behind Merlin getting it right in his final release - as my signature suggests ... really keen to get back to the future ... just need greater stability than his Beta's so far offer.

 

[Sky1111]

Beta4 crappin6ess, as explained by Merlin on another thread, has nothing to do with his changes and comes from ASUS closed source components (I was suspecting that too). So really now we are in mercy of AsusWRT team to fix the baseline FW.
I think my AX86u problems - that pushed to me jump on Merlin FW to begin with - started from Dec ASUS release 415535

 

[RMerlin]

Hi Merlin, do you know if ASUSWrt team is aware of the issues with their latest public release? any hint of new Beta from them?

They are, they have an open beta thread here on SNBForums, so they read the user feedback posted there.

I believe some (if not all) of these performance issues should already be fixed in the next GPL that they are currently preparing for me.