RT-AX88U Pro with 160Mhz - very bad experience

[bruroy900]

Hello everybody! This is my first post here! I need help to find a simple answer to this situation:

Recently i purchased a RT-AX88U Pro (Canada model) to replace my old friend (RT-AC5300). When i try to use my new router with the 160Mhz bandwidth configuration (on the 5Ghz wireless section) my wireless network become totally unusable/unreliable. I have 2 devices that are WIFI6 compatible (Google Pixel 7 Pro and a ASUS PCE-AX3000 card) and it is impossible to connect to my network with both of them (with this configuration).

Is it possible that, in Canada, we cannot use the 160Mhz setting? With the 80Mhz setting everything is going well but i purchased the RT-AX88U Pro with in my mind i could ''boost'' my wireless network at home (and be more future proof)......but i'm very disapointed. The 160Mhz seem to be very tricky to use......

I think that my RT-AC5300 was more ''rock solid'' on the wireless aspect, that the RT-AX88U Pro. It never felt for the last 5-6 years.

For info: i use Asuswrt-Merlin firmware (latest release 388.7), there is not a lot of wireless network around my place (so it is not crowd) and i didn't import any configuration settings in my RT-AX88U Pro.

Thanks in advance for your answers! Sorry for my english it is not my first language.

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @bruroy900.

Try forgetting the WiFi SSIDs on those two devices, rebooting the router and the devices themselves, then re-associating them back.

 

[dev_null]

What channels are you using? I'm not sure which are available for 160mHz in CA, but IIRC lower channels are limited to 23db (UNII-1 & 2/DFS) but the upper are significantly higher (UNII-3; 29db). It is possible you've gone from 80mHz on UNII-3 to lower power channels.

While I get the appeal of 160mHz channels, I'd suggest the stability (and perhaps power/range) of 80mHz is preferable. And 80mHz bandwidth should be sufficient in all but the most data-intensive cases.

 

[drabisan]

Actually I'm not sure if in Canada you can confortably use 160. My read in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels#5_GHz_(802.11a/h/n/ac/ax/be) tells me you only have 36-64 as a contiguos space to use. And higher channels like U-NIIC can't give you 160 since you're "missing" 120-128!
And channels 36-64 likely are noisy because of your neighbors. So it may not be stable enough if at all.
I would guess if you set it at 80MHz you have no problems whatsoever. But that's not good enough justification to change the router.

Worth installing a spectrum analyser of your phone and see where you have little neighbors and use those channels.

My2c: Wifi6e may be a better option for you to significantly increase wireless speed. A far cry in coverage compared to 5GHz, but 6GHz is very unused and performance is great. But that requires a different router and 6GHz clients (your phone will do 6GHz, but I doubt anyone cares about it - who needs such speeds for a phone)

 

[bbunge]

Do not force 160 MHz. Doing so will increase the chance that RADAR will shut the 5 GHz down. I have found that Auto channel with 20, 40, 80, 160 MHz is the most succeful. Well, Auto channel at 80 MHz is the most successful.

 

[Tech9]

The 160Mhz seem to be very tricky to use...

160MHz wide channel on 5GHz band was never guaranteed. The same for 40MHz wide channel on 2.4GHz band.

 

[bruroy900]

Thank you all for your answers!! I used different channels 36 to 64 (only them were available) and no one offered a reliable connectivity with the 160Mhz.......unfortunately...........so it should be a better option to me return my equipment and choose a wifi6e (or wait for a wifi7) device? My goal: be more ''future proof'' thanks again!!

 

[drabisan]

Yeah, future proof IMHO would be: buy clients and only after upgrade the network.
Upgrading the network translates in spending premium now to be used later.
I would return it and plan for the future while looking at what clients you own/plan to own.
And write to your legal representative to open 120-128 channels! I have 0 context on the reason they decided to hold back those channels, but it looks so bad