RT-N66U firmware 3.0.0.4.374.720 released

[mikey]

That's the same observation here and it's not a basis to conclude that the router is transmitting with a lower power because when I change the router's orientation 90 degree from the original position, the signals from this firmware is as good as Merlin's .270 based drivers. It's might as well be good only for my environment but it's a good thing to try just in case.

I don't really believe this is a workable fix for me. With the SDK5 drivers, I was getting -65 dBM in my back room and with SDK6 based drivers I get -90 and my devices in that area (Android tablet and security cameras) have intermittent dropouts. Rotating it 90 degrees, even if it fixed the problem in that area, would likely create new problems in other areas. I'm measuring a massive drop in signal quality ALL over the house, regardless of position, with SDK6 so router positioning is nothing but a single-position-based bandaid IMO.

I think the proof that there is something wrong is that, as previously pointed out, setting the signal level on the professional page has absolutely no effect regardless of what you set it to in the SDK6 releases. It worked in the SDK5 releases. So it's like something is hardcoded at a much lower signal strength on the newer releases.

Mike

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I don't really believe this is a workable fix for me. With the SDK5 drivers, I was getting -65 dBM in my back room and with SDK6 based drivers I get -90 and my devices in that area (Android tablet and security cameras) have intermittent dropouts. Rotating it 90 degrees, even if it fixed the problem in that area, would likely create new problems in other areas. I'm measuring a massive drop in signal quality ALL over the house, regardless of position, with SDK6 so router positioning is nothing but a single-position-based bandaid IMO.

I think the proof that there is something wrong is that, as previously pointed out, setting the signal level on the professional page has absolutely no effect regardless of what you set it to in the SDK6 releases. It worked in the SDK5 releases. So it's like something is hardcoded at a much lower signal strength on the newer releases.

Mike

Everybody thinks im crazy but I really believe that Asus has dropped the output on the new SDK6 releases to comply with the FCC law as stated by Netgear in there lawsuit. it makes perfect sense they would do this. Again either way its unusable to me at a distance. Thanks god I have all the older firmware on CD. I wont even bother with any new SDK6 releases if I was forced to I would by another brand router.

 

[RMerlin]

Everybody thinks im crazy but I really believe that Asus has dropped the output on the new SDK6 releases to comply with the FCC law as stated by Netgear in there lawsuit. it makes perfect sense they would do this. Again either way its unusable to me at a distance. Thanks god I have all the older firmware on CD. I wont even bother with any new SDK6 releases if I was forced to I would by another brand router.

Not sure that's the reason. When the RT-AC66U was released last year, it was the first SDK6 device from Asus, and I recall people were already reporting that its 2.4 GHz range was shorter than on the RT-N66U.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Not sure that's the reason. When the RT-AC66U was released last year, it was the first SDK6 device from Asus, and I recall people were already reporting that its 2.4 GHz range was shorter than on the RT-N66U.

I guess no one will ever know but the fact is the signal has tanked on the 2.4 G band. It makes the N66r no better then any standard n150 router. When I bought the Asus router the signals were amazing best router I ever had hands down but with the SDK6 releases its just not what it was. I have a larger home and need to higher output.

 

[jlake]

I guess no one will ever know but the fact is the signal has tanked on the 2.4 G band. It makes the N66r no better then any standard n150 router. When I bought the Asus router the signals were amazing best router I ever had hands down but with the SDK6 releases its just not what it was. I have a larger home and need to higher output.

You should send them an email. My guess is they will spend 6 months trying to "fix it" or "tweak it". And then they'll come to the same conclusion that they did with the other botched sdk. 354 beta was released in March of 2013. They received a lot of negative feedback on it and after 6 months, they put out this workaround.

I think it comes down to a business decision at this point. A new sdk is going to cut in to their profit margins. I also think that RT-N66u owners have been extremely patient, but now Asus needs to take a good hard look at the situation because patience is running a little thin with a lot of folks.

I've said this before and I'll say it again...... Asus needs to get a new sdk from Broadcom ASAP. If they wait 6 months, like they did last time, I think they're going to lose future business.

 

[RogerSC]

Not sure that's the reason. When the RT-AC66U was released last year, it was the first SDK6 device from Asus, and I recall people were already reporting that its 2.4 GHz range was shorter than on the RT-N66U.

That's what the review here (on smallnetbuilder) showed as well for the rt-ac66u. I remember being disappointed to read that 2.4GHz. wasn't doing well on the top of the line Asus router. It was okay on 5GHz. as I recall, but not so much on 2.4GHz.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Running this firmware and have noticed the slight decrease in range on the 2.4 GHz band. I added a TP-Link TL-WA830RE Range Extender to my network and it is working well. I would like to go back to the .27x firmware. Just wondering if anyone has tested .270, .271 and .276 to see if there is a difference in range on both bands. I know the 5 GHz band is broken in all these firmware's. Just want the best one for 2.4 GHz band. Or does all of these firmware's have the same driver and there is no difference.

 

[PrivateJoker]

Running this firmware and have noticed the slight decrease in range on the 2.4 GHz band. I added a TP-Link TL-WA830RE Range Extender to my network and it is working well. I would like to go back to the .27x firmware. Just wondering if anyone has tested .270, .271 and .276 to see if there is a difference in range on both bands. I know the 5 GHz band is broken in all these firmware's. Just want the best one for 2.4 GHz band. Or does all of these firmware's have the same driver and there is no difference.

I will post some #s up by the end of the month, maybe not all of those f/ws you mentioned, but definitely a couple. Pretty systematic, I'm doing pretty detailed and easily repeatable tests on both bands, LAN & WAN, etc.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I will post some #s up by the end of the month, maybe not all of those f/ws you mentioned, but definitely a couple. Pretty systematic, I'm doing pretty detailed and easily repeatable tests on both bands, LAN & WAN, etc.

Thanks joker sounds good.

 

[SN_]

Everybody thinks im crazy but I really believe that Asus has dropped the output on the new SDK6 releases to comply with the FCC law as stated by Netgear in there lawsuit. it makes perfect sense they would do this. Again either way its unusable to me at a distance. Thanks god I have all the older firmware on CD. I wont even bother with any new SDK6 releases if I was forced to I would by another brand router.

I have to admin that i slowly start to believe the same...

After giving RMerlin's 33-beta3 a try and playing around with it i found the following:

Setting tx power at the command line using 'wl -i eth1 txpwr1 XX' did change the output of 'wl -i eth1 txpwrlimit' but did not affect the transmission power at all.
Now comes the funny thing, after the command line 'wl -i eth1 country "US"' tx-power for 2.4GHz was back to the level of SDK5 based FW although 'wl -i eth1 txpwrlimit' still showed the same value as before.

I rechecked with SDK5 and changing the tx-power via command line works just fine for both 2.4 and 5GHZ bands. I am back to SDK5 based FW and will not waste any more time on SDK6.

BTW the major reason for me to buy the RT-N66U was the possibility to use alternative FW like the one from RMerlin or Tomato

 

[stsalkit]

"Suffering" from the same issues (re. signal strength), I am considering downgrading too. Which version do you suggest for best signal strength? I am not so concerned about the 5Ghz stability. Thank you!

 

[Zooks64]

I gave the latest 3xx a try and hated it.

Our ISP just instituted data caps forcing me into the next higher level of service. Ended up getting 100/10 and with that firmware I could never get anywhere close to the speeds I was supposed to be getting on either band.

I flashed back to .276 and I am pleased with it. Signal strength is good and speeds are what they should be.

I currently have .270, .271, .276, 5.354 (mistakenly posted), 4.354, 4.374268, 4.374257, and 4.374720 if anybody wants or needs them.

 

[stsalkit]

I currently have .270, .271, .276, 5.354 (mistakenly posted), 4.354, 4.374268, 4.374257, and 4.374720 if anybody wants or needs them.

May I take on your offer for .276?

 

[ezhangin]

May I take on your offer for .276?

276 is still up on the support page for the RT-N66U.

 

[mikey]

Now comes the funny thing, after the command line 'wl -i eth1 country "US"' tx-power for 2.4GHz was back to the level of SDK5 based FW although 'wl -i eth1 txpwrlimit' still showed the same value as before.

Does this mean that if we issue the wl -i eth1 country "US" command, we could use the new FW with the signal strength as good as the SDK5? So that would allow us to use the SDK6 based firmware with "fixed" 2.4 Ghz signal strength?

So why not just do that in the interim? Only down side I can see is that maybe you'd have to re-issue the command each time you reboot the router?

Mike

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Does this mean that if we issue the wl -i eth1 country "US" command, we could use the new FW with the signal strength as good as the SDK5? So that would allow us to use the SDK6 based firmware with "fixed" 2.4 Ghz signal strength?

So why not just do that in the interim? Only down side I can see is that maybe you'd have to re-issue the command each time you reboot the router?

Mike

Asus wont do that I doubt. Merlin may be able to do that I think its a good idea that way we can have the new firmware with out tanking out the 2.4Ghz band. Is this possible Merlin ??

 

[SN_]

Does this mean that if we issue the wl -i eth1 country "US" command, we could use the new FW with the signal strength as good as the SDK5? So that would allow us to use the SDK6 based firmware with "fixed" 2.4 Ghz signal strength?

So why not just do that in the interim? Only down side I can see is that maybe you'd have to re-issue the command each time you reboot the router?

Mike

Yes and no, in my case it fixed the drop in signal strength for 2.4GHz BUT since txpwrlimit still showed the same value as before i have absolutely no clue what the maximum transmit power will be after running this command!!

 

[PrivateJoker]

I did just notice after doing a bunch of scans around my home (testing other wifi stuff) that my N66 was the only AP that didn't identify itself with a country code.

The SSIDs on top and bottom are my RT-N66U, the middle is an Apple Airport Express of mine. I'm guessing that the country identification in that screenshot is cosmetic only because all my wifi NICs confirm they are in US and even when fiddling with DD-WRT on other routers trying to force Euro or Japanese rules (just to test, for the extra 2.4ghz channels) I was never been successful in getting the router to tell a client to use any compliance domain other than US. I'm guessing the NICs pick it up for elsewhere.

Because in "NVRAM show" I quickly scanned through all the info it spit out and saw several references to it knowing/being set for "US."

Such as. . .

wl0_country_code=US
regulation_domain=US
pci/1/1/ccode=US

With "wl -i eth1 txpwrlimit" request returning:
"1000 mW (30.0 dBm)"

& "wl -i eth2 txpwrlimit" request returning:
"1000 mW (30.0 dBm)"

and "wl -i eth1 country" request returning:
"US (US/63) UNITED STATES"


This is all on my stable build of 3.0.0.4.374.32 (Merlin build).


@SN_, I'm curious what your values for those 5 strings would have been before and after the wl -i eth1 country "US" command.

I highly doubt my radios are putting out 1w each, I would be able to pick up my 2.4ghz signal from really far away and also be crushing any other nearby APs on the channel. In the UI both my radios are set to 120mw right now I believe, but I know some of the regulation stuff will let you put in whatever you want in the UI and still bring the actual TX power & channel availability into compliance.

 

[RMerlin]

Asus wont do that I doubt. Merlin may be able to do that I think its a good idea that way we can have the new firmware with out tanking out the 2.4Ghz band. Is this possible Merlin ??

I would need confirmation first that it really resolves the issue. At first glance it would surprise me, since when I queried the driver using the wl command during my tests yesterday (I forgot which command I used - not at home at the moment), it did tell me it was already set for US. Unless for some odd reason the driver would require that setting to get re-applied?

I would need confirmation from someone who is more seriously impacted by the issue (RogerSC?), since my own tests at home didn't show a clear enough drop between SDK5 and SDK6 to be 100% sure.

Don't put too much stock in the txpwrlimit value. I have no idea if that value actually means anything. The "wl" command is used for a wide range of Broadcom devices, so not all commands apply to this router.

 

[RMerlin]

I did just notice after doing a bunch of scans around my home (testing other wifi stuff) that my N66 was the only AP that didn't identify itself with a country code.

Out of curiosity, can you try the same test after running the following commands on your router?

nvram set wl0_reg_mode=h
nvram set wl1_reg_mode=h
nvram commit
reboot