RT-N66U seems to have lost its range

[simon451]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and looks like a great place. Hopefully might be able to get some input into an issue I'm having - will try to keep it concise!

Recently upgraded to fibre optic broadband and got the Asus to replace my previous router as it has to be situated further away from my room and from the great reviews it got thought it would be a good choice. Tried the router in the new position and was amazed at the signal strength I could receive on all devices in my room. Left the router there all night and tried loads of devices, all received a great signal.

The engineer came, fitted the new modem and I connected up the Asus but since then with an identical position the signal strength has dropped dramatically with things in my room (such as Xbox, Wii, Denon receiver). Xbox, for example, displayed full WiFi strength when first tested and now is so poor is actually dropping connection. (On reading the forum I have read some issues with the Xbox Slim but all other devices having similar issues.) No other changes have been made to the network - nothing new/changed etc. I have spent a while browsing the forum and tried the various suggestions I have come across - channel bandwidth set to 20MHz, trying different channels, disabling 5GHz broadcast, updating firmware, factory reset, checking antennas screwed in well, all to no avail. I know wireless can be a bit fickle, but to have such a strong signal drop so much does seem strange. Could the router have developed a fault? The problem is certainly not as bad as I have read a couple of people have had in this forum with the signal dropping off at 5feet, but at the same time is performance has dropped so much it does make me wonder. As a comparison I have tried two other wireless routers in exactly the same place - one, the basic free one I got with the fibre upgrade (Technicolour tg582n) and the other a TP-Link W8960N. This is also making me question whether I have an issue with the Asus, as I have read nothing but great plaudits for its wireless performance but its range is being matched but the antenna-less, free router, and surpassed by the old TP-Link! I really wouldn't expect it to only match a cheap wireless router for performance.

If anyone has any suggestions as to anything else I could try I would be very grateful. Sorry if I have missed out any important info - bit of a newbie to these things. Thanks for reading,

Simon

 

[r00t4rd3d]

Have you updated the firmware on the router? Have you thought about using Merlins firmware?

Try this firmware, its what Merlin recommends for the N66U:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/122dt33hdhugd4h/RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.39_0-em.zip

 

[jlake]

After you flash Merlin's em firmware as suggested above, then follow steps in link below.

You also have to find out if your ISP gave you a plain modem or did they give you a modem/router. Sometimes double natting on the same subnet can appear to be a wireless problem, when in reality it's a NAT conflict. IP address conflicts can cause connection dropping and all sorts of strange behavior.

You didn't say which firmware version you were using and having problems with.


Here's the trouble shooting link:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12453

Edit: I see your ISP gave you modem/router----check to see if you are double natting on same subnet.
Edit2: disable the wireless on your ISP router while you are trying to trouble shoot
Edit3: if you still have problems,then trying giving your asus router completely new SSIDs. Use something that you've never used before.

 

[cofetym]

Try this http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Asus/RT-N66U/Xbox_Live_360.htm

Use this build instead: .39_0 zip

 

[RMerlin]

Try this http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Asus/RT-N66U/Xbox_Live_360.htm

Use this build instead: .39_0 zip

I chuckled when I saw that guide has people forward ports 80 and 53.

 

[cofetym]

Come on Merlin stop laughing and enlighten us to the proper settings please.

 

[jlake]

Come on Merlin stop laughing and enlighten us to the proper settings please.

He's probably chuckling because he's seen probably hundreds of posts where people forward ports 80 and 53 and then complain that none of their family members have internet anymore.

The xbox guide says port 80 and port 53 need to be open. For 99 percent of people, those ports are already open. There's no need to forward them (unless you intentionally want to deny the rest of your household of internet). The xbox guide doesn't say to "forward" those ports, it just says they need to be "open". They're already open.

Some people need to forward UDP 88 and UDP/TCP 3074 if the chat doesn't work (or some other port-1863 for kinect). but that's it. UPnP handles the rest.

Here's the link to the guide. No where does it say to forward port 80 and port 53 (on microsofts site). My guess is Microsoft is intentionally vague because microsofts lawyers told them to be vague due to potential security risks with UPnP and port forwarding.

https://support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-360/networking/network-ports-used-xbox-live

 

[RMerlin]

Come on Merlin stop laughing and enlighten us to the proper settings please.

It's just that I seem to revisit this particular case regularly on these forums. And now even a website that is supposed to be a resource site dedicated to "proper port forwards" are posting forwards that make no sense.

Based on the forward recommendations, that would mean your XBox is running its own web server and also its own public DNS server, and that it should be accessible from the rest of the world. I... doubt it.

To sum it up: Open means outbound. Forward means inbound. A port forwarding expert site should know the difference between the two (or so I would expect).

 

[cofetym]

I appreciate learning a little bit more about port forwarding

 

[simon451]

First of all thanks for all the replies - it is much appreciated.

Apologies for missing out firmware info - bit of a schoolboy error there! Worth noting though that there was no firmware change between the initial tests where signal strength was superb and then setting it up after fibre installation and the signal strength dramatically dropping. I have since updated the firmware (just via the GUI) to 3.0.0.4.374 979, but with no noticeable change. Cannot remember the previous version unfortunately, but it wasn't a huge difference, definitely 3.xxx.

I'll look into the custom firmware - thanks for the links. The Xbox port forwarding has already been done, but thanks for the links for that.

One thing I didn't explain very well is that the Asus is just plugged into a modem. The engineer actually came from the supplier (BT) and fitted this, the free wireless router was sent through the post by my ISP (Plusnet). Sorry if this caused confusion. Any testing done with the wireless routers has been done one at a time with the others unplugged.

Also interested to read the suggestion to change the SSID to something completely new will give that a try.

Again, thanks for all the help. Will update with how I get on

Simon

 

[jlake]

I'm curious. Why are you using old firmware? Have you gone to asus website to see if there are any firmware updates?

 

[simon451]

Thanks for suggestion - just been to the ASUS website and noticed more recent firmware. When going through the router GUI, clicking check firmware update indicated that I did have the latest firmware but checking as you suggested on the website there was new (actually more than one!) versions. Have downloaded and installed the latest firmware now (.4561) and also tried completely changing the SSID but still not having any joy. Will keep plugging away at the suggestions

 

[jlake]

Thanks for suggestion - just been to the ASUS website and noticed more recent firmware. When going through the router GUI, clicking check firmware update indicated that I did have the latest firmware but checking as you suggested on the website there was new (actually more than one!) versions. Have downloaded and installed the latest firmware now (.4561) and also tried completely changing the SSID but still not having any joy. Will keep plugging away at the suggestions

Ok. Let me see if I can give you the abbreviated history of the wireless range on the RT-N66U in a hundred words or less.

1. The best wireless range driver for the RT-N66U has been retired. That was on firmware .27x. There's security vulnerabilities there so don't use it (unless you put n66u in AP mode...then it's probably ok to use).

2. That .979 and .726 firmware you were using has range problems. Serious range problems, imo

3. The latest firmware from Asus .4561 has pretty decent range.

4. The best range is the em version of Merlin's firmware. Asus gave Merlin that em driver. It stands for "engineering mode". It has very similiar range to the old .276 firmware. It probably has a little too much oomph to be put in Asus stock firmware. When I tested it, it's range was about 6 feet less than number 1 (see above). But it's still pretty good unless you live in the Clampett mansion. Merlin is now using the em driver for all new n66u firmware.

Check for firmware updates frequently on the websites.

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/bkfq2a6aebq68//Asuswrt-Merlin

 

[sm00thpapa]

I have .270, .271 and .276 if you want them.

 

[wouterv]

I have .270, .271 and .276 if you want them.

As pointed out by jlake, there are numerous security fixes since version .27x
It is really not a good idea to keep using these and even worse to recommend them to others.

 

[sm00thpapa]

As pointed out by jlake, there are numerous security fixes since version .27x
It is really not a good idea to keep using these and even worse to recommend them to others.

What are the security issues?

 

[RMerlin]

What are the security issues?

If you are going to run such an old version, then you should keep both FTP and AiCloud disabled, and be careful about not clicking on any malicious link that might compromise your router through one of the recently fixed crosssite vulnerabilities. Ideally, disable the HTTP webui access, enable the HTTPS only access, and switch the port to a different one (for example, 6443).

 

[sm00thpapa]

If you are going to run such an old version, then you should keep both FTP and AiCloud disabled, and be careful about not clicking on any malicious link that might compromise your router through one of the recently fixed crosssite vulnerabilities. Ideally, disable the HTTP webui access, enable the HTTPS only access, and switch the port to a different one (for example, 6443).

Thank you for the info Merlin. Why couldn't Asus just continue to use this wireless driver in future builds? This driver is by far the best. I have a huge 2 story home and this FW gives me great coverage including front and back yard. All the others are pure garbage.

 

[wouterv]

What are the security issues?

To mention a few:

3.0.0.4.354
-Potential security issue from UPnP overflow.

3.0.0.4.372
-Fixed AiCloud vulnerability related bugs.

3.0.0.4.374.979
-Fixed DNS Amplified DDoS vulnerability.

3.0.0.4.374.2050
-Fixed httpd vulnerably issues.

3.0.0.4.374.4422
-Fixed lighthttpd vulnerability.
-Fixed cross-site scripting vulnerability (CWE-79).
-Fixed the authentication bypass (CWW-592).

3.0.0.4.374.4561
-Added IPv6 firewall.

Besides above security fixes there are many serious bug fixes, e.g. related to IPv6 in general and PPPOE.
And for sure there are a few undocumented fixes.
Be aware that the Internet is actively scanned by malicious users for known security holes in routers, similar to active scanning for security holes in Windows (the reason to no longer use Windows XP on networked computers).

 

[sm00thpapa]

To mention a few:

3.0.0.4.354
-Potential security issue from UPnP overflow.

3.0.0.4.372
-Fixed AiCloud vulnerability related bugs.

3.0.0.4.374.979
-Fixed DNS Amplified DDoS vulnerability.

3.0.0.4.374.2050
-Fixed httpd vulnerably issues.

3.0.0.4.374.4422
-Fixed lighthttpd vulnerability.
-Fixed cross-site scripting vulnerability (CWE-79).
-Fixed the authentication bypass (CWW-592).

3.0.0.4.374.4561
-Added IPv6 firewall.

Besides above security fixes there are many serious bug fixes, e.g. related to IPv6 in general and PPPOE.
And for sure there are a few undocumented fixes.
Be aware that the Internet is actively scanned by malicious users for known security holes in routers, similar to active scanning for security holes in Windows (the reason to no longer use Windows XP on networked computers).

Thank you and Merlin for the info. I just switched over to Merlin's .39_0-em. Guess I'll stick with this until further updates.