Setting up two wireless routers

[NorthwestHB]

Ok so I'm trying to solve a problem with my network. I have an Asus ac-3200 and I'm having issues with devices dropping out on it. Basically the signal to the router is great but devices just won't connect to it, or some devices just get dropped off and can't reconnect. This is most particular to the 2.4 Ghz band. I'm pretty sure this is because there are too many devices for the router to have the stream space to communicate to any additional devices. So what I'm planning on doing is getting a second router and connecting the old one to the new one. I'm trying to create a unified network since I have a plex server. Can I just connect the two together and if so is there a router you guys recommend?

 

[Easy Rhino]

if you have a lot of 2.4ghz devices, but they're not actively in use at that moment, I'm skeptical that that is the problem.

I'm not an asus expert but there may be some settings you can tweak for enhanced stability. Like narrowing your bandwidth to only 20mhz instead of 40mhz. Or disabling older 802.11b and g speeds. Or disabling fancy things like beamforming.

 

[NorthwestHB]

I was skeptical as well. However if I turn off a device the aforementioned device that cannot get on...gets on. I'd be interested in adjusting some setting.

 

[umarmung]

Wireless networks continually broadcast traffic like beacons (one of the reasons why connecting to a badly configured wireless network can wreck your phone's battery life).

Depending on how many devices you have and how slow they are (the slower they are, the worse they are at using airtime in a shared medium), you can be better off with more APs. But unless its a weak AP, you'd need 30+ devices to notice anything weird per AP.

More likely you are suffering from the usual 2.4GHz interference. Switching as many devices to 5GHz will help a ton. You can check if your 2.4GHz overlaps significantly with others in the area with a WiFi Analyzer and change channel appropriately, preferably channel 1, 6 or 11.

There are other things you can do, but it depends on the configuration capabilities of your router, which tends to be minimal with consumer routers.

 

[NorthwestHB]

It is both interference and a ton of devices haha

 

[CaptainSTX]

How large is the DHCP pool you set up? Try expanding it if it is less than 30 possible connections. Also consider shortening up the lease period so your router can more quickly resuse IPs. Finally for devices that connect regularly for extended periods of time assign them sticky/static IPs using the router.

 

[coxhaus]

I don't know about Asus devices but Cisco small business wireless units list how many connections and active connections are supported for wireless units. It is different for different wireless units. So I believe there is a limit on the number of connections.

 

[NorthwestHB]

How large is the DHCP pool you set up? Try expanding it if it is less than 30 possible connections. Also consider shortening up the lease period so your router can more quickly resuse IPs. Finally for devices that connect regularly for extended periods of time assign them sticky/static IPs using the router.

Pool is 252. I will reduced the lease time...how much do you think I should reduce it to?

 

[coxhaus]

Pool is 252. I will reduced the lease time...how much do you think I should reduce it to?

I would only reduce the lease time if your lease pool is getting low otherwise you are going to generate more traffic your router needs to deal with. All DHCP requests will happen sooner with a shorter lease.

 

[Easy Rhino]

have you narrowed it down to a small handful of problem devices? maybe its a poorly behaved client(s) causing problems.

you have an ac3200... tri-band right? does it have like a smart connect feature to try to steer clients between bands? turn it of and assign manually.

how your "basics" on reducing congestion:

• move as many clients to ethernet as possible ( you can add a cheap switch if needed)
• move as many clients to 5ghz as possible
• on 5ghz, try to split the load evenly between the two.

and my previous ideas on tweaking the 2.4ghz might help with congestion.

is your house soeed spread out over a decent distance? if so an access point would help because some of the clients could connect to it. however if the second router would be adjacent to your current one then i don't see much help

 

[NorthwestHB]

Everything that can be is moved over to ethernet. I have attempted to handle poorly behaving devices by just getting rid of them. The smart connect feature was actually taken out of the Asus router a few years ago and now it's all manually assigning. I have moved what can be to the 5 GHZ bands. I plan to put the second router on the other side of the house from the first where the interference is low and where I can maximize coverage.

 

[NorthwestHB]

Everything that can be is moved over to ethernet. I have attempted to handle poorly behaving devices by just getting rid of them. The smart connect feature was actually taken out of the Asus router a few years ago and now it's all manually assigning. I have moved what can be to the 5 GHZ bands. I plan to put the second router on the other side of the house from the first where the interference is low and where I can maximize coverage.

I am going to go forward with linking a secondary router to the first. I'm looking at having a quad stream for the primary and using my current as the secondary.