Starting to despair

[bbunge]

Just to add more confusion to the mix, I'v just tried using a Wi-Fi analyser app on my phone and it's currently reporting channel 7 as being one of the worst to use at the moment and that just happens to be the one that my router has chosen to use.

View attachment 51777

The WIFIAnalyzer will show the worst channel as the one the device is connected to. Does not seem like a good way to go but what do you expect for free? And no, it is not a security risk. At least no more than many other free Android apps...

@maxbraketorque mentioned that we need a router system that works with other routers in the neighborhood. I posed that since WIFI uses Carrier Sense Media Access Collision Avoidance, is it possible that this magical system allows WIFI systems to do this now? On auto channel my router seems to readily switch to the 5 GHz channel my closest neighbor uses. WIFI performance is not degraded, as far as I can tell. It makes sense to me that the radios need to be on the same channel to best detect and avoid packet collisions. Sure, running on non-overlapping channels should do the same thing. I'm likely very wrong but at least I'm thinking...and sometimes learning.
F.W.I.W. I have settled on a fixed 80 MHz bandwidth for my 5 GHz as several of my clients, smart TV's especially, connect faster and run at 80 MHz anyway. And I'm sure that someone will point out that I only have 100/100 FIOS...

 

[L&LD]

Yes, just like many other (all) Android and IoS apps, they are a security risk.

Search with the right keywords to verify this key basic fact of 'apps'. They don't want you to use anything other than their app because they track you and can get so much more from you when you use it (i.e. all data stored on the device/account and/or cloud you use it on).

And many times, other (apps) get that information too. Without your knowledge or consent, nor with any way to disable that behavior in the first place.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Here's some comparison results from some tests I made today using my ASUS RT-AX88U Pro router and my ISP-supplied FRITZ!Box 7530 AX.

 

[maxbraketorque]

Here's some comparison results from some tests I made today using my ASUS RT-AX88U Pro router and my ISP-supplied FRITZ!Box 7530 AX.

Interesting variability in the AX88U Pro 2.4 GHz signal strength. Can you post the "Wireless/Professional" settings for the 2.4 GHz band?

 

[dlandiss]

Given the state of 2.4ghz, this is not an Asus problem, it is an everyone problem. It picks the best channel at the time the wifi comes up. But the 2.4ghz environment can change frequently throughout the day

Indeed! And the channel with the strongest signal is not necessarily the busiest. Witness this screen clip -- "taller" signals are stronger, but brighter colors have more traffic.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Interesting variability in the AX88U Pro 2.4 GHz signal strength. Can you post the "Wireless/Professional" settings for the 2.4 GHz band?

Here you go.

 

[maxbraketorque]

Here you go.

On the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, try disabling:

- Roaming Assist
- Multi-User MIMO

 

[TheLyppardMan]

On the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, try disabling:

- Roaming Assist
- Multi-User MIMO

I'll try it in the morning when the network is quiet. What effect will making these changes have on my network?

 

[drinkingbird]

I'll try it in the morning when the network is quiet. What effect will making these changes have on my network?

Those will likely have no impact. However disabling universal beamforming (I'm sure it's been mentioned in this thread before, in fact this is mention #3 by me) will likely stabilize your 2.4ghz signal strength.

Exactly what issue are you having at this point, what problem are you trying to solve? Your testing and troubleshooting methodology is just running everyone in circles.

 

[drinkingbird]

Indeed! And the channel with the strongest signal is not necessarily the busiest. Witness this screen clip -- "taller" signals are stronger, but brighter colors have more traffic.

View attachment 51907

Is that a true spectrum analyzer (hardware based) or just a calculated representation? I have one AP capable of spectrum analysis including noise and utilization, it only does 1 channel at a time but is very handy. I used to have access to a good site survey setup but don't work in that area anymore. That, and it was 802.11a/b only, it was that long ago.....

Interesting that your area is following 1/6/11 pretty well. Haven't seen any like that in a long time. I'm assuming the strongest one is yours, you might actually be better served by 3 or 4.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Just to let you know, none of the suggested changes above has made any difference to the stability of the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal. No need to spend any more time on this.

 

[dlandiss]

Is that a true spectrum analyzer (hardware based) or just a calculated representation?

It is an old MetaGeek USB receiver called Wi-Spy. In conjunction with inSSIDer Office it can show signal strength and RF usage simultaneously. The Wi-Spy does not depends on channels, it just shows the raw spectrum so can be used to detect non-Wi-Fi interference as well. It has since been replaced by Wi-Spy DBX.

 

[drinkingbird]

It is an old MetaGeek USB receiver called Wi-Spy. In conjunction with inSSIDer Office it can show signal strength and RF usage simultaneously. The Wi-Spy does not depends on channels, it just shows the raw spectrum so can be used to detect non-Wi-Fi interference as well. It has since been replaced by Wi-Spy DBX.

Yep I remember that one, never bought one but it looked pretty cool. Still had access to free stuff at that point

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Just to let you know, none of the suggested changes above has made any difference to the stability of the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal. No need to spend any more time on this.

Just to confirm, it seems to be OK now on channel 1, even with AX enabled. The 10-minute blips are caused by the JDast tester running a download speed test, so nothing to worry about.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Hmm - I just tried to use my Canon scanner and received the error message I was getting before, so I checked out the Wi-Fi and sure enough, the data transfer speed had dropped right down again. At the time, I had it manually set to channel 1, so I've set it back to auto and its chosen channel 8, which is working OK at the moment. What I can't understand it why it was having problems with channel 1 when there was very little traffic on that channel as you can see below:

This was the information being reported by InSSIDer about my Wi-Fi (ab2CYwLB) when I was on channel 1:

This is a speed test taken when I was on channel 1:

And this is what I am currently getting on channel 8:

So what would you conclude from these results?
I'm currently using the official firmware, but I had the same problem using Merlin.

 

[dlandiss]

So what would you conclude from these results?

Possibly RF noise near Ch 1? If it is uncorrelated, the usual scanners will not see it. They respond only to signals they can identify as Wi-Fi.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

It's very strange because this is only a fairly recent problem and it was also causing a problem with channel 11 when I first reported this, so it was assumed at that time that I would be OK if I avoided that channel (which I'd always used previously as that had given me the best results).

I've turned on automatic ping monitoring and will leave that running for a few days to see what happens. I'll leave the router set to auto as well, to see what it does.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Current Wi-Fi signal strength (auto channel 8 and with Universal Beamforming disabled) and ping results over the last hour. The signal strength is more stable at the moment, but I'm not sure if that is because of the channel change or turning UB off (I suspect the latter, based on comments I've read in this thread).

 

[TheLyppardMan]

The ping interval has shot up again. I've tried changing channels from auto (8) to manual and both give similar results. So now I can't seem to rely on anything to give good results and all this with little traffic from my neighbours at the moment. The data transfer rates are also rubbish now as well (1.61 Mbps down and 2.07 Mbps up).

 

[TheLyppardMan]

I just swapped out my ASUS router for my ISP-supplied router (FRITZ!Box 7530 AX) and got similar abysmal results about 10 feet away from the router, Viz, with a strong Wi-Fi signal the download speed was 3.01 Mbps and the upload speed was 1.59 Mbps on a full fibre 900 connection.

I've put the ASUS router back in service and it's chosen channel 8 again. I've set the router to "n only" as tried previously and the speeds are now 30.82/20.94. The current ping results are as follows:

This is the current [auto] Wi-Fi setup:

I'll leave this on test overnight and see what happens.