"Virtual hardwire" - my first thread here. A bit all over the place.

[devinrhode2]

According to this page: https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-cable-modem-signal-levels-are-considered-good-78

My modem signal levels were good, and still are good.

 

[drinkingbird]

According to this page: https://www.speedguide.net/faq/what-cable-modem-signal-levels-are-considered-good-78

My modem signal levels were good, and still are good.

See if you can view them when the issue occurs (in addition to pinging the various endpoints), need to narrow down where the issue is happening. Could be wifi interference, could be the router, could be your modem, could be your ISPs infrastructure.

Back when I had Comcast (this was actually one of the reasons that made me switch to FIOS, luckily they had just finished wiring my area) I was having intermittent issues, ended up running non-stop ping plotters to various IPs, showing heavy intermittent packet loss at certain times of the day. Only after showing them those graphs (loss was only beyond the modem) did they finally admit the local power company had a line resting on one of theirs and it was going to be months before they were willing to come out and fix it.

 

[devinrhode2]

So I ended up using a GT-AX11000 Pro for a few weeks. Didn't fix the signals dropping.

Before packing it up, I figured I'd use my ac86u as a "receiver antenna" by resetting it and configuring it in "media bridge" mode. In this mode, it acts basically just as a receiver antenna, and you need a hard-wire ethernet to the back of the AC86U.

That actually solved the wifi drops.

Since I'm only using 2.4ghz, I'm only able to use 802.11n spec (AC isn't supported on 2.4ghz) - I bought a nice little N66U for $30 on ebay.. It will be arriving over the next week. Returning the $450 AX11000 Pro.

If the N66U doesn't work well enough, the ax86u is selling for $179 on asus.com. Two of those would give a really great 2.4ghz connection. I'd be amazed if two AX86U units wouldn't fix the problem (one as a main router, the other as a fancy receiving antenna in media bridge mode).

 

[devinrhode2]

To really splurge, of course two AX11000 Pro units may have a slight edge over two ax86u units, but at 2.5x the cost (whopping $900 total).

Middle ground would be an "AX6000" rated model, like the GT-AX6000 ($279) or the RT-AX88U ($245), both of which have 4x4 antennas.

 

[Piotrek]

ax86u is selling for $179 on asus.com

RT-AX86S is selling for 179,99$, RT-AX86U - 279,99$

like the GT-AX6000 ($279)

Not RT-AX88U but RT-AX88U Pro (349,99$) or RT-AX86U Pro (299,99$)

 

[L&LD]

2x GT-AX6000s are your best hardware buy today. Forget 'splurging'. Just buy the hardware required that has the stability, and reliability track record you need. That is what the GT-AX6000 offers today.

 

[devinrhode2]

Hmm

You are very correct L&LD

AX86U/S doesn't hold a candle to GT-AX6000

GT-AX6000 also has RangeBoost Plus (which may not even be necessary for my setup).

Looks like AX88U Pro ($350) is already available: https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-gaming-routers/rt-ax88u-pro/
(The non-Pro AX88U is $245 on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HM6KJN8/?tag=snbforums-20)

Same price as an AX11000 ($350): https://rog.asus.com/us/networking/rog-rapture-gt-ax11000-model/

But most bang for your buck (in the "premium" category) comes from a $279 GT-AX6000:

https://shop.asus.com/us/rog/90ig0780-ma1b0t-rog-rapture-gt-ax6000.html

Still, if I have a fast and stable connection with the N66U, then I'm going to be trying to hold out for WiFi 7 one day

 

[drinkingbird]

Hmm

You are very correct L&LD

AX86U/S doesn't hold a candle to GT-AX6000

GT-AX6000 also has RangeBoost Plus (which may not even be necessary for my setup).

Looks like AX88U Pro ($350) is already available: https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-gaming-routers/rt-ax88u-pro/
(This makes the non-Pro AX88U irrelevant)

Same price as an AX11000 ($350): https://rog.asus.com/us/networking/rog-rapture-gt-ax11000-model/

But most bang for your buck (in the "premium" category) comes from a $279 GT-AX6000:

https://shop.asus.com/us/rog/90ig0780-ma1b0t-rog-rapture-gt-ax6000.html

Still, if I have a fast and stable connection with the N66U, then I'm going to be trying to hold out for WiFi 7 one day

If all you need is 2.4 N on this particular portion of your network and the speed is sufficient, sounds like a perfect use for that n66u. AX does support 2.4 at much higher speeds but my guess is the devices in question are not AX. The N66 does potentially have some security vulnerabilities but since you're using it behind a router that is up to date, not much concern.

Wifi 7 is a ways away, they're starting to push 6E now. Whichever one finally supports a true standardized seamless roaming solution I'll start to consider upgrading. But no point until I have a phone (the main thing I need roaming to work well on) that supports the same standards.

If I was going to dump $500+ on a pair of access points I wouldn't be looking at Asus honestly.

 

[Piotrek]

But most bang for your buck

If you only need WiFi4 AP you can stay with N66U and if you need to buy something see (~30-35$): EAP110 https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/ceiling-mount-access-point/eap110/ or EAP115 https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/ceiling-mount-access-point/eap115/v4/

 

[devinrhode2]

If I was going to dump $500+ on a pair of access points I wouldn't be looking at Asus honestly.

I'd be curious to see how two GT-AX11000 Pro units compare to other devices... particularly some business-class product... but I'm not sure what business class products to try. Also going to be starting a job soon.. so won't have tons of time to d*ck around with routers.

 

[devinrhode2]

Setup N66U in bridge mode

This morning I had a drop - I forgot to set my mac to prefer the ethernet connection over the wifi. Mind you, there's a few new objects inbetween my laptop and original ac86u router. Slightly off direct line of sign is a metal dog gate. 1ft away from laptop is the n66u, and another 14 feet away is a medium size TV.

Maybe I had drops before, but just didn't notice them. Now I notice EVERY drop, since I have the little meter in my menu bar goes from green to red. Anyway, I'll report back in ~30 days with notes on how many drops I've had now that I'm using the n66u in media bridge mode.

 

[devinrhode2]

If the n66u acting as an antenna/receiver doesn't pan out over next 30 days, I've only lost ~$30 dollars on this device. Hopefully it's good enough for a few more years.

I believe I had fewer drops using vanilla ac86u. Strange that the vanilla ax11000 Pro seemed to have more drops than the vanilla ac86u (despite the fact that there were fewer objects blocking path between my macbook and the router when using the ax11000 Pro). My macbook has 802.11ax support too.