Voxel firmware and wifi strength

[KILLERDOG]

Thnking of using Voxels fw instead of the stock one for my r7800. My question is, will the wifi signal be stronger with Voxel. I used DDWRT and it let me change the wifi signal strength. Will Voxel firmware improve wifi coverage ?

 

[Deleted member 22229]

In a word. No. Voxel's Fork is still based on the stock Netgear GPL so the power output would be the same. Having higher TX power was never one of the reasons Voxel has put his time and effort into this project. The 7800 has no problem with getting a signal out it's one of the best. I owned one and it worked good running Voxel.

 

[KILLERDOG]

Oh right. I use a lot of wifi smart bulbs and they seem to disconect alot. I was hoping the fw would be better when connecting devices.

 

[fossil]

You have nothing to lose. You can try voxel fw and go back to ddwrt if it does not meet your requirement of signal strength. Boosting signal strength than the optimal range may also increase signal to noise ratio. 2.4 GHz band has more coverage, smart lights can be connected to 2.4 band only. R7800 is pretty good in terms of coverage, though depends on various factors like router placement, house construction (concrete walls), competing wifi channels (use some web analyzer to see other channels in your area) ...

Ddwrt gives more options to tweak in the ui. But it is missing the hardware NAT acceleration. It may not be a concern if primary priority is smart lights but if performance/speed is the main priority it makes a difference.

Second thing is stability, voxel's fw has top notch stability. Many folks restart the router at next fw update with voxel's fw. May require few tweaks to adjust to one's environment/location like adjusting congestion control ... but once you know what works best for you, performance and stability remains same weeks after the fw install/update.

You will know what you are missing (if anything) after trying it for few days.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

You have nothing to lose. You can try voxel fw and go back to ddwrt if it does not meet your requirement of signal strength. Boosting signal strength than the optimal range may also increase signal to noise ratio. 2.4 GHz band has more coverage, smart lights can be connected to 2.4 band only. R7800 is pretty good in terms of coverage, though depends on various factors like router placement, house construction (concrete walls), competing wifi channels (use some web analyzer to see other channels in your area) ...

Ddwrt gives more options to tweak in the ui. But it is missing the hardware NAT acceleration. It may not be a concern if primary priority is smart lights but if performance/speed is the main priority it makes a difference.

Second thing is stability, voxel's fw has top notch stability. Many folks restart the router at next fw update with voxel's fw. May require few tweaks to adjust to one's environment/location like adjusting congestion control ... but once you know what works best for you, performance and stability remains same weeks after the fw install/update.

You will know what you are missing (if anything) after trying it for few days.

Plus, with @Voxel's firmware, you might have a way to tweak/boost the wifi signal from terminal access and scripts.

 

[KILLERDOG]

Thx for your input guys, much appreciated.Its all about having stable wifi and no packet dropping for me. I wont go back to DDWRT, its just far too unstable, buggy and slow. For me, its either stock firmware or Voxels

 

[Gelliss]

I used dd-wrt for a long time and liked it well enough but when I got a big internet speed increase, I found it couldnt keep up as well since it's software NAT trying to emulate the hardware NAT acceleration.

 

[Kitsap]

For iOT devices, tweaking your configuration will improve your stability. Some recommendations:

Smart Connect should be disabled? Under Advanced -> Setup -> Wireless Setup

Dynamic QOS should be disabled? Under Quality of Service.

Traffic Meter should be disabled? Under Advanced -> Advanced Setup -> Traffic Meter

Access Control should be disabled? Under Advanced -> Security -> Access Control

Is IPv6 enabled? If your ISP supports it, it should be enabled. Under Advanced -> Advanced Setup -> IPv6

Is the 2.4 GHz channel selection on Auto? Try manual channels 1, 6, or 11.