Why so narrow band in 5ghz?

[Olndo Pindaro]

This is the 5ghz panel of my rt-ax68S router

I cannot adjust Extension channel (i can set only auto)
this is capture of wifi analizer

why eternal ssid is so narrow? is a problem or is normal?
thanks
Olindo

 

[bbunge]

This is the 5ghz panel of my rt-ax68S router
View attachment 51113

I cannot adjust Extension channel (i can set only auto)
this is capture of wifi analizer

View attachment 51114


why eternal ssid is so narrow? is a problem or is normal?
thanks
Olindo

Depending upon your WIFI environment it could be normal. Connecting with a 160 MHz capable client should increase the router 5 GHz bandwidth. However, pushing 5 GHz to 160 MHz and using DFS channels can result in poor performance. Use Dual Band SmartConnect with Auto Channels and no DFS channels should result in good operation. After a couple of years of "testing" WIFI settings I have settled on channel 11 and 20 MHz for 2.4 GHz and channel 36 and 80 MHz for 5 GHz. My clients and family are happy (for now).

 

[Tech9]

this is capture of wifi analizer

You can see the actual channel details in your router’s System Log, Wireless Log. Wi-Fi Analyzer apps often show incorrect information limited by the radio of the client you run the app on.

 

[Tech9]

After a couple of years of "testing" WIFI settings I have settled on channel 11 and 20 MHz for 2.4 GHz and channel 36 and 80 MHz for 5 GHz

@Olndo Pindaro is in Italy and this may not be the best channel choice. He has 200mW power limit on lower 5GHz channels and 1-13 options on 2.4GHz band. He also doesn’t have upper 149-161 channels available.

 

[OzarkEdge]

This is the 5ghz panel of my rt-ax68S router
View attachment 51113

I cannot adjust Extension channel (i can set only auto)
this is capture of wifi analizer

View attachment 51114


why eternal ssid is so narrow? is a problem or is normal?
thanks
Olindo

Is the analyzer client WiFi adapter limited to that max bandwidth?

Does your region permit the extension frequencies required to support wider bandwidth connections around ch 136?

OE

 

[Ripshod]

Set it to auto and let the firmware do it's work. You'll be surprised I think.

 

[Crimliar]

On the RP-AX58 that's connected to my GT-AX6000 I'll see this if there is nothing connected to the 5GHz. The router will stick at 80 or 160MHz bandwidth, while the node sometimes indicates as low as 10MHz - I'd wondered if this was an error, but as everything works I've not worried too much.

 

[tgl]

why eternal ssid is so narrow? is a problem or is normal?

Is the router actually doing anything? You have it set on variable bandwidth, so I'd expect that it uses only a narrow channel when it's just idling. Start up a high-bandwidth transfer using another client, and then measure again.

 

[Tech9]

There is a good chance this channel 136 is actually locked @20MHz because of regional restrictions. Similar to channel 165 in Canada. My suggestion is to select 80MHz wide bandwidth and check what channel options the router allows. I wouldn't be surprised if channel 136 is not one of them.

@Olndo Pindaro

 

[sfx2000]

You can see the actual channel details in your router’s System Log, Wireless Log. Wi-Fi Analyzer apps often show incorrect information limited by the radio of the client you run the app on.

Agreed - one has to look at things from the AP side - there's a WL command on the CLI, and if I recall, in RMerlin's builds, there is a screen that also indicates this, but the CLI can do this in real-time

On the client side - I've seen this on Mac/Linux/Android with WiFi5 and WiFi6 chipsets, they can and often do dynamically adjust the MCS rates, number of spatial streams, and channel width based on traffic needs and RF conditions - in idle state, one has to take the numbers with a grain of salt - pump some traffic in, and they'll ramp up the resource ask, and give a much better picture of the connection.

 

[tgl]

On the client side - I've seen this on Mac/Linux/Android with WiFi5 and WiFi6 chipsets, they can and often do dynamically adjust the MCS rates, number of spatial streams, and channel width based on traffic needs and RF conditions - in idle state, one has to take the numbers with a grain of salt - pump some traffic in, and they'll ramp up the resource ask, and give a much better picture of the connection.

Yup, I absolutely do see my Mac laptop doing that --- it's very noticeable when you option-click the wifi menu icon that the reported Tx rate drops a lot if it's not doing much wifi-wise. Doesn't seem to affect the output of any of my wifi analyzer apps, though.

 

[Tech9]

and if I recall, in RMerlin's builds

It's there in Asuswrt as well:

In Asuswrt-Merlin this button:

@Olndo Pindaro

 

[sfx2000]

Yup, I absolutely do see my Mac laptop doing that --- it's very noticeable when you option-click the wifi menu icon that the reported Tx rate drops a lot if it's not doing much wifi-wise. Doesn't seem to affect the output of any of my wifi analyzer apps, though.

WiFi Explorer on Mac does the visualization based on the elements in the beacon frame...

FWIW - I was the one that reported the UNII-3/UNII-4 visualization bug with 160MHz channels, they were very nice about it, and fixed it in the most recent release.

 

[Olndo Pindaro]

Thanks to all. I will go for further investigation and i will provide documentation. Just notation. With these setting coverge con 5gh is comparable to 2.4gh e speed not bad even if not comparable (but close) to in router ones.

Thanks to all

P.S=my family heates me for WIFI network breakdown

 

[Olndo Pindaro]

Set it to auto and let the firmware do it's work. You'll be surprised I think.

If i do what you suggest there infostrada (not mine) in perfect overlapping with eternal (mine)

 

[Tech9]

If i do what you suggest there infostrada (not mine) in perfect overlapping with eternal (mine)

The presence of other routers on the same channel doesn't mean the channel is "bad". It may be the best channel most of the time with most available bandwidth. This is why the other routers (perhaps on Auto) stay there. What matters is how active the other routers/networks around are.

 

[Olndo Pindaro]

The presence of other routers on the same channel doesn't mean the channel is "bad". It may be the best channel most of the time with most available bandwidth. This is why the other routers (perhaps on Auto) stay there. What matters is how active the other routers/networks around are.

so are you suggesting me to stay in auto?

 

[Piotrek]

Works for my RT-AX86S

 

[Olndo Pindaro]

Works for my RT-AX86SView attachment 51162

Performance Piotrek?

 

[Piotrek]

Laptop AX (~1200), phone AX (~907-960), TV-box AC (~650-780).