Wi-Fi Signal Strength RT-AC86U v RT-AX88U

[bluzfanmr1]

Post count is not a measure of somebody's knowledge. In my case this 'newbie' is a senior solutions architect with over 22 years of experience deploying servers, networking and other IT projects to large clients. So despite my low post count I am in no means a 'newbie' when it comes to such matters thank you very much

Not sure if this part of the thread needs to be deleted too but my observation was not directed at you. There were a few posts from single digit members that were critical of L&LD. Not meaning to belabor this but felt it was important to let you know.

 

[ASadani]

I am observing the same issue. I got the AX88u to replace my 86u but sadly the 86u is back on track. And the store does not have a return policy. Disappointing.

 

[Maghook]

Just a short impression running 384.14. Notes regarding 2,4 GHz band (in comparison to 384.15 and .16a):

• Noise still at around -100dBm
• Shield itself states RSSI of -69. That is a difference of about 6 for a better reception, otherwise the AX88u still states around -66dBm for the Shield (no change at all)
• Air 3 now switched to 2,4 band(refused to while on 384.15 and .16a)
• S10e now could hold a stable connection at the absolute reception edge on 2,4 band (better WAF)

 

[Luizlp10]

Just a short impression running 384.14. Notes regarding 2,4 GHz band (in comparison to 384.15 and .16a):

• Noise still at around -100dBm
• Shield itself states RSSI of -69. That is a difference of about 6 for a better reception, otherwise the AX88u still states around -66dBm for the Shield (no change at all)
• Air 3 now switched to 2,4 band(refused to while on 384.15 and .16a)
• S10e now could hold a stable connection at the absolute reception edge on 2,4 band (better WAF)

Keep in mind that 6 dbm is 4 times the transmission/reception power, wich is a lot.

 

[ASadani]

I also had issue with WiFi signal on latest 384.15, back to rock solid 384.13 solved all issues related to poor WiFi.

If this is what it takes, I'll test it out with 384.15 and see if the wifi is on par with the 86u. I would surely want a stronger 2.4 as my home is just ok with a single router.

 

[ASadani]

I also had issue with WiFi signal on latest 384.15, back to rock solid 384.13 solved all issues related to poor WiFi.

I've done some testing with 384.13. I've seen that my laptop can now connect to AX network and when the laptop is right next to the router I get 2.0 G connect rate. That wasn't happening with the latest firmware.

When I have both the routers side by side AX88u and the AC86U, the 86U still outperforms the 88U, especially on the 2.4 Ghz band. the 86U is full signal strength where as the 88u disappears.

Also note my 86u is the low powered China version and that too performs so well. I have about 10 friends who have the 86u and in all their homes, the 86u's range is very good. I don't understand how can asus miss the point with this one. I tried to return it but couldn't as the store wouldn't accept returns on open items..

 

[a5m]

Also note my 86u is the low powered China version and that too performs so well.

?

Never heard of this before.

Nevermind. Saw this. First time hearing of it.

 

[htismaqe]

I've done some testing with 384.13. I've seen that my laptop can now connect to AX network and when the laptop is right next to the router I get 2.0 G connect rate. That wasn't happening with the latest firmware.

When I have both the routers side by side AX88u and the AC86U, the 86U still outperforms the 88U, especially on the 2.4 Ghz band. the 86U is full signal strength where as the 88u disappears.

Also note my 86u is the low powered China version and that too performs so well. I have about 10 friends who have the 86u and in all their homes, the 86u's range is very good. I don't understand how can asus miss the point with this one. I tried to return it but couldn't as the store wouldn't accept returns on open items..

The thing is, Asus didn't miss the point. Several people here can't reproduce your issues. It's likely something very specific to your setup and that makes it really hard to troubleshoot.

I replaced my AC86U with the AX88U because it was running out of memory and locking up. I have no issues with the 2.4Ghz band on the AX88U. Throughput at range is actually slightly better. And the 5Ghz band is actually noticeably better than the AC86U.

 

[Val D.]

I replaced my AC86U with the AX88U because it was running out of memory and locking up.

And this is something several people here were unable to reproduce, but it was happening all the time, wasn't it?

 

[htismaqe]

And this is something several people here were unable to reproduce, but it was happening all the time, wasn't it?

Actually, a few people had similar issues with the AC86U when running AIProtection. I wanted to use AIP, so I got rid of mine. I could have continued using it without AIP but decided to just move up to the AX88U instead.

EDIT: Only people using AIP would have seen the problem I was experiencing. It never happened with it off. Since several people here seem to think TrendMicro is a security risk, I would be willing to bet a small subset of people actually use all 3 of the AIP tools together, which is what I was trying to do. Small sample size.

These guys are reporting signal strength issues on the 2.4Ghz band, which pretty much every user would be using. It stands to reason that there would be dozens (or more) reports if it were a widespread issue.

 

[Val D.]

Actually, a few people had similar issues with the AC86U

I know, I was one of them. If you run whatever is provided from TrendMicro on RT-AC86U, every about 1TB of transmitted data you have to reboot it, otherwise something stops working. We both know that the problem is and it happens with every RT-AC86U, not just mine and yours. Still, some people can't see the problem and this router is the best one they ever had. Different levels of product quality tolerance, I guess. This was the first router I ever had that needs periodical reboots in order to work properly and on top of that it may not come back alive if you attempt to reboot it remotely.

 

[htismaqe]

There's one - the soft reboot issue has been reported by nearly every AC86U user. It's happened to almost everybody at least once and there's whole threads dedicated to it.

If the AX88U had serious 2.4Ghz propagation issues that were related to hardware or drivers (and completely unrelated to individual setups), you'd have a similar wealth of reports and probably whole threads dedicated to the issue.

Instead it's 4 or 5 people having the issue and mentioning it in multiple threads.

 

[Val D.]

you'd have a similar wealth of reports and probably whole threads dedicated to the issue.

Hopefully not, because this is the best router you can get with Asuswrt-Merlin support.

 

[htismaqe]

Hopefully not, because this is the best router you can get with Asuswrt-Merlin support.

No kidding!

 

[Intrepid2007]

There's one - the soft reboot issue has been reported by nearly every AC86U user. It's happened to almost everybody at least once and there's whole threads dedicated to it.

If the AX88U had serious 2.4Ghz propagation issues that were related to hardware or drivers (and completely unrelated to individual setups), you'd have a similar wealth of reports and probably whole threads dedicated to the issue.

Instead it's 4 or 5 people having the issue and mentioning it in multiple threads.

I noticed the same issue.. Wifi signal at 2.4 Ghz appears to be quite weaker than before. I am using firmware version 384.15, I also noticed this with the previous firmware version 384.14..

Here the 5 Ghz wifi signal (ch 36) is much stronger than the 2.4 ghz signal. (Edit: difference is 5 dB between those signals)

I didnt report this because I mainly use the 5 Ghz band for my devices. And besides that, I have 2 AX88U units working in Aimesh setup.. if the 2.4 ghz signal gets too low, the other unit takes it over here..

 

[Maghook]

I noticed the same issue.. Wifi signal at 2.4 Ghz appears to be quite weaker than before. I am using firmware version 384.15, I also noticed this with the previous firmware version 384.14..

Here the 5 Ghz wifi signal (ch 36) is much stronger than the 2.4 ghz signal (line of sight , 10 dB difference).

I didnt report this because I mainly use the 5 Ghz band for my devices. And besides that, I have 2 AX88U units working in Aimesh setup.. if the 2.4 ghz signal gets too low, the other unit takes it over here..

I simply guess most owners didn't even notice or worry about the reduction in the 2,4 GHz band coming with the new SDK(driver) as in most cases this doesn't matter for the average joe which is still operating near a good radio signal. And of course, 5GHz band with 384.15 or newer is even better than before. My Devices liked it a lot more than the 2,4 while operating dual channel with same SSID. With the 384.14 it is in fact the other way around up to now in my case. So this seems not be a hardware issue but more of a software one which is good as it could be solved.

 

[Phil Outram]

Since we have some disagreements on here that there is a problem with the 2.4ghz band I have done some further testing which will hopefully prove the point. I've also now finally had Asus admit there appears to be a problem, although doing so has been painful up until this point, and they haven't yet indicated what they are going to do about it.

Anyway, I have purchased an AX56U to act as an aimesh node, removed the Wi-Fi extension cable and reconnected the antenna directly to my AX88U acting as the main router. The AX56U is in the shed in exactly the same place where I had previously attached my external antenna (i.e. in the garden shed outside).

I have attached to this post two screen shots of the various Wi-Fi ssid in my area, one showing the 2.4Ghz band and the other the 5ghz band for reference. Both of these were taken whilst sat on my sofa at 3 metres distance with absolutely no obstacles of any kind between myself and the AX88U. My SSID are called 'Outram 2.4G' and 'Outram 5G'.

In the 2.4G screen shot the red 'Outram 2.4G' is from the AX88U and the grey 'Outram 2.4G' is from the AX56U. You will notice from this that despite having to pass through two brick walls my neighbour's wifi in blue and the one in pink are virtually the same strength as the one coming from my AX88U. The AX56U is behind a solid brick wall and the wall of the shed (plastic) and is providing almost as strong a signal. The 5Ghz band from the other screen shot is also much stronger than the 2.4ghz signal, the orange 'Outram 5G' here is the signal from the AX88U.

Remember both of these are taken in exactly the same place, with all antennas attached as they are supposed to be, and yet the 2.4ghz signal is very poor. Prior to this my signal would be around -30 and not the -65 that it currently sits at. The 5ghz signal at this distance is -45. There is definitely a problem with the close source wi-fi drivers in this build on the 2.4ghz band!

Edit - the AX88u is running 384.15 firmware during this test.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thanks for the update @Phil Outram . That 2.4GHz signal does look diabolical.

You say that going back to the older firmware fixes the problem (i.e. increases the power output)? So at least it doesn't appear to be a hardware fault. Curious as to why everyone else is not experiencing the same. Perhaps there are different hardware revisions or it's linked to the different WiFi region settings (e.g. US vs. EU).

Your pictures don't demonstrate one way or the other your theory that only one antenna is being used. For that I think you'd have to do the dummy load tests I suggested in post #55. But to be honest that's a moot point as there's clearly a software issue and knowing the precise details isn't going to change anything. From what you've said it sounds like Asus are at least aware of the problem now.

 

[Frankflash]

lets hope asus will fix it cant see that happening any time soon . Wouldn't be Surprised if one antenna was being used

 

[Makaveli]

I simply guess most owners didn't even notice or worry about the reduction in the 2,4 GHz band coming with the new SDK(driver) as in most cases this doesn't matter for the average joe which is still operating near a good radio signal. And of course, 5GHz band with 384.15 or newer is even better than before. My Devices liked it a lot more than the 2,4 while operating dual channel with same SSID. With the 384.14 it is in fact the other way around up to now in my case. So this seems not be a hardware issue but more of a software one which is good as it could be solved.

Pretty much this for me.

I don't use 2.4Ghz for anything on my network minus my Harmony Hub. The laptops and cells are all on 5Ghz and everything else is wired to the network. So even if range went down with 2.4Ghz it wouldn't really be visible for me.