XT8 using 2.4ghz as backhaul even though worse than 5ghz

[ArbitRabbit]

Same issue on XT8 - link arbitrarily switches to 2.4Ghz uplink and speed becomes super slow. Reboot and it goes to 5 GHz and stays there for a day or so, and then returns to 2.4Ghz. Super annoying as it switches when both Mrs and I are on video calls. Come one ASUS, fix it and in the mean time allow us to force 5Ghz

 

[leerees]

Are you using DFS channels? If so, it takes around 10 minutes for the radio to come online.

Only other issue could be signal. WiFi bounces off walls and it isn't always obvious where to place nodes. Experiment by moving them around and recording the rssi levels.

 

[ArbitRabbit]

Are you using DFS channels? If so, it takes around 10 minutes for the radio to come online.

Only other issue could be signal. WiFi bounces off walls and it isn't always obvious where to place nodes. Experiment by moving them around and recording the rssi levels.

Was this meant for me? If so, I don’t understand. The WiFi does connect at 5Ghz dedicated backhaul (which can use DFS channels, yes). It works solid for a day or two and then switches to 2.4Ghz. Only way to get it back is reboot the system. The RSSI is -69db at my satellite and link quality at 5Ghz is great. So the fact that it switches, and then won’t switch back to 5GHz on its own, without a reboot, seems like a bug to be.

 

[RubyMJ]

An update on my situation (ct8 with xd4s) is that I disabled guest network and it seems to work fine now. A week of it being stable without dropping to 2.4ghz backhaul. So far most settings are back to factory default (auto channels, quality monitoring to drop devices less than -70 dB RSSI, etc). There haven't been any firmware upgrades by asus so it's not that.

I don't understand why the guest network became the issue if it's always been on since the beginning, though.

 

[DaveR]

Thanks @DaveR.

Just to close the loop for all on this thread, based on advice from a different forum, I downgraded the firmware to a previous version (4095). It seemed to work better for a day or two, with the 5GHZ-2 backhaul for most links (except one router that is a bit farther away - makes sense since 2.4 GHz penetrates walls better). But then it reverted back to its previous behavior. All backhauls reverted to 2.4GHz. The download speeds were terrible - I have fiber optic with 500-700 mbps download and ~300 upload at the main router, but in rooms more than 1 room away, speeds dropped to about 20 mbps download, 4-5 mbps upload, the same as my old DSL. And routers kept dropping out at strange moments.

So I gave up...I returned 4 routers to Amazon for a full refund (thanks Amazon!! you may treat your employees like crap but your return policy is great), and one (bought on Amazon Marketplace from a 3rd party vendor, not so friendly in its exchange policy) I sold at a decent price on LeBonCoin (French eBay).

Meanwhile I bought the Linksys Velop mesh system for about half the price ( Linksys Système WiFi Mesh Multiroom triple bande Velop WHW0303 (routeur Wi-Fi AC2200 / extension Wi-Fi pour une portée de signal jusqu'à 525 m2, co ), and it's been great. Download/upload speeds in those more distant rooms are generally 100-120 mbps, and in the adjoining rooms to the main router they're at 200+ mbps. It's gotten faster and faster in the past couple of weeks and is incredibly stable. Never a dropped router.

Lesson learned. Sometimes the priciest, fanciest systems aren't actually the best...maybe they're buggy because they try to do too much...

Thanks for the update, yes it is a garbage.

I actually tried resetting the mesh node, and then found I couldn't reconnect it !! A bit of reading up told me that I had to un-hide the SSID, but the interface wouldn't work - every time I tried to change it it changed my standard 5ghz SSID to the same name as the backhaul, and left it hidden. I never got around to resetting both systems and starting from scratch.. Finally I just connected up a ethernet backhaul, and everything worked nicely.

Also noticed that the firmware on the CT* is from last year, but the XT8 firmware is constantly upgraded - I wonder if they aren't supporting the CT8 anymore..

 

[Tejstar]

I ended up returning the XT8 and am back to the much more reliable AC86U/AC68U AiMesh combo.

I'm disappointed as I really wanted the XT8 to work - it seemed ideal for my purposes where I cannot use wired backhaul, so I had high hopes for the dedicated 5Ghz wireless backhaul. Looks like I'll be waiting a bit longer for something better to come along.

 

[KingBravery]

I ended up returning the XT8 and am back to the much more reliable AC86U/AC68U AiMesh combo.

I'm disappointed as I really wanted the XT8 to work - it seemed ideal for my purposes where I cannot use wired backhaul, so I had high hopes for the dedicated 5Ghz wireless backhaul. Looks like I'll be waiting a bit longer for something better to come along.

what problem is that?

 

[ryanslade]

I've been having exactly the same problem described here. After a day or so my second XT8 starts using the 2.4ghz channel for backhaul and my network slows down to a crawl. The 5ghz-2 dedicated backhaul has great signal between the two nodes.

I've just tried unticking the "Enable 160mhz" option for the 5ghz-2 band and seems to have worked for now. The two nodes are again using the 5ghz backhaul and speeds are back up.

I'll keep any eye on it for a couple of days and try disabling more frequencies to see if I can get it to stick to 5ghz-2 for backhaul.

 

[ArbitRabbit]

Had exactly the same issue. Downgraded firmware to 42095 and it has been rock steady since then

 

[ryanslade]

That was the first thing I tried and it worked for about a day before switching back to 2.4ghz backhaul.

 

[ArbitRabbit]

Strange. What’s the RSSI of your units?

 

[ryanslade]

Where can I see that?

 

[ArbitRabbit]

On the ASUS Router app. When you click on any mode, it will show you the signal strength.

 

[ryanslade]

I have two units.

A is connected to ISP router by ethernet (I've disabled WiFi on the ISP router).
B is connected to A via 5ghz backhaul with RSSI = -32dBm

 

[ArbitRabbit]

-32 is way too close I think. Can you move till you get RSSI of between -60 and -65?

 

[ryanslade]

It's difficult due to the layout of my house. The position of router B currently gives me the best coverage and I can't move router A.

Why would being too close cause problems? Why would that force it to drop back to 2.4ghz for backhaul?

 

[ArbitRabbit]

Hard to say why - only thing is your setup is unusual and hence might not have been tested by the engineers who wrote firmware for the router. Could also be interference on the 5GHz band. You can use a WiFi analyzer software to see if that’s the case.
Can you move B to a different power socket a bit further away?

 

[ryanslade]

Just a follow up to say that since I've disabled the 160Mhz band things have been really solid for me and my nodes stay connected using 5ghz-2 for backhaul.

 

[JagoUK]

160mhz can be a nightmare on these units. I returned mind because weather radar was pinging channel 124.
The radar ping didn't always appear in both logs do you have to check both.

 

[coopdeo]

Got the exact same problem (mentioned here), with the backhaul getting stuck on "weak" 2.4ghz connection even though there was a great connection between the nodes on 5ghz and no radar events reported in the log.
After trying everything reccomended here with no luck (the backhaul always reverted to 2.4ghz within 3 hours), I called Asus support. After ruling out interference issues, the guy I talked with said that I was not the first one with this problem. After this, I got both of my XT8s replaced. Exact same problems on the new ones though - so I returned them for a refund. Looking around on this forum, it seems like a common problem. Not sure what to replace them with though.