ZenWifi AX No 160mhz for backhaul

[DraconianCurve]

Ok that's good. You just managed to clip it off but to the right of that image is the TX and RX rates. Would be good to see them for all devices to see if they are reaching the speed cap for particular scenarios or if speed is having issues due to the dB.

Here's a screenshot of the log with the Tx and Rx rates included:

iPhone's now at the top of the list there... Using Speedtest app, I'm currently only getting 264Mbps download / 121Mbps upload with the phone only 2 metres from the main router, yet via ethernet on the PC I'm getting 864/119 Mbps

 

[JagoUK]

Here's a screenshot of the log with the Tx and Rx rates included:

View attachment 25382

iPhone's now at the top of the list there... Using Speedtest app, I'm currently only getting 264Mbps download / 121Mbps upload with the phone only 2 metres from the main router, yet via ethernet on the PC I'm getting 864/119 Mbps

Ok thats interesting. You are not topping out at the max rate like you are on your AC 866.7M which shows your antennas are OK.
Go into AI mesh and check if it is connecting to the node or the router.
I have found if my phone connects to one then I get close to the other it will stick until I disconnect and reconnect.
This is very symptomatic when rebooting the router or the node. I can be sat right next to the node. But because I have rebooted the node it connected to the router and likes the connection so won't attempt to reconnect back to the node despite router giving me 60mbps as opposed to the 1.2gb I can get from the node.

 

[DraconianCurve]

I've restarted WiFi on my phone and I'm now definitely connected via the main hub, just a couple of metres away:

Retesting internet speed via the Speedtest app, it's now reporting 384/122 Mbps

 

[JagoUK]

I've restarted WiFi on my phone and I'm now definitely connected via the main hub, just a couple of metres away:

View attachment 25384

Retesting internet speed via the Speedtest app, it's now reporting 384/122 Mbps

Under the professional tab for 5g1 try enabling DL/UL OFDMA + MU-MIMO

You dont have any port forwards do you?

Might be worth trying to turn off some of the advanced features too.

One last thing to try is manually selecting different channels. I did find some channels restricted the throughput.

 

[DraconianCurve]

Under the professional tab for 5g1 try enabling DL/UL OFDMA + MU-MIMO

You dont have any port forwards do you?

Might be worth trying to turn off some of the advanced features too.

One last thing to try is manually selecting different channels. I did find some channels restricted the throughput.

I've applied the DL/UL OFDMA + MU-MIMO setting, but it makes no material difference.

No port forwards

Advanced features - Only AIProtection enabled. Could turn this off for purposes of testing, but would prefer to keep it on long-term. Don't have any QoS enabled; guest networks or anything.

Different channels - could give this a go, but will wait to later once the household has stopped shouting at me for constantly fiddling with their WiFi connection

Interestingly, with the DL/UL OFDMA + MU-MIMO setting applied to 5g1, my Sky Q boxes (Main and Mini) have stopped connecting... Might be a coincidence and perhaps reboots all round will help. It's a minefield, this!

 

[JagoUK]

I've applied the DL/UL OFDMA + MU-MIMO setting, but it makes no material difference.

No port forwards

Advanced features - Only AIProtection enabled. Could turn this off for purposes of testing, but would prefer to keep it on long-term. Don't have any QoS enabled; guest networks or anything.

Different channels - could give this a go, but will wait to later once the household has stopped shouting at me for constantly fiddling with their WiFi connection

Interestingly, with the DL/UL OFDMA + MU-MIMO setting applied to 5g1, my Sky Q boxes (Main and Mini) have stopped connecting... Might be a coincidence and perhaps reboots all round will help. It's a minefield, this!

Aye, the family issues. I ended up connecting TV and computers direct to modem and an old RT-N66U while testing to stop getting shouts of "Have you bloody turned internet off again!"

Give the different channels a go when you can, I noticed some really restricted the bandwidth.

Have you tried connecting your iphone to the 5Ghz-2? That gave me a speed boost on an AX200 laptop.

Only thing you can do next is save settings. Restore main router, leave node off and only connect your phone for testing. Good luck

 

[Sonystyle44]

Reboot your XT8. Select 160mhz if you can and apply.

If you can't select 160mhz or you can't manually pick a channel then DFS is either waiting or has denied a channel. This can bump you down to 2.4ghz.

Go to System log > Wireless log and look for the following




If you see the "Temporarily Out of Service for XX minutes" then DFS is not letting you use that channel.


I am in the following scenario.



For those in the UK. Channel 124 (5620mhz) is the same a the Met Office Weather Radar and is smack bang in the wrong place to allow 8 contiguous channels for 160mhz on this Mesh system.

If you live near any of the Radars in the attached map you are not going to be getting 160mhz bandwidth.
View attachment 25366

Here is what can be done to fix the issue.

1. Asus give us 80+80 allowing us to skip this channel.

2. Asus open the 36-64 channels allowing us more choice on where to stick our 160mhz and can stick front end on 4 contiguous channels in the 100-140 range.
(This would work for me fine as 36-64 are not blocked for me and frustrating as 36-64 and 100-140 are available for the single 5ghz interface on my RT-N66U).

3. Place the router to the side of the property towards the nearby radar facing back into the property and put a tin foil shield between the router and the nearby Radar. I managed to get this to work on one router but not the node unfortunately. The idea being that it stops the Radar frequency hitting the router and DFS blocking the channel.

Would turning down the transmit power a notch from lets say "performance" to "good" affect the DFS blocking the certain RADAR channels?

 

[JagoUK]

Would turning down the transmit power a notch from lets say "performance" to "good" affect the DFS blocking the certain RADAR channels?

I think the clue is in the name. Turning down "Transmit" will not turn down the sensitivity on the Rx

I could be wrong. But I wouldn't want to purposely reduce reception when I got these to increase performance in my house.

 

[SloPoke]

I've finally got to the bottom of the "160Mhz" option missing in Canada. Canadian regulations do not allow use of channels 120, 124, and 128 due to the fact that Canadian Weather Radar operates on those channels. Since there are 3 missing channels right in the middle of the 5GHz spectrum, there are not 8 consecutive channels needed to allow 160Mhz.

https://www.semfionetworks.com/uploads/2/9/8/3/29831147/5_ghz_-_channel_diagram_2018_v1.png

 

[JagoUK]

Yup, I did a review of it here

Asus ZenWifi AX XT8 - A two week technical review (And that 160mhz issue)

First the TL;DR 160mhz backhaul not possible in areas of UK due to weather radar on 5.625ghz. Channel 124 is 5.620ghz *See map below* This removes one of the BIG features of this product. I think it could be fixed, but will it? Fronthaul 5G-1 limited to channels 36-64 Backhaul 5G-2...

www.snbforums.com

I've asked in the beta thread if they can allow G2 to broadcast on 36-64. Fingers crossed. Otherwise garbage.

 

[SloPoke]

Great analysis. In the UK it looks like those channels are allowed but monitored and put out of service if radar is detected. Unfortunately in Canada, they are completely forbidden and don't even show up in the list of selectable channels. Channels 52, 56, 60, 64 are also not selectable in Canada for some reason.

 

[JagoUK]

Great analysis. In the UK it looks like those channels are allowed but monitored and put out of service if radar is detected. Unfortunately in Canada, they are completely forbidden and don't even show up in the list of selectable channels. Channels 52, 56, 60, 64 are also not selectable in Canada for some reason.

Do a reboot then check wireless log for temporarily unavailable channels.

Very frustrating that one of the major features are not available and simple workarounds such as 80+80 or selecting 36-64 are not available.

Currently I'm doing a partial workaround but limited to 2882.3Mb for some reason (I think 64bit QAM or not hitting all antennas.)

 

[Oricus]

I've finally got to the bottom of the "160Mhz" option missing in Canada. Canadian regulations do not allow use of channels 120, 124, and 128 due to the fact that Canadian Weather Radar operates on those channels. Since there are 3 missing channels right in the middle of the 5GHz spectrum, there are not 8 consecutive channels needed to allow 160Mhz.

https://www.semfionetworks.com/uploads/2/9/8/3/29831147/5_ghz_-_channel_diagram_2018_v1.png

What is so stupid is on the Canadian ad's it has 160mhz advertised.

 

[rjbarker]

Thanks for this thread.......finally understand now why I also see no 160 Mhz available (also in Canada).

 

[Tlex]

Can someone in the US export his nvram details ?
trying to get the "territory_code" and maybe others to compare with the ones in Canada..
nvram show command..

 

[JagoUK]

Can someone in the US export his nvram details ?
trying to get the "territory_code" and maybe others to compare with the ones in Canada..
nvram show command..

Doing this is not legal. Which is why I returned mine.

Would be much easier if they allowed the backhaul antennas to use the lower range and the fronthaul antennas to use the higher range.

I don't think there would be a hardware reason why they couldn't. Even my RT-N66U can access both ranges.

 

[Tlex]

I wish I could return mine too but its too late... false advertising... I tried to open a ticket with them... grrrr...

 

[JagoUK]

I wish I could return mine too but its too late... false advertising... I tried to open a ticket with them... grrrr...

Tbf the box does have an asterisk about regional issues. But you'd think if all of Canada was blacklisted they would change the packaging.

The NVRAM mod is not legal.

With any luck the rules may change soon in the UK at least for DFS to be less aggressive.
If that can be fixed in firmware is another matter.

 

[Tlex]

agree... but you can't see the box when purchasing online
I had an issue in the past where an Asus router was not properly processing jumbo frames and that was obviously a firmware issue they couldn't figure after sending multiple traffic dump to them... even if I was out of warranty they accepted to refund me... I'll try the same approach... they mention supporting 160mhz here..
https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networki...ZenWiFi-WiFi-Systems/ZenWiFi-AX-XT8/techspec/

 

[Mittenz]

agree... but you can't see the box when purchasing online
I had an issue in the past where an Asus router was not properly processing jumbo frames and that was obviously a firmware issue they couldn't figure after sending multiple traffic dump to them... even if I was out of warranty they accepted to refund me... I'll try the same approach... they mention supporting 160mhz here..
https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networki...ZenWiFi-WiFi-Systems/ZenWiFi-AX-XT8/techspec/

What do you mean they refunded you?