Asus RT-AC3200 issues and impressions

crazyea · Mar 20, 2015

thiggins said:
The key feature of ALL AC3200 class routers is the dual 5 GHz radios. This provides higher total bandwidth than any other class router at this point, IF you have enough dual-band devices to connect to the two 5 GHz radios.

ASUS' implementation of Smart Connect is a work in progress. Works for some folks, not for others. But you can still get the higher bandwidth of the dual 5 GHz radios by disabling Smart Connect, setting different SSIDs for the two radios and manually connecting devices.

This is what I did, however I find that 5ghz radio 1 has a pretty week signal and isnt really that great. 5ghz Radio 2 works really well and is generally 10db better than radio 1. The 2.4ghz radio is also very good getting me very good signal coverage all over my home. So far this router has been an excellent upgrade from my unfi ap that was also very solid.

sm00thpapa · Mar 20, 2015

Not sure of the antenna layout on the Asus AC-3200 but on the LInksys EA9200 one 5GHz radio goes out via the external antennas and the other 5GHz radio uses the internal antennas. Not sure which one radio is attached to each set of antennas but one radio has a weaker signal than the other. I presume this may be the same case with the Asus AC3200.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

thiggins · Mar 21, 2015

sm00thpapa said:
Not sure of the antenna layout on the Asus AC-3200 but on the LInksys EA9200 one 5GHz radio goes out via the external antennas and the other 5GHz radio uses the internal antennas. Not sure which one radio is attached to each set of antennas but one radio has a weaker signal than the other. I presume this may be the same case with the Asus AC3200.

The ASUS uses the same arrangement as the NETGEAR and D-Link AC3200 routers: three dual-band for 2.4 and 5 GHz low band and three for 5 GHz high band, all external.

sm00thpapa · Mar 21, 2015

thiggins said:
The ASUS uses the same arrangement as the NETGEAR and D-Link AC3200 routers: three dual-band for 2.4 and 5 GHz low band and three for 5 GHz high band, all external.

Thanks Tim I wonder why Linksys went internal and external with the EA9200. You would think they would stay with the competition.

RMerlin · Mar 21, 2015

sm00thpapa said:
Thanks Tim I wonder why Linksys went internal and external with the EA9200. You would think they would stay with the competition.

For the past few years Linksys always favored internal antenna designs, probably for aesthetics. The WRT1900AC was actually their first return to an external antenna design.

Kristian · Mar 27, 2015

Asus AC3200 got a lot of connection drops if you enable Smart Connect probably because they steer between the 2.4 to 5Ghz radio. I think Linksys EA9200 is much more stable when it comes to their Smartconnect feature.

sm00thpapa · Mar 27, 2015

I have the EA9200 and I don't see any smart connections. I have 29 devices at home and it has slow and fast AC and N devices on both 5GHz band.

Kristian · Mar 27, 2015

I assume you have enabled the Smart Connect feature already and youre using a single SSID for both 5GHz radio. You can check from the Network Map which radio your devices are connected then. Those devices with a lower link rate should be in one group in one radio and the faster in another 5Ghz radio.

sm00thpapa · Mar 27, 2015

Kristian said:
I assume you have enabled the Smart Connect feature already and youre using a single SSID for both 5GHz radio. You can check from the Network Map which radio your devices are connected then. Those devices with a lower link rate should be in one group in one radio and the faster in another 5Ghz radio.

Correct but the EA9200 doesn't do that. We have 4 LG G2 cells here and the EA9200 puts 2 on one 5GHz radio and 2 on the other 5GHz radio. Or 3-1 or 4-0 sometimes. All phones have the same chip so they should all be on the same radio. Band steering is broke on the EA9200.

Kristian · Mar 27, 2015

Well my EA9200 is working well. Unless youre using Asus

thiggins · Mar 27, 2015

sm00thpapa said:
Correct but the EA9200 doesn't do that. We have 4 LG G2 cells here and the EA9200 puts 2 on one 5GHz radio and 2 on the other 5GHz radio. Or 3-1 or 4-0 sometimes. All phones have the same chip so they should all be on the same radio. Band steering is broke on the EA9200.

Not necessarily. Smart Connect steers devices to radios based on many criteria. It makes decisions based on actual RSSI and link rates, NOT the class of device, i.e. 1x1 A, 2x2 N, etc.

You can have a 2x2 AC radio with a low signal level that will have a lower link rate than a 1x1 N radio closer to the router.

Read the Smart Connect missing manual article to get an idea of what is under the Smart Connect hood. Only ASUS exposes these controls to the user, but the controls and logic are present in all AC3200 implementations.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...us-rt-ac3200-smart-connect-the-missing-manual

sm00thpapa · Mar 28, 2015

thiggins said:
Not necessarily. Smart Connect steers devices to radios based on many criteria. It makes decisions based on actual RSSI and link rates, NOT the class of device, i.e. 1x1 A, 2x2 N, etc.

You can have a 2x2 AC radio with a low signal level that will have a lower link rate than a 1x1 N radio closer to the router.

Read the Smart Connect missing manual article to get an idea of what is under the Smart Connect hood. Only ASUS exposes these controls to the user, but the controls and logic are present in all AC3200 implementations.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...us-rt-ac3200-smart-connect-the-missing-manual

Good read Tim thank you. But those tweaks look SO confusing.

Stephen · Mar 29, 2015

What are the odds the next firmware will fix the smart connect disconnect issues?

civiksi · Mar 29, 2015

Stephen said:
What are the odds the next firmware will fix the smart connect disconnect issues?

I have been using the latest merlin software with the network key rotation interval set to zero and it's been pretty good so far with no disconnects. I have only had to reboot it once for acting up in about 2 weeks. I still have the problems of the 2 tablets having no internet when they wake up but they connect in about 10 seconds.

thiggins · Mar 29, 2015

civiksi said:
I have been using the latest merlin software with the network key rotation interval set to zero and it's been pretty good so far with no disconnects. I have only had to reboot it once for acting up in about 2 weeks. I still have the problems of the 2 tablets having no internet when they wake up but they connect in about 10 seconds.

Glad stability has improved.

Note network key rotation is not related to Smart Connect. It is related to wireless security (WPA/WPA2).

dpickens · Apr 13, 2015

I'm trying out the new 4980 firmware that was released today...says it is supposed to help with disconnect issues. Honestly, after changing the network key rotation interval to 0 from the last firmware, is what has helped the most with pauses and disconnects. We'll se if this new firmware is even better.

mgolarte · Apr 13, 2015

ASUS RT-AC3200 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.4980
- Release note -

Modifications
- Adjusted smart connect algorithm to improve connection experience.
- Supported EU country code.
- Modified the network map client list.
- Modified descriptions in quick internet setup wizard.

USB modem
- Supported ZTE MF193A LTE USB dongle.

Bug fixes
- Fixed AiProtection alert mail issues.
- Fixed client status error after changed ipv6 setting.
- Fixed IPTV lan port setting issue.
- Fixed iptables rule for icmp handling.
- Fixed bugs when media bridge mode switched to AP mode.
- Fixed traffic monitor statistic issue in dual wan environment.

hackintoshsr · Apr 16, 2015

So is smart connect fixed? Also anyone else notice the date on the firmware was from March? Wonder if we will see another come out soon.

W4RH34D · Apr 16, 2015

I will say this thing is pretty spectacular. I get burned every time trying to do a quickie firmware update, so lesson learned, the hard way...twice.

Always clear NVRAM until someome from asus comes by and tells me specifically that I dont need to anymore.

mgolarte · Apr 17, 2015

I don't have any issues with smart connect since the second firmware update, last time I checked before the third firmware update, I had over 400 hours of uninterrupted connection, with the latest update I have no disconnections so far

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