Asus n66u AP or repeater with 1900P router? (noob needs help)

[amd7674]

My Asus 1900P (latest 384.7 fw) is located in the corner (front of my house) of the basement (cable drop zone). Everything is working perfectly fine (thanks @Merlin for all your hard work, much appreciated).

My network is very simple as I don’t use any fancy configurations such as VPN. Just feeding internet via wired home network (few switches along the way) and provide wifi for wireless clients (only using 2.4ghz)

My only issue is with some dead/weak wifi zones in the back of the house, especially in the back of the house.

I have unused (used it recently ad dumb down switch) n66u router (flashed with the last supported merlin’s fw).

What do you guys recommend to help my wifi situation to use n66u as repeater or access point? Also where should I locate it on the first 1st floor or 2nd floor?

From my understanding AP is the way to go and it is very simple setup. I just hooked up n66u wan input to one of the Ethernet drops in my house. Then I select AP via modem interface with auto settings to re-use the same SSID settings. Is this sound right?

Will I be able to access this AP router web interference after or will I have to use Asus router discover utility?

I’m sorry for all this questions and thank you in advance for your help/advise.

 

[Grisu]

I would load Johns fork as he still updating his firmware.

Do you have LAN to the other side than connect via WAN port to your router and set as AP, same SSIDs possible but other channels. Get an IP from main router and accassible. Prefered in any way.
Or no LAN than as repeater, nothing to set.

In both cases you have to test where you get best results, maybe with LAN on 2nd floor and repeater 1st floor (needs connection to main WiFi).

 

[CaptainSTX]

The firmware you run on the AP is unimportant as most of its functions are handled by the router. You are really just using its radios.

Assign the AP a static IP on your primary router under the LAN section. This will make it easy to find and administer.

Be sure the radios on the N66 are set on different channels than the primary router is using. As for SSIDs some people recommend using the same as on your primary router hoping that this will lead to smoother roaming. I prefer to use different SSIDs so I can more easily tell what radio I am connected to. Try both ways and see what works. Just remember that most devices decide to which SSID to connect to on their own so some are very sticky. Seemless roaming with perfect results for all devices and all locations is a fairy tale.

 

[amd7674]

Grisu,

Thank you so much. I will look into John's fork to get latest and greatest on n66u

My house is fully wired so I have Ethernet drops all over. Thus I think AP location would be best for me. I will try the same SSIDs but with different channels. Should I assign IP for AP router on main router? I'm thinking about placing it on the 1st floor (other side of the house) where I lose wifi, especially when I'm on my backyard.

 

[amd7674]

The firmware you run on the AP is unimportant as most of its functions are handled by the router. You are really just using its radios.

Assign the AP a static IP on your primary router under the LAN section. This will make it easy to find and administer.

Be sure the radios on the N66 are set on different channels than the primary router is using. As for SSIDs some people recommend using the same as on your primary router hoping that this will lead to smoother roaming. I prefer to use different SSIDs so I can more easily tell what radio I am connected to. Try both ways and see what works. Just remember that most devices decide to which SSID to connect to on their own so some are very sticky. Seemless roaming with perfect results for all devices and all locations is a fairy tale.

Thank you for the info guys

Side question:
Do you guys recommend revisiting using 5Ghz (along with 2.4Ghz on)? In the past (2-3 years ago) I had mixed results with using 5Ghz throughout my house. However that was with n66u only form the same basement location. Maybe with 1900p and with help from n66u (as AP), 5ghz would be good addition?

 

[Grisu]

Thank you for the info guys

Side question:
Do you guys recommend revisiting using 5Ghz (along with 2.4Ghz on)? In the past (2-3 years ago) I had mixed results with using 5Ghz throughout my house. However that was with n66u only form the same basement location. Maybe with 1900p and with help from n66u (as AP), 5ghz would be good addition?

you will see, sure 5G would get better results if coverage is good enough. Your clients will decide what to take ...

 

[CaptainSTX]

Thank you for the info guys

Side question:
Do you guys recommend revisiting using 5Ghz (along with 2.4Ghz on)? In the past (2-3 years ago) I had mixed results with using 5Ghz throughout my house. However that was with n66u only form the same basement location. Maybe with 1900p and with help from n66u (as AP), 5ghz would be good addition?

The 5 Ghz range is more limited but with an AP more of your devices should be able to use it because they will be nearer a 5 Ghz radio. Because of its more limited range you should have less interference from your neighbors and it offers the potential for greater speeds

 

[amd7674]

Great, thanks again guys. It won't hurt to have 5Ghz on and like you said let the clients pick best connection.
I hope to have some time to do try it this weekend. I will report back with results.

 

[loveleeyoungae]

Great, thanks again guys. It won't hurt to have 5Ghz on and like you said let the clients pick best connection.
I hope to have some time to do try it this weekend. I will report back with results.

If the 5GHz band is enough to cover the clients in that weak wifi zone, you should also turn off its 2Ghz radio.

 

[amd7674]

If the 5GHz band is enough to cover the clients in that weak wifi zone, you should also turn off its 2Ghz radio.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but not all the clients (older devices) are 5Ghz compatible, thus leaving both would be preferable solution?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Great, thanks again guys. It won't hurt to have 5Ghz on and like you said let the clients pick best connection.
I hope to have some time to do try it this weekend. I will report back with results.

Clients are not that smart. They often will not pick the best signal.

For non mobile clients provide them with the SSID of the nearest AP or the one with the best signal depending if they can use 5 Ghz or not. Also use a WiFi analyzer try to select the least congested channel. Just because channel 1 looks great in the downstairs family room a client upstairs might see your neighbor's AP on Channel 1 as being strong and therefore interfere with devices upstairs. This all depends on what your neighbor is doing on channels that you can see. If they are binge watching Netflix in 4K bad, checking his e-mail not a problem. Unfortunately from just looking at a basic WiFi scanner you don't know. You will need to check your channel selection periodically as people and/or their routers change channels frequently in seach of the nirvana of an uncongested channel.

Also if you have an inconsiderate neighbor using wide channels and/or a channel other than 1,6 or 11 in the US then you are screwed and will just have to live with it.

 

[Grisu]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but not all the clients (older devices) are 5Ghz compatible, thus leaving both would be preferable solution?

Thats why I never would recommend to use 5G only, maybe for few living alone with only newest hardware and no friends or guest access for all ...

 

[amd7674]

thanks for all the suggestions and tips. I'm not much depend on wifi, all my media/high bandwidth devices are hardwired. My house was all wired with CAT5e and I've added CAT6 and CAT7 throughout basement. Some people might call me a dinosaur, but I still use (and will use) wire if I have that option. Even for my network printer (although it is wifi friendly) I still run 30ft cable to it LOL However we cannot avoid not using wifi... and I'm guilty as charged

 

[CaptainSTX]

thanks for all the suggestions and tips. I'm not much depend on wifi, all my media/high bandwidth devices are hardwired. My house was all wired with CAT5e and I've added CAT6 and CAT7 throughout basement. Some people might call me a dinosaur, but I still use (and will use) wire if I have that option. Even for my network printer (although it is wifi friendly) I still run 30ft cable to it LOL However we cannot avoid not using wifi... and I'm guilty as charged

Your have done it the way to make your life simple. Hardwire as many devices as possible particularly high bandwidth devices and leave WiFi for phones and tablets which don't need reliability and high bandwidth.

Someday I'm sure WiFi will be much better but Ethernet always works and onec it is working you never seem to have to trouble shoot it and if you do the answer is usually replace the jumper cable.

 

[amd7674]

It is all working now ... I place n66u (AP router) on the 2nd floor and I used different channels on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I might have to do some more channel tweaking but it is fine for now.
I don't know but 5Ghz feels a little bit snappier.

My old n66u is on Merlin's 380.70 (last supported build), this included KRACK fix. Should updated to the fork firmware if I use this modem in AP mode?

Also since I don't need to access my internal network, is it ok to use guest network to access all my wifi clinets on my both routers (main and AP)? or is it stupid approach? LOL

 

[Grisu]

It is all working now ... I place n66u (AP router) on the 2nd floor and I used different channels on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I might have to do some more channel tweaking but it is fine for now.
I don't know but 5Ghz feels a little bit snappier.

My old n66u is on Merlin's 380.70 (last supported build), this included KRACK fix. Should updated to the fork firmware if I use this modem in AP mode?

Also since I don't need to access my internal network, is it ok to use guest network to access all my wifi clinets on my both routers (main and AP)? or is it stupid approach? LOL

Its not a stupid aproach but wont work as your main router will see all traffic from AP coming from WAN port and cannot differenciate between guest and other clients on AP, so they all will get access to your intranet - you have to know!
Maybe with some future Aimesh-release they will fix this but not known yet and your N66U wont get Aimesh at all ...

As AP in your 2nd floor even CRACK wont have any relevance, who from outside could connect to crack anything?
And it does no routing, so every firmware would be fine but maybe some other features may be worth upgrading to Johns fork, they all would work well for your need provided its a stable firmware without known bugs as many stock are.

 

[amd7674]

Its not a stupid aproach but wont work as your main router will see all traffic from AP coming from WAN port and cannot differenciate between guest and other clients on AP, so they all will get access to your intranet - you have to know!
Maybe with some future Aimesh-release they will fix this but not known yet and your N66U wont get Aimesh at all ...

As AP in your 2nd floor even CRACK wont have any relevance, who from outside could connect to crack anything?
And it does no routing, so every firmware would be fine but maybe some other features may be worth upgrading to Johns fork, they all would work well for your need provided its a stable firmware without known bugs as many stock are.

Thanks for letting me know about "open" guest connection on AP router. I just turned it off.

Unless someone tells me otherwise (i.e. security updates with Johns fork) I will stay on Merlin's 380.70 for my AP router.