Asus RT-AC3200; wireless unreliable

[Nitrousbird]

I've had this router for a couple of years. I've had issues with certain devices connecting via the Tri Band Smart Connect, so I had a separate guest network on 2.4GHz for those few devices.

Recently, I began having issues with certain devices not wanting to connect at all, or rarely. My Harmony Hubs were intermittent at best, though this has been going on for a while but was getting worse. Wife's iPhone 3GS (used for a bathroom speaker dock) stopped, as did her Kindle Fire HDX. My Nest wouldn't connect...it was getting bad. Yet many other wireless devices were rock solid. So I factory reset the router (yes, firmware is the latest version). This resolved the Nest and Kindle but that's about it.

My company is testing the EERO mesh routers and I got one to test with. I ended up putting it in bridge mode, turning off the wireless radio in my RT-AC3200 and now the wireless is perfect. With no mesh beacons attached, the 5GHz coverage is better than my AC3200 and the 2.4GHz is nearly as good. This is highly surprising, since there are no external antennas and the EERO's footprint is about 1/3 of the AC3200. I'd use it on its own but the EERO lacks Ethernet ports, QoS and a pile of other features - it is bit too much of a simpleton device.

At this point I've once again have a reliable network. All devices are working perfectly on the EERO tri-band with the AC3200 doing all the routing work.

The question is what is wrong with the wireless on my AC3200? I don't love needing to run two routers like this and I may (though unlikely) need to give the EERO back. I'd prefer to go back to just the AC3200 but the wife will kill me if our wireless isn't reliable.

 

[st3v3n]

We've had very few issues with our 3200, no wireless issues with any of the bands. There's likely nothing wrong with your 3200, sometimes they don't play well with Mesh. From what others have written along these lines, unless you've assigned all devices in LAN DHCP (don't remember if you can do that in Asus official build, we run only Merlin FW), you might consider isolatiing assigning your nest to o it's own separate guest SSID/band.

If you haven't used Merlin's fork, that might give you options and better security than you currently enjoy. We've run it for years on every Asus rrouter we've owned and set up for clients and wouldn't be without it, given the severe security holes in stock firmware. Many love zthe ero-antenna, low-footprint of nest-like devices but the increased level of foreign attacks on all consumer grade units has gone through the roof, to the point where manufacturers can't issue updates to patch, if they bother.

Can't believe the issues you describe mean it's the 3200's fault. Don't know what version of Asus FW you run but it might help if you take stock of what the next gen Merlin release has done for the 3200; which expands the NVRAM to 128 MB plus you can have 5 concurrent OpenVPN clients, (not that you need to run 5 concurrently); it's always nice to have a spare client loaded for when a tunnel goes down or for different needs.

The new FW solves many security issues, Asus's AImesh hasn't been made an option thus far; but we just never needed mesh. Each model has it's fans and detractors and we're 320 fans; it's still a good selling router and you either love it or don't. As for Merlin, it's Highly recommended. Hope this helps, Cheers.

 

[AndreiV]

I just looked back in my docs folder for the receipt for my AC3200.
It arrived on 28 August 2015 , first thing I did was flash Merlin's firmware on it and I have never seen any wireless problem.

I use separate SSID's but not the Smart Connect .

 

[jerry6]

Agree with the 2 previous posts , have 3 ac3200 all run perfectly . Bought mine the first day they were released and have run Merlin on all from the begining . Don't use smart connect , set up manual
Try initializing not restore after you reload your FW , Merlin or Asus . Make sure no USB are connected when you do this , you wll have to reset everything , do not restore previous settings , it should work if there is nothing wrong with your router.
I run over 60 clients on one the others around 20 - 40 24/7 stable as can be , only time I reboot is for FW upgrades .
Bought my AC 3200 Jan 30 , 2015 received it Feb 8th 2015

 

[Nitrousbird]

I am willing to try the Merlin FW but lack not using Smart Connect is a no-go; it is the router's responsibility to guide my devices to the band that most suites it; I'm not looking to manage that, especially since I have a decent sized house and can be switching between bands regularly.

Zero need for a Mesh as I have the router very centrally located, so coverage isn't an issue. With lower end routers I used to have to run two but that's no longer the case.

 

[st3v3n]

We tried convincing ours of it's duty and responsibilities where 'smart connect' is concerned, but like spouses with a headache, the silent treatment was all that came of it. Other members might confirm that assigning the same SSID across all bands can help. It's worthy of mentioning that changing your SSIDs regularly or at the same time you change your long, no longer seucre password is good security practice. It doesn't take long to swap the SSID/passwords if you set up a file in advance. Depending on the traffic and number of devices on your network, it's the owner's/sysadmin's area of responsibility.

The neighbor didn't realize his router had been blasting his info outside of his house forever. He'd set it up and forgotten it a year ago and didn't realize he' been hacked, probably by another less ethical neighbor, until his ISP sent him a warning. He saw computers coming in for service and ambled over to ask if we'd had similar issues. Took five minutes to enlighten the poor guy. Wish there were a dozen paying clients a day we could help as easily to secure their own gear, much less charge. Some day you get the bear, other days you get mauled. Good neighbors are unfortunately less willing to lend a hand. Cheers.

 

[AndreiV]

I am willing to try the Merlin FW but lack not using Smart Connect is a no-go; it is the router's responsibility to guide my devices to the band that most suites it; I'm not looking to manage that, especially since I have a decent sized house and can be switching between bands regularly.

Just set the same SSID's then and leave the other wireless settings to auto.

 

[jerry6]

I am willing to try the Merlin FW but lack not using Smart Connect is a no-go; it is the router's responsibility to guide my devices to the band that most suites it; I'm not looking to manage that, especially since I have a decent sized house and can be switching between bands regularly.

Zero need for a Mesh as I have the router very centrally located, so coverage isn't an issue. With lower end routers I used to have to run two but that's no longer the case.

Smart connect never worked well for me , lots of dropped connections . Don't know what a decent size home is , but I have no problems reaching 2 floors and basement , 2600 sq ft per floor granted not big .

 

[st3v3n]

Ditto, 'smart-connect worked' it just didn't ever meet our level of expectations. We/ve had no issue covering 2000 square feet from the dormers upstairs or down to the studio downstairs, which technically makes the structure larger than 2000. Our 2300 mounted in a central location, on the wall and the antenna angles were slightly tweaked. For our investment we'd do it all again, it's been good to us.

The missing smart connect manual manual and innumerabl posts on various threads on these forums helped immensely during the initial setup and testing phase, but that was almost a year and 1/2 ago, so to be fair, resting since the next gen update came out. may yield slight improvements.. That would be as welcome as having 5 OpenVPN clients has been, really missed them. Cheers