Router/AP not stable

[sheamus]

I have an Asus AC-68U as my main router. It has been great, down in the basement.

To get a better signal upstairs, I tried an old TP Link WA701ND AP, I picket up for under $20. It was never stable, and I was constantly having to power cycle it to get devices to connect to it. (Note that the AP I had looked much older than the one on Amazon, but has same model number, not sure if they are the same, but the on amazon has a 4/5 rating, and I would have given my a 2/5 due to stability).

I have since replaced it with an old WRT310N, which I have disabled DHCP and firewall on. It has the same SSID/password, but different channels. It is extremely unreliable. Devices connected to it often say 'internet connection limited', which I think means they see the AP fine, but AP isn't able to connect to the internet.

I need to do something more reliable. The local store has a good price on a Asus RT-N53, which I am tempted to pickup. But for the same pice I could get a dedicated AP like a Ubiquiti UniFi AP (lower end one) for the same price? Though the UniFi loses the advantage of it's seamless handoff if it is is the only one... though in the future I suppose I could add to it.

Is it possible that the problem lies some where else, as I did have trouble with that TP-Link AP too.

Thoughts?
Thanks.

 

[remixedcat]

I would get the ubiquity

 

[sheamus]

Thanks for reply. I was leaning to the UniFi. A couple quick questions:

1. I assume the zero-handoff feature of the UniFi devices only works UniFi AP to UniFi AP, and not UniFi to Asus router? This feature is really attractive as, my devices seem to hold onto a weak signal way to long.

2. I can't justify the AC version of the UAP right now. But if I go with the regular UAP now, and add a UAP-AC later, would the ZH work between them?

~Shea M.

 

[jlake]

Thanks for reply. I was leaning to the UniFi. A couple quick questions:

1. I assume the zero-handoff feature of the UniFi devices only works UniFi AP to UniFi AP, and not UniFi to Asus router? This feature is really attractive as, my devices seem to hold onto a weak signal way to long.

2. I can't justify the AC version of the UAP right now. But if I go with the regular UAP now, and add a UAP-AC later, would the ZH work between them?

~Shea M.

If you're trying to cascade the linksys LAN-to-LAN, you don't really need to disable the firewall on the linksys. But you do have to connect the ethernet cable to one of the four linksys LAN ports....and not the WAN port (internet port). Use the LAN-to LAN cascade link below to guide you.

I'm not a DTIM expert, but just to be on the safe side, you'd probably want to make sure both the ASUS and linksys have the same value. ASUS uses 3 as default. Linksys uses 1 or 3, depending on the router. So it would probably be best to change one of them so they match (if they don't already match). Having said that, it can be tricky when trying to synchronize wireless settings on (consumer) wireless routers. You might even have to experiment with putting them on the same 2.4 Ghz (20 Mhz width only) channel.

http://routerguide.net/dtim-interval-period-best-setting/

http://www.linksys.com/us/support-article?articleNum=132275

http://screenshots.portforward.com/routers/Linksys/WRT310N/Advanced_Wireless_Settings.htm

 

[sheamus]

Hmmm, DTIM settings were different. I put them both to 3, and will see if that helps. I notice now that the Asus has a 'roaming assistant' mode, which forces a disconnect at a certain threshold. I may play with that before I give up.

However the dropcam and printer are both upstairs right beside the Linksys, so I don't think roming is their issue.

Would puttting DD-WRT be any better? It would atleast have a dedicated AP mode.

Thanks for the tips

 

[sfx2000]

On the WRT, disable the DHCP server built in, give it a static IP outside of your primary router's DCHP range (example, if your primary DHCP range is 192.168.1.1 thru .50, assign the router above .50 manually), and make sure you're plugging it into one of the LAN ports instead of the WAN port.

There's a Wireless how-to article on the main site that you can refer to which might help... might have to search around a bit..

 

[sheamus]

I have done all that. I did follow a guide originally, but must have missed the DTIM setting. Matching up the DTIM's seems to have helped quite a bit. I am going to monitor it's stability for the next couple days and see how things go.