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RT-AC66R Wifi slowdowns requiring rebooting.

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freezingtexan

New Around Here
I have a 2 week old RT-AC66R. Bought it two weeks ago to replace a linksys N750 that didn't quite have the coverage I was looking for in a new house that I moved to.

The coverage has been great with the Asus, exactly what I was hoping for. Unfortunatly I've been having trouble keeping a stable connection with my wifi devices.

Standard connection speed on either my LAN connected PC or any of the ipads or iphones is a ping of ~10ms, Download of ~35 Mpbs and Upload of 5.63 Mpbs

At least twice a day however, the speed on the WIFI devices only falls to a ping in the range of 281ms, Download of 0.22 Mbps and Upload of 1.06 Mbps. 2 iphones, 2 ipads and a laptop are affected at the same time and all report similar speeds. The PC connected to the LAN however stays "normal" at all times.

Rebooting the router via the routers webpage returns everything back to normal.

It might take 20 minutes to occour again, it might take 8 hours.

I am currently using only the 2.4 GHz radio. The 5.0 GHz radio is disabled in the firmware.

WPA2 authentication.

Updated the Modem firmware when I took it out of the box to 3.0.0.4.266. Have since tried 3.0.0.4.270 and the Merlin 3.0.0.4.266.23 and the behavior seems consistent with all three firmware versions.

Devices consist of the 2 Iphones, 2 Ipads, Laptop and a wifi IP security camera operating 24/7

There is little to no wifi interference here. 2 acre lot and not picking up any neighbors signals.

Any ideas what I should try or should I return this router and try something else?

Thanks!
 
I would try setting your router to a fixed channel instead of leaving it to Auto, even if you have no known source of interference. Keep in mind that the 2.4 GHz band can be affected not only by neighbours, but by other devices in your own house: cordless phones (I strongly recommend going with DECT 6.0 phones to avoid any problem), microwave ovens, baby monitors, bluetooth devices... All these can use the 2.4 GHz band and cause interference.

Start with the router set to channel 1. If it's not stable, move it to channel 9, and see if it's more stable.

Also, try changing the Interference Management option under Wireless -> Professional. Some people have better results with that option enabled or disabled.
 
Install inSSIder on of the pc:s , you maybe have a laptop with wifi integrated ? See if the signal strength drops when you get the problem.
Instead of re-booting the router just go to the 2.4 GHz wireless UI and without
changing anything click on the Apply button. Check if the signal strength is better after this with inSSIDer.
 
About the same thing is happening to me with RT-AC66U. It might happen in a few hours after reboot, it might happen in two days... but it will happen: the wifi will just slowdown to a point i need a reboot.

The RT-AC66U is setup EXACTLY the same as my "old" RT-N66U, and that one was up and running for months before needing a reboot (actually, i only rebooted when upgrading new firmware).

So i'm guessing it has something to do with the firmware... Unfortunately there is no TomatoUSB for RT-AC66U (that was the most stable firmware for my RT-N66U)...

P.S. For me this happens on my 5Ghz connections most of the times (i have more devices on 5Ghz than on 2.4Ghz)...
 
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There is another thread about 5GHz dies. You are not the only one with this issue. I am testing Asus firmware Beta .321 which has new Broadcom drivers but this is not a stable f/w. So we have to wait for Asus to deliver a firmware version which is stable and with new drivers. I find it troublesome that it takes so long time for Asus to fix this issue. Try so click on the Apply button in the 5 GHz Proffesional settings without doing any changes to see if the signal strength improves.


About the same thing is happening to me with RT-AC66U. It might happen in a few hours after reboot, it might happen in two days... but it will happen: the wifi will just slowdown to a point i need a reboot.

The RT-AC66U is setup EXACTLY the same as my "old" RT-N66U, and that one was up and running for months before needing a reboot (actually, i only rebooted when upgrading new firmware).

So i'm guessing it has something to do with the firmware... Unfortunately there is no TomatoUSB for RT-AC66U (that was the most stable firmware for my RT-N66U)...

P.S. For me this happens on my 5Ghz connections most of the times (i have more devices on 5Ghz than on 2.4Ghz)...
 
Same problem with my new rt-ac66u, reboot needed

Just updated today, Feb 2, from an rt-n66u. Asus replied to my earlier request, not to reuse the saved settings from my rt-n66u into my new rt-ac66u. However, the rt-ac66u drops the connection often and/or it slows down to the point to needing a reboot. I seriously hope that Asus will read these forum messages and very soon updates the f/w. It is NOT feasible to continuously reboot the Asus router rt-ac66u. My previous rt-n66u worked just fine with no need for any reboot, unless it needed a f/w upgrade. Hope to see an upgrade soon.
 
Jeremy from Asus is active on this forum. He has not given any timetable when a firmware which will fix these problems are released. So the option for you is to just wait and hope for this f/w or RMA the unit.


Just updated today, Feb 2, from an rt-n66u. Asus replied to my earlier request, not to reuse the saved settings from my rt-n66u into my new rt-ac66u. However, the rt-ac66u drops the connection often and/or it slows down to the point to needing a reboot. I seriously hope that Asus will read these forum messages and very soon updates the f/w. It is NOT feasible to continuously reboot the Asus router rt-ac66u. My previous rt-n66u worked just fine with no need for any reboot, unless it needed a f/w upgrade. Hope to see an upgrade soon.
 
The latest information I got from Asus was that the new drivers were still being worked on.

Keep in mind that wireless drivers are a fairly complex piece of code. You need to validate compatibility with a very wide range of network clients, not all of them being well written. Sometimes, you have to work around bugs found in the clients. My laptop with a Centrino 6230 is perfectly stable on my 5 GHz network here, so these issues might only occur with very specific wireless clients.

Also, the drivers aren't 100% Asus's code. The original driver code is from Broadcom, and I suspect they are also involved in the development/debugging process of this new driver version.
 
I have ruled out my internal wifi integrated card as I have an Asus USB-N53
attached to the laptop instead and have the same issues still. The first thing Asus should test is compatible between their own devices. I wonder how the new Asus USB-AC53 when it will be available will work ?

The latest information I got from Asus was that the new drivers were still being worked on.

Keep in mind that wireless drivers are a fairly complex piece of code. You need to validate compatibility with a very wide range of network clients, not all of them being well written. Sometimes, you have to work around bugs found in the clients. My laptop with a Centrino 6230 is perfectly stable on my 5 GHz network here, so these issues might only occur with very specific wireless clients.

Also, the drivers aren't 100% Asus's code. The original driver code is from Broadcom, and I suspect they are also involved in the development/debugging process of this new driver version.
 
I would try setting your router to a fixed channel instead of leaving it to Auto, even if you have no known source of interference. .

So far this has worked. No other changes other then setting to a fixed channel and have not had any of the wifi issues for almost a week now.
 
So far this has worked. No other changes other then setting to a fixed channel and have not had any of the wifi issues for almost a week now.

Awesome :)

This is probably a bug if this is actually required even if there is no visible interference, but as long it works, that's what matters the most :)
 
Hmm how do you change channels on the RT-AC66R...all I see is "Control Channel"...is that the setting I should change to fix this issue(hopefully)?
 
Hmm how do you change channels on the RT-AC66R...all I see is "Control Channel"...is that the setting I should change to fix this issue(hopefully)?

Yes, that's where you change the channel.
 
I still get the slow downs on the 5Ghz band daily. I installed Merlins latest (25b)firmware and it is very stable except still have the issues on 5Ghz. However hitting apply on the settings page brings it back to full speed.
 
You and me and all others that suffer this problem with 5 GHz band on the AC66 just have to wait for the new Broadcom drivers form Asus.....
I still get the slow downs on the 5Ghz band daily. I installed Merlins latest (25b)firmware and it is very stable except still have the issues on 5Ghz. However hitting apply on the settings page brings it back to full speed.
 
You and me and all others that suffer this problem with 5 GHz band on the AC66 just have to wait for the new Broadcom drivers form Asus.....

Any idea when these new drivers will be available? I see a recent update for the PCE-AC66 drivers posted...
 
Jeremy from Asus is active on this forum. He has not given any timetable when a firmware which will fix these problems are released. So the option for you is to just wait and hope for this f/w or RMA the unit.
Have you also reset your modem? When you change routers you must unplug your modem, wait at least ten minutes (I usually give it a half hour) before installing your new router. This allows the modem to recognize the new router. If you haven't done so already then power off both the router and the modem, wait >10 minutes and power the modem up. Wait for the modem to fully reboot then power up the router and see if that helps. If all else fails I would wipe the NVRAM via telnet and then reload your saved configuration. Good luck!
 

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