2.4GHz performance with Macs

[huluvu]

Hello hello hello,

I have installed a couple of Asus routers across my house to share a single VDSL line with my neighbours: 1x N66U as a main router and 4x N56U as access points connected by ethernet.

Almost all wireless clients are either OSX or iOS devices and WiFi performance on the 2.4GHz band has always been very unreliable. Even when the reception is good, there always seems to be a multi-second delay even in simple tasks such as web browsing.

The RT-N66U is currently running the latest Merlin release 376.47 and the RT-N56Us are running the latest official Asus firmware 376.1665.

Connecting through 5Ghz works perfectly but as soon as the client switches to one of the 2.4Ghz signals (it does so automatically b/c the SSIDs are the same), the performance takes a HUGE hit -- somewhere I read about a "fix" for Macs talking to Asus routers, is there any known incompatibility? I wish there was a manual setting on the OSX / iOS client side that prohibits connecting via 2.4Ghz.

Thank you! <3

 

[cdouglass]

Just give the 5GHz band a different SSID then delete the 2.4 GHz profile from your computer so that it doesn't connect to it.

 

[huluvu]

Thanks for the quick tip but unfortunately setting different SSIDs across all 5 routers is not feasible in my house.

It's a pretty open (hippie?) neighbourhood and we frequently wander around each other's places with our laptops & phones. So the WiFi / SSID roaming that lets the clients connect to a current place's strongest signal is pretty handy!