2x RT-AC66R - Confusion on both setup and AC mode.

[damainman]

Hello,

I just picked up two Asus RT-AC66R wireless routers, but I am a bit confused on the proper way to actually get them configured. I might have some things mixed because I am at work and trying to write this from memory.

Equipment: Bought equipment in an attempt to troubleshoot.
A. 2x Asus RT-AC66R
B. 1x ASUS Dual Band Wireless AC1200 USB Adapter (My adapter in Windows 8 kept saying connected to a N network and never an AC network)
C. 2x Asus WL-ANT-157 Antenna (One placed in the middle of each router)
D. 4x Tp-link Tl-ant2408cl 2.4ghz 8dbi Indoor Omni-directional Antenna (One placed on each side of both routers)

My Goal:

1. Have one installed in my house.
2. Have the 2nd one installed in my Garage.

First I upgraded it to the latest firmware (3.0.0.4.354) because I was a few versions back, but I then downgraded back one firmware(3.0.0.4.270 ) to see if it resolved my issue.

End Goal:
1. Have Both Access Points Communicate with each other
2. No end-user devices will be connecting wirelessly to the AC Routers.
3. I have 1 LAN in my house and 1 LAN in the garage. I am basically trying to create a bridge that will allow traffic to travel back and fourth between networks through the AC routers. My Main router which both routes my internal network and connects to the Internet will be in my house.
4. I really do not need the routers to actually route.


My issues + Information:
I think some of my issues might just be my lack of knowledge on AC technology + the way these routers communicate with each other.

1. I can not find a setting in the wireless configuration for AC. So I am not exactly sure how to tell if AC is working properly or even enabled.
- It shows auto, N Only, and Legacy.

2. Two laptops connected to the exact same router via wired connection achieved about 600Mbps upload speed. Which was good .
- I forgot which one but one of the access point modes (Router, Media Gateway, Access Point) settings made it extremely slow.

3. I placed both routers next to each other about 3 feet apart. Connected 1x laptop via wired connection to one router and another laptop via wired connection to the other router.

A. With both Routers set to WDS only in the Bridge Tab:
- My average upload speed via TCP was around 10-20Mbps.

B. Setting 1 router to WDS and the other Router to Hybrid in the Bridge Tab:
- Had about the same average speed via 10-20Mbps.

C. Making 1 router a Media Gateway and leaving the other Router at the default mode:
- Average TCP upload speeds jumped up to around 80-90 Mbps.


I am looking for advice as I think I am going about this all wrong, and confused as to why I don't see an AC option in the router. Also I was not expecting to see such a big performance hit when utilizing WDS only.

My last question would be, which confuses me a bit is whether or not I should use the same SSID for both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channel in any of the above scenarios? (No end user devices will be connecting wirelessly.).

 

[drewski]

Your "In the House" one should be set as Access Point which will turn off the router functionality and the one for the Garage should be set as Media Bridge.

Since you're not going for seamless roaming for devices, I'd say different SSID for 2.4 vs. 5GHz so you can easily see what's connected.

 

[damainman]

Cool thanks for the response . So basically the one in my house will be configured as AP only and just as an Access Point which I will then connect via a wire to my actual router that is connected to the WAN and does all my DHCP + NAT?

 

[drewski]

Cool thanks for the response . So basically the one in my house will be configured as AP only and just as an Access Point which I will then connect via a wire to my actual router that is connected to the WAN and does all my DHCP + NAT?

That's right.

Also, I don't have any AC clients, but have read that the 5GHz band setting for "Auto" "N Only" "Legacy" that you mention should be set to "Auto" to enable AC connections.

Out of curiosity (so feel free to ignore), what do you do with the Garage LAN? I sometimes use a laptop when working on my cars, but that just goes WiFi to my indoor AP.

 

[damainman]

Thanks for the response, as far as AC it is my first AC device but since even with using the AC adapter on my laptop the connection only appears as a N network I am not sure if I am connecting via N or AC. Would the end user device such as my laptop say it is an AC connection or N?

Also technically I am not utilizing a LAN in my garage lol, but it represents the same scenario of what I am trying to accomplish. I just wanted to make my post easier to read than going into too many specifics and getting longer than what it currently is lol .

When using inSSIDer , I noticed on a few occasions the network channel showing up as like (1+5) instead of a single digit # like (6) for the channel.
- I don't remember the exact channel numbers it was showing, but I have been trying to wrap my head around what the (#+#) means or how it works. Every search on Dual Channel comes up as dual band, but it may just be my lack of wireless knowledge lol.