So, first, I'll admit I'm a newbie to playing with these signal settings and I'm not trying to influence anybody to follow in my footsteps, but just wanted to share my scenario. I'm not a newbie to tech or routers or ddwrt. That said, i've spent the last month testing the n56u, n66u, ac66u and r6300 extensively. I kept each one for a week. In the end, I kept the ac66u for reasons I wont waste time discussing in this string.
The latest firmware 164 for the ac66u accidentally removed the tx adjustment, but it will be back in the future firmwares. I installed Merlin's homebrewed asus firmware yesterday afternoon and cranked the 2.4GHz tx setting from the default of 80mw all the way to 500mw. Merlin's firmware adds a temperature monitor. I've left my laptop and a spare android phone streaming movies and pandora wirelessly all day and night. The temperature of my router has not flinched. It's around 130 F constant on 2.4ghz and 140 on 5GHz (both radios are turned on, although 5GHz not being used). In addition, contrary to what I'm reading, my throughput AND range significantly improved. From around 9MBps download using speedtest in the back yard, to 13MBps from backyard after turning up to 500mw. From -78db in back yard to -60db. I haven't dropped signal on my phone or any of the other devices.....i've checked them frequently. Woke up this morning, everything still streaming and the router still firing on all cylinders with 37 devices connected via my home network through switches, wireless, and wired. I'm able to see signal about half a block from my house now. Before it died at the top of the driveway. I'm able to increase download by 30% and upload remains steady at 5MBps, which is my max upload through timewarner extreme.
2 year warranty, so I don't care if there is something i'm overlooking that's going to cook my router. I get better performance this way, and in two years, I'll probably be bored of it and buy something else. I don't have any 5GHz devices yet, so I can't really test the impact there, so I left it alone. I'm actually curious just to see if I turn it down to various levels if I can improve things. I arbitrarily chose 500 just because it would let me.
Attached is a screenshot in case anyone's interested.
The latest firmware 164 for the ac66u accidentally removed the tx adjustment, but it will be back in the future firmwares. I installed Merlin's homebrewed asus firmware yesterday afternoon and cranked the 2.4GHz tx setting from the default of 80mw all the way to 500mw. Merlin's firmware adds a temperature monitor. I've left my laptop and a spare android phone streaming movies and pandora wirelessly all day and night. The temperature of my router has not flinched. It's around 130 F constant on 2.4ghz and 140 on 5GHz (both radios are turned on, although 5GHz not being used). In addition, contrary to what I'm reading, my throughput AND range significantly improved. From around 9MBps download using speedtest in the back yard, to 13MBps from backyard after turning up to 500mw. From -78db in back yard to -60db. I haven't dropped signal on my phone or any of the other devices.....i've checked them frequently. Woke up this morning, everything still streaming and the router still firing on all cylinders with 37 devices connected via my home network through switches, wireless, and wired. I'm able to see signal about half a block from my house now. Before it died at the top of the driveway. I'm able to increase download by 30% and upload remains steady at 5MBps, which is my max upload through timewarner extreme.
2 year warranty, so I don't care if there is something i'm overlooking that's going to cook my router. I get better performance this way, and in two years, I'll probably be bored of it and buy something else. I don't have any 5GHz devices yet, so I can't really test the impact there, so I left it alone. I'm actually curious just to see if I turn it down to various levels if I can improve things. I arbitrarily chose 500 just because it would let me.
Attached is a screenshot in case anyone's interested.Attachments
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