5Ghz band does not maintain device connections

[parzival]

I'm currently using an ASUS AC5300 router. Prior to that I was using an Asus RT-AC87U and before that an Asus RT-AC66U. With these I have experienced the same issue with the 5Ghz AC radio. Connections using the 5Ghz ac band will consistently fail to maintain connections over time. Sometimes over a short period and sometimes longer. On the other hand, everything that connects to the 2.4Ghz band is rock solid. There are often a large number of devices active at any particular time. The count has been as high as 43. Typically, however it hovers around 25-35. It’s a mix of devices including PC's, laptops, tablets, Androids, iPhones and android phones, Xbox and assorted other consumer devices. To accommodate the continually increasing number of devices and to allow for connections to devices that did not support WI-FI I acquired two (2) RT-AC87U routers setting one up as a wireless bridge for connecting non-wireless devices too far from the main RT-AC87U to use a direct cable. This worked very well with the wireless bridging providing better than 1Gb throughput for some devices. Unfortunately, other devices connected to the same band on 5Ghz still suffered the same disconnect issue as before affecting all devices on the band. It would clear without intervention, usually, but the interruption was always disruptive. Devices connected to the 2.4Ghz band, (N class), remained rock solid without interruption. One of my sons, an avid gamer, acquired an Asus AC1900P to use as a bridge. Connected to the 5Ghz band he had continual issues with disconnects, so much so that I setup a guest network on the 2.4Ghz band just for him. Again, no problems and throughout was adequate.

At this point, thinking that perhaps device count or something related was causing the issue, (I found no issues with signal strength or interference), I acquired the AC5300. I configured one of the 5Ghz bands to use strictly for bridging, and set the other up just for connecting devices. The channel configured for bridging is rock solid. Great throughout, no disconnects solid performance and availability. The 5Ghz channel for devices continues to suffer from the same intermittent disconnects. The 2.4Ghz channel maintains it's consistent availability without disconnects, failures or performance issues.

The main router is located on the second floor of a 2500 square foot house. Signal strength is good throughout the lower floor. Even the basement has good signal strength where a Netgear R6400 is employed as a bridge to support the multimedia room there.

All the Asus routers are running Asus Merlin firmware and have since their introduction into my network, (currently 380.66_4). The Netgear router is running stock firmware, (V1.0.0.26_1.0.14).

I have been searching for some time trying to discover why I have continual issues with devices when connected to the 5Ghz Band without success. Perhaps someone has a suggestion on what to do or test or try next to stabilize the connections. The consistent disconnects have forced me to connect most devices to the 2.4Ghz band even when they can operate at 5Ghz. Thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks

 

[avtella]

Do you have an old 5Ghz cordless phone or a T-Mobile LTE booster (Uses 5Ghz for backhaul between receiver and booster)?

Also install a WiFi analyzer and see what AP's are nearby, and using the lower channels ie 42.
The AC87U has a Quantenna 5Ghz chipset which has its own issues causing drops etc.
Maybe try using only the AC5300 and AC68U for a while and see what happens.

 

[parzival]

Do you have an old 5Ghz cordless phone or a T-Mobile LTE booster (Uses 5Ghz for backhaul between receiver and booster)?

Also install a WiFi analyzer and see what AP's are nearby, and using the lower channels ie 42.
The AC87U has a Quantenna 5Ghz chipset which has its own issues causing drops etc.
Maybe try using only the AC5300 and AC68U for a while and see what happens.

Thank you for your response. I do not have a 5Ghz wireless phone. The RT-AC87U is only a bridge and does not accept device connections. It does have some wired devices attached. The bridges all use the high 5Ghz channels, devices are on the low channels. There are no nearby access points on the low 5Ghz channels I can detect. (Plenty on the 2.4Ghz band though).
Those were good suggestions. I suppose if need be I can take the RT-AC87U out of service at the price of losing connectivity to the wired devices on it. Is that necessary given it is not being used for device connectivity?

I appreciate the response.

 

[avtella]

Try disabling airtime fairness then beamforming (unlikely cause but just try) on your AC5300. I assumed one of the AC87Us was being used to connect to wireless clients, if not, no need to disconnect. Believe it or not there is a guy on Netgear's official forums with an R8500 with similar issues, he's been through three and cant figure out what is causing the interference on one of the bands.

Also maybe try putting all your devices on the high channels if the low channels are the issue. Then again that would make the AC5300's 2nd band unused... problem with WiFi analyzers like inSSIDer are they only detect other APs and wont really show you other causes of interference.

Lastly not sure if your AC5300 supports DFS channels, R8500 which has the same chipset doesn't. However if yours does, you can try channel 60 or so for the low channel radio.

 

[parzival]

Again good suggestions. The AC5300 does not allow for DFS channel select. Re-configuring the network to move the devices to the high channels will have to wait until the weekend as my day job does not leave me the time. The channel I use for bridging has airtime fairness and beam forming enabled and, as I have mentioned, that channel is rock solid. I'll try turning them off on the low channels. One thing I did do was pick up a new AC adapter for the laptop I use primarily. It's where I see the failure most often and thinking that there might be an incompatibility between the adapter and the router, I'm trying a different one. Will keep you posted.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[parzival]

Might be premature but since I installed the new wireless adapter I have not experienced any failures or disconnects. I installed it on Tuesday evening and performance has been flawless ever since. No drops, good throughput and no other issues with any other devices on that 5Ghz Channel. For reference the new adapter I installed was an EDIMax AC1750 USB 3.0 adapter. The adapter I had been using was a Linksys WUSB6300 USB 3.0. I did research that adapter but I found no reported issues with it. Naturally, I assumed that the adapter was not the issue but at this point, maybe it is. I've never gone more than 24 hours previously without failure or disconnect. It's now been 80 hours. Have you heard of anything like this or seen this type of incompatibility? Seems odd that a wireless adapter could cause this much havoc. Thank you for all of your assistance. I'll keep you posted. Time will tell.

 

[sfx2000]

I'm currently using an ASUS AC5300 router. Prior to that I was using an Asus RT-AC87U and before that an Asus RT-AC66U. With these I have experienced the same issue with the 5Ghz AC radio. Connections using the 5Ghz ac band will consistently fail to maintain connections over time.

Physics - and you've proven the case here... it's not a SW issue - it's the location of the AP with relation to the clients..

5GHz is going to be about half the range of 2.4GHz...