AC5300 - 2.4 G WiFi dropping

[kishork]

I need help.

I am sure this question must have been asked, but please forgive me to ask my specific instance..

AC5300 on 384.15 with full reset

My wife's WiFi was dropping every now and then (i think even prior to 384.15)..

Curious i loaded a WiFi Analyzer and below is what i see:

( could not understand how to insert good size images here, can you please see WiFi 1 and WiFi 2 images below )

Every few minutes / seconds the 2.4 G is disappearing

Just 8 feet away from AC5300 with no obstacle in between..

Tried Tri SmartConnect enabled disabled

Tried USB 3.0 enabled disabled

but same result

I am not Networking expert

Is this behavior wrong ?

Is this how it is expected ?

Or something is wrong ? What i need to do ?

I dont think this is proper behavior, WiFi signal must be steady and not dropping like this..

Can you please help what should i do..

Awaiting your feedback..

 

[ColinTaylor]

Look in the router's System Log > General Log.

If you have the 2.4GHz Control Channel set to Auto my guess is that the router is constantly changing channels in an attempt to find one that's free from interference. If that's the case manually set a channel for 2.4GHz.

 

[SheikhSheikha]

Disable smart connect, choose a fixed channel (if you have a wifi scanner select the best channel) and forget the 40MHz, turn off IGMP snooping, disable tx bursting, disable multi mimo, disable universal beam forming. After setting this, wait for 10 minutes. Than pull the plug, wait 5 minutes and power up your router. Keep in mind that radars, other wifi's in your vicinity may influence the wifi performance. Good luck with the puzzle! :-D

 

[kishork]

thanks Colin and Sheikh !!!

i assigned fixed channel, selected 20MHz, turned off IGMP snooping, disabled tx bursting, disabled multi mimo, disabled universal beam forming, stopped smart connect, provided separate ssid to each band and assigned specific devices to specific band through Mac filter..

i am certainly seeing improvement !!!

earlier 2.4G was dropping like every few minutes / seconds.. now it is much steady !!! very happy with what i am seeing !!!

i will monitor this for some time and provide further feedback after couple of days observation..

many thanks once again, very happy with the results so far

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[kishork]

emboldened, did couple of more things..

wanted to understand whether it is smart connect and AI-MESH which was causing the problem and if not wanted to have them on.. hence created smart connect and AI-MESH again.. also made MU-MIMO on..

so below are the effective settings which were specifically made:

Dual band Smart Connect on

AI-MESH on ( AC-5300 master, AC-68u node, on WiFi because WAN of 68u is fried earlier during thunder storm, second 5 G back haul )

IGMP snooping disabled

TX bursting disabled

Universal beam forming disabled

Preamble : short

Roaming Assistance of -60 dBm to help AI-MESH

As can be seen above one device on 2.4 G and one device on 5 G on since last 15 hours..

I think i have not seen such hours earlier..

Is this any validation that these WiFi bands are now steady ? or can it still mean that no this is no validation, these WiFi might still be dropping ?

WiFi analyzer still at times does not show 2.4 G and 5 G though.. then how devices on these bands are on since 15 hours ? is it true that when WiFi analyzer does not show them these devices should have dropped ? and if so does it mean that WiFi analyzer at times does not show these bands is normal for them to miss them ?

As i said i am poor in Networking technical, hence want to understand if something steady since 15 hours can mean WiFi is now alright ?

 

[SheikhSheikha]

Seems stabilized to me. iPhones / ipads might disconnect intermittently due to battery saving settings. I would recommend for Apple devices the following: after a firmware update/upgrade reset your network settings and create a new wifi connection. Apple seems to write some "goodies" in those connections that are related to the connection with your router with the new firmware. (It has become a standard operation in my upgrade/update procedure). The same applies to my Nest Domotica stuff.
As far as SmartConnect concerns: I have switched it of two years ago. The whole dashboard is a mess and I noticed that settings are very specific for your own personal situation to make it really work. I personally see a less stabile WiFi availability with SmartConnect switched on so I gave up and moth-balled that function.

On a closing note: with 384.16 I gave my 40Mhz setting another try and that seems very stabile now (which could be caused by the almost empty airspace in my area).
I have both my RT-AC5300's automatically reboot every 24 hours (I know some people prefer to keep it running but with a VPN client running that opens the world to me (I am in a region with a governmental super proxy) this is the smart thing for me to do to to guarantee optimized wifi in my case.