the signal on the AC5300 model is much more stable and bigger than before. On AC66u I was obtaining about 200 Mbps on an internet speed test, and even that had big fluctuations, the speed was not constant. With the AC5300 I have now 500Mbps in the same tests (the maximum speed which my ISP allows), the speed is constant, does not vary any more.
i would prob suggest this would be a fault or issue with your 66u as in theory if both are connecting at 1300M the 66u should have no issue with the wan to lan as its tests show 836M wan to lan
however its good to see the 5300 is more stable
the signal coverage on 2.4 GHz is much better with AC5300 vs AC66u
that was prob expected as the 2.4 gig on the 66u was never great
- the signal coverage on 5 GHz is about the same, for sure it's not better. I have no signal on the 5GHz band in the opposite corner of the apartment. I was expecting to see some real improvement on this.
so 2 things are coming play here , first is the transmission power is about the same so the same penetration is expected , the second is the environmental conditions within your apartment and construction materials used as 5 gig is 5 gig the physics of it dont change , if the construction and or materials used block the signal with the higher frequency of the 5 gig it will do for any 5 gig transmission
there is no magic bullet when it comes to wifi if the environmental conditions are working against you and is why for quite some time now i have and many here have moved away from single transmissions and the expectation that 1 devices will cure all , instead multiple access points connected via ethernet is a far better option
for the price of the 5300 you could have purchased 2 x rt-ac68u and used one as your main router and the other in ap mode in another part of the apartment and had some ethernet run between the two areas for connectivity or perhaps a ceiling mounted ap towards the black spot area again connected back to the main router via ethernet
so at least for now you have better download speeds , you may just want to consider a second ap for that black spot area , you may even be able to use the 66u as an ap just to get coverage
the lesson here is dont believe the big numbers , as regulations when it comes to transmission power and physics when it comes to wireless prorogation through materials v frequency dont change , what does change is how all these companies try and sell it in suggesting it can and does change those conditions
because this is a thread on the 5300 lets look at the claims it ,makes
https://www.asus.com/au/Networking/RT-AC5300/
1 . 4x4 antenna design with AiRadar universal beamforming for unbeatable wireless signal coverage --- im yet to see any proof of this
2 .
the above although it looks like its related to coverage is only throughput.
3.
Unbeatable Wi-Fi Coverage
With a four-transmit, four-receive (4T4R) antenna design, both Wi-Fi range and signal stability improve dramatically. AiRadar beamforming further focuses the Wi-Fi signal on your devices, making your Wi-Fi faster, clearer and stronger.
Other Routers
without AiRadar beamforming
v
RT-AC5300
with AiRadar beamforming
so we have had beamforming since the days of wireless N , yes it may have improved since wireless N but pretty much all wireless AC would not compare like this when it comes to the difference in beamforming
so as you can see the advertising is designed to make it look the best it can and comparisons are against much older technology , im not just bagging asus here as all manufactures use advertising this way and its designed to suck in the unaware or those easily startled by shinny things
there is certainly nothing wrong with the ac5300 and or ac88u and in fact i really like the 88u for its extra features and sheer grunt when it comes to its router performance but is it magically far superior to my older wireless ac router when it comes to wireless the answer is no
pete