AFC Channels on GS-BE18000

[VidMan]

I recently got the ASUS GS-BE18000, which fully supports Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) to increase the transmit power of the 6GHz band based on location. My issue is that the router is saying that the allowed channels do not permit AFC to be turned on for a channel bandwidth greater than 40MHz, which severely restricts the speed benefits of the 6GHz band. Unfortunately, the native interface doesn't let you directly see which channels are allowed based on the location query to the AFC database. Is there any way to ssh into the routers, similar to Ubiquiti APs, to find more detailed information about the AFC status? Manually going through all the channels allows AFC to be enabled for only one 40MHz channel, so either something isn't working correctly or I'm extremely unlucky with neighboring stations.

 

[sha1dy]

you definitely can ssh to the router: Administration -> System -> Enable SSH, don't know how to find AFC information, sadly

 

[sha1dy]

actually did some tinkering myself (I have ASUS GS-BE18000 too), in my case AFC shows "Standard Power mode"

you can check if latest AFC request was successful by running "afc_cli -c stored" in the shell and get the json response from AFC by doing "cat /tmp/afc_response.json"

 

[sha1dy]

so this is I got in my case from AFC server:
{
"availableSpectrumInquiryResponses": [
{
"availabilityExpireTime": "2025-07-21T23:43:03Z",
"availableChannelInfo": [
{
"channelCfi": [
1,
5,
9,
13,
17,
21,
25,
29,
33,
37,
41,
45,
49,
53,
57,
61,
65,
69,
73,
77,
81,
85,
89,
93,
117,
121,
125,
129,
133,
137,
141,
145,
149,
153,
157,
161,
165,
169,
173,
177,
181
],
"globalOperatingClass": 131,
"maxEirp": [
36,
36,
29.8,
29.9,
36,
33.6,
33.6,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
35.1,
35.2,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
34.8,
34.8,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36
]
},
{
"channelCfi": [
3,
11,
19,
27,
35,
43,
51,
59,
67,
75,
83,
91,
123,
131,
139,
147,
155,
163,
171,
179
],
"globalOperatingClass": 132,
"maxEirp": [
36,
32.9,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36
]
},
{
"channelCfi": [
7,
23,
39,
55,
71,
87,
135,
151,
167
],
"globalOperatingClass": 133,
"maxEirp": [
35.8,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36,
36
]
},
{
"channelCfi": [
15,
47,
79,
143
],
"globalOperatingClass": 134,
"maxEirp": [
36,
36,
36,
36
]
},
{
"channelCfi": [
31,
63
],
"globalOperatingClass": 137,
"maxEirp": [
36,
36
]
}
],
"availableFrequencyInfo": [
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 5989,
"lowFrequency": 5925
},
"maxPsd": 22.9
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6009,
"lowFrequency": 5989
},
"maxPsd": 16.8
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6020,
"lowFrequency": 6009
},
"maxPsd": 16.9
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6048,
"lowFrequency": 6020
},
"maxPsd": 22.9
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6058,
"lowFrequency": 6048
},
"maxPsd": 20.5
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6079,
"lowFrequency": 6058
},
"maxPsd": 20.6
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6330,
"lowFrequency": 6079
},
"maxPsd": 22.9
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6351,
"lowFrequency": 6330
},
"maxPsd": 22.1
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6361,
"lowFrequency": 6351
},
"maxPsd": 22.2
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6425,
"lowFrequency": 6361
},
"maxPsd": 22.9
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6682,
"lowFrequency": 6525
},
"maxPsd": 22.9
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6688,
"lowFrequency": 6682
},
"maxPsd": 21.8
},
{
"frequencyRange": {
"highFrequency": 6865,
"lowFrequency": 6688
},
"maxPsd": 22.9
}
],
"requestId": "1704067300",
"response": {
"responseCode": 0,
"shortDescription": "Success"
},
"rulesetId": "US_47_CFR_PART_15_SUBPART_E"
}
],
"version": "1.4"
}

so In my case, the router choose channel 37 for 6Ghz band, where, according to this json, I'm getting full power for 20 Mhz, and there is no channel where I can get full power for 160 and 320 Mhz at the same time, so I will need to either select a channel with full power only for 160 Mhz clients, or for 320 Mhz clients only And looks like ASUS firmware doesn't take AFC response into account when selecting channels for 6 Ghz, so I will have to select the channel manually

 

[sha1dy]

and looks like ASUS ui has a bug where it only displays 20 Mhz channels if I want to set the channel manually. So I cant manually select 160Mhz channel that has full power authorization

 

[VidMan]

Thanks for looking into this. Standard power operation corresponds to 36dBm EIRP so to me it seems like the majority of your channels are available, unless I'm incorrectly interpreting the json output. I'll try running the shell command and see what response I get. I am able to select any 6GHz channel in the web GUI by turning off the "Preferred Scanning Channels" option.

From your output, I would try 160MHz bandwidth on channels 15, 47, 79, 143 or 320MHz on channels 31 or 63 and see if that allows for standard power operation.

 

[VidMan]

I ran the shell commands and the EIRP and PSD result confirms that I am unluckily located in a area with a lot of commercial 6GHz stations. I only have 2 adjacent channels (40MHz max bandwidth) with an EIRP of 36 and a PSD of 23, values which correspond to standard power vs low power operation.