Asus RT-AC3200 Smart Connect Rules Fine Tuning

[p1r473]

I was having the same problem. My Echo (in the same room as the router), two Kindle Fire HDX tablets, and two Emerson Sensi thermostats would not connect to the wireless network using Smart Connect. I disabled Smart Connect (ran all three radios under the same SSID) and everything connected fine. I noticed is that the Echo and Kindles connected to 5 Ghz-2 (which in "non smart connect mode" supported ac & n devices). This seemed to confirm what I read in forums about the order of association starting with the 5 Ghz-2 radio. What I did next will shock and amaze you!

;-)

I switched the Smart Connect Rules - swapped the OOB 5Ghz-2 rules with the 5Ghz-1 rules - making 5 Ghz-1 AC Only! Once I powered up these new rules, a ray of sunshine parted the clouds and illuminated my house, and the Smart Connect rules began working beautifully. All devices connected and spread out across the three radio according to the rules.

I've attached a screen shot of the rules. I did not keep the bandwidth utilization trigger rule that came OOB on the non-AC 5Ghz radio. Mostly to keep things simple to start. I can always add it back in if 5Gz-2 becomes congested.

Thanks, I was now able to connect my Amazon Echo after these changes.

A few questions, because I have no idea what this actually did.
1. Will this make the 5ghz networks slower? It seems we have disabled "very high throughout (vht) and that sounds important for making things fast!
2. Do I need to remove the 80% bandwidth thing like you did? Why did you, and what are the implications?When 5GHZ1 becomes 80% full, 5GHZ2 kicks in? So you made it more of a round-robin? If not, what did this change do?

Thanks!

 

[alexanderniebuhr]

Hey guys,

What is the best smart connect rule settings in July 2016 for an MacBook Pro retina using 5GHz. I can't get it to use the 5GHz, my macbook always connect to the 2.4GHz.

Any Ideas or Suggestions??
Thanks
Alex

 

[L&LD]

Best? 'Disabled'.

 

[alexanderniebuhr]

Best? 'Disabled'.

Yeah well. But what is the 'best' solution for smart connect function. I really don't like the fact my Mac uses the 2.4GHz band

 

[Tekneek]

Best? 'Disabled'.

I fought the good fight for a while, trying to come up with Smart Connect settings that were solid and reliable. Ultimately, I turned it off and set aside 5-1 for the streaming boxes we have and let all the other devices sort out whether they connect to 2.4 or 5-2 on their own. To my own disappointment (but good for my sanity), this has resulted in a more stable wireless network.

 

[RMerlin]

Having three separate SSID and manually deciding where to connect each client is fairly simple, and far more reliable than any dynamic load-balancing that might be done by Smart Connect.

Some clients will flat out have trouble dealing with Smart Connect, something the router cannot do anything about.

 

[L&LD]

Yeah well. But what is the 'best' solution for smart connect function. I really don't like the fact my Mac uses the 2.4GHz band

This is a feature that still needs baking. No mix of the 'ingredients' we have access to seems to change that for a lot of people.

The easy answer for your mac is to specifically give it access to only the 5GHz band by using separate ssid's (the password can be the same).

 

[alexanderniebuhr]

Ok thanks :/ Well not what I wished for my Mac and router but fine

 

[garyd9]

Ok thanks :/ Well not what I wished for my Mac and router but fine

Just set up a "guest" network on one of the 5GHz radios and a specific SSID, put some security on it, and allow that specific guest network access to the internal LAN.

 

[Jayvee]

Yes. These settings seem to work the best for me as of now. No disconnects with 2.4GHz and 5GHz-2 (802.11ac) clients. Some disconnects occur with 5GHz-1 (802.11n) clients though. Still am going to play around with the settings to see if that can be fixed. Also, be sure to set "Network Key Rotation Interval" to "0" in the Wireless settings page. This fixes the hourly wireless drops to all clients that everyone is still experiencing.

The settings you posted worked great for me. I adjusted the RSSI Trigger connection to -52(under 2.4GHz). I have a three story home, router is on the lower level(concrete above it), 3rd level gets good signal and constant bandwidth on 2.4Ghz. Left the network key rotation interval to 1hr.

Thanks!

 

[bit curation]

The settings you posted worked great for me. I adjusted the RSSI Trigger connection to -52(under 2.4GHz). I have a three story home, router is on the lower level(concrete above it), 3rd level gets good signal and constant bandwidth on 2.4Ghz. Left the network key rotation interval to 1hr.

Thanks!

I've switched to default setting since at least half a year ago, everything seemed working really well ever since. there is no need to adjust the smart rule anymore. I still can't find where the rotation interval setting is located.

 

[pwdrskr]

I am unable to save changes to the Smart Connect settings. Selecting the "Apply" button has no effect. I can make changes and hit "Apply". However navigating away then back to the Smart Connect settings page results in the default settings appearing.

I am using Merlin software version 380.61 on a RT-AC88U.

anyone experience this?

 

[JAAS666]

I've been using Smart Connect and it's been working perfectly. Only exception was one of the new Vizio Smartcast TVs but I'm pretty sure problem was with the way the TV tries to connect.

You run a connection wizard on your mobile device, like the way you connect a Chromecast devices. Apparently this wizard connects the TV to the SSID and tries some checks but while it's checking the router with smart connect moves the TV to the 5Ghz.. The setup sees the disconnection and throws a failed message. There was no way I could find to make the setup suceed.

I had to disable Smart Connect, complete the setup connecting to the 2.4Ghz then re enabling Smart Connect. Make sure the SSID used for the 2.4 when completing the setup is the same SSID you use when enabling smart connect.

After that the TV correctly connects to the 2.4 and gets moved to the 5(2) without problems.

Maybe that's whats happening with the Echo too??

 

[p1r473]

I was having the same problem. My Echo (in the same room as the router), two Kindle Fire HDX tablets, and two Emerson Sensi thermostats would not connect to the wireless network using Smart Connect. I disabled Smart Connect (ran all three radios under the same SSID) and everything connected fine. I noticed is that the Echo and Kindles connected to 5 Ghz-2 (which in "non smart connect mode" supported ac & n devices). This seemed to confirm what I read in forums about the order of association starting with the 5 Ghz-2 radio. What I did next will shock and amaze you!

;-)

I switched the Smart Connect Rules - swapped the OOB 5Ghz-2 rules with the 5Ghz-1 rules - making 5 Ghz-1 AC Only! Once I powered up these new rules, a ray of sunshine parted the clouds and illuminated my house, and the Smart Connect rules began working beautifully. All devices connected and spread out across the three radio according to the rules.

I've attached a screen shot of the rules. I did not keep the bandwidth utilization trigger rule that came OOB on the non-AC 5Ghz radio. Mostly to keep things simple to start. I can always add it back in if 5Gz-2 becomes congested.

So when I do this, the Echo connects fine, but nothing EVER connects to 5ghz-1 now. They all only connecto 5ghz-2.

Anyone have a better rule set that works with Amazon Echo / Alexa?

 

[bit curation]

So when I do this, the Echo connects fine, but nothing EVER connects to 5ghz-1 now. They all only connecto 5ghz-2.

Anyone have a better rule set that works with Amazon Echo / Alexa?

I used to have my 1 gen Fire TV that cannot connect to neither of 5ghz bands with the default smart rule, in the first few months when I have the ac3200. I had to customize the rule. Later on that problem is gone and I revert to using the default smart rule ever since, until recent after I bought echo.

The work around is to add a guest band and make echo connects to it only. From Fire TV to Echo, keep in mind Echo is two year old hardware, I can't help thinking Amazon must have something in its wifi design that conflict with tri-band router, but I couldn't confirm if it's only Asus or all tri-band.

 

[p1r473]

I used to have my 1 gen Fire TV that cannot connect to neither of 5ghz bands with the default smart rule, in the first few months when I have the ac3200. I had to customize the rule. Later on that problem is gone and I revert to using the default smart rule ever since, until recent after I bought echo.

The work around is to add a guest band and make echo connects to it only. From Fire TV to Echo, keep in mind Echo is two year old hardware, I can't help thinking Amazon must have something in its wifi design that conflict with tri-band router, but I couldn't confirm if it's only Asus or all tri-band.

Is there any other better solution than having a dedicated guest Wifi just for Echo?
Anyone get the smart rules working with the Echo?

The config I quoted above allows the Echos on the LAN (better than just guest band), but devices only connect to 5 ghz 2, never 1.

 

[vibroverbus]

I have to admit I gave up on the rules and wifi steering. Crap just doesn't seem to work, client devices just have too much of the control over the decision. And indeed all the devices would just end up on the same 5G network.

So I gave 5G-2 a different name (normalnetworkname.2), made it hidden, and now I put all the dedicated media & streaming devices on that, and don't let any of the other personal or miscellaneous devices know about it. For my purposes that works very well now, and gives me reasonable distribution across the radios. There's still a few stupid clients that seem to love to attach to 2.4G even when the 5G signal is stronger and faster but for most part things work as they should.

 

[Darren Cook]

Skimmed through the forum and sounds like Smart Connect had a lot of trouble early on, and still has some issues today.

So I wanted to post my experience: bought the RT-AC3200 a few weeks ago. Updated firmware on install and landed with 3.0.0.4.380_3479. Started with SmartConnect and it's been a pretty stable experience, compared to the old Verizon box which could drop me 20 times an hour per device, and required rebooting sometimes 3-4 times a day.

Under this configuration, I am running up to 20 devices, primarily OSX from 10.6.8/802.11g up to 10.12/802.11ac, and iOS devices from the original iPad up to the latest iPhone 7, plus a wii, an Xbox 360, and an HP printer all on wifi. Occasionally a Windows or Android mobile device appears when the relatives show up. No PC, no Amazon devices.

The only devices that still have occasional dropped-connection issues are primarily iPhones when walking out of the central range of the house (remote rooms, garage, outside). Presumably then they are just radio hopping, and after a minute recover and work fine. Sometimes I toggle wifi on and off to give them some help. Now that I know it's just SmartConnect doing its job, I feel better.

I'm attaching a screenshot of the default settings under this firmware version, in case anyone who abandoned SmartConnect earlier this year feels like trying again.

UPDATE: I have since found that AirPlay is not happy with Smart Connect; it won't connect devices across radios. Turning Smart Connect off and using individual SIDs is one solution. Or for temporary needs, I am using the ASUS Router mobile app (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/asus-router-manage-secure/id1033794044) where I can easily toggle off the 5ghz radios and fall back to a single 2.4 radio when I need to use the AirPlay feature. I've filed support requests with both ASUS and Apple but no solutions have materialized yet. Hopefully they'll figure that one out eventually.

 

[Jerry12]

I've yet to find a conceptual model for configuring Smart Connect nor a way to test and tune configuration settings with your clients in your environment and test if your clients can handle getting bumped to a different radio. Without that, it's just futzing around.

As SmallNetBuilder writes in How To Buy A Wireless Router - 2017 Edition:

So we once again caution against trying to "future proof" your purchases. Just ask anyone who paid top price for a MU-MIMO "ready" or tri-radio "Smart Connect" router. Some of the former are still waiting for the MU-MIMO upgrades and the latter are either still futzing with getting Smart Connect to work reliably or have disabled it and resorted to manual band assignment. More often than not, paying a steep price for the latest and greatest in Wi-Fi has not produced the desired result.

The best strategy I've seen is turn off Smart Connect, give a separate SSID to each band, manually assign clients to bands, and reserve one 5GHz band with 80MHz width for 802.11ac devices so they can actually use 802.11ac.

 

[tjernagel]

Thanks for the post! I too have been wondering... I'm going to try your settings. 5GHz-2 for me will not allow me to change it. It's hard coded for AC Only... I'm running Firmware Version:3.0.0.4.380_7378.