Asus RT-AC5300 Wifi Channel, Firmware and AIMesh Question

[Damageinc84]

Hey Guys,

New here and new to Asus. Replacing my Nighthawk R7000 tonight. I have them both broadcasting on separate channels next to each other and in general the R7000 is getting a slightly lower DB range to the downstairs where I am running Wifi Analyzer to measure readings. Any tips to boost the signal of the RT? I'm not terribly worried about it because I will have a second RT tomorrow in AP mode backhauled to the primary router.

My second question, primarily because this is my first Tri-Band experience, the 5Ghz 1 channels seem to be limited to the lower range while the 5Ghz 2 channels are the higher range. What is the purpose of forcing them to be on opposite ends of the spectrum? The lower ends are being used by my neighbors while I have the r7000 on the high side at 161 and the 5Ghz 2 from the Asus at 165.

Also before I ordered the Asus I had bought a Nighthawk EX7000 extender that was able to use the channels through the 100 range that were reserved for Radar. Is there anyway to open those channels on the Asus without aftermarket? Also if I use an aftermarket Firmware does it lose the AIMesh system?

And I just noticed that my PC downstairs that was getting a link speed to my R7000 at 866mpbs is only getting 175 to the Asus. Hmm

UPDATE on the above, If I connect to the 5Ghz 1 band I am back to 866mbps, not sure why it is dropping so low on the 5Ghz 2 band.

UPDATE 2: It looks like a channel issue with the second band. That adapter doesn't like channel 165. Setting it to Auto to test I get the speeds of 866 back.

 

[ColinTaylor]

My second question, primarily because this is my first Tri-Band experience, the 5Ghz 1 channels seem to be limited to the lower range while the 5Ghz 2 channels are the higher range. What is the purpose of forcing them to be on opposite ends of the spectrum?

Having two radio transmitters on similar frequencies when the antennas are a few centimetres apart is a recipe for co-channel interference.

 

[Damageinc84]

Having two radio transmitters on similar frequencies when the antennas are a few centimetres apart is a recipe for co-channel interference.

Ok that makes sense. I am so used to Dual Band this all is fairly new to me. Thanks!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Also before I ordered the Asus I had bought a Nighthawk EX7000 extender that was able to use the channels through the 100 range that were reserved for Radar. Is there anyway to open those channels on the Asus without aftermarket?

I don't know, but as an experiment you could disable one of the 5GHz radios and see if that opened up the channel selection (see my previous post about frequency separation).

Also if I use an aftermarket Firmware does it lose the AIMesh system?

Merlin's firmware doesn't support AiMesh.

 

[ColinTaylor]

And I just noticed that my PC downstairs that was getting a link speed to my R7000 at 866mpbs is only getting 175 to the Asus. Hmm

UPDATE on the above, If I connect to the 5Ghz 1 band I am back to 866mbps, not sure why it is dropping so low on the 5Ghz 2 band.

Try sending a high volume of traffic through it and see if the rate changes.

 

[Damageinc84]

Try sending a high volume of traffic through it and see if the rate changes.

So that's interesting, I posted an update on this above where I thought it was a wireless channel issue on 165, Moved it to auto and the link would go back to 866 but would bounce a bit, doing what you said it would jump right back to 866. Putting it back to channel 165, it goes back to 170s speed and forcing traffic through it doesn't make it change. Maybe this Netgear A6210 has issues on channel 165.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Putting it back to channel 165, it goes back to 170s speed and forcing traffic through it doesn't make it change. Maybe this Netgear A6210 has issues on channel 165.

Channel 165 is a 20MHz-only bandwidth channel. So the most you can get with 2 antennas is 173.3Mbps.

Change to channel 149 - 161.

 

[Damageinc84]

Channel 165 is a 20MHz-only bandwidth channel. So the most you can get with 2 antennas is 173.3Mbps.

Got it, Learned something new today. Thanks! I moved it to 161 and it seems to be stable.

 

[Damageinc84]

I don't know, but as an experiment you could disable one of the 5GHz radios and see if that opened up the channel selection (see my previous post about frequency separation).

Merlin's firmware doesn't support AiMesh.

I disabled the radio for 5 Ghz1 and it didn't make a difference on the channels. I am curious why that extender supported it but not some of these higher end routers.

 

[Damageinc84]

So far not too happy with this Asus Router. Having all sorts of weird issues. Running constant pings to it and it randomly drops. Looking at logs I don't see anything referencing a reboot, its uptime looks solid. I am hoping I didn't get a dud. First thing I did was update the firmware and then do a factory reset. Put in all my settings and this thing has acted flaky all night. Randomly the Nest Thermostats and other devices just disconnect and then reconnect. Pings drop internally and externally. Very strange so far.

When I do a speedtest while also pinging the router I see ping responses jump up to about 30-100ms. I have turned off any unneeded services on the router and it still happens. I plugged the nighthawk up and did the same test and it happens but not to nearly the same degree.

 

[Merlyan]

So far not too happy with this Asus Router. Having all sorts of weird issues. Running constant pings to it and it randomly drops. Looking at logs I don't see anything referencing a reboot, its uptime looks solid. I am hoping I didn't get a dud. First thing I did was update the firmware and then do a factory reset. Put in all my settings and this thing has acted flaky all night. Randomly the Nest Thermostats and other devices just disconnect and then reconnect. Pings drop internally and externally. Very strange so far.

When I do a speedtest while also pinging the router I see ping responses jump up to about 30-100ms. I have turned off any unneeded services on the router and it still happens. I plugged the nighthawk up and did the same test and it happens but not to nearly the same degree.

I just purchased this router 2 days ago. I have not even turned it on yet. I made a post 2 days ago asking if there were any serious issues with this router since many owners online has similar complaints such as yours. Are you running Merlin's firmware or the ASUS one?

 

[HuskyHerder]

Randomly the Nest Thermostats and other devices just disconnect and then reconnect. Pings drop internally and externally. Very strange so far.

Are you trying to use 3 band smart connect? for all 3 radios ? If so disable smart connect you can keep it on the 5G radios just don't use it for the 2.4 radio. I had very poor performance with smart connect across 3 radios. It's not bad in Dual-band.

aka Don't use Tri-Band settings. My setup was way better once I disabled Tri-Band, I have tried Tri band a few other times but it always ends in major headaches for me.