ASUS RT-AC86U : configuration and questions

[aSmallWorld]

Hey folks !

Three months ago, I purchased an awesome asus RTAC86U in replacement of my old wifi router a/b/g who served for almost 10 years. The change in performances, ranging and stability was astonishing.

Yesterday, I wanted to do an in-depth configuration of this router. I did read a lot of documentation ranging from "best wifi channel practice" to "which tools are useful for a wireless network audit".

Ok, before starting my questions, I'll have to list the setup I have :

- Router is on the 3nd floor of my house
- Router is CHINA region enabled (although I live in Europe). Stock firmware, no merlin.
- Dual network enabled, 2,4ghz and 5ghz, different SSID
- 2,4ghz is 20mhz bandwith on channel 6, 5ghz is 80mhz bandwith on channel 149/155(ac)

- Computer is a laptop, wireless is managed by Intel AC9560 card
- I'm using inSSIDer office for wireless audit

Questions :

Let's start with the 2,4ghz channel first : ASUS advertises the max bandwith on 2,4ghz being up to 750mbps in 3x3 configuration, with nitroQAM enabled.

- inSSIDer says my max bandwith is 72.2mbps in 20mhz (w/ airtime fairness+multi-mimo disabled), as shown in the screenshot.
- When I change the band from 20mhz to 40mhz I reach a max of 150mbps with airtime fairness and multi-mimo disabled on asus router.
- I reach a max of 450mbps with both options enabled.

Are those results normal ? Did I miss anything ? How do I reach this 750mbps as advertised for the Asus ?


When I swap from 20mhz to 40mhz band, the 123456-2G overlaps with the 3 other wifi networks I own : inSSIDer says I then use channel 6 and 10 on 40mhz band. (extension channel is set on "above" on router)

Is this good ? Should I stick with 20mhz band to prevent overlapping ? Or go with the 40mhz ? Does it affect performance of the 3 other wifi networks ?

Now for the 5ghz Bandwith :

- inSSIDer says I'm reaching a max bandwith of 1773 mbps on 5Ghz, which puzzles me : Asus says on his website this bandwith is reachable with 4x4 networks cards, and up to 2167 with 4x4 1024QAM enabled.

How is this possible ? My network card on laptop (intel AC9560) is supposed to be 2x2, so it should not reach 1733mbps ? If I reach 1733mbps on 5ghz, why can't I reach at least 600mbps on 2,4ghz ? How do I reach 750 and 2167 mbps ?

Many thanks to the people who could enlighten me, help me in the process of tweaking this awesome router or answering my (many) questions !

 

[ColinTaylor]

Some points to note:

1. Don't blindly trust a single application like inSSIDer (or anything else). It's known to have misreported information in the past. Try and verify what you're seeing with other software, like Acrylic.

2. If you live in Europe set your router to use Europe region.

3. The maximum link speed for 3 antennas with 802.11n (2.4GHz) @ 40MHz bandwidth is 450Mbps. To achieve 750Mbps you'd have to use a non-standard modulation scheme on both devices.

4. Using an overlapping 40MHz channel on 2.4GHz is regarded as a bad choice. Try to use 20MHz if you can.

5. 5GHz: Again, with 4 antennas the maximum official link speed with 80MHz bandwidth is 1733Mbps. Anything higher requires both ends to use non-standard modulation.

6. The Intel AC9560 with 2 antennas has a maximum link speed at 80MHz of 866.7Mbps. The get 1733.4Mbps you'd have to use a bandwidth of 160MHz.

 

[aSmallWorld]

Hey, thanks for your answer.

1) Just installed acrylic and it gives me slightly different informations...

- saying I'm on channel 4+8, on 2,4ghz which means a double overlap now. Having investigated, it seems asus router "randomly" set back the channel assignation to "auto", and set up this, while I had set it manually to channel 6. Weird, but anyway. I guess it is super bad, right ?
- If I set it to 20mhz on channel 6 (so, no overlap) max speed says 216 mbps. Is there a way to reach 450mbps without overlapping ?

2) that's noted, will change it.

3-4-5-6) My Intel AC9560 has two antennas. So if I'm not wrong, I am actually getting a max speed of 866.7mbps on 5Ghz (80MHz) and 300mbps on 2,4Ghz (40Mhz) ?
if so, which M2 laptop cards actually have 4 antennas ? (Additionnal question : Which ones could support 1024QAM modulation ? I don't think the Intel card supports it.)

Overall, if I understand well, Asus advertises a speed that can only be attained by using proprietary devices who supports 1024QAM modulation ?

 

[ColinTaylor]

- saying I'm on channel 4+8, on 2,4ghz which means a double overlap now. Having investigated, it seems asus router "randomly" set back the channel assignation to "auto", and set up this, while I had set it manually to channel 6. Weird, but anyway. I guess it is super bad, right ?

Probably, but as with all things WiFi don't just go by the numbers. WiFi in the real world is more like black magic . The theory can only take you so far, but there's no substitute for empirical testing to work out what settings are actually best in your environment.

- If I set it to 20mhz on channel 6 (so, no overlap) max speed says 216 mbps. Is there a way to reach 450mbps without overlapping ?

Given your picture, no. But you might find that 20MHz on channel 6 gives a better "experience" than 40MHz on 4+8 or 6+10 or 6+2.

My Intel AC9560 has two antennas. So if I'm not wrong, I am actually getting a max speed of 866.7mbps on 5Ghz (80MHz) and 300mbps on 2,4Ghz (40Mhz) ?

That's correct. If you set 2.4GHz to 20MHz the maximum would be 144.5Mbps.

if so, which M2 laptop cards actually have 4 antennas ? (Additionnal question : Which ones could support 1024QAM modulation ? I don't think the Intel card supports it.)

I'm not aware of any, but that's not my area of knowledge. Intel adaptors only ever support the official specs in my experience. To get something that supports Asus' 1024QAM you'd have to get one of their own adaptors (check the reviews before buying becuase even they sometimes don't work as advertised).

Overall, if I understand well, Asus advertises a speed that can only be attained by using proprietary devices who supports 1024QAM modulation ? That's a bit retarded, I'd had invested in a netgear R7800 which supports 160Mhz if i knew that.

Yep.

 

[Grisu]

Hey, thanks for your answer.

1) Just installed acrylic and it gives me slightly different informations...

- saying I'm on channel 4+8, on 2,4ghz which means a double overlap now. Having investigated, it seems asus router "randomly" set back the channel assignation to "auto", and set up this, while I had set it manually to channel 6. Weird, but anyway. I guess it is super bad, right ?
- If I set it to 20mhz on channel 6 (so, no overlap) max speed says 216 mbps. Is there a way to reach 450mbps without overlapping ?

2) that's noted, will change it.

3-4-5-6) My Intel AC9560 has two antennas. So if I'm not wrong, I am actually getting a max speed of 866.7mbps on 5Ghz (80MHz) and 300mbps on 2,4Ghz (40Mhz) ?
if so, which M2 laptop cards actually have 4 antennas ? (Additionnal question : Which ones could support 1024QAM modulation ? I don't think the Intel card supports it.)

Overall, if I understand well, Asus advertises a speed that can only be attained by using proprietary devices who supports 1024QAM modulation ?

You are within EU, so ch. >149 are not allowed (or only with 25mW power and you have now about 500mW).
Set to region EU you get ch. 52-64 and 100-116/132-140 to use.
Greatest problem that many clients (phones) bought in EU won't support ch. >149, Intel card does (I now from my 9260).

You can reuse ch 1(+5) in your case as the one on ch1 is far away with -80dbm.
Avoid conflict with others and even let a channel between, so ch 6+2 or 5+1 or 1+5 would be fine in your case. Better to stay on 1-6-11 and reuse 1 with additional 5 (up).

Just test your connection speeds with these different settings, not max. speed but real life speed with copying files over WiFi!

And forget any higher speeds, even with Asus cards supporting it you wont get it or only very near to your router with direct sight.

 

[aSmallWorld]

Thanks you very much for your advices !

Yep, actually this asus router was bought from a reseller in China at a whooping 106 euros price (and without custom taxes), while the netgear R7800 (which has 160Mhz) was priced at 109e... I had debated between the two then decided to go with the Asus who was advertising higher bandwith...

Two reasons were : my old router a/b/g was totally crap after 9 years of good servicing, and I'm getting 1gbps fiber (FTTH) in 3 to 6 months. I didn't pay attention to the fact it wasn't handling the 160mhz channel, and my main target was to get my hands on a router who could handle 1gbps over wifi.

Phones aren't a problem for me, as I'm picking chinese phones (OnePlus and the (coming soon) xiaomi mi mix 3 - they support chinese channels). Only reason I didn't change to EU region before is that I was afraid the 5ghz channel would be crowded... which is actually totally empty So I already changed the region (router wasn't region locked hopefully).

I'll try the Ch 6+2 (and test the others aswell), that'll be fine.


All this thing leads me to another question : with the coming .11ax, can we expect laptop devices (M2 or Mini PCIe) with 4x4 and 1024QAM within the next year ? I investigated a bit, and currently no one has 4x4 and only Asus handles the 1024QAM in a 3x4 usb device. If that was going to happen, i'd change the wifi card and be happy with this router.

 

[Grisu]

how to get a 86U for <110€???

AX standards not finalized before next year, so better wait as you would be beta tester for next 2 years! And devices bought now based on drafts probably cant be fixed by software and will have troubles forever.

 

[aSmallWorld]

how to get a 86U for <110€???

AX standards not finalized before next year, so better wait as you would be beta tester for next 2 years!

Joybuy (chinese online seller) sold them for 106 euros. Proof here : https://www.dealabs.com/bons-plans/routeur-wi-fi-asus-rt-ac86u-ac2900-1241408. Took 15days shipping and I avoided custom taxes.

They currently list them at 130e.

Netgear R7800 was listed at 109e (proof here : https://www.dealabs.com/bons-plans/routeur-netgear-nighthawk-dual-band-r7800-100pes-ac2600-1247972 )