Asus RT-AC86U dropping wifi

[jamesl]

I just bought a new Asus RT-AC86U 2 weeks ago. I flashed it with the the latest version of Merlin 384.19.
My current set up is modem -> old router that will be replaced -> AC86U. The old router was left in place because I had not had a chance to point all my devices to the AC86U yet.
The AC86U is set up with a 5GHz network, 2.4GHz network, 5GHz IoT network (disable intranet access), 2.4GHz IoT network (disable intranet access), 2.4GHz public network (I'll hand this one out like candy). I enabled AiProtection, but every other config item is left as default.
Everyday I have lost wifi communication with the AC86U at least once. I will be working from my laptop that is connected to the AC86U, and while I still show connected to wifi, the network status in Windows will show "No Internet Connection". I'll check on the other wifi devices and they will all also show no internet, regardless of which wifi network on the AC86U they are connected to.
I have a desktop hardwired to the AC86U. It has not had any issues. When the laptop losses connectivity, it is still working fine.
I still have a few devices connected to the old router. When the laptop losses connectivity, they are still working fine.
The only way establish connectivity is to reboot the AC86U.
It seems that something with wrong with wifi on the AC86U, as hardwired devices on the AC86U, hardwired devices on the old router, and wifi on the old router continue to serve traffic. I have downgraded versions of Merlin, currently down to 384.15, but still having the same issues at each version. Could I have bad hardware, bad config, or something else?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I just bought a new Asus RT-AC86U 2 weeks ago. I flashed it with the the latest version of Merlin 384.19.
My current set up is modem -> old router that will be replaced -> AC86U. The old router was left in place because I had not had a chance to point all my devices to the AC86U yet.
The AC86U is set up with a 5GHz network, 2.4GHz network, 5GHz IoT network (disable intranet access), 2.4GHz IoT network (disable intranet access), 2.4GHz public network (I'll hand this one out like candy). I enabled AiProtection, but every other config item is left as default.
Everyday I have lost wifi communication with the AC86U at least once. I will be working from my laptop that is connected to the AC86U, and while I still show connected to wifi, the network status in Windows will show "No Internet Connection". I'll check on the other wifi devices and they will all also show no internet, regardless of which wifi network on the AC86U they are connected to.
I have a desktop hardwired to the AC86U. It has not had any issues. When the laptop losses connectivity, it is still working fine.
I still have a few devices connected to the old router. When the laptop losses connectivity, they are still working fine.
The only way establish connectivity is to reboot the AC86U.
It seems that something with wrong with wifi on the AC86U, as hardwired devices on the AC86U, hardwired devices on the old router, and wifi on the old router continue to serve traffic. I have downgraded versions of Merlin, currently down to 384.15, but still having the same issues at each version. Could I have bad hardware, bad config, or something else?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Yes, you could have bad hardware, bad config, or something else.

Put the firmware you want on it, reset it, and configure it from scratch. Set fixed, least congested, non-DFS channels. Disable Airtime Fairness and Universal Beamforming per band. Use a WiFi Analyzer app to see that the signals are up and generally stable. Connect it as your only router and turn OFF the ISP router to avoid interference. Test that.

Example WiFi settings:
- set 2.4 WLAN to SSID-24, n, 20 MHz, ch 1,6,11 (or 1,5,9,13), WPA2-AES*

- set 5.0 WLAN to SSID-50, n/ac, 20/40/80 MHz, ch 36-48 52-144 (DFS) 149-161 165, WPA2-AES*

OE

 

[Justinh]

Example WiFi settings:
- set 2.4 WLAN to OE-24, n, 20 MHz, ch 1,6,11 (or 1,5,9,13), WPA2-AES*
- set 5.0 WLAN to OE-50, n/ac, 20/40/80 MHz, ch 36-48 52-144 (DFS) 149-161 165, WPA2-AES*

What the heck is and "OE-24" and "OE-50"?

 

[jsbeddow]

What the heck is and "OE-24" and "OE-50"?

I believe @OzarkEdge is referring to his personal SSIDs there...the point being, keep the SSIDs short and alphanumeric (the dash seems to be acceptable too, but try to avoid most of the other "special" characters).

 

[OzarkEdge]

What the heck is and "OE-24" and "OE-50"?

I fixed it for you.

OE

 

[jamesl]

Thanks Ozark. That appeared to have stabilized everything. Do you know if there is a way to see which network a client is connected to? I only see wired, 2.4, and 5.0. I wanted to see specifically whether they were on the main 2.4/5.0, or one of the guest WiFis.

 

[CaptainSTX]

If running Merlin firmware simply look at the wireless log. It will show what band and which SSID every wireless client is connecting to.