Asus RT-AX86U Pro - a few questions about WiFi settings

[Xboxsx4life]

Hello everyone. I recently purchased an RT-AX86U Pro. Loving it so far but had a couple of questions. I’ve been going thru some of the threads on this forum and also reading other articles. There seems to be conflicting and inconsistent advice on whether or not to use MU-MIMO and OFDMA.

I’ve separated the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. I’m using 2.4 only for IoT devices (cameras, doorbell, etc), so it’s configured in N-only mode with all beamforming and MU-MIMO settings disabled. There’s no option for OFDMA in 2.4, so nothing to do there. For the 5GHz band, I’ve disabled MU-MIMO and set the OFDMA option to “DL/UL OFDMA”…i.e. disabled MU-MIMO there too. There’s no beamforming setting in 5GHz so nothing to do there.

I haven’t had any problems with any of my devices, but I’m wondering if these are the best/ideal settings?

My wireless environment: I have 12 wireless clients connected to the 5GHz band at any given time…4 laptops (only two of which are WiFi6), an iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone XR, iPhone 8 Plus, iPad Air 2, an Alexa device, Nintendo Switch, and Roku Streaming Stick 4K.

Some have said to disable MU-MIMO and OFDMA. Others have said to keep both enabled. And others have said to disable MU-MIMO but keep OFDMA enabled. So I’m a little confused and was hoping to get some expert opinions here.

Thanks.

 

[glens]

My limited testing has shown that with only a few clients capable of and using those features there's either no difference or maybe just a tad, maybe, better performance with it all disabled. Do as you wish is my response. Try a few tests, but don't go through the cycle only once 'cause it's a fluid thing. Sometimes one way has an edge, sometimes another. But for me in my place it's "what's your pleasure."

 

[bennor]

Been using a RT-AX86U Pro router running Merlin 3004.388.4 for a number of months now with Multi-User MIMO set to Enable, and OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO set to Disable on both Wifi bands (which are separated with their own unique SSID's). Haven't had any issues that I've noticed with 10 or so IoT devices, several WiFi android devices, a smartphone, and a WiFi-6 capable laptop.

It may come down to experimentation for your specific WiFi environment and if those settings should be changed from default if needed. Sometimes what someone recommends here isn't necessarily the best for one's specific network or WiFi environment or use case.

 

[bbunge]

Your best bet is to use the default WIFI settings including Dual Band Smart Connect. Maybe set the 2.4 GHz band to 20 MHz. Use DFS channels if you want to use them. For your IoT devices set up a guest WIFI on the 2.4 GHz band with a different SSID from the main band. Trust the router and your clients to choose the channel that is best. Does work very well for me. Using different SSID's for the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands is so old school!