I am unable to find a dedicated post for this device, so ..
I am setting up a set of these for someone and among other issues have noticed extremely POOR performance on the 2.4Ghz band. The units are configured with separate 2.4 and 5.0 bands, CloudFlare DNS and a Guest Network on 2.4 G.
The units were delivered on FW 3.0.0.4.386_21573. This firmware also would not retain the settings for UPNP (Disable) and DNS servers (Enable). 2.4 G download appears to be the problem, upload preforms to my full capabilities (~20Mbps). Download is mostly in the single digits or teens. File transfer with in the LAN is generally under 2Mbps. I have tried both the default 20\40 and 20 wide setting for the channel, with no real difference. As best I can tell the Guest LAN is only available on the Primary node (Router).
I upgraded the 8+ Month old firmware to the latest FW 3.0.0.4.386_23003 (21/02/02). The 2.4 G performance persists as above. I have seen a couple of 30's and one 70. I did note this time that the UI shows substantial fluctuation in the rx connection value when sitting only a few feet from the node, sometimes it shows no values. The upload has been stable generally 130 to 144.
After the upgrade I had issues seeing the 2.4Ghz SSIDs. The SSIDs came and went. Not clear on the order of steps, but after a reset (from the console) and then restoring the config, the SSIDs seem to display consistently. The Guest network seems to disappear after a reboot and possibly some other times. The settings are not lost, all one needs to do is re-enable the Guest.
It also appears that all clients are preferring to connect to the node as opposed to the closer router. They also appears to be a lot of dropping the connection on 2.4, not sure about 5g.
SO, to be fair, the 5.0 G performance is about 50% faster than my Unifi AC-Lite with at least similar distance. Wi-fi analyzer confirms a reasonable channel selection and shows excellent RSSI close (-35) and good at 100 feet (-65) on 2.4. It's stronger than other near by APs. File transfer speed is about half of what I see on an internet speed test (135donw\20up - pretty much my connection limits), but quite usable. Across nodes I get about 50-60, for devices connected to the same node I get about 80.
There are a number of posts and reviews that point to 2.4G issues with many of the other ASUS devices on the AiMesh firmware, but most are not specific or note FW version. I want to like these, the feature set is excellent, but 2.4G is still important, and really should be easy at this point.
I have hit the speed test GO button enough to know that the unit can perform well on 2.4, and WIFI Analyzer seems to confirm a good signal. This makes me thing there is something wrong with the firmware. The distribution is wide and performance peak skewed to the very low end.
Other Notes:
Manual. There is nothing in the manual about how to use the RESET button located at the bottom of the unit. There is a link to a reset the CT8 and others in group 3, but it is inaccurate\incomplete. https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039080 The manual covers using the firmware to reset, but I would like to know how to do this properly with the button (ie node order included). I would consider doing a full reset\rebuild but want to do it right. (FWIW I di do a GUI reset and restored my cfg file, though not sure if that's god or bad). Manual also does not seen to aligh to the current GUI for setup.
Save vs Apply. Many changes to the GUI require the firmware to restart\reload (??) the changes. It is very inefficient. It would be faster if a number of changes could be Saved, and then applied in a "batch".
Power Plug. I like the 90 degree plug, but would like to see it a tad longer. It tucks inside the frame which allows one to push this up against a wall, but it really wants to sit in a manner that interferes with the other connections in the back.
Firmware Updates. All routers should have the ability to set a manual or auto firmware update.
GUI Links at the bottom of the web interface are broken. They go to general pages, not the specific pages would would hope for the device.
BETA FW. I know there is a BETA firmware. I have not read all 20+ pages, and not sure there is a fix for any of this. I am generally not inclined to run beta on HW that is not in my control long term.
While any help is appreciated, confirmation of 2.4G issues would be helpful. If this needs to go RTV, then sooner is better.
I am setting up a set of these for someone and among other issues have noticed extremely POOR performance on the 2.4Ghz band. The units are configured with separate 2.4 and 5.0 bands, CloudFlare DNS and a Guest Network on 2.4 G.
The units were delivered on FW 3.0.0.4.386_21573. This firmware also would not retain the settings for UPNP (Disable) and DNS servers (Enable). 2.4 G download appears to be the problem, upload preforms to my full capabilities (~20Mbps). Download is mostly in the single digits or teens. File transfer with in the LAN is generally under 2Mbps. I have tried both the default 20\40 and 20 wide setting for the channel, with no real difference. As best I can tell the Guest LAN is only available on the Primary node (Router).
I upgraded the 8+ Month old firmware to the latest FW 3.0.0.4.386_23003 (21/02/02). The 2.4 G performance persists as above. I have seen a couple of 30's and one 70. I did note this time that the UI shows substantial fluctuation in the rx connection value when sitting only a few feet from the node, sometimes it shows no values. The upload has been stable generally 130 to 144.
After the upgrade I had issues seeing the 2.4Ghz SSIDs. The SSIDs came and went. Not clear on the order of steps, but after a reset (from the console) and then restoring the config, the SSIDs seem to display consistently. The Guest network seems to disappear after a reboot and possibly some other times. The settings are not lost, all one needs to do is re-enable the Guest.
It also appears that all clients are preferring to connect to the node as opposed to the closer router. They also appears to be a lot of dropping the connection on 2.4, not sure about 5g.
SO, to be fair, the 5.0 G performance is about 50% faster than my Unifi AC-Lite with at least similar distance. Wi-fi analyzer confirms a reasonable channel selection and shows excellent RSSI close (-35) and good at 100 feet (-65) on 2.4. It's stronger than other near by APs. File transfer speed is about half of what I see on an internet speed test (135donw\20up - pretty much my connection limits), but quite usable. Across nodes I get about 50-60, for devices connected to the same node I get about 80.
There are a number of posts and reviews that point to 2.4G issues with many of the other ASUS devices on the AiMesh firmware, but most are not specific or note FW version. I want to like these, the feature set is excellent, but 2.4G is still important, and really should be easy at this point.
I have hit the speed test GO button enough to know that the unit can perform well on 2.4, and WIFI Analyzer seems to confirm a good signal. This makes me thing there is something wrong with the firmware. The distribution is wide and performance peak skewed to the very low end.
Other Notes:
Manual. There is nothing in the manual about how to use the RESET button located at the bottom of the unit. There is a link to a reset the CT8 and others in group 3, but it is inaccurate\incomplete. https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039080 The manual covers using the firmware to reset, but I would like to know how to do this properly with the button (ie node order included). I would consider doing a full reset\rebuild but want to do it right. (FWIW I di do a GUI reset and restored my cfg file, though not sure if that's god or bad). Manual also does not seen to aligh to the current GUI for setup.
Save vs Apply. Many changes to the GUI require the firmware to restart\reload (??) the changes. It is very inefficient. It would be faster if a number of changes could be Saved, and then applied in a "batch".
Power Plug. I like the 90 degree plug, but would like to see it a tad longer. It tucks inside the frame which allows one to push this up against a wall, but it really wants to sit in a manner that interferes with the other connections in the back.
Firmware Updates. All routers should have the ability to set a manual or auto firmware update.
GUI Links at the bottom of the web interface are broken. They go to general pages, not the specific pages would would hope for the device.
BETA FW. I know there is a BETA firmware. I have not read all 20+ pages, and not sure there is a fix for any of this. I am generally not inclined to run beta on HW that is not in my control long term.
While any help is appreciated, confirmation of 2.4G issues would be helpful. If this needs to go RTV, then sooner is better.
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