Awful wifi performance

[solo]

Hi all,

Just happily unpacked and connected the N66U to replace my WNDR3700v2. Since last week I updated my cable to 50 Mbps, I figured a new router was in order. Ky ISP provided a Cisco DPC3008 cable modem. The N66U is running on 3.0.0.4.246.

I have an xbox, tivo, and a wd live tv hard-wired to the router, and one Compaq 2510p laptop, one Sony vaio SVZ131190X, two Samsung Galaxy S phones, one MacMini, one kindle, and one wd live tv devices that connect via wifi (normally 2.5 GHz)

The issue:

I have a 50 MBit line with my ISP (RCN). When testing via wireless (I can use either speedtest.net or RCN's own speedtest website) most I get is about 7 Mbit on any of my wifi devices BUT my phones, which max out at 22 Mbps. Any downloads I start on my wifi connected laptops / macmini / Kindle are not going faster that 50-100 KB/s. I see a lot of timeouts, and dropped packets. Pinging IPs rarely works. BUT If I hardwire my laptops / macmini to the WNDR, all speed tests max out at 55 Mbps, and all downloads are super fast. Also, the 5GHz range is basically 5 ft. If I go behind the wall, it is gone.

What I did to troubleshoot:

The issue is the same on both 2.4 / 5 Ghz frequencies. I tried changing the Tx Power adjustment to 100, 150 and 200 but it only got worse with the increase. I power cycled the router / modem / all devices multiple times. I tried flushing DNS caches, IP release / renew etc. I tried doing a factory reset on the router, including changing the SSID and password. Still, the issue over wifi persists.

Could anyone here make a suggestion on what might be causing the issue? I think I got a defective unit.

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

Try downgrading to firmware 3.0.0.4.220. There are a few known issues with wireless stability in the newly released 3.0.0.4.246.

 

[jerry6]

I always turn the tx power down a bit , it improves signal sometimes ,, forget why though , getting iold , Also like Merlin said go back to 220 , i had bad transfer rates with .246

 

[solo]

Unfortunately I had the same issue with .220...

 

[solo]

I finally decided that the unit is defective, and requested a replacement from Amazon. Let's see what happens

 

[jerry6]

must be defective , I get from 108 - 244 Mbps connection 35 ft and 3 walls on 5 ghz band

 

[solo]

I actually noticed something else. I am running Windows 7 x64 w bootcamp on my mac mini. When I increase the TX power over 100, I can't connect to the wifi at all. Weird.

Anyway, let's see what happens with the replacement.

 

[jerry6]

increasing tx can make connections worse , especially close range

 

[solo]

Something interesting I noticed: even though signal strength is high, it appears that the quality of the signal is what the culprit is. It's now connected via 2.4 GHz at 117 Mbps but due to packet loss I can't even ping the router properly!

Replacement unit coming on Monday (provided the bad weather here doesn't screw up the delivery).

BTW does anyone have any experience with attaching a different external antenna, like http://www.amazon.com/Asus-WL-ANT-191-Omni-Antenna/dp/B0046HQKV6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1351364409&sr=8-2&keywords=high+gain+antenna+asus

 

[jerry6]

did you try turning down tx power ?

 

[SoCalReviews]

must be defective , I get from 108 - 244 Mbps connection 35 ft and 3 walls on 5 ghz band

That is exactly what I get on the 5Ghz band with 80mw router Tx power and 40Mhz bandwidth at a distance of about 60 ft. and through two walls (instead of three) to my TEW-680MB (450Mbps, three stream) wireless media bridge. Those results are with Asus official firmware 4.220 and previous firmware versions. I recently rolled back firmware 4.220 because I was detecting connection and stability problems with the latest 4.246 Asus release.

 

[solo]

Yep, changing the transmit power settings makes no difference. Hopefully I will get the replacement today, even though everything is shut down here in NYC my package is still showing our for delivery today. Kudos to UPS this time

 

[solo]

I also wanted to ask, if I am still unable to get good signal in the far end of my apartment, I have a backup plan:

Add an antenna: TP-Link
With a 20 ft (total) cable: 15 ft cable

The idea is to unscrew one of the router external antennas, connect the 15 ft extension + the TP-LINK antenna and extend that closer to the dead area.

Will this work in your opinion?

 

[jerry6]

What are the walls made of ? I know at my mothers place walls are concrete and steel re bar , 5 ghz does not work outside the room with the router , 2.4 get a broken up signal in some parts of the apartment , nothing in most . The antenna is an interesting idea .

 

[solo]

I have a concrete wall with rebar running in the middle of the apartment:

I am thinking that if I am able to go around the wall / column with the extension cable / antenna, it will provide coverage enough for the room where the mac mini / wdtv is. The only issues I see are the fact that the TP Link antenna is directional, and the length of the antenna cable might be too much.

 

[jerry6]

There is the problem , hope the antenna works , will it be limited to 150 mbps with only 1 antenna ?

 

[SoCalReviews]

An extended antenna might work. I am not sure how your wireless performance will be after spitting up the locations of the router's three antennas with that directional antenna around the corner. There are a other options that would probably work better.

1) Relocate the router around the corner where you plan to put the antenna. You would have to extend a power cord to the router and you could run an Ethernet cable back to a gigabit switch where the router originally was located if you need wired access of multiple devices to the router. You could test this out and check the wireless coverage in your residence without purchasing additional equipment other than a power cord extension.

2) Put a wireless access point around the corner where you plan to put an antenna...run an Ethernet cable and power cord to that access point from the router.

3) Put a wireless repeater in an area around the corner not where you have the antenna pictured but much closer in range to the other wireless components...or very close to the room near the WDTV, Mac Mini, etc..

4) Try using a high quality wireless bridge or access point/repeater in the room or in the area right next to your other components that now have trouble getting a wireless signal. A separate wireless bridge and/ or access point/repeater will often have better reception and transmission than the radio built into those wireless devices. You could either use the repeater signal to those devices...the WDTV and Mac Mini or run Ethernet cable into those devices from the wireless bridge/AP client device.

 

[solo]

So I finally got the replacement, and the same issue is present. I am at this point convinced that this is a combination of A) a signal problem due to multiple interferences from an overcrowded 2.4 Ghz spectrum, and B) too much rebar and concrete.

I don't have the option of relocating the router anywhere else due to my wiring / furniture etc. I am now looking into other possibilities, and one of them is to use a powerline adapter such as this one to bring the signal to room 2. From there on, I can use options 3/4 from what SoCalReviews suggested above. Or I can try to run a CAT5 directly to room 2. Then, I will setup this as an AP. Will the speeds change with an AP attached? Will I have two SSIDs? Also, how will devices choose which unit to connect to, are they going to hop based on signal strength?