AX88U and issues with certain devices

[L&LD]

@Gar 'Auto' Wireless mode has been my 'after reset to full factory defaults', 'default', for many years now. Each time I test it, it always 'wins' in the networks I manage/configure.

The 20/40/80/160MHz setting though is different. Something that I will be testing soon.

 

[RMerlin]

Wouldn't have thought "Auto" in wireless mode, but guess that's just adding .11a. Also, allowing 20-160 Mhz vs. more restrictive option in 5GHz. Just an observation because I'm bored.

I have these specific settings mostly for test purposes, not because they are optimal for me. Was mostly curious to see if that firmware was as bad as some people say it is when having all these Wifi 6 settings enabled. So far it works just fine here. But then, I have no cheap IoT clients on my LAN, only a Roomba, a Samsung tablet, a Huawei phone and an Intel laptop. As I usually say, wifi is a two-way thing, and quite often the problem lies with cheap clients using old/buggy wifi drivers, not with the 300$ router that gets multiple updates per year.

 

[Gar]

@Gar 'Auto' Wireless mode has been my 'after reset to full factory defaults', 'default', for many years now. Each time I test it, it always 'wins' in the networks I manage/configure.

The 20/40/80/160MHz setting though is different. Something that I will be testing soon.

Just the addition of .11a or does it effect performance some other way?

 

[L&LD]

@Gar, generally, just a more responsive network for a longer period (usually into the weeks/months for most networks I set up).

 

[megalomalaka]

I played with a lot of setting combinations based on tips here. Turning off AX yielded speed results that were no different when it was on. So I thought I'd test my routers side by side to compare performance.

Is Merlin firmware a better option?

ASUS RT-AX88U (router placed only several feet away)
iPhone XS - DL 474 Mbps, UL 527 Mbps
iPhone 11 Pro Max - DL 124 Mbps, UL 610 Mbps
2017 MBP - DL 269 Mbps, UL 886 Mbps

RT-AC68U (router placed only several feet away)
iPhone 11 Pro Max - DL 97 Mbps, UL 467 Mbps
2017 MBP - DL 246 Mbps, UL 612 Mbps

The small speed bump isn't worth it. I'm considering trying again when the new batch of Wi-Fi 6 modems become available.

 

[sanke1]

I played with a lot of setting combinations based on tips here. Turning off AX yielded speed results that were no different when it was on. So I thought I'd test my routers side by side to compare performance.

Is Merlin firmware a better option?

ASUS RT-AX88U (router placed only several feet away)
iPhone XS - DL 474 Mbps, UL 527 Mbps
iPhone 11 Pro Max - DL 124 Mbps, UL 610 Mbps
2017 MBP - DL 269 Mbps, UL 886 Mbps

RT-AC68U (router placed only several feet away)
iPhone 11 Pro Max - DL 97 Mbps, UL 467 Mbps
2017 MBP - DL 246 Mbps, UL 612 Mbps

The small speed bump isn't worth it. I'm considering trying again when the new batch of Wi-Fi 6 modems become available.

What is your hardware revision? It should mention on box either A1 or A1.1

 

[megalomalaka]

It's the A1.1 version. This article echos my sentiment on AX Wi-Fi 6
https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...-roundup-five-routers-tested?showall=&start=3

 

[L&LD]

When you were testing them side by side, the one you were not testing was actually off (physically unplugged from power), correct?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/b...ta-is-now-available.60037/page-31#post-531024

The above result is with RMerlin firmware and AX capable clients (not handheld clients as they are not capable of using these extra speeds, IMO).

 

[ankhazam]

As @RMerlin said... the issues can quite often be caused by outdated/crappy drivers on the client side... E.g. Asus offers old drivers for their AX58BT client and you can fix a pleathora of problems by fetching latest drivers directly from Intel: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-rt-ax88u-firmware-3-0-0-4-384_7968.60679/page-3#post-540792

 

[yaesudx]

So there is still no solution with My galaxy Note 10 Plus even with the latest January Patch from Samsung. There is no fix when using an AX88u together with a second Access Point in your house.
Also tested all Asus Firmwares right now the latest Merlin Alpha with full Reset.

Again i explain the current Bug. When using only one Main Router the RT-AX88u everything is fine with connection Speed with Galaxy Note 10+. As soon as you try to use a second Access Point for better coverage in your house the problem begins. I am using same SSID on different flors in my House for better coverage. The Wifi Roaming just works great and also the handover is perfekt i get no connection lost even with voip when running beetween the routers. The Problem is when you walk out auf the AX88U range and than come in again it's often happening that you DL bandwith is limited to 4-7 Mbit down (sometimes even lover) and also Upload is effected (not so much). As soon you walk again to the other Router and get connected speeds are fine again ( My iSP 200/80).
Than back to the AX Router and you will be limited again on a much lover speed. When you look in the Wifi Sync of Phone and Router everything looks normal ! I can stay near the Router with sync of 1200 mbps and have only 4 mbit down. Only solution wifi on and off on my Galaxy Note 10+ and speeds are back to normal. Than after you move around the bug will happen again . The Problem it's not happaning all the time when you roam between the Access points. Sometimes it happens first try than the next 5 times its working fine. This is making me crazy since month. I dont want to sell my Asus RT-AX88u because i like it and and everything works great exept this Problem with the Note10+. No Problems with normal AC Devices or any other things. I Tested all possible combinations with my second Asus RT-AC-88u ending always in the same result and getting the capped Bandwith Bug with my Note 10+. Running as Access point mode or as AI Mesh both Wired and Wireless.
Tested all different Channels with AX and also Only AC Mode ! Flashed and Reset and didn't touched any settings . To bad there is no solution .

 

[bradbort]

Hi. I have the Wifi-6 AX88U with wi-fi 6 mode enabled. I have following issues:

• I have Samsung Note 10 Plus , it shows wi-fi 6 logo when connected to AX88U. Sometimes, when I leave my home and come back, the Note 10 plus does connect to AX88U wifi-6 but the speed is slow (about 50 mbps on 200mbps connection). If I turn off wifi on my phone and turn it back again. I get blazing fast 226 mbps. I did check some forums and was advised to change phone wifi setting is to static IP with primary DNS to 8.8.8.8 and secondary dns as 8.8.4.4 but this does not help. Can someone please advise me how to have my phone connect to router with full internet speed? This only happens if I go out of home and come back in AX88U signal range. Also is this a router issue or phone issue?
  
  
• I have a work laptop which has intel dual band AC 7265 wifi which does not recognize 5G signal (does recognize 2G signal). I did goto asus FAQ page (https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1037422/) where it is recommended that the driver be updated to the latest version but my employer IT support will not update anything unless they have special permissions. Apparently when i turn the Wifi-6 setting off in advanced - wireless signal in asus router admin page, the work laptop recognizes the 5G signal. I wanted to check if this is a laptop of router issue? Having wifi-6 off defeats purpose of getting a wifi-6 router!

My two iPads and one iPhone XR (non wifi-6) work well on 5G. Please help!

My wife has the same issue with her work laptop. Its the intel wifi card. To work with AX, it needs an updated driver but getting your company (or in her case a government agency!) to do that is a a mighty task. I actually ended up just having her sign into a repeater I have set up to reach out to a ring doorbell instead. She does not care about getting maximal speed for her work laptop. I will say that for a different laptop with the same intel driver issue, updating the driver worked great. It went from not recognizing 5G to having a solid 5G connection once I let the intel download site do its thing

 

[csxjgf]

I noticed that disabling 'WiFi Agile Multiband' fixed performance issues on my iPhone 11 Pro. Not sure if that's a fault of the router or the iPhone, but they don't seem to play well together.

 

[trenzterra]

I came across this thread when I encountered issues with my Lenovo X13 with Intel AX201. When I switch from 5GHz -> 2.4Ghz back to 5Ghz, my download speeds slow from ~600mbps to ~100mbps. Upload speeds are unaffected.

I disabled "MIMO Power Save Mode" and now everything works fine. I suspect a MIMO bug?

 

[Jano Drotar]

I can see same issue running AX86U as a main AiMesh router + Note20 Ultra/S10+.
Any news/ideas to this issue ?

 

[Jano Drotar]

So finally I found the issue - in my case it was "Protected Management Frames" - if it's disabled, it works fine, if capable, I could replicate the issue.