BE98 MLO and roaming issues

[ewokuk]

Currently running original 3.0.0.6.102_37902 firmware as merlin does not support the BE98 and gnuton has not done merlins latest 105.5 for it yet but will probably put gnuton on it when the latest version is out, or may do it anyway if it might solve some of these issues. Running all bands on a single SSID. I have tried running MLO fronthaul and testing with my S25 Ultra and find that the phone keeps disconnecting from the wifi ENTIRELY then reconnecting a couple of seconds later. This is with a perfectly good signal -70dbm or better. I don't know if its a buggy router or a buggy phone. It also just doesn't seem to connect to all 3 bands, at least according to the wifiman app, it only ever indicates it is connected to 2 of them.

I also find with MLO off and it just using smart connect/roaming, it jumps to the 5ghz band for no real reason, 6ghz still provides better speeds AND when I last looked, a better dbm as well! I checked just now and saw in wifiman it jumped from 6ghz to 5ghz, when the 6ghz was showing -55dbm and the 5ghz was showing -63dbm....which makes no sense, and 6ghz was showing a faster link speed as well.

I didn't touch the smart connect settings so it's still set to RSSI >-62 for 2.4, and <-82 for each of the other bands, at NO point anywhere here do I get a singla of -82dbm on ANY band, which should in theory result in every device being on the highest band it can support since it will always be under that threshold, but it clearly does not work even though I am always well under -82 on every device.

For the MLO I did attempt to stop it disconnecting entirely in the MLO settings by upping the "Roaming assistant" setting under professional from -70dbm to -80 thinking that might stop it losing connection entirely when using MLO, but it didn't (and it looks like that setting is only for multiple access points anyway so probably isnt relevant).

So at the moment I have turned MLO off entirely, I believe it's not likely to give any performance benefit anyway but it would be nice to just have devices connected to all of them at once and use whatever is best, instead of using smart connect roaming and jumping between them all the time (and for no good reason that I can see, I am on a single floor with hollow plasterboard walls and a decent 6ghz signal in every room anyway!).

I suspect half the replies will just say turn off smart connect and connect directly to 6ghz but thats a bit of a pain when I have guests and I have to get them on the right ssid depending on whether they can do 6ghz or not, and for a router this expensive, and having been out nearly 2 years now, I'd just like the thing to work correctly so I don't need to worry about whats going on with different bands and just know it's always giving me the fastest bandwidth!

 

[bennor]

Currently running original 3.0.0.6.102_37902 firmware as merlin does not support the BE98 and gnuton has not done merlins latest 105.5 for it yet.

A question. Why post in the Asus-Merlin subforum if your router is not using Gnuton firmware, and not supported by Asus-Merlin?

ASUS BE Routers & Adapters (Wi-Fi 7)

Use this forum for posts related to the ASUS 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) devices.

www.snbforums.com

 

[degrub]

Do you have more than one wifi router/AP ? Roaming assistance is for switching between APs.
The client is what determines when and what radio to connect to, not the AP/router radio.
It might work better if you turn off wifi 7 anyway.

 

[user114514]

It should be noted that wifiman displays the DL RSSI, while the RSSI quoted by Smart Connect refers to the UL RSSI. Due to the 6GHz regulatory requirements that the transmit power of all STAs in the BSS must be at least 6dbm lower than that of the AP, as well as the TXBF capability (STAs generally do not support UL TXBF, while APs can always use all links to participate in DL TXBF), the difference between DL RSSI and UL RSSI may be very large. So when the 6GHz DL RSSI is higher than the 5GHz DL RSSI, the 6GHz UL RSSI may be significantly lower than the 5GHz UL RSSI.

My advice is that if you're not considering multiple APs and don't have any Qualcomm HBS MLO devices, consider disabling Smart Connect (aka Stupid Connect) and MLO, then using the same SSID for both 2.4GHz and 6GHz, and a separate SSID for 5GHz. I recommend avoiding a separate SSID for 6GHz, as the standard SSID discovery method for 6GHz relies primarily on RNR IEs from beacons on other bands, rather than a probing-based approach. Furthermore, guest networks allow for flexible configuration of various SSID combinations.

 

[ewokuk]

It should be noted that wifiman displays the DL RSSI, while the RSSI quoted by Smart Connect refers to the UL RSSI. Due to the 6GHz regulatory requirements that the transmit power of all STAs in the BSS must be at least 6dbm lower than that of the AP, as well as the TXBF capability (STAs generally do not support UL TXBF, while APs can always use all links to participate in DL TXBF), the difference between DL RSSI and UL RSSI may be very large. So when the 6GHz DL RSSI is higher than the 5GHz DL RSSI, the 6GHz UL RSSI may be significantly lower than the 5GHz UL RSSI.

My advice is that if you're not considering multiple APs and don't have any Qualcomm HBS MLO devices, consider disabling Smart Connect (aka Stupid Connect) and MLO, then using the same SSID for both 2.4GHz and 6GHz, and a separate SSID for 5GHz. I recommend avoiding a separate SSID for 6GHz, as the standard SSID discovery method for 6GHz relies primarily on RNR IEs from beacons on other bands, rather than a probing-based approach. Furthermore, guest networks allow for flexible configuration of various SSID combinations.

Hmmm ok. I have been watching the PHY ul/dl speeds when checking WiFi man as well (although I don't know if they are accurate or meaningful).

If i was to have 2.4 and 6 on the same ssid then it's going to use smart connect again . I have no devices that need 2.4 so was considering just turning it off entirely as it may save some power.

I had also tried to force 160mhz on both 5-1 and 5-2, and with 5-2 set at channel 100 (because of the issue below with it using 80mhz when on auto). but despite this, the router decided to ignore me and put 5-2 on channel 116 at 40mhz width anyway!!

There are not many other 5ghz networks here, all are pretty weak in comparison, especially on 5-2. I set everything back to auto channel/width and it's now decided to use 160mhz on 5-1 which has a few other networks and has just stuck it right over the top of them, and only 80mhz on 5-2 and put it next to the other networks instead of over it (or in another channel which is clear and could fit 160). Surely that's the exact opposite ofwhat it should be doing? 5-1 looks like it should be on channel 52 and 80mhz, 5-2 looks like 160 from channel 100 would be fine (or any other empty space on the later channels).

Very frustrating.

 

[user114514]

Hmmm ok. I have been watching the PHY ul/dl speeds when checking WiFi man as well (although I don't know if they are accurate or meaningful).

If i was to have 2.4 and 6 on the same ssid then it's going to use smart connect again . I have no devices that need 2.4 so was considering just turning it off entirely as it may save some power.

I had also tried to force 160mhz on both 5-1 and 5-2, and with 5-2 set at channel 100 (because of the issue below with it using 80mhz when on auto). but despite this, the router decided to ignore me and put 5-2 on channel 116 at 40mhz width anyway!!

There are not many other 5ghz networks here, all are pretty weak in comparison, especially on 5-2. I set everything back to auto channel/width and it's now decided to use 160mhz on 5-1 which has a few other networks and has just stuck it right over the top of them, and only 80mhz on 5-2 and put it next to the other networks instead of over it (or in another channel which is clear and could fit 160). Surely that's the exact opposite ofwhat it should be doing? 5-1 looks like it should be on channel 52 and 80mhz, 5-2 looks like 160 from channel 100 would be fine (or any other empty space on the later channels).View attachment 67519
Very frustrating.

You can disable Smart Connect and manually enter the same SSID for each band. Generally speaking, devices from the ax era generally have reasonable active roaming decisions and do not require active steering by AP. If none of your devices require 2.4 GHz, then same SSID for 5 GHz and 6 GHz is also reasonable.

Both 5GL and 5GH require DFS to activate 160MHz, so you'll need to wait for a while after changing your wireless settings before you can actually enter 160MHz. If you've manually specified 160MHz and control channels and still can't enter 160MHz after a few minutes, you may be a victim of TDCS.

In order to disable TDCS, you need to enable SSH.

nvram set wl1_bw_switch_160=0
nvram set wl2_bw_switch_160=0
nvram commit

When using 160MHz, you're occupying the entire band anyway, and the results are the same regardless of which control channel you choose. However, there are some subtle differences: with 5GL, STAs can send broadcast probe requests on channels 36-48, but not on channels 52-64. Furthermore, mgmt/ctrl/bcast/mcast are only sent on control channels, completely eliminating the possibility of these frames being interfered with by other BSSs if there are no neighbors near the control channel.

 

[ewokuk]

You can disable Smart Connect and manually enter the same SSID for each band. Generally speaking, devices from the ax era generally have reasonable active roaming decisions and do not require active steering by AP. If none of your devices require 2.4 GHz, then same SSID for 5 GHz and 6 GHz is also reasonable.

Both 5GL and 5GH require DFS to activate 160MHz, so you'll need to wait for a while after changing your wireless settings before you can actually enter 160MHz. If you've manually specified 160MHz and control channels and still can't enter 160MHz after a few minutes, you may be a victim of TDCS.

In order to disable TDCS, you need to enable SSH.

nvram set wl1_bw_switch_160=0
nvram set wl2_bw_switch_160=0
nvram commit

When using 160MHz, you're occupying the entire band anyway, and the results are the same regardless of which control channel you choose. However, there are some subtle differences: with 5GL, STAs can send broadcast probe requests on channels 36-48, but not on channels 52-64. Furthermore, mgmt/ctrl/bcast/mcast are only sent on control channels, completely eliminating the possibility of these frames being interfered with by other BSSs if there are no neighbors near the control channel.

Hmm what is TDCS? I tried googling it but just got a load of results about wireless headsets!

Played around a bit more and discovered on 5ghz-2 it starts at 160mhz but atfer an hour or 2 ends up getting bumped off it after detecting radar according to the log (assuming it's some sort of weather radar somewhere as I am nowhere near any airport).

It seems that leaves me with 5ghz-1 as the only viable option for maximum speed on non-6ghz devices, which is irritating since 5ghz-2 can use higher power which should provide a stronger signal and so better speeds, and because theres a few other people using the 5ghz-1 channels. But with 5ghz-2 seemingly only able to use 80mhz, 5ghz-1 still shows higher tx/rx speed readings in the web interface.

Even more irritating that I have now discovered the UK enabled use of channels 149+ **5 years ago** but Asus still can't be bothered letting us use it (can't even select them). It's not like these routers are not UK specific....they have to be certified here AND have a UK plug so it is specific UK stock, not exactly hard to do a minor firmware tweak for UK models to let us use the channels. Despite paying a premium price for a high end router theres a full 125mhz of spectrum that nobody with an Asus router can use!

 

[user114514]

Hmm what is TDCS? I tried googling it but just got a load of results about wireless headsets!

Played around a bit more and discovered on 5ghz-2 it starts at 160mhz but atfer an hour or 2 ends up getting bumped off it after detecting radar according to the log (assuming it's some sort of weather radar somewhere as I am nowhere near any airport).

It seems that leaves me with 5ghz-1 as the only viable option for maximum speed on non-6ghz devices, which is irritating since 5ghz-2 can use higher power which should provide a stronger signal and so better speeds, and because theres a few other people using the 5ghz-1 channels. But with 5ghz-2 seemingly only able to use 80mhz, 5ghz-1 still shows higher tx/rx speed readings in the web interface.

TDCS is a mechanism in the Broadcom wireless driver that automatically downgrades the bandwidth to 80MHz if no 160MHz device exists in the BSS. Once a 160MHz device rejoins the BSS, TDCS is expected to automatically restore to 160MHz.
Unfortunately, this mechanism is often problematic and is one of the main culprits for the inability to keep 160MHz (not due to radar issues).

Even more irritating that I have now discovered the UK enabled use of channels 149+ **5 years ago** but Asus still can't be bothered letting us use it (can't even select them). It's not like these routers are not UK specific....they have to be certified here AND have a UK plug so it is specific UK stock, not exactly hard to do a minor firmware tweak for UK models to let us use the channels. Despite paying a premium price for a high end router theres a full 125mhz of spectrum that nobody with an Asus router can use!

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