Best 5GHz Antenna for an Asus RT-AC66 Router

[Just Checking]

I have done quite a bit of testing of different antennas for both an RT-N66R and RT-AC66R router with mixed results. Basically, I have tried several whip antennas and the Asus WL-ANT157 plate antennas to try to increase signal strength and sensitivity for the wireless radios on these routers.

Recently, I have been using two RT-AC66R routers with Asus-Merlin FW ver. 374.40 along with an Intel 6350 dual band wireless adapter card in an HP Elitebook 8460p laptop to look at signal strength and transmission rates.

I will not go into the full test methodology and detailed results because it gets too long. In summary, the Asus WL-ANT157 plate antenna actually reduces signal strength and wireless throughput under the best conditions. TP-Link 8db High Gain antennas increase signal strength in the 2.4GHz band as well as increase sensitivity for increased upload speed. Other cheap 9db high gain antennas also increase signal strength and reception sensitivity on the 2.4GHz band. To date, I have not found any antennas that surpass the stock antennas for 5GHz performance.

I have also tried changing the antenna orientation to different configurations and have not found anything which beats having all 3 antennas oriented parallel to each other in a vertical orientation. My application has all client receiving stations on roughly the same plane (all on the same floor of the building) so I do not want the signal vertically spread. I have tried enabling and disabling beam forming and have not found any statistically significant difference in either detected signal strength or wireless transfer rate.

The best configuration that I have found to date is a TP-Link 8db High Gain antenna in the center with stock Asus antennas on either side. The antennas oriented perpendicular to the floor and parallel to each other. This provides the maximum strength and sensitivity on the 2.4GHz band with the least disruption on the 5GHz band.

I have studied articles on different antenna configurations and know how to create a "shotgun" antenna. I have also thought about trying a parabolic reflector type antenna but that does not suite my requirements. An omni directional antenna is the best design for what I need.

My question is - Does anyone have real world test information which would lead to a better performing antenna(s) for the 5GHz band? If so, can you show some test results, how to orient the antennas wrt each other, and tell me where to get these antenna?

 

[L&LD]

Sounds like you've exhausted the avenues of getting better 5GHz coverage pretty well already.

I think the next step up is seeing if an RT-AC68U gives your environment better 5GHz coverage.

Simply looking at the SNB charts, it should over the RT-AC66U you currently have.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/113-5-ghz-dn-c?see=MIN

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/114-5-ghz-up-c

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/119-5-ghz-profile-dn

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/120-5-ghz-profile-up

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Tried with router placed in higher spot physically? My router is located at the top floor loft in a 2 story house. Coverage from there down to basement is good to excellent. 3 surveillance cameras outside surrounding house is working fine too. Once signal level reaches a certain point at the receiving end, higher level will not make any thing better.
I used to deal with signal level of -70 to -130 dbm in my working days.

 

[Just Checking]

Sounds like you've exhausted the avenues of getting better 5GHz coverage pretty well already.

I think the next step up is seeing if an RT-AC68U gives your environment better 5GHz coverage.

Simply looking at the SNB charts, it should over the RT-AC66U you currently have.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/113-5-ghz-dn-c?see=MIN

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/114-5-ghz-up-c

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/119-5-ghz-profile-dn

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/120-5-ghz-profile-up

Thank you for those links. I have reviewed them already but they do provide information regarding the best throughput for routers in stock configuration for that particular test.

I already have three AC routers that perform their functions adequately. In reality, I use my LAN network to move the large amount of data and media files (100's GB) that I regularly transfer because even the best wireless is still no more than 25% of the bandwidth my wired Ethernet network has.

This is just an academic question that I have set for myself to try to see if I can optimize my wireless radios.

Theoretically, antenna design should play a very significant role in signal strength. Antenna area, if properly impedance matched, should be important. Router manufacturers are touting "beam forming technology" as a way to "lock in a signal". I can understand the science behind these concepts, and they are actually proven out with the 2.4GHz signals where I can demonstrate significant improvements in signal strength and transmission rates (uplink and downlink) with different antenna designs.

I'm just not finding the actual engineered solution for the 5GHz band in terms of antenna design or configuration. Either there has not been sufficient interest in that band yet (probable) to warrant a lot of work by aftermarket manufacturers or, there is some fundamental concept of antenna design which is eluding them. We all know that an antenna designed to optimize the 2.4GHz signal will not be optimal for 5GHz. I am just hoping that someone else has found an antenna that works so I can try it out.

 

[Just Checking]

Hi,
Tried with router placed in higher spot physically? My router is located at the top floor loft in a 2 story house. Coverage from there down to basement is good to excellent. 3 surveillance cameras outside surrounding house is working fine too. Once signal level reaches a certain point at the receiving end, higher level will not make any thing better.
I used to deal with signal level of -70 to -130 dbm in my working days.

I do indeed have my router antennas placed higher. All of them are roughly 2 meters above the floor in order to minimize signal interference and absorption by objects like furniture, and people. I could place them at 3 meter height but then the client devices would never be in the same horizontal plane as the routers. Unfortunately, other than for testing purposes, I cannot move all the client devices to be on the same horizontal plane as the router antennas. They get moved about by their owners. 1.5m - 2m is the best compromise I have found.

As an FYI, because I have multiple AP's, the 5GHz signal strength never gets weaker than -50dbm at any point. This still has a significant effect on wireless transfer rates as Mr. Higgins has shown in his graphs. When I measure the 2.4GHz band signal strength, my readings indicate that it is usually stronger than -35dbm at every location. I detect more than 20 other 2.4GHz radio sources greater than -50dbm at my location so that is why I am concerned about optimizing signal strength and receptivity.

 

[reddice]

I learned with 5ghz to just stick with stock antenna's. I wasted my money on all types but nothing is better than the stock antenna's.

 

[L&LD]

Router manufacturers are touting "beam forming technology" as a way to "lock in a signal". I can understand the science behind these concepts, and they are actually proven out with the 2.4GHz signals where I can demonstrate significant improvements in signal strength and transmission rates (uplink and downlink) with different antenna designs.

I don't think beam forming is available for the 2.4GHz band; it is only the 5GHz band that has support for beam forming at this time?


Have you tried testing each channel individually on the 5GHz band?

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/forums/showpost.php?p=101034&postcount=51