Best Channels for 5gHz WiFi6?

[tgl]

I had another thought. I have had the router set to include 160 mHz width and DFS channels. Just turned off both (I have Apple devices only, and I am pretty sure they max out at 80 mHz width, and I am 5 miles from airport that has increase traffic in summer months. Is it possible that DFS has become more of an issue now than in the winter?

Seems unlikely --- surely they'd run the airport's radar transmitters the same hours per day regardless of the number of active flights? But in any case, the way to find out if you have DFS issues is to look in the router's system log for RADAR events. (From memory, they do capitalize RADAR, so these are not too hard to spot.)

Also, if you have a nearby Linux machine (or anything else that can run an rsyslog daemon), I think it's super useful to configure the router to send its system log to that. The advantage is first that you have control over how long the log entries get kept, and second that you can use grep or your favorite editor to search the log for interesting entries.

 

[pgershon]

I tried something different just now after re-reading all the comments. I took one of my RT-92u routers off AI-Mesh mode and made it a standalone AP with separate networks for 2.5, 5-1 and 5-2. I connected at fast speed (speed test over 600) with 5-2 only. That makes sense, as 5-1 is a 2x2 band on this router's while 5-2 is 4x4.

So that makes me think I really want the GT-AX6000 to connect on 5-2 and not 5-1 band (so the nodes will be fast). There is no way I can tell to identify whether a connection is 5-1 or 5-2 once connected through the router (neither network map nor AI-Nodes tabs tell you that). But what I did was make the 5-1 radio inactive on all 3 of the AI_Nodes. The effect - no SSID was made available. So my theory now may be that the GT-AX6000 is connecting to the RT-92U AI-Mesh modes at the 5-1 band, so using them as 2x2 limited and not 4x4 APs. Any thoughts or ideas? I tried this with wireless band set to 100, to 163, and auto set to 48 (it wont let me set below 100).


Only other thing I can think of trying is factory reseting the GT-AX6000 and seeing if it treats the 5-1 and 5-2 bands differently. Perhaps something came over when I installed a configuration from my old 92u onto the GT-AX6000 at startup

 

[ColinTaylor]

Perhaps something came over when I installed a configuration from my old 92u onto the GT-AX6000 at startup

Never reload a configuration file from a different router onto a new router, especially if they're different models. It can lead to unpredictable behaviour.

 

[sfx2000]

I have 4 ASUS routers in a Mesh setup, and additional TP-Link routers at the periphery of my home network.

I'm really tired of having to look at Asus related posts that have a dedicated sub-forums...

This is not ANB - AsusNetBuilder...

 

[pgershon]

Reset the GT-AX6000 to factory settings and manually reloaded my DHCP configuration this time so I did not need to import the configuration from old router. This time the GT-AX6000 shows only one 5gHz band (as it should) and my connection speeds have improved substantially. I guess reloading the configuration from the old router was a major mistake.

I have most of my network funny g on channel 165 now, and parts running on channel 36 to avoid conflict as best I can.

Only thing still off is now my log is filled with "dnsmasq-dhcp: BOOTP(br0) no address configured" messages

 

[ColinTaylor]

Only thing still off is now my log is filled with "dnsmasq-dhcp: BOOTP(br0) no address configured" messages

Is that the complete error message? I would expect it to include a MAC address.

 

[pgershon]

Complete is:
Jul 14 09:20:20 dnsmasq-dhcp[27162]: BOOTP(br0) 2c:27:d7:10:10:b9 no address configured

 

[ColinTaylor]

Complete is:
Jul 14 09:20:20 dnsmasq-dhcp[27162]: BOOTP(br0) 2c:27:d7:10:10:b9 no address configured

2c:27:d7:10:10:b9 is an HP device. Is it a printer? If so disable BOOTP support on the printer and the message should go away.

 

[coxhaus]

The best channels to use are the least busy ones.

 

[pgershon]

2c:27:d7:10:10:b9 is an HP device. Is it a printer? If so disable BOOTP support on the printer and the message should go away.

View attachment 51712

Thanks - one step ahead of me - I had just narrowed down the MAC address after your prior comment - it is an HP printer

 

[L&LD]

Don't use an app to find the least used channels. Waste of time.

Control Channel Setup 2021

Reset Mini Guide + Control Channel Setup Details

Control Channel Setup (more)

 

[pgershon]

Another question as I continue to try to optimize my WiFi. I turned down the performance of the 5gHz band, hoping to lower the signal and minimize interference between my router and its nodes (after reseting the GT-AX6000 and staring from factory). I now have good fast connections when my iPhone and MacBook Air connect to the nodes. But when I am in the room with the router, I am not connecting at AX speeds (TX rate is maximizing in the 200s and not 1200s as it does at the nodes). What could be going on at the main router but not the nodes? Might it be proximity to Optimum's WiFi router (in bridge mode) which I cannot turn off?

 

[pgershon]

Actually I gave up on the AI Mesh. I just made all of the formerly Mesh nodes into AP's. Now I have good AX connections and speeds at all my WiFi locations. We will see if it holds. But the AI Mesh was not willing to give AX connections in all rooms and it too difficult to narrow down the issue. I don't see see the downside of having multiple AP zones in my network as opposed to AI Mesh nodes. Also needed to move the WiFI channel to 161 from 165 - I wanted to require 80 gHz bandwidth and 165 option went away for that.