Better wireless signal strength with ASUS RT-AC68U?

[jaydiculous]

I'm trying to see if I can get better wireless signal strength with my ASUS RT-AC68U with latest Merlin firmware. Currently it's hovering around -45dBm & -55dBm when I'm using my laptop and NetSpot sitting in my living room which is about 20ft away from the router, central to my home. I'd like something lower. Is this possible?

2GHz setup:
Channel width: 20MHz
Channel: Auto

5GHz setup:
Channel width: 80MHz
Channel: Upper spectrum 149-161 (upper seems better. lower jumps the dBm -5 - 10.

 

[MichaelCG]

Merlin firmware won't do anything to the wireless signal than what the factory firmware will do. Primary enhancements are in the software within the router itself.

Also keep in mind that WiFi is a two-way communication...even if you improve the signal coming from the AP to your client...you have to worry about the signal from the client to the AP.

 

[drabisan]

-55dBm 20ft away from the router? With no walls in between? That's not actually even close to bad! Not stellar though.
Very few things to check:
- make sure there are no interference in 5GHz. Try to set channels not used by other AP/SSID. Interference is the most probable cause.
- your laptop may not have the best chipset/antenna/drivers. Try another device.

At this signal strength you will have link speed around 677mbps. And that should be good enough for most activities. Short than massive copy operations.

 

[doczenith1]

I agree with drabisan. Those numbers are not that bad. With my 68U 10 feet away with one wall in between I was getting a value of -54 in the router GUI for my cell phone.

 

[bbunge]

You may get better signal with John's firmware. I have 2 AC68U running it with no issues.

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