Faulty antenna coupling

[peterg21]

I joined this forum a few days ago to learn more about my router and hopefully to contribute something.

Unfortunately, my first post is about a problem and I need assistance on an issue.

This is my second N66U, the first one I received having a defective lan port out of the box (intermittent connectivity which was not solved by swapping cables - lan ports 2-4 operated perfectly).

My RMA replacement from the reseller is fine with no dead ports but there is one irritating problem. Yesterday, while adjusting the antennae I noticed that one of them seemed a bit loose (it would not stay put at a 45 degree angle). I unscrewed it from the router and gave it a look-over.

I could see that it was not completely firmly coupled and the one side of the connector slipped out from the other part (not really sure which really is the male or female part). Examining it, I could see that nothing was broken and the connection seemed to be a pressure coupling with some small grooves on the one side of the metal connector seemingly designed to "dig" into the plastic of the other.

I pressed the two parts of the coupling together and it is now reasonably firmly seated but I know if I turn it one way or the other a couple of times it will become uncoupled.

How do I handle this? I do NOT want to return the router for another RMA as I simply just need another antenna. I don't believe my reseller has the antennae, so the next choice is ASUS. They sell one antenna for $15 but shipping to Montreal is $15 and $30 seems a little too much for me.

So I can deal with warranty support but I really don't want to have to mail the faulty antenna back to Asus (being deprived of one of my antennae) and end up waiting some 2 weeks.

Any ideas on this and is this type of occurrence very rare? Any input would be most appreciated.

 

[joegreat]

My RMA replacement from the reseller is fine with no dead ports but there is one irritating problem. Yesterday, while adjusting the antennae I noticed that one of them seemed a bit loose (it would not stay put at a 45 degree angle). I unscrewed it from the router and gave it a look-over

How do I handle this? I do NOT want to return the router for another RMA as I simply just need another antenna. I don't believe my reseller has the antennae, so the next choice is ASUS. They sell one antenna for $15 but shipping to Montreal is $15 and $30 seems a little too much for me.

Hi Peter,

You can go for other type of antenna (as I did for different reason): See details in the thread "Updated Antennas: Asus WL-ANT157 vs. Delock RP-SMA".

The different layout of this antennas has the advantage that it transmits vor to front and back then in all directions as the original one does. I have replaced two of my antennas (the other ones), but others have good results by just replacing the middle one.

So: Rather to send money on shipment, you send money for improvement of the router!
I got the antennas from a local dealer nearby, with out shipment...

With kind regards
Joe

 

[peterg21]

Thanks very much for your reply.

I did have a look at the Delock one and it does indeed appear to be identical to the asus wl-ant-157. However, in actual fact it is more expensive in the US than the Asus model:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AD1D0B2/?tag=snbforums-20. At Amazon the Asus is as follows:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005UBNJ48/?tag=snbforums-20

Unfortunately Amazon in the US will not ship this item to Canada.

In Canada I can find this item but a stock check shows it is out at a store I trust. I can get the Asus antenna for $24 at NCIX.

I think I will give Asus a ring tomorrow and see if they will simply ship one out to me free of charge. Apparently another owner in Canada had asus do this for him.

One final point. Is the SMA-RP connector indeed what I suspect as being a form of compression connector? The faulty antenna is reasonably firm now in that I can incline it without it falling down. I just don't think I can move it very much with it becoming disconnected.

 

[jlake]

I've got the same issue on one of my antenna. It will stay at 45 degrees, but at 44, gravity will take over and it'll slip....too loose. I re-tightened it and it seems to be staying put, so I haven't given it much thought, but I know if I bump it, it'll drop.

I suppose I could swap the center antenna for the right side one to see what happens, but since it's staying put.....

The left side antenna doesn't have this problem.

 

[peterg21]

I've got the same issue on one of my antenna. It will stay at 45 degrees, but at 44, gravity will take over and it'll slip....too loose. I re-tightened it and it seems to be staying put, so I haven't given it much thought, but I know if I bump it, it'll drop.

I suppose I could swap the center antenna for the right side one to see what happens, but since it's staying put.....

The left side antenna doesn't have this problem.

How do you retighten? Since I have had the "benefit" of seeing a bit of the construction, to me the way to tighten it would appear to be to push it in a bit.

When you look at the antennas looking downwards, do you see very narrow gaps between the knurkled part that connects to the router and the rest of the antenna? Are the "gaps" equal?

 

[jlake]

Yeah I should have said re-installed it. It's probably just a bad batch that made it past QA/QC. Re-installing it didn't help much. It's just staying put. But I know a slight bump will change that. I don't have the energy to invest any time looking at it. My expectations for consumer network products is somewhat low, so I haven't given it another thought.

 

[peterg21]

This is an update on my original post. Yesterday I had a live chat with an Asus representative and initially it did not go well. The suggestion was either send the router back to the online reseller or buy an antenna from the e-store (as I said previously, that would be $15 + $15 shipping).

I advised the agent that neither of these were acceptable alternatives as this was seemingly a QC problem. Then someone else joined the conversation I could see (although he never commented), and I explained that even examining the female and male connector under a magnifying glass one could see that there was no damage to either part. The upshot of this was that the Asus rep said he would do a one-shot free replacement and would send it out same day via Fedex (I hope air - does Asus ship from Canada to the US via Fedex ground for such a small part?)

Overall, I am very happy with the result.