Good site for checking asus setup and speed?

[Lurban]

Any recommendations?

 

[wouterv]

It is good practise to describe in your post text what you are looking for, not only in the subject.
Please be a little more specific:

1. What is your router make and model?
2. What is the router firmware version?
3. Did you recently upgrade the router firmware?
4. If you upgraded the firmware: what post steps did you perform?
5. What part of the router setup do you want to check?
   
6. What speed are you trying to check (LAN to LAN, LAN to WAN, wired or wireless, if wireless: 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, if wireless: what is your wireless setup?).
7. If wireless: did you check the wirless channel usage in your neighborhood?
8. ...and so on

 

[Lurban]

It is good practise to describe in your post text what you are looking for, not only in the subject.
Please be a little more specific:

1. What is your router make and model?
2. What is the router firmware version?
3. Did you recently upgrade the router firmware?
4. If you upgraded the firmware: what post steps did you perform?
5. What part of the router setup do you want to check?.
   
6. What speed are you trying to check (LAN to LAN, LAN to WAN, wired or wireless, if wireless: 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, if wireless: what is your wireless setup?).
7. If wireless: did you check the wirless channel usage in your neighborhood?
8. ...and so on

Thanks...sorry about that....I have an ASUS RT-N56U. Firmware Version:3.0.0.4.378_4850
Updated the firmware about a month ago.
Just wanting to check for a "typical" home wireless setup to make sure I set it up properly and that I don't have anything running on the router that might be slowing things down. I recall reading that it is a bad idea to mix b/g devices and n devices on the same router. I have a second router I could use. The ASUS is setup just as an access point.

- single family home about 3,000 s.f. - 2 stories. 3 teenagers.....

I have a program to check for wireless channel conflicts.

 

[wh7qq]

The main things you want to do are to secure the router from outside attack...change to unique and complex username and password and use WPA2 encryption and a decent key and above all, turn off any settings that allow outside access to your router interface such as FTP and UPnP. If you must use any outside access capabilities, be aware of the risks and secure the router as best you can.

If it is working well for you now, relax and enjoy. If you are experiencing limitations/problems due to the router setup, let us know the specifics and go from there. There is no "typical" home router setup, especially when you are using it as an access point but the factory defaults work fine for most situations. The tweaks are there to provide for "atypical" situations.

 

[wouterv]

The main things you want to do are to secure the router from outside attack...change to unique and complex username and password and use WPA2 encryption and a decent key and above all, turn off any settings that allow outside access to your router interface such as FTP and UPnP. If you must use any outside access capabilities, be aware of the risks and secure the router as best you can.

If it is working well for you now, relax and enjoy. If you are experiencing limitations/problems due to the router setup, let us know the specifics and go from there. There is no "typical" home router setup, especially when you are using it as an access point but the factory defaults work fine for most situations. The tweaks are there to provide for "atypical" situations.

Fully agreed.

In addition here is a summary of good old practises:

Set 2.4 GHz to a Channel bandwidth of 20 MHz.
For 2.4 GHz disable b/g Protection (use of old 802.11b devices combined with 802.11n is anyway not recommended).
Set a different SSID for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, e.g. "myhome" and "myhome5", this makes it easier to connect a client device to the right frequency band.
Use alphanumeric characters only for the SSID's (Aa to Zz and 0 to 9, no spaces and no odd characters).
Use InSSIDer or a similar program to determine the usage of wireless channels in your neighborhood, do the check at various locations in your house. Do this check at least every month (new neighbor devices may have arrived or neighbors may have changed their settings).
Set 2.4 GHz to the least used channel out of 1, 6 or 11.
Leave 5 GHz to Auto channel (if possible exclude DFS channels) or set it to the least used channel out of 36, 40, 44 or 48 (the non DFS channels).
The range of 5 GHz is practical about half of 2.4 GHz.

Relative position of the router to the client devices is important, a free line of sight is ideal.
Keep as much as free space around the router as possible, do NOT place the router in a cabinet, do not place it on top of another electronic device.
Keep the router on distance from your modem, your TV, wireless telephones, microwaves and bluetooth devices.
Keep the router on distance from materials that absorb or disturb radio signals e.g. metal objects, concrete walls or floors and waterfilled objects.
Keep an eye on router temperature, place the router on a hard surface to allow natural ventilation through the router box.
Experiment with the location of the router and antenna orientation.

After a major firmware upgrade (or when recommended in the release notes): do a hard reset of the router and manual configure the router again (do NOT load an old configuration backup file).
In case of doubts, forgotten settings and weird issues: do a hard reset of the router and manual configure the router again.
Write down the setting changes you make from the defaults.
Due to upgraded wireless drivers in the router it may be required to delete the wireless connection profiles on your computers and connect again.

Keep an eye on new firmware releases: it is strongly adviced to keep pace with firmware releases that contain security fixes.
The buildin Asus router Firmware Version Check is often wrong and outdated.
Use this link to find the latest firmware and release notes for the RT-N56U:
https://www.asus.com/Networking/RTN56U/HelpDesk_Download/
Please select OS: Others
Unfold the Firmware branch

 

[Lurban]

The main things you want to do are to secure the router from outside attack...change to unique and complex username and password and use WPA2 encryption and a decent key and above all, turn off any settings that allow outside access to your router interface such as FTP and UPnP. If you must use any outside access capabilities, be aware of the risks and secure the router as best you can.

If it is working well for you now, relax and enjoy. If you are experiencing limitations/problems due to the router setup, let us know the specifics and go from there. There is no "typical" home router setup, especially when you are using it as an access point but the factory defaults work fine for most situations. The tweaks are there to provide for "atypical" situations.

thanks

 

[Lurban]

Fully agreed.

In addition here is a summary of good old practises:

Set 2.4 GHz to a Channel bandwidth of 20 MHz.
For 2.4 GHz disable b/g Protection (use of old 802.11b devices combined with 802.11n is anyway not recommended).
Set a different SSID for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, e.g. "myhome" and "myhome5", this makes it easier to connect a client device to the right frequency band.
Use alphanumeric characters only for the SSID's (Aa to Zz and 0 to 9, no spaces and no odd characters).
Use InSSIDer or a similar program to determine the usage of wireless channels in your neighborhood, do the check at various locations in your house. Do this check at least every month (new neighbor devices may have arrived or neighbors may have changed their settings).
Set 2.4 GHz to the least used channel out of 1, 6 or 11.
Leave 5 GHz to Auto channel (if possible exclude DFS channels) or set it to the least used channel out of 36, 40, 44 or 48 (the non DFS channels).
The range of 5 GHz is practical about half of 2.4 GHz.

Relative position of the router to the client devices is important, a free line of sight is ideal.
Keep as much as free space around the router as possible, do NOT place the router in a cabinet, do not place it on top of another electronic device.
Keep the router on distance from your modem, your TV, wireless telephones, microwaves and bluetooth devices.
Keep the router on distance from materials that absorb or disturb radio signals e.g. metal objects, concrete walls or floors and waterfilled objects.
Keep an eye on router temperature, place the router on a hard surface to allow natural ventilation through the router box.
Experiment with the location of the router and antenna orientation.

After a major firmware upgrade (or when recommended in the release notes): do a hard reset of the router and manual configure the router again (do NOT load an old configuration backup file).
In case of doubts, forgotten settings and weird issues: do a hard reset of the router and manual configure the router again.
Write down the setting changes you make from the defaults.
Due to upgraded wireless drivers in the router it may be required to delete the wireless connection profiles on your computers and connect again.

Keep an eye on new firmware releases: it is strongly adviced to keep pace with firmware releases that contain security fixes.
The buildin Asus router Firmware Version Check is often wrong and outdated.
Use this link to find the latest firmware and release notes for the RT-N56U:
https://www.asus.com/Networking/RTN56U/HelpDesk_Download/
Please select OS: Others
Unfold the Firmware branch

Thank you.

 

[sfx2000]

Set 2.4 GHz to a Channel bandwidth of 20 MHz.

Always good - also consider disabling TurboQAM/NitroQAM

For 2.4 GHz disable b/g Protection (use of old 802.11b devices combined with 802.11n is anyway not recommended).

Actually, enable B/G protection, because if you don't, all it takes is one legacy STA or adjacent Legacy AP/BSS to force very expensive protection... if you enable B/G protection, the Broadcom chipset uses a smart algorithm to switch between Greenfield and Mixed Mode

Set a different SSID for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, e.g. "myhome" and "myhome5", this makes it easier to connect a client device to the right frequency band.

Two schools of thought here, both correct - try using common SSID/Passphrases across all radios - if it works, less overhead, and better roaming and handup/handdown for smartphones and tablets..

Use alphanumeric characters only for the SSID's (Aa to Zz and 0 to 9, no spaces and no odd characters).

Absolutely a must here - A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and I would watch out for certain reserved characters like $, /, # as these can mean things inside the router's OS

Use InSSIDer or a similar program to determine the usage of wireless channels in your neighborhood, do the check at various locations in your house. Do this check at least every month (new neighbor devices may have arrived or neighbors may have changed their settings).

Make sure to use these apps, not only where you intend to use WiFi, but also at the AP - also note that many of these apps only see non-cloaked/non-stealthed/non-hidden SSID's...

Also, know that if these apps are running, they will impact performance of that computer, as it's tuning away from the primary SSID, and also that some drivers (most of these use the WHQL drivers) may report odd info (esp. Intel)

Set 2.4 GHz to the least used channel out of 1, 6 or 11.

Good advice - some statistical insight - 6 is most common, followed by 1, and then 11 - I think this is probably due to most routers out of the box using channel 6 as the default.

Newer routers - based on Broadcom/QC-Atheros, actually do a decent job at Auto believe it or not... AC1900 class and newer, so give it a try and see where things land, but worse case, see above..

Leave 5 GHz to Auto channel (if possible exclude DFS channels) or set it to the least used channel out of 36, 40, 44 or 48 (the non DFS channels).

For many SOHO routers, the only way to get to DFS channels is to leave them in AUTO - I like the DFS channels, and use them myself, as they tend to be much less cluttered compared to the UNII-1 and UNII-3 bands

The range of 5 GHz is practical about half of 2.4 GHz.

Indeed... about 1500 sq ft is practical for 2.4GHz 802.11n, about 700 sq ft for 11ac in 5GHz. but this depends a lot on the AP and environment - I've seen a 4*4:3 11ac AP (non-ASUS) get decent rates out to the same level as 2.4GHz, but that's the exception rather than the norm...

 

[joegreat]

Good site for checking asus setup and speed?

Any recommendations?

I find the Router Guide helpful to understand all the wireless settings in detail!

 

[Lurban]

Cool...thanks all!