Solved GT-AX6000 5GHz signal black hole in one specific part of the apartment

[john385]

Hi everyone!

Here's the apartment layout (~105m2 in total):

GT-AX6000 is on top of a shelf in the living room (red "X" @ 2.5m height), next to a load bearing wall highlighted blue.
On my iPhone Xs (and wife's iPhone Xr) there is severe signal drop on our main 5GHz SSID that both phones usually completely drop out and disconnect from WiFi (WiFi Assist is turned OFF mind you...) in the purple area (bedroom).

I realize that this is a huge, metal-filled load bearing wall, but is it really that signal impregnable even though it's 2-3m apart?

Here are my WiFi settings. Thoughts?

 

[bbunge]

Go back to the default WIFI settings. Even Dual Band Smart Connect. Let the router and clients decide which channels and bandwidth to use.

 

[Tech9]

This is where the bed is, correct? The router has some Ai built-in. You don't need Wi-Fi there.

 

[john385]

This is where the bed is, correct? The router has some Ai built-in. You don't need Wi-Fi there.

LOL

...I guess I'll try with Dual Band Smart Connect, turning it back on.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Tech9]

Look at Wi-Fi as light source. The signal reflects off walls and objects. First thing I would try is moving the router left or right on the same shelf. Second is changing the channels to upper range 149-161 (if available in your region) where Tx power may be higher (or channel 100 in Europe). Smart Connect may "solve" the issue by moving your devices to slower 2.4GHz band, but this is not a good solution. Default Wi-Fi settings are less likely to improve the situation either. Your settings are good already.

 

[frequenzy]

imho your settings are ok, it’s just a limitation of 5Ghz. either move your router or use 2.4Ghz

 

[tgl]

First thing I would try is moving the router left or right on the same shelf.

Yeah, that. That wall may contain metal studs, but it's pretty unlikely that it's all metal. Shifting the router a foot or so in either direction might fix the problem.

I'm not sure how precise your diagram is, but it looks like you've put the router right where the load-bearing wall connects to a partition wall. That would be exactly the spot with the most extra hardware

The trick here is that you might just be shifting the signal shadow from the bedroom to the adjacent room. But fooling around with placement should be able to fix that. My instinct actually would be to move the router pretty far towards the right end of that shelf, so that you keep good coverage in the other rooms and the signal towards the bedroom is penetrating the partition wall crosswise not lengthwise.

 

[tgl]

BTW, if you don't want to just guess at what's where in the wall, head down to your nearest hardware store and spend a few bucks on a stud finder. Invaluable tool.