Guest Wifi

[ecnav]

I have an RT-N66U running Merlin. I'm having a problem but not 100% sure so I just wanted to run it by others for some feedback.

Has anyone noticed that if you have 2.4ghz wifi enabled, and also a guest wireless on 2.4ghz, the primary works great...that is until multiple devices start joining the guest wifi. At that point, the range for the primary 2.4ghz wifi is shot.

There is this one corner in my house that never really got solid signal (with any router) and I've always blamed it on my giant aluminum closet doors. I wrote this room off because it's really a guest room anyways. But I've been using the room more and more lately and realized that with the RT-N66U, it got great signal in that room...that is... till the tenant downstairs that uses the guest wifi comes home. At that point, I'm not even able to connect to the wifi in that room anymore.

Thoughts? I may just be crazy here.

 

[joegreat]

Thoughts? I may just be crazy here.

Hi,

When did you do the last time a factory reset? This would bring back the defaults for WLAN to ensure that the driver settings are correct. Then you configure the minimum settings (e.g. SSID and password for the WLAN) and test every single configuraiton change before you do the next setting/change!

Did you try this firmware version (374.43) which is know for best range? Again do not forget to do a factory reset after changing firmware!

WLAN issues are hard to diagnose and need tools: I always use WLAN Analyzer to find the best channels for my WLANs (less crowded) to avoid problems.

Basically you need to do some searching and trail and error to find the best settings for you. I think in WLAN "less is more" to not fiddle around with the settings if not really needed!

With kind regards
Joe

 

[coldwizard]

... till the tenant downstairs that uses the guest wifi comes home. At that point, I'm not even able to connect to the wifi in that room anymore. ...

Could it be something else the tenant is doing? Turning on a baby monitor, the microwave to cook, talking on a cordless phone, etc.

 

[RMerlin]

Could it be something else the tenant is doing? Turning on a baby monitor, the microwave to cook, talking on a cordless phone, etc.

...Booting 5 different routers at the same time to do firmware development and forgetting to turn off wifi on them.

 

[ecnav]

Thanks for all your responses. At this point, I believe my radio was dumbed down because the tenant is using a device with wireless B or G only. Definitely not N. I have enabled B/G protection and it seems to be better. I can connect, but slower speeds still.

I haven't tried other versions, but the other day I accidentally did a factory reset on the router by hitting the WPS button thinking it was the power button.

I'll consider trying out the mentioned version known for range.