Instability of 5GHz network on RT-AC3100

[Howard AC]

2.4GHz is working fine but the 5Ghz is either cycling on and off frequently or my laptops are losing the signal frequently (even though it shows 5 bars in wifi meter). Have tried unplugging, tried reset button, tried rebooting and just tried the Merlin firmware to no avail.

When the 5GHz goes down, I can bring it back up by switching the laptop to the 2.4 network and then back to the 5. It happens on multiple phones and laptops so I believe the problem lays with the Asus? I also didn’t have this problem with the Airport Extreme I had been using.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Could be a hardware issue my 3100 has no such problem in fact the 5 Ghz band is the only band I use 2.4 is disabled.

 

[hggomes]

Disable beamforming option on the router and also check your clients wnic driver.

 

[Howard AC]

I use all macs and don't think I can do anything with wince drivers. One other clue is that when i wake computer up from sleep it cannot connect at all to 5Ghz until I switch the laptop to the 2.4GHz and then back to the 5GHz.

 

[hggomes]

Have you tried disabling beamforming?

 

[jbodine74]

Try setting the service order of the network connections on the Mac. Go to System Preferences, Network, click the gear at the bottom and choose set service order. Then put the services in the order you want them. This is just a suggestion I got from apple last year as I had a laptop that when it woke up it would not connect to a Linksys router.

 

[SoCalReviews]

I use all macs and don't think I can do anything with wince drivers. One other clue is that when i wake computer up from sleep it cannot connect at all to 5Ghz until I switch the laptop to the 2.4GHz and then back to the 5GHz.

I was having similar Mac and Apple device issues with my RT-AC68P routers where it was difficult to connect or slow to connect to 5Ghz. My iPad Air was dropping 5Ghz and reconnecting to he the 2.4Ghz band several times a day. I did reconfigure the wireless connection list on my Apple devices but that didn't solve it for me. It seems like the 5Ghz issues became less of an issue using the latest ...380.xxxx stock firmware and things are significantly more stable with the recent beta firmware for my 68p. I realize these Asus routers use different wireless radio chip sets but if you haven't already done so you might want to try the latest available ASUS RT-AC3100 beta Firmware version 9.0.0.4.380.2697 . If you live in a Wifi crowded area you could also try setting the 5Ghz to N/AC only and try using different open fixed channels. Try setting it to 40Mhz bandwidth instead of 20/40/80Mhz.

 

[NightOwl326]

Have you tried disabling beamforming?

I think your on to something! I started having apple connection issues starting with IOS 9.3.1 on my Netgear r8500. Disabled beamforming and all is good. Seems to be an apple issues since it effects different brands and different models.

 

[Howard AC]

Disabling beam forming may have helped but still having random disconnects from the 5Ghz. I will try the beta firmware.

 

[ngerasimatos]

I would try the beta firmware. Make sure to reset everything after upgrading just to be sure everything is set back to default. I know some say this is unnecessary but I do it regardless.

 

[Pirates>Ninjas]

Hi all, first time poster,

I just wanted to report my experiences with Asus RT-AC3100. I ended up returning it to the store because it seemed like something was wrong with 5ghz band.

Everthing seemed to be fine, purchased a couple movies from Google Play, downloaded first 3 movies for offline playback. Fourth movie was stuck at 1% downloaded, checked wifi on tablet (galaxy note 8) and it said "No Internet Connection".

I thought, that's weird... turned tablet wifi off and on, rebooted tablet, rebooted router.
Still not authenticating on 5ghz. Connecting to 2.4ghz on the other hand was fine. Wifi Analyzer was showing the 5ghz signal strength but whenever I tried re-connecting, the tablet would show "connecting..." and then just show "Saved, Secure" in the wireless profile.

I was able to connect to the 5ghz one time by powering router off and moving it to another power outlet. I thought, whew...maybe just interference or just needed to be unplugged. Shut router back off and moved it back to original outlet and I could not get it connected on 5ghz band again.

To rule out mobile devices(Galaxy Note8, ipad mini, nexus 6p), I connected to my neighbors open 5ghz xfinitywifi cable modem and also connected old dlink dap-1522 set to 5ghz band.

I spent better part of the weekend trying to figure it out...changing router settings, moving it to other rooms, flashing 2697 beta FW, downgrading to 1354 FW, flashed asuswrt-merlin 380.57/380.58/380.59, back to asus 2345 FW.

I'm no expert and I'm sure there was more I could try to troubleshoot. I just didn't want to get stuck with a crippled router so I returned it only having it 3 days.