Intermitting wifi issues on the 2.4 GHz band

[Herman Slotenmaker]

Hi all,
my current situation: one main ac-86U aimesh router and one ac-68U aimesh router. Ethernet backhaul. (yes I ditched the Lyra's).
No smartconnect. Seperate networks: wifago-24; wifago-50 and wifago-guest-24. Latest ASUS firmware.

For about a month or so I am experiencing wifi-issues. App's loading really slow. Internet disconnecting, etc.
When changing to the 5GHz band, issues dissappear instantly. So issues seem limited to 2.4Ghz band.

What could be problem? In the log noting that stands out?
Log seems to be flooded with these:
Oct 2 16:39:56 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(527): eth5: Auth C2:73:04:C2:B2:A2, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
Always same mac address. Looks like the Ipad from work..

And I noticed the wifi channel changes very frequently (every 20 min or so). But there is virtually no interference of neigboring networks. Only both aimesh routers.

And quite a lot of entries on my open VPN server:

Oct 2 16:52:47 vpnserver1[2543]: 190.123.83.140:53 TLS Error: TLS key negotiation failed to occur within 60 seconds (check your network connectivity)
Oct 2 16:52:47 vpnserver1[2543]: 190.123.83.140:53 TLS Error: TLS handshake failed
Oct 2 16:52:47 vpnserver1[2543]: 190.123.83.140:53 SIGUSR1[soft,tls-error] received, client-instance restarting

But I am not trying to acces the vpn server..is this someone trying to acces my vpn server? should I be worried?

So two main questions:
1. what could caus the wifi issues?
2. What can be done about them.

Kind Regards
HaMPeL

 

[degrub]

make sure you are on ethernet lan backhaul, and not on wireless.
are the two 2.4 GHz wireless radios on the same channel ?
If so, try reducing the radio power to 50%,
WHat about neighbor interference ?
get a free utility and look at neighboring wireless usage.
You should still be able to get the Airport Utility from the app store and use the wifi survey mode to get a read on the available APs RSSI values. A 20 second run should be good enough.
SHould be a tutorial about how to manually select channel for multiple APs on the site/forum here.

if 2543 is the default port, change it to something much higher and random.

 

[Herman Slotenmaker]

Thans for Your reply.

As I said: neigbor interferentie is almost non-existent. Aimesh uses ethernet backhaul.
I am a bit hesitant to reduce radio power. That seems to defeat the whole purpose of the extra aimesh node to extend the wifi-netwerk intro the garden?

Both aimesh nodes are on the same channel. By default I think. Is this a good thing? I know how to set a fixed channel, but I thought setting this to ‘ auto’ was recommended?

 

[degrub]

More wireless is usually a bad thing, contrary to marketing. It only works if there is a single radio on each band.


when two wireless radio coverage areas are overlapping on the same bands, they can interfere with each other, particularly if on the exact same channel. Extra power means extra reflections which can cause additional interference. Since you want extra range in the garden, try reducing the power on the other AP to 50%. This is particularly true for 2.4GHz band. If you can cover your indoor needs with 5 GHz on both APs, turn the 2.4 GHz radio off or reduce it's power to very low and use the one for the garden at 100 % or maybe 75 %. . The 2.4 Ghz band will penetrate more walls than 5 GHz and it is easy to get interference if the radios are too close or at too high of power. You don't need the extra power for AiMesh since you are using ethernet backhaul.

To do the wireless coverage survey, you will want to have separate SSIDs so you can tell which radio is which.

i have 4 APs covering a two story 300 sqr meter house. They are oriented in different directions ( wall and ceiling) and some have power reduced on 5 GHz band. The 2.4 GHz band is turned off on all APs. i still have good coverage outside via windows which are transparent to the RF signal (roughly 10 m or so from house). single SSID for each band.

 

[Herman Slotenmaker]

is there a way to put both aimesh nodes on different channels? wouldn't that be better?

 

[L&LD]

No, AiMesh nodes use the same channels as the main unit (it can't be any other way).

It may be better, but it may not. Depends on the WiFi environment for each user.