Issue with RT-AX86U Signal Strength

[SchneiderIS]

I am not an expert here so please bear with me. My network is a Asus AiMesh configuration with a RT-AX88U as the primary and two RT-AX86U’s as nodes (all connected via dedicated ethernet backhaul at 2.5G). All three currently are running Merlin 388.1 firmware. I did try running the 86’s on 386.5_2 as well but still have the same issue as below. The reason I am looking at this is that my network has been lacking in performance when users are connected to the 86's.

What I am seeing from the Site Survey is that my RT-AX86U has a much weaker signal strength than my RT-AX88U, even though the 88 is an extra 30 feet and two exterior walls away.

In the following image the Red MeCasa representing the RT-AX88U and the black MeCasa being the RT-AX86U. These are measurements for the 5GHz range.

The RT-AX86U is close to the front of the house where presumable it is closer to all the other WiFi’s in the neighbourhood. The RT-AX88U is very close to the back alley where I would not expect a lot of other routers to be covering.

Could it simply be that I am getting clobbered by all the other signals? Is there anything else that I can do to increase the signal strength, or are the 86’s just that much weaker? Or am I barking up a non-issue here?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Sorry, your post doesn't make much sense. The red MeCasa is a bogus representation of the router that's running the site survey. That's why it has an impossible signal strength of 0 dBm. So you need to ignore that SSID. I only see one other MeCasa SSID rather than the two you say you have. Presumably that's because the other one is so far away that it's signal isn't being picked up.

Ultimately, the signal strength shown in the site survey is irrelevant because your nodes are connected by Ethernet not WiFi.

 

[SchneiderIS]

Sorry, your post doesn't make much sense. The red MeCasa is a bogus representation of the router that's running the site survey. That's why it has an impossible signal strength of 0 dBm. So you need to ignore that SSID. I only see one other MeCasa SSID rather than the two you say you have. Presumably that's because it's so far away that it's signal isn't being picked up.

Thanks @ColinTaylor. Now that makes more sense.

This means that the 88 is seeing the one 86 and the signal strength is between the two. The other 86 is likely not being reached by the 88 because it is in the basement and behind two thick concrete walls and a bunch of metal from the furnace.

All this means is that the use of the Site Survey is of zero value to me. Any performance issues I am having with the 86 needs to be investigated independent of the 88.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes, I updated my post to add:

Ultimately, the signal strength shown in the site survey is irrelevant because your nodes are connected by Ethernet not WiFi.

 

[SchneiderIS]

Yes, I updated my post to add:

Ultimately, the signal strength shown in the site survey is irrelevant because your nodes are connected by Ethernet not WiFi.

I would love to have some sort of heat map that gives you an idea of performance. Maybe in some science fiction world that will be a drone you can buy to do so. For now I am back to running around the house looking like a crazed scientist with my iPhone and the SpeedTest app by Ookla.

Thanks again for the education. I could have lost days more on this.