Question about 5GHz Channel Selection (Asus 86U)

[Poseidon]

Asus 86U running latest Merlin f/w (no scripts); 400/22 internet connection

I have a Roku 4K streaming stick in the bedroom and whenever I select a low 5GHz channel (ie 36)....I get a lot of buffering and when I run a network connection test, it lists my download speed @1 mbps.

However when I select channel 161, the buffering is gone and the network connection test lists the download speed @ 70-72 mbps.

Is this unusual? Running WiFi Analyzer on my laptop, it recommends me using channel 36 for 5 GHz - but then I start having Roku playback issues in that channel.

Any suggestions/advice.

thanks

 

[OzarkEdge]

Asus 86U running latest Merlin f/w (no scripts); 400/22 internet connection

I have a Roku 4K streaming stick in the bedroom and whenever I select a low 5GHz channel (ie 36)....I get a lot of buffering and when I run a network connection test, it lists my download speed @1 mbps.

However when I select channel 161, the buffering is gone and the network connection test lists the download speed @ 70-72 mbps.

Is this unusual? Running WiFi Analyzer on my laptop, it recommends me using channel 36 for 5 GHz - but then I start having Roku playback issues in that channel.

Any suggestions/advice.

thanks

I believe I read the high channels are better. Ignore the app advice and use say 157.

OE

 

[thiggins]

It's important to realize that when you are using 802.11ac in 5 GHz @ 80 MHz bandwidth, the data part of the transmit frame uses four channels. The channel you select, 161 in this case, is the primary channel that is used for management frames (beacon probe and response, CTS/RTS, ACK, etc.)

Since management frames are a relatively high % of traffic on a channel, changing the primary channel can help connection reliability.

WiFi "Analyzers" can't assess how busy a channel is. They only measure signal strength and # of APs on a channel. So their recommendations may not be useful at all.

 

[RMerlin]

Some platforms can show more details about available bandwidth. Asus's newer ROG models, as well as the RT-AC86U or RT-AX88U running my firmware can report more info about the wifi environment through Broadcom's Wifi Insight. For example here's the available bandwidth for the 2.4 GHz band in my area:

A few mins ago, channel 1 showed only around 30% of available bandwidth, probably someone was transfering data on that channel.

 

[thiggins]

I wasn’t aware of that feature. Do you know how bandwidth use is measured?

 

[OzarkEdge]

Some platforms can show more details about available bandwidth. Asus's newer ROG models, as well as the RT-AC86U or RT-AX88U running my firmware can report more info about the wifi environment through Broadcom's Wifi Insight. For example here's the available bandwidth for the 2.4 GHz band in my area:

View attachment 19201

A few mins ago, channel 1 showed only around 30% of available bandwidth, probably someone was transfering data on that channel.

Is it possible to record/graph the peak utilization so that you can better see which channels are least used over time?

Edit: Maybe I presumed wrongly that this reporting is an Asuswrt-Merlin capability... maybe instead it requires a "Broadcom's Wifi Insight" utility. If so, never mind.

OE

 

[RMerlin]

I wasn’t aware of that feature. Do you know how bandwidth use is measured?

No idea, the daemon is closed source, and there's no public documentation. It's part of Broadcom's HND SDK (which is why the webui doesn't share the usual Asuswrt look and feel). It can also reports a lot of low-level Wifi information, such as packet queue length for a specific STA connection.

Edit: Maybe I presumed wrongly that this reporting is an Asuswrt-Merlin capability... maybe instead it requires a "Broadcom's Wifi Insight" utility. If so, never mind.

It's part of Asuswrt-Merlin, as well as stock Asuswrt (for HND ROG models only, like the GT-AC5300). It's called Wifi-Radar.

The daemon stores information in an sqlite database, so you might be able to poke at it to see if anything could be retrieved. I doubt the historical bandwidth usage is stored there however since there's no historical graph, unlike the other data metrics it can report.

 

[PlayaSucia]

I believe I read the high channels are better. Ignore the app advice and use say 157.

OE

Do you recall the theory as to why the high band is better?
I haven't experimented too much with 5ghz channels but found the lower band gave me a couple of dBm better signal strength so I stuck with that.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Do you recall the theory as to why the high band is better?
I haven't experimented too much with 5ghz channels but found the lower band gave me a couple of dBm better signal strength so I stuck with that.

A member here reported settling on a high channel after some tests. I also recall the lower channels may have restricted Tx power (US?). When using Smart Connect and Auto (and before the excessive ascd scanning and channel changing that arrived with 45713), Auto usually settled on a high channel here.

OE

 

[Grisu]

only ch. 149+ have 1W power in US while 36-144 got only 200mW.
Thats the reason for US to use those highest channels.
In EU where 149+ is not allowed the lower channels 36-48 (64) are usually better than 100-144, less attenuation and no radar detection.

 

[dlandiss]

A member here reported settling on a high channel after some tests. I also recall the lower channels may have restricted Tx power (US?). When using Smart Connect and Auto (and before the excessive ascd scanning and channel changing that arrived with 45713), Auto usually settled on a high channel here.

OE

I live in a 3-story house which makes weak-signal testing fairly repeatable. I also read that the 3-digit 5GHz channels should be better, but I ignored that, and ignored signal strength readings, and relied only on measured throughput. Both my main router and my access point (on a different floor of the house) gave better throughput on the 2-digit channels.

 

[Val D.]

Both my main router and my access point (on a different floor of the house) gave better throughput on the 2-digit channels.

This what I see also. Lower channels work better.
Everyone has to test and chose what's better for his environment.

 

[brec]

Some platforms can show more details about available bandwidth. Asus's newer ROG models, as well as the RT-AC86U or RT-AX88U running my firmware can report more info about the wifi environment through Broadcom's Wifi Insight. For example here's the available bandwidth for the 2.4 GHz band in my area: [graphic omitted]

In my week-old 86U running 384.18, the graphs are all empty and the reported channel in use for 2.4G and 5G are incorrect. The only things I recognize are my SSIDs. The empty graphs are unlike the example shown by @RMerlin, having headings of Channel Capacity, Interference, and Adjacent Channels, each having two (2.4G) or three (5G) channel bandwidth graphs.

Is there a setting I should change?

Edit: The above is about the Wireless Channel Statistics display. The Site Survey display seems to display only the 86U's own radios. I know it's a crowded neighborhood from device SSID menus and from PC analyzer apps.

 

[RMerlin]

Is there a setting I should change?

You need to enable data collection on the Settings page.

Wi Fi Radar

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

 

[m0rF1uS]

In my week-old 86U running 384.18, the graphs are all empty and the reported channel in use for 2.4G and 5G are incorrect. The only things I recognize are my SSIDs. The empty graphs are unlike the example shown by @RMerlin, having headings of Channel Capacity, Interference, and Adjacent Channels, each having two (2.4G) or three (5G) channel bandwidth graphs.

Is there a setting I should change?

Edit: The above is about the Wireless Channel Statistics display. The Site Survey display seems to display only the 86U's own radios. I know it's a crowded neighborhood from device SSID menus and from PC analyzer apps.

You have to go to configure page and start the data collection. It’s pretty cool feature since you can schedule collection on specific days/time and export the data.... see the screenshot attached to my post —>