RP-AC68U repeater and RT-AC68U setup issues

[Castor]

Hi all

First time poster so thanks in advance.

I have an RT-AC68U router setup for both 2.4 and 5Ghz WiFi.

I've recently purchased a RP-AC68U Wireless-AC1900 to expand the WiFi connection around the home, but I've come across a couple of issues.

Firstly when I try to link the router and repeater I can only connect it to 2.4 or 5Ghz but not both. I've tried config via WPS and manually but if I follow the wizard it only connects to the 2.4Ghz. In order for it to work with 5Ghz I cannot link it to the 2.4 on the router.

Can the repeater link to both or am I just misunderstanding how this works?

Secondly how do you go about setting up matching SSIDs and roaming, so I don't need to switch between them manually?

 

[pete y testing]

Firstly when I try to link the router and repeater I can only connect it to 2.4 or 5Ghz but not both. I've tried config via WPS and manually but if I follow the wizard it only connects to the 2.4Ghz. In order for it to work with 5Ghz I cannot link it to the 2.4 on the router.

thats correct and its how it gets over the issue of the throughput halving by using one band to receive and one to transmit

see

Can the repeater link to both or am I just misunderstanding how this works?

see above

if you select normal mode it will do as you want but at the cost of performance

Secondly how do you go about setting up matching SSDs and roaming, so I don't need to switch between them manually?

in setup you just name the ssid's the same , however this wont give you true roaming as your devices still disconnect from one transmission to connect to the other and to be honest most ppl name them differently so they know which one they are connected to , once you have connected the first time to each ssid name the clients roam the exact same way as if named the same anyway

pete

 

[Castor]

Thanks for the answer Pete. The user guide for the RP-AC68U is lightweight to say the least.

The RP-AC68U is in the default 'Repeater mode' setting which I assume would be normal mode, and not one of the 'Express Way' modes.

So based on what you said, and the description on the Asus website, the RP-AC68U should be able to connect to both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on the router simultaneously? At the moment it will only connect to the router via one or the other and then repeat these out as two new SSIDs.

I may play around with the Express Way setup to see if I get better performance anyway, as you would expect the 2.4Ghz signal is stronger than the 5Ghz signal, but it would be nice to know what I'm doing wrong.

 

[husky55]

I am using ddwrt firmware and repeater bridge in the Normal Mode as shown above. So I am quite interested in the Enabled Express Way. My difficulty is if I removed the Wireless Virtual Interface for the 2.4 GHz band so my Repeater Bridge Device connects to my router at 2.4 GHz, then I have no way to remove the Wireless Physical Interface for the 5 GHz band and create the Virtual Interface for the 5 GHz. Without the virtual interface my devices will be unable to connect to the 5 GHz band.
In other words wl0 and wl1 both have physical and virtual interface. The Physical Interfaces are from Repeater device to the Router, the Virtual Interfaces are for devices to connect to the Repeater. The Repeater can connect to the router @2.4 GHz with virtual interface removed, but devices cannot connect to the 5 GHz if the virtual interface is removed. Virtual interface requires Physical Interface to work. One cannot create Virtual without Physical interface.

I hope I did not confuse the issue here. So is the Express Way only available with the Asus or RMerlin firmware? I have a pair of RT-N66U and just bought a pair of RT-AC68U so I am really interested in the explanation.

 

[Castor]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I actually got the box working with both 2.4 and 5Ghz connected at the same time. Why it didn't work previously not sure. However the connection was still a little unstable so decided to try to use the box in Access Mode instead via Power line adapters.

The Power lines work great but I cannot get the RP-AC68U to function in Access Point mode. I just seam to get random outcomes.

What are the instructions for the RP-AC68U to work as an Access Point?

 

[pege63]

You can look in the manual http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/d...-KURZ_ASUS_RP__en_fr_nl_cs_hr_fi_da_bg_et.pdf

 

[pege63]

thats correct and its how it gets over the issue of the throughput halving by using one band to receive and one to transmit

see

see above

if you select normal mode it will do as you want but at the cost of performance



in setup you just name the ssid's the same , however this wont give you true roaming as your devices still disconnect from one transmission to connect to the other and to be honest most ppl name them differently so they know which one they are connected to , once you have connected the first time to each ssid name the clients roam the exact same way as if named the same anyway

pete

I think this option aslo should be buildin in Routers when is set to AP mode, is there a way to do it pete?
Or is it only for real accesspoints?

 

[Castor]

Little bit of further info.

The RP-AC68U has no specific 'in' network port, just the 5 RJ-45 ports. I don't think this should make any difference and I've been using the 1 port to connect it to the Powerline adapter.

I've then followed the connection wizard on the RP-AC68U to setup the Access Point but it either creates the 2 new WiFi SSIDs but devices have connection issues and don't get an IP, or the RP-AC68U just kind of disappears from the network altogether - trying to get to repeater.asus.com takes me to the router login - even the defult IP ending in 141 does ot work. Very odd.

I guess I'm setting this up totally wrong. I have looked at how to setup a standard Asus router as an Access Point but the RP-AC68U kind of does not allow you to work that way.

You can look in the manual https://data.kommago.nl/files/pdf/asus-rt-ac68u_user_manual_handleiding.pdf

Pege63; the manual you link to is for the RT-AC68U router, not the RP-AC68U repeater, but thanks all the same.

 

[pege63]

Pege63; the manual you link to is for the RT-AC68U router, not the RP-AC68U repeater, but thanks all the same.

Sorry try now its for the RP-AC68U http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/d...-KURZ_ASUS_RP__en_fr_nl_cs_hr_fi_da_bg_et.pdf do this RP-AC68U working only with ASUS Router or with all label Routers?

 

[Castor]

Sorry try now its for the RP-AC68U http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/d...-KURZ_ASUS_RP__en_fr_nl_cs_hr_fi_da_bg_et.pdf do this RP-AC68U working only with ASUS Router or with all label Routers?

Thanks again, but that's the guide I already have for the RP-AC68U and it doesn't go into any real detail on using the box other than as a repeater.

 

[husky55]

@Castor, you have no problem with your RT-AC68U router setup and working wireless 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. If I understand correctly, the problem is setting up the RP-AC68U as a repeater bridge, i.e. this allows both wireless and wired connection at the RP. I think you would be better off not using the powerline gadget. The RP if configured correctly will give you range and speed better than the powerline would. I have been using the ddwrt repeater bridge feature for years but the setup is different than Asus RP since Asus uses WPS to setup the RP and you need to input the MAC of your router into the RP and the MAC of your RP into the RT router. They both need to use the same channel and SSID. You have an ideal setup since both Asus RT and RP use the Broadcom chip so there is compatibility.

 

[husky55]

@pege63, I look at your setup and I can only drool at your fiber connection. In my part of the world, internet connection is very spotty and expensive. So your main router/Gateway is the Technicolor (I assume it's a fiber modem/router combination) and your APs are the Netgear and Asus. Netgear and Asus are wired directly to the Technicolor. My setup is different since I have cable internet/modem connected to an Asus RT-AC68U and an Asus RT-N66U as a repeater bridge (ddwrt). so that's why I was talking about setting up virtual interface since that is ddwrt setup. Thanks for referring me to the manual. I do have the manual and I am getting another Asus RT-AC68U so I might set the second one as a bridge. But woul it work as a repeater bridge, I will find out.

 

[pege63]

Hi all

First time poster so thanks in advance.

I have an RT-AC68U router setup for both 2.4 and 5Ghz WiFi.

I've recently purchased a RP-AC68U Wireless-AC1900 to expand the WiFi connection around the home, but I've come across a couple of issues.

Firstly when I try to link the router and repeater I can only connect it to 2.4 or 5Ghz but not both. I've tried config via WPS and manually but if I follow the wizard it only connects to the 2.4Ghz. In order for it to work with 5Ghz I cannot link it to the 2.4 on the router.

Can the repeater link to both or am I just misunderstanding how this works?

Secondly how do you go about setting up matching SSIDs and roaming, so I don't need to switch between them manually?

You need two powerlines one with the RT and one with the RP, to get out most off it set the RP in EXPRESS WAY mode, is this wath you was looking for?
But you should not need the powerlines if its setup right.

 

[Castor]

Things have moved on slightly.

I've installed two Powerline devices now; Router > Powerline 1 > Powerline 2 > Repeater. These are 'ethernet' style devices not a WiFi device.

Initially I tested the Powerline setup was working before connecting it to the repeater via my Laptop and direct connection to the adapter. All worked as expected with very good connection/speed.

I then setup the repeater as an Access Point using my laptop connected directly to the repeater via a network cable, then after setup connected it back to the Powerline device via a network cable. Verified the router could see the repeater and then logged onto the repeater to check it could see the router; all ok so far.

However with the two WiFi connections on the repeater I was unable to connect a device. The device would try to connect, get to the 'obtaining IP' then fail and try again. I had setup the SSIDs to be different to the ones on my router just for testing purposes.

Logging onto the repeater and router UIs I noticed that the WiFi setup on each box had the channel setting set to auto, as you would expect, but they both appeared to be using the same channel numbers. Out of curiosity I changed the repeater channels to a fixed number and low and behold the WiFi started working!

However this triumph was short lived as this only worked for around 1.5hrs and then suddenly I stopped getting Internet access on them again.

I do think its possible to get this working I just think I'm missing some setup options on the repeater and router. Or alternatively I have a faulty repeater.

 

[pege63]

here is a wideo on how to setup repeter, its NOT a RP-AC68U but the setup works the same way.

Just login to the RP-AC68U and follow instruktions steps.

Here is a nother video but a Netgear EX7000, does the samething as yours RP-AC68U and shows how it works.

 

[Castor]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have a sneaking suspicion that repeater is faulty in some way?

I've set it up as a standard repeater and its not always stable.

I've now tried setting it as an access point and once again the wifi does not appear to be stable.

Sometimes I can connect no problem but after a while it kicks me off. Other times, usually after I've disconnected, connected to my router wifi, then back again to the repeater, it refuses to connect.

I've opened a support call with Asus and so far not much luck.

They sent me an updated firmware file which made no difference. Recommended setting the wifi channels on the router and repeater to different number which looked like it worked but once again it just stopped.

So at this stage I'm thinking that either I need to make setting changes on the router and repeater that I'm unaware of, or its just broken.

 

[pege63]

Have you tried to have them together on a table and connect the RT-AC68U to the RP-AC68U by a CAT5e/6 cable, just to see if it really works as it should?

 

[vaszago]

Reapeter mode is broken on AC68U since one Year.

Last working is Merlin 378.54_1

 

[pege63]

Yes but the RT-AC68U should be in Router mode if its a standalone Router.

 

[scaramonga]

I'm getting far too old, lol

I just got hold of an RP-AC68U today, and for the life of me, cannot figure out how to get this thing connected? It sits there with the (white) flashing lights on rear of unit, and looks rather lovely in its red glow, lol, but unless some kind soul could explain how to get it to do something else, it's going in the bin?

Set up is as follows:

AC68U router all working grand with John's fork (19E). 2 & 5Ghz all at peak. RP-AC68U sitting two rooms above, blinking. No access via web as per instructions, but I'm guessing it's something to do with the main router settings?

Laymans guide I'd like, if possible, lol, to connect, and have best speed on repeater.

Thx guys.