RT-AC66U - Disappointing so far...

[Sivim]

I replaced a Linksys WRT54GL - I figured it was time to join the current decade.

My first AC66U (A2) was RMA'd because I was not yet aware of the 5.0 Ghz drop at that time. It "stopped working" after about a week, although the first week was very good, no problems. I've since discovered this website and the inSSIDer software to help me troubleshoot. For reference, I was maxing my internet bandwitch up/down through Speedtest.net, with a latency of 12-15 ms. This was identical to my PC that wired to the router.

The new AC66U (A2) is a complete slouch. I can't even complete a Speedtest.net test, and usually ping around 80ms to the same servers as before. The wired PC has the same performance as it did with the old router.

My RSSI on the new one (unfortunately didn't discover the software until the second router), is about -55 db. The location of the router is a little less than 40' and it goes through 3 walls. I'm in an open loft (12' ceiling) and there are no appliances or anything between the adapter (Asus PCE-AC66) on my PC.

I'm incredibly frustrated just browsing the web, I can't begin to game on this machine without severe lag spikes and general unresponsiveness. I'm not sure were to go with this, if this unit is RMA'd I'm not coming back to Asus - This is very frustrating.

 

[RMerlin]

THe 5 GHz band has a shorter range than 2.4 GHz. See if you get better results on the 2.4 GHz band, it might get better penetration through the three walls.

 

[MonkY]

THe 5 GHz band has a shorter range than 2.4 GHz. See if you get better results on the 2.4 GHz band, it might get better penetration through the three walls.

Even if the 5Ghz band has a shorter range... the RT-N66U had no issues like this on the 5Ghz band. So i agree, Asus RT-AC66U is dissapointing for me too. I have to reboot it even a few times a day to get back my wireless or be able to use simple browsing (sometimes it's simply forgetting the DNS or something). And that's on a gigabit cable connection... not on wireless.

 

[mikeg]

Instead of rebooting the router try to just click on the Apply button in UI 5 GHz - Professional setting , then the wireless is restarted.

Even if the 5Ghz band has a shorter range... the RT-N66U had no issues like this on the 5Ghz band. So i agree, Asus RT-AC66U is dissapointing for me too. I have to reboot it even a few times a day to get back my wireless or be able to use simple browsing (sometimes it's simply forgetting the DNS or something). And that's on a gigabit cable connection... not on wireless.

 

[MonkY]

Instead of rebooting the router try to just click on the Apply button in UI 5 GHz - Professional setting , then the wireless is restarted.

I will try that. What i mean is that things like these shouldn't happen at all. My old router would go for months without the need for me touching it... It's a shame to see "top of the line router" being worst than lower priced routers

 

[mikeg]

I have the same issue with the 5 GHz band but you can always try to just click on the Apply button in the UI 5 GHz - Professional settings.Have you tried to shift the antennas in different positions ?
What TX power do you have ?. Asus recommends not higher than 120 mW.
I am waiting for the new Broadcom drivers to fix this problem but if those do not appear soon I am going to RMA my unit.

I replaced a Linksys WRT54GL - I figured it was time to join the current decade.

My first AC66U (A2) was RMA'd because I was not yet aware of the 5.0 Ghz drop at that time. It "stopped working" after about a week, although the first week was very good, no problems. I've since discovered this website and the inSSIDer software to help me troubleshoot. For reference, I was maxing my internet bandwitch up/down through Speedtest.net, with a latency of 12-15 ms. This was identical to my PC that wired to the router.

The new AC66U (A2) is a complete slouch. I can't even complete a Speedtest.net test, and usually ping around 80ms to the same servers as before. The wired PC has the same performance as it did with the old router.

My RSSI on the new one (unfortunately didn't discover the software until the second router), is about -55 db. The location of the router is a little less than 40' and it goes through 3 walls. I'm in an open loft (12' ceiling) and there are no appliances or anything between the adapter (Asus PCE-AC66) on my PC.

I'm incredibly frustrated just browsing the web, I can't begin to game on this machine without severe lag spikes and general unresponsiveness. I'm not sure were to go with this, if this unit is RMA'd I'm not coming back to Asus - This is very frustrating.

 

[Sivim]

THe 5 GHz band has a shorter range than 2.4 GHz. See if you get better results on the 2.4 GHz band, it might get better penetration through the three walls.

I tried this. The 2.4 Ghz was far, far worse than I expected. I tried to enter the router settings (192.168.1.1) from the 2.4 Ghz band and it took about a minute to fully load. I was watching it slowly load in pieces, like back in the 90's when you had dialup and you were waiting for a website to fully load.

I was embarrassed for Asus while watching this. My nearly 10 year old Linksys WRT54GL was a much better performer. I was a bit overzealous and gave the router away to a friend who was in need right after I got my AC66U (Huge mistake).

I've done the "Apply" from professional settings to try and reset things multiple times. I've done a hard reset to go back to stock settings and start from scratch with new SSID's for my network. Nothing seems to help.

 

[RMerlin]

Please post your Wireless settings (both regular and Professional page). This could be just a configuration issue, since the vast majority of users don't have any problem with their wireless.

 

[Sivim]

Please post your Wireless settings (both regular and Professional page). This could be just a configuration issue, since the vast majority of users don't have any problem with their wireless.

I'll do this when I get home tonight.

I'm certain I've left everything on the defaults. The issue is that I did the same for the previous router and it was fine. It seems strange that the second router would be so different.

 

[RMerlin]

I'll do this when I get home tonight.

I'm certain I've left everything on the defaults. The issue is that I did the same for the previous router and it was fine. It seems strange that the second router would be so different.

Your old router is using fairly old 802.11g technology. 802.11n (which you are trying to use here) is a totally different beast, with different settings. The technology is far more complex (with new technologies such as MIMO, more advanced power management, etc...), and there's unfortunately no single "one-size-fit-all" configuration that would fit every single environment. Your particular environment might require a few tweaks to the settings - that's why they are configurable after all.

 

[mikeg]

When you say you have tested all . have you cleared the nvram also ?
Could be a good point to try this before you try changing settings as you will have to set the settings again after clearing the nvram.
You should have waited a little bit before you gave away your old , reliable router.....

I tried this. The 2.4 Ghz was far, far worse than I expected. I tried to enter the router settings (192.168.1.1) from the 2.4 Ghz band and it took about a minute to fully load. I was watching it slowly load in pieces, like back in the 90's when you had dialup and you were waiting for a website to fully load.

I was embarrassed for Asus while watching this. My nearly 10 year old Linksys WRT54GL was a much better performer. I was a bit overzealous and gave the router away to a friend who was in need right after I got my AC66U (Huge mistake).

I've done the "Apply" from professional settings to try and reset things multiple times. I've done a hard reset to go back to stock settings and start from scratch with new SSID's for my network. Nothing seems to help.

 

[Sivim]

When you say you have tested all . have you cleared the nvram also ?

I have not, do you have a link to some instructions or is it easy enough to explain in a few sentences?

You should have waited a little bit before you gave away your old , reliable router.....

I agree! However, part (a small part) of the reason I got the Asus was so that I would be able to give my router to my friend. I was so confident that the Asus would be flawless based on my past experience with other Asus products as well as the reviews I read online that I didn't think twice!

 

[mikeg]

I have saved dome useful commands so here are some ways you can do it :
Running "mtd-erase -d nvram" over telnet
Using the Reset to Factory Default option on the webui
While in recovery mode and flashing through the CFE web interface (at 192.168.1.1) select the option to clear NVRAM
Pressing the Reset button for more than 5 seconds

I have not, do you have a link to some instructions or is it easy enough to explain in a few sentences?



I agree! However, part (a small part) of the reason I got the Asus was so that I would be able to give my router to my friend. I was so confident that the Asus would be flawless based on my past experience with other Asus products as well as the reviews I read online that I didn't think twice!

Sorry to say , this product line is not the same quality as the rest of Asus products. The reviews sis not tell the real world experience....

 

[Sivim]

Alright, here are the screen caps from my router:

Standard settings:

Pro settings:

 

[RMerlin]

I see you have the channel set to Auto. Try using a low-numbered channel, then try again with a high-numbered if it didn't work any better. Some devices are picky about this.

 

[Sivim]

Edit: Changing the channels didn't work a bit.

 

[Sivim]

I've also been playing with the Tx power, 50-120 mW in steps of 10. By 100 mW I was @ -50 RSSI and at 120 mW I was at about -48.

It seemed that at the power output I couldn't really get a "smooth" connection. While gaming my ping was around 120-125 and very choppy. When playing on my PC connected via ethernet my ping is around 25-30 and smooth as silk.

The router is absolutely terrible. I'm 30' away and its not manageable. I'm slapping my head for spending almost $300 getting the router/adapter combo from Asus. My old linksys router and USB adapter did far, far, far better at about $50 in today's money.

 

[Sivim]

I just spent some time after I downgraded from firmware 270 to 266 (which is the firmware on the router that I had originally, and was a much better performer) running the same litany of tests. No improvement.

 

[RMerlin]

I would consider an RMA then. It's possible you simply have a defective unit, because in the 2.4 GHz band it should completely blow away whatever coverage your old Linksys had (I've owned a WRT54G, followed with a WRT310N myself, so I'm quite familiar with their cover).

My AC66U here has no trouble going through three walls on both band. Even my Xoom tablet with its weak reception was stable enough on the 5 GHz band to browse the web, at the complete other end of the apartment. My Nexus 7 has a very strong 2.4 GHz signal through those same 3 walls.

 

[Sivim]

I've spent all together way too much time trying to figure this out. As bad as the 5 Ghz band is, the 2.4 is worse. Much worse. I can barely open the router web page (192.168.1.1) wirelessly on the 2.4 - It takes a considerable amount of time to load.