[RT-AC68] Looking for feedback on Wifi

[RMerlin]

For those of you with an RT-AC68U who have played with the various firmware releases of the past month or two, an you please post your report on how the wireless performance was when comparing the various releases? Which firmware worked best (or worse)?

Please keep this thread strictly on the topic of Wireless performance. I'm trying to determine which driver version to settle on here while working on my next FW release. My own tests were all pretty much the same (good) with all the versions I tried so far, tho I did only very limited testing with the last three FW releases (AC68U being dedicated to development duties). Thank you.

 

[sijuthomas98]

.339 is best on 2.4 ghz and 40mhz full bandwidth and compatibility with all gadgets. Earlier version 306 wouldn't even connect. 5Ghz . 291 was always connected to my Ac68 bridge and PCE-66 at gbps + links . .339 fluctuates between lower n speeds like 175-1.3gbps. All others were bad in 2.4ghz not connecting or choppy speeds.

 

[qeno]

IMHO xx.235 was the best in terms of wifi satability. Just my 2c.

 

[RMerlin]

IMHO xx.235 was the best in terms of wifi satability. Just my 2c.

By stability, do you mean you are getting disconnections with the newer versions, or other types of issues? What wifi cards are you using to connect to the router?

 

[Elvis7]

2.4 speeds have been really bad.. the max connection speed im able to get is 144, 7 feet away... ive also tried switching to only n on 40mhz but I only get a connection of 54.. on laptop. don't know how to check link speed on phone.

5.4 works great however, im fluxing around 867Mbps

 

[qeno]

By stability, do you mean you are getting disconnections with the newer versions, or other types of issues? What wifi cards are you using to connect to the router?

My main pc has the pce-ac68u. Other devices iPhones, iPads, macbook pro that has ac capability. I mean by "stability, less speed degradation and signal drops.

Sent from my SGH-I317M using Tapatalk 4

 

[RMerlin]

2.4 speeds have been really bad.. the max connection speed im able to get is 144, 7 feet away... ive also tried switching to only n on 40mhz but I only get a connection of 54.. on laptop. don't know how to check link speed on phone.

5.4 works great however, im fluxing around 867Mbps

144 (or 150) is the max you can expect out of a dual stream adapter with a 20 MHz channel width - this is perfectly normal.

Getting 40 Mhz width on the 2.4 GHz band is nearly impossible due to the large amount of interference on that band, and the 802.11n specs dictates that routers must downgrade to 20 MHz whenever encountering any interference on their channel.

 

[Ghost rider]

339 has improved 2.4ghz throughput.

 

[hackintoshsr]

Latest firmware seems most stable with speeds to me

 

[Jaded]

build 339 has worked best for me

 

[qeno]

What Settings for optimal wifi performance?

339 has improved 2.4ghz throughput.

build 339 has worked best for me

Latest firmware seems most stable with speeds to me

Can you share the settings that you used to get such performance?
Channel bandwidth? wireless mode N/Auto/legacy? beam forming enabled/disabled? USB interference enabled/disabled? HW acceleration enabled/disabled? TX power? Beacon interval? ...etc.

 

[Elvis7]

Ive tested the wifi around my entire house, all the corners of my house are dead zones for some reason, but if I go outside I get better signal.

Also, the extremities of my house are at 65 ish dbm .
I get better speeds with max tx power than on default.
I had a room that had barely/low wifi signal so I purchased the asus ant al 157 and it boosted both 2.4 and 5.0 by two bars.


any ideas on how I can boost my signal? the router is placed at the center ish of my house, in the basement, where the modem and 3/4 of the Ethernet devices are.

At least the ac68u is 10x better than the Linksys ea6500!!

 

[whsbuss]

Ive tested the wifi around my entire house, all the corners of my house are dead zones for some reason, but if I go outside I get better signal.

Also, the extremities of my house are at 65 ish dbm .
I get better speeds with max tx power than on default.
I had a room that had barely/low wifi signal so I purchased the asus ant al 157 and it boosted both 2.4 and 5.0 by two bars.


any ideas on how I can boost my signal? the router is placed at the center ish of my house, in the basement, where the modem and 3/4 of the Ethernet devices are.

At least the ac68u is 10x better than the Linksys ea6500!!

I don't know your situation but I always place my routers on the highest level possible. Having it in a basement is not the best for radio wave propagation

 

[jim769]

I don't know your situation but I always place my routers on the highest level possible. Having it in a basement is not the best for radio wave propagation

Yep been there done that the basement is the absolute worse place you can have a router unless you hang out in the basement with your connected devices i think not. Very little signal is transmitted above the router the signal comes off the side of the antennas.

 

[Elvis7]

Yep been there done that the basement is the absolute worse place you can have a router unless you hang out in the basement with your connected devices i think not. Very little signal is transmitted above the router the signal comes off the side of the antennas.

the modem is in the basement,the xbox (Ethernet connected) and desktop (Ethernet connected) are downstairs beside the router/modem. Ive also got my laptop(ac wifi), cell and tablet downstairs. ive got an Ethernet cable running from the router to one of the rooms upstairs with a 5port gig switch at the end.
that switch connects to another xbox 360 and satellite/internet tv.
wireless devices upstairs are 5 smartphones,2 laptops,an apple tv, an ipad and a blueray/Netflix player.

I cant move the router away from the modem..

 

[RMerlin]

Can you share the settings that you used to get such performance?
Channel bandwidth? wireless mode N/Auto/legacy? beam forming enabled/disabled? USB interference enabled/disabled? HW acceleration enabled/disabled? TX power? Beacon interval? ...etc.

Also what network interfaces you are using on your clients.

 

[sijuthomas98]

Can you share the settings that you used to get such performance?
Channel bandwidth? wireless mode N/Auto/legacy? beam forming enabled/disabled? USB interference enabled/disabled? HW acceleration enabled/disabled? TX power? Beacon interval? ...etc.

HW Accel on . Jumbo frames off

.339 Super stable on all clients on 2.4 ghz link of 450 to 130mbps. Media bridge stable on 1300 link on ac.
Only problem PCE-AC66 is fluctuating from 254-1300 link speed. Performance on 2.4 is maxing out each clients bandwidth. Similar performance in 10 feet or through walls.

 

[DaveMishSr]

144 (or 150) is the max you can expect out of a dual stream adapter with a 20 MHz channel width - this is perfectly normal.

Getting 40 Mhz width on the 2.4 GHz band is nearly impossible due to the large amount of interference on that band, and the 802.11n specs dictates that routers must downgrade to 20 MHz whenever encountering any interference on their channel.

That may be but my RT-AC66U always functioned at 40MHz bandwidth on the 2.4GHz band. The RT-AC68U has never been able to do so. inSSIDer always reports the max rate on the 2.4GHz band for the AC68U to be 216Mbps while the AC66U always came in at 450Mbps. I have tried channels 1,6 and 11 but it makes no difference. The 5GHz performance is comparable to the AC66U and doesn't seem to vary. I am disappointed and am contemplating going back to the AC66U. I am not selling it until the AC68U proves itself. I should have held off on purchasing the AC68U as I was perfectly satisfied with the AC66U.

OK. I just set my 2.4GHz settings to mirror of those in the previous post and guess what? I am now getting connections over 216Mbps and inSSIDer is reporting the 2.4GHz band max rate to be 450Mbps. Thanks sijuthomas98!

 

[waltersmith]

Merlin, I've been the guy posting that all is well with core router performance of this router. All firmwares worked well for me I thought initially. I only had .306 for a couple days but I think it had issues on my Mac. One day on .339 and everything seems faster including on my LAN connected Windows PC.

I have Android, Mac, Windows on wireless in the household. As well as various devices like EcoBee WiFi thermostat, and under the TV several devices connected via N66U wireless bridge at 5Ghz via LAN cable. TV, blu ray player, dish network DVR, AVR etc. Was able to stream movies on Vudu and Amazon on any firmware, save .306 which I only used for a couple days and did not test. AC68U has just performed better as a router than N66U based on my household usage.

Coming from N66U router, I have found AC68U 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz range and performance look better and generally perform better on our various devices. Mac, Windows, two Samsung Galaxy S4's connected on 2.4 Ghz, not AC. For router features I only use 2.4 and 5 Ghz wireless, QoS, and port forwarding.

I don't use any AI Cloud or USB features beyond Asus DDNS. Though I did run Android USB Internet 4G tethering on AC68U with no issue on .217 firmware for 15 hours on generator power after a storm knocked out my power and cable ISP.

Based on only a day on .339 firmware, I am pretty sure it is the most robust so far.

 

[geops]

That may be but my RT-AC66U always functioned at 40MHz bandwidth on the 2.4GHz band. The RT-AC68U has never been able to do so. inSSIDer always reports the max rate on the 2.4GHz band for the AC68U to be 216Mbps while the AC66U always came in at 450Mbps. I have tried channels 1,6 and 11 but it makes no difference. The 5GHz performance is comparable to the AC66U and doesn't seem to vary. I am disappointed and am contemplating going back to the AC66U. I am not selling it until the AC68U proves itself. I should have held off on purchasing the AC68U as I was perfectly satisfied with the AC66U.

OK. I just set my 2.4GHz settings to mirror of those in the previous post and guess what? I am now getting connections over 216Mbps and inSSIDer is reporting the 2.4GHz band max rate to be 450Mbps. Thanks sijuthomas98!

My AC68U works fine at 450Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band. I have it set at 6l with 40Mhz channel and N only.