RT-AC68U To beamform or not

[banger]

I have an Amazon echo speaker that is downstairs in the kitchen and router is upstairs in the middle of the house. I am also testing the RC firmware of AsusWRT. I also have another 2 Amazon devices upstairs and closer to the router. They are fine on 2.4 band. The kitchen speaker keeps falling off the network at times when it is not being used. I have disabled universal beamforming on both bands as when the speaker falls off the network it switches to 5ghz. Would I be better off enabling beamforming for this device as it is mid range distance from the router?

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have an Amazon echo speaker that is downstairs in the kitchen and router is upstairs in the middle of the house. I am also testing the RC firmware of AsusWRT. I also have another 2 Amazon devices upstairs and closer to the router. They are fine on 2.4 band. The kitchen speaker keeps falling off the network at times when it is not being used. I have disabled universal beamforming on both bands as when the speaker falls off the network it switches to 5ghz. Would I be better off enabling beamforming for this device as it is mid range distance from the router?

I would disable Universal/Implicit Beamforming since it is not of any standard and may cause an issue with a client.

I would define different SSIDs per band and connect your IoT clients to one band.

OE

 

[banger]

All Amazon clients start off on Asus_2g but the kitchen falls off then reconnects to Asus_5g. It is usually after 24 hours but other speakers remain connected all through.

 

[OzarkEdge]

All Amazon clients start off on Asus_2g but the kitchen falls off then reconnects to Asus_5g. It is usually after 24 hours but other speakers remain connected all through.

If your clients do not automatically connect to the preferred same SSID/band, then connect them yourself to the preferred different SSID/band.

OE

 

[banger]

Aha I have found out why, Amazon stores the 5ghz password in the cloud and tells all devices the password. I have now changed the 5ghz password so will see what happens after 24 hours.

 

[banger]

So my topology now is 3 speakers on 2.4 and a windows phone. 2 computers AC and a Smart TV N on 5ghz see how that works out.

 

[Deleted member 51572]

Aha I have found out why, Amazon stores the 5ghz password in the cloud and tells all devices the password. I have now changed the 5ghz password so will see what happens after 24 hours.

A simpler way to 'steer' your smart speakers and IoT devices to the desired band (2.4 or 5GHz), would be to enable the Wireless MAC Filters (Advanced Settings, Wireless, Wireless MAC Filter) for each band. I use 2.4GHz in Accept Mode and 5GHz in Reject Mode. In your particular situation though, you only need to enable the 5GHz filter, in Reject Mode; then populate the filter list with the Amazon Speakers and other IoT devices that you wish to reject from the 5GHz band. Although, disallowing smart speakers from connecting the 5GHz network if they are able to use it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Leave Beamforming enabled. Change your wifi password back to the same for both 2.4GHz & 5GHz networks.

Also, your kitchen speaker isn't 'falling off the network' when it auto-switches from 2.4GHz to the 5GHz, this is normal / expected behaviour.

 

[Deleted member 51572]

I just noticed you configured separate SSIDs for each band. Why not use the same SSID & Password for both bands and simply allow the router and wireless devices to automatically / dynamically select the most appropriate band? Ime with the 68U (also my primary router atm), this setup works very well: all of our wifi devices roam seamlessly between the two bands, depending on their current distance, radio interference, etc.

Against what seems to be conventional wisdom in this forum, I have not disabled any of the advanced wireless features: Airtime Fairness, Universal & Explicit Beamforming, AMPDU Aggregation, ACK Suppression, TX Bursting... even Bluetooth Coexistance: all of these features are enabled for both 2.4 and 5GHz bands on my AC1900P (AC68U). On our wireless network we have smartphones, smart speakers, tablets, laptops, desktops, gaming consoles, Chromecast devices, AppleTVs, and more ... all devices connect to the router using the same SSID/Password without any issues. WiFi channels too, Auto on both bands. I used to set the Control Channels manually (after running WiFi Explorer to monitor and asses co-channel & overlapping interference) but now I simply allow the router to do its job of assessing ever-changing airtime conditions and dynamically auto-select the best channels to use on each band, as it was designed to do. Obviously there are specific situations where channels need to be manually configured, but the 68U seems to do a rather fine job of finding the least crowded channels to use, at any given moment, without any wifi clients dropping off our network.

i should also mention that Asuswrt-Merlin version 380.70 is running on my AC1900P (68U). This 'Legacy' firmware may be out of date, but it's stable & reliable on the 68U.

I also have an AC86U in WAP mode (Asuswrt-Merlin v384.19) at the other end of the house, configured with the same SSID/Password as the primary AC68U router, and all advanced wireless features are enabled (except for Roaming Assistant, leave that disabled). I even set Protected Management Frames to Capable (enabled) on both routers, without any issues (Required management frames isn't recommended, unless all of your devices support 802.11w MFP).

 

[banger]

Thanks for the replies. @techcafe when I say falling off the network it disappears for 3 minutes before switching to 5ghz according to the syslog and drops anything it is doing at the time. I would have thought this process would be seamless?

 

[Deleted member 51572]

hmm well, mobile devices should transition seamlessly between the two bands, in theory at least. so if i understand, your kitchen speaker drops off the 2.4GHz network for three minutes, before it later reconnects on 5GHz? does the speaker remain connected to 5GHz after it initially drops off the 2GHz? or does the speaker repeatedly / randomly transition between the two bands, dropping off the network (for minutes) in the process?

i assume the kitchen speaker is stationary, so if it's transitioning a lot between the two bands, maybe move the speaker within closer proximity to the router (router itself should be mounted high and near as possible to middle of the coverage area) so that the 5GHz signal will be strong enough that the speaker will then be happier with 5 than the 2.4, maybe.

or as i said in the beginning, you can use the router's wireless MAC filters to steer client devices to the desired band.

 

[banger]

Initial testing shows it to drop off every 24 hours but I think 5ghz is more stable, need more testing.

 

[Deleted member 51572]

Initial testing shows it to drop off every 24 hours but I think 5ghz is more stable, need more testing.

hmm, so the speaker remains connected to 5GHz for 24hrs... next day it falls back to 2.4GHz, disconnects at some point, then a few minutes later reconnects on 5GHz? yes i think more testing would be helpful.

 

[banger]

I haven't seen it fall back to 2.4 yet just discon from 2.4 and reconnect then on the 3rd day connect to 5ghz. I have changed passwords to match again and will monitor over the next few days.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Maybe Amazon is just pushing out so-called 'improvements' daily and rebooting its clients... like mobile apps are always updating so that they can better own the customer.

OE

 

[banger]

On only one speaker out of 3? Besides I have already checked the speaker software is up to date.

 

[OzarkEdge]

On only one speaker out of 3? Besides I have already checked the speaker software is up to date.

Then maybe the client is flakey. They give that hardware away these days... it can't be too robust.

OE

 

[banger]

Then maybe the client is flakey. They give that hardware away these days... it can't be too robust.

OE

This is what I am trying to determine, distance, congested bandwidth or flakey hardware or router setup/firmware.

 

[OzarkEdge]

If it doesn't stay connected to the default router setup like your other clients, then I'd suspect the client.

OE

 

[banger]

What is the Roaming block list? Similar to Mac wireless?

 

[banger]

If it doesn't stay connected to the default router setup like your other clients, then I'd suspect the client.

OE

Thing is I have tweaked so many settings I am considering a basic setup with factory settings and leaving the pro section alone and testing or a factory reset of the speaker.