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RT-AX55 is crap.

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ksuuk

Occasional Visitor
Hi,

I had TP-Link C80, solid coverage, good speed, but decided to try Wifi6. First choise was TP-Link AX20, but many forums/reviews were claiming that AX20 2,4GHz performs very poorly, bad coverage and low speed. So next option was TP-Link AX73, but it's impossible to adjust home shield from webgui.

So I choosed Asus RX-AX55, it does contain a lot configuration options, but WiFi coverage is very bad. Private house, all channels are clean, but in the area where TP-Link C80 -s 2,4/5Ghz worked fine, Asus RX-AX55 have no signal at all. Yes I know, I can add some extra mesh device, but I don't want to do that.

For me is Asus RX-AX55 a big disappointment as even cheaper Huawei -s 4G router -s WiFi performs much better.
 
Well, the old adage you get what you pay for applies. The RT-AX55 is an entry level WIFI 6 router with 2x2 radios on 2.4 and 5 GHz. With a quad core processor it should handle a good load but... Reviews I've read show some are pleased with it and others say it does not work for them.

You need to make sure the firmware is up to date, set fixed channels and bandwidth on both WIFI bands and try again.
 
Well, the old adage you get what you pay for applies. The RT-AX55 is an entry level WIFI 6 router with 2x2 radios on 2.4 and 5 GHz. With a quad core processor it should handle a good load but... Reviews I've read show some are pleased with it and others say it does not work for them.

You need to make sure the firmware is up to date, set fixed channels and bandwidth on both WIFI bands and try again.

Yes I know it's an entry level device and I agree if the speed is lower or if it does not contain all the functionality what the better devices have, but all this should not affect the coverage.

Firmware is latest (3.0.0.4.386.42350), the channels doesn't matter, as pure signal strength 1m from the router, is about 10-15 db lower then Huawei -s, which is located 9m away. And WiFi6 is disabled at all.
 
I'm curious if the Wifi 6 Huawei router you are referring to is EU and/or FCC approved? Different routers have different feature sets, different capabilities and restrictions for frequencies, bands, transmission power, etc.. The region/countries that is supports and the capability of the Wifi 6 clients you are connecting to can also effect performance. It's not always as simple as one Wifi router being better than another Wifi router because that is what one persons personal tests are showing in their environment when using their equipment and connecting to their clients.
 
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I'm curious if the Wifi 6 Huawei router you are referring to is EU and/or FCC approved? Different routers have different feature sets, different capabilities and restrictions for frequencies, bands, transmission power, etc.. The region/countries that is supports and the capability of the Wifi 6 clients you are connecting to can also effect performance. It's not always as simple as one Wifi router being better than another Wifi router because that is what one persons personal tests are showing in their environment when using their equipment.

I had Huawei B535-232 before and I have now Huawei B818-263 4G router as WAN, both ISP devices, stock firmware, good coverage, but as I they did not have bandwidth, parental settings etc, so for all that I'm using separate wifi router.

BTW, pure Huawei AX3 WiFi6 router performs also badly, so seems that any WiFi6 capable router, even Wifi6 disabled, does have bad coverage.
 
Just a suggestion, why not simply bring it back and change it with another one, or with something else, if that's an available option.
 
I had Huawei B535-232 before and I have now Huawei B818-263 4G router as WAN, both ISP devices, stock firmware, good coverage, but as I they did not have bandwidth, parental settings etc, so for all that I'm using separate wifi router.

BTW, pure Huawei AX3 WiFi6 router performs also badly, so seems that any WiFi6 capable router, even Wifi6 disabled, does have bad coverage.

I understand what you are trying to do. The Asus routers do have a great set of features. As suggested above you could exchange it and try a different model of Wifi 6 Asus router.
 
Just a suggestion, why not simply bring it back and change it with another one, or with something else, if that's an available option.

Yes, I will, but can You suggest some Asus affordable router, possible with Merlin/DD-WRT software, but with same or better coverage as TP-Link C80? And it can be without WiFi6 support (as WiFi 6 is nice to have for the future, but at the moment my WAN is slower anyway).
 
Do the AX56 and AX58 models have something you don't like? These are considered midrange regarding the budget, not sure if the pricing is acceptable or different in your area.
 
Do the AX56 and AX58 models have something you don't like? These are considered midrange regarding the budget, not sure if the pricing is acceptable or different in your area.

Isn't AX56 just AX55 with 2 antennas (less coverage) and with USB port (which I don't need)? And isn't AX58 having weaker CPU (tri-core vs quad-core) than AX55/56?
 
That's correct, but I am not sure what exactly is that you need, there are also some other models like the AX68U or the AX86U if the price is acceptable. Or just try/test another AX55 if that is your choice.
 
I think there may be other factors that affect the speed that you get with RT-AX55, not only the device itself. From my experience, BCM675x-based Asus routers usually provide quite strong performance given their price. And since WiFi power is restricted by regulatory bodies of countries, if you have two routers officially sold in the same region, you should get approximately the same coverage (but in the same conditions).

So, when comparing TP-Link C80 with RT-AX55, make sure that your conditions are the same, that is you use the same channel and the routers are located in the same place. Also try changing the position of the AX55 antennas (for example, my router is located above the door, and tilting the antennas greatly increased the signal strength and coverage). BTW, do you see the same difference on the 5GHz band (again, given the same position and channel)?
 
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That's correct, but I am not sure what exactly is that you need, there are also some other models like the AX68U or the AX86U if the price is acceptable. Or just try/test another AX55 if that is your choice.

I'm looking for one router which is placed in the first floor, but covers all my wooden house and I'd prefer openwrt/any other open source firmware, so I can also build my own firmware, with needed options. My first choice was Mikrotik cAP AC, which compare to most routers with big external antennas, have only small internal antennas, but coverage is still better, however speed is about 10% of WAN link and even Mikrotik is a heavily adjustable, speed will be always slow. So I use it as router or backup device only.

I think that AX68U or the AX86U are owekill, as I don't need USB, and such speed, but good coverage.
 
I think there may be other factors that affect the speed that you get with RT-AX55, not only the device itself. From my experience, BCM675x-based Asus routers usually provide quite strong performance given their price. And since WiFi power is restricted by regulatory bodies of countries, if you have two routers officially sold in the same region, you should get approximately the same coverage (but in the same conditions).

So, when comparing TP-Link C80 with RT-AX55, make sure that your conditions are the same, that is you use the same channel and the routers are located in the same place. Also try changing the position of the AX55 antennas (for example, my router is located above the door, and tilting the antennas greatly increased the signal strength and coverage). BTW, do you see the same difference on the 5GHz band (again, given the same position and channel)?

All routers have been brought from same region, were located in same place and antennas were pointed to the same directions. I did sold C80 before I got AX55, but as I have made a lot tests with C80 I have a good comparison point. Seems I must skip all mesh compatible devices, as due mesh functionality they are designed to be weaker.
 
Seems I must skip all mesh compatible devices, as due mesh functionality they are designed to be weaker.
Then maybe try changing AX55 to AX56 , I've been using AX56 for months, it provides great performance and coverage for its price, sometimes even better than AX58. The number of antennas does not always correlate with speed, the only drawback is that AX56 still has no stable 386 firmware (currently only beta is available).
 
Then maybe try changing AX55 to AX56 , I've been using AX56 for months, it provides great performance and coverage for its price, sometimes even better than AX58. The number of antennas does not always correlate with speed, the only drawback is that AX56 still has no stable 386 firmware (currently only beta is available).


But I said before - isn't AX56 just AX55 with 2 antennas (less coverage) and with USB port (which I don't need)? So it's hard to believe, that same hardware with less antennas can perform better?

Adding some screenshots, xb = Mikrotik, xa = AX55:
 

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A great WIFI 5 router is the RT-AC66U_B1. I have one at a small office that runs two AC68U mesh nodes, 20 security cams, 15 wired clients and up to a dozen WiFi clients. Guest Wifi has seen 10 or more phones connected. All this on 300-35 cable! Usually less than $100.
 
But I said before - isn't AX56 just AX55 with 2 antennas (less coverage) and with USB port (which I don't need)? So it's hard to believe, that same hardware with less antennas can perform better?
On paper - yes, but internally they have very different main boards. By the way, I had RT-AC66U_B1, and RT-AX56U on 5GHz (don't use 2.4 much) gives much better performance.

But again, when comparing coverage, you should be absolutely sure that your routers are of the same region, because I know that at least some Mikrotik routers give users the ability to change the regions and, thus, power.
 
A great WIFI 5 router is the RT-AC66U_B1. I have one at a small office that runs two AC68U mesh nodes, 20 security cams, 15 wired clients and up to a dozen WiFi clients. Guest Wifi has seen 10 or more phones connected. All this on 300-35 cable! Usually less than $100.

If You are using in small office RT-AC66U_B1 with two AC68U mesh nodes, then this proves, that Asus single device coverage is very bad.

But seems I got my answer - keep away from Asus :).
 
On paper - yes, but internally they have very different main boards. By the way, I had RT-AC66U_B1, and RT-AX56U on 5GHz (don't use 2.4 much) gives much better performance.

But again, when comparing coverage, you should be absolutely sure that your routers are of the same region, because I know that at least some Mikrotik routers give users the ability to change the regions and, thus, power.

Yes, it's possible, but I have quite default setup and I'm using Mikrotik just for comparison as I don't have C80 no more, however I found few second floor C80 screenshots which prove, that C80 with default dettings performs same as Mikrotik.
 

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