RT-AX88 5Ghz signal (noise) issue.

[Cyanix]

Just received my 88u, promptly uploaded the latest firmware and proceeded to tweak the settings.

When i try to set my 5Ghz WIFI settings to anything else than the default parameters, the noise (system log) drops from -92 to -79 dBm.

Does this mean i cannot change my control channel without a significant loss of signal ?

Stock

Modified

 

[RMerlin]

You moved from channel 52 to channel 56. Try setting it to the same channel to properly compare.

 

[sanchez13]

For clarification [emoji6]

Signal Strength

The signal strength is the wireless signal power level received by the wireless client.

- Strong signal strength results in more reliable connections and higher speeds.
- Signal strength is represented in -dBm format (0 to -100). This is the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt.
- The closer the value is to 0, the stronger the signal. For example, -41dBm is better signal strength than -61dBm.


Noise Level

The noise level indicates the amount of background noise in your environment.

- If the noise level is too high, it can result in degraded strength and performance for your wireless signal strength.
- Noise level is measured in -dBm format (0 to -100). This is the power ratio in decibels (dB) of the measured power referenced to one milliwatt.
- The closer the value to 0, the greater the noise level.
- Negative values indicate less background noise. For example, -96dBm is a lower noise level than -20dBm.

S.

 

[Cyanix]

You moved from channel 52 to channel 56. Try setting it to the same channel to properly compare.

Doesn't matter, as long as i manually change the settings, the signal gets worse.

 

[Cyanix]

Factory reset + reflash did the trick, but the channel selection often still returns odd noise numbers for DFS and 160Mhz.

 

[Cyanix]

Problem still not solved.

As soon as i change the channel, the noise drops to -80 (from -93)
The only way to restore my signal is to restore a config backup.

What's happening ? Defective radio ?

 

[follower]

Problem still not solved.

As soon as i change the channel, the noise drops to -80 (from -93)
The only way to restore my signal is to restore a config backup.

What's happening ? Defective radio ?

Something interferes the signal maybe?

 

[Cyanix]

Update: The only way to maitain the optimal noise level is to flash to a specific Asus firmware version (.5329), set the WIFI settings accordingly, then re-flash to another firmware, be it Asus or Merlin.

Now i can tweak and change my channels all day long without noise alteration.

However, any factory reset will have negative impact on the noise level after this procedure.


Should i RMA this unit ?

 

[Cyanix]

Something interferes the signal maybe?

Unlikely. My other routers would be affected as well.

 

[Cyanix]

Even after a factory reset, closely monitoring the Wireless log, i can see that the 5Ghz starts at Channel 36 with ~98 noise, then gets automatically switched to channel 52, where the noise drops to ~79.

Dfs channel = bad.

That's without interaction.

 

[RMerlin]

The only real question there is, does it have any concrete impact on your performance? This is merely a measurement, it doesn't mean it automatically has an impact on your actual throughput.

 

[Cyanix]

The only real question there is, does it have any concrete impact on your performance? This is merely a measurement, it doesn't mean it automatically has an impact on your actual throughput.

The throughput at mid and longer range is affected, yes. Down to ~420Mb/s from ~560Mb/s.

Issue occurs when the channel is set to "auto" (which it is, by default) or when it automatically changes to "auto" channel when changing some settings.
Once the noise drops to -80db, it just stays there regardless of the various settings i could modify.

The only solutions i found so far are:
-Restoring a backup .cfg file (not ideal when upgrading)
-Setting everything manually, then rebooting the router. Minor pain in the butt, but it works.