RT-BE96U and RT-BE92U AiMesh Connection Dropping

[agentsmith44]

I setup a WiFi 7 mesh network in my home with a RT-BE96U as the main router and a RT-BE92U as the node. I am using MLO for the backhaul and the reception shows up as "Great". However the connection to the RT-BE92U drops randomly a multiple times a day. Some times it is back to back drops within a few minutes. WHen it drops it typically takes 4-12 minutes to come back up but most of the time it is 12 minutes. I have tried both the most recent stock and Merlin firmware. The behavior is very similar on both. I recently returned the original RT-BE92U for a different one, I was hoping that it was a faulty unit but the replacement has the same issue. I setup a monitoring tool on a TrueNAS server so I can see how often it has been dropping the connection and for how long. I have also tried using those logs to check the logs on the RT-BE96U to see if any issues seem to correlate with the drops and I haven't been able to find anything. This week, I factory reset both routers Wednesday evening and it dropped around 11PM that night. It then didn't drop again until yesterday afternoon.

Please screenshots below with notes on each. Let me know what other info would be helpful in troubleshooting this issue.

That behavior was a little odd from what I had previously seen and I was hoping that the reset had actually fixed it and the drop on Wednesday night was just a fluke.

I have MLO turned off for my main network fronthaul.

This is from the monitoring tool that I am using to see how often and for how long the drops are happening. I reset the logs after flashing back to the stock firmware last night. It is set to ping the router every 20 seconds. The one drop that only lasts for 20 seconds is an anomaly, I haven't seen it do that in the weeks that I have been monitoring this issue.

 

[Tech9]

What’s the behaviour if you don’t use MLO for backhaul? It’s known to cause issues.

 

[agentsmith44]

What’s the behaviour if you don’t use MLO for backhaul? It’s known to cause issue

I did go a few days with MLO off and didn't see any drops. Is there any way to get MLO working reliably or are we just waiting on firmware updates until this gets figured out?

 

[Tech9]

Disable MLO like everyone else experiencing similar instability and live your life as usual. You perhaps knew getting Wi-Fi 7 routers is signing for beta tester membership. When and if Asus and Broadcom will figure it out - unknown. Don't stress yourself for no reason. You also know false advertising is wide spread these days and nothing we can do about it. If something is unbearably irritating for you - just send the routers back and look for alternative solutions. Better results not guaranteed...

 

[Spartan]

I did go a few days with MLO off and didn't see any drops. Is there any way to get MLO working reliably or are we just waiting on firmware updates until this gets figured out?

I have two BE92U's in Ai Mesh (wiredback haul) with MLO enabled and never had a single drop. It's always best to pair two of the same models for AI Mesh.

I am using the late ASUS Firmware 3.0.0.6.102_38961