RT-N66U noob questions

[neil0311]

Convert from years with Netgear. The router seems to be working fine, but the documentation (or lack thereof) is miserable. A couple of questions for the experts.

Is "b/g Protection" required if any "g" clients are present or only if there are issues? What is recommended? I have a PS3 and XBOX which connect with "g" but the rest of my clients on 2.4 will be "n" capable, and there are no "b" clients at all.

Does WPA-Auto-Personal simply allow for both AES and TKIP? My guess is that with it enabled, all clients are limited to "g" speeds at 54 mbps, correct? Does that setting have any impact on the previously mentioned "b/g Protection" setting?

Lastly, under the firewall settings, "DoS Protection" is disabled by default in the latest firmware. I have enabled it, but wanted to be sure there isn't some reason for keeping it disabled. Any performance or other considerations? Why wouldn't it be enabled by default?

Thanks for your help.

 

[neil0311]

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[KevTech]

Hover your mouse over the text and a question mark will appear.

When the question mark appears you click your mouse and info will appear.

So, hover mouse over "wireless mode" text and when question mark appears click your mouse then you should have your answers.

Just about all text in the GUI has this capability.

 

[neil0311]

Hover your mouse over the text and a question mark will appear.

When the question mark appears you click your mouse and info will appear.

So, hover mouse over "wireless mode" text and when question mark appears click your mouse then you should have your answers.

Just about all text in the GUI has this capability.

OK.. so first, glad you pointed out the "hovering question mark" since I have no idea how anyone is expected to know that feature is there without being told. Second...why bother responding to me if all you're going to do is tell me to RTFM?

Having said, the substance of the text is lacking. I obviously know that checking "b/g protection" does something related to b/g connectivity, but that doesn't answer whether or not folks who are using the product have found it to be necessary and what it actually does from a technical perspective. I've been streaming content over "g" clients for days now without it being checked. Seems fine, but I'd still like to be educated on what the hell the setting actually does.

If I use your method with the WPA2 selection drop down called "Authentication Method" it gives me the great and enlightening text that "This field enables authentication methods for wireless clients" but explains nothing about each method.

So I appreciate your RTFM response, and I can accept that response when the manual exists and provides detail but I'm asking a lazy question. Otherwise I just see it as someone being lazy themselves not wanting to respond to the substance of my question and instead telling me to RTFM.

 

[Pierino]

I have read the post 3 times, I still don't see where it is he said to RTFM.

He should not have answered you at all.

 

[thiggins]

Hey there. Not the way to make a good impression for a new guy or make people eager to help you.

"b/g Protection" : Use if you have problems with older gear. Otherwise leave disabled.

Anything other than WPA2/AES will limit link rates to 54 Mbps. This has nothing to do with the b/g protection mode.

I would not assume WPA-Auto-Personal limits everything to 54 Mbps. Try a mix of clients and see what happens to know for sure. It probably will connect G clients with WPA/TKIP and limit link rates to 54 Mbps and connect N clients supporting WPA2/AES at the higher link rates they support.

Most extra firewall protection modes don't really provide extra protection unless you are forwarding ports. A DDOS on your router is going to effectively shut it down anyway by sucking up all the bandwidth. I don't know why the default is the way it is. Perhaps because enabling it costs you some bandwidth.

 

[RMerlin]

Enabling the DoS protection will add firewall rules that will limit connection attempts (from a port scanner for example) and ICMP PINGs to a maximum of 1 per second. This will add some extra processing on the router as it will need to track the rate of each incoming connection, so it can degrade throughput performance under higher loads.

The default is "Disabled", and this is usually fine that way for a home router. If someone was attempting to truly DoS you, chances are your connection would still be flooded to the point of being unusable, so this setting is of limited usefulness. Someone pointing a few dozens of gigabits of flood at you through a DDoS will take you offline no matter what protection your router has.

 

[neil0311]

I have read the post 3 times, I still don't see where it is he said to RTFM.

He should not have answered you at all.

Maybe you should read it again. Didn't see any help there either. Not much point if it takes days and then you get essentially nada anyway.

I'm sorry if I came off poorly, but come on. Asus has miserably bad documentation; the in-GUI contextual help is beyond useless, and after two days I got someone telling me to use the in-GUI contextual help instead of offering actually help and information, which to me was essentially saying RTFM.

Not a great impression of this forum to a newcomer. Sorry if folks feel that's harsh, but it's my honest impression.

 

[Pierino]

I'm sorry, I thought his information was good. If one isn't aware of the feature he described, it could be useful.
It's funny how a person can come on a free forum, ask others to help, then get rude when the answer doesn't fit their expectation. It's one thing to get upset at asus support when you've paid $200 for a router but IMO its not ok here.
Just my two cents. Mr. Higgins feel free to delete m comment.