Stable WIFI Settings on 3006.102.5

[dcsang]

I held off on upgrading from 3004_388.8 to 3006_102.5 until now since this was a major update and I needed time to perform a full reset and reconfigured everything manually. For context, I have several WiFi cameras, and while they generally stayed connected on 3004, I did experience occasional dropouts. After moving to 3006, those disconnections became more frequent. After testing settings recommended in various posts, I eventually found a combination that has kept the connections stable.

I also have a Honeywell thermostat that showed the same intermittent connectivity issues. To address that, I created a dedicated IoT network with an alphanumeric password, in addition to the settings below, and since then everything has been stable. It was stable on 3004 after disabling Beamforming on 2.4G, but exhibited problems after the 3006 update.

The settings that seemed to improve stability the most are highlighted below. Now if I can only determine why SHIFT+REFRESH is required every single time to see changes that are applied. I don't recall that being a problem on 3004.

 

[Tech9]

Sorry, the screenshots of your settings don't make any sense. You have AX Enabled with MU-MIMO and Beamforming on 2.4GHz band (which no IoT device will use) and AX Disabled on 5GHz band (turning your router into AC-class device)?

 

[dcsang]

Sorry, the screenshots of your settings don't make any sense. You have AX Enabled with MU-MIMO and Beamforming on 2.4GHz band (which no IoT device will use) and AX Disabled on 5GHz band (turning your router into AC-class device)?

Thanks for pointing that out. I've been struggling with stability for a while with my cams and this is what worked. Please share your thoughts on what I can try next to both optimize the performance of this AX88U Pro while keeping the connections from periodically dropping out. Let me mention that although the cams are all the same model, two were purchased after the others and had to be placed on the 2.4G network due to connectivity problems even though they are both within 20' of the router. That might be irrelevant, but just mentioning.

 

[Tech9]

What band are the cameras connected to?

 

[dcsang]

I have 5 more recent cams of the same model: two on 2.4G (unstable on 5G) and three on 5G; another cam of a different make on the 5G network; one older cam that is 2.4G only; and one 2.4G/5G cam that is currently on the 2.4G network. The reason for the latter is because I moved it to troubleshoot and things have been stable.

 

[Tech9]

Now you have RT-AX88U Pro router with RT-AC88U era Wi-Fi. I would try disabling all Beamforming and MU-MIMO, use 20MHz only on 2.4GHz and 80MHz only on 5GHz, Group Key Rotation to 0... downgrade firmware if nothing helps. AX-class router with AC Wi-Fi on 5GHz to maintain some stability doesn't make sense. Replace the router with something else working better as last step.

 

[dcsang]

Appreciate the feedback. I replaced my now unsupported RT-AC88U with the RT-AX88U Pro for security and scalability, but my existing devices are an anchor. What would be your though about putting all the cams on 2.4G while leveraging 5G for intended usage.

 

[Tech9]

Try and see how it goes. Hopefully there is enough bandwidth to support 7 cameras. Use Asus IoT compatibility settings, available in online FAQ. In general avoid wireless cameras, they are more like toys. RF jammer takes them all at once.