Tx power adjustment not working

[LarsErikOsterud]

Anyone experimented with the "Tx power adjustment" on the RT-N66U?

I have tried all values from 1 through 10, 25, 50 and up to 100%.
But it seems to have no effect.

My client reports "Excellent", max num of bars or >90% signal no matter what.
Tried NetStumbler, and signal only varied 1 dB. SNR was the same all the time.

The router also is just as hot at any setting (this is 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz is disabled).

I have a very short distance to the router and want to limit the area for my WLAN. Also it would be nice to cool down the N66U a bit (it is VERY hot even with 5 GHz off).

 

[n2ubp]

Anyone experimented with the "Tx power adjustment" on the RT-N66U?
The router also is just as hot at any setting (this is 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz is disabled).

I raised my RT-N66U up a bit by replacing the original rubber feet with taller rubber feet. It seems to improve air flow and reduce temperatures.

 

[damir]

Anyone experimented with the "Tx power adjustment" on the RT-N66U?

I have tried all values from 1 through 10, 25, 50 and up to 100%.
But it seems to have no effect.

My client reports "Excellent", max num of bars or >90% signal no matter what.
Tried NetStumbler, and signal only varied 1 dB. SNR was the same all the time.

The router also is just as hot at any setting (this is 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz is disabled).

I have a very short distance to the router and want to limit the area for my WLAN. Also it would be nice to cool down the N66U a bit (it is VERY hot even with 5 GHz off).

I don't see any difference myself, as well, but! what about this part:

Set the capability for transmission power. The maximum value is 200mW and the real transmission power will be dynamically adjusted to meet regional regulations.

Since last night my settings are set to 180mW, i don't see any difference in signal with stock or this settings, + as you said, temps of both radios are the same.

 

[LarsErikOsterud]

I tried the 374 (previous version) that has the Tx power settings in mW (and not % as the newest 376 firmware has). Tried all values from 1 to 100 (that's max for the N66U 2.4 GHz radio). No difference in signal strength nor temp.

To me it looks like the Tx power adjustments doesn't work at all!

 

[sm00thpapa]

I ran the same test and it doesn't work for me either.

 

[LarsErikOsterud]

Got some users in a norwegian forum to test as well.
No change for them either.
Have filed a support request to Asus on this.
Seems like something in the firmware or hardware is broken...

 

[wouterv]

Got some users in a norwegian forum to test as well.
No change for them either.
Have filed a support request to Asus on this.
Seems like something in the firmware or hardware is broken...

The major concern for most users is to keep up the range and the throughput.
The new TX power setting (in %, with slider bar) seems at least limit the power to the maximum legal value (hopefully router region dependent).
The good news is that I have tested it for both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, using InSSIDer to check the dBm's.
For both bands the power setting does work here, there is a significant difference in dBm's: at 20% "TX power" the dBm's are much lower then at a "TX power" of 100%.
The number of bars in the Windows wireless status icon did not change, maybe it jumped 1 bar or so, being a bad verification for the TX power setting.