WiFi On/Off Overrides Disabled 5ghz band in GUI

[42Reasons]

Hello. Just got the AC68U last night. [EDIT: FW upgraded to xxx.18881] Permanently disabled the 5ghz radio in the GUI as I don't have an ac adapter and don't want the extra EMF for nothing. At night I disable Wifi with the physical on/off button -- NOT on a schedule as my schedule varies daily so I need to use the physical switch. It was the reason I ordered this router.

When I pressed the button last night, instead of turning off the 2gHz band, it turned ON the 5ghz band I'd disabled. Pressed again to turn both off. But this morning when I pressed it, both turned back on.

Why doesn't the GUI setting stick? The physical switch should only turn on/off enabled bands. I would very much appreciate a reply as I will sadly need to return this router if nothing can be done about this. TIA.

 

[ColinTaylor]

You might want to take this up with Asus's support people directly. Bear in mind this is not an official Asus support forum so it's unlikely any Asus personnel will see your question.

 

[42Reasons]

Thanks for your response, I will.

EDIT: For anyone with this issue that finds this thread in the future, at least as of today's date, ASUS support said that's just how the wifi manual button works. It WILL override any GUI setting and enable/disable both bands, regardless of whether you disabled one in the GUI or not. (And it does change the GUI setting from disabled to enabled again.)

Now I don't know if Merlin or DD-WRT would work the same on it (I might see if I can't find answers to that), but the stock FW works this way.

EDIT #2: According to the Merlin forum and DD-WRT forum, neither FW changes the default behavior of the wifi button.

 

[KevTech]

Hello. Just got the AC68U last night. [EDIT: FW upgraded to xxx.18881] Permanently disabled the 5ghz radio in the GUI as I don't have an ac adapter and don't want the extra EMF for nothing.

A device does not have to be AC to use the 5GHz band.

My TV does not support AC but does support 5GHz a/n.

The speed difference between 2.4 and 5 is very noticeable.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

The speed difference between 2.4 and 5 is very noticeable.

Yes it's really night and day. Also if all your devices support the 5 GHz band then i would disable the 2.4 its worthless in todays age. Also really no reason to have to shut off the wifi its designed to run 24/7

 

[42Reasons]

A device does not have to be AC to use the 5GHz band.

No, but it needs to be a dual band n device then, and my n adapters are not dual band.

 

[42Reasons]

Yes it's really night and day. Also if all your devices support the 5 GHz band then i would disable the 2.4 its worthless in todays age.

It is not worthless to those of us running older gear. In fact it's the only band our equipment can use.

Also really no reason to have to shut off the wifi its designed to run 24/7

There are many practical reasons one might want to disable wifi when not in use, even to lessen security risks since there is no reason to have it up when it's not being used. In my case I work from home and my desk is in my bedroom, so the router is 6' from my bed. I left wifi on for years and had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Since I started turning it off a few years back, no such problems.

 

[bbunge]

Thanks for your response, I will.

EDIT: For anyone with this issue that finds this thread in the future, at least as of today's date, ASUS support said that's just how the wifi manual button works. It WILL override any GUI setting and enable/disable both bands, regardless of whether you disabled one in the GUI or not. (And it does change the GUI setting from disabled to enabled again.)

Now I don't know if Merlin or DD-WRT would work the same on it (I might see if I can't find answers to that), but the stock FW works this way.

EDIT #2: According to the Merlin forum and DD-WRT forum, neither FW changes the default behavior of the wifi button.

With DD-WRT you can schedule WIFI on off. Should work with both bands. Set both bands to 20 MHZ bandwidth.

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

 

[42Reasons]

@bbunge As stated in the OP cannot use schedule. My schedule varies widely from day to day. Need to use the manual wifi button.

Returned the ASUS 68U for a Netgear R7000 and all is well. 5ghz band disabled in GUI, manual wifi button turns off/on 2ghz band, honoring GUI settings. With stock FW and with Advanced Tomato FW too. Problem solved.