[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Need some advice for new router location in parents house

Hello,

my name is Nico, and I have been reading this forum for quite some time now, but I think I am at the point where I need to actively ask for some advice.
I hope this is the correct section for it.

My parents are getting optical fiber to they home, so I need to help them with picking a new router and also the location for it.
The house is made of solid brick walls and ceiling, and I have tried to draw a profile of it.

Please don't pin me down on the exact numbers (metric system, sorry for that), but the number of walls and the location should be accurate.
I do not know how thick the walls and ceilings are, but I would guess walls ~20 cm (~8 inch) and the ceilings should have about the same.
Every floor is equally built, except the basement has some additional space in the west (grey walls), and one horizontal wall at the chimney is moved ~1 m to the south (also grey).
The blue areas are the ones where the WIFI connection is very bad at the moment, and should be solved with the new setup.

The optical network (ONT) will get terminated in the basement where the old broadband was also terminated.
We have some ethernet cables running through the (not used) chimney (orange color) to the top/roof of the house, where the router (1) is located now.

On the first floor we have also an ethernet cable, which is creating an AP (2).
First floor does not have a dedicated AP, since my grandma lives there and the connection is sufficient enough for her.

In the basement is the apartment from my sister, and we have another ethernet cable running from the south wall outside of the house from the roof to the basement, creating another AP (3).

For the new fiber optical we just have to use a normal ethernet router, no fiber feature needed.
We will need to buy new routers, and not use the old ones anymore.

And now comes the point where I need some advice, have some questions.

We are flexible regarding the hardware, but I am running an AX68U for years now and am very pleased with it and would like to stick with ASUS.
The only requirement I have is that I can run a net-to-net VPN (wireguard) between my parents’ home and mine, for synology backups.
The router also needs two 2.5G-Ports, one for the ONT, and one going to the second router.

I have done some research already, and I think about buying two GT-AX6000 (~215 USD), the AX88U Pro is more expensive (~240 USD).
They should be pretty solid with price/performance for my family.
My parents use the internet only for streaming and also TV over ethernet (Sky) and some home office (ethernet though).
My sister does the same, except she plays some games from time to time.

Questions:
1)
Are there some "cheaper" alternatives when using the router only as AP, lets say to get the wifi into the blue areas?
The AX68U for example can only be bought used, but are also rare.
2)
Can the GT-AX6000 be mounted upside down, on the ceiling? Or maybe also on a wall?
3)
I am still not sure if I should run the router as AP or AiMesh.
Since I do not live near my parents anymore, and neither them nor my sister knows a lot about these things, I tend to use the AiMesh to create one big WIFI.
If you have any points against it (security for example), I will be happy to listen.

The second picture shows the new locations, where I would place the two routers (I would like to not spend ~700 USD for three GT-AX6000).
The chimney at the (1) router location is used as a supply cabinet for food, so I could hide it there at the ceiling.
The issue I see is that the chimney is made of brick and also roughly 20cm thick.
For the (2) router, I am not sure about the location, but since my sister is using the room with bad connection (blue) for home office, I would try to place the router as close to this wall as possible.

I am open for any suggestion, and my father will drill any hole and pull some ethernet cables where I tell him to do so.
So please let me know what you think "could" be the optimal position.

I know in the end it is try&error, and before deciding for the final position, I will walk around with a very long ethernet cable and find the right spot on the two floors.
But I think you have much more experience and expertise and can point me into the right direction.

Kind regards
Nico

[Assistant]
Welcome to the forums @Miau.

Buy a couple of quality premade cables (Cat5e is more than good enough for 2.5GbE speeds at up to 100'/30 Metres runs) and with luck, you may be able to (re)use it when you decide the locations are correct too.

Don't recommend buying the GT-AX6000 today. Too old. For a mere $35/each additional, you will get a newer model, better RF design, and better performance, and (more than likely) longer, long-term support).

I would guess putting the router in the 'chimney' is the worst place you can.

See the links below for how I design AiMesh setups for my customers.

How to Connect an AiMesh Node

AiMesh Ideal Placement

Control Channel Setup 2021

Reset Mini Guide + Control Channel Setup Details

Control Channel Setup (more)

Am I all set to start fresh with the latest stable release? And a request for L&LD...
After creating the checklists two weeks ago to save the pages with settings, I've made all the screenshots (I think at least) of all the relevant guides written by @L&LD and the very useful tip by @netware5. The only thing is, those guides are great, except when you'll be offline at least for a...
www.snbforums.com

L&LD
www.snbforums.com

Merlin on ASUS ax86U Question
I have an ASUS AX86U and contemplating the installation of Merlin firmware. The DDNS settings on the AX86U are limited to select dns providers. If I install Merlin, will I have more flexability (choices) with the DDNS Settings? Thanks in advance!
www.snbforums.com

The takeaway is that from a 3D perspective, with wired backhaul, you want the nodes to be as far as possible from each other.

Start with a single router and find the position/location/orientation of that main router that will serve as many rooms/areas as possible. Do test different Control Channels while you're concurrently considering the best location too. Settle on the combination that gives you the lowest latency (not just the highest download speeds).

With the main router dialed in, add one AiMesh node and move it around until it covers the additional areas required. Only add another node if absolutely necessary. And only if using one of your existing routers in Media Bridge mode (i.e. for your wired capable clients), doesn't help in your environment.

You more than likely won't get 'perfect' coverage and throughput throughout the home, no matter what you do. But using the least amount of routers/nodes and concentrating on the areas where the most use is expected will give you superior results than having a bit more coverage 'everywhere', but then having issues with 'too much WiFi' in your home.

As you said, only testing in your particular environment will give you the very best results. But the above is where I start for the networks I create.

Miau said:
I have been reading this forum for quite some time now

Never read about single wired router, PoE switch and multiple PoE access points? Many threads around discussing possible options. Seems like you have no idea what to do and perhaps the best course of action is to call someone and get Wi-Fi system installed professionally. For this specific building and region you will have to spend >$700 otherwise you'll chase ghosts with consumer products forever and your family members will have to live with the consequences.

FWIW - if the ISP is including the residential gateway...

use it - it'll work fine, and more importantly...

When it doesn't work - it's not your problem to solve, that is for the ISP's Customer Support Team to sort out.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: My 2.4 network drops constantly

Hi All
Have a problem that is driving me mad. I have an Asus Router AC3100 with merlin firmware that i have set up with both 2.4 and 5G network. I have all my smart devices like Nest, garage door opener etc on the 2.4 network. I only keep our computer devices on the 5G.
For some reason, the 2.4 drops what seems like weekly. I notice my ring cameras go offline. So I have to reboot the router.

Should I connect a second router, which I have laying around, and use it as an access point and just use that for the 2.4 network, or just get a new wifi 6 router??

[Assistant]
A second router won't help if there is an underlying problem elsewhere.

What firmware are you using? What features/options are you running on the router? Do you have any USB devices connected to the router?

How long has the problem been happening for?

When was the last time you performed a full reset after flashing the latest firmware and then following that with a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP?

Although RMerlin's fork still shows this model supported today, it may be on its way out from his releases too soon.

The GT-AX6000 or the newer RT-AX88U Pro are the suggested upgrades today. Anything less, and you're probably overpaying for inferior hardware. Anything more, and you're probably (highly) overpaying for the privilege of being a beta tester for uncertified hardware.

I had a feeling I may need a new router. This one is many years old. I was looking at a TP link but I read there are a lot of security issues.
I noticed this happening a few weeks ago when I installed ring cameras and put all my IOT devices on the separate 2.4 network.
I guess it's just the case of a lot of devices fighting for the bandwidth.

Probably not that. More likely a configuration issue.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Should I upgrade from WiFi 6, to at least 6e, at this point?

Hey all,
been a while since I've posted a question here. I've been using an Asus RT-AX86U for the past few years. While there is nothing wrong with this router, and everything is working. For future compatibility, would it be ideal to upgrade from this WiFi 6 router to at least 6e? I did get the newest iPhone which is 6e compatible, and while I don't have any plans to just start buying a bunch of new devices, I'm thinking anything I do buy that's capable of high speed will probably be at least 6e compatible (if not 7) by the time I get it. I am also asking this question also from a software / firmware support point of view when it comes to continuing to get updates for my current router. Nothing suggests that the router is going to lose support any time soon, at least for security and bug fixes. However, I thought it would be a good time to combine these considerations into this question to see what people suggest at this point. I know there are a few on this forum who are happy with the Asus Pro model of the 86U, but that's still only Wifi 6.

Thanks.

P.S, not planning to make a decision overnight, just looking to see if enough has changed and if there are enough new devices out yet, that would benefit from the hardware upgrade.

[Assistant]
Moving from WiFi 6 to 6E does not make sense at this point. Not when WiFi 7 is being actively worked on.

And particularly when WiFi has always been about backward compatibility.

The RT-AX88U Pro is an upgrade worth considering, if you didn't have a working system today.

But buying even that best bang for the buck router makes little sense when the RT-AX86U is still being supported.

If you're able to sell the RT-AX86U today, or, can use it as an AiMesh node, or in Media Bridge mode, that would be a good reason to buy an RT-AX88U Pro today.

But again; taking down a working system is never a good thing.

L&LD said:
Moving from WiFi 6 to 6E does not make sense at this point. Not when WiFi 7 is being actively worked on.

And particularly when WiFi has always been about backward compatibility.

The RT-AX88U Pro is an upgrade worth considering, if you didn't have a working system today.

But buying even that best bang for the buck router makes little sense when the RT-AX86U is still being supported.

If you're able to sell the RT-AX86U today, or, can use it as an AiMesh node, or in Media Bridge mode, that would be a good reason to buy an RT-AX88U Pro today.

But again; taking down a working system is never a good thing.
Click to expand...
OK, thanks for the feedback. As mentioned, I wasn't sure what my expectations should be set on. Yes, I'm behind leaving a functional system alone. Sounds like WiFi 7 will be the better upgrade when I have more devices that support it. As far as AIMesh, the apartment is really too small to even bother with it, any modern router is more than enough to cover the whole apartment and reach the neighbors too. I'm glad the RT-AX86U is still supported. I've been keeping an eye on that as well since updates have slowed down. So, I think the three main factors to keep in mind here are:
The support of the current router runs out
The current router fails
I have enough devices that support newer standards that would justify a router upgrade.

I'll keep these main three items in mind going forward.

That last point is never a consideration.

Buy quality hardware, when needed, at great prices. The client devices will always come.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain to do the same job as 192.168.x.x

ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain
The plan is to keep the world at bay by never recording it in the DNS root – like many already do with a subdomain for an intranet
www.theregister.com

[Assistant]
Read the ICANN report - it's mostly around non-TLD's and misconfigured local DNS caching servers - e..g DNSMasq and Unbound for LAN side...

To do the same job as .local or .lan (or any other non-Global TLD's) - this sounds a lot like complaints...

This isn't going to fix the problem...

sfx2000 said:
Read the ICANN report - it's mostly around non-TLD's and misconfigured local DNS caching servers - e..g DNSMasq and Unbound for LAN side...

To do the same job as .local or .lan (or any other non-Global TLD's) - this sounds a lot like complaints...

This isn't going to fix the problem...
Click to expand...
With technologies like HSTS, some manufacturers are discovering they did an "Oopsie" in their early decisions there. Like Asus last year, whose asus.com domain suddenly had an HSTS policy, breaking every router that was being accessed through router.asus.com. They ended up registering a bunch of product-specific domains to replace that generic FQDN.

RMerlin said:
With technologies like HSTS, some manufacturers are discovering they did an "Oopsie" in their early decisions there. Like Asus last year, whose asus.com domain suddenly had an HSTS policy, breaking every router that was being accessed through router.asus.com. They ended up registering a bunch of product-specific domains to replace that generic FQDN.

The whole "let's capture a hostname on localnet" scenario was always a bit broken thoughts there...

router.asus.com is a public TLD - router.asus.lan or router.asus.local is not a public TLD...

Do we really need yet another TLD schema?


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Trying an EAP670 to (maybe) switch to omada to replace RT-AX86U

Good day everyone.

I currently own 2 Omada managed switches(TL-SG2008 and TL-SG2218) and have wired much of my home. I am currently using a mesh network with wired backhaul.

Main router: RT-AX86U in PPPOE passthrough mode on fiber internet (1500 down/940up)
Mesh node: RT-AX58U

I have a third router, double-NATed running DD-WRT to create an isolated IOT network. The only device part of both networks is my home assistant instance.

I'd like to introduce VLANs in my environment to hopefully remove that 3rd router from the picture. But I can't do that with my current router.

I was thinking of going the Omada route, but I wanted to dip my toes in first and see if I'd be happy with the wireless performance. I purchased an EAP670 and just gave it a try.

Inside my home, throughput is mostly good though often less than my current Asus setup. Where I'm disappointed is the range of the unit. I disabled radios on all other devices so as to not skew results with interference, but as soon as I leave the house for a few feet reception is absolutely horrible and speeds slow to a crawl (2mbps speedtest about 20 feet from my front door).

QOS, load balancing, airtime fairness are all turned off. UAPSD is turned off. I am broadcasting on both bands at max Tx Power.

Is this simply the nature of the beast or am I doing something wrong?

[Assistant]
That unit has more antenna than the smaller Tp Link EAP models, I was looking to pick one up for my new setup. Its a bit concerning that you are not happy with it. Have you contacted TP Link support? I am assuming you are using it in the same location as the other equipment - have you tried moving it at all?
Curious to hear how you end up with this equipment, may influence my purchase decision.

Like @ex313 , I'm curious to see where this ends up.

snaky69 said:
QOS, load balancing, airtime fairness are all turned off. UAPSD is turned off. I am broadcasting on both bands at max Tx Power.

I'm not sure that "max TX power" is a great idea. Depending on where you live, APs are typically licensed to run at up to 1 watt (30 dBm) radiated power; but the client devices won't emit more than a tiny fraction of that, usually 12-15 dBm (a dozen or two mW). It does the clients no good to hear the AP if they can't answer back, so that sort of power imbalance is useless. Also, it's commonly recommended to run the 2.4GHz radio at much less than the power of the 5GHz radio, so that clients are encouraged to pick the 5GHz band -- so I wonder if you checked which band your client picked?

tgl said:
Like @ex313 , I'm curious to see where this ends up.

I'm not sure that "max TX power" is a great idea. Depending on where you live, APs are typically licensed to run at up to 1 watt (30 dBm) radiated power; but the client devices won't emit more than a tiny fraction of that, usually 12-15 dBm (a dozen or two mW). It does the clients no good to hear the AP if they can't answer back, so that sort of power imbalance is useless. Also, it's commonly recommended to run the 2.4GHz radio at much less than the power of the 5GHz radio, so that clients are encouraged to pick the 5GHz band -- so I wonder if you checked which band your client picked?
Click to expand...
Duly noted. Though max transmit power on this unit is 28dBm on 5Ghz and 25dBm on 2.4Ghz. I believe the Asus pushes 30 on both bands, which is the legal maximum?

I did notice something yesterday and I am further experiementing. The unit was self reporting as V1, on 1.0.9 firmware. Canadian site showed the latest for that hardware revision was 1.0.6.

I flipped it over and saw it was a V1.20. I so I was able to flash 1.0.12 on it from TP-Link's US site.

Performance has improved. I'm still experimenting with it.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Solved Need help in network design to connect my pellet stove to local network

Hello all
I'm looking for a solution to improve my network connection to my pellet stove from my home assistant box (Raspberry PI 4)

Currently, my HA box is wired to my local network, and all my automation appliance are on the local network(shelly's etc.)
except my pellet stove, wich is acting like a wifi hotspot, broadcasting an SSID and it has a DHCP server.

My HA box connects to the stove as a client using it's built-in wifi (so this is a different subnet than my local network)
Here lies the problem, this wifi connection is really not stable, the HA OS has a lot of trouble connecting to the stove, I have to do it manually and it require several try to connect.
sometime the connection is lost, and I have to do it all over again, it's a pain.
There are no satisfying solution for this, i've been searching and trying for month, even adding a Wifi usb dongle does not seem to resolve the issue.(but haven't tried)

I don't have any trouble connecting to the stove from my smartphone, or my PC, this is issue is either with the RPI itself or the HA OS (linux based).

So I'm looking for a nice way to add the stove to my lan, like with a client to connect to the stove, which will also be connected to my local network.
Routing will be needed

I have an ISP router connected to internet, as my main internal router is an Asus RT-AC86U running AsusWRT Merlin

Here's 2 drawings of the current situation and target.

I'm looking for a device that will be able to connect as a client to the stove, and connect to my main lan on the other side.
the device should be small, I don't want to buy a real router, it would be a loss of money for this single usage.
The easiest way would be for that device to be able to do routing (maybe a nano router flashed with DD-wrt or openwrt ??)

an other way would be to leave the routing to the RT-AC86U with a VLAN and a different subnet, but as far as I can see since i'm running in router mode I can't do that. (I looked for tutorial for wrt-merlin all over)

Do you have any suggestion for achieving this ?

Thx a lot

[Assistant]
The best thing to do is to change the stove from a WIFI server to a client. It likely has a SBC like,e a RPI. The stove mfr made it like it is for folks that do not have WIFI in the house.

Thx for your reply but this is built-in, I have no way of modifying this nor the skills.
and it was not my question

Here is something for you to look at: https://community.home-assistant.io...ion-for-smart-stove-pellet-stove-app/345543/6

Edit: If you really want to use WIFI to connect the RPI add a USB WIFI adapter. The RPI has a small antenna and an external USB WIFI will work better. I use a Pi3b+ with JMRI to control my model train layout and an external antenna helped as the layout is in the back corner of the basement.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Speed and connectivity between wireless antenna and internal router on combination devices

Hi all,
Sorry if this has been brought up elsewhere but I haven’t been able to figure out the right search query to find what I’m looking for. I recently purchased gigabit fiber for my home and started evaluating some options for replacing a combo firewall/router/wireless appliance to some dedicated appliances for each.

It got me wondering about the speed of the connectivity inside of these combo devices. I’m probably oversimplifying but I would think the wireless radios must connect by integrated circuit to the routing and switching chipsets in the device for data plane processing/forwarding. Are those connections just as fast or faster than what the radio provides?

For comparison, thinking about the connection path of a separate physical access point: there’s a certain speed clients connect over to the AP, the AP itself has an uplink port(s), and that connects to a port on a switch. Ideally all of those physical connection pieces are greater than or equal to the bandwidth the AP can support for wireless so that you’re not creating bottlenecks across the LAN.

If anyone has thoughts or could point me to some resources, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!

[Assistant]
tbrig1 said:
Are those connections just as fast or faster than what the radio provides?

Most have built-in PCIe controllers. Current BCM4912 SoC has 4x PCIe controllers.

tbrig1 said:
thinking about the connection path of a separate physical access point

AP performance and class dependent. APs may have Gigabit, 2.5GbE, 5GbE, 10GbE ports.

Here is one AXE11000-class AP with 10GbE PoE++ port as an example:

AXE11000 Ceiling Mount Quad-Band WiFi 6E Access Point
Powered by WiFi 6E technology, the AXE11000 Ceiling Mount Quad-Band WiFi 6E Access Point EAP690E HD ensures hyper-connectivity with steady performance in demanding environments.
www.tp-link.com

Ok thanks that explains it then. 4 lanes of PCIe 3.0 would allow for around 4Gbps from the radios

tbrig1 said:
I recently purchased gigabit fiber for my home and started evaluating some options for replacing a combo firewall/router/wireless appliance to some dedicated appliances for each.

Just saying - at a high level, the ISP's have done their homework, and the recent crop of residential gateway appliances are not that bad...

We're a long way from crappy DSL/WiFi gateways these days - most of the RG's I see these days here in San Diego - Cox/Spectrum/ATT - they're pretty good on the WiFi side...

I mean, if you're a networking expert, and do this as your day job, that's one thing, but if not, you might just consider keeping what the provider has to offer...

They're on the hook for performance if you use their gear...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Anyone backed up the juplink rx4-1500 firmware?

I bought juplink's rx4-1500 and requested firmware from the customer center, but they are not responding.
I wonder if anyone backed up firmware files on the same router before they shut down the service.

[Assistant]
heelee912 said:
lI bought juplink's rx4-1500 and requested firmware from the customer center, but they are not responding.
I wonder if anyone backed up firmware files on the same router before they shut down the service.
The rx4-1500 had several vulnerability issues with firmware versions 1.0.2 thru 1.0.5, and one developer did a thorough report on it several years ago before Juplink dropped all support for the unit. I contacted him about the report, and he sent me a version 1.0.6 that he obtained directly from Juplink before they discontinued support, which eliminates the telnet option vulnerability.

I upgraded my rx4-1500 to that version (I previously had V1.0.2). I'm very happy with it, as the 1.0.2 lacked many features found in later firmware versions. Version 1.0.6 is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/102sdwrrUGkJUGPzGAAcALAGSrYZ2HCqe.

The only issue I found with the new version in my use of it as a bridge wireless router (with DHCP disabled) was that the static IP address I preferred kept changing upon reboot (this was never an issue with 1.0.2). However, this problem could be through some faulty settings on my part. I solved the issue by assigning it a static address via my main home router.

Also, if you want greater control over the unit, there's a folder /bcm that contains far more extensive controls. You can access it on the router via http://ROUTER_IP_ADDRESS/bcm/main.html

jfmmgm said:
The rx4-1500 had several vulnerability issues with firmware versions 1.0.2 thru 1.0.5, and one developer did a thorough report on it several years ago before Juplink dropped all support for the unit. I contacted him about the report, and he sent me a version 1.0.6 that he obtained directly from Juplink before they discontinued support, which eliminates the telnet option vulnerability.

I upgraded my rx4-1500 to that version (I previously had V1.0.2). I'm very happy with it, as the 1.0.2 lacked many features found in later firmware versions. Version 1.0.6 is available here: .

The only issue I found with the new version in my use of it as a bridge wireless router (with DHCP disabled) was that the static IP address I preferred kept changing upon reboot (this was never an issue with 1.0.2). However, this problem could be through some faulty settings on my part. I solved the issue by assigning it a static address via my main home router.

Also, if you want greater control over the unit, there's a folder /bcm that contains far more extensive controls. You can access it on the router via http://ROUTER_IP_ADDRESS/bcm/main.html
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply, you are the best.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Wifi interference

When 2 routers place very close together on different non-overlapping channels (eg one on the 2.4Ghz #1 channel and the other on the 2.4Ghz #6 channel)can cause interference to each other? Thx

[Assistant]
airlung said:
When 2 routers place very close together on different non-overlapping channels (eg one on the 2.4Ghz #1 channel and the other on the 2.4Ghz #6 channel)can cause interference to each other? Thx

Yes, and maybe not how you think. Best to not co-locate them 'very close together' as is instructed by OEMs.

OE

Place them as far apart as possible. A different room is an excellent idea. Poke a hole in the wall and pass through an Ethernet cable to the other room (if you must).

Thx all, Ok allow me to put it into more details. I have a small size office and have an asus ax86u as my main router. I have a 2.5G fiber ISP. I have many wifi 2.5Ghz smart home devices and many 5Ghz computing devices connected to it. I have an extra ax86u router sitting around in my office collecting dust. Thus, I am planning to hook up the extra ax86u (throught ethernet cable) as in AP mode. Base on the room size and other limitations, the best I can do is to put the two routers around 1.5 meters apart. I am planning to set all bands 2.4/5Ghz for both the main router and the extra access point with different SSID and passwords so that I can sprit my Wi-Fi devices to be connected to the main router and the access point manually. I am also planning to use different 2.4/5Ghz non-overlapping wifi channels for the main router and on the AP. So, my question is will I get any benefits by adding the extra ax86u as an extra access point to share the load of the main router or this may cause more interference (as the two routers are put too close together), Or I will be better off by just using one router to connect all my devices? Thx so much!


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: iPhone 15 pro max WiFi 6E

With the lastest IOS 17.2, does all Apple devices still requires the router to have all bands 6/5/2.4 GHz set to have the same SSID inorder to use 6E WiFi? Thx

[Assistant]
So I have a 15 Pro Max on 17.2.1, and it connects to 6E just fine for me. All 3 bands have different SSIDs. I can just pick which one I want to connect to, and it gives me no issue.

Itsjustmd15 said:
So I have a 15 Pro Max on 17.2.1, and it connects to 6E just fine for me. All 3 bands have different SSIDs. I can just pick which one I want to connect to, and it gives me no issue.
Yeah, it will probably work if you have all the bands broadcast by the same router, and you have set up the phone to allow connections to all three bands. Apple devices will not connect to 6GHz if they don't see an RNR element that advertises that band's existence in the router's 2.4 or 5GHz beacons. However, according to my current understanding of things, the lower-band beacon can be for a different SSID on the same router.

In any case, Apple's official support document still tells you not to do this, and says that you may encounter problems if you don't use the same SSID across all bands. They don't say exactly what, but maybe there are specific services that don't work on 6GHz? Or maybe they are just worried about having a lower band to fall back to if the 6GHz signal gets too weak. In any case, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy if you have problems after not following their advice.

tgl said:
In any case, Apple's official support document still tells you not to do this, and says that you may encounter problems if you don't use the same SSID across all bands. They don't say exactly what, but maybe there are specific services that don't work on 6GHz? Or maybe they are just worried about having a lower band to fall back to if the 6GHz signal gets too weak. In any case, you're not going to get a lot of sympathy if you have problems after not following their advice.
Click to expand...

It's mostly about having that "seamless" connectivity across bands and range from the AP - Apple has always been a big proponent of Single SSID across bands and AP's in a multiple AP environment...

RNR is a bit different than FILS, and info I've seen is that Apple, in their infinite (loop) wisdom uses Reduced Neighbor Reports to suggest that the SSID is more than just 5GHz, there's a 6GHz AP out there to look for...

Knowing this, what Apple is implying is they look for 5Ghz first, camp, and then search for neighbors - which is similar to what they used to do for WiFi4/5 in the old days of Airports...

Some of this might be due to their work with Cisco for enterprise connectivity...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Use a PoE Splitter to power EERO 6 pro!

I am so happy to share the connection, simplified the wiring.
I used a PoE Splitter from my PoE Switch, and and this split the LAN and USB-C to the EERO 6pro.

no need to add adapter any more!

[Assistant]
Welcome to the forums @Yannes.

More details of the problem solved (with pics) would be appreciated.

Yannes said:
I used a PoE Splitter from my PoE Switch...
This is an ethernet jack which outputs both ethernet and USB-C? A pigtail-ish Y adapter of sorts?


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: LAN iperf3 speed test slower than internet speedtest.net

I have a desktop computer with a wireless adapter. For testing, it is the only device connected to my Wi-Fi network and the only hardwired equipment are the WAP and cable modem.

Network Topology
Arris Surfboard SB8200 – Connected to ISP at 1 Gbps
Unifi Dream Machine (UDM) Special Edition (SE) - Running iperf3 server
U6-LR WAP connect to UDM SE via 1GB ethernet
Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6E AX210 160MHz - Windows Desktop Computer
An internet speed test to speedtest.net yields me an average of 295 Mbps from my desktop computer. However, when I perform an internal LAN speed test with iperf3 I get 145 Mbps on average. I would expect the internal LAN test would be just as fast if not a wee bit faster than the internet test. I am desperate for an answer and hope one of our geniuses out there can explain to me what is going on.

I should mention the LAN test running on a Linux OS yields 188 Mbps, which I can understand why is faster than Windows but still not as fast as the internet test.

Screen shots attached. Thank you in advance.

[Assistant]
I'd be more concerned why you're only getting 1/3 of the plan speed. If you bypass the router and connect to the modem directly what speeds do you get?

Tech Junky said:
I'd be more concerned why you're only getting 1/3 of the plan speed. If you bypass the router and connect to the modem directly what speeds do you get?
I didn't mention speed tests directly from my UDM SE to the ISP as that's not my concern. I do get anywhere from 800 Mbps to 950 Mbps depending upon the time of day as expected for a cable service. The issue I'm concerned about is that I'm not getting even close to 1,000 Mbps internally. That is why I setup iPerf3 to figure out how fast my actual WiFi connection is, because I knew I should be getting closer to a gigabit. I was shocked to see the speedtest.net results were faster than the iperf3 results. Maybe iperf3 isn't what I should be using to test? And before someone asks, I'm practically sitting on top of the WAP and have an excellent connection (-52dBm).

When you run iperf3 over the LAN, best to use multiple parallel streams...

iperf3 -c 192.168.1.1 -P3

This will give you more accurate results


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Using a tethered mobile phone as an Access Point

Hi,

Can an old Android phone be used as a USB-connected access point, rather than as a mobile-data hotspot?
Meaning:

ISP <-> Modem/Router (NAT/DNS/DCHP with USB and ethernet ports free) <-> ethernet to USB adaptor <-> Android Phone as hotspot <-> Wifi<-> Mobile devices

Using Android mobile as an internet connected router (Wifi hotspot or tethered) when it has mobile data is straight-forwards.
But using it as an access point, or even as an access point with routing (and even with NAT) to a tethered router... I haven't found a way so far.

And why? Because the world us full of old mobile phones which could be used as access points, WiFi repeaters, WiFi routers, NATs etc, if the software was developed for them. It just needs someone to create the software to do it... or compile open source WiFi router software to run on them. Someone far more clever than myself.

[Assistant]
I suppose it would be worth it only if your router didn't have Wi-Fi or else you have a 200' USB cable.

If your phone can connect to the Internet thru the USB cable, I'd expect your hotspot idea to work.

Try it and let us know.

I think the challenge with using an old handset as an AP is they were never designed for this purpose...

The WiFi radios are optimized for client usage

sfx2000 said:
I think the challenge with using an old handset as an AP is they were never designed for this purpose...

The WiFi radios are optimized for client usage
The radio part of the hardware and software has been designed to be used as an access point. That's what it is when it's setup as a hotspot. That bit is not the problem.

The ability to NAT and be a DHCP server is already there too (router functions, not AP functions). Also Mobile hotspot uses this.

Routing IP to/from the LAN interface (USB or ethernet via adapter) is also there. Used when setup as a tethered router.

There are 3 interfaces capable of Layer 3 (LAN via USB, 4G/5G radio, Wifi). All are routable. We can have LAN and AP working at the same time too (mobile hotspot and USB/ethernet tethering)

The only missing part appears to be enablement of routing between AP and LAN... radio etc is all there and proven already.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: American made routers and access points

I am not finding any good information on what companies actually make their equipment in the states.

Most stuff is made in china such as TP-Link, Cisco, Aruba, and others.

Asus and others are made in Taiwan and a lot of manufacturing is moving there and to south korea as the quality consistency is better than china.

So far all i Can find is Avalon Wireless is made in the US and distributed by l-com.com.

[Assistant]
The challenges with making things here in the US for the moment - this could change, but...

1) Supply Chains - remember, it's not just the main chips, it's all the popcorn parts in the device - the resistors, capacitors, inductors, screws and bolts, AC adapters, etc - the circuit boards even - Taiwan and Shenzen have established supplier agreements with all these parts vendors, and many times, it's vertically integrated.

2) Hardware and Software Agreements with the Chipset Vendors - this is actually a big deal - as getting access to the chips themselves won't happen without signing agreements with the silicon providers, and then there's the SW license agreements which include patent licensing - those agreements usually go with the chipsets.

And that's where things get weird - let's say company X wants to build a router - they go to Qualcomm, Broadcom, or Mediatek and get a contract in place with them - then they have to go to a contract manufacturer that is in that silicon supply chain - for example, Askey or Foxconn or whoever - that CM also has agreements in place - so it's all very locked down in a way that drives value back to - you guess it, the chipset vendors...

It's not impossible to do everything in-house - there are those that do - but I am sharing this from a perspective of someone who has done a HW startup - and we focus on where we add value, which is the design on the front end, and the sales chain on the other side once the device goes into production.

This, by the way, is where many Kickstarter Hardware Projects fail - it's incredibly hard to do that part outside of the established players - best to work with a good CM that is in the value chain....

@TheLostSwede could probably share more insight, as he's also involved in the business...

It is mostly the software made in the US. The hardware is designed in the US but built to spec in China.

If you buy a Dell and run pfsense or Untangle(Arista NGF) then you are buying US or about as close as you are going to get.
There are other software packages written in the US out there. Not really any of the Chinese software out there that runs well and is supported well as far as I know.

sfx2000 said:
This, by the way, is where many Kickstarter Hardware Projects fail

You send something to China and before it comes back to you as a manufactured product you find it on Alibaba under 5 different names. This is another very common problem. They just don't care about rights and agreements. I moved out of China the manufacturing of industrial device years ago.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Is it safe to have a strong Wifi router next to you? AX86U RF 1000mw/m2

I just recently moved my AX86U outside my office just because I just recently discovered the RF as shown as picture.. this won't be a debate and more likely a personal choice ...you feel free to sit next to the router but I feel uneasy as I just found out and just shared with everyone!

sometimes it got to 1200 mw/m2 or even 1500mw/m2 - I ain't around to capture that ,,LoL!

Good luck guys!

[Assistant]
An RF meter pressed against a 1W wireless router measures nearly 1W of output. Err, OK.

I'd be more interested in seeing what it measured at distances of say, 1 meter and 3 meters.

P.S. https://www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/a...emf-390-emf-multi-field-multi-function-meter/

As safe as anything in life is. You're subjected to much worse at doctors' offices, airports, and government locations.

You know that 'meter' is unsafe too, right?

And 1.2W or 1.5W peaks at zero inches from the router doesn't really mean anything anyway unless you're using the router as a pillow while you work.

The router was right above my computer office desk, me IT all remote work, about above my head 4ft and I got the meter read 2xx-6xx mw/m2 , so I bought faraday screen but it didn't help ...thus I moved it out of my office. I actually felt little inflammation throughout the years while having the router was close too me ...Maybe it's just me but I feel much better not having the router 4ft above my head!

Not only me ,,,the AC86U was 3 feet away from my daughter's bed heading and she felt uneasy to go to sleep until I moved it to my office and I was the one felt uneasy as well LoL ...Now it is outside the hallway and settled final location ...

Both rotuer and AiMesh node do have almost the same readings (of course depend the Wifi loads and the readings will be different)...

I just wanted to share if someone shares the same concern about these RF ...I know that many said researches done and/or not proving..etc.....but at least you are the one in the scenario and do what best for your own health


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: News HUAWEI Update

Update:
AVM is updating its Firmware now.

AVM brings FritzOS updates because of Huawei patent lawsuitMost Wi-Fi 6-capable Fritz boxes have received new FritzOS versions. AVM wants to avoid Huawei's patent claims.Reaction to lost Huawei lawsuitWhen asked, AVM confirmed that the firmware updates were related to Huawei's patent lawsuit against the Wi-Fi 6 Fritz boxes. According to Huawei, AVM uses patented technology to implement Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). Huawei's patent relates to the Wi-Fi 6 signaling fields that indicate whether a data packet should go to one or more clients. AVM has now adapted this, but did not provide any further details upon request.In the first instance, AVM lost the patent lawsuit, but has already appealed and is also taking action against Huawei before the Federal Patent Court. The firmware updates are now intended to additionally secure the AVM devices."With the updated firmware from January 1, 2024 for six Wi-Fi 6 products, the controversial accusation of patent infringement is resolved. The adjustment has been active for newly installed devices since January 1, 2024. Existing devices are not affected by this and are for "The updated firmware has no effect on normal use," an AVM spokeswoman wrote to us.No update for the Fritzbox 7590 AXIt is noticeable that the Fritzbox 7590 AX, as the top DSL model, has not received an update. AVM has already said that the Huawei patent does not come into play in its own WLAN routers - perhaps there was now just an alignment of all models with the Fritzbox 7590 AX.

Same Patent from Huawei is used from Amazon and Netgear too.

Source:
Fritzboxen: AVM bringt FritzOS-Updates wegen Huawei-Patentklage
Die meisten Wi-Fi-6-fähigen Fritzboxen haben neue FritzOS-Versionen erhalten. AVM will damit Patentansprüchen von Huawei ausweichen.
www.heise.de

[Assistant]
Interesting - blowback from the sanctions against Huawei (and other CN/PRC companies)...

Was always wondering when Huawei was going to pull the trigger on their patents - looks like this is now happening...

Yea, I read China is trying to patent as many things as they can. There will probably be more cases. I think it will come back bite them. The world will wake up to this and China may be left out.

coxhaus said:
Yea, I read China is trying to patent as many things as they can
As if American companies haven't been doing that for ages. Patent trolls are a very American problem for example.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Fixing another person's setup

A client of mine referred another customer to me and I am looking for some guidance on what to do.

Client has a large property (1 acre) in size. It has approximately 6 buildings on it. The current infrastructure is a wired-backbone of Synology routers in a mesh. This covers the insides of the buildings fine but the client wants to have coverage outside the buildings now. The Synology routers do not have the capability to provide enough signal outdoors for the customer's needs.

Do you know if it is possible to add something like that Ubiquiti UAP-AC-M-US to the existing Synology network without adding a controller? I hope that I don't have to scrap $2500 in Synology routers because the previous person's mistakes.

[Assistant]
What's my cut on the project?

You're asking the forum here to backstop your potential project, one where you get paid...

You should be able to divide up the firewall, routing, switching and wireless. They do not need to be together.
In large networks they cannot be together.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: WiFi AP with Mesh Setup?

Hi all. I have an Asus AI mesh setup at home which works well. We are going to be building a small structure at the end of our garden (about 30m from the house) and as Asus don’t do an outdoor Mesh node I’d like an outdoor access point to serve this building. I just wanted to check if an AP would play nice with the mesh setup. I plan to used the same SSID.

Additionally, if anyone can recommend a good AP with POE (which is available in the UK), it would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Assistant]
If you used a point-to-point setup (Microtik comes to mind) it would provide a LAN connection to the structure which may prove to be of value for a mesh node. If not, then certainly to an AP there.

glens said:
If you used a point-to-point setup (Microtik comes to mind) it would provide a LAN connection to the structure which may prove to be of value for a mesh node. If not, then certainly to an AP there.
Thanks. I don’t need point to point - there won’t be power at the other end anyway.

30 meters plus at least two exterior walls ought to be doable with just about anything, but if the outlying unit is using the same RF as both feed and fed, the throughput will be half on a good day.

If possible, it'd be best to "knife in" an ethernet cable to the structure. Below sod level and unprotected would be cheap and easy, and would most likely remain viable for many seasons.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: AX210 Streaming Spikes

Hi all,

I'm at a loss with a problem I've been experiencing with my AX210 card and hoping someone here might have an idea.

Basically I am using a game streaming client (moonlight) to stream games from my host PC (utilizing sunshine) over our home LAN. This performs very well, except for intermittent lag spikes that seem to happen every 5-10 minutes, resulting in choppy streaming for 5 seconds before recovering.

I have ran the same stream simultaneously on my Pixel 7 Pro through moonlight, and it does not experience this lag at the same time as the AX210 does. I also tried a TP-LINK USB dongle and while this didn't have as good range, I did not get the lag spikes.

For the AX210, I've tried the following to no avail:
- modifying the Block Global BG Scanning setting to Always via regedit
- added the registry keys mentioned here:
in attempt to stop background scanning
- ensure no power related settings are causing issues (PCIE link state power management as well as some settings in the device driver advanced section)
- disabled scanning entirely via this suggestion: https://www.reddit.com/r/summonerschool/s/1wGwHye2O7

I'm at a loss at this point for why this Intel WiFi card (which are apparently thought of quite highly) seemingly continues to have these lag spikes where even a somewhat crappy USB WIFI dongle doesn't.

In terms of the home wifi setup, we have 3 Unifi Nano HD APs, backed by a UDM pro and Unifi switch. Given I don't see this behavior on other devices or when using a different WiFi adapter, I assume it's nothing to do with the Unifi setup.

Has anyone got experience here around this issue and have any suggestions?

[Assistant]
The scanning stuff you twiddled probably isn't the culprit. I'd first turn off power-saving mode. Other than the slight lag when waking back up from sleep in that case I've not noted any issues with the one 210 I've got.

glens said:
The scanning stuff you twiddled probably isn't the culprit. I'd first turn off power-saving mode. Other than the slight lag when waking back up from sleep in that case I've not noted any issues with the one 210 I've got.
How does one turn off power saving mode? I don't think I've come across that yet...unless I already did it.

EDIT: ah looks like I need to run a command to make this show up in power options.

To clarify as well - do you use moonlight? I suspect the problems I'm seeing wouldn't be noticeable if not for the fact I'm using a very latency dependent program

It should be one of the options available in the driver control interface.

I don't even know what moonlight is apart from the sun's reflection off the moon.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Troubleshooting home network wifi problems

Hey all

Seeing as its the Christmas holidays thought i'd investigate issues with our home network recently. Mainly on wireless phone/laptop but also Lan devices like TV with youtube slow connection. Wireless devices having to do a refresh on a website for it to load up. It comes and goes even when wifi is maxumum strength.

Network consists of.
Fritzbox 7590 AX (main router/mesh) wifi (2.4ghz) ch1 & (5ghz) 36 - located centre of house / upstairs (18 wifi connections)
FritzRepeater 2400 (mesh repeater) - ch6 & 40 - located upstairs at back of house. (18 wifi connections)
FritzRepeater 1200 - ch9 & 60 - located downstairs front of house (about 7 wifi connections)
Fritzbox 7530AX (router for VR only own SSID ) ch 11 & 44

House has 3 floors and get good coverage throughout (maximum bars on wifi, even outside)

All router/mesh devices are connected via Lan (cat6 cables) via 4 port network switch at each device (3 switches) and 2 switches centre of house (6 and 16 port) connected to 7950x which is connected to the external 900Mbps FTTP.

Running a speedtest & fast.com I'm getting 90Mbps (up&down).
Running a local network speedtest to my NAS (10Gbe) to my 10Gbe Lan PC i'm getting. 5000Mbps up&down
Wifi 5Ghz i'm getting around 700Mbps down and 450Mbps upload.

Have also been running pingplotter simultaneously for 30mins
Lan - 192.168.0.1 Router - 0.6ms average & google.com - 6ms average
Wifi - 192.168.0.1 Router - 8ms average & google.com - 18ms average

WIFI

LAN

Note that I did get a couple of 100% packet loss for router and google for 3 seconds on wifi ping plotter during that 30mins.

I did speak to my ISP about a month ago, tried the usual turning off and on and resetting devices . But no change,

Thanks in advance.

[Assistant]
Pauluk said:
Seeing as its the Christmas holidays thought i'd investigate issues with our home network recently. Mainly on wireless phone/laptop but also Lan devices like TV with youtube slow connection. Wireless devices having to do a refresh on a website for it to load up. It comes and goes even when wifi is maximum strength.

So what exactly is the question - from what I see, things are fine...

You've got a lot of access points on the LAN/WLAN - so you might consider reducing that...

sfx2000 said:
So what exactly is the question - from what I see, things are fine...

You've got a lot of access points on the LAN/WLAN - so you might consider reducing that...
Ha first paragraph of my question, refreshing websites to make them load and YouTube dropping to low quality or pausing.
And also occasionally switching to 4g/5g instead of using wifi. Even though there is good signal.

You think removing a couple of access points from the lan will not loose coverage in the house? Reason I added them was a couple of dead spots. Thanks

Pauluk said:
You think removing a couple of access points from the lan will not loose coverage in the house? Reason I added them was a couple of dead spots. Thanks

I do - those extra AP's are competing for airtime - wireless is like real estate, location is everything...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Question about security protocol used by RT-ACU86U

These are the screenshots from the Wi-Fi survey page ( /visindex.asp ) for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, respectively.
My router (shown in read in both cases) is RT-AC86U.

I am just curious, what is meant that my router has "AES" (and not AES-CCMP)?
As far as I understand, "AES" is just an encryption standard, while AES-CCMP is a protocol built using that encryption (and it is a part of the WPA2 requirement, as far as I can tell).
So, my question is what type of AES-based encryption protocol is actually used here?

[Assistant]
It's just an artifact of how that page displays the information about itself. It can't scan itself so it just shows AES whereas in reality it's the same as the other access points, AES-CCMP.

If you use a Wi-Fi scanner on a different device (e.g. a phone) you will see it show AES-CCMP for the Asus.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Introduction To The TR-398 Wi-Fi Performance Test

The first Wi-Fi performance test standard will change the way we test Wi-Fi products.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder.

[Assistant]
thiggins said:
The first Wi-Fi performance test standard will change the way we test Wi-Fi products.

Here's the link...

http://www.broadband-forum.org/download/TR-398.pdf

sfx2000 said:
Here's the link...

http://www.broadband-forum.org/download/TR-398.pdf
Thanks, but I link to the spec two times in the What Is TR-398? section.

Right now a $35 piece outperforms most of the $200 wifi 5 pieces, so why in the world would anyone spend more than $35? Or $200?


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review Linksys MR7500 Hydra Pro 6E Reviewed

Linksys' Hydra Pro 6E is a slightly more affordable Wi-Fi 6E router with good 6 GHz, but disappointing 2.4 and 5 GHz performance.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
Are there any consumer ISPs currently available now or in the near future before that router becomes outdated that are offering speeds above 2.5Gbps?
The results also make me wonder if there is some other bottleneck, such as a lack of hardware acceleration leading to a WAN port bottleneck, where it can have a 5GbE PHY rate but struggle to go much above 2Gbps. Would it be possible to also connect a few devices to the other LAN ports in addition to the wireless clients to see if more data can be pushed through the WAN port?

I'm surprised Client and Node Steering are enabled by default; they're useful only for mesh configurations, not standalone routers. These settings are here because the Hydra is part of the Velop product family, which now apparently includes standalone routers like this one that can be used to build mesh networks. So ASUS AiMesh isn't the only game in town anymore for roll-your-own Wi-Fi mesh builders.

QSDK on ath11k supports mesh out of the box - so I'm not surprised here - potential here is that one can mesh up dissimilar vendors in a coherent manner as long as all the right #defines are set in the firmware...

sfx

BTW - ath11k is a fascinating piece of work...

Razor512 said:
Are there any consumer ISPs currently available now or in the near future before that router becomes outdated that are offering speeds above 2.5Gbps?
The results also make me wonder if there is some other bottleneck, such as a lack of hardware acceleration leading to a WAN port bottleneck, where it can have a 5GbE PHY rate but struggle to go much above 2Gbps. Would it be possible to also connect a few devices to the other LAN ports in addition to the wireless clients to see if more data can be pushed through the WAN port?
Click to expand...
There are ISPs in Asia that offer 10 Gbps Internet service. I know someone who was betatesting such a service. Those speedtest results he shared with me were pretty insane.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Why You Don't Need MU-MIMO

Delays, missteps and over-aggressive marketing have made this once promising technology something you can live without.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
I would tend to agree - there are use cases where MU is of benefit...

It's been a marketing problem for most in the retail space - doesn't help that Wave 1 was very successful - and Wave 2 is an incremental update to 802.11ac in the market.

sfx2000 said:
It's been a marketing problem for most in the retail space
If you call selling futures on features that never show up and when they do don't work well, then ok, it's a "marketing" problem.

Well You really cant blame Apple for not supporting something when the feature is not properly implemented.

But this got me extremely worried with 802.11ax.

Are we going to repeat this again, basically constantly shipping updated Hardware Chips to the market.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Phicomm K3C AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router Reviewed

Phicomm's K3C AC1900 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router provides our first look at an router with Intel Wi-Fi inside.
Read on SmallNetBuilder.

[Assistant]
What can Intel bring to the table to distinguish themselves from the already established players (Broadcom/QCA/Realtek/etc...)?

RMerlin said:
What can Intel bring to the table to distinguish themselves from the already established players (Broadcom/QCA/Realtek/etc...)?

The sticker with "Intel Inside"

RMerlin said:
What can Intel bring to the table to distinguish themselves from the already established players (Broadcom/QCA/Realtek/etc...)?
That's the question.
Intel's focus is not the consumer market. The Lantiq acquisition has always been about service providers...https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325519


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Does OFDMA Really Work? Part 2

Our test of six Wi-Fi 6 routers found no significant benefit from OFDMA.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
Excellent piece @thiggins

So if I read this correctly, you've proven that cheap AX/Wifi6 routers like the AX-58U and the RAX15 aren't discernible--or even inferior-- to 4+ year old AC/Wifi5 routers like the R7800?

It seems like in general all of the newer standards produced lower latency than the R7800, though the RAX15 ended up producing significantly worse results when OFDMA was enabled.

While it is nearly impossible too scientifically test, I wonder if OFDMA will have any improvements in normally congested environments, e.g., an urban area where it is normal to see 100+ access points in range and no one seems willing to use Ethernet, even when they have a desktop PC in the same room as their router. Over time as more people move to OFDMA, will WiFi become less bad in those areas?

JohnB_123 said:
So if I read this correctly, you've proven that cheap AX/Wifi6 routers like the AX-58U and the RAX15 aren't discernible--or even inferior-- to 4+ year old AC/Wifi5 routers like the R7800?
No. All AX routers had lower latency than the two AC routers tested. But the lower latencies were not due to OFDMA.

AX routers can provide other advantages over AC routers, especially for 2.4 GHz AX devices. But OFDMA isn't one of the advantages.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review NETGEAR EX8000 Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Range Extender Reviewed

NETGEAR's EX8000 Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band WiFi Range Extender is a big, but pricey, step forward in Wi-Fi extender design.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
Nice, thanks!

The review appears to be missing the "Discuss this in the Forums" link to bring folks back here for more meaningful contributions than I'm providing now.

I agree that the WAF is a huge oversight.

They do need to lower the price. For the current price of the EX8000, you can buy a netgear R7800 and use it in AP mode, and not only have USB 3 support, but also eSATA and and read/write speeds nearing 100MB/s.

but really does anyone use usb these days apart from printers

i have tested and used the ex8000 and as tim says it brings the orbi to the masses , best used if you have a tri band router and can dedicate the high 5 gig band to the back haul for the ex8000

the WAF is not all that big an issue although it would have been better if it was white


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review NETGEAR RAXE500 Nighthawk Tri-Band WiFi 6E Router Reviewed

NETGEAR's RAXE500 Nighthawk Tri-Band WiFi 6E Router is the most expensive 6E router right now, but delivers good performance on all bands.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
I see you recommending the RAXE450, Netgear’s website doesn’t list 1024QAM on the RAXE450, they only list 256QAM… I’m super confused on what the differences between the RAXE450 and RAXE500 are.

The difference is shown in the side by side spec difference graphic. They are just limiting the maximum link rate for the E450 on the 2.4 and 5 GHz radios.

Since you only achieve 1024 QAM with very strong signals, I don't think it would make a big difference in real life.

That is such a bizarre thing to differentiate on… I’m just having a hard time believing that is the only difference.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Wi-Fi Ping Spikes: Causes and Fixes

Wi-Fi ping spikes aren't always caused by a poor connection. Your router settings could be to blame. Read on SmallNetBuilder.

[Assistant]
Great article Tim. Curious who Dennis Bland is though? Was he the author of the article, or you?

That's explained in the article. His bio is included at the bottom

Oops! Sorry, I saw your name at the top of the article, skipped the intro, and just saw the bio at the bottom. Thanks.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Build A Wi-Fi Performance Analyzer For $75

Think Wi-Fi analyzers that can show network activity are expensive? Here's how to build one for well under $100.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
With some network driver optimization it should be possible to get around 950Mbps from the AllWinner SoC's over Gigabit. Unfortunately their driver support is a bit hit and miss, but I've been involved in the development of a couple of devices based on the H3 SoC and with a bit of tweaking those devices performed quite well. That said, it might also be a PCB layout issue that limits the speed, as we had to through a couple of revisions for those projects to optimise the board layout as well. It's also possible that the single channel memory is holding the neo2 back a bit as well.

Looks like the CMS might have messed with the wikidevi search link... this is the corrected search query

Code:
[[Chip1 model::RTL8811AU]]

Nano Pi - go for the extra RAM if you can... it does help with some apps.

AllWinner support in the kernel is getting better with some of the sunxi stuff going into mainline.

If one needs more "horsepower", consider the Tinkerboard - much better memory performance, and it's close to the Intel Silvermont chips in overall performance.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: LTE-U vs. Wi-Fi: What You Need To Know

It's time to understand the impact mobile networks may have on 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks from the impending use of LTE-U / LAA.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
Great, more congestion. I already see large numbers of wireless routers/APs and DirecTV and Uverse receivers in the 5Ghz band where I live. This is only going to make it worse.

digitalfreak said:
This is only going to make it worse.

unless you move to the new architecture and employ it instead of using your own home wifi

here in oz we already have the ability to walk in from a cell tower phone connection and then move to a wifi without dropping the call so this may be the next logical step

as long as its standardized and regulated it may one day be the next big thing

thiggins said:
It's time to understand the impact mobile networks may have on 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks from the impending use of LTE-U / LAA.

Nice article - I've been a participant on both sides of the argument wearing my 3GPP/3GPP2 and IEEE hats, and I've been fairly vocal on my thoughts on this topic...

This is truly being rammed down the throat of the community by a coalition of big telco providers and their suppliers under the guise of FCC Part 15 (and similar regulations in other regions).

They're being aided and abetted by a newly compliant FCC chair (Pai) that is business focused on his policy objectives and perspectives, rather than promoting policies favorable for the common good - both business and private.

IMHO - It's a blatant land-grab by incumbent license holders in other bands (Cellular/PCS/AWS) which lays fallow and not utilized fully... Rather than continue to develop and grow things out there - they'd rather move into the ISM/UNII bands, which contributes a massive amount of commercial and personal value for the WiFi people that _are_already_there_ - we can't play in those bands, and now...

(just for perspective - I'm a Ham, and we have rules about what can be done in our bands - yes, as a Part 97, I can do things in ISM/UNII, but not for commercial purposes, just like on the other bands that I'm allowed to use, and even there, I'm not allowed to interfere with other users of the spectrum)

This was not the intent of the ISM/UNII bands - commercial usage - yes, I know that we have carriers already there - with WiFi hotspots and things like Voice over WiFi - it's a thin line, but it's still WiFi, and all stations do try to cooperate there to some degree.

But this is something entirely different - once LTE gets into a UNII channel - it's going to own it - seriously - if someone is in the range of a LTE pico/femto base station operating in the same channel - you're done...

802.11 a/n/ac won't have a chance to break in to an LTE session that's already in play..

I understand the listen before talk aspects of LTE over unlicensed, but what folks are not talking about is the inverse - once LTE is there, WiFi won't transmit because the channel will be continuously busy.

Once that happens - 5GHz will be as hopeless, actually moreso, than what we have with 2.4GHz now...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Does OFDMA Really Work? Part 1

We resume our quest to find OFDMA's promised benefits, by first trying to find a good benchmark test.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder...

[Assistant]
Can the performance of OFDMA be improved via firmware updates on the router side, or will it largely remain inconsistent in its results, especially with congestion and latency?

what a mess. how carefully did you retest to see if some of your tests were going backwards?

edit: I realize you were working hard on this of course, I just wonder if there's some subtle testing error, or indeed if manufacturers have tried testing this ever.

Interesting article - and I tend to agree here... Much like MU-MIMO on 802.11ac Wave 2...

Most gains, IMHO...
2.4 GHz - 802.11n
5 GHz - 802.11ac Wave 1
Should try 802.11ac Wave 2 across multiple client STA vendors (Realtek, QCA, Broadcom/Intel) for Wave 2 11ac...

Pretty much given up on that unicorn - try as I might, cannot make that work as a MU-MIMO group on QSDK on QCA, and OpenWRT on others for the AP side.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Linksys RE9000 MU-MIMO Range Extender Reviewed

Linksys' RE9000 MU-MIMO Range Extender is a tri-band extender that provides four-stream backhaul for a surprisingly low price.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
thiggins said:
is a tri-band extender that provides four-stream backhaul for a surprisingly low price.

Click to expand...
Nice review.. you put NETGEAR RE9000 on one of your charts.

I couldn't get EX 8000 to work with my Synology RT2600AC, so maybe this one could work for me.

Could the poor 5GHz uplink performance be a bug with the EX8000?

Seems strange how disproportionally slow it is.

Dave in NM said:
Nice review.. you put NETGEAR RE9000 on one of your charts.
I'm not sure what you mean. Neither product was entered into the Charts database.

I couldn't get EX 8000 to work with my Synology RT2600AC, so maybe this one could work for me.
Give it a try. Might work since it's a different (MediaTek) platform.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review New In the Charts: ASUS RT-AX86U

ASUS's RT-AX86U AX5700 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gaming Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. It has an unusual three stream @ 2.4 GHz and four stream @ 5 GHz Broadcom-based design. But it currently ranks #1 in Wi-Fi 6 routers.

[Assistant]
The two router models I usually recommend to people are the RT-AC66U_B1 (because at $100 CAD, quite frankly it does what 90% of home users need), and the RT-AX86U (because it has pretty much all the useful bells & whistles, without going over the top like their GT models).

I have this router and I really love it. It works better than nearly any home router I've had today... it solid, no drop outs, firmware is good. Has a dual-wan failover, which works (the switchover is slow but it works) and the 2.5 gb wan is great.

i’ve blindly purchased my last two routers based on recommendation from here, r7800 and ax86u and i couldn’t be happier.

i work for wireless radio manufacturer and was so happy to see how tests are done here that is using screen boxes and ixia in controlled environment instead of just running speed in bedroom or kitchen etc.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: 160 MHz Wi-Fi Channels: Friend or Foe?

160 MHz channel bandwidth is an essential feature of 802.11ax. We take a look at whether it means trouble for your 11ac network.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
Interesting article. What driver version did you use with the Intel? Versions before 20.70 have a few compatibility issues, don't know if they apply to 160 MHz channels or to 802.11ax STAs however.

RMerlin said:
What driver version did you use with the Intel?
20.80.1.1 64 bit. I updated the article.

thiggins said:
20.80.1.1 64 bit. I updated the article.

Thanks. That's the latest, so this rules out driver issues (unless it's a different issue Intel hasn't addressed yet).


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review New In the Charts: ASUS RT-AX88U

ASUS' RT-AX88U AX6000 Dual Band 802.11ax WiFi Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. While it uses the same Broadcom four-stream 5 GHz radio SoC, the AX88U's throughput performance lags behind the less-expensive RT-AX86U. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details.

[Assistant]
Yes, like I've mentioned multiple times, this can be 'felt' when switching between these two.

Everything below both of these routers is worse, in real world use.

L&LD said:
Everything below both of these routers is worse, in real world use.
You mean models below these two, ie AX58U? (Which I currently have, but am contemplating replacing with the AX86U based on multiple posts in these forums)

@thiggins I notice that the latency scores are worse for the AX86U compared to the AX88U. Do you think that might account for the increased throughput of the AX86U?


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review ASUS Mesh Roundup: Two Zens and a TriBand

We round-up ASUS' ZenWiFi 6E ET8, WiFi 6 ZenWiFi XT8 and WiFi 5/6 RT-AX92U into the ol' test corral for a ride.

Read on SmallNetBuilder.

[Assistant]
Wow, what a great, quality, review Tim! Thank you so much for getting this out here for us and the whole world.

Looking forward to future articles with even more interest!

If Apple indeed rolls out 6E come September, these 6E based routers/mesh systems are going to get even hotter and hence prolong the above MSRP prices for these systems.

With 90% of my home devices (barely) Wi-Fi 5 let alone Wi-Fi 6, personally, it is hard to justify anything 6E.

Great article!

Such a shame 5ghz DFS 80mhz not supported on ET8. I've been waiting a year for it. Most of my devices are 2.4 or 5ghz and restricting 5ghz to lower/higher bands will be a problem. My kit doesn't have access to higher band and lower band too crowded.
Wanted the 6ghz for 160mhz backhaul as unfortunately 5ghz channel 124 has a weather radar on it.

I love asus kit but can't buy it if it can't do what I need it to do.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review Three Wi-Fi 6 Routers Under $100 Reviewed

Is a sub-$100 Wi-Fi 6 router worth buying? We look at three examples to find out.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
very good review and useful for user that that looking for budget routers. Is there any way to add for testing D-Link EXO AX AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 Router DIR-X1560
https://www.dlink.com/en/products/dir-x1560-exo-ax-ax1500-wi-fi-6-router
https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/D-Link_DIR-X1560_rev_A1

I might test and add it to the Charts and Ranker. But I would not do a full review on it.

Hi Tim...

Belkin RT3200 - retail price is $99USD, It's the same HW as the Linksys E8450

What makes these units interesting -- MediaTek MT7915 chipset - and fairly active OpenWRT support...

Would be good to compare against the Broadcom and Qualcomm solutions...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review New In the Charts: ASUS RT-AX58U

ASUS' RT-AX58U AX3000 Dual Band WiFi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. Also known as the RT-AX3000 and RT-AX82U, its Broadcom-based design is spec'd for two streams on 2.4 and 5 GHz. However, since the 5 GHz radio is Broadcom's BCM43684 four stream an/ac/ax radio, it appears it support four-stream receive under the hood.

The router didn't do that well in our throughput vs. attenuation tests, however, due to sustained throughput dips on both bands' downlink tests that were observed on multiple test runs. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details.

[Assistant]
I've always wondered... I've seen a few of your charts that showed a performance dip at a certain attenuation level, followed by an increase at a few dB later. It's pretty significant in this particular case, in the 12-16 dB range. What would explain the fact that it's not linear as intuitively I would expect it to be, and that it can actually go up and down like that? Bad output level tuning in the calibration tables used by the router?

The graph pretty much clearly shows the reasons why I, 1) sold the RT-AX58U, and 2) feel the need to test at 'normal' distances (as 3 to 5 meters) rather than within the same room from pretty much any router newer than the RT-AC68U.

@RMerlin I suspect it is errors in the rate adaptation algorithm.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review Linksys MX8500 Atlas Max 6E Wi-Fi Mesh System Reviewed

Linksys' Atlas Max 6E Wi-Fi Mesh System is the most expensive Wi-Fi mesh system you can buy, but save your money.

Read on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
In a situation here. I currently have a Linksys MX5300 single unit. I ordered the Asus AXE11000 BUT, I am wondering if I should order this new Linksys MX8501 instead? I could use the MX5300 as a wired/wireless (undecided) child node. Would that be the better bang for the buck/performance? Or just go with the single unit Asus AXE11000 router? We are big media consumption/gamers in the house. Currently have about 40 devices connected to the Linksys MX5300.

What's wrong with your existing setup?
The ASUS has many more features/settings than the Linksys. So if you need that, the ASUS is a better choice as your root node/main router.

I read the article, and I can't imagine spending that amount of money for that type of system.
Casa Griswald is a palatial () single level tract home of 2500sqft, so we've been fortunate enough to cover "our area" with a Main/AP, which for me is easy to maintain.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review Wi-Fi 6E Preview With ASUS' GT-AXE11000 ROG Rapture

We're taking a look at whether Wi-Fi 6E is worth waiting for, using ASUS' first-to-market top-of-line GT-AXE11000 ROG Rapture.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
Open network anyone can connect ?? Can you explain that in more detail ?

Will 6E deliver a faster, dedicated wireless AiMesh backhaul? With sprinkles on top!

OE

det721 said:
Open network anyone can connect ?? Can you explain that in more detail ?
In my experience with the AXE, WPA3 is not available yet to use with Windows. @avtella had a great description of why posted here. http://www.snbforums.com/threads/gt-axe11000-hits-the-fcc.65972/post-667426 Right now the AXE only works with Windows using OWE, which is point to point encryption without authentication. The traffic is encrypted but there is no way to prevent anyone with your network ID from accessing it, other than perhaps whitelisting MAC addresses. WPA3 does work with my S21 Ultra, but the connection is much slower than my AX.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: How Much Total Throughput Can Your Wi-Fi Router Really Provide?

It's harder than you think for that expensive router of yours to deliver all the throughput the big number on its box promises. We show you why. Read on SmallNetBuilder.

[Assistant]
Regarding Windows 10 band preference with the AX200: it seems to be configurable, although it defaults to "no preference", so who knows what that means for actual behaviour.

Thanks. I don't think octoScope messes with the defaults.

Would be interesting to see wired thru put with multiple wired up devices...

with and without CTF or other flow offload things

Might find performance concerns with the SoC/Switch setup...


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review New In The Charts: NETGEAR RAX45

NETGEAR's RAX45 Nighthawk 6-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. Its Broadcom-based design is very similar to ASUS' RT-AX58U, supporting two 2.4 GHz streams and four 5 GHz streams. But it did significantly better in our tests. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts and Wi-Fi Router Ranker for more details.

[Assistant]
Thanks for testing this router out! I've noticed that there are a couple other routers within this class - particularly the rax40, rax42 and the rax50. Would it be possible to get some test results on these other routers as well? The reason I ask is because it appears that the rax45 doesn't support 1024 QAM and the rax40,42 and 50 does. It kind of seems like the rax45 is a stripped down version. Not sure why Netgear would do something like this.

NETGEAR has made tweaks like this on a number of products, the RAX15/20 for example. Mostly done to create a special SKU for Costco.

Note that you get 1024 QAM only with a very strong signal.

I've never had a Costco membership, but past purchases from customers have led me to believe that Costco, BestBuy, etc. offer worse products (from computers to routers and more) than what the manufacturer offers in general. 'Worse' may be a bit harsh here.

But I wouldn't want a crippled product (no matter how slightly crippled it is) to save a few pennies at most.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: Review New In The Charts: NETGEAR RAX120

NETGEAR's RAX120 Nighthawk 12-Stream Dual-Band WiFi 6 Router has been tested and added to SmallNetBuilder's Wi-Fi Router Charts. The sole Qualcomm-based Nighthawk in NETGEAR's RAX family sports four-streams on 2.4 GHz and eight on 5 GHz. But its 2.4 GHz performance lags behind the less-expensive RAX80 and is just about even on 5 GHz, making it not a great value. Check the Wi-Fi Router Charts for more details.

[Assistant]
Another case of the spec's being better than the results.

Is this poorly written firmware or poorly executed hardware (or both)?

@thiggins
Did you test using the RAX120 v1 or v2? I believe the latter uses a slightly newer QCA chipset, possibily supporting OFDMA U/L.

This was v1. NETGEAR might send a v2 for retest. I don't think OFDMA is a factor in these results, since we're talking one STA per radio.

I should also note that the router could complete only 30 seconds of the wired routing test before it locked up and had to be rebooted. I tried this multiple times. NETGEAR has not been able to reproduce this yet.


[System] You are a professional Wi-Fi router support assistant; I will provide forum posts as background material, and you should learn from them while remaining aware that forum content may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect — when uncertain, explicitly note that you are uncertain and refer the user to official documentation or other authoritative sources for verification.

[User]
Title: How We Test Wi-Fi - Revision 11

Our Revision 11 process brings multiple clients and a change to WAN-based testing.

Continue reading on SmallNetBuilder

[Assistant]
This was a tough birthing. The system can do so much more. Boiling things down to chartable and digestable benchmarks was a real struggle!

thiggins said:
This was a tough birthing. The system can do so much more. Boiling things down to chartable and digestable benchmarks was a real struggle!

It's a significant effort, no doubt...

I see that the OctoScope Stack-Max includes the MPE2-38 faders...

Are you including the NLOS dynamic fading models where multipath is available?

This comes into play with the different Rate Adaptation algorithms that the chipset vendors use - QC-Atheros has their own, as does Broadcom and Intel.

This is important for beamforming, DL/UL MU-MIMO, OFDMA, etc...

What happened to flent? I know you were looking at it some time back...

Interesting that the PAL's moved from QC-Atheros over to Intel for 11ax - ath10k, with the right agreements with Qualcomm, was pretty good - CandelaTech did a lot of work there on those 11ac Wave 1/2 drivers, and that ended up being the basis for community efforts with the ath10k-ct drivers...

I'm not using the MPE2's for this round of benchmarks. The attenuators are only 60 dB, which limits test range for 2.4 and 60 GHz (@ 160 MHz B/W).
I can still see MU-MIMO gain even without using them. OFDMA; don't really care at this point. From everything I've seen, it's relevant only with many more STAs than I'm testing with.

Flent's main contribution was that it made traffic + ping testing easy. I'm doing essentially the same thing with octoScope's multiperf, using iperf3 TCP/IP traffic and ping.

The AX200 and now AX210 are pretty much it when it comes to M.2 format STAs. Or at least they were at the point where the STApals were being developed. From what I can see, Qualcomm has chosen not to pursue that market.