ASUS RT-N66U WIFI Range sucks

Lisapete · 20 Jul 2014 at 12:03

Got an ASUS RT-N66U and am using AsusMerlin FW. Am using the latest but the range still sucks.

Do I replace it with a dual band AP an some directional aerial and mount this center of the loft beam aiming down so the whole house is covered or get something better?

Terrier_Jimlad · 20 Jul 2014 at 12:17

What? It has arguably one of the best coverage ranges of any wireless N router!

You tried bumping the TX power from 80 to 100 in the Professional tab on the Wireless section?

Lisapete · 21 Jul 2014 at 11:16

Terrier_Jimlad said:
What? It has arguably one of the best coverage ranges of any wireless N router!

You tried bumping the TX power from 80 to 100 in the Professional tab on the Wireless section?

Already set to 100MW

Load of people saying how poor the range is

tom_e · 21 Jul 2014 at 11:22

The range on mine is worse than the old £10 D-Link it replaced, it's definitely not lived up to any where near what I expected from such a highly priced and rated router.

asim18 · 21 Jul 2014 at 12:11

tom_e said:
£10 D-Link

Still have my £10 D-Link DIR-615, which I got for free from Virgin Media over 4 years ago. Unbelievable how solid it is as a WiFi AP. Used it as a router in the past too and never skipped a beat. My WiFi is the envy of anyone who comes round lol.

Ok it's not the latest WiFi standard, but in n-only mode + greenfield + short preamble + finely selected 40Mhz wide channel = utterly stable 75Mb/s throughput in every room.

People don't realise the more antennas and power these newer routers churn out the worse it gets for everyone in your localised WiFi spectrum.

lamboman · 21 Jul 2014 at 12:25

If the range sucks you're either on a channel with plenty of interference, there's something wrong with the router, or you've been using 2.4GHz before and are using 5GHz now (which does offer far poorer signal penetration).

First up on my list would be to look at using a scanning utility (or the one built in to the router) to determine which channels and channel widths would be best to use. Also, antenna placement.

Lisapete · 21 Jul 2014 at 12:35

lamboman said:
If the range sucks you're either on a channel with plenty of interference, there's something wrong with the router, or you've been using 2.4GHz before and are using 5GHz now (which does offer far poorer signal penetration).

First up on my list would be to look at using a scanning utility (or the one built in to the router) to determine which channels and channel widths would be best to use. Also, antenna placement.

I'm on a clear channel with no one on it.
Power is on the highest.
Modem is up off the floor on side of a table 1m up, open to the air
Antenna placement is all 3 are up as it's omni directional to cover the home
Have tried TP-link 8DBi x3 no gain
Using both 2.4 and 5Ghz

asim18 · 21 Jul 2014 at 12:36

lamboman said:
If the range sucks you're either on a channel with plenty of interference, there's something wrong with the router, or you've been using 2.4GHz before and are using 5GHz now (which does offer far poorer signal penetration).

First up on my list would be to look at using a scanning utility (or the one built in to the router) to determine which channels and channel widths would be best to use. Also, antenna placement.

This man speaks the truth. Especially the last sentence. Adding an extra 4 inches between my AP and my desk improved my already epic signals by 20% in most areas.

kona786 · 21 Jul 2014 at 13:53

asim18 said:
Still have my £10 D-Link DIR-615, which I got for free from Virgin Media over 4 years ago. Unbelievable how solid it is as a WiFi AP. Used it as a router in the past too and never skipped a beat. My WiFi is the envy of anyone who comes round lol.

Ok it's not the latest WiFi standard, but in n-only mode + greenfield + short preamble + finely selected 40Mhz wide channel = utterly stable 75Mb/s throughput in every room.

Insteresting. Which FW do you use? Got a link?

EDIT - Mine is the D4 variant from VM.

lamboman · 21 Jul 2014 at 13:59

Might be worth trying a complete reset of the router, or an older version of Merlin?

How have you tested the channels? Using the router or the computer? Interference in both locations may be different, so it's worth testing on both and adjusting so both are clear.

You don't want the antennas straight up - they will only project their signal strongly around themselves (one plane), not above and below. Instead you want them at a 45º/90º/135º (as per Asus' manual), or some suggest 0º/90º/180º (it really depends on where you devices are in relation to the router position) so that each radiates signal on different planes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnidirectional_antenna

Finally, are you auto-switching between the 2.4GHz and 5GHz (same SSID)? Have you tried testing each frequency separately?

Lisapete · 21 Jul 2014 at 14:34

It would seam the settings I had have changed when updating to the latest build

Always done a full hard reset after any updates then reconfigured it from the ground up.

Tested using inSSIDer on laptop which has both 2.4 and 5 Ghz.

Same SSID for both 2.4 and 5 Ghz

What about antenna placement like this https://www.bestvpn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-02-13-16.26.101.jpg

fornowagain · 21 Jul 2014 at 14:43

Is that 5GHZ TX output at 50%?

Terrier_Jimlad · 21 Jul 2014 at 15:38

I would roll back to 374.41, I don't like the latest one - too buggy for me

asim18 · 21 Jul 2014 at 16:09

kona786 said:
Insteresting. Which FW do you use? Got a link?

EDIT - Mine is the D4 variant from VM.

I may have exaggerated slightly though.

Real world throughput in the same room I get 9.33MB/s read and 8.55MB/s write to a laptop on the wireless.

If I put the netbook upstairs at the back of the house I get 4.3MB/s read and 6MB/s write.

Probably means the D-Link's Tx does a better job pushing through walls than the netbook's Tx.

Some installation info here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=686614

Here's the link: ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/2014/06-23-2014-r24461/dlink-dir615d/

kona786 · 22 Jul 2014 at 08:52

Thanks Asim - I'm on a very old version of DD-WRT which only gives me G speeds so this should be good.

Are you on this exact FW version?

asim18 · 22 Jul 2014 at 18:05

Yeah just updated my dir615 D2 model to it a few days ago. It's the latest build.

From that thread it should be should be good for D4 as well.

Just remember you don't need to use the "factory" webflash as you're already on ddwrt.

lamboman · 22 Jul 2014 at 19:03

Lisapete said:
Tested using inSSIDer on laptop which has both 2.4 and 5 Ghz.

Try from the router as well (Wireless > Site Survey) and adjust manually so that you have a clear channel on both sides. Could be that the router is getting interference. If that doesn't work, try a different version of the Merlin firmware. Do you have thick walls or anything?

Failing all this, faulty router? If you've had it for a while, is this a recent thing?

Settings all appear to be fine, only things I would change (provided that you're only using 802.11n devices) is to change preamble to short and explicitly set the wireless modes to N only, just for the sake of being tidy.

Lisapete said:
What about antenna placement like this https://www.bestvpn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-02-13-16.26.101.jpg

That does work well, but of course you'll need to stand the router up.

Just seen your other thread, the N66U is one of, if not the very best consumer N router on the market in terms of wireless performance. So as above, it's either a settings problem, faulty router, or you have exceptional requirements that are beyond the scope of any "consumer" product.

Rroff · 22 Jul 2014 at 19:06

Get decent coverage and range out of my N66U :S haven't even touched any settings for the wifi other than for authentication/security.

Lisapete · 22 Jul 2014 at 20:24

lamboman said:
Try from the router as well (Wireless > Site Survey) and adjust manually so that you have a clear channel on both sides. Could be that the router is getting interference. If that doesn't work, try a different version of the Merlin firmware. Do you have thick walls or anything?

Failing all this, faulty router? If you've had it for a while, is this a recent thing?

Settings all appear to be fine, only things I would change (provided that you're only using 802.11n devices) is to change preamble to short and explicitly set the wireless modes to N only, just for the sake of being tidy.

That does work well, but of course you'll need to stand the router up.

Just seen your other thread, the N66U is one of, if not the very best consumer N router on the market in terms of wireless performance. So as above, it's either a settings problem, faulty router, or you have exceptional requirements that are beyond the scope of any "consumer" product.

House is a new build, only 5 years old.

Have got it stood up like the pic and now the aerials as is. Am getting more range already.

Took the advice on the tidy stuff and have done the changes you listed.

Could be a faulty unit, have had it a year now.

I've changed my channels and played with inSSIDer

I'm sat 8 ft away from it nothing in the way

bremen1874 · 22 Jul 2014 at 21:17

What's wrong with -30dBm? What are you expecting to see?