I’m flattered, and you’re correct in assuming that I do this stuff professionally. Unfortunately in this case it’s not a case of paid/unpaid, but that I simply try to avoid wifi applications for several reasons. (Except for some really specialty things like characterizing antennas, radiation patterns, spurious emissions, so RF stuff.) Additionally, I haven’t even seen the device you’re having problems with.
Some things I would check out:
- update to at least 7.19.3 - there were many fixes
- do a wifi scan (on the AP), attempt to select a channel with the least amount of interference
- choose lower channel widths: for 2.4 use 20 MHz, for 5 GHz use 20/40
- get the actual tx power (command and sample output):
[admin@xxx] > /interface/wifi/monitor wifi1,wifi2 proplist=tx-power once
tx-power: 25 15
My best guess is that you will find disappointingly low values for “tx-power”. You can find out what the regulatory limits are for your region like this:
[admin@xxx] > /interface/wifi/radio/reg-info 0 country="United States"
ranges: 2402-2472/30dBm/6gain/40MHz
5170-5250/30dBm/6gain/160MHz
5250-5330/24dBm/6gain/160MHz/dfs
5490-5730/24dBm/6gain/160MHz/dfs
5735-5895/30dBm/6gain/160MHz
There is a chance that Mikrotik’s built-in limits don’t match the actual restrictions in your country. Mostly they do. Other manufacturers routinely violate these out-of-the-box. You can do the same by using this country:
[admin@xxx] > /interface/wifi/radio/reg-info 0 country="Superchannel"
ranges: 2402-2482/60dBm/40MHz
5170-5895/60dBm/160MHz
From this point on, how much you’re wiling to violate EIRP limits is up to you. Don’t go overboard. Beyond a tx-power of 20 you’ll find diminishing returns, beyond around 23 it’s totally pointless.