Hi,
I have been trying different settings to get a decent coverage and speed with my new router with the 5GHZ band but I cannot seem to find a solution.
Any help would be much appreciated.
With Asus RT-AC86U I get full coverage at points #2,3,4 with around 440mbits and get coverage even in my balcony at #5.
I have tried using different countries including mine, set “TxPower” to 30-40, and “Antenna Gain” to 0 but those even lessened the coverage somehow.
The following is my apartment plan and is around 95 square meters:
And my config:
> interface/wifiwave2/export
# 2023-09-23 12:15:22 by RouterOS 7.11.2
# software id = 5024-SFFQ
#
# model = C53UiG+5HPaxD2HPaxD
# serial number = <removed>
/interface wifiwave2
set [ find default-name=wifi1 ] channel.band=5ghz-ax .frequency=5380-5780 \
.skip-dfs-channels=disabled .width=20/40/80mhz configuration.mode=ap .ssid=\
SNN-2 disabled=no security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk
set [ find default-name=wifi2 ] channel.band=2ghz-ax .skip-dfs-channels=\
disabled .width=20/40mhz configuration.mode=ap .ssid=SNN-1 disabled=no \
security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk
/interface wifiwave2 channel
add band=5ghz-ax disabled=no frequency=5500-5780 name=1XX skip-dfs-channels=\
disabled width=20/40/80+80mhz
Why don’t you use the lower channels 5160-5340 (UNII-1 and UNII-2A)?
The channels you use now, are subject to reduced TX power AFAIK.
Nothing Mikrotik can do about it, they are pretty strict in following regulations for that aspect.
They are being used by my neighbours.
Asus was fixed to use channel 100.
I just tested it again with frequencies 5250-5330 and got slightly worse performance. 436mbits next to the router and around 50 on the other locations, with no range improvement.
That seems very low for an AX class device. However, the AC86 was known for its range - even newer ASUS routers have a hard time keeping up. The ASUS can also automatically change the band used (Smart Connect) as required by the client.
How was the performance with the previous firmware, and are you sure you updated both the software AND the firmware ?
Did you reset the router ?
Did you do a survey scan on the clients and check for channel utilization ?
Was the AC86 turned off when you performed your tests ?
Did you perform your tests with more than one client (I had an old Intel card what was notoriously finicky on the hAP ac2 that I use as an AP) ?
Can you move the router to room 4 to see if your range improves ?
How is the range on 2.4 GHz ?
It’s tedious, but when I had issues, I would manually select frequency/channel width according to my survey results and work from there with each client. Changing gain/power shouldn’t be necessary and might cause more problems. Lastly, like previously mentioned, higher frequencies generally offer the worst range…
I am using an hAP AX3 and I am very happy (way better than other solutions).
You are using two different SSID for 5Ghz and 2.4 Ghz.
My experience in a concrete building with 80 m2 would be to se the same SSID and let the client choose the best transmission.
Also don’t look at speed indicated by wireless, but calculate them using iPerf3.
You will see that speed depends on walls, doors, concrete, etc…
Your speed will be 1Gbit/s in front of the AX3 and maybe 200Mb/s on the balcony.
All this is normal.
That Asus uses 4x4 MIMO on AC if I read the specs correctly.
AX3 uses 2x2 AX
So even if there is a difference between wifi5 (Asus) and Wifi6 (MT), the difference in MIMO-usage gives an advantage to Asus.
Not an equal comparison then.
Sitting at #4, my MacBook Pro cannot connect to the 5ghz band, saying I should get closer to the router.
I returned the 5 GHz band to its default settings and got 20 Mbits at #4. I saw that it selected channel “5745/ax/Ceee”.
I get mixed results with the 2.4 GHz band, just with better coverage.
All the testing has been a frustrating experience.
I don’t expect a similar performance as Asus, but this performance seems below an entry-level router.
My neighbor with the cheapest ISP router below my apartment says he gets 200 MB out of 300 at #4.
I could use the ASUS as an access point or buy another access point, but I don’t want to.
I expected this device to have decent coverage, at least.
I saw people complaining on Reddit, specifically for hAP AX3, that Wi-Fi became unusable after upgrading from ROS 7.6 to ROS 7.8, and they downgraded it to ROS 7.6.
I am already on 7.11.2. I don’t get how you get coverage in a three-floor house, and I get such a bad performance in an apartment.
Please let me know if you think I am missing something and need me to share additional configuration information.
Shall I open a ticket to Mikrotik as well? Do they provide support to all users?
Unless the unit is defective (possible, but unlikely), there’s surely a setting/firmware issue in a space with probably lots of interference. You should downgrade back to the factory firmware just in case. Even if I had an ax3, my results would be different from yours. Anyway, it would also be good to get the signal strengths readings during the survey from a client. And I would finally test the router somewhere else to make sure it’s defective (work, a relative’s or a friend’s house).
I am out of ideas. MT support isn’t the best, from the comments I see online - you can try. You might have better luck going back to the dealer it was purchased from. Paying a consultant to fix the issues you are having doesn’t sound reasonable for a low-cost router…
MT wireless cannot be fairly compared to ASUS even if they could be on par feature wise. While they do have duds and other issues, they use optimized closed source drivers tied to specific kernel versions (in the last decade at least). Hence, they don’t support anything for a very long time and move on to new gen features quickly (they already have Wi-Fi 7 routers announced). Merlin has been limiting support because of this. They also sell a huge amount of units, and thus, they have a very close relationship with chip suppliers like Broadcom.
This is a strange problem you have here, I can confirm that with ax3 i had no problem with maxing out my internet connection in my house (two stories, and floor is made from reinforced concrete, and I don’t have drywall walls, all made from bricks.)
Did you check if your antennas are screw tightly ? Is there any source of interference near router ?
Set your frequency to 5180 for eg. Also you should perform a scan to see what channel are less crowded.
Setting Antenna Gain to 0 and boosting the Tx Power as you have done will seriously distort the signal and make it a noisy garbled mess with lower speeds and shorter range, not longer!
Set the Antenna Gain to 5-6 as it should be (the datasheet specify the antenna gain 5.5) and experiment with lowering the Tx Power. For reference i use a gain of 6 and tx power 22 with much improved performance from what i previously had.
Also try different channels. Don’t worry too much about the neighbours and instead focus on avoiding the frequencys that have limitations on transmit power in your country.
