I want to reduce the visibility of an access point. Is setting all-rates-fixed under the Tx Power tab the proper way to do this? Will it automatically use less power than my value when needed and this is just an upper limit?
Select your country and increase antenna gain … this will efectively reduce the TX power of your wlan. Higher the antenna gain, lower the power.
JF.
Doing this does not change the values that show up under the Current Tx Power tab.
use frequency-mode=regulatory-domain select your country and apply the antenn-gain or use the frequency-mode=all-rates-fixed and specify a lower value of the tx-power.
The antenna-gain method produced much better results for me.
…when I mistakenly thought that an MT RB was the right way to go for reliable wireless…
No MT device I’ve tried could hold a solid connection above ~18 Mbps in my house (brick walls on even the interior). When I tried flat db power (tried 9 different power levels) I couldn’t get more than a few Mbps in some areas, but could get up to around 18Mbps in others. When I set the regulatory domain as US, and tried stepping the antenna-gain at a few points I was able to get around ~12 Mbps in most areas.
I tossed the MT RB wireless out with the trash and bought a Asus RT-N16 I get >100Mbps throughout the entire house and most of the cleared property. (actually the RB951 is doing wireless client duty out at the barn to feed some IP cameras, but I couldn’t even SELL the SXT and Grooves I had so they got thrown out)
MT RB’s were also VERY sensitive to my amateur radio activities as well as the microwave ovens (heat up a glass of water for tea and the whole wireless network would be at crawl, tried 2 different microwaves, 1 brand new). No such problems with the RT-N16. I could reboot the MT RB at will with my HF rig in AM on 160M (about 400W at the feed, antenna is 250M from the house). Asus is solid as a rock.
I’ve had a positive experience, love RouterOS. I hope they keep improving their lineup.