Just got an Asus RT-N66U

Looks good so far. 150Mbs Wifi compared to PlusNet's 582 65Mbps.

Actual Wifi varying a lot right now - speed tests between same as wired and quite poor. Next step might be a 5GHz dongle.

Impressive GUI.

Latency on BQM appears to have dropped by 3-4ms ??? I didn't touch the modem. I wonder if for that I just needed a new PPP session, as a few weeks ago it reverted to Fast Path in the middle of the night, with a big latency drop of course, so I did a reboot of the modem during the day giving a bit better speed but adding 3-4ms latency .

PING bbc.co.uk (212.58.251.195): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=0 ttl=120 time=12.639 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=1 ttl=120 time=12.474 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=2 ttl=120 time=12.717 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=3 ttl=120 time=12.452 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=4 ttl=120 time=12.472 ms

--- bbc.co.uk ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 12.452/12.550/12.717 ms

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Looks good so far. 150Mbs Wifi compared to PlusNet's 582 65Mbps.

Actual Wifi varying a lot right now - speed tests between same as wired and quite poor. Next step might be a 5GHz dongle.

Make sure the antennas on the Asus are as in the picture on the box, middle one straight up, side two slightly leaning around 45degrees. That helped here, although mine is in the centre of the room.

Using inSSIDer you can determine if you are using 20mhz or 40mhz mode at 2.4GHz - its friendlier to use 20mhz mode as it only uses one channel. At 5GHz there is no problem using 40mhz dual channel mode, its expected. Apple devices (including their laptops, desktops, phones and tablets) will only use 20mhz at 2.4GHz, they refuse to use 40mhz as its so unfriendly to other people.

You should try the iPad as its 5GHz capable (all iPads are including iPad 1, but only the iPhone 5 and later are). I deliberately created different SSIDs for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz transmissions so I can tell which one I'm connected to.

Latency on BQM appears to have dropped by 3-4ms ??? I didn't touch the modem. I wonder if for that I just needed a new PPP session, as a few weeks ago it reverted to Fast Path in the middle of the night, with a big latency drop of course, so I did a reboot of the modem during the day giving a bit better speed but adding 3-4ms latency .

Dropped is good no? The Asus could be replying faster to the BQM pings - the modem doesn't see them as they're inside the PPP packets.

PING bbc.co.uk (212.58.251.195): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=0 ttl=120 time=12.639 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=1 ttl=120 time=12.474 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=2 ttl=120 time=12.717 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=3 ttl=120 time=12.452 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.251.195: seq=4 ttl=120 time=12.472 ms

--- bbc.co.uk ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 12.452/12.550/12.717 ms

Here's my ping from my ASUS:
PING bbc.co.uk (212.58.253.67): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 212.58.253.67: seq=0 ttl=115 time=18.516 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.253.67: seq=1 ttl=115 time=19.351 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.253.67: seq=2 ttl=115 time=19.223 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.253.67: seq=3 ttl=115 time=18.820 ms
64 bytes from 212.58.253.67: seq=4 ttl=115 time=18.829 ms

--- bbc.co.uk ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 18.516/18.947/19.351 ms

I also installed Merlin's firmware.

Edited by jchamier (Sat 23-Nov-13 09:32:08)

I've got the antennae angled, but the router is in the corner of an upstairs room in a steel-framed house, with me downstairs. Early days yet, and the first test may have been anomalous for some reason.

I probably won't continue with the 40MHz setting - I just wanted to see if it would bring this laptop back to its max of 150Mbps like my old Buffalo could. Thanks for the bit about iPad and no 40MHz.

Other than by SSID, is there any way on my iPad (Air) to know which frequency it is using? Currently I have SSID/password identical, but easy enough to change. Already done it once. On 2.4GHz it is almost instant loading web pages - far faster than this i3 laptop on Win 8 was after a few months. (Upgraded to 8.1 2-3 days ago and running a bit faster). Getting any useful technical info out of the iPad seems impossible - presumably intentional.

I've been using InSSIDer 3 from the minute I turned it on .

Re the latency, unfortunately I didn't record the detailed HG612 stats and forget anyway which is the "delay" line. The D: line is 1/1, showing Fast Path.

What's the 450Mbps all about, as per the box/manual and InSSIDer? Is it like other manufacturers - some proprietary compression method if it has ASUS kit at the other end? Or is it meaning 3 x 150 networks are possible on each frequency.

What's the purpose/advantage of Merlin firmware please?

Wireless speed tests sorted!

I'd forgotten - InSSIDer screws them up. Presumably everything else as well.

Interesting effect on my BQM, if you get a chance to look today. The regular spikes I and others have seen in the past are there, but never wee with the 582n.

I get those with mine too (same router), see links in sig.

They're more pronounced with the wireless set to 40MHz iirc.

The spikes are nothing to worry about, the router will put the BQM responses at the bottom of its priority list. It will focus more on other things so if you put it under heavy load the BQM can start to look significantly worse (I have found anyway).
450Mbps basically bonds the channels yep, so 3x150 on each channel and can give speeds above 100Mbps ethernet. You need a very strong signal to see these speeds though. On 5Ghz this is fine however on 2.4Ghz it will need to use 1, 6 and 11 simultaneously for these speeds so it will use the entire 2.4Ghz frequency. Presumably auto channel selection is the best for this type of setup and I reckon it will back off on 2.4Ghz quite a lot due to interference.

I often find channel bonding makes the range worse and throughput worse further away, closer up it makes throughput substantially better.

I wasn't wowed by the ASUS RT WiFi range, how do you find it? I tried it out as a tenant left it behind (can you believe it!!) It seemed around the same as every other router I tried.
For me the best solution has been to setup multiple APs around the house, so that everywhere has a decent signal. I now see around 140Mbps on WiFi 5Ghz via home transfers and a slowish 50Mbps on 2.4Ghz.

I would personally have 450Mbps on 5Ghz and just use 1 channel on 2.4 Ghz to avoid interference and maximise 2.4 Ghz range

EDIT: iPad air, there is no way to see which frequency it is using and I would personally set them up as separate SSIDs. Otherwise in 90% of the home the 2.4Ghz will be stronger than the 5Ghz signal, so everything will just use that even if it offers lower throughput. In large deployments they get around this by setting 5Ghz output power far higher than 2.4Ghz so that the signals are generally quite equal with 5Ghz often just having a slight edge. So that works quite well in businesses and they can have just one SSID. For home this isn't ideal as you want the range without lots of APs dotted about.

Throughput is really good on this router closeup. You need 5Ghz to largely feel the benefits though.

Edited by ukhardy07 (Sat 23-Nov-13 15:14:23)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

What's the 450Mbps all about, as per the box/manual and InSSIDer? Is it like other manufacturers - some proprietary compression method if it has ASUS kit at the other end? Or is it meaning 3 x 150 networks are possible on each frequency.

It sounds as if the router is capable of 3 MIMO streams. Most mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are only equipped to operate on one stream due to lack of space for multiple antennas and power budget concerns.

I think the iPad air can support 2 partial streams so 300Mbps which is quite good but not the full 450. Mainly battery limits things.

I'm just playing really. As I said, even as things were with the 582n the iPad is like lightning. I don't do huge streaming, catchup type TV is all.

I do object to not getting full throughput of my FTTC on the laptop, that's all, due to a combination of cheap router and wifi card.

I reckon I'm going to get an ASUS USB-N53 dual band adapter. Then I'll be able to see what's around at 5GHz as well, through InSSIDer.