I'm stumped. The last two things I can think of are 1) try connecting to the 2.4ghz radio on the wrt32xx, and 2) temporarily disconnect the wrt32xx from the main router and trying pinging 192.168.1.10 from your laptop.
Replace it with R7800, R9000 or an older used EA8500.
I think this is where my head is now.
Unfortunately had it too long for a return, so will need to ebay it. Should have so much potential, but very disappointing. A long way from the old bullet proof WRT54Gs...
Replace it with R7800, R9000 or an older used EA8500.
If you must make a solution for the WRT32X, disable the internal radios and use an external access point such as netgear EX7300v2.
Thanks for the post update. I think rather than have an expensive router with no wifi capability, I'd rather sell this thing on, and buy something that can be used for Routing and Wifi.
If the Netgears work well on DDWRT I will look out for a good used one.
To confirm:
It needs to be the non-VDSL version? The model no. seems to be referred to something different on each site!
Sorry for your troubles - I'm at a loss. Did you ever run the 32xx with stock Linksys firmware? Or did you go right to DD-WRT?
I have a similar setup to yours except my main device is a 3200ACM (set to gateway mode) and it is hardwired to a 1900ACSv1 WAP (set to router mode). I've been working from home with multiple zoom meetings a day, along with two kids home from university taking remote classes, and I have not noticed any drop-outs. They would be bitching at me if they had problems! We have around 15 devices roaming between all four radios throughout the day.
From my MacBook client, I did some more ping tests and noticed an occasional spike to 150ms followed by 2 or 3 around 60-80ms, then back to normal. I tracked this down to the "locationd" service on MACOS that will routinely use the WIFI to try and determine the macbook's location. Using an app like "wifi explorer" will trigger this latency spike every 20-30 seconds or so as it does its polling. But it never causes a dropout like you've been seeing.
Sorry for your troubles - I'm at a loss. Did you ever run the 32xx with stock Linksys firmware? Or did you go right to DD-WRT?
I have a similar setup to yours except my main device is a 3200ACM (set to gateway mode) and it is hardwired to a 1900ACSv1 WAP (set to router mode). I've been working from home with multiple zoom meetings a day, along with two kids home from university taking remote classes, and I have not noticed any drop-outs. They would be bitching at me if they had problems! We have around 15 devices roaming between all four radios throughout the day.
From my MacBook client, I did some more ping tests and noticed an occasional spike to 150ms followed by 2 or 3 around 60-80ms, then back to normal. I tracked this down to the "locationd" service on MACOS that will routinely use the WIFI to try and determine the macbook's location. Using an app like "wifi explorer" will trigger this latency spike every 20-30 seconds or so as it does its polling. But it never causes a dropout like you've been seeing.
Sorry we couldn't find the root-cause.
Thanks, I appreciate the help, and I'm a bit confused why I'm getting these spikes so much, but just time to move on I think.
I went straight to OpenWRT - which had worse lag issues, but never got into ping testing - I assumed it was config issue as I've never used OpenWRT before.
I then tried stock Linksys firmware, but it's so basic I couldn't see how I could get it to run as an Access Point. I did try and use it as my main router, connected to PPPoE modem, but that wouldn't ever connect. No idea why as OpenWRT and DD-WRT work with same config and credentials! Basically the stock firmware was so crap and minimal I didn't try for long - there are so few options I had nothing I could change other than username/password and I know they are right?
R9000 is overpriced; the 2.4 and 5 GHz radios are the same as R7800 (QCA9984). Extra cores, flash & RAM are likely overkill.
EA8500 has older QCA9980 radios and the dual core CPU runs a little slower at 1.4 GHz, but does not require active cooling.
R8000 is Broadcom and vendor wifi driver support is not where it needs to be, so avoid it along with Marvell.
Very useful, thanks! Shame there are loads of R8000/R8000P for good money used. They look cool as well!
Looks like I'll be going for a R7800 new, as I can't find many used and they tend to hold their value from what I can tell.
If I wanted to extend using an extender, why do you specifically recommend the EX7300v2? How do I tell the EX7300 and EX7300v2 apart?
I can find many more of the EX7500 - for cheaper as well strangely.
EX7500 is great, I have one. The user interface is a little crap but once configured properly it does the job very well. I have it set to extend 2.4GHz only (5GHz disconnected/disabled) so a third radio is repurposed to 2.4GHz, making up for a halved bandwidth situation of wireless extenders. Normally two radios connect to 5Ghz. Latency penalty is surprisingly low. There is no Ethernet port.
EX7300v2 has an updated CPU/2.4GHz radio QCN5502 and newer 5GHz radio QCA9984 (matching R7800) when compared to an almost 3 years older EX7300. If using an Ethernet backhaul these would be the extenders to use, in AP mode. The label or sticker on the back of the unit in the upper right will display the model name. The side of the retail box should mention it somewhere.
I recommended EX7300v2 as a WRT32X solution; it has an Ethernet port and Access Point mode. R7800 alone has great coverage.
EX7500 is great, I have one. The user interface is a little crap but once configured properly it does the job very well. I have it set to extend 2.4GHz only (5GHz disconnected/disabled) so a third radio is repurposed to 2.4GHz, making up for a halved bandwidth situation of wireless extenders. Normally two radios connect to 5Ghz. Latency penalty is surprisingly low. There is no Ethernet port.
EX7300v2 has an updated CPU/2.4GHz radio QCN5502 and newer 5GHz radio QCA9984 (matching R7800) when compared to an almost 3 years older EX7300. If using an Ethernet backhaul these would be the extenders to use, in AP mode. The label or sticker on the back of the unit in the upper right will display the model name. The side of the retail box should mention it somewhere.
I recommended EX7300v2 as a WRT32X solution; it has an Ethernet port and Access Point mode. R7800 alone has great coverage.
Great thanks. Didn't realise the EX7500 was purely a repeater.
I've ordered a new r7800, and will see how the range is first. Are there any threads that show recommendations for wifi settings on the r7800?