R9000 Not doing the trick for major signal issues in house

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pan0phobik
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Apr 2017
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 20:52    Post subject: R9000 Not doing the trick for major signal issues in house Reply with quote
Got an R9000 a few years ago to combat some poor signal issues and for the first few months it was great. It seemed to have conquered our signal issues, wifi was strong, and everyone could download fast.

Over a few months it degraded back to what it was before I bought the R9000.

Since then the router has also been moved upstairs where it isn't far from a laundry chute which I know causes major interference.

I've tried multiple channels on both 5 ghz and 2.4 and nothing seems to improve stability.

We have a 2 story house with a lot of bedrooms, a good amount of mirrors, a laundry chute near where the router currently resides (because I WFH and need a hard wired connection) and signal issues are horrendous at the house.

Should I try DD-WRT firmware? Ubiquiti AP? At my wit's end.
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Alozaros
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Joined: 16 Nov 2015
Posts: 6410
Location: UK, London, just across the river..

PostPosted: Tue Oct 27, 2020 23:47    Post subject: Reply with quote
bad wi-fi settings, bad router placement, will not be improved with DDWRT firmware...installation...
it wont hurt to try... in general those units must have a fair range...I usually use a WAP's with power-line adaptors to improve wi-fi coverage.. https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_access_point

1 step make sure you move router where is in central position, away from interference...
2 step if you install DDWRT follow those wi-fi settings
https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1198757#1198757

not bad to start with https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=324087

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Atheros
TP-Link WR740Nv1 ---DD-WRT 55179 WAP
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -DD-WRT 55303 Gateway/DoT,Forced DNS,Ad-Block,Firewall,x4VLAN,VPN
TP-Link WR1043NDv2 -Gargoyle OS 1.15.x AP,DNS,QoS,Quotas
Qualcomm-Atheros
Netgear XR500 --DD-WRT 55460 Gateway/DoH,Forced DNS,AP Isolation,4VLAN,Ad-Block,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R7800 --DD-WRT 55460 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,Forced DNS,AP&Net Isolation,x3VLAN,Firewall,Vanilla
Netgear R9000 --DD-WRT 55363 Gateway/DoT,AD-Block,AP Isolation,Firewall,Forced DNS,x2VLAN,Vanilla
Broadcom
Netgear R7000 --DD-WRT 55460 Gateway/SmartDNS/DoH,AD-Block,Firewall,Forced DNS,x3VLAN,VPN
NOT USING 5Ghz ANYWHERE
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ddaniel51
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 19 Feb 2013
Posts: 1464

PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:39    Post subject: Reply with quote
I use 3 R9000's spread through the house and hardwired to provide coverage and redundancy during maint and firmware updates. I have about 30 Wifi devices in the house so it's nice to spread them. Using 20db on tx. Each radio has it's own channel.

One SSID for the 2.4 radios and one for the 5ghz using a single password for all.

Being a repair/computer tech I purchased them cheaply as broken on Ebay with the most common problem being bricked.

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foz111
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 01 Oct 2017
Posts: 704
Location: Earth

PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 8:58    Post subject: Reply with quote
Turn wifi off on router and get cheapish mesh system, unsure of your location but i used BT Whole home 4 disc system (purchased used off eBay 2 or 3 years ago), not perfect but cheap enough and perfect hand offs as you roam the 3 story property, discs can be added in garages etc, i use Ethernet backhaul but you can use Wireless backhaul if required.
msoengineer
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 21 Jan 2017
Posts: 1782
Location: Illinois Moderator

PostPosted: Wed Oct 28, 2020 18:46    Post subject: Re: R9000 Not doing the trick for major signal issues in hou Reply with quote
pan0phobik wrote:
Got an R9000 a few years ago to combat some poor signal issues and for the first few months it was great. It seemed to have conquered our signal issues, wifi was strong, and everyone could download fast.

Over a few months it degraded back to what it was before I bought the R9000.

Since then the router has also been moved upstairs where it isn't far from a laundry chute which I know causes major interference.

I've tried multiple channels on both 5 ghz and 2.4 and nothing seems to improve stability.

We have a 2 story house with a lot of bedrooms, a good amount of mirrors, a laundry chute near where the router currently resides (because I WFH and need a hard wired connection) and signal issues are horrendous at the house.

Should I try DD-WRT firmware? Ubiquiti AP? At my wit's end.


Move to DD-WRT if using stock firmware and then read the sticky about best wifi settings and I think you'll sort out most of your issues. The R9000 should easily cover 2500 sq ft of home, minus 5ghz after three walls...

See my signature. and use the most recent builds available as lots of recent tweaks improving on wifi signal.

_________________
FORUM RULES

TIPS/TRICKS: Best QCA Wifi Settings | Latency tricks | QoS Port priority | NEVER USE MU-MIMO |
Why to NOT use MU-MIMO | Max Wifi Pwr by Country | Linux Wifi Pwr | AC MCS & AX MCS | QCA 5Ghz chnls to use | WIFI Freq WIKI | TFTP R7800 | Don't buy AX | IPERF3 How-To

[R9000]52396 nightly (Main Router)
[EA8500]43192 & 45493 (2xOffsite)
[R7800] resting
[WDR3600]BS 44715 (Offsite)
[A7v5]BS 43038 (Offsite+spare napping)
pan0phobik
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Apr 2017
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 18:46    Post subject: Re: R9000 Not doing the trick for major signal issues in hou Reply with quote
msoengineer wrote:
pan0phobik wrote:
Got an R9000 a few years ago to combat some poor signal issues and for the first few months it was great. It seemed to have conquered our signal issues, wifi was strong, and everyone could download fast.

Over a few months it degraded back to what it was before I bought the R9000.

Since then the router has also been moved upstairs where it isn't far from a laundry chute which I know causes major interference.

I've tried multiple channels on both 5 ghz and 2.4 and nothing seems to improve stability.

We have a 2 story house with a lot of bedrooms, a good amount of mirrors, a laundry chute near where the router currently resides (because I WFH and need a hard wired connection) and signal issues are horrendous at the house.

Should I try DD-WRT firmware? Ubiquiti AP? At my wit's end.


Move to DD-WRT if using stock firmware and then read the sticky about best wifi settings and I think you'll sort out most of your issues. The R9000 should easily cover 2500 sq ft of home, minus 5ghz after three walls...

See my signature. and use the most recent builds available as lots of recent tweaks improving on wifi signal.


Finally got around to doing this and it was a massive improvement. For a week. All the exact same problems returned. I'm at my wit's end and want to just go full blown Office Space on this fucking router.
Per Yngve Berg
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 13 Aug 2013
Posts: 6858
Location: Romerike, Norway

PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2021 20:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
Go to Status->Wireless and you can see the status of each wifi client connected.

What WAN connection do you have?
pan0phobik
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Apr 2017
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 18:54    Post subject: Reply with quote
Per Yngve Berg wrote:
Go to Status->Wireless and you can see the status of each wifi client connected.

What WAN connection do you have?


I'm not sure what you mean by what WAN connection do I have?

It's set to DHCP. WAN Domain name is Namehsd1.il.comcast.net.
msoengineer
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 21 Jan 2017
Posts: 1782
Location: Illinois Moderator

PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 22:09    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have a R9000 as my daily driver and so does Brainslayer... We're not having any issues with the firmware like you describe...You truly might have a bad router as Netgear had a bad batch of R9000's with flaky wifi radios.

Hopefully you might be under warranty still?

If not, perform a full factory reset. While powered on hold the reset button for 10 seconds and let go. It will reboot and you will be back to defaults. Then, manually re-enter the best wifi settings as seen in my signature link and see how things go.

The status>sys-info page is a good one to watch and see what SNR's are for the various wifi clients. Anything <20 is suspect and will have intermittent issues. 15-16 seems to be the magic number where things turn to total shit.

If you see many clients with low SNR, that means your router is in a bad spot in the house and you need to move it. Again in the best wifi settings I have a link to a good article that talks about router placement- take the time to read it.

The R9000 is a very good router and has very good antenna's and ability to reach far. So as I said, either your hardware is legit going bad or you need to relocate the router... I have no issues with Comcast in IL and my R9000.

The best build at the moment is still 44715 from 2020.

_________________
FORUM RULES

TIPS/TRICKS: Best QCA Wifi Settings | Latency tricks | QoS Port priority | NEVER USE MU-MIMO |
Why to NOT use MU-MIMO | Max Wifi Pwr by Country | Linux Wifi Pwr | AC MCS & AX MCS | QCA 5Ghz chnls to use | WIFI Freq WIKI | TFTP R7800 | Don't buy AX | IPERF3 How-To

[R9000]52396 nightly (Main Router)
[EA8500]43192 & 45493 (2xOffsite)
[R7800] resting
[WDR3600]BS 44715 (Offsite)
[A7v5]BS 43038 (Offsite+spare napping)
yodog
DD-WRT User


Joined: 04 Mar 2017
Posts: 89

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 12:30    Post subject: Reply with quote
R9000's rule. That is what I know.


I can tell you a couple of the settings that have worked for me. I mainly just use wifi from my iPhone XS and iPhone 8.

I can't say which setting(s) will do you justice but I can tell you what worked for me in an environment that is congested due to many neighbors, as well as physical obstruction type congestion. As far as placement goes for your R9000. The R9000 is one bad ass mofo and it actually does have a very long range, even the 5GHZ band from my experience - however, you need to make sure the thing stays "cool" aka get a computer fan, some of those rubber feet and have it so it can casually blow some nice cool air on it.

As for router/wifi settings, there are many more to change besides these, but I still find these to be very impactful and i've been testing these settings for a few years now...


-Set 5ghz mode to "AC/N-Mixed"

-Set it to VHT160(160Mhz) *do not set it to vht80 + vht80*

-Set your 5ghz wifi channel to "channel 100/5500mhz + UUU14"

-Enable Short preamble mode

-Enable Single User Beamforming

-Do not enable Multi-User Beamforming



-Set your ACK Sensitivity range to "3600" (do this for the 2.4ghz and the disabled AD networks too, 3 changes total of the same parameter on three different broadcast networks)



-If you have Frontier 980mbps download/980mbps upload fiber optic gig internet by any chance, then I recommend changing your MTU setting on the "basics setup --> setup" tab to MTU 1500 / Manual

-I also suggest under the Security tab, to have the SPI firewall enabled, but uncheck all the options except for "filter IDENT" and "ARP Spoofing Protection," unless you happen to have any of the QoS options enabled, then I suggest also checkmarking/enabling "Filter TOS/DSCP"

-Change 2.4Ghz network to either channel 4 or channel 9

-Set 2.4ghz mode to "NG-Mixed"

-Set Channel width to "20mhz" for 2.4ghz network

-Enable "TurboQAM (QAM256 Support)" for the 2.4ghz network

-Change the TX Power setting to "23" (an increase of 3db) to all three networks (5ghz/2.4ghz/60ghz AD) *change it to "30" if you happen to decide to try vht80 and use 5ghz channels 149-161*


Ok i got to sleep or i would type more. good luck and hope this helps - the vht160 mode + channel 100 + UUU14 makes it feel like i am virtually immune to other 5ghz network interference conflicts because everyone around me (like 20+ 5ghz networks my r9000 picks up off the scanner) , all use channels 36-44 or channels 149-161. This feature alone, and the fact that it doesn't "auto switch you if it detects radar" like the other R9000 third party firmware called Voxel does, is truly night and day superior in terms of real every day usability. I find that all my devices, whether its a 7 year old ipad that can only do wireless N, or my 5400mhz 9th gen desktop computer doing vht160 1733mbps, or my iphone doing just 866mbps, every single device has from my amateur testing and experience, shows throughput increases of 20-100% over using vht80 while keeping practically the same latency and jitter measurements. Oh, if you still have weird issues, I sometimes also play around with the RTS/CTS setting and the RTS threshold setting. I recommend either selecting none or RTS/CTS and avoid the CTS setting as I saw some performance drops when using it. Oh yeah and I would disable the "No DNS Rebind" option under the services tab (many of the additional DNS or DHCP options are potential game changers as well, just FYI), and I personally change my TCP timeout from 3600 to 1200, but I leave the UDP timeout at 120. ok cheers and hope you can see how badass the r9000 is. if it isn't, perhaps you got a dud. cheers again Smile
ho1Aetoo
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 19 Feb 2019
Posts: 2927
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 14:23    Post subject: Reply with quote
sorry this is total nonsense...
devices that do not support VHT160 will only connect to VHT80 and only to the primary first 80Mhz block (VHT160 is not different than 80+80).

and they don't benefit in the least from the 160mhz

just as useless as disabling DNS rebind, that only makes you susceptible to DNS rebind attacks and has nothing to do with performance at all
Per Yngve Berg
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 13 Aug 2013
Posts: 6858
Location: Romerike, Norway

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 14:32    Post subject: Reply with quote
VHT160 is not the same as 80+80. It uses one 160 Mhaz wide channel versus two 80 MHz wide channel. The two Vht80 does not have to be adjacent.
ho1Aetoo
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 19 Feb 2019
Posts: 2927
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 14:46    Post subject: Reply with quote
VHT160 is a contiguous 160mhz without a gap between

while 80+80 is a channel configuration where the blocks are separated by a gap

VHT160 is still no 160Mhz channel but 2x80MHZ

and all clients which are not able to use VHT160 connect normally with VHT80 to the first 80Mhz block


Last edited by ho1Aetoo on Mon Feb 01, 2021 16:22; edited 1 time in total
msoengineer
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Joined: 21 Jan 2017
Posts: 1782
Location: Illinois Moderator

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 14:56    Post subject: Reply with quote
VHT160 and VHT80+80 modes are pure junk on any non-qca client right now. The support for either is sketchy at best with VHT160 being the only working solution I have seen.

Simply, don't use VHT160 or 80+80 unless you are doing backhaul between two routers with identical chipsets. That is the only reason for it right now.

There is a whole sticky on wifi settings for a reason...it's linked in my signature.

_________________
FORUM RULES

TIPS/TRICKS: Best QCA Wifi Settings | Latency tricks | QoS Port priority | NEVER USE MU-MIMO |
Why to NOT use MU-MIMO | Max Wifi Pwr by Country | Linux Wifi Pwr | AC MCS & AX MCS | QCA 5Ghz chnls to use | WIFI Freq WIKI | TFTP R7800 | Don't buy AX | IPERF3 How-To

[R9000]52396 nightly (Main Router)
[EA8500]43192 & 45493 (2xOffsite)
[R7800] resting
[WDR3600]BS 44715 (Offsite)
[A7v5]BS 43038 (Offsite+spare napping)
ho1Aetoo
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 19 Feb 2019
Posts: 2927
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Mon Feb 01, 2021 17:11    Post subject: Reply with quote
@Per Yngve Berg

sorry for the somewhat rude answer, i was short tempered before

here is a picture in the attachment where you can see how VHT160 is built up

HT40 actually consists of 2x20Mhz channels
HT80 consists of 4x20Mhz channels or 2x40Mhz blocks
HT160 consists of 8x20Mhz channels or 4x40Mhz blocks or 2x80Mhz blocks

as you wrote correctly, the difference between VHT160 and VHT80+80 is that the 160Mhz are once contiguous and once separated by a gap... but makes no difference (160Mhz bandwidth is 160Mhz bandwidth)

here is also an example how VHT80 clients behave with a VHT160 router


Code:
~$ iw wlp8s0 info
Interface wlp8s0
   ifindex 3
   wdev 0x1
   addr d4:3b:04:XX:XX:XX
   ssid DD-WRT
   type managed
   wiphy 0
   channel 100 (5500 MHz), width: 80 MHz, center1: 5530 MHz


as you can see the client connects normally to the first primary 80Mhz block, the secondary block doesn't care and will be ignored

a VHT160 compatible client will use the full 160Mhz contiguous block

Code:
~$ iw wlp3s0 info
Interface wlp3s0
   ifindex 4
   wdev 0x100000001
   addr 24:5e:be:XX:XX:XX
   ssid DD-WRT
   type managed
   wiphy 1
   channel 100 (5500 MHz), width: 160 MHz, center1: 5570 MHz


and a 80+80 client looks like this


Code:
Interface wlp3s0
   ifindex 4
   wdev 0x100000001
   addr 24:5e:be:XX:XX:XX
   ssid DD-WRT
   type managed
   wiphy 1
   channel 100 (5500 MHz), width: 80+80 MHz, center1: 5530 MHz, center2: 5775 MHz


but doesn't change the fact that 80+80 in summary is exactly 160Mhz bandwidth
or that VHT160 actually consists of 2 80Mhz blocks as well (as you can see from the vht80 client)


hope i have explained this better now
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