[zabolots]

Wife (Google Pixel 5 & IBM laptop) & kids (iPhones & Macbooks) all complain about poor wifi performance (laggy transfers & dropped connections). The signal quality is fine, channel selection is optimized based on least neighbor interference (though 2.4Ghz is all crowded). I have occasionally noticed it on my Pixel 5 as well.

how do I go about troubleshooting this in DD-WRT? I tried jumping over to OpenWRT so that I could try the non-CT driver/firmware combo but the issue persisted after that change.

DD-WRT status page shows no errors on either WiFi interface so I'm not even sure how to go about troubleshooting something like this.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[d00zah]

I think this sticky (top of this forum's list) might be a good place to start.

QCA BEST WIFI SETTINGS

[egc]

Ddwrt has two firmwares.

Most users use VANILLA.

See the R7800 install guide link in my signature

[zabolots]

[zabolots]

[blkt]

Build r49544 or wait for the next. Provide configuration details or start over. Confirm Ethernet is fine (ISP).

[MLandi]

[zabolots]

[zabolots]

[BubbaMoe]

All you can really do is try a process of elimination.

Does it happen on stock firmware? Is it 2ghz or 5ghz dropping? Are they dropping out of the client list... you can see how long they're connected on the status page. Can they still connect to the lan when they are "dropped" meaning maybe its a wan issue.

If you say, isolate to 2ghz then just try one channel at a time something as simple as a microwave can completely futz certain 2ghz bands which work fine 99%.

Isolate where the issue is and just start trying different parameters on the router, mainly channel/network mode/width and that's really all you can do.

If it drops out on both 2ghz and 5ghz that would either be a router issue or you got some wild interference. Can just reclaim a cheap router and see if it has the same issue.

[egc]

5 GHz disable airtime fairness and choose AC/N Wireless Network Mode

[the-joker]

@BubbaMoe

A microwave releases its electromagnetic radiation directionally towards the inside of the shielded area where you place the food.
A regular modern microwave will have RFI/EMI shielding, so unless the shielding is failing, little chance unless the router and clients are right next to it remember this is directional aimed at the inner shielded chamber and the RF source outside chamber is also shielded.

Bluetooth and other 2.4Ghz household devices, could however interfere far easier. Broadcom has some BT coexistence mode, no idea how this works exactly but it works, Atheros however I dont think it has this functionality.

I use a WiFi analyzer on my mobile to check which channels however are less crowded and have setup my router accordingly, so its quite interference free setup. Definitely recommend, especially in interference rich environments.
Also taking in consideration placement of the router depending what the buildings walls are made of.

[zabolots]

[blkt]

I always recommend current New Build - 07/27/2022 - r49567 also nvram erase && reboot after upgrade.
Especially if firmware environments have changed (stock, modified stock, openwrt, dd-wrt etc.) start over.

I keep defaults for both Protection Mode None and RTS Threshold Disable, as well as Beacon 100, DTIM 2.
Maybe regulatory domain is having some effect, or not, I just keep default or the current country location.

[dale_gribble39]

Enabling RTS/CTS protection and setting threshold has no value if you cannot set (802.11g) fragmentation threshold in the webUI. I don't think fragmentation is auto-set when you enable these (?). If you read the QCA Wireless Settings Wiki and the servervault article link, you will see that the information was clearly misunderstood. The "best answer" was to set fragmentation threshold at 784 and RTS threshold at 534. The only "problem" is that the MTU for 802.11 is not 1500, it is 2304 (up to 2312). So, fragmentation threshold could be set to 1152(1156), and RTS threshold set to 768(771). And that is -if- we had the ability to change the fragmentation threshold in the webUI. That sticky and the wiki are not quite optimal recommendations, anyway.