So I just bought the Asus RT-N56U Router...

[cptwhite_uk]

I recently switched to Origin fibre optic broadband, who supplied me with a VDSL modem and "Tenda W268R" wireless-n router. This is a cheap Chinese router which can be picked up for around £15. Set-up was fine and when connecting via wireless using my Asus P5K-E Wifi Anneta (g rated), I got connection speeds of around 21Mbs (my line is 24Mb down so that's a good speed).

However last Thursday the connection completely flaked out. I managed to connect to the VDSL modem with the laptop via ethernet cable, and confirmed the connection was still working (with a wired speed of around 22.5Mbs), so the problem seemed to be somewhere between the wireless router and the PC, after multiple re-connects and reboots I gave up trying to solve it. For reference it would connection but the through put was very patchy, like an extremely unstable 56k modem).

I decided to bite the bullet and after reading some reviews opted for the Asus RT-N56U as a replacement. It had many things going for it:

2x USB Ports so you can plug in storage devices for access anywhere on the network, and also access via FTP with username / login if you set it up, all free
True dual band functionality (con-current 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks)
A clean and well laid out GUI for the settings
A "pin number" feature which acts as a temporary password for guests so you don't have to share your main PW
Automatic priority for certain data packs (i.e. set gaming as a priority over browsing)

All was good with the Asus except connection speed. Admittedly I'm still suing a wireless-g adapter, but the Tenda could push over 20Mbs to it, the Asus struggles to go above 10Mbs.

I've manually just tried the Asus 5GHz speeds from the same position as the desktop PC. I can get 20Mbs with the wireless-N enabled laptop, and 13Mbps from my Galaxy S2, so performance is better but still not quite as good as the Tenda (when it works!).

So is there any reason why the Asus should be so much worse than the Tenda when transmitting on the 2.4G band to a g-enabled device?

Finally, just tried the laptop (wireless-n) on the 2.4G band, getting anywhere between 12-20Mbs, it seems to fluctuate more...I guess that's because there's more 2.4G networks around?

Edit: For Now I'm using the work around of plugging the Tenda into the Asus via the Tenda's WAN port, and having all 3 networks available (Tenda, Asus 2.4G and Asus 5G), and connection my desktop to the Tenda for the better through put, until I get a wireless-n rated adapter.

Does the Asus just have poor 2.4G performance?

[Dareos]

you haven't mentioned changing wireless channels at any point, are the default channels on both devices different? do they use an autochannel feature? are they set to european standards?

[Dareos]

also, run ping tests to the asus before its connected to anything, see what difference there are in results between that and the Tenda


command prompt

ping -n 20 192.168.x.x

pings the router 20 times, gives you an average, you're really looking for sub 4ms, sub 1ms wired

[cptwhite_uk]

Thanks Dareos,

The Asus definitely uses an auto channel feature. I've tried manually setting the channal to 1, 6 and 11...all performed substantially worse than Auto, some bearly managing 0.3Mbs and highly volatile.

I ran inSSIDer and 2 other routers in the area were running on channels 1 and 6, My Asus was showing as channel 1 at the time (this was the time I tried changing channels as noted above)

Not sure about the Tenda, but will check.

[Dareos]

Theres a feature on wikipedia that explains wireless channels far more succinctly than i can, but the gist of it is that channels 2-5 are a mix of 1 and 6 and 7-10 are a mix of 6 and 11, sometimes a mix channel can get a better connection than a clear channel (1/6/11). Saying that, theres 3 or 4 different standards throughout the world and places like Japan use 14 channels and different frequency steps (i think, its kinda confusing)

Inssider should be able to tell you what the Tenda is running at, but replicating it on the Asus might not work if the frequency increments are different. Autochannel can be a real pita, but if it works better for you, then might just be my experience of it (VM SHUBS, says it all)

It may be tho, that the wireless on the router isnt broadcasting correctly or it needs a firmware update tho.

[Dareos]

Any progress mate?