Hello,

I guess I'll post my question here. I have tried 3 routers (2 DLinks and 1 Asus; latest) and all of the routers doesn't give me 500mbps WiFi speed when I connect to 802.11ac devices such as iPhone XS, 11in iPad Pro, 2016 MacBook Pro and etc.

The router in question is Asus AC86U and the best speed I ever get is 270mbps, in the same room and about 1m away from the router. If connect via ethernet, I am able to get 500mbps no problem.

Please advise, thanks.

You can use the built-in wireless scheduler by ASUSWRT firmware. Since 2.4GHz band is has a greater coverage than 5GHz, using wireless scheduler can be a good recommended alternative, like turning off a specific wireless radio transmission (2.4GHz in such case) for a specific duration of time, i.e. from 12am to 6am. Also, adjusting the Tx power is a good option as well. You can use either two of these techniques.

Which SSID you connect to ? the 2.4Ghz or the 5Ghz ?

Very nice. No fast roaming is disappointing though. I thought they would want to compete against the Deco M5 and Deco M9 Plus.
That is a limitation of wifi. You won't necessarily get the full speed. However, is your 5GHz configured to 40 or even 80MHz?

It is definitely 5GHz for him to be able to achieve 270Mbps on wifi.

looks nice yo

80MHz, and really? Then what's the point of paying so much when even 1 meter in direct line of sight cannot get 500mbps?

HI, i had a AC68U which bought on year 2014.
If i buy another unit AC68U, can it be achieve mesh network ?

There are hints of fast roaming in the source code. Not sure if ASUS will add it eventually.


1) Update to latest firmware
2) Hard reset! Important step
https://www.asus.com/my/support/FAQ/1039074
3) Add as AiMesh node

This post has been edited by blacktubi: Nov 20 2019, 02:05 PM

Hi wheelhot,

Can you updating the latest firmware and do a factory reset on the router?

And may I know where do you put the router? Is there any interference there that might caused the problem?

You can also try changing the WiFi channel to see which channel provide the best result.

Thank you

You do realise that all the ISPs in Malaysia, and even the world, only guarantee that you get full speeds on wired connection? They won’t ever guarantee that on WiFi as there are too many variables that can affect the speed of WiFi.

Sometimes you can not trust what the forum people wrote, need to ask very specific things, got to treat them like baby and spoon feed right ? Reason is because ac86u 2.4Ghz can go up to 750Mbps, so 270Mbps is achievable for 2.4Ghz.

If like that can not ask, then no point telling him to reset to factory settings isn't it ?! He definitely got factory reset the router

Have you factored in that 2.4ghz is congested in the real world?

Have you factored in that he did not mention on which frequency band in his post ?

Consider that the limitation on the client side. Different WiFi network cards have different theoretical speed. Like 2.4Ghz N150Mbps, 2.4Ghz N300Mbps and etc.

Also, signal noise from microwave, mobile phone carrier signals, wireless Bluetooth and etc can also cause congestion of the signal bandwidth. For easier understanding, just imagine that there are a lot of "cars" using the" highway" of the 2.4Ghz, the speed of the "cars" would definitely be slowed down even though that the "cars" are theoretically able to run at 150Mbps, 300Mbps, 450Mbps or etc.

The interference of all these signals like Bluetooth and WiFi, microwave and etc would cause a lot of signal noises, thus in degrading the quality of your connection on 2.4Ghz as well. You could imagine this as keeping you in a "room" for just 2.4Ghz "people" and everyone are talking in the same "room" and imagine that "Router A" is talking to you over a distance, it would definitely make you very hard to hear the sentences when "Router A" speaks.

Consider only these three factors it's already enough for you to understand why you can't get full speed on 2.4Ghz even though they are advertised so.

The reason why 5Ghz wifi can reach higher speed because 5Ghz wifi has higher bandwidth, just like more "lanes" on the "highway". And also, currently there are very little devices are using 5Ghz spectrum. Bluetooth, microwave which was mentioned earlier are not on 5Ghz spectrum. So that's why, it has less signal noise or interferences also. Moreover, 5Ghz WiFi on the client side are advertised at much higher theoretical speed. Means that the "cars" are capable of running at much higher speed, like 866Mbps and higher.

Thus in conclude that the reasons of why 5Ghz are seemingly to be more possible to reach speeds like 200Mbps but not 2.4Ghz WiFi in the real world.

Hope my best try of explanations can make you understand better. Feel free to ask me anymore questions if you have any other doubts.

This post has been edited by mztang52: Nov 20 2019, 11:02 PM

You do realize that there is NO way that 2.4GHz can go up to 750Mbps? Honestly, a few users have educated you on it, so I wouldn't waste my time anymore. We can safely assume that it is 5Ghz because it is the only possible way to be able to reach that speed. Don't type things that you have no idea about, and I suggest reading more about networking before replying. It will just make you look dumb if you reply without knowing what you are talking about. Click the link on my signature and read ALL the green text. I have written it for newbies like you.

This post has been edited by SilentVampire: Nov 20 2019, 09:46 PM

Oh no bro. Hope you too would like my explanation. Not sure if it is simple enough for anyone to understand the factors.

Your explanation is very good, and if I'm a newbie, I would understand it much better than most articles out there. Good job.

Whoa whoa, chill people.

It's 5GHz at 80Mhz, and I called support and they did teamviewer, turns out it has to do with Speedtest with TM as the source only managing maximum at 250-300Mbps, but if you change to Extreme Broadband or ironically WeBe (which is under TM now right?), and you're able to get 500Mbps from those servers.

Oddly enough even Maxis only goes around 350 or so. Anyone else can clarify this?

Btw, I read that Repeater halves the speed, is it on the unit that the speed is half or the whole network (including those connected to the main unit) that network speed goes to half?

Only the device connected to the repeater SSID will have their speeds halved

Even on 5GHz ac 500Mbps is quite hard to achieve unless multiple streams/antennas are used

You almost need an ax (WiFi 6) capable router for this