ASUS Router Help (WIFI Bridge Mode Help)

[SpongeBob]

Edit: I didn't want to make a new thread please see below. Trying to get my router in proper bridge mode to work with my modem. I have a wifi modem combo that sucks so I want to just use it as a modem with my wireless router.



So looking at AX1800 vs. AX3000. What exactly is the use case for 3000 over 1800? When does the extra 1200Mbs of the AX3000 actually come into play?

The thing is there aren't a ton of benchmarks out there. I thought there would be tons of reviewers doing speed tests but it's mostly people talking about the router and reading specs from the manufacturer. There are a couple reviewers that have a compellation of routers in their graphs and some AX1800's in some cases are performing on par with higher end routers. So I'm trying to figure out where the benefit comes in. I realize there are faster routers than AX1800 and AX3000 but this is relevant for me to understand.

Wi-Fi speed

AX3000 (574Mbps + 2402Mbps)

AX1800 (574Mbps + 1202Mbps)

 

[SamirD]

Sounds like there's just one more AP/antenna on the 3000, so use case would be for more area vs speed. All the speed is hypothetical, and might as well be hyperthetical, lol.

 

[gesicht]

The difference between the two is the AX1800 can only use up to 80mhz channel size and the AX3000 can use up to 160mhz channel size so it has twice the capacity. i would not recommend 160mhz channel size for most cases. if you need more bandwidth go for more streams. its the difference between a dual band and tri band router.

They make the numbers so confusing for users. 4x 80 is the same on paper as 2x160 but if you have 10+ active wifi devices the 4x 80 would be better bandwidth and latency. as you load up a transmitter the capacity will plummet at a certain point. (think public wifi) Having 2 transmitters(4 streams) helps divide the load. if you had only 1 active device on wifi they would perform similar. its just not that common. larger channel sizes dont propagate as well and its harder to avoid interference.

i have a AX 3500 but, i run 4x 40 because i get more consistent speeds and better coverage. most things are wired

 

[SpongeBob]

Sounds like there's just one more AP/antenna on the 3000, so use case would be for more area vs speed. All the speed is hypothetical, and might as well be hyperthetical, lol.

The difference between the two is the AX1800 can only use up to 80mhz channel size and the AX3000 can use up to 160mhz channel size so it has twice the capacity. i would not recommend 160mhz channel size for most cases. if you need more bandwidth go for more streams. its the difference between a dual band and tri band router.

They make the numbers so confusing for users. 4x 80 is the same on paper as 2x160 but if you have 10+ active wifi devices the 4x 80 would be better bandwidth and latency. as you load up a transmitter the capacity will plummet at a certain point. (think public wifi) Having 2 transmitters(4 streams) helps divide the load. if you had only 1 active device on wifi they would perform similar. its just not that common. larger channel sizes dont propagate as well and its harder to avoid interference.

i have a AX 3500 but, i run 4x 40 because i get more consistent speeds and better coverage. most things are wired

View attachment 596471

More area vs speed gotcha, what do you think range difference would be between the two? This is all just me being curious now that I've dropped myself down this rabbit hole.

gesicht so I picked up an Asus RT-AX57 AX3000 it was on sale, if you are running an AX 3500 at 4x 40 what would you recommend I try?

I'm bridging this thing cause I have this Blue Curve XB modem/router combo from our ISP and the thing sucks. My previous modem although it died it was able to handle me using a steamlink so I could play games on the couch. My download speeds are fine and gaming is fine otherwise on my PC so hoping a router will help. Granted this might be overkill for the size of my place however would it help since I have a bunch of other wireless networks around me?

 

[gesicht]

I would say only if you need it. If what you have works there is no reason to mess with it.

I reduced my channel size from 80 to 40 because i can still max my Internet over wifi. If you have 400+ Mbps internet then i would not change it. It's just for my situation. Sorry didn't mean to say it's better.

 

[GotNoRice]

One thing that you don't seem to be taking into account is 2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz. WiFi 6 (802.11ax) finally made much needed improvements to 2.4Ghz, which WiFi 5 (802.11ac) totally skipped over, so 2.4Ghz can be quite viable in many cases now. While using a smaller channel width on 5Ghz can gain you a bit of extra range, you'll still get less range compared to 2.4Ghz in most cases. That is assuming that you aren't living in a crowded apartment complex or something where 2.4Ghz is totally drowned out by interference. You can potentially use a higher channel width on 5Ghz for devices that are fairly close to the AP, and then rely on 2.4Ghz tor devices that are farther away. If your area is super congested then smaller channel widths are generally better.

What is better than spending tons of money on a super-expensive WiFi Access Point / Router is to have multiple Access Points spread throughout your house. As you move throughout your house, the number of walls and other objects blocking the signal will vary, Interference from neighbors will vary, etc. You'll almost always end up with dead spots. Having multiple Access Points really helps with this. A good mesh network can offer similar benefits but nothing beats multiple real access points with a wired backbone.

 

[SpongeBob]

One thing that you don't seem to be taking into account is 2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz. WiFi 6 (802.11ax) finally made much needed improvements to 2.4Ghz, which WiFi 5 (802.11ac) totally skipped over, so 2.4Ghz can be quite viable in many cases now. While using a smaller channel width on 5Ghz can gain you a bit of extra range, you'll still get less range compared to 2.4Ghz in most cases. That is assuming that you aren't living in a crowded apartment complex or something where 2.4Ghz is totally drowned out by interference. You can potentially use a higher channel width on 5Ghz for devices that are fairly close to the AP, and then rely on 2.4Ghz tor devices that are farther away. If your area is super congested then smaller channel widths are generally better.

What is better than spending tons of money on a super-expensive WiFi Access Point / Router is to have multiple Access Points spread throughout your house. As you move throughout your house, the number of walls and other objects blocking the signal will vary, Interference from neighbors will vary, etc. You'll almost always end up with dead spots. Having multiple Access Points really helps with this. A good mesh network can offer similar benefits but nothing beats multiple real access points with a wired backbone.

Well if 2.4Ghz is actually usable that's positive. I'll be honest I don't know the difference between AC and AX all I know is none of my devices are wifi7 and I'll be fine with a last gen router or should I return my unopened wifi6 router and buy the first cheap wifi7 one I can find?

I kinda regret not picking up a Asus 1800 for $55Cdn but I got the Asus RT-57 3000 for $90 Cdn. While my apartment isn't big enough to maybe take advantage of the AX 3000 coverage however GotNoRice you indicated mesh networks. Don't Asus routers all mesh together? So when I move to a larger place maybe I'll be glad I went with AX3000 over the AX1800 for added mesh coverage.

 

[GotNoRice]

Well if 2.4Ghz is actually usable that's positive. I'll be honest I don't know the difference between AC and AX all I know is none of my devices are wifi7 and I'll be fine with a last gen router or should I return my unopened wifi6 router and buy the first cheap wifi7 one I can find?

I would not worry about or bother with WiFi 7 at this point.

What I meant before about 2.4Ghz being viable now is that it had not previously been updated since 802.11n (since rebranded as WiFi 4). WiFi 4 (802.11n) was 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. WiFi 5 (802.11ac) was 5Ghz only. Although there were WiFi 5 (802.11ac) Access Points / Routers sold as "Dual Band", the 2.4Ghz portion of those devices still used WiFi 4 (802.11n). There is no such thing as 2.4Ghz WiFi 5. That is one of the big benefits of WiFi 6 (802.11ax), it finally brought the 2.4Ghz side of things up to modern standards.

I kinda regret not picking up a Asus 1800 for $55Cdn but I got the Asus RT-57 3000 for $90 Cdn. While my apartment isn't big enough to maybe take advantage of the AX 3000 coverage however GotNoRice you indicated mesh networks. Don't Asus routers all mesh together? So when I move to a larger place maybe I'll be glad I went with AX3000 over the AX1800 for added mesh coverage.

I'm not familiar with the capabilities of those exact models, but a mesh node does not connect to a wired backbone and relies exclusively on communication with other wireless nodes in order to work. It's like a series of interconnected wireless extenders. And generally, you will only have one point where your mesh network actually connects to your wired network (one actual router/access point). How good this performs in practice depends heavily on the capabilities of the mesh nodes that are used. Ideally, each mesh node will have a dedicated radio to handle communication with other mesh nodes that is completely separate from the radios that actually broadcast the WiFi signals that your client devices connect to. Cheaper/ghetto/improvised implementations rely on radios trying to do two things at once (communicate with other nodes AND communicate with wireless client devices), and that is where performance can drop quickly. Either way, the best setup is to have separate access points (or "routers" functioning as access points) that are each connected to the same network via ethernet, broadcasting the same Wireless SSID. Because each router/access point is connected to ethernet, there is no need for them to communicate with each other over WiFi. Your wireless client devices will switch from one access point to the other seamlessly as needed. A wireless client device will never be more than one wireless hop away from a wired network, and this is ideal. The only downside to this approach, obviously, is that it requires you to wire ethernet to the location of each access point.

 

[SpongeBob]

Wireless n vs. wifi 6, Since you said it brought it up to modern standards are they basically the same except wifi 6 brings things like MU-MIMO and OFDMA etc? Last time I bought a router it was actually a wireless n router and kinda meh.. So I definitely hope it's improved since that was some time ago but definitely glad I didn't purchase an AC router.

At this point do you think it would be better option to wait for a cheap TP-Link wifi 7 router instead? I don't need a new router right now I just know it would have some benefits I'd like to use like using my steam link. At what internet speed would you even need a wifi7 router? There's a whole lot of "theoretical" speeds and info when it comes to routers. All this makes me think 30% of what you're buying in components and 70% marketing when it comes to routers.

 

[GotNoRice]

Wireless n vs. wifi 6, Since you said it brought it up to modern standards are they basically the same except wifi 6 brings things like MU-MIMO and OFDMA etc?

Yeah basically, but although the word salad makes it sound like just marketing, these improvements actually do bring a lot of real-world benefits to speed and reliability, especially given how crowded the 2.4Ghz band is in many environments.

At this point do you think it would be better option to wait for a cheap TP-Link wifi 7 router instead? I don't need a new router right now I just know it would have some benefits I'd like to use like using my steam link. At what internet speed would you even need a wifi7 router? There's a whole lot of "theoretical" speeds and info when it comes to routers. All this makes me think 30% of what you're buying in components and 70% marketing when it comes to routers.

The WiFi 7 standard isn't even finalized yet, and it's not expected to be finalized until some time in early/mid 2024. It's just some brands trying to get a jump on things by offering devices based on the "draft" standard (meaning the final version might include changes that these current "WiFi 7" devices don't even have). Usually these devices also come with a hefty price premium since they are targeted at people who obsessively think they need the latest and greatest without even really knowing what that is or how the tech works.

It's also important to understand that the actual WiFi standard that is used is negotiated between the router / access point and the client. If your client device only supports WiFi 5 for example, then you will only be connecting at WiFi 5 speeds, regardless of what your router / access point supports. As far as I can tell, the Steam Link only supports WiFi 5. So really, there are 3 things I would wait for when it comes to WiFi 7. 1) Wait for the standard to actually be finalized... 2) Wait until retail availability becomes more common, the "early adopter tax" goes away, and prices come down, and 3) Wait until you have client devices that actually support WiFi 7... Until that point, you're just buying into marketing.

If you want a bit of forward compatibility, I'd go for a good solid WiFi 6E router / access point. WiFi 6E (as opposed to regular WiFi 6) adds support for the 6Ghz band, which adds a lot of potential bandwidth and is especially helpful in crowded environments with a lot of interference. WiFi 7 will also support the 6Ghz band, which is where the forward compatibility comes into play. We're only just now finally starting to see WiFi 6E begin to become mainstream (in terms of client devices). IMO it's a much more realistic option to pursue than an overpriced "hope it complies with the final standard" draft WiFi 7 router.

You're right in that the marketing with WiFi has gone way overboard in terms of the performance claims related to speed. WiFi 6 / 6E, with a high-bandwidth 5Ghz / 6Ghz channel, no significant interference on that channel, at short range, and line-of-sight to the access point, is really the first WiFi standard that can finally potentially surpass wired gigabit speeds. But put even one wall between you and the access point, or have even one neighbor operating on that same frequency, and that won't happen.

It's also very important to choose quality hardware. I would not jump at the chance to get a "cheap" router / access point just because it happens to "support" the latest standard. Ultimately, the standard itself isn't magic. Your WiFi performance will depend heavily on the quality of the hardware in that router / access point, especially "bread & butter" features such as the quality of the internal radios, what kind of antennas are used, the internal CPU, etc. You will get better results in many cases choosing a quality unit that uses an "older" standard than a "cheap" unit that uses a newer (potentially draft) standard.

I recently replaced my "older" Netgear "AX3000" Access Point with a Netgear "AX5400" Access Point. I kept the "older" AX3000 Access Point in use, but moved it to the other side of the house to help fill-in some dead-zones. I also took advantage of the fact that the newer "AX5400" has removable antennas and bought basically the biggest antennas that I could find. You don't see huge antennas come stock on many Access Points / Routers because they are less likely to meet wife approval criteria, but they are one of those no-bullshit things that really do increase performance. I can get 350Mbps+ 100+ yards away through several walls now, which was something I couldn't do before. I'm pretty happy with the result.

 

[TheSlySyl]

I'm not familiar with the capabilities of those exact models, but a mesh node does not connect to a wired backbone and relies exclusively on communication with other wireless nodes in order to work

You can absolutely connect Asus AImesh with a wired backbone. I've been doing it for 5+ years and it's what I'm currently running.

I have 2.4ghz and 2x 5ghz networks on both routers, and my AXE16000 also has Wifi 6 coverage.
I could probably AImesh up my really old Asus RT-68u as well, but its not really needed. My current setup is rock solid.
In the future, I'm gonna migrate the AXE16000 to be the node via 10GB, but at the moment nothing that's happening on the AC5300 end needs more than 1GB anyway. I don't have the biggest house but it's very wide house and this setup also hits the majority of my 1/2 acre yard as well.

Wifi 6 has been pretty much worthless to my situation, but that may change once we get more WiFi 6 enabled devices.

IOT is the vast majority of 2.4ghz clients, and the router itself is pretty good at balancing between 5ghz-1 and 5ghz-2, I originally kept trying to mess with settings to optimize things and everything made it worse, so I just set stuff back to default and it all works fantastically.

 

[GotNoRice]

You can absolutely connect Asus AImesh with a wired backbone. I've been doing it for 5+ years and it's what I'm currently running.

There are a lot of devices with mesh functionality, that also have an ethernet port, and that ethernet port can obviously be used in most cases. But if the only form of communication between the nodes is not via wireless, then that's not really a "mesh network" at that point, regardless of the branding having the word "mesh" in it. Otherwise you could say that anyone with more than one ethernet-connected Access Point with the same SSID is running a mesh network.

 

[TheSlySyl]

There are a lot of devices with mesh functionality, that also have an ethernet port, and that ethernet port can obviously be used in most cases. But if the only form of communication between the nodes is not via wireless, then that's not really a "mesh network" at that point, regardless of the branding having the word "mesh" in it. Otherwise you could say that anyone with more than one ethernet-connected Access Point with the same SSID is running a mesh network.

Which is probably why Asus calls their tech "AImesh".

Also I'm pretty sure the "mesh" refers to multiple AP units all having the same wifi address to increase coverage, not how they're networked.

All I know on the user end is that AImesh works well, I have one Network ID and password for 5 different wifi networks and 2 different APs, and things switch between them flawlessly depending on location, current congestion, etc. Having a router and an AP with the same name doesn't perform the same (I've tried that as well.)

 

[SpongeBob]

Is a more expensive router like a AX5400 or higher overkill? While I rather have replaceable antenna and 6Ghz band my apartment is 1200 sq/ft at most. 3 people 90% of time just 2.

3 people.
2 laptops + 1 tablet.
1 gaming PC.
2 TV streaming devices (Plex/Netflix/Disney).
1 Server (wifi) for streaming devices + downloading.
1 Amazon streaming device (music).

I'm pretty sure I would have been fine with the RT-AX1800S now that I know more but if I go to return my RT-57 AX3000 which I bought for $90 the AX1800 is now $100 so lol.. Is the 6Ghz band usable or is it kinda like having 160Mhz which on paper looks nice but every review or comment I read is people saying not to?

 

[GotNoRice]

Is the 6Ghz band usable or is it kinda like having 160Mhz which on paper looks nice but every review or comment I read is people saying not to?

A device has to support WiFi 6E (or eventually WiFi 7) in order to use 6Ghz, so adoption will be slow at first. It's main advantage is for crowded environments where even 5Ghz can have a lot of congestion. I'm not sure how congested 5Ghz is in your area. 5Ghz has a lot of bandwidth compared to 2.4Ghz but that gets eaten up quickly with many people using high bandwidth channels.

But the main question when upgrading is, What do you want to be able to do that you can't do now?

I went overkill on the WiFi because I'm in a rural area and wanted to be able to go places in my yard, far away from my house, and still be able to setup my tablet and stream Hulu, watch a baseball or football game while I do stuff outside. You don't need that kind of coverage in an apartment, but 6Ghz on the other hand could could be quite beneficial, especially as more devices start to use it.

 

[SpongeBob]

A device has to support WiFi 6E (or eventually WiFi 7) in order to use 6Ghz, so adoption will be slow at first. It's main advantage is for crowded environments where even 5Ghz can have a lot of congestion. I'm not sure how congested 5Ghz is in your area. 5Ghz has a lot of bandwidth compared to 2.4Ghz but that gets eaten up quickly with many people using high bandwidth channels.

But the main question when upgrading is, What do you want to be able to do that you can't do now?

I went overkill on the WiFi because I'm in a rural area and wanted to be able to go places in my yard, far away from my house, and still be able to setup my tablet and stream Hulu, watch a baseball or football game while I do stuff outside. You don't need that kind of coverage in an apartment, but 6Ghz on the other hand could could be quite beneficial, especially as more devices start to use it.

Well our current modem/wifi router combo (Blue Curve) that we have is total dog crap at using things like a steamlink. So playing games in one room via the link to a TV with my PC in another room powering it. The crazy thing is my previous modem/router combo pos was able to handle this but this one just can't.

The other things I wanted to do was being able to set which channel I want to be on. The only option the Blue Curve has was auto, and it liked keeping us in a busy one.

The other bs feature they took away was being able to keep our network hidden. So having that again.

Do you guys keep your 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels name and passwords the same? Before we kept them separate due to certain devices however some folks I spoke to were recommending keeping them the same so device can bounce to whichever is best. If this is complete BS I'm 100% setting each channel to a different name and password again.

Lastly, at times I notice if I'm gaming and if my gf is downloading files to our server I might get some lag in games or I might be bouncing around. This doesn't happen all the time but it be nice to not have to deal with it.

I hope this helps?

 

[GotNoRice]

Well our current modem/wifi router combo (Blue Curve) that we have is total dog crap at using things like a steamlink. So playing games in one room via the link to a TV with my PC in another room powering it. The crazy thing is my previous modem/router combo pos was able to handle this but this one just can't.

Do you still have the old one? All you really have to do to switch it from a router to an access point is to disable DHCP and only use the LAN ports. Make sure that the IP address of the old router is not the same as the IP address of the new router. And then maybe run an ethernet cable and put it in a location that is a bit closer to the other room.

The other things I wanted to do was being able to set which channel I want to be on. The only option the Blue Curve has was auto, and it liked keeping us in a busy one.

Yeah that's bad, although if you are talking about 5Ghz, it might simply be trying to keep you on a non-DFS channel. Some 5Ghz channels are shared with weather radar and have special restrictions that limit output power in some cases and will even force your router / access point to change channels automatically if it detects weather radar. These are the "DFS" channels aka Dynamic Frequency Selection (since it changes automatically if it detects radar). So it's normal for the non-DFS 5Ghz channels to be more crowded.

Do you guys keep your 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels name and passwords the same? Before we kept them separate due to certain devices however some folks I spoke to were recommending keeping them the same so device can bounce to whichever is best. If this is complete BS I'm 100% setting each channel to a different name and password again.

It's a pros and cons situation. When I set WiFi up for other people I usually keep it the same just to keep things simple. The only problem is that in many cases devices have a tendency to park themselves on the 2.4Ghz network and stay there. This is usually because of the increased range of 2.4Ghz. Like if you have your phone in your pocket when you go outside to take out the trash or whatever. There might be a period of time when you are outside of the range of the 5Ghz network but still within the range of the 2.4Ghz network. So it will switch to the 2.4Ghz network, but once you are back within range of the 5Ghz network, it won't necessarily change back. Some devices are better than others about this. I prefer to keep them as separate SSIDs because it gives me more control. Devices that don't move around, such as desktop computers or streaming devices; as long as they get a good signal on 5Ghz, there is no reason for them to ever be on the 2.4Ghz network, so I only connect them to the 5Ghz network. I save 2.4Ghz for legacy devices that can't connect to 5Ghz and devices that are more likely to go out of range of the 5Ghz network. You still have the option of using both, and allowing your device to choose. Just connect to both networks, choosing "auto connect" each time. Connect to the 2.4Ghz network first, and then connect to the 5Ghz network, as some/most devices will prioritize the most recent network that they were connected to.

Lastly, at times I notice if I'm gaming and if my gf is downloading files to our server I might get some lag in games or I might be bouncing around. This doesn't happen all the time but it be nice to not have to deal with it.

Are you sure that this is a WiFi issue and not an issue of you maxing the download on your internet connection?

 

[SpongeBob]

Do you still have the old one? All you really have to do to switch it from a router to an access point is to disable DHCP and only use the LAN ports. Make sure that the IP address of the old router is not the same as the IP address of the new router. And then maybe run an ethernet cable and put it in a location that is a bit closer to the other room.

**No after the old one died we had to return it so we didn't have to pay for it.

Yeah that's bad, although if you are talking about 5Ghz, it might simply be trying to keep you on a non-DFS channel. Some 5Ghz channels are shared with weather radar and have special restrictions that limit output power in some cases and will even force your router / access point to change channels automatically if it detects weather radar. These are the "DFS" channels aka Dynamic Frequency Selection (since it changes automatically if it detects radar). So it's normal for the non-DFS 5Ghz channels to be more crowded.

**Not sure our options are limited. When I used an app to scan all I could see is a lot of users were all on the same one including myself. Wasn't too impressed.

It's a pros and cons situation. When I set WiFi up for other people I usually keep it the same just to keep things simple. The only problem is that in many cases devices have a tendency to park themselves on the 2.4Ghz network and stay there. This is usually because of the increased range of 2.4Ghz. Like if you have your phone in your pocket when you go outside to take out the trash or whatever. There might be a period of time when you are outside of the range of the 5Ghz network but still within the range of the 2.4Ghz network. So it will switch to the 2.4Ghz network, but once you are back within range of the 5Ghz network, it won't necessarily change back. Some devices are better than others about this. I prefer to keep them as separate SSIDs because it gives me more control. Devices that don't move around, such as desktop computers or streaming devices; as long as they get a good signal on 5Ghz, there is no reason for them to ever be on the 2.4Ghz network, so I only connect them to the 5Ghz network. I save 2.4Ghz for legacy devices that can't connect to 5Ghz and devices that are more likely to go out of range of the 5Ghz network. You still have the option of using both, and allowing your device to choose. Just connect to both networks, choosing "auto connect" each time. Connect to the 2.4Ghz network first, and then connect to the 5Ghz network, as some/most devices will prioritize the most recent network that they were connected to.

**Hell yeah good to know. 100% going to switch them and make them hidden again. It takes less than a minute to get to one end of the apartment to another so I'll move all our newer stuff/ closer stuff to 5G.

Are you sure that this is a WiFi issue and not an issue of you maxing the download on your internet connection?

**I doubt it? I mean like 1-4 files, VPN, torrent. Maybe but when I do a speed test we're getting I think 700MB or something down.

Responded in there.

 

[zandor]

Do you guys keep your 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz channels name and passwords the same? Before we kept them separate due to certain devices however some folks I spoke to were recommending keeping them the same so device can bounce to whichever is best. If this is complete BS I'm 100% setting each channel to a different name and password again.

Lastly, at times I notice if I'm gaming and if my gf is downloading files to our server I might get some lag in games or I might be bouncing around. This doesn't happen all the time but it be nice to not have to deal with it.

I run my 2.4 and 5GHz merged, largely because I haven't had any trouble with it. I haven't caught my phone or laptop using 2.4GHz inside the house. I have 2 WiFi access points at opposite ends of the house, so I have pretty good 5GHz coverage. I'm using TP-Link gear (EAP-610s) with a controller running on a Linux machine so I have fast roaming support. Keeps clients from being stupid about AP selection, or at least phones and laptops. My printer is another story, but it's 2.4GHz only so splitting the bands wouldn't help. Mesh kits will generally support fast roaming as well.

 

[TheSlySyl]

I also have my 2.4 and both 5ghz set to auto and anything that can be on 5ghz always is when it's available. I even have many IOT devices set to groups and they work simultaneously across all the different spectrums. (I can have every one of my Google devices work as a synchronized surround sound setup for the whole house at once.)

I have 160mhz/DFS channels turned off because I'm in extremely close proximity to a local airport.

I also had to turn the 6ghz off auto because that was just causing all sorts of complications. I've heard this has since been patched for my model of router in a firmware update, but I haven't bothered turning it back on for the two devices in the house that can use it (cellphones).

 

[TMCM]

not trying to hijack but I'm wondering if its time to look at replacing my linksys WRT32X with something newer since to go with my new rig I'm building this coming week?

 

[SpongeBob]

For the love of all that's holy where do I find bridge mode in an ASUS router all I can find is Media Bridge Mode. Try googling Asus bridge mode all you get is media bridge. I'm not trying to connect to wifi routers together.

 

[TheSlySyl]

What are you trying to accomplish? I think what you want is under AImesh, but setting up a second asus router as an AP is also pretty easy. Or are you trying to connect an Asus router to a non-asus router?

 

[SpongeBob]

What are you trying to accomplish? I think what you want is under AImesh, but setting up a second asus router as an AP is also pretty easy. Or are you trying to connect an Asus router to a non-asus router?

WIFI/MODEM combo > Wireless Router. I don't want to use my crappy Modem's wifi.
All I want to do is run it in bridge mode.

Long story short it's been the day from hell.
Set modem in bridge mode but when I would run ipconfig/all the DNS would show up as my modem's IP which to my understanding means it's not setup properly in bridge mode. So then I looked up tech support forum posts from my ISP some people say you need a 2nd public IP to be issued. I reach out to tech support we work on this for a long while try over and over and still DNS not changing. I can't find a simple bridge mode in the router options only thing I can find is media bridge which isn't what I want.
Try different crap over and over. GF freaking out because she needs it from work. I'm stressing out. Tech support telling us soonest they can get here is Thursday cause something is wrong they put in an emergency rush. Got people coming out here tomorrow. Now after total misery and try everything going wrong including us finding out my gf's laptop's one mouse button doesn't work anymore like 2 hours later the modem starts flashing white then we have internet again.... Through the modem not the router since the current issue is not being able to log back into the modem.

It's been a day. I hate my ISP. I hate that they use these dog crap modem/wifi combos. All I want to do is rung my modem and router in bridge wifi mode so I can use my router for wifi and not my crap modem.

I still don't know why I can't get this into proper bridge mode or even if Asus has a stupid setting for it in the firmware. Everything I search is conflicting.

 

[TheSlySyl]

Put the modem in bridge mode.

On the asus router, somewhere in WAN settings (at least with Merlin) there is a setting to MAC clone the modem's MAC address and IP address. I forgot exactly what it's called, but it's just a checkmark box. I'll look for the exact name when I get home.

Also, for whatever reason. After you change any WAN/DNS settings you normally have to hard reset the modem for it to acknowledge things. There is a good chance that may be related to my add-ons though.

 

[SpongeBob]

I guess I want to avoid a double NAT issue? That is the issue I believe I am trying to avoid with not pulling new IP addresses or whatever. I dunno what any of this means I'm just reading that it's likely not correct.



If you see it please let me know

The snip is from running ipconfig/all you can see it's showing the IP as the routers IP. This is from the LAN IP setting tab under LAN. Not sure if there is something I need to do here? I like OCing crap and running benchmarks this is so not fun.

Is this it? Not sure how cloning MAC helps with making sure bridge mode is working/ creating proper IPSs.

 

[SpongeBob]

What are you trying to accomplish? I think what you want is under AImesh, but setting up a second asus router as an AP is also pretty easy. Or are you trying to connect an Asus router to a non-asus router?

Here we go, best explains I'm trying to avoid this double nat conflict which seems like I have I dunno?
https://www.pcworld.com/article/412237/how-to-identify-and-resolve-double-nat-problems.html

I did the trace route like in the article and only in the first line it shows the router ip not the 2nd.

It mentions the WAN address and this is under network map section but here my WAN IP isn't the generic

So both of these seem to question if I'm having double NAT issues however. I'm in bridged mode via modem but still couldn't find anything to select in router. Why I'm still not sure if I'm not double natting is cause of the DNS IP still showing

 

[TheSlySyl]

Is this it? Not sure how cloning MAC helps with making sure bridge mode is working/ creating proper IPSs.

If you clone the MAC address, you can't Double NAT because the ISP thinks that your router IS the gateway. It basically just completely bypasses any chance of the modem having its own NAT service.

It works for me with comcast and my SB8200, but there's a good chance that every modem and ISP does things differently.

 

[SpongeBob]

Do I n

If you clone the MAC address, you can't Double NAT because the ISP thinks that your router IS the gateway. It basically just completely bypasses any chance of the modem having its own NAT service.

It works for me with comcast and my SB8200, but there's a good chance that every modem and ISP does things differently.

I have no idea what any of this does. So do I need to create a host name and what about the other 3 settings there? Or do I just select MAC CLONE button? Does the MAC address always stay the same or will I need to hit the mac clone button some other time?

How does the MAC address and NAT interact so they don't double NAT? <-- I honestly want to know after the amount of time I'm putting into this stupid thing I'm leaving some notes if I need to reset it in the future. If anyone knows that would be cool.

 

[TheSlySyl]

Just hit MAC clone and see if it works.

Leave the other settings at their default.

If it doesn't work, disable it.

The dhcp query thing works best for me as "continuous" but that's what I found was best to use for comcast.

 

[SpongeBob]

Just hit MAC clone and see if it works.

Leave the other settings at their default.

If it doesn't work, disable it.

The dhcp query thing works best for me as "continuous" but that's what I found was best to use for comcast.

I'll give it a go. Although I'm not really sure how to tell which is better, speed tests?

I read his article and double natting doesn't seem to be an issue to him but when I read other articles and posts people are like OMG dbl natting Oh Noes!!!!!! Your IP isn't public you're going to have issues. Now I'm just confused.

https://dongknows.com/double-nat-vs...dkdLUFtYiFtYx7y60ctQyNDPZ-4FUlhES3l-ZHXKiMnCc

 

[sharknice]

Why don't you just disable WiFi on your modem combo unit then connect your dedicated router to the modem and run it in the normal mode?

 

[SpongeBob]

Why don't you just disable WiFi on your modem combo unit then connect your dedicated router to the modem and run it in the normal mode?

I did that, then I read posts about how to make sure everything is in bridge mode. Then it said if your DNS shows as your routers IP you have a problem. Hence this rabbit hole.

 

[SpongeBob]

I came home and gf was freaking out everything was stuck all of a sudden a 57Mbps. So I went into router to see what was going on she started freaking out about no internet.

She couldn't rationalize in her anxiety ridden panic attack the internet is not out I'm just adjusting settings on the router. She went nuts so I figure I'm just done with trying to improve the network. I'm only there when I'm not at work and the hell with playing games with her on steam switch. Maybe I'll save that fun for the next girl.

Moral of the story, networking sucks compared to overclocking and if your gf can't cook and just has anxiety. Find a new one.

 

[SamirD]

Moral of the story, networking sucks compared to overclocking and if your gf can't cook and just has anxiety. Find a new one.

Read this with a Sponge Bob voice and it's even better!

And since I can do Patrick's voice, I added a 'Yeah!' after it.