4th one in a row- can't connect to 2.4

[SoCalReviews]

Originally Posted by ancan

I registered to say that I have the *exact* same problem, except it's my first N66U. My Android devices keep "Connecting" forever without succeeding, and Windows give the same message that OP had. 5GHz works perfect, but 2.4GHz stopped working after about a week.

I live on the countryside, and have no neighbors within WiFi-range, so interference from them can be ruled out.

Have tried Merlin's latest firmware, and also the latest ASUS that was released yesterday, but same problem.

I have three RT-N66Us I purchased at different times from different vendors last year. They run are running official .270 firmware at the moment. They have been running 24/7 for about 7-8 months. Never have to reboot these routers except for settings changes and firmware updates. I haven't rebooted at all in a month and a half. I live in a very high traffic area for the 2.4Ghz band....at least twelve other broadcasts. Two of my RT-N66Us have had up to thirty clients...of all types iPhone, iPads, Android pads and phones, Windows PC notebooks, etc... connected at at 2.4Ghz... at the same time...along with PS3 gaming and multiple HD streams, Slingbox, etc... on a 100Mbps down internet connection. No problems.

These are the most stable, solid and best performing wireless routers I have used since my WRT-54G routers were running. On Amazon this router has a hundreds of 5 star ratings...with the average rating at 4.5. I just don't get all these selective reported problems with customers returning them once, twice and more as if the router is absolutely at fault every time. I am not saying that these are not real problems that are occurring. I am just questioning that the router is always the problem. Unless there was a really bad manufacturing run that hits the same customers then it makes no sense at all. Signal interference and compatibility issues with one or more client wireless devices are what I would look at. If you have to set the RT-N66U to wireless g only mode and 20mhz bandwidth, AES encryption only and fix it to an open 2.4Ghz channel (don't use auto channel) to ensure compatibility with the clients then that's what I would recommend.

[TonyH]

Hi,
It is hard to believe 4 routers in a row is giving trouble like that. I would just deal with one client while all others radio is turned off, one at a time to see if it makes any difference.
Also inSSIDer will show what's going on in your neighborhood on that band. Some problems
often defies logic.

[ChrisR]

It is a good idea to turn off all devices and test one by one.
Note that I faced similar issue using my bluetooth headset. My laptop was working ok for weeks, after it suddenly could not connect to 2.4 anymore. Using 5 was no problem.
Only when I switched off the bluetooth of my headset, the 2.4 connected immediately.

Therefore, turn off bluetooth for each device, make sure your microwave and home telephone devices are also switched off. None of these devices should be close to your router.

Edit: more tests: turn off all Household devices. Put your router at another place in the house. Last test: take your router/laptop to family/friends and check if problem still exists...

Good luck!

[ancan]

Originally Posted by ChrisR

It is a good idea to turn off all devices and test one by one.
Note that I faced similar issue using my bluetooth headset. My laptop was working ok for weeks, after it suddenly could not connect to 2.4 anymore. Using 5 was no problem.
Only when I switched off the bluetooth of my headset, the 2.4 connected immediately.

Therefore, turn off bluetooth for each device, make sure your microwave and home telephone devices are also switched off. None of these devices should be close to your router.

Edit: more tests: turn off all Household devices. Put your router at another place in the house. Last test: take your router/laptop to family/friends and check if problem still exists...

Good luck!

I found the culprit in my case, and it was kind of obscure. (Note that I am not the OP that had returned four routers for the same problem).

I have managed to connect to the 2.4GHz network now and then, but pinging the router gives a very flaky connection, and response times around 1000-2000ms. Browsing the web on that is not remotely possible.

Turning of equipment all around the house did absolutely nothing, and since the closest neighbor is 300m away the WiFi-space is far from crowded. Strongest other WiFi is at -92dB. Also, my previous 801.11n-routers has worked perfect, but I needed longer range to reach my new guesthouse.

I then moved the router from the closet it's been in, to the living room, and suddenly the 2.4GHz worked again! I put it back in the closet... and it still worked.

Now, I run the router in "AP Mode" since I have a Debian-based router I'm very satisfied with. Since the ports on the N66U falls back to working as a simple switch I took the oppurtunity to plug in the printer besides it, and this turned out to be what caused all the problems. When I plugged in the printer again, the ping latency rocketed to the thousands, and when I unplugged it, it went down to 3-4ms.

The printer is connected via an arcane printer server, so old that it only have 10Mb network (at the side of the RJ45, it even sports a BNC-connector for 10BASE2). For *some reason* plugging this in the ASUS completely crippled the 2.4GHz network, and for some other reason also did nothing bad to the 5GHz-part.
I don't know if it's because it's a 10Mb device, if it's because the print server puts out some nasty noise on the network cable, or if any device plugged in the ports will do the same. It would be interesting to know, but right now I'm too tired to test it. Also, I'm very happy because I wanted to keep this router.