Weak Wireless Strength XR1000

[TheJam]

Hi,

I tried setting up my XR1000 yesterday, taking it slow with turning on/ off settings to make sure everything is working as it should first before tweaking anything. When using the wireless though, I noticed the signal strength is less than what I was getting on my old router. I've gone from getting full bars across my devices to around 2/3 - 3/4 of the strength I used to get. This is happening on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

It's a bit weird as I had the antenna's on the R8000 sitting in it's closed position (i.e. still sitting flush with the router rather than extending them out). The XR1000 router is in the exact same position as my old one but all antenna's are completely vertical. I've disabled AX on the router as I don't have any WiFi 6 devices currently, I did try it with it enabled and it made no difference. After upgrading the firmware out of the box, I did then factory reset the router before making any changes.

Here's my wireless settings from the two routers:

R8000

2.4GHz
Channel: 02
Mode: Up to 600 Mbps

5Ghz
Channel: 48
Mode: Up to 1300 Mbps

Same Settings for Both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

Enable 20/40 Mhz Coexistence
Fragmentation Length: 2346
CTS/RTS Threshold: 2347
Preamble Mode: Long Preamble

Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING: On

 

XR1000

2.4GHz
Channel: 02
Mode: Up to 400 Mbps

 

5Ghz
Channel: 48
Mode: Up to 2165 Mbps

 

Same Settings for Both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz

Enable 20/40 Mhz Coexistence
Fragmentation Length: 2346
CTS/RTS Threshold: 2347
Preamble Mode: Long Preamble

Enable Implicit BEAMFORMING: On

Congestion Control: Never
Goodput: Checked
Disable QoS: Unchecked

 

The other issue I noticed when running speed tests across devices was at times it would reach good speeds (around 70mbps) and then get throttled and drop to 50mbps. It seems like the router is doing something at that time but I'll need to do some proper analysis with the monitoring tools there to see if I can spot a bottleneck.

Even though I have congestion control set to 'never', does Goodput, or not having QoS disabled, still interfere with how the router provides bandwidth to different device types in the 'Bandwidth Allocation' section? This is all set to the default of 11 for each category.

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

[Netduma Fraser]

For the antennae have two of them parallel to the ground - please see my crude drawing:

It seems like an odd way to do them but actually it maximizes the range. Use a WiFi Analyzer - there is a free one on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 you can use and then change to the least congested channels. Bandwidth Allocation and Traffic Prioritization will still be active in that scenario so they could interfere with packets. Specifically TP which supersedes QoS.

[TheJam]

Cheers @Netduma Fraser! Ah, that’s an interesting setup, I’ll try that to see if it helps the signal any. 

My plan today is to use a WiFi Analyser and see if I can improve the congestion, the default settings were abysmal and I couldn’t even connect to it from 3m away. Just a shame the wireless isn’t as powerful as the R8000. Admittedly, the R8000 was a tri-band router and had 6 antenna’s, although, I disabled the second 5Ghz channel. Not sure if it would still use the extra 2 though with it being disabled.

The main devices I want to maximise the bandwidth with is the 2 Xbox’s which will be running at the same time (both hardwired into the router) and an Apple TV as we mainly stream 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos (using wireless) so I’ll see what I can do for the Apple TV with TP. Typically nothing else in the house is really using bandwidth besides smart devices when the Apple TV gets used so hoping I can set it up where it doesn’t get throttled at all. It’s really good to know though so thanks for the info!

[Netduma Fraser]

You're welcome, do let me know how you get on. Make sure you use 2.4GHz for the consoles and 5GHz for streaming.

[TheJam]

I use ethernet for both xbox's and 5GHz for the Appel TV so good to know I'm doing the right thing. I've used a wifi analyser and managed to find a 5GHz channel that's not being used anywhere nearby which isn't DFS so happy with that. I'll report back on how the signal strength once I manage to go through the devices I use.

Still noticing heavy throttling on wireless though. CPU 1 and 2 sometimes spike but 3 is generally under 40% under load which is good. The RAM does concern me though, is only having around 5% free normal? Wondering if this is what could be causing some speed issues.

[TheJam]

Testing the 5GHz channel with no interference from the same channel, it’s now as good on my main devices as it was before but there’s still some, like my TV, which shows 2/3 rather than 3/3 bars for WiFi signal. However, speeds seems a bit better now so I’m happy with that.
 

I tried the router antenna positioning that you recommended, however, I didn’t notice any real improvement there. 
 

Definitely the most concerning stats are the RAM usage from the post above. I’ve not made any changes to the router from the default settings besides slight tweaks like changing wireless channels. I still have congestion control, port forwarding and other settings to apply. The RAM is when almost nothing on the network is getting used as well. I’ll need to monitor it once 2 Xbox’s are up and running, with congestion control, and someone streaming on the access point on another floor that’s hard wired into the XR1000. 
 

Edit: Interestingly looking at the stats with 2 computers on working from home doing conference calls, etc., the RAM went to 7.3% free. Is there some kind of management in the RAM where it will use the max available depending on usage? i.e. if more devices are generating load on the router, will it start freeing up memory to cope with the extra processing? 

[Netduma Fraser]

That all sounds pretty positive. Yes there is RAM Management so it will let go of any cache no longer needed to free it up for anything else. I wouldn't be too concerned with the RAM but if you are then a quick reboot would release some usage.

[TheJam]

4 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

That all sounds pretty positive. Yes there is RAM Management so it will let go of any cache no longer needed to free it up for anything else. I wouldn't be too concerned with the RAM but if you are then a quick reboot would release some usage.

Thanks for the info!