I need some opinions: I have an asus rt-ac68u router that I bought 4+ years ago. I’ve never had any problems until recently. I have some dead spots in my house that are causing problems with wfh with zoom/msteams calls. My wife is having her calls dropped in different parts of the house including where I have built in work stations! (Basement, sunroom)
First, if connectivity is that important, you need to finish wiring up the network cables. WiFi will never be that reliable, especially these days, especially in denser urban areas, especially as the spectrum gets further crowded and more and more ill-behaved routers from ISPs that take up massive chunks of spectrum to "support" broadband speeds, and the proliferation of additional access points on other channels and the multitude of wireless security devices and the IoT where none needs to be blasting out at far stronger broadcast wattage than actually is needed because people are brute-forcing their wireless connectivity issues, compounding the issue further for everyone... especially now that everyone who can is home now and telecommuting. My wife having to teach via Zoom finally lit a fire under my own butt to finally rip out the old telephone wiring in the house and finally run some good, annealed, UL certified, 24/4 CAT5e through the house and set up a little network closet after switching over to fiber internet.
If the network connection is important, use wired.Also, when you're ready to terminate those runs of cable at the wall jacks,
pick a standard for your house (T568-A or T568-B) and stick to it at both ends so you don't accidentally make any crossover cables. Most of the US is wired T568-B, but T568-A is used by the rest of the world and is more consistent with the historical color codes per paired line of the old days of analog voice. I could talk for a while about the advantages and disadvantages of either spec and the history of telecomms wiring, but I'm already getting sidetracked. (Ignore this if I misunderstood and you're further along than I understood.)
What I'm saying, though, is... FINISH THE JOB. Make your wife understand that if the connection is important, she needs a wire dangling from her laptop to a wall.
In my situation, should I just add asus routers as access points? Shell out $$ for their specific access point products? Switch over to a dream machine and their in wall access points?
Is my router still good to work for a bunch more years if I do jump on the asus products? Or is it good money after bad adding on to this?
One of two things is likely happening with the change in coverage footprint: there's new interference causing issues, which can possibly be fixed by changing channels on the router to less congested frequencies; or the router is potentially having hardware and/or firmware issues caused either by a buggy firmware update, a dying power supply causing undervoltage (not outside the realm of possibility given the age of the machine), old/failing capacitors (which is unlikely given they're solid polymer caps), or physical damage from a power surge or impact (and if you keep your router on a UPS or at least a decent surge strip with a low clamping voltage, or don't actively play hockey in the same room as the device, this is unlikely).
Before going any further, I fell like I should tell you that your existing router should in theory be amazing even now, and plenty for what you need, even now. It supports third party firmware like
FreshTomato (
how to install), and uses RP-SMA connectors for the antennas, which means you could theoretically replace, upgrade, and direct signal with said antennas to improve coverage... not that I think you need to in this instance.
To check for interference and coverage issues, you'll need a WiFi analyzer and possibly a heatmapper. If you're on Windows, a good free WiFi analyzer is actually
WiFi Analyzer by Matt Hafner from the Microsoft Store. WiFi Analyzer will even recommend best alternative channels for existing connected to WiFi network based on competing signals and noise as you walk around the house with it. Ekahau Heatmapper is still the best tool for the job and only free option, but Ekahau is no longer offering it for download, you'll have to deal with some (potentially) sketchy software website to download it, like Softonic, scan it for anything unsavory using Virustotal before install, and grab a floorplan layout image from your county tax assessor to work with heatmapping. Sometimes, just changing which channel you're using will fix some dead-space. Sometimes, it can be fluorescent lights, twinkle (christmas) lights, Bluetooth devices, microwaves, refrigerators, cordless phones, satellite dishes, or other WiFi devices causing interference, too.
If the router is acting twitchy or unstable, troubleshoot. Make sure the firmware is current and up to date. If it is current and up to date, check to see if others are having problems with it. If there's a lot of dropped connections, it's possible the power supply could be getting dodgy. Replacing the power supply is a lot cheaper than replacing the network equipment. The factory ASUSWRT should be okay for the most part, but if you're concerned it's buggy or handicapping your device, you can always step up to enchantment with FreshTomato and give it a shot to see if it improves anything, and if it doesn't? You can always go back to the
factory firmware.
If you're really desperate and need a wired connection without finishing the network wiring,
TP-LINK has some affordable ethernet over powerline equipment that sometimes works beyond the same electrical circuit in the house. Don't get the WiFi enabled versions. Be minimalistic with WiFi devices. Hard line whenever possible and wherever possible, and disconnect the stupid/unnecessary IoT devices if you have any. Your refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, etc. doesn't need to talk to the world, and it's a network security vulnerability for the rest of your stuff. It's just adding more noise to the signal, impacting access for the stuff you actually need and value.
Odds are, you can fix this without replacing anything, maybe a power brick at the worst for around $25... just by making sure you're using the optimal wireless channels, your router is actually working as intended, and finishing wiring your house and using said network cables. You probably don't actually need more APs. If it worked reliably before, it can still work reliably now. Do what's necessary to make that happen.
UBNT equipment is nice, but you already have nice equipment... so learn to use and optimize what you have already.
EDIT: Alternatively, it could be your wife's devices that are failing. If other wireless equipment doesn't have dropped connectivity issues in the same locations? Yeah, nevermind the rest yet,
check this first. Though, the wired connection point still stands.
