[SOLVED] Asus AC58U help please.

[Mahbub1]

I have Asus AC58U and in the specification section under MIMO subheading it says

MIMO technology
2.4 GHz 2 x 2
5 GHz 2 x 2

Does this mean it can put out 4 simultaneous data streams (two 2.5ghz and two 5ghz) at once, or this means it can put out two simultaneous data streams at once (two 2.4ghz at once OR two 5ghz at once).

In short is Asus AC58U a 4 device MU-MIMO or a 2 device MU-MIMO?

 

[bill001g]

Mostly this is fancy marketing hype. It really depends on what you mean by "simultaneous". The radios themselves can only really send 1 signal at time so this means since you have 2 radios(2.4g and 5g) you can send 2 signals. Routers always make it seem that they run all communications at the same time but they are just switching very quickly between them.

It is not even that simple since wifi is half duplex and only the router or the end device can transmit at a time. So it makes it even more confusing since if the end device would happen to transmit at the same time as the router or another end device they damage each others signals. Partially why wifi performance never really hits those magic numbers you see.

Mimo is really just a one transmission that has parts slightly out of phase. Mu-mimo attempts to use this to talk to different devices. Note your end device must also support mu-mimo. It works but it is mostly something you can see if you very specific testing software. It make very little difference in the real world usage.

Pretty much you can't really configure much on mimo anyway so it is best to not be concerned. You try your best to balance the device between your 2.4g and 5g radios so you get the best performance. No fancy router is going to do that. Only the end user can really know what his devices are used for.