ASUS RT-AC66R latency and lag spikes...Yikes!

[Blackbriar]

I bought and installed an ASUS AC-66R wifi router a few days ago and am having problems with lag spikes or latency.

Symptons
1) when loading a web page, safari seems to pause for 15-30 seconds. If I click the "X" button to stop the page from loading, go back and re-click the link, the new page will usually load instantly.

2) safari (and FireFox to a lesser extent) seem to be slow to respond to commands or links.

3) online gaming (in particular World of Warcraft) is unplayable, with in-game latency of 500-2,000ms.

Setup
iMac running OSX 10.8.4
ASUS AC-66R with latest firmware .374
Running both 2.4GHz and 5GHz signals
Cable modem with Cox Communications "premier" speed

Notes
I used a scanner to detect and use the channels with the lowest/no interference.
I am the only 5GHz Wifi signal between channels 11-110 (I'm on channel 40).
The main computer is in the same room as the router

Reading other posts on this site and others, it appears that the latency/lag spikes may be a problem caused by the equipment or the ASUS software? Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

I much appreciate your shared wisdom!

-Michael

 

[aatje92]

iMac.... Yikes!

 

[Blackbriar]

Is there a problem with iMacs that would cause this lag/latency with the AC66R? I had no issues with my old wifi router (it just wasn't strong enough to push a signal downstairs to my TV/Netflix).

 

[bill001g]

Finding 1 free channel means nothing now days.

If you were to really use your 802.11ac correctly you would use 4 consecutive channels and there are only 2 groups 36-49 and 149-161 that you can transmit at full power and do not need to worry about your router detecting weather radar and disabling the channel.

This is also true for 802.11n running 40mhz channels. You need to have 2 free channels. In your case you would need 36 and 40 or 40 and 44.

I would try to force your router into 20mhz mode ie 1 channel. It is slower but still likely much faster than any internet connection you have.

There are many things in the wireless that do not show up in things like INSSIDER. This tool only show AP that broadcast their SSID (someone maybe using the hide option) and then you also have wireless security cameras,baby monitors, cordless phones etc etc that operate in the 5g but are not 802.11 based so are undetectable by a pc. There are spectrum analyses that are finally affordable that are can do just the wireless bands.

Also be very sure you are using the band you think. You generally must use different SSID on 2.4 and on 5 so YOU can choose which it uses otherwise it will just use the strongest which tends to be 2.4g

 

[Blackbriar]

Thank you very much for the answers. I am not running AC mode, but rather forced the AC66R back down into N mode for both 2.4 and 5GHz.

I do understand that these "faster" wifi protocols are using more than one channel and bridging them together. Still, with no one else in the neighborhood using ANY of the channels above 11 or below 120, I feel pretty confident that the 5GHz signal operating in the 40-44 channels is pretty clean. Also, the main computer is in the same room at the router.

I'm wondering is the ASUS software or firmware has caused these lag/latency issues for other people? Anyone have a way to test the system to find the culprit?

 

[bill001g]

You could load the dd-wrt image as see if that makes any difference.

It still sounds like interference, high latency is exactly what it looks like. It would be really nice if the chipsets would tell you how much retransmission they were doing but they don't

Now I will assume you have removed the router and directly cabled to the modem to eliminate the ISP and the modem.