Author Topic: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power  (Read 52132 times)

squirrelly

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #15 on: May 22, 2011, 10:54:18 PM »

Vote with your wallet.   I sent mine back to Amazon for a refund.  I will continue to watch this forum to see if they update the hardware with version 1.1. 


phred_t

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2011, 05:16:28 PM »

I just bought one from newegg.com and I am returning mine because of this power issue. Thankfully I didnt open first.


derf

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #17 on: May 23, 2011, 06:03:30 PM »

Wish I had returned mine.....Although I haven't I have discouraged 3 others from making the mistake.

 

I've switched back to the User Friendly firmware....and will wait till the new DDWRT is released before i try to flog this unit on Kijiji....might as well spread the poor performance issues far and wide  (because for sure the unit doesn;t provide wifi coverage far and wide)


mookie

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #18 on: May 23, 2011, 08:50:58 PM »

I prefer the Buffalo firmware over dd-wrt (as it is seems to be inferior to stock firmware in terms of performance, as evidenced by the transmit problem people are complaining about).  In fact, I find that the Buffalo firmware works very well on this router - not a single problem so far - and has a lot of great features like media server, which dd-wrt does not have.


KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2011, 09:09:17 AM »
 
mookie wrote:

I prefer the Buffalo firmware over dd-wrt (as it is seems to be inferior to stock firmware in terms of performance, as evidenced by the transmit problem people are complaining about).  In fact, I find that the Buffalo firmware works very well on this router - not a single problem so far - and has a lot of great features like media server, which dd-wrt does not have.


 I totally agree.  If you use the dd-wrt firmware you will lose all HP capability.  And I do not forsee this being rectified ant time soon.  The management of dd-wrt is in denial.  They claim that the hardware has a limit of 18 dBm, even when presented with the FCC test submission by Buffalo, Inc. which clearly shows 29dBm at 2.4 MHz channel 6.  Brainslayer has dismissed this claim and says that none of the units that he received showed that kind of power.  So the message is if "user freindly" firmware cannot satisfy your needs, DO NOT BUY THIS ROUTER.  In my case, the 'user friendly' firmware satisfies my needs.  Now. if you need client mode to a non Buffalo router and non WPS, that is another story!


phred_t

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2011, 11:36:16 AM »

To KingJL or others that have tried DD-WRT and the "user friendly" firmware on the AG300H...

 

Can you confirm that the user friendly firmware most certainly DOES increase range? If so do you have any details or approximation on the degree of difference between the two in regards to range? Thanks.


KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2011, 01:10:53 PM »

The user friendly firmware does not increase range.  It works as designed and tested.  The dd-wrt firmware will decrease it by up to 9 dBm or more (100 mW vs. 800 mW).  That can translate into ~1/3 the range (0.35 to be more exact).   This decrease can be seen in a relative signal strength difference by scanning software such as Insider.  Most notable though, is the thruput at any given distance (i.e. the thruput will be equal or greater with the user friendly version than dd-wrt at any distance;  the closer, the less the difference).  The 'user friendly' software will consistently result in higher connection speeds.  The downside of the 'user friendly' firmware is the versatility.


phred_t

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #22 on: May 24, 2011, 04:51:20 PM »

Well I meant "increase" vs. the DD-WRT firmware. This is just very interesting now we have confirmation that indeed the user friendly firmware provides a much more powerful signal vs. DD-WRT.

 

KingJL,

your signal level and thruput results at distance for the user friendly firmware vs. DD-WRT would be a great way to further prove you point to DD-WRT developers, namely BrainSlayer. If you could prove to them that on the same channel that the 2 firmwares are much different in output power that would be hard to deny that DD-WRT (or related underlying drivers) is the issue. I vote you post these findings on your #2081 ticket and see what DD-WRT has to say.

 

Keep fighting the good fight!


derf

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #23 on: May 25, 2011, 11:37:54 AM »

What I'm wondering is;

 

Is the lack of power a result of FCC Regulations.  I thought I saw somewhere that 'they' have imposed a 20dBi limit on 802.11 based radios.  Now I have yet to look around too much yet (when I do I'll follow this up with a post) on this issue.  But I did see in the FCC Filings for this product that the Output Power is 935mW on the 2.4 and 915mW on the 5Ghz channel.  Maybe someone 'in the know' can clarify is that per antenna or total.Because if my thinking is correct by channel divided by the 2 antenna means indeed a shorter distance with a greater possibility for throughput.

 

I can see that a 900mW output paired with a 3 dBi antenna provides  30dB 

 

In no way am I or anyone using this 'High Power' device getting that range


soyabeanmilk

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #24 on: May 25, 2011, 07:14:04 PM »

i am running the Community build and am trying to revert to the Buffalo user friendly firmware due to the power issues (I'm only getting between 10-14 dBm!)

 

I am not able to do this from Administration>Firmware Upgrade. I get an "Upgrade Fail" messageusing the buffalo firmware.

 

Can someone please guide me on how I might be able to do that?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

p.s. Thanks to KingJL and others who have done a lot of research on this topic. I do hope that DD-WRT fixes the problem as this is a very nice router.


KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #25 on: May 25, 2011, 08:36:25 PM »

soyabeanmilk wrote:

i am running the Community build and am trying to revert to the Buffalo user friendly firmware due to the power issues (I'm only getting between 10-14 dBm!)

 

I am not able to do this from Administration>Firmware Upgrade. I get an "Upgrade Fail" messageusing the buffalo firmware.

 

Can someone please guide me on how I might be able to do that?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

p.s. Thanks to KingJL and others who have done a lot of research on this topic. I do hope that DD-WRT fixes the problem as this is a very nice router.


Read this thread thoroughly! 

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=78566&highlight=

 

You can download the Factory firmware from the Buffalo site or get it off your CD that came with your router.  Be sure that you are using the firmware for YOUR router.  If you do not have a linux system available follow the directions using the "LiveCD".  Personnaly, I have a dual boot system... XP and Fedora 14.


KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #26 on: May 25, 2011, 08:52:56 PM »

KingJL wrote:

soyabeanmilk wrote:

i am running the Community build and am trying to revert to the Buffalo user friendly firmware due to the power issues (I'm only getting between 10-14 dBm!)

 

I am not able to do this from Administration>Firmware Upgrade. I get an "Upgrade Fail" messageusing the buffalo firmware.

 

Can someone please guide me on how I might be able to do that?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

p.s. Thanks to KingJL and others who have done a lot of research on this topic. I do hope that DD-WRT fixes the problem as this is a very nice router.


Read this thread thoroughly! 

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=78566&highlight=

 

You can download the Factory firmware from the Buffalo site or get it off your CD that came with your router.  Be sure that you are using the firmware for YOUR router.  If you do not have a linux system available follow the directions using the "LiveCD".  Personnaly, I have a dual boot system... XP and Fedora 14.


Oh I forgot to suggest... Log on to your router via ssh (or telnet) and run the command 'ubootenv..  Copy and paste the info into notepad.  Look thru the info for the correct MAC address for the router to use in the referenced procedure.  Mine was 02:AA:BB:CC:DD:20.  It is labled uboot_ethaddr.  Then use this address in leu of the one specified in the procedure.


dmcintosh256

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #27 on: June 06, 2011, 10:33:27 PM »

Hi,

 

I am torn between purchasing a Linksys E4200, a Netgear WNDR3700v2 (unfortunately), and the WZR-HP-AG300H, and I have a couple of questions. Bear with me; I well understand computers and networking, but have zero experience with dd-wrt:

 

1. I see that there is a very recent stock firmware build for the Buffalo unit. Has anyone here tried those? If so, does it make the transmit power better, worse, or the same as the previous rev. And the bonus question is, what is the max actual transmit power at 2.4 and 5 GHz with the new Buffalo FW?

 

2. Slightly off-topic for this thread, sorry!) Do either of the Buffalo stock Firmware builds (simple or prof.) have a reasonably simple way to configure a "true" Guest (multiple WLAN) setup, such that one can restrict access on one WLAN to disallow browsing of other LAN resources? I've seen the dd-wrt setup for multi-WLAN setup, and I wondered if that capability has been folded into the stock FW.

 

TIA - Doug


derf

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #28 on: June 07, 2011, 10:08:48 AM »

 

There is no recent update to either the 'User Friendly' or 'Professional'  firmware.  The ones posted in the downloads section here simply show the date they have been posted online.  They are the same builds that shipped with the unit and the ones included on the Installation CD. The problems that exist with the unit (ie Power issues), and others documented at DD-WRT have not been addressed and still EXIST.  I haven't looked at the Netgear nor the Linksys unit so I have no opinion on them, but I do own a WZR-HP-AG300H and I would stay clear of it for now.  It just doesn't live up to it's claims,  and for a 'flagship' product the support is lacking.

 

Further on that, I'd  suggest that you filter the advice you get for ACTUAL OWNERS of this product.  Those in here (like some mods) that seem to discount the issues on this device YET DO NOT OWN ONE are suspect  IMHO.

 

I'm currently running the 'User Friendly' FW.  It does allow have an implementation of 'Guest'.  I have not used it, but I understand that you can create multiple SSID's for each radio (2.4 & 5 Ghz) with it's individual security (WPA, WEP etc.)  While setting that up you can 'Separate Feature'

 

"Separate feature

Connected wireless devices can communicate with WAN side devices if this setting is enabled"

 

I thought (i could be wrong) that if this is checked then devices connected via wireless can not see other devices either on the same SSID or others nor can they communicate with those devices connected via a LAN Drop.

 

One item that seems to be missing (and requested within DD-WRT Forums) is an ability to control 'Guest Access' bandwidth.  Sharing my connection with my neighbor might be nice, but not once he decides to load up some torrents ;)


blackomegax

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #29 on: June 08, 2011, 10:58:26 PM »

As an actual owner of this product, and after doing some quasi-scientific testing (more tests similar to the ones i posted in the ddwrt atheros forum), I can attest that neither buffalo branded firmwares, nor dd-wrt community build, support anything close to "high power" output.

 

 

Testing the AG300H vs a broadcom netgear 3500L at 50 feet, with the same settings reported (20mw, 13dbm(the max it will go without hacking it to falsely report txpwr)) (and alternating which has a/c, to avoid direct interference)

Both achieve similar N link-rates and dbi in INSSIDer, across all 3 firmwares.

 

I have no way to do a similar test on 5ghz, but it too does not report any higher than 13dBm, and will not even connect at 50 feet with the user-friendly firmware. (but will with dd-wrt, at 9 mbit A)