Author Topic: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power  (Read 52245 times)

buddee

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #60 on: July 03, 2011, 09:18:59 PM »

I wouldn't go by that review exclusively, they recently put out an article about how high power routers don't give the greatest range.

 

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-basics/31516-why-high-power-routers-dont-improve-range?

 

In the review, the editor didn't know that there is high power dual band adapters out either, i had to send him a link to one such model that has been out for some many months now. That alone tells me that they aren't on the up and up. And thats not the first instance of it where i have had to correct them...

 

And this isn't giving dd-wrt a pass either, because the issues do exsist, but them not knowing what hardware is out, and many months of it being out doesn't give smallnetbuilder high credibility ratings on the scale either. So smallnetbuilder reviews, i would advise, be taken with a grain of salt.


slybunda

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #61 on: July 05, 2011, 03:29:20 PM »

i agree with buddee on the above post. review sites should be the ones who always know whats going on with the latest tech.


msteele

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power - New AG300H on Amazon?
« Reply #62 on: July 06, 2011, 03:40:31 PM »

What's up with the new more expensive WZR-HP-AG300H on Amazon? They are advertising "Ism Unii Band 37.50 Mbps Speed?". I don't know much about ISM/U-NII other than what's available on WikiPedia. It looks like certain U-NII bands now allow 1W of transmit power.  I'm assuming this new Amazon post is just marketing since I can't find anything about it on Buffalo's site.

 

This seems to follow this thread of the AG300H being limited (and perhaps not even achieving) the 250mw max output currently mandated by the FCC.  If in fact this is a new version of the AG-300H that transmits at 1W, then everyone on this forum thread should be happy.

 

Do any Buffalo people want to comment?  ?

 


jtwags

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power - New AG300H on Amazon?
« Reply #63 on: July 09, 2011, 05:24:06 PM »

I thought I would add my experience with the AG300H.  I have been using the G300N for sometime and it has been a rock solid router.  I decided to upgrade and went with the WNDR 4000 to start for a dual band router.  Speed was great until it kept loosing conenction with my wifes computer using intel 5300 and our droid X's.  Signal was fluctuating constantly and we are in a condo with 7 other wireless routers in range.  Used inssider to find best channel and no luck.  Returned the WNDR 4000 and went with the WNDR3700 thinking it had been updated and may be more stable.  Worked great for a week, then same thing kept dropping signal and loosing bandwidth in the condo.  Even worse it would randomly reboot while streaming netflix through bluray player.  Played with the settings even thought about flashing dd-wrt as some people have found success.  Decided not to take a chance with warranty and returned the unit.  Purchased the AG300H knowing is was 2x2.  I had a hell of a time setting it up.  When i changed the SSID the 5ghz would disappear and not power up (no signal) couldn't connect.  I played with it until I finally changed the names of the bands completely.  For some reason having disimilar names worked (ie: buffalo5g for 5ghz and wonka24 for the 2.4ghz).  I have been able to connect all my devices, wireless desktop, two laptops, two cell phones, 2 wireless printers, wired bluray player and wired readynas duo.  This router has worked flawlessly.  I am looking at my up time and it shows 37 days, 20:53.  I have not touched the build yet, 15940.  I am tempted to try 17135 but at this moment in time it has worked great to the point I haven't needed to tinker with it at all.  I will say the 5ghz range is weak, but that is something we should realize with that band; It will not cover a house well unless in the same room.  I only use the 5 ghz band when streaming in the same room and it has worked perfectly on my intel 5300 and intel 5100 cards.  For me the g300n has been solid and now, after initial setup doubts and worries, the ag300h has been solid to date.  I really wanted the wndr4000 to work so i could take advantage of 3x3, but the fact is it fell short in the reliability area.  I think the longest stretch i had with the 3700 and 4000 was 15 hours up time.  I am watching prices on the ag300h as they may drop because of the smallnetbuilder review and I plan to pick another up to creat a bridge in my new house for upstairs office.  I will let you know how it works.


FireMan

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #64 on: July 19, 2011, 06:21:51 PM »

Hi All,

 

How can I revert from DD-WRT (not Buffalo) to Buffalo's friendly firmware???

If i try to upload the "UserFriendly_1.72_1.15.enc?", or even the "wzrhpag300nh-pro-v24sp2-alpha-17135_us_eu_ap.enc?" one, I get the FAIL message.

I'm stuck with buggy DD-WRT build 17201? :(

 

Many thanks in advance!


buddee

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #65 on: July 20, 2011, 04:59:23 PM »

You would have to use the TFTP method to revert back, works pretty much the same on the WZR-HP-G300NH as well.


FireMan

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #66 on: July 20, 2011, 05:27:02 PM »

Thanks.

I've found the problem: bind @ arp a mac different from my router (a mac generic to all routers): arp -s 192.168.11.1 02:aa:bb:cc:dd:20

 

I've switch back to factory default firmware, but I will miss some interesting features from DD-WRT :(

But DD-WRT is too slooooow in WiFi. Also, the 40mhz channel is a "must have" (and DD-WRT doesn't have it!).

 

Cheers.

 

 


na21

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #67 on: September 22, 2011, 07:19:17 AM »

I just bought one off Amazon without properly reading reviews.

 

Has this issue been fixed or will the dd-wrt firmware always have decreased power output?


KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #68 on: September 22, 2011, 07:44:07 AM »

na21 wrote:

I just bought one off Amazon without properly reading reviews.

 

Has this issue been fixed or will the dd-wrt firmware always have decreased power output?


No, the issue has not been fixed.  The issue may not ever get resolved for the Buffalo routers (possibly all atheros based routers).  The technology will probably move forward without ever solving the problem with the current atheros generation. 

There are hints that dd-wrt might have problems in properly controlling tx power with multi-stream (2x2, 3x3) mimo based routers.  They are currently addressing a "problem with TX power that was not present in the original software" for the new (not released to date) rt-n66u from Asus (which is a broadcom based router).  What I do find interesting is the level of engagement of Asus corp. with insuring that 3rd party fw issues are addressed BEFORE the release of the product.  I think that might influence my future product selection criteria.


na21

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #69 on: September 22, 2011, 08:52:57 AM »

That is unfortunate.

 

So the options for us are either:

 

  1. Use dd-wrt with reduced power
  2. Use the Buffalo firmware

Is that right?

 

My questions are:

 

  1. Is there much of a difference wireless coverage between dd-wrt and the Buffalo firmware?
  2. What features are in dd-wrt that is not in Buffalo firemware?
  3. Does open wrt work with full power?

KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #70 on: September 22, 2011, 09:31:10 AM »

na21 wrote:

That is unfortunate.

 

So the options for us are either:

 

  1. Use dd-wrt with reduced power
  2. Use the Buffalo firmware

Is that right?

 

My questions are:

 

  1. Is there much of a difference wireless coverage between dd-wrt and the Buffalo firmware?
  2. What features are in dd-wrt that is not in Buffalo firemware?
  3. Does open wrt work with full power?

1. Minimal.  Stability is the main difference with the User Friendly being the most stable.

2. Many!  The User Friendly software is very minimalistic with a basic limited set of features.  The dd-wrt has much more flexibilty is controlling access, usb storage formats, Qos (still a little buggy), additional 'optware' packages.

3. Not really, though openwrt works slightly better.  The reason for that is that the main 'developer' for the current ath9k drivers in both dd-wrt and openwrt is the same person.  Changes are made first and sorted out in openwrt and then ported/inserted to dd-wrt.  The ath9k driver support in both openwrt and dd-wrt is very much a work-in-progress at this point.  Case in point: there have been about 9 significant ath9k changes in the openwrt development trunk in the last 2 weeks.  I do not see this stabilizing in the near term.


na21

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #71 on: September 22, 2011, 09:58:26 AM »

Thanks King JL.

 

Hopefully I won't be disappointed?


derf

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #72 on: September 23, 2011, 01:15:36 PM »

KingJL

 

Have a WZR-HP-AG300H here. Wish I had waited for all the reviews on the product prior to buying it back in late Apr 2011.  Did manage to swap out the fixed antenna with some small increase for range of the device.  Still it doesn't perform where I thought it should for all the hype on 'High Power'

 

SO my question is ....If I was going to buy a new Router...what would you suggest?  Do you know of any that are truly TX'ing at the 27dBi or there about

 


KingJL

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #73 on: September 23, 2011, 01:59:41 PM »

derf wrote:

 

... SO my question is ....If I was going to buy a new Router...what would you suggest?  Do you know of any that are truly TX'ing at the 27dBi or there about

 


Like I have mentioned before on other forums... it depends on the purpose.  For a long range client, my opinion is ubiquiti (I'm partial to the nanostation m2 or m5).  With ubiquiti, stay with their fw (AirOS) as both dd-wrt and openwrt atheros issues still apply..  The ubiquiti routers are atheros based, but AirOS seems to work well.

 

For a multipurpose whole house AP, I've got my eye on the about to be released Asus RT-N53 dual band router (reportedly 28 dBm (2.4 GHZ mode g/ 26 dBm mode n).  The RT-N53 is Broadcom based using proprietary drivers.  Using the OEM fw should provide the 28 dBm in 2.4 GHZ.  Whether the power will be maintained by 3rd party fw remains to be seen.  The FCC report was completed Sep 20, 2011.   Asus seems to be fully committed to their router product line and and fully involved in insuring that they perform as spec'ed and designed.  Their fw is adequate for most users.  Broadcom based routers have a higher chance of success with 3rd party fw.  I am also looking forward to seeing the FCC specs for the much hyped RT-N66U.  They are not as yet published


derf

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Re: WZR-HP-AG300H Transmit power
« Reply #74 on: September 24, 2011, 01:11:57 PM »

Thanks  I looked at the ubnt site  I wish they had (or i could find) a Dual Band unit :( As it stands I think i'll bite the bullet and spend the $88 on a NS-M2.  Now just looking at it I'm starting to lean towards the NS2 simply because it does have External Antenna Support.....Thoughts?