@Kevin_Z 

So a quick update:

 

I managed to get another laptop setup with AweSun software installed so was able to touch base with the engineers.

Using 1 extender is definitely stable for me and few others here, but I needed to show the engineers what happened with 2 so they could troubleshoot the issues.

So I plugged the second one in again yesterday and I had informed them that the first 24hrs were OK before issues occurred.

As luck would have, guess what happened? Yep, they logged on, had a look and lo and behold - everything was still behaving itself .....which means he couldn't find any issues.

 

Here are my settings that may be of help:

 

AX11000

2.4GHz band 12

5GHz 1 band 48

5GHz 2 band 112 dfs

^^^ set manually, then enable SMART and usually it keeps them "as is" without changing as they happen to be empty bands in my area (when the OneMesh behaves itself that is - when things go weird SMART puts them all over the place)

 

DST settings on as normal.

 

Wireless Settings:
OFDMA enabled

SMART enabled

Radiol enabled
Security: WPA/WPA2
Version: WPA2-PSK
Encryption: AES
Power: High

 

Guest network OFF

Wireless schedule OFF

WDS OFF

 

Additional settings:

WMM = on

Short GI = on

AP isolation = off

Airtime fairness = off

zero wait DFS = on

 

NO scheduled rebooting of router needed (mine's just on all the time)

 

No port forwarding/triggering entries

uPNP ON

DMZ OFF

 

Firewall ON (SPI & respond to LAN ticked, respond to WAN off)

ALG all ticked

 

RE605Xs (one in Garage, one in Kitchen)

Everything as "standard" including IP set automatically***

DST settings on mirroring AX11000

Setup by pressing WPS on router and then on node (easiest way of doing it imho).

Power on both set at max

 

TPLink Cloud signed in on all devices

 

Chief Tech HQ was very helpfull (thank you) and has asked me to notify if it happens again so that he can login again and see what's happening real time.

 

Hopefully it holds as is over the weekend.

 

****The "not logging in with previous bound IP" issue has apparently been patched in the upcoming firmware, so once that happens I'll be able to go back to ...0.2 and ...0.3 again

 

Hello @Gaffer and everyone else interested in our ongoing saga 

After one whole week of testing, I can make the following recommendation for ensuring a stable connection between one AX11000 router and two RE505X extenders (however guaranteeing only that it works in my scenario).

 

My wi-fi settings, as a refresher:

 

 

Now, when I had regular disconnects on extended 2.4 GHz wi-fi, my additional wi-fi settings were as follows:

 

 

At present, while my basic wi-fi settings remain unchanged, the two additional panes have been altered thus:

 

 

 

The difference consists in both OFDMA and Zero Wait DFS being switched OFF.

While this has given me excellent stability - I've been testing for nigh on four days, well past the potentially deadly period of 48 hours, without any link rate/speed drops worth reporting - there are some problems, albeit relatively minor.

Most notably, the router's web client list looks like it's being blitzkrieged, with clients appearing, disappearing, and reappearing at will (but all connections are actually stable).

Basically, I feel that this beta firmware is very much in the beta phase ...

Whatever the case may be, I've just rebooted my router and both extenders to factory and set up a new OneMesh config from scratch, the objective being to determine whether I can get a repeat of my previous success.

 

Cheers

Have you folks tried reducing the channel width? If you are in a congested area it might help.

 

I run my setup similar but without Mesh just using devices as endpoints. Reducing the TX power helps make things more stable for me, makes devices able to switch to different endpoints easier.

Hi @xokia 

Whereas I have already optimised channel width on the AX11000 to meet my requirements (and at once replicate the capabilities of the RE505X, especially as it does not support 160 MHz), the reduction of TX power looks like an interesting idea.

So, although right now I think I've found the root cause of my instability problems (OFDMA and Zero Wait DFS settings), I'll probably play around with TX power in a week or so.

Thanks!

I got sent the link to an improved beta firmware for the AX11000 by senior tech at TPLink. 

 

http://kb.tp-link.com:8080/s/mBbJSbNzYqRinLE

 

As well as increased stability it's meant to allow debugging so that tech support can track down issues more effectively.

After updating and rebooting, 2.4GHz had dropped again (fixed with the OFDMA trick I mentioned earlier) and everything continues stable now.

Both extenders acting appropriately in OneMesh mode and both 2.4 and 5 bands all transmitting correctly (although 2.4 was 4-500Mbps initially after reboot and now an hour later it's 270Mbps - but everything appears to be otherwise OK with nothing dropped so far).

 

@Maciej For me, instability came from enabling WPA3 and also "Airtime Fairness" (so those are OFF for me). Whereas OFDMA and "Zero Wait DFS" appear to be OK in my setup and remain ON. I think there are SO many variables that it's tricky for the engineers to narrow done issues as it appears to be different issues for different people.

 

@Kevin_Z I hope it's OK to post the link. If not, my apologies and please delete it.

@Gaffer 

I agree with you fully - many users, many different scenarios, many different outcomes, unfortunately.

The variables are so numerous that that is exactly why I called this official beta firmware true "beta" - too many variables.

Anyways, please keep on reporting what you find, I'll try to pass on what I find, others will pass on their finds, and hopefully this will get us somewhere, 

Hello @Gaffer 

I'm continuing my testing with both OFDMA and Zero Wiat DFS switched off. So far so good, no link rate/speed drops on extended 2.4 GHz. I'll report back in a few days to inform if I have replicated my earlier success.

On a side note - having successfully used the RE650 extender with the Archer C5400X, I must say that the RE505X has terrible range in comparison. Even though one unit is only 7 meters away from the AX11000, and the other 8 meters or so, they show no more than three (!) bars of connection strength. When I set up an RE650 in the more distant location, Tether would tell me that I could place even further away to boost range.

I know that this issue has been reported by others, but just the same ...

Hello,

I've been following these threads for a long time.  Appreciate everyone's comments and feedback.  To share my own, I have had a pretty stable network since upgrading to the first beta version from April.  I have the AX11000 and a RE603X in mesh mode.   Smart Connect disabled.  I have not had any network loss but have been experiencing some odd behaviors when connected to the RE603X.  When on the 5ghz network, I will randomly not be able to load videos or dynamic ads on some apps or sites. They just won't load on my devices (iPhone and iPad).  However I can stream TV to my Roku on the same network.  Sites load and apps load too.  When this happens, I'll reboot the RE603X and all will be good for about 48 hours.  Then it tends to happen again.   The 2.4ghz network actually loads the content when/if I switch over to it.   This is only happening on the RE603X, for when I disconnect it and just use the AX11000, there are no issues.  All in all, my connections have been stable, speeds are high (Fios GB - getting approx 750mbps up and down), and mesh works well when I move around.  Just this weird issue with the RE603X.  I plan to upgrade to the latest beta version, but was curious about some thoughts of others or if you have had similar experiences.  Thanks!  

Hello @Gaffer and friends,

Just a brief update...

I have now passed five more days testing on the original beta firmware with both OFDMA and Zero Wait DFS switched off, and extended 2.4 GHz was on the whole stable, with the link rate stabilized at around 250 Mbps. I will now load the firmware which you shared (ax11000v1-up-ver1-2-0-P1[20210512-rel61683]_nosign_2021-05-13_08.26.02), switch on OFDMA and Zero Wait DFS, and see how things go.

 

Good luck!