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Forum Discussion
New Firmware -- AT&T USA
Hi Everyone, There is in fact a new firmware for AT&T rolling out now. I'm trying to update, but first download attempt failed. I did two factory resets (one soft through the web admin, and the...
Successfully updated. Going to do another factory reset or two before configuring.
New firmware version is: NTG9X50C_12.02.06.00
Seems to add Arlo support, haven't noticed any other new features yet. I did get two automated, cryptic text messages after updating from AT&T. Not sure why. Perhaps some sort of config code?
My device was unlocked prior to the upgraded, haven't tested my Tmo SIM post upgrade, yet.
Download takes ~2min or so, then you must select install, install took ~3-4min with lots of flashing and reboot cycles.
-Jonathan
Note, Chrome seems to work better when configuring the web admin than Safari. Under router settings you can now disable the Ethernet power save setting. You can choose between 2min and disable. BUT only when using Chrome. Safari does not seem to support this control correctly (despite working for all of the others -- odd).
Wifi settings seem unchanged. Still the same transmit power, timeout, and bandwidth settings. Still only 40MHz and 80MHz -- No 20MHz for 5.8GHz. I'll have to pull the FCC info to see if it supports MIMO or not (aka 1x1 or 2x2). Later today I'll hook up my newer laptop with 2x2 and see what the negotiated PHY rates are.
Tmo SIM works fine. So firmware update / multiple factory resets did not impact my unlocked status.
Best,
JonathanOk,
Got my work laptop fired up with inSSIDer. From the negotiated PHY rates, it appears the MR1100 is in fact MIMO 2x2.
With 5.8GHz @ 40Mhz I get a max PHY rate of 360Mbit (aka ~216Mbit usable). At 5.8GHz @ 80MHz I get a max PHY rate of 866.7 Mbit (~520Mbit usable)
Signal (dBm) seemed to drop only ~3-5dBm with 80Mhz enabled. But this was by no means a scientific test. In general signal strength and useful range general decreases with wider channels. Which is why I want to use a 20MHz bandwith for 5.8GHz.
More info here
http://www.arubanetworks.com/assets/wp/WP_80211acInDepth.pdf
Not sure if the MR1100 does band steering or not. I don't see any settings. I typically run my 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz networks with separate SSID's.
-Jonathan
Battery usage seems somewhat higher with the new firmware. After ~10hours of light usage on both bands, not a single crash, reboot, or hang. Battery fells from 100% to roughly 30% in that time.
But this is not an apples to apple comparison. I had both bands enabled (long) with the wifi timeout disabled and the Ethernet timeout also disabled. Previously I only had a single channel enabled (5.8GHz) and the Ethernet timeout was likely set the default 2min time out.
So far this new firmware seems like a good improvement. Speeds still seem rather slow (slower than my iPhone 6s), but that will take some more testing to prove out.
