I have recently upgraded the WiFi card in one of my devices from an Intel AC3165 (433Mb) to an Intel AC9260 based on the fact that it supports MU-MIMO, 2x2 streams, and 1.7Gbps link rate.The XR500 also is supposed to support 1.7Gbps link rate.So I wiped drivers, swapped chips over, installed new drivers from Intel.And 866Mb link rate.I poked around in the XR500 wireless settings and find HT160 is greyed out and cannot be selected. I am on the latest xxxxxx.32 firmware, set up by hand from a hard reset.I am in Australia and have the location set as such in wireless. In my admitted limited searching, Australia does have laws that permit the use of DFS in part of the AC spectrum with a range of channels in the middle not allowed. I understand it is unlikely I will be able to achieve the full link rate advertised based on this, however I didn't expect to not even have the option to try it out.Please advise.

I just attempted to contact Netgear support about this issue to find my "complimentary 90 day support" doesnt exist. For a start, what kind of bullsh*t is "complimentary 90 day support"?Do you support your product or not, Netgear?Second, why am I being denied support roughly 5 weeks after I've purchased it?Getting real over this crap on a $450 router.

Select the 36-44 control channels for HT160 to work. Also note that the secondary channels used to create 160Mhz of bandwidth lie in the DFS spectrum so weather radars and govt utilitization takes priority and if the router detects those it will prevent usage of the affected DFS channels meaning you won’t have HT160 and it will keep you on the 80Mhz of non DFS channels. So that could also be another reason why HT160 isn’t working, maybe the router detected priority devices as mentioned above preventing operating in that mode.Note that I use an R7800 but internal hardware is the same.

I've let a Netgear team member know who's heavily involved with the XR500 so hopefully they'll have a solution or can work on a fix

It’s effectively an R7800 internally so it supports HT160, I use it with 9260ac in my Inspiron 7577. To use HT160 it has to be the lower channels as the 9260ac only supports contiguous HT160 and not 80+80 split bonding. Additionally if it’s not working /allowing you to use HT160 it could be due to local regulations/region settings preventing its use.

You will need to disable Smart Connect and you should then be able to enable HT160.

XR500 cannot enable HT160. | NETGEAR Communities

15 Replies

avtella
Prodigy
Oct 30, 2018
It’s effectively an R7800 internally so it supports HT160, I use it with 9260ac in my Inspiron 7577. To use HT160 it has to be the lower channels as the 9260ac only supports contiguous HT160 and not 80+80 split bonding. Additionally if it’s not working /allowing you to use HT160 it could be due to local regulations/region settings preventing its use.
- Netduma-Fraser
  NetDuma Partner
  Oct 31, 2018
  You will need to disable Smart Connect and you should then be able to enable HT160.
  - azza10
    Tutor
    Oct 31, 2018
    Avtella, what channel should I be selecting? Is there region I can select that is known to work so I can see if it is functioning properly on a known good region?
    
    Fraser, I already have smart connect unchecked. Do I need to also disable coexistence or another setting?
ericpouliot
Aspirant
Dec 02, 2018
i live in quebec canada and the ht160mhz is greyed for me i cant enable it. does future firmware update will fix that ?
- Netduma-Fraser
  NetDuma Partner
  Dec 02, 2018
  I have forwarded the issue to the XR700 Netgear team, it is something that can be fixed in a firmware update but I do not know if it will be included in the next one.

Forum Discussion

XR500 cannot enable HT160.