RAX-70 second 5 Ghz band drops randomly

Question

Hi,&nbsp;I hope all is well!&nbsp;I bought the RAX-70 router 11 months ago, mainly to have a router robust enough to handle my eleven HomePod minis and stream 4K movies on my Apple TV. I use the second 5 Ghz band for my HomePod mini and the channel 153 that none of my neighbours are using. That being said the second 5 Ghz band keeps dropping randomly, causing my music to stop.https://www.netgear.com/ca-en/home/wifi/routers/rax70/&nbsp;I called Netgear last week and after a few verifications they told me the hardware is good. Anyone would have any idea how I could make sure my second 5Ghz band is more reliable?&nbsp;Also I have a 120 Mbps cable Internet connection for which the modem has been replaced two weeks ago. So the modem shouldn't be the problem. I live in Québec in Canada.&nbsp;Thank you!

michaelkenward · Answer

benotdes&nbsp;wrote:
Also I have a 120 Mbps cable Internet connection for which the modem has been replaced two weeks ago. So the modem shouldn't be the problem. 
&nbsp;

And that modem is? Make and model?
&nbsp;
What firmware version do you have on the device? A number is more useful than "the latest". (It may not be by the time people read this.) There can also be newer versions, or "hot fixes", that do not show up if you check for new firmware in the browser interface.

plemans · Answer

Try setting the 5ghz-2 down to "up to 2400mbps". Reason I say this is the RAX70's 2nd band (I think as I don't have one) is a 4800mbps band. to do that, its channels are 160hz wide and that overlaps into dfs channels. When the router senses a dfs channel broadcasting, it has to stop using them for a period of time and switch to non-dfs. maybe something in your area is using dfs and causing that. If you set it to 2400mbps, its only 80hz wide and there's a section of 5ghz that is non-dfs that is 80hz wide it can use.&nbsp;
List of WLAN channels - Wikipedia
&nbsp;
Worth a shot.&nbsp;

benotdes · Answer

Hi&nbsp;michaelkenward,&nbsp;Thank you very much for your help!&nbsp;The curent firmware is 1.0.14.134. As for the modem it's a Technicolor model TC4300.E.&nbsp;Thank you!&nbsp;&nbsp;

benotdes · Answer

Thank you&nbsp;plemans, I appreciate!&nbsp;The 5 Ghz is already set to "up to 2401 Mbps". The channel 153 is a non DFS channel. Most of my neighbours are using the using the channel 157, so I chose to avoid it.&nbsp;When I scan the surrounded Wifi networks with my MacBook Pro I can see that my router is using the 80 hz as you mentioned below.&nbsp;Thank you very much!

plemans · Answer

they replaced your modem 2 weeks ago with that model? Its a super base model docsis 3.0 device. A simple 8x4 modem. The speedtier your on is about all you could get with that.&nbsp;
Not saying thats your issue (as its likely not), I'm just surprised that's what they went with.&nbsp;
makes me curious if somethings saturating your line with what you have running and causing the drops.&nbsp;
I usually don't recommend this but have you enabled qos?&nbsp;
How do you know the band drops? It might just be because its fast enough that devices can saturate you ISP speeds and that band is the most noticeable.&nbsp;

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RAX-70 second 5 Ghz band drops randomly

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