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Betreff: Poor coverage and signal strength with AP WAX214 and RF signal settings disabled

ScottyBeam
Aspirant

Poor coverage and signal strength with AP WAX214

Dear Community

 

I recently bought the AP WAX-216 for private use to improve the WLAN coverage in my appartment plus to get WiFi6 (AX) support.

 

Setup: I use the AP with PoE powered by a Cisco RV216P router. The access point is mounted in about 2.5 meters hight without any other transmitting devices nearby.  So I would consider this as a proper place for the AP.

 

Problem: Using AC clients I receive a very poor signal strength. One AC client is in about 10 meter distance from the AP without any obstacles in the way but I only get about -60dbm. In the room next to the AP I only get about -70dbm which is causing the connection to sometimes drop (altough the frequence changes to 2.4GHz). Not worth mentioning, that the bandwith is super low.

With my "non-business" WLAN-Router before (which was placed behind my TV, so not ideal), I got way better signal strengh (with the AC client about -50dbm and in the room next to it about -60dbm.

Looking at the AP specs, the AP consumes 16W, checking the power consumption on the Cisco it says, only 5 Watt are consumed by the AP. In the AP menu there is a setting for transmission power but this menu item is greyed out, so cant check/change anything there :-(: Latest firmware is installed.

 

Appreciate if anyone could help me out in solving the problem, else I need to send it back and replace it with a different AP.

 

Many thanks

Scotty

Message 1 of 5
martin__
Aspirant

Betreff: Poor coverage and signal strength with AP WAX214 and RF signal settings disabled

dear all,

 

any updates on this issue?

 

I do have exactly the same problems as discribed by ScottyBeam. In addition I have the situation that the signal strength seems to vary a lot within a few minutes. Even in a room (10to15m) without any obstacles the signal changes from poor to acceptable and back (staying at the same spot, same device, nobody moving...). I also have the problem described by another user with the RF power function. After updating the firmware to 2.something I can not change the power settings any more. Before the update at least the signal strength stayed similar after using the RF Signal functions (20dB)

 

it is my fist Netgear device and I bought it because I believed I will buy really good stuff. my old AP covered my whole house. now I cant cover one level any more! I am really disappointed and need help! 

 

regards martin

Message 2 of 5
schumaku
Guru

Betreff: Poor coverage and signal strength with AP WAX214 and RF signal settings disabled

Auto RF was enabled by default since 1.0.2.3 firmware, as per the WAX214 Firmware Version 1.0.2.3 

 

  • Now Auto RF is enabled always for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios. Manual transmit power selection is not supported.

One could imagine that some automatic power regulation might lower the power to a point that clients trying to connect on a longer distance or form another room/floor won't be able to see the AP anymore. @RaghuHR please.

Message 3 of 5
ScottyBeam
Aspirant

Betreff: Poor coverage and signal strength with AP WAX214 and RF signal settings disabled

After some chats with the support without any improvement of the situation, I decided to return the device... Bought now an AP from another brand and works definitely better, also allows to set the power transmission accordingly.

I think, Netgear is producing devices mainly for end users and that's why they have decided to remove any advanced settings, instead their "logic" decides certain settings... So this AP is certainly not a device for advanced users or businesses where you want to change settings to your own need...to be fair, my new AP was also double price...
Message 4 of 5
schumaku
Guru

Betreff: Poor coverage and signal strength with AP WAX214 and RF signal settings disabled


@ScottyBeam wrote:
I think, Netgear is producing devices mainly for end users and that's why they have decided to remove any advanced settings, instead their "logic" decides certain settings... So this AP is certainly not a device for advanced users or businesses where you want to change settings to your own need...to be fair, my new AP was also double price...

Not a generic Netgear thing, you could have choosen the WAX610 (similar platfrom like the WAX214) for about the same amount of money, and there are much more controls available... 

 

Of course, I'm with you on the automatic power feature - permitting it's working in the way I would imagine - thus I try to bring this to Netgear's attention again.

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