WIFI 6GHz Range

[AddisonGeek]

I just setup the RAXE290 in an upstairs room and have the 3 WiFi bands configured with pass phrases.  My house is small (old Sears kit house), and I can't get my ZFold3 to connect to the 6GHz SSID unless I'm in the same room.  The upstairs interior walls are lath & plaster with no insulation.  I do understand that there will be some signal loss due to the type of environment in which the router is deployed, yet I had hoped that the propagation wouldn't have been affected that much.  I can't even "see" the 6GHz band in my living room, which is directly below the router.  Is there some setting I missed?

By the way, the "associated products" list doesn't have the RAXE290.

[Razor512]

Which region are you in, and which channel is being used? While the 6GHz band is not too far off from the 5GHz band channels that largely operate in the 5.8GHz range. In some regions there are some draconian regulations imposed on the 6GHz band which forces the use of very low transmit. The impacts are made worse on many smartphones since they tend to use anywhere from -3 to -7 dBi gain antennas, while the router may use +3dBi gain antennas, and with beamforming can get a 5-6dBi directional gain, especially along the horizontal plane.

Due to the behavior of how they are mandated to manage transmit power, along with even stricter restrictions for client devices, if a home contains more dense building materials, then it can heavily attenuate the signal.

Currently the US is the least restrictive of the regions, but the restrictions are still quite draconian (Impacting all AP makers).

PS another thing for AP visibility, is to ensure that you are using the PSC channels from the 6GHz channel list (often they will be 37, 53, 69, 85, 101, 117, 133, 149, 165, 181, 197, 213, and 229).

In my home, (mostly drywall and wood frame construction inside). I am able to get full coverage (router on the 1st floor, but coverage available for upstairs as well as the basement) of the 6GHz band throughout the entire home, though when not in the same room as the AP, the 5GHz band will generally perform better than the 6GHz band. I am using the RAXE500, though it is under the same transmit power limits as the RAXE290 and 300, thus no real advantage there.

PS, for these WiFi routers, the hardware is capable of offering better transmit power (same as on many smartphones), thus there is always a chance that if governments decide to ease up on the restrictions, then range and performance may be able to be improved via firmware updates.