whut (unfathomables)

We need a decision, Mr. President

Asus Mission critical folderol

https://dongknows.com/asus-rog-rapture-gt-be98-pro-wi-fi-7-review/,
Image link (I hope)
https://dongknows.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Asus-GT-BE98-Pro-has-two-6GHz-bands-each-occupying-the-lower-and-upper-parts-of-the-spectrum.jpg

Indexed Inscrutable terms

"Protected Management Frames" (PMF)

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1042472/ 

(Whole lotta nothing link,

"PMF...protects"

But Some guy said

7-years is an epoch in computer time, but it's something to consider.

Lore from tomes:

6Ghz Requires WPA3.

WPA3 incorporates PMF.

Non-issue (here's hoping), beeeecause,

I use wpa3-personal exclusively, 

at 6Ghz, Per the marketers and gurus of this stuff.

(Not dancing around with MLO and AImesh, at 5 and 2.4 GHZ, which might not use PMF or have different requirements)

OTOH if any problems with connections occur, I'll know where to look.
Possible Scenario:
Router connects to modem fine and dandy, but a few hours or days later, it refuses to connect.

This particular horror movie comes up a lot in consumer reviews.
I'm seriously trying to guard against it, but no firm answers, yet.
A hint:
It MIGHT be some newer feature in the latest routers.
If PMF (because, firmware-choices) were enabled TWICE, uhm, hmm.

Set damn near everything to "Disabled", get the thing to work,
and try fancy-features one-by-one.

It's apparently a time-thing; stuff works, time passes, stuff dies.

(marketing blurb)

AFC + Wifi Location + 802.11AZ all appear (to me)
to be similar, but with different marketers.

--------

I wondered

That red X in the picture 
shows the forbidden-area, 
and my world starts at "31" 
And I was only able to pick a center channel of 33.

A more discreet (I hope) app. 
I've agreed to three different things without reading them, I feel the fool.

But it's cute and it works. (It does not reveal hidden networks?)

Informative but discreet (on the display, anyway)

Should I *also* point out that my phone used to take "forever" to link up, if at all?
Now it's happy in mere seconds, but both the router, my phone and my PC have had firmware updates, so IDK.

I don't know why it's winking in and out, 
The phone doesn't care (does it?) so I don't
(omg)

Does 4x4 have better range than 2x2? In case I'm mixing metaphors, 

Do more antennas matter?
External vs internal??

OK basically:
A smooth surface that was designed to be a part of a mesh anyway,

vs an eight-legged spider.

Says who, 7-11 Guru?
I need a better reference

50% poll 4x4 is a waste
50% poll more range, more mimo.

If you sell routers, work for a factory that makes them,

more expensive=better, of course.
Stock rises, investors get all happy.

But........

If you're already breaking your bank with 2x2 tiny devices, you prolly don't deserve 4x4 (unless you want range???)

(hello?) Grandfatherly type who knows stuff needed here.
no venerable types available, how's about a factory-shill?

Ex Cathedra(?)

No one has convinced me (actually they warned against them!) Asus routers are the best, but they must have reviewers convinced.
For me,

The odd I.O.T. problems, and whatever "MLO" is, are meaningless, because,

This is no palatial estate complete with Wi-Fi cat-shitters, many lightbulbs all designed to phone home, A couple Wi-Fi-fountains.

No. So (I hope) this next section means more now, but maybe not.
Someone else's Mesh empire with all their electronic slaves chanting 24/7 might Need equal access to three different bands each partitioned up electronically to counteract congestion, I don't judge (OK I do but)

The wife wanted a larger telescreen 

I think I like Mu-Mimo (I'll go look at the name) 

OFD...well, whatever.
Beeeeecause, reading this slightly dated analysis broken down 
for the truly esoterica lovers,
Is,
uh,
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
6 of one, 1/2 dozen the other,
It depends.

My Wi-Fi bravely soldiers on without Mu-Mimo, with no OFDMA.
I don't pontificate here, I'd be contradicting a zillion blurbs and oodles of firmware revisions...

still...

Freezing out ANY web-access would be real nice, it would be a biggie reason to pick one model over another.

CAN you prevent anyone accessing from the WAN? 
No one brought it up yet.

Yay, if it's still true

Keeping my Wi-Fi off completely (because it has no wan-access button)
is like sticking plywood over my portal to hell.
I mean, *yeah*, it works, but I'd rather not have the portal.

A person close by has a TP-Link router, with a channel, and a ghost channel sitting on top of it.
Is this some new technology? I wonder.
Two days later, the same router has a hidden, a "MLO" and a third SSID all in the same exact frequency, On top of my signal!
Geez!
It (the three signals) are very narrow, sitting smack dab in the middle of my zaftig signal.
I moved mine. It prolly does not matter, but I get less creepiness.
I was blaming "Netgear," but TP-Link does it too?
If it's some "Mesh" thing, I wonder if Asus (anyone) lets you switch it off?

https://community.synology.com/enu/forum/2/post/119826?page=2 

It's a thing, (OK) now, how to get rid of it?
I hope this isn't some quest, it should be easy/obvious??

*My* issue is, even with wi-fi ostensibly Off (no radios) the ghost channels still exist.
No mesh!

It's like some bizarre back-door into the router.

And if Asus does this too, so be it, (I guess), but it sounds a lot like their routers are more mesh-savvy, and they *might* have an "off"-switch, a guy can hope.

I believe users, and reviewers too. 
I think meshing different chipsets might be problematic, not sure (lotsa long nights reading tomes, or forget that and plunk down big bucks, IDK)

Blah-blah "A Steal" (lol)

"It died," "Do not buy", can't be ignored, but maybe they're shills, overclockers, 

just plain stewpid?(lol)

If you *got* a 10Gbps-port router and never used the ports (because, why)

or, should you use those ports geared down for your sorry setup?

vague ruminations on resetting the router completely on a firmware-upgrade are maybe relevant, maybe not (NVRAM-left-over garbage from the last revision?)

and is it important on *every* upgrade or just the first one?

One Biggie thing I have in my head from one user is the way his WAN would not connect to his modem.
No biggie, unplug the modem, wait a bit, re-plug, or was his problem much more mysterious? (random-MAC or some such?)

This explains tons or is a red-herring, IDK
Pardon me while I copy this picture for another section of this bombast

Please read the very last line:
and rewording it to my satisfaction (sort of,)
MLO is only as good as the devices it connects to.
Hopefully, from the Same brand and year of manufacture.
If your MLO sucks, examine the clients.

Old duffer devices from competing companies, might be pissed off at the newfangled upstart.

It's the "can vary" that worries me.
"Can vary" how?

(be98) MLO sucks, 6Ghz range sucks, AFC is a TBA.

I get it (sort of) 

So don't use MLO, Range is ok for this hovel.
(I'm still wondering why the hell anyone would use "MLO" anyway.)

My dinky phone would ignore it, my PC-card might like it (if Qualcomm and Broadcom liked each other, and they don't)
But then a guy wallows in the muck wondering which lesser devices are just good enough, and it gets too complicated. 

I imagine that freebie reviewers who state at the top of their page that they get credit for what you click on to buy, aren't the most trustworthy types in the world.

"Sleek", wtf

96u:
https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/asus-rt-be96u
Most expensive, massive commission (duh)

You COULD knit and watch reruns of Gilligan's island until 2026.

GT-BE19000-Pro will cost as much, as a BE30000 (be98) 

Acronyms you'd never use nor pay extra for, 
Temperamental(??) ports, uh, ??

Underdog, where have you gone?

Bah! Humbug.

Basically, I wanted to await black/Cyber thanksgiving, 

or is that a mistake because of the out-of-stocks and mis-deliveries?
Best to pay $20 more and be reassured or wait til bedlam and see what occurs?

"I bought a RTG (richer than God) Router to keep my other RTG routers company, and the cat warm,"

"I bought Two RTG routers, because I can say I bought two"

(I don't fit the demographic at all)

Newfangled tech

5GHz flocks of Birds
All avoiding DFS

Well, since you asked...
(O, you're NOT asking. OK NVM)

Right this exact edited second, the beta-channel version of windows 11 does not support "wi-fi 7" but "Release-Preview" Does is supposed to (mine does not.)
uh, whut? And yes I hope I am mistaken but no. (TBA)

Regarding my edit..... With a wifi-7 router handy, uh, the card with its wifi 7 driver might ignore windows and do wifi 7 anyway, but the most bombastic entry in the history of this blog (below) does not think there are affordable wi-fi 7 routers to be had.
So then my phone and my NIC card could prolly hitch up. I would not know.

Actually, I'm avoiding starting yet another bombastic little blog to do just that:
Hook up the phone as a hotspot, ask my PC to *find* that hotspot.

Well, no joy for 6GHz, it picked the lastest 5ghz channel.
My "Pixel 7" is one of those outer-darkness ones that doesn't do 6ghz, or I need to do some serious reading up. "Blame it on windows" is more convenient but I'm not sure it's true (yet.)
The reading-up part should be about pixel-7 (the barbarian/philistine version, not "Pro,") but the 256gb ordinary one.

But before I nod off from the boredom, it is becoming increasingly clear that Pixel 7 (My authentic version of one, for here and for now) will not do 6GHz.

period.

All that other fancy-ass crap is irrelevant to me.

I should note I'm on Android 15 vanilla Ice cream, which doesn't even exist yet.

It also does not say if my neighbors use Wi-Fi 6e-6ghz, it's just a lot of names.

I don't think they do but how would I really know?

Mr. Jim  there, being a diamond expert, should know, but he says we don't really need it, etc etc etc

what-why-who-how-when? he doubts we need it.

How reddit knows stuff that no one else apparently knows, is mysterious

Become the hacker-whore of Satan, and he will grant you 6GHz

he Has wifi 6e (congrats) and wants to stick to 5ghz (Instead of fixing 6ghz)
This is way too confusing.
I've racked Google's brain to find a non-hacked solution.
Google is a dry well of (mis) information on the subject.

and

Once govt agencies monitoring this stuff acquire enough 6ghz monitoring equipment to stick into their vans, Once home internet wifi routers from ISP's can support it, then I suppose it'll magically appear, with Microsoft buffing their nails about how modern they are.
Until then they're dragging their collective feet.
But forget I said that; it's a rant from the depths of a slightly paranoid heart....When in doubt, make it illegal
The Indian Govt has not decided, let's say.
Let's also say that if they made it legal for only certain humans, certain factories, rogue libertines would already have 6ghz routers. Profit losses would happen. How can they monopolize frequencies they don't have control over? (and other wild speculations)

no sense in priming that money pump forever.
Drop this or that feature, no one'll notice
https://www.anandtech.com/show/18921/broadcom-updates-wifi-7-portfolio-with-2nd-generation-connectivity-silicon

 

Actually none of this matters; the train of thought is sooo long, so convoluted.

My AX (Wifi 6 router) died a pointless death no one will mourn, and since it wasn't upgradable, I don't feel that bad, it looked deformed.

My replacement router is a way-old router, and it was designed to look older than that, like some 50's classic I was never familiar with.

My Wi-Fi 7 router will , um, (hmm) cost lots less, I hope, than when the previous ones were new.

Define "Less"
Wait, It's clearly (?) advertised as "Wifi 7"
Not "6E"
(this is an edit due to something I wrote WAY down)

TP-Link, the spyware-ridden one from CCP (what's "CCP"?)

Hmm.

Anyway, here's some useful info:
6GHz and "WiFi 7" are NOT the same; 

I don't really understand that but there it is.

Relatively new find (like, 10 minutes ago)
TLDR "...Supports 6GHz, unlike cheaper WiFi 7 routers" 

BE3600
• 5 GHz: 2882 Mbps (802.11be)
• 2.4 GHz: 688 Mbps (802.11be)

Can we be bombastic for a second?
Be550 *SEEMS* to me to do 2x2x3 (it's complicated) But since both of my devices are 2x2, that seems to work perfektly for me.
If I'm wrong about the math, Meh.

4x4 or 2x2?

The same article (in the link) says more upper-crust routers do 4x4, which is great (really) but I have no 4x4 routers to talk to, so this works.

" as opposed to the more advanced 4T4R (four transmit, four receive) setup commonly found in high-performance Wi-Fi 6 routers."

Comments are here (The two people buying a BE900 hated it. Everyone else got BE-something-else)

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Archer-BE900-Performance-Supported/product-reviews/B0BRD3P4XV/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_next_3?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&filterByStar=critical&pageNumber=3

 https://www.reddit.com/r/wifi/comments/y6fh80/comment/istp6lu/

And AC: more speed

And AX (wifi 6) More speed with "Mu-Mimo" (which causes random disconnects and reddit says to disable it.
Actually, they said "MIMU" but I'm interpolating.

And BE (wifi 7) "MLO"

Most people (including me) couldn't really tell you what mu-mimo is,

or what "MLO" is or if it was/is/will be used.

But to conclude my Point, BE550's 2x2 antennas seem OK.
(How they fit 320mhz into two antennas is beyond me, but I don't sit here thinking about it much. I'd rather have a small island in the 6GHz vicinity (I think that analogy got erased) H.O.W. stuff (they didn't answer my question, but they talked up a storm around it)

The BE550 range is crap, but s'ok also.

You get the feeling (*I* get the feeling) that "12 stream" routers bristling with antennas are mostly an upsell, but would prolly have better range (due to all their acronyms)

I'd like to know, before I get one, if cheap no-account routers can still do 6GHz easily?? https://dongknows.com/best-wi-fi-6e-routers/ ,
                         https://dongknows.com/best-five-wi-fi-7-routers/

I feel like I'm in Mexico asking for a public bathroom

("Donde esta el 'escusado'?")
("que?")

Asking the locals where the post office (Correo) was, kept getting me directions for the bullfight ring.

Because I can't roll "r"

6e and 6e "new version" whut??
https://dongknows.com/linksys-mr7500-hydra-pro-6e-router-review/

Fine, add another pot-roast to the pot.
I don't feel like I'd be saving any money on 6e.

A guy has a googled article "Don't waste your money" (O crap, now I gotta go look)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9pPgWR3dQ4

"Don't waste your money" 

(the guy saying that actually wants you to buy 6, not 6e or 7)

Elitist technophiles:
 It's a thing, at least in my head.....

People never go on about the wonders of reality, they fantasize a LOT to sell more stuff.

No one ever sang "I left my heart... In Carson City" 
But yeah, it's nice to believe, like Disney indoctrinates.

--------

I just did a test of my WiFi 5 on Ethernet.
900/80.
What more could a guy want?

*Ethernet* connection @old 1G router

I seriously need to blow my Byte-allowance wad

 to see what *my* wifi 5 measures up to.

See me in around an hour...

I don't have all the insider-tweaks you all do; this is boiler-plate router settings.
I also wanna rant that I have no "Access control" except to just turn the damn thing off when I'm not using it.

Well anyway, Reviewing

• TP-Link? Toilet paper.
• Linksys? They became awful.
• EERO??!! It's overpriced.

Picture below: Useless breakable wings
It might be a great router but I haven't the space to guard the delicate wings.

I'd be tempted to google reviews on how reliable routers are, but consider that

• they hook them up for a test, then unhook them (and they get sold on Ebay?)
• and reviewers get stuff free, and whatever you ask it'll end up being the one that costs the most, or Asus, whichever is greater. 
• Half the sites reviewing routers get a commission on stuff you buy, and I don't know if commissions get larger with the price you pay but I'd think so.
• Whatever a router does NOW will be improved or totally KILLED with firmware updates.

"Be800/BE550"?
MLO is Not wifi 7 (o.......k(?)

Wait, so, uh,

MLO and 6GHZ are not necessarily "wifi 7" so what is?
Geez? (I'd be pissed if I knew more about it)

(This entire subject is unbelievably complicated, devolving into numbers and specs...)
My unanswered question is, if "Qualcomm 1220 pro" is so notoriously bad,

did they replace it, is there a successor or a better-working equivalent?"

Or do wifi-5 users remain in outer-darknesses for the next year or so.
https://www.reddit.com/r/TpLink/comments/16p22rp/archer_be900_be24000_mlo/

These pictures look Microscopic on my phone;
apologies and please click to read.

They've even got a chart with Pictures, if you'll google it (I'm no puppet)
But abandon hope, ye with less than $1K
(unless I can edit this)
They can make chipsets (Impressive.)
Where are the routers?

Qualcomm did a nice page

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/internet-of-things/networking/wi-fi-networks/networking-pro-series/qualcomm-networking-pro-1620-platform

but if I may summarize: 
620 (be550, Linksys Velop Pro 7)

1220 "scarlet A"

1620 richer than God (BE95)

If you 
don't care about MLO

don't care if you have 320mhz bandwidth

don't know much about streams

THEN f'n buy whatever 
But otherwise freeze in your attic (sweat bullets?) poring over many quaint and curious volumes of impenetrable lore. 

https://dongknows.com/tp-link-deco-be95-wi-fi-7-mesh-system-review/

All this reading makes me very hungry.
Not that you asked (freebies and commissions, remember?)
But a guy should have SOME idea where to start:

https://dongknows.com/tp-link-deco-be95-wi-fi-7-mesh-system-review/

The one I'd buy be550/be9300 (why does it have an alias??)
does "770" at 6GHZ. Now all's I gotta do, is figgur out "AX vs AXE"

Waitasec, if "BE" is wifi 7, uh, why is BE9300 only on the "AXE" (6e) List?

So the guy didn't test wifi7 on BE550 or the specs in my head are way wrong and this needs rewriting quick.

Buy "old reliable/RTG" (guy asked if a router was any good, got a sermon)

F'n Wi-Fi changes monthly, with the wind, with whatever-the-hell Apple wants.
Don't ask "why?"
My phone is 6e, my PC is wifi 7, ... 
Just, ya can't keep buying shit, ya buy stuff hoping it'll last til Wi-Fi 8.

Actually, I was only googling whether or not 320MHz is truly achievable on the BE550 and whether or not Speedtests take notice, or is 320MHz a sort of a scam...
Something to google (I'll be back)
I wonder,

 in what scenario do 900mbps-download-people 

benefit from 320mhz-bandwidth?
But I can wonder til doomsday, I doubt I'll get an unbiased answer.

"Why?" vs "4Gig download speed!!"
Lan-to-Lan it sounds fantastic. (I think)

Streaming from where??
Downloading from Who?
But nevermind, I kind of doubt Cable and phone companies will sit on their asses for long, they'll have a 5Gbps tier soon, no doubt.
It's just, a shock at first and then the possibilities reveal themselves

Editing in that Linksys Velop Pro 7 and the TP-Link BE550 appear (on the chart) to be extremely close, so assuming all features work:

(MLO)
(6GHZ)

(I-forgot)
Then it comes down to which BOB (bottom-of-barrel) router is cheapest.

Tired, need to "go"?
RTG?
Here. Fucket.

"Asus" has more elitist gravitas, But I haven't researched them much yet.
The wise man walked by and announced, "Wifi 7 uses a new kind of compression technology,"

Which made me wonder about my wake-up nightmare the night before:
It LOOKS faster, it almost has the same route, But will it be the same, only you won't know how to use it?? (The City Bus system, Lines 4Q2 and XE5)
Will you just get lost????

??

?

Consider (Grasshopper,)

Well, no, uh, some routers have only three streams.
Some do NOT have "6GHZ"
and they aren't mentioning "MLO" at all.
So the only thing left is "QAM"
You'll pay zillions for "QAM"?

Since when (ever) does a typical Router let you choose "QAM" or display proudly that it is using the lastest one?
I want my 6GHz.

"Chews Wisely," the gurus say.

Qualcomm vs Broadcom (Kia vs Lexus?? I would not mind a chipset comparison)

A person might pick a chipset because of the real nice blurb, and then seek out a router containing that chipset. 

The rest of said router is plastic and power supply...

A guy *wonders*, ya know?
"TP-Link BE95" has a qualcomm network pro 1620 chipset. 
That is no ringing endorsement for the 1620.
 Do upper-crust types lean towards "Broadcom"??
Lotsa research to do.

So.... "Qualcomm"?

My choice of processor:1620 (because, y-not) is only on Be95?

Is there no snootier model 2 b had?
But I did a reddit on BE95, hacking and slashing through the jungle of "Backhaul"

and the guy seemed pretty happy, he just pointed out Microwave ovens are natural predators of WiFi.
Re-re-editing:

Around 100 cheaper than Upper-crusty ones.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TpLink/comments/1d1494l/tplink_triband_be9300_wifi_7_router_archer_be550/

 Bottom Line: TP-Link, the cheap one.

---

Offline setup, anyone?

Do ALL (non-hacked) routers require an app (an online account)?
Do you need internet to initialize it (to get it ready for the internet?)

To put it more paranoidly:

Paranoid and super pissed (or drunk)

So then, among two or three similarly priced routers, the one that is easiest to set up offline would win, but unfortunately, uhm, they don't exactly broadcast this info.

https://linksys-wifi.com/linksys-velop-ax4200-setup/ OK it's an older model, but there is hope.
TP-Link, hopeless (see the other link)

Whether this is true on Velop 7 Pro, I don't know

This whole App thing kind of reeks....it's a detail easily overlooked, witness all the really mad people in the return line at Best Buy (wherever.) These people type professionally, bandy acronyms about like there's some fire-sale on acronyms, but they neglected to investigate the teeny phone app.

So my new bottom line is, Velop pro 7.
(or that fine-looking Asus, the BE96U, with features I'll never use in a zillion years, but it comes in below "GT-BE98" so I'm making the conservative choice.)

"You're taking a big risk"

Random picture that seemed to fit the situation

"I've really gotta go" or some random
front page news nobody (you choose)