Printer dropping from ASUS router fix

The ASUS RT-AC88U is a pretty awesome router. However, out of the box, it’s a bit finicky if you try to print to it via WiFi or Apple’s AirPrint. It doesn’t seem to want to maintain the connection. I stumbled across this somewhat cryptic post and the suggested changes have solved my issues–at least so far. Here are the steps with a little more detail:

1. First log into the router’s settings.

2. Choose Wireless > Professional tab

3. Make the following changes:

-Modulation Scheme: Up to MCS 9 (802.11ac)
-Airtime Fairness: Disable (NOTE: According to one reader, this is the only change that matters, so try this first. Thanks Dan CC!)
-Multi-User MIMO: Disable (Note that this was already disabled by default for me)
-Explicit Beamforming: Disable
-Universal Beamforming (5 GHz only): Disable

Click Apply button.

4. Each of the Bands (i.e., 2.4GHz and 5GHz) have their own independent set of settings on this page. So, change the Band and repeat Step 3.

5. Finally, change the Control Channel to a specific channel (i.e., something other than Auto). Again, apply the change for one band, change the Band setting, and apply the change for the other band. (NOTE: as hellojohnbuck points out in the comments, printers generally only use 2.4GHz, so you probably only need to change for that band.)

I’m not sure what real-world impact changing these settings has on the router’s performance; however, I haven’t really noticed any significant difference…other than my printer works wireless now ;-)

NOTES:

Matt S commented below that he disabled a new setting, “Target Wake Time” (Wifi > General), that was causing his printer connection to timeout.

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