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2x RT-AX86u replaces Orbi RBK53 (3 pack)

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HTBruceM

Regular Contributor
I recently ditched my Orbi RBK53 system (3 pack) and replaced it with 2x Asus RT-AX86u in AiMesh mode.

I have a 2200 sqft 2 story home. I put the 3 Orbis in opposite corners of the house; one upstairs, one downstairs (opposite corner), and one in the garage. Great coverage, no dead spots.

After upgrading to the Asus, I retained the same placement minus the garage. Yet I was pleasantly surprised to discover that WiFi coverage seems to be just as good! The 5ghz signal in the garage ranges from -60dBm to -53dBm. And my back yard reception is fine until I approach the very edge of the property (1/6 acre). For a while I ran with just 1x RT-AX86u and this worked surprisingly well, only it left me with some 5mhz "dead" spots at narrow angles through multiple walls. The single AP 2.4ghz signal was fine throughout the house though.

Even though the Orbi is rated AC3000, this includes the dedicated 4x4 backhaul. Since I was using ethernet backhaul, those backhaul radios were only in a backup role; the client side is only AC1300. The Asus has much higher client-side WiFi capacity, plus it is AX. I only have one AX client (an Intel NUC), but it's WiFi is not enabled and I am using the ethernet interface instead. Even with my AC and N clients, everything works just as well with the 2x Asus APs vs. the 3x Orbi APs. I had actually bought a 3rd Asus RT-AX58 for the garage, but after seeing the coverage I have with the 2x AX86, there seemed to be little point in adding the 3rd AP so I returned it.

At the moment I have mostly default WiFi settings with the factory FW. I have dual-band Smart Connect enabled (was enabled by default). I did change the WiFi channels from auto to fixed values, on the most "open" channels in my location. I plan to install Merlin FW after his next update.

I have yet to discover how seamless the roaming is; with the Orbi it seemed very good. Time will tell with the AiMesh. My testcase for roaming is to do a Google Duo video chat while walking around the house.

My takeway for folks here is that a typical suburban home of under 2500 sqft, you are probably over-saturating with 3 APs. Maybe at 3000sqft 2-story, or a 2500 or larger one story would require 3 APs. Perhaps WiFi 6E would someday benefit from the added APs.
 
My takeway for folks here is that a typical suburban home of under 2500 sqft, you are probably over-saturating with 3 APs.

Most likely. The 3-node packaged mesh systems with dedicated wireless backhauls around here kick out a lot of WLAN signals... seems like too much WiFi for one home network.

If you disable Smart Connect and set different SSIDs so that you can connect to the desired band, use a good laptop/wireless adapter to speed test each WLAN/SSID at various distances. I found that a strong laptop client speed-tested well at distance... beyond my 2-acre lot. Smaller/weaker mobile clients tested less well... not the network's fault, imo.

OE
 
I recently ditched my Orbi RBK53 system (3 pack) and replaced it with 2x Asus RT-AX86u in AiMesh mode.

I am just curious why did you want to do the replacement? Is the AiMesh much superior compared to the dedicated Orbi mesh system?
 
I am just curious why did you want to do the replacement? Is the AiMesh much superior compared to the dedicated Orbi mesh system?
A few reasons. First of all - stimulus money. :) Also, I wanted to upgrade to a WiFi 6 AX based system and wasn't particularly concerned about waiting for 6E to mature. Orbi is great for average consumers who just want to set it and forget it. But it is also expensive. I like to tweak and bitfiddle around to optimize stuff and Asus/Merlin offer more of that than the Orbi does. Another reason, I have ethernet cabling throughout the house and didn't need the dedicated WiFi backhaul radio on the Orbi. I felt sort of guilty having that radio enabled all the time without the ability to use it for fronthaul client activity. I was also somewhat frustrated at how finicky the Orbi FW is... AND anything you modify in the setup pages seems to always require a reboot - which, by the way, take friggin forever. I also appreciate the design of AiMesh - allowing me to reuse equipment later as part of the same system. Prior to the Orbi I was an Asus user and I always liked the Tomato/Asus UI setup.

So, many small and not very solid reasons. But enough to pull the trigger.
 
Fair enough. We are supposed to pump the stimulus money back to the economy :)

I have an AC88U and TM AC-1900 running AP. I can’t flash a Merlin firmware and run AiMesh.

so I am thinking of either getting (1) an AX router and run AiMesh with the AC88; or (2) a mesh system (TP-Link Deco X20) and get rid of the Asus.
 
I was really thinking about going the Ubiquiti route (some APs, a Dream Machine Pro, and a managed POE switch). It would have been about $700, and I would have to go pull some new cables to mount the APs. But I'm getting too old to be crawling around the attic (I have developed some lower back issues). Setting up my own networks, firewall rules, guest/IoT/Secure networks, etc... all sounds like fun to me. For now I'm quite satisfied with the features the Asus provides.

BTW, a nice surprise was that Asus now adds a separate subnet for your Guest WiFi networks. Nice! I put my less trusted (and low bandwidth) IoT devices on that network and only enabled the 2.4GHZ band on it. More cool little features that you won't get on an Orbi.

I setup a decent TP-Link system for a friend of mine. Wired router, POE switch, and 3 APs. Works fine. I don't have any experience with their Deco lineup. But IMHO, I think Asus has more features. It seems to me that most, if not all, mesh systems are designed for the novice, generic consumer who just wants to plug it in and go.
 
Exactly my thoughts too. I’m also not young now and wanna keep everything simple. Yet I am not sure if I will miss the features of the AC88U if I go for the Deco. What is stopping me from going the AiMesh is that I read that it is still not seamless when the connection switches from one node to another. Please keep us updated of your roaming experience with the AiMesh vs Orbi.
 
Exactly my thoughts too. I’m also not young now and wanna keep everything simple. Yet I am not sure if I will miss the features of the AC88U if I go for the Deco. What is stopping me from going the AiMesh is that I read that it is still not seamless when the connection switches from one node to another. Please keep us updated of your roaming experience with the AiMesh vs Orbi.
Well from my experience on the Orbi, roaming between units was VERY client dependent (and use case dependent). Video chatting seems to the be worst case scenario, no matter what app/platform you use. It sure seemed like my wife's iPhone had a harder time roaming between nodes than my Android (Google Pixel). That being said, our video chat application is Google Duo; it's not inconceivable that her temporary freezes/lost video are really a side effect of Duo not working as well on the Apple platform.

So far, I have no regrets with the pair of Asus AX86u's in AiMesh mode. However I need more experience/time with video chat roaming to have a solid opinion.

Before the Orbi I had a pair of Asus AC66 (gen 1 HW, no AiMesh support), with one in AP mode. I ran Merlin FW until he stopped supporting the Gen1 HW. That's about the time I switched to the Orbi system. On that AC66 Asus setup I used different SSIDs for each band (2.4Ghz/5Ghz). Roaming between those units was "meh" as I recall, although back then I think Skype was all we used and it basically killed the session when roaming from one AP to the other. Over time I think these video chat apps became more tolerant of the temporary connection drop during AP roaming. But I do remember that I thought things improved when I first got the Orbi.

I would assume that band steering might take longer than just AP roaming. I shut off the band steering feature (Broadcom calls it their "Smart Connect Technology") in my current Asus. I don't think it was present on the old AC66 unit, but I could be wrong on that. You don't even have this choice with the Orbi - that system locks you in to a single SSID and band steering.

Based on the series of roaming articles by Tim Higgins:
Wi-Fi Roaming Secrets Revealed - Part 4 - SmallNetBuilder - Results from #2
the roaming performance of many of these routers seems "haphazard" to a large degree. Roaming seems to be primarily a client (i.e. STA) decision, and these routers use various methods to encourage the client to roam. Some clients are more stubborn than others. As far as the routers go, in his tests, the TP-Link Deco (M9) didn't fare too well. So it is very possible that the same approach & algorithms are still being used with the X20 that you're considering.
 
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Thanks for sharing the experience.

My current setup is like yours pre-Orbi, ie. on one router and one AP. And you had slightly better experience after switching to Orbi. You have no regret with AiMesh means AiMesh is as good if not better than Orbi.

Perhaps I can conclude that any mesh is better than no mesh :) An entry-level Asus AX router with AiMesh at half the price of a Wifi mesh system should do the job.
 
Hey @HTBruceM, just an update that I got myself a brand new Asus RT-AX55 for US$75, an entry level AX router but good enough to AiMesh with AC88u. Never been happier and thank you for sharing your experience on Orbi and AiMesh.
 
Hey @HTBruceM, just an update that I got myself a brand new Asus RT-AX55 for US$75, an entry level AX router but good enough to AiMesh with AC88u. Never been happier and thank you for sharing your experience on Orbi and AiMesh.
I'm glad you were able to buy one - some items like that are hard to find in stock nowadays due to the chip shortages.
 
Dear @HTBruceM,

How has the roaming been for you? I am thinking of deploying a similar set-up (3x AX86Us with wired backhaul).

Have your AiMesh nodes experienced any disconnection issues?

Thank you.
 
Dear @HTBruceM,

How has the roaming been for you? I am thinking of deploying a similar set-up (3x AX86Us with wired backhaul).

Have your AiMesh nodes experienced any disconnection issues?

Thank you.
So far so good. I have no complaints. Roaming between units seems to work well even with video chat apps.
I have not had any disconnection issues at all.
This past weekend I switched to Merlin firmware.

BTW I have my 2.4Ghz radio transmitter power turned down to the "GOOD" setting rather than the "PERFORMANCE" setting. This works the best in my environment. I left the 5Ghz radio at the PERFORMANCE setting. I also use the GUEST1 network for some IoT devices and my actual in-person guests, and that network is 2.4Ghz band only.
 
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