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Can you get a fixed Wi-Fi device to work with AiMesh

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john7

Occasional Visitor
I have an AiMesh setup with a AC88U as a base and 2 AC68U as Nodes which are cabled to the base. One AC68U is in a room with a fixed device ( a Ethernet media bridge, to link TV, and other equipment), that uses Wi-Fi. All I can get it to link to is the base. The base is behind a house wall and provides weak Wi-Fi. The fixed device is unusable as its signal is so poor. Yet the AC68U can provide portable devices taken into that room with strong 2,4 and 5g reception. How can I lock the fixed device to the AC68 in the room as without being able the AiMesh is useless for anything fixed like a TV or other fixed device? We have no problems when moving phones or laptops about they switch routers with no problem so everting isn’t locked to the 88 bas. Is there anything I can do or will I have to abandon the AiMesh?
 
One AC68U is in a room with a fixed device... All I can get it to link to is the base.

Why this device refuses to connect to the closer AC68U node? Any chance to run a cable to this AC68U node?
 
No which is why I put the router in as the wife wasn't happy about a cable as it has two doors to go over etc. The madding thing is I had a router under the stairs, not a brilliant signal but I could get a 5g connection to that. It been changing over to AiMesh that’s messed things up. This trys to put fixed devices onto the bas no matter how poor the signal might be. I have tried a printer in a diffrent room and it was the same but that was wired up so that didn't cause problems but if I had need to use it through the AiMesh setup it would have been unusable as well. I can connect the device setup to the MAC address of the right router but the stupid system puts it onto the base with a useless signal. I would think everyone with fixed devices, printers, TV’s must have this problem and I can’t be the first to find it if this idiocy is how it’s meant to work. Sorry for odd typos as I am dislexic.
 
Not sure what you mean by fixed device.
 
One that isn't moved about in this case a tplinkrepeater (or it coul be a TV, printer). I have 3 devices needing internet link that I can't wire up so a WiFi link was the only way to do it. This worked untill I add extra router and used AiMesh.
 
So are you saying that the only devices with this problem are the ones that are wired to the tplink? And therefore it is only the tplink that cannot connect to your AiMesh nodes?
 
The only ones I am worried about are connected via the tplink (NETGEAR WNR3500). Its connects to the base RT-AC88U even though through the tplink I have set it up to use RT-AC68U in the room which has the strongest signal. As soon as you reboot the tplink the AiMesh diverts it to the base 88 which has a very poor signal (exterior wall and internal walls between it and the tplink. I find it annoying as the AiMesh is said to put devices onto the strongest signal but in this case clearly are not but logging to the base. I have currently two devices loged onto the 68, a laptop on the floor above and a phone. The 2nd 68 has one loged on, a second phone. Both have vastly better signel strenth than the 88 as they are on the right side of the exterier wall! So somthings log on no problem, inded tha phone if I bring it into the office will switch to the 88 in here.
 
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I have an AiMesh setup with a AC88U as a base and 2 AC68U as Nodes which are cabled to the base. One AC68U is in a room with a fixed device ( a Ethernet media bridge, to link TV, and other equipment), that uses Wi-Fi. All I can get it to link to is the base. The base is behind a house wall and provides weak Wi-Fi. The fixed device is unusable as its signal is so poor. Yet the AC68U can provide portable devices taken into that room with strong 2,4 and 5g reception. How can I lock the fixed device to the AC68 in the room as without being able the AiMesh is useless for anything fixed like a TV or other fixed device? We have no problems when moving phones or laptops about they switch routers with no problem so everting isn’t locked to the 88 bas. Is there anything I can do or will I have to abandon the AiMesh?

So, you have an AC88U Aimesh with two wired AC68U remote nodes.

One 68U node is in a room with a TPLink/Netgear repeater that you are trying to use as a wireless bridge to connected wired media clients through the 68U... because you can't run an Ethernet cable and/or move the 68U node and/or make the 68U node wireless to connect the wired media clients directly to the 68U.

And this repeater connects to the far 88U WiFi and a not the near 68U WiFi.

Is the repeater broadcasting/repeating/extending WiFi or is it in a true wireless bridge mode with no broadcast WiFi of its own so as not to interfere with the 68U WiFi?

OE
 
Sorry for delay in replying I had a medical appointment! Yes this is my problem
"So, you have an AC88U Aimesh with two wired AC68U remote nodes.

One 68U node is in a room with a TPLink/Netgear repeater that you are trying to use as a wireless bridge to connected wired media clients through the 68U... because you can't run an Ethernet cable and/or move the 68U node and/or make the 68U node wireless to connect the wired media clients directly to the 68U.

And this repeater connects to the far 88U WiFi and a not the near 68U WiFi."


Its broadcasting using a different ssid though I have tried the same name as used in AiMesh.
 
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Its broadcasting using a different ssid though I have tried the same name as used in AiMesh.

So, the TPLink/Netgear router is in repeater/extender mode.

Maybe its broadcast WiFi signal is interfering with connecting to the 68U WiFi since they are both in the same room... not the typical repeater/extender distance. If so, then it won't work as you want it to.

If the room has carpeting, poke some tiny holes through it and fish an Ethernet cable under the carpet and across the doorways to a switch at the media center. But I'd try the 68U with a wireless backhaul first.

OE
 
Thanks, regretably I have no idea what backhaul is.

In this instance, your 68U remote node is connected to your 88U root node over a wired Ethernet backhaul.

If you disconnect the wired Ethernet backhaul, your 68U should switch to using its wireless backhauls. You can inspect the wireless backhaul signal quality (RSSI power and Tx/Rx rates) in the 88U Wireless Log... find your 68U MAC address entries for its 2.4 and 5.0 GHz backhauls.

If your 68U wireless backhauls have sufficient quality at distance, you can then move the 68U to near your media center and wire those clients directly or through a simple switch (like the one on the back of your TPLink/Netgear router after you disable its router functions).

OE
 
@john7 I really can't follow how your equipment is connected together. At first you talked about an "Ethernet media bridge", but then you starting talking about a "repeater".

You said you have a tplink but also a netgear. These are two different devices, so how are you using them and how does that relate to the rest of your network.

Perhaps a diagram would make things clearer?
 
I have a 88 with cable to two 68 with a RE365 cabled to TV media. The 88 is in an extension thus behind an external wall and there are two internal stud walls in addition before the 68 in the room with the RE365. This router also provides networking to the room above for my wife’s networking. The wireless signal from the 88 to very poor so I don't see it viable to use wireless to provide the AiMesh link. Luckily the boss is beginning to waver over letting me use flat cable round the door frames as both doors open the wrong way for lying it under the carpet.
 
Support have come back with using "You can stop a device from being moved between AiMesh devices using the Roaming Block List feature" but all I get is it listed under the 88 still. I don't know how to get it to the right one then enable the feature or it looks as if reseting the RE365 just gets it back to the 88 agin.

This has been a total failuer, I am going to cable it now as clearly there too many problems with Mesh systems and lack of standards.
 
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Your RE365 is a WIFI extender which normally is used to create a WIFI bridge. It connects to one WIFI SSID and broadcasts out on a second and different SSID from the first SSID.
I have a similar device and have used it to connect a PC without WIFI to a WIFI network as the device has an ethernet connection. The trick is to set it up to the device you want it to communicate with as that type of bridge usually tries to connect to the SSID with the same MAC address it was set up with.
May I recommend you factory reset the RE365 and any other WIFI bridge device then connect it to the strongest WIFI signal from one of your mesh nodes. And if you are just using it as a WIFI to Ethernet device do not assign a broadcast SSID.

Edit: Ah, I now see that this device is compatible with a TPLink mesh system. Just may not work with Asus at all.
 
Thanks, I have given up with it and have managed to get my wife to go along with running flat cable over the doors. Both doors open outwards so you can't run it under the carpet by the carpet edging without lots of bending round tight corners. It’s the problem of no standards of compatibility, pity I hadn’t been able to cable initially as it would have been much cheaper in cost and frustration.

Have cabled to the TV and media. Its a bit noticeable but it works at least. One oddity if one of the media devices keeps popping up under the base while the TV and Blu-ray stays listed in the living room 68 node. Its odd as they are all cabled into a Ethernet Router. It makes no difference by in use but the oddities of this system are endless! I also had got back to support to say what the suggested didn’t work, not had any response. Thanks for all the help.
 
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