What's new

2.5G Port for backhaul with Aimesh Node?

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

JT Strickland

Very Senior Member
I connected my two AX86U's with the 2.5G Port as per other references I've read, but I'm only getting 100M according to the network map.
Did I read that wrong, or is there something missing? I can't find anything on it .
 
I think I found it, wasn't using search properly.

edit: Well that didn't work for me. Can't get over 100Mb/s out of it.
 
Last edited:
Two AX86U Aimesh @2.5G Ethernet backhaul possible? | SmallNetBuilder Forums

If the link's suggestions above don't work, try another Ethernet cable.

I'm using a 100' Cat5e cable with no issues between 2x RT-AX86U's.
Unfortunately I can't replace the cable, it's buried between my home and office, about 100'. I can test it with another cable by moving it closer temporarily.
It shows 1Gb connected to the LAN port and works fine, but 100Mb when on the 2.5Gb LAN 5.

I configured a dual WAN with the WAN as primary and the 2.5Gb LAN 5 as fallover, and didn't change anything else. It wasn't working, although the LED flashed slowly. I couldn't access my NAS until I switched to the LAN2 port and configured back to single WAN.

I may have missed something, or my cable won't handle 2.5Gb, although it will handle 1Gb it appears.
thanks,
jts
 
Unfortunately I can't replace the cable, it's buried between my home and office, about 100'. I can test it with another cable by moving it closer temporarily.
It shows 1Gb connected to the LAN port and works fine, but 100Mb when on the 2.5Gb LAN 5.

I configured a dual WAN with the WAN as primary and the 2.5Gb LAN 5 as fallover, and didn't change anything else. It wasn't working, although the LED flashed slowly. I couldn't access my NAS until I switched to the LAN2 port and configured back to single WAN.

I may have missed something, or my cable won't handle 2.5Gb, although it will handle 1Gb it appears.
thanks,
jts
buried in PCV conduit?
 
I would not waste time with Dual WAN and then see if re-terminating the buried cable's ends make a difference too.
 
buried in PCV conduit?
buried in conduit, but may not be able to pull in a replacement. It's been there for 15 years.
Probably have to be a new replacement in a separate conduit. But it might not.....
 
I would not waste time with Dual WAN and then see if re-terminating the buried cable's ends make a difference too.
So I don't need to configure a dual WAN for it to work? I gathered that from the 2 links I read.
Should I configure Aimesh for ethernet backhaul, then switch to the 2.5G ports? I assume in both routers?
I will try new connectors and see if that helps. It works fine with the 1G.
thanks,
jts
 
No, you shouldn't need to do anything at all.

Get AiMesh working wirelessly. Make sure you don't have 'Ethernet Backhaul' enabled in the AiMesh settings pages.

Connect the main router's 2.5GbE port with the node's Aimesh 2.5GbE port. :)
 
No, you shouldn't need to do anything at all.

Get AiMesh working wirelessly. Make sure you don't have 'Ethernet Backhaul' enabled in the AiMesh settings pages.

Connect the main router's 2.5GbE port with the node's Aimesh 2.5GbE port. :)
Didn't work for me, must be something with the cable, still shows 100Mbs connection.
It was on auto and had switched to wired connection, then switched back to wireless now.
I didn't change anything.
 
I believe your router(s) are not in a good/known state.

Playing around with the settings and putting them back to what they were is not the same as leaving them at their defaults to begin with.

We know the cable is good for at least 1GbE speeds, maybe time to do a full reset to factory defaults once more.
 
buried in conduit, but may not be able to pull in a replacement. It's been there for 15 years.
Probably have to be a new replacement in a separate conduit. But it might not.....
well, part of me says "you won't know until you try"...you always have a 2nd conduit install to resort to if necessary.
I just ran into this issue earlier in the week, and luckily (surprisingly!) I was able to successfully use the old cable to pull the new.
what's the worst that can possibly happen?
 
I believe your router(s) are not in a good/known state.

Playing around with the settings and putting them back to what they were is not the same as leaving them at their defaults to begin with.

We know the cable is good for at least 1GbE speeds, maybe time to do a full reset to factory defaults once more.
I just did. Two days ago on one, and yesterday on the other. Lightning fried one of my month old routers. I'm going to replace the connectors later today and see if it affects it.
 
well, part of me says "you won't know until you try"...you always have a 2nd conduit install to resort to if necessary.
I just ran into this issue earlier in the week, and luckily (surprisingly!) I was able to successfully use the old cable to pull the new.
what's the worst that can possibly happen?
Worst that can happen is I'll be like I am now.
I am going to pull two cables if I can.
 
Worst that can happen is I'll be like I am now.
I am going to pull two cables if I can.
Redundancy is what saves you.
Dont forget to label them! A1-B2-whatever.
(A question for the more pro data centre/networking folk lurking: isn't using 2 cables "more proper" or "technically correct" from switch to switch for spanning tree?)
 
Probably. I just ran a cable with the telephone line when I built my office because I thought I would need it.
I was pretty green then. I still am.
Now I don't need the telephone line so I will tie to them both and pull two cables and it might go better that way, if it's not full of mud.

Edit: Well the connectors didn't do the trick. Now it's cable time I reckon.
 
Probably. I just ran a cable with the telephone line when I built my office because I thought I would need it.
I was pretty green then. I still am.
Now I don't need the telephone line so I will tie to them both and pull two cables and it might go better that way, if it's not full of mud.

Edit: Well the connectors didn't do the trick. Now it's cable time I reckon.

Do yourself a favour and pull Cat 7 or higher. I have no idea how @L&LD can achieve real 2.5Gbps speed through his Cat 5e cable ... but until I used Cat 7 my real-time through-put between the Routers never got above 1Gbps. Noticeable improvement in speeds for WiFi 6 devices - internet speed tests are the same - whether they attached to Main Router or Aimesh node.

ethernet-cable-speed-ratings.JPG
 
Do yourself a favour and pull Cat 7 or higher. I have no idea how @L&LD can achieve real 2.5Gbps speed through his Cat 5e cable ... but until I used Cat 7 my real-time through-put between the Routers never got above 1Gbps. Noticeable improvement in speeds for WiFi 6 devices - internet speed tests are the same - whether they attached to Main Router or Aimesh node.

View attachment 34392
What cable length are those ratings for though? Shorter cable runs you can get 10gb over cat 6 or even cat 5e
 
Do yourself a favour and pull Cat 7 or higher. I have no idea how @L&LD can achieve real 2.5Gbps speed through his Cat 5e cable ... but until I used Cat 7 my real-time through-put between the Routers never got above 1Gbps. Noticeable improvement in speeds for WiFi 6 devices - internet speed tests are the same - whether they attached to Main Router or Aimesh node.

View attachment 34392


I've got a 500' spool of cat 6 - 23 awg pure copper outdoor cable that I was planning to use off of.
Maybe I should get 100' of cat 6A+ for the backhaul.

Some say that there are not specs for anything over 6A, but that may be old by now.
 
Don't use actual Cat7. It's a proprietary standard that's actually older than Cat6a and should be used with different connectors.


Use Cat6 or Cat6a. Cat6 can do 10Gb up to 55 meters.
 
Last edited:

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top