Advice AX11000 vs AXE1100 what to buy

[John DeLuca]

Hello, I am kinda torn on what router to upgrade my gt-ac5300 to. The contenders are either the AX11000 or the AXE11000 the major consideration I have is Merlin FW vs Wifi 6E. I currently do not have any wifi 6e devices but if I upgrade my iPhone next year I assume that will have 6E. I was leaning towards the AXE but then it's kinda dual-band router without merlin vs a tri-band router with merlin. The major question is what wins out the 6E vs triband with merlin? Any suggestions, i wont ask the question if the AXE will eventual get merlin because i know where that goes lol.

 

[L&LD]

Do you need to upgrade today?

The AX11000 isn't triband (to me) it is simply three radios. That is a big difference if you want full control of how to use your router as you want to.

Those 'flagship' routers don't offer much that lower-end models do (and probably surpass, in usability, firmware update frequency, and support).

I would be looking for the RT-AXE86U myself to upgrade to, rather than any '11000 model (for the biggest bang-for-the-buck).

And by the time that is introduced and is available, you'll have your AXE client device then too.

 

[Tech9]

but if I upgrade my iPhone next year I assume that will have 6E

What is this iPhone going to do with Gigabit Wi-Fi connection? I would never upgrade my system because of phones/tablets.

 

[Spartan]

What is this iPhone going to do with Gigabit Wi-Fi connection? I would never upgrade my system because of phones/tablets.

this! he wants to download the entire web on his phone

 

[Kingp1n]

Great advice from others.

I can only speak for my own environment and I try the new shiny AXE for a couple of weeks before returning it. 1st i didnt own any 6E devices (only wifi6) and my wireless gaming devices would lag alot (i know gaming shouldn't be wireless but sadly thats my setup). Overall it wasnt bad but without Asuswrt-Merlin firmware it wasnt the same for me so i ended getting the AX11000. The 2nd 5GHz band makes all of the difference for me plus Flex-QoS and all other useful scripts available. If you use RMerlin firmware than I would get the AX11000. Theres no forecast if the AXE will get RMerlin aupport at this time.

Finally...when i owned the AX88U i need to use nodes to make signal stronger in some areas of the house. No need for nodes anymore since the AX11000 reaches every where!! Best of luck.

 

[John DeLuca]

Yeah I don’t really “need” to upgrade it’s just more of I have AX devices and I would like to be able to use the new standard. I mostly use my on phone when I’m at home and I agree there is no real need for gig wifi it’s just a nice idea lol. I also want to upgrade router and modem so I can take advantage of my xfinity plan going above 1gbps to 1.2gbps. I do miss having open source firmware on my router so I am leaning towards the ax11000. Has anyone tried duel wan with the ax11000 running Merlin? I think though I may go with a modem with 2.5gb port and then run lan Link aggregation to my PC if I wanted to go above 1gb on my pc.

i Think I am also going to set up my gt-ac5300 as a switch as I need more ports than what’s on the ax(e)11000 and I rather just use a super OP switch then a posibly slower one. Again that’s more OCD then anything. Other option would be to run my 5300 as a AI mesh node but a) my apt is on the smaller side and b) I would be loosing out on the AX wifi if I do that. Kinda the whole point of buying the new router.

 

[John DeLuca]

this! he wants to download the entire web on his phone

Lots of porn to download need an external ssd for my iPhone to hold it all lmfao.

But seriously who downloads porn in this day and age.

 

[L&LD]

Link aggregation won't give any, one, client greater than 1GbE speeds.

Also, if the ISP is offering 1.2Gbps speeds, they may also stipulate that a single client won't see those speeds (but two or more, in aggregate, may).

 

[John DeLuca]

Really I though the whole point of link aggregation was to allow you to increase the total bandwidth and speed of the connection. If that’s the case then why do wan aggregation if you can’t go above I gbps

 

[L&LD]

It increases the total bandwidth and capacity of the network as a whole, not any one client though.

 

[John DeLuca]

I didn’t know that intresting

 

[John DeLuca]

So if you were to use LAG on WAN you can theoretically get 2gbps but no device would get over 1gbps even if it's using a 2.5gbps port?

 

[L&LD]

Correct. That is my understanding (as explained here on the forums to me by others).

Unless the ISP provider has a modem/ONT with 2.5Gbps ports on it, that is the limit of Ethernet, still.

 

[John DeLuca]

Well that simplifies my choice on modem then lol.

 

[John DeLuca]

Just sucks you can’t have both 2.5 lan and wan at this day and age with ASUS routers

 

[L&LD]

RT-AX89X.

 

[John DeLuca]

Yeah I could to 10gb wan and SFP+ LAN I do have SFP+ stuff at work. However no Merlin.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, no RMerlin.

I'm expecting Wi-Fi 6E to change all this (even if it will be a year or two from today when a worthwhile/affordable contender arrives with RMerlin support).

 

[John DeLuca]

Do you think it will be significant changes to 6e? So it seems like the best way forward is the ax11000 with Merlin, wait for a proper 6e device with Merlin in a few years and upgrade.

 

[L&LD]

As I said above, with no reason for you to upgrade today, the AX11000 is not a consideration at all.

By the time you have AXE client devices, we may be seeing a true Tri-Band AX(E) router worth buying (and the AX11000 isn't it).