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advice on setup

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sbacct

Occasional Visitor
This is my current setup:

Asus NT-66R connected to cable modem (office - left side of house) -> Trendnet Gigabit switch (basement - middle of house) -> AC68U (family room - right side of house/near firestick for streaming content)

My setup goal: to have one router cover one half of the house and have another router cover the other half of the house (house -> 3000 sq ft)

I bought a Linksys EA8100 to replace my aging Asus NT-66R. I have also noticed after a year of using this old setup that sometimes the firestick content hangs or skips a little.

Question:
Does it matter which option I choose below for new setup for optimum performance for the firestick?

(a) AC68U (office - left side of house) -> Trendnet Gigabit switch (basement - middle of house) -> EA8100 (family room - right side of house/near firestick for streaming content)

(b) EA8100 (office - left side of house) -> Trendnet Gigabit switch (basement - middle of house) -> AC68U (family room - right side of house/near firestick for streaming content)
 
You made a mistake already. Your existing AC68U is perhaps the most popular Asus router, still actively supported and AiMesh capable. You could run wired AiMesh with another AC68U or better. Why did you buy the Linksys? Decide which router you like better as GUI/App features and use it as router. Turn the other one into access point. Use the same SSID names for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands on both and your devices will switch automatically between the two. I would use AC68U as router and EA8100 as access point.
 
You made a mistake already. Your existing AC68U is perhaps the most popular Asus router, still actively supported and AiMesh capable. You could run wired AiMesh with another AC68U or better. Why did you buy the Linksys? Decide which router you like better as GUI/App features and use it as router. Turn the other one into access point. Use the same SSID names for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands on both and your devices will switch automatically between the two. I would use AC68U as router and EA8100 as access point.
I got the linksys around the holidays for cheap ($79). It seemed to have a very strong reach (1800 sq fT) and I thought it was a good deal for the price.
FYI, not that it should matter but the AC68U is a Tmobile AC1900 that I flashed to an AC68U.

would i be better off getting another AC68U?
 
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I would prefer two identical AC68U units running the same firmware in wired AiMesh setup. The new AiMesh 2.0 in 386 firmware offers system-wide guest network. I don't know how reliable it is because I don't use Asus routers. I only had a chance to test AiMesh 2.0 on two AC86U units. It works well enough and for the test duration I had no disconnections. Linksys on the other hand has good mobile App. Linksys firmware is very basic, but the App is super simple to use and informative. I like it better than Asus App. It comes down to what you prefer and what works for you.
 
I would prefer two identical AC68U units running the same firmware in wired AiMesh setup. The new AiMesh 2.0 in 386 firmware offers system-wide guest network. I don't know how reliable it is because I don't use Asus routers. I only had a chance to test AiMesh 2.0 on two AC86U units. It works well enough and for the test duration I had no disconnections. Linksys on the other hand has good mobile App. Linksys firmware is very basic, but the App is super simple to use and informative. I like it better than Asus App. It comes down to what you prefer and what works for you.
I do not really want to go through the hassle of upgrading or reflashing the t-mobile AC1900 to try to match up firmware with a new AC68U. I used a Merlin build so I dont even think I can match up firmware unless I reflash the tmobile and the new AC68U with the same. Thats just too much. I am contemplating trying AI Mesh with my current tmobile and a new AC68U using diff firmware. Do you see any issues with that? I saw a reference to AiMesh 2.0. Are the different versions of AiMesh compatible with each other (not sure what version of AiMesh is supported by my Merlin build - 38x)?

PS I believe that I used the latest build of Merlin that was available around Dec 2019-Feb 2020.
 
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I would prefer two identical AC68U units running the same firmware in wired AiMesh setup. The new AiMesh 2.0 in 386 firmware offers system-wide guest network. I don't know how reliable it is because I don't use Asus routers. I only had a chance to test AiMesh 2.0 on two AC86U units. It works well enough and for the test duration I had no disconnections. Linksys on the other hand has good mobile App. Linksys firmware is very basic, but the App is super simple to use and informative. I like it better than Asus App. It comes down to what you prefer and what works for you.
This may answer the question I just asked (found on google fairly quickly):
 
Do you need Guest Network on the second router? If not, use router + access point configuration. Any two routers with any firmware will work. For maximum simplicity make the Linksys your router, T-Mobile unit access point. Set the Linksys with their Smart Wi-Fi account, use the App to monitor your network. It's very easy to use, gives you remote access to your home network settings, shows connected devices etc. Devices connected to the T-Mobile access point will be represented as wired devices. No much fancy stuff, but it works well. Use Quad9, OpenDNS etc. DNS service with malware protection.
 

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