Advice on ZenWifi Nodes for use as Wired Backhaul AiMesh Nodes?

[jksmurf]

Hi I have an RT-AX86U as my main router, running Merlin, and an RT-AX58U as one AiMesh node, wired backhaul. Working fine. I need a little extra coverage.

My Dad put in Ethernet cabling when he built the house, and we have a guest annex where kids often go that I’d like to put in a Mesh Node that doesn’t have antennas that can be played with… and broken. Plus I’m thinking of one to the lounge ALSO Wired, Cat 5E IIRC, so GHz only, 2.5Ghz not required.

I don’t really need wireless backhaul, probably ever, neither 5 nor 6 GHz. Nor USB, The Zenwifi looks like a good option for this. Does anyone have experience with any of the models, that would do what I need, that matches or complements my current setup?

or other advice for this scenario?

Thanks

k.

 

[glens]

The XT8 v1 pair I have work most excellently wired up. All three radios client-facing-only really works wonders to keep intranet wireless traffic flowing nicely. So much better with a GT-AX6000 bought dirt cheap, swapped in as router and connecting via 2.5Gb, though I run them as APs and have not tested that combination as "mesh". Have no clue how such a combination allows for proper node radio control where there's a radio unaccounted-for by the controller.

I'd probably opt for the XT9 if it weren't more than just a few bucks more at the time. It's 5-1 radio will do DFS for possible 160MHz bonding where the XT8 is limited to 80 there. The XT8 v2 (and XT9) has no Gnuton-Merlin support at this time, though the 8 (E) does, but its 5-2 is in 6GHz.

Highly recommended for your stated use.

 

[jksmurf]

The XT8 v1 pair I have work most excellently wired up. All three radios client-facing-only really works wonders to keep intranet wireless traffic flowing nicely. So much better with a GT-AX6000 bought dirt cheap, swapped in as router and connecting via 2.5Gb, though I run them as APs and have not tested that combination as "mesh". Have no clue how such a combination allows for proper node radio control where there's a radio unaccounted-for by the controller.

I'd probably opt for the XT9 if it weren't more than just a few bucks more at the time. It's 5-1 radio will do DFS for possible 160MHz bonding where the XT8 is limited to 80 there. The XT8 v2 (and XT9) has no Gnuton-Merlin support at this time, though the 8 (E) does, but its 5-2 is in 6GHz.

Highly recommended for your stated use.

Thank you very much for the recommendation, I will do some more research on that XT9 model over the XT8

 

[glens]

As an added consideration, perhaps, there's the "business" oriented version of the XT9 which most likely has more-polished firmware (at least I'd think they'd step up their game in that respect for such a market segment).

 

[jksmurf]

As an added consideration, perhaps, there's the "business" oriented version of the XT9 which most likely has more-polished firmware (at least I'd think they'd step up their game in that respect for such a market segment).

Thanks for that. I’m a wee bit confused as to what happens when you have wired backhaul (only) does e.g. the one XT8 then have all 3 Wi-Fi channels (including the 160Mhz wide 5Ghz-2) available for Wi-Fi clients? Or is the backhaul Wi-Fi ‘reserved’ regardless of whether you have Ethernet backhaul or not? Apologies for my lack of understanding here!

Asking as the cheaper XT8 might be the way to go if I can utilize it to its maximum capability, where the XT9 would not offer much (or anything) more by way of throughput.

ta

k.

 

[glens]

Just a few minutes ago the 8s are $299 on amazon, the 9s $70 more, and the 68s twice the 8s. The EBM is the same hardware (perhaps on a different board, but why?) as the 9. Neither of which is worth even $50 more in my estimation.

The only possible downside might be that the 8s are version 2 and thus have no merlin firmware support at this time, though that'd not be show-stopper level.

I never spent much time under AiMesh with them, and they've near-ever been wired when I did. Yes, at least using one to feed the other under mesh, wired or wireless, the "backhaul" band can be opened to client use as well. I only very briefly tried one as a mesh node to the two-radio main router. It appeared as though both 5GHz radios were "live" on the node (it was wired) but the "everything on one channel" mesh concept is extremely unappealing to me. I prefer AP mode. Greatly.

You can always, as APs (not as nodes) decrease the radio power levels if you end up with too much wireless.

 

[tgl]

Yes, with wired backhaul all the radios are usable for clients. IIRC, you need to specifically enable the "ethernet backhaul" option before the GUI will let you set up the radios that way. I concur with @glens that you should run them as independent APs rather than trying to mesh them; AIMesh does not cope well with scenarios where the mesh nodes have different radios than the primary. It's a little more effort to configure them independently, but you end up with more control.

Another thing to be aware of is that the XT8's 5GHz-1 radio can only be tuned to channels 36-48, and 5GHz-2 only to higher channels. In isolation this isn't a big problem, but it can be a pain if you have a bunch of APs that you are trying to put on non-overlapping channels, or if you need to not conflict with nearby neighbors.

 

[glens]

As I recall even when using wireless backhaul you have full ability to set the SSID to whatever you want and opt to unhide it, and it'll also accommodate clients too. But mesh mode vs. AP is akin to Windows vs. GNU/Linux...

One thing different between the XT9 and EBM68 is the latter has twice the RAM. The firmware is the same hardware-wise, just some more it can do with the hardware (maybe some of that traded out from what the XT9's does).

 

[jksmurf]

Hi, back again after doing a lot of reading.

I’m probably going the AiMesh Route (sorry to the AP purists and I hear you wrt Windows vs *Nix), but it’s going to be partially managed by my brother, so AiMesh is easier to set up.

On that note given the various radios and possible overlapps on the XT8 / XT9 radios (unlikely to go for (EBMs), and given I have wired backhaul, I am steering towards XD6 Units, with a decent 5GHz Radio, albeit only one.

Anyone had experience of these XD6s in AiMesh mode (or AP ) especially vs the XT8 or XT9 in the exact same location and setup, with Smart Connect On?

Are the latter wildly better, or do the two 5GHz radios just get confused and are worse?

ta

k.