ASUS AiMesh router options

[45Wheelgun]

Working with a friend with a new home. This is a 2 story 3500sq ft home (1750/fl). Cable modem is located on the second floor in the center of the home. Within reason, money isn't a major issue.

Primary use is internet surfing. Remote VPN into fortune 100 company. Watching netflix/youtube on multiple tv's. Gaming is not a consideration - they are not gamers.

Was thinking of using an AC5300 as primary located with the cable modem in the center of the second floor. I was thinking of using 1 or 2 AC86Us as needed for full mesh coverage.

This was the plan until they said - we use T-Mobile and our reception sucks in the house. Should I reconsider the above configuration and add or substitute T-Mobile AC1900s to facilitate better VOIP for T-Mobile? I realise as delivered the TM routers will not work as mesh routers. Are they better off using the TM routers as delivered and pass on the benefits of AiMesh?

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[OzarkEdge]

Working with a friend with a new home. This is a 2 story 3500sq ft home (1750/fl). Cable modem is located on the second floor in the center of the home. Within reason, money isn't a major issue.

Primary use is internet surfing. Remote VPN into fortune 100 company. Watching netflix/youtube on multiple tv's. Gaming is not a consideration - they are not gamers.

Was thinking of using an AC5300 as primary located with the cable modem in the center of the second floor. I was thinking of using 1 or 2 AC86Us as needed for full mesh coverage.

This was the plan until they said - we use T-Mobile and our reception sucks in the house. Should I reconsider the above configuration and add or substitute T-Mobile AC1900s to facilitate better VOIP for T-Mobile? I realise as delivered the TM routers will not work as mesh routers. Are they better off using the TM routers as delivered and pass on the benefits of AiMesh?

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

I have the ASUS RT-AC68U, now in an AiMesh, and have had the RT-N66U. I disable WAN/SIP Passthrough and have no trouble using ITSP VoIP and Google Fi VoIP. The Google Fi Nexus 5x knows to switch from cellular to local WiFi, when present. And uses a VPN to secure public WiFi.

So, I think all of the smarts for the mobile to use local WiFi are in the mobile device... the ASUS routers work fine as is. I don't think the T-Mobile-branded router is a requirement... that would be annoying to anyone wanting to BYOD, like you and me.

Your friend could simply try his T-Mobile on existing WiFi somewhere... does it switch to using local WiFi no matter the AP? If not, maybe his mobile generation is not capable of using local WiFi no matter the router.

I would resist not being able to deploy the home networking equipment of my choosing... no matter the cellular service. And, T-Mobile may have a box for improving local cellular service without it having to be a router.

Your initial AiMesh plan sounds reasonable... I'm not familiar with the AC5300 but the AC86s are next generation AC68Us and should make good nodes... you may only need one below the router. The AC68U does not support AiMesh SmartConnect band selection/steering within the node... so I would buy up to the AC86U.

OE