Extending AX6600 (XT8) mesh

[Mark G]

Newbie here. I have the AX6600 (XT8 2-pack). It's great, but I want to extend the signal to our back patio. What is the best and most economical way to do this? Buying a single AX6600 is pretty expensive.

Details: Our home is strangely configured with interior brick walls and big appliances (frig) in inconvenient places. I found two locations for the 2-pack that cover the house well. I also found one location where an additional satellite should cover the patio. Thanks.

 

[Tech9]

You can try your luck with something cheap like AX56U/AX58U. Make sure you can return it, if it doesn't work well enough for you.

 

[tgl]

Couple of questions:

• Are you intending wired or wireless backhaul for the new node?

• Are you okay with lesser wireless performance on the patio?

If the answers are "wireless" and "no", I think you'll likely need to spring for another XT8. That gear wants to use a third radio for backhaul, which you won't get with a dual-radio unit.

If the answers are "wireless" and "yes", you could try some cheaper AIMesh-compatible unit and see what happens. I'm worried about software-compatibility issues, because I'm not sure that ASUS tests such configurations; but it might work. (As @Tech9 says, be sure you can return it.)

If you're intending wired backhaul, then fire away. The very worst case, if you have compatibility issues, is that you'd have to configure the patio unit as an independent network and rely on your clients to connect to the stronger signal. While that's annoying from a techie cleanliness perspective, it'll work well enough once you've added both networks to your clients' configurations.

 

[Mark G]

I got a used XT8 off eBay for a good price IMO. It's in great condition externally and seems to work perfectly. Thanks for the guidance.

 

[Mark G]

Adding the additional XT8 was not straight forward for this newbie. Here's the full story. https://www.snbforums.com/threads/c...on-network-map-clients-list.72718/post-805650