HELP! ASUS RT-AC3200 vs RT-AC5300.

[COBOL-Coder]

Ok, here's my dilemma. When I purchased my ASUS tri-band AC3200 Amazon advertised it as having MU-MIMO and a contributor here mentioned that a 3200 does not have MU-MIMO technology (thanks) and after much run around with ASUS I discover no, it does not! Damn.. after a lot of thought I determined that the AC5300 would be a good replacement. I have a medium to large 4 bedroom house (one floor) and a mixed bag of devices with HD, 4K Streaming being the dominant need. Please, anyone with insight into the best replacement MU-MIMO, A-Mesh or other suggestions, please chime in. I'm not a nubi but not an expert either. Thank you so much. I'm only considering ASUS equipment at this time.

 

[Grisu]

RT-AC86U
we know nothing about your line and other needs like VPN, hard to say ...

 

[COBOL-Coder]

RT-AC86U
we know nothing about your line and other needs like VPN, hard to say ...

For reasons, I'm having to use a 6Mb down DSL Connection. I don't use a VPN, I do use Cloudflare DNS servers, I have one hard wired 4K TV, and a varity of wireless Android devices (5 - 7) 1 Ipad. It's pretty vanilla. Main need is for HD Streaming. Hope that helps.

 

[Grisu]

HD Streaming inside your intranet I have to believe or over your slow DSL?
Anyway, RT-AC86U will match for almost all consumers for a good price with less troubles.

 

[COBOL-Coder]

HD Streaming inside your intranet I have to believe or over your slow DSL?
Anyway, RT-AC86U will match for almost all consumers for a good price with less troubles.

Hi Grisu, thanks. Actually, the AC86U would be a step back (more) from the AC3200 tri-band I have now. The object was to gain access to MU-MIMO technology with an increase in bandwith if possible staying in the ASUS house.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi Grisu, thanks. Actually, the AC86U would be a step back (more) from the AC3200 tri-band I have now. The object was to gain access to MU-MIMO technology with an increase in bandwith if possible staying in the ASUS house.

You could look at it like this... you are paying up for tri-band routers for a dedicated AiMesh wireless backhaul band that your usage does not really require, traffic-wise. And if you wire the backhaul, the current firmware still reserves the second 5.0 GHz band so you cannot use it for wireless clients. And, you are buying ac technology at the end of its life... the 86U is a capable, latest ac build value purchase that will see you through to next generation ax technology.

Are in other words... the AC3200 purchase did not have the MU-MIMO you wanted and has a third band you don't really need... don't let it unnecessarily dictate your next purchase.

OE

 

[COBOL-Coder]

Ok, great, thank you for your suggestion. Good points, however, in viewing my logs I'm seeing instances where on occasion, the faster of the two 5ghz bands have been selected, etc. The fact that my hungriest AP's are close enough to utilize the 5ghz bands and the Phones, low end tablets happily runon the further reaching 2.4 band. I need to bone up on what you mentioned as the differences between AC and AX technologies of which I know very little about. Thanks again for your help, I appreciate it.

 

[COBOL-Coder]

Great, please end this thread, I don't know how to.

Thanks Everyone

 

[COBOL-Coder]

You could look at it like this... you are paying up for tri-band routers for a dedicated AiMesh wireless backhaul band that your usage does not really require, traffic-wise. And if you wire the backhaul, the current firmware still reserves the second 5.0 GHz band so you cannot use it for wireless clients. And, you are buying ac technology at the end of its life... the 86U is a capable, latest ac build value purchase that will see you through to next generation ax technology.

Are in other words... the AC3200 purchase did not have the MU-MIMO you wanted and has a third band you don't really need... don't let it unnecessarily dictate your next purchase.

OE

PS: I wanted to take a moment to thank you about making me aware of the AX technology, how it makes more channels available by utilizing the 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands together, yada. Way to go…

 

[OzarkEdge]

PS: I wanted to take a moment to thank you about making me aware of the AX technology, how it makes more channels available by utilizing the 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands together, yada. Way to go…

It's a calculated purchase decision... buy cheap and settled and usable ac product now, or buy bleeding edge ax product that may cost more and for which you likely have no ax clients, yet.

Be sure to browse the ASUS ax sub-forum to see how the new routers are doing.

OE

 

[Grisu]

you wont get more speed with AX router and your recent clients for the next 2 years.
Take a more reliable AC86U now and some AX router in a few years when specs are well defined, so you will end with 2 routers for the price you would pay for one AX now.

 

[COBOL-Coder]

Just a FYI. Your points were all valid but the one that made me think the most was "buy cheap and settled and usable ac product now, or buy bleeding edge ax product that may cost more and for which you likely have no ax clients, yet." The more I looked at AX the more I realized we are looking at leading edge with technology that's still unsettled. I need a device to administer older devices, yada.... Long story short I purchased a new AC5300 for $261 from Amazon (includes $20 promo) and so far I like it except for my inability to successfully get off of Smart Connect in an effort to assign my 4K box to the faster 5Ghz band. Thanks again...