Help me integrate the new kid on the block (RT-AC86U)

[Sonicmojo]

All,

Been rocking an RT-AC66U for the better part of 5.5 years now and it's time to upgrade. I just took delivery of a RT-AC86U and need to understand the best order of activities to accomplish the following:

1. Transition the home network (LAN + the 2 wi-fi bands) to the RT-AC86U as the master router.
2. Re-establish the RT-AC66U as an access point (in the living room) to enable better wireless action on the upper level.

Our home is a typical mid 90's split level bungalow with the utility cabinet downstairs. This is where the mains are, cable comes in and all other network gear is housed. For the life of the 66U - we have always had problems in the living room - which seemed to never be able to get decent wi-fi. To combat the problem for the last couple of years - I stuck my trusty D-Link DIR-655 in a cabinet upstairs but it never really was reliable.

I am hoping to now pair the two ASUS brethren together with the latest Merlin firmware to make for a more seamless wi-fi experience for the upper floor.

My questions:

1. What's my first move?

Change the whole network over the the 86U and get it stable and working first?

OR

Get the AC66U current first and know it's solid then shut down and work on the 86U ? (NOTE: The 66U will need to use the John Fork since I know the actual Merlin legacy FW stopped back in April of 2018)

2. Once I am ready to add the 66U as an access point - do I connect it back to the LAN using it's WAN port or just one of the 4 LAN ports on the back?

3. Any tricks to ensure I only my two existing wi-fi networks named the same as before? Ideally I want any wi-fi device to be able to logon to either the 2.4 or 5 gHZ network and then be able to transition properly between the 86U and 66U anywhere the device goes. And I want to use the same wi-fi network names as before.

4. AIMesh? Is this worth considering (I realize I would not be able to use Merlin for this). Or is it better to just used the AC66U as an access point. I am looking for the easiest overall maintenance and performance.

5. Anything else I should plan for - before I begin unpacking the new router and taking the old one out of the mix?

Appreciate any tips from the field.

Cheers!

Sonic.

 

[martinr]

All,

Been rocking an RT-AC66U for the better part of 5.5 years now and it's time to upgrade. I just took delivery of a RT-AC86U and need to understand the best order of activities to accomplish the following:

1. Transition the home network (LAN + the 2 wi-fi bands) to the RT-AC86U as the master router.
2. Re-establish the RT-AC66U as an access point (in the living room) to enable better wireless action on the upper level.

Our home is a typical mid 90's split level bungalow with the utility cabinet downstairs. This is where the mains are, cable comes in and all other network gear is housed. For the life of the 66U - we have always had problems in the living room - which seemed to never be able to get decent wi-fi. To combat the problem for the last couple of years - I stuck my trusty D-Link DIR-655 in a cabinet upstairs but it never really was reliable.

I am hoping to now pair the two ASUS brethren together with the latest Merlin firmware to make for a more seamless wi-fi experience for the upper floor.

My questions:

1. What's my first move?

Change the whole network over the the 86U and get it stable and working first?

OR

Get the AC66U current first and know it's solid then shut down and work on the 86U ? (NOTE: The 66U will need to use the John Fork since I know the actual Merlin legacy FW stopped back in April of 2018)

2. Once I am ready to add the 66U as an access point - do I connect it back to the LAN using it's WAN port or just one of the 4 LAN ports on the back?

3. Any tricks to ensure I only my two existing wi-fi networks named the same as before? Ideally I want any wi-fi device to be able to logon to either the 2.4 or 5 gHZ network and then be able to transition properly between the 86U and 66U anywhere the device goes. And I want to use the same wi-fi network names as before.

4. AIMesh? Is this worth considering (I realize I would not be able to use Merlin for this). Or is it better to just used the AC66U as an access point. I am looking for the easiest overall maintenance and performance.

5. Anything else I should plan for - before I begin unpacking the new router and taking the old one out of the mix?

Appreciate any tips from the field.

Cheers!

Sonic.

I can answer a couple of your points:

Yes, the ethernet cable runs from a LAN port on the router to a LAN port on the Access Point unit.

I have found I prefer different SSIDs on the router and the AP unit, simply because under some conditions eg when connected to a vpn, the vpn would drop out after the transition. So it was seamless if one was browsing but not seamless under other conditions. That became so irritating that I preferred separate SSIDs.

As to your other questions, I’m leaving them to those better qualified to give you sound answers.

 

[Grisu]

Take your new router, connect its wan port like before on 66U, configure from laptop using its wifi or PC on any LAN.
Set necessary things like before (SSID and so on).
When youre done you change to Merlin firmware.
Better to do this as first step and make factory reset afterwards. Change to Merlin sometimes will work ok but often problems can be avoided with factory reset!
66U cant be used in Aimesh configurartion, so forget Aimesh.
Wait some days to see its working as it should.
Connect 86 LAN to 66 WAN port and set it to AP mode after you changed to Johns fork with asus restauration tool.
Lan port on 66U will work too, but you loose a LAN port for other devices and AP mode in general is defined to use WAN port.