Large estate, ASUS or Orbi?

[Tiffany Parent]

I have a large home (6200 sq feet over three floors) that id like to cover. I have an ASUS AC3100 that is three years old. Should I add some additional ASUS equipment to expand my coverage or should I switch entirely to an Orbi system?

Additionally, I have a garage approx 75 feet from the house that id like to cover. How do I tackle that?

We use WiFi for streaming tv shows, music on the sonos, iPads and basic computing. Nothing fancy and I am not a techie so it also has to be simple for me.

 

[Trip]

Any chance of farming this out to a local high-end residential AV / IT shop? Having them just handle it will be way easier than trying to do this yourself. They'll likely nail the setup and use pro-level gear, both of which will ensure exactly the kind of coverage and performance you want. It will be costly, but IMHO worth it.

If you must do this yourself for whatever the reason, then I would go Eero Pro over Orbi. Skipping the technical jargon, it's just overall a bit better product. And skip the cheaper kit that uses the Beacons -- go all Pro. Probably the 3-unit starter kit to begin with, then perhaps a fourth or fifth if needed, or 2 3-unit kits, 5 for the house and 1 for the garage. You'll need to link the garage to the house, and if you don't have ethernet or coaxial TV cable between the two, you'll probably need to do it with a directional wireless bridge, something like an EZ-Bridge Lite, or similar.

If the thought of doing all of the above seems overwhelming, I would highly suggest employing a friend who's good with IT to handle the setup of the gear for you, perhaps for some beer, a gift card, etc.

Best of luck!

 

[coxhaus]

If you want no headaches use wire to extend your network. If you can't do it hire someone.

 

[rnatalli]

Access points with Ethernet backhaul are the way to go here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[doczenith1]

Since you already have an Asus router I would add another Asus router and connect them using the AiMesh system. AiMesh had some growing pains but from what I've heard it is working well these days. This would be a great opportunity to upgrade your main router to a RT-AC86U and use your older 3100 as the mesh node. If you still have dead spots I would add a RT-AC66U-B1 as another node. The B1 part is very important. The non B1 version of the 66U is old and outdated.

As others have mentioned, if possible always use ethernet backhaul vs wifi.

 

[oldlady]

I gave upon ubiquiti system that i tried in February bec I couldn’t mount the AP on the ceiling. I have a 68u and just bought 2 Asus Blue caves from best buy, on sale this week for $90 each (they keep going in and out of stock) to give AiMesh a try with wired backhaul.