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Looking for a high quality ASUS mesh setup please (Long post)

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ukiltmybrutha

New Around Here
Hi,

A little intro for you that might assist in the goal here.

I am looking for a high Quality ASUS Mesh setup in my 2600 square foot home that is a relatively wide wood framed one story home which is of newer construction. I am on a 5 acre plot that is mostly clear with about 1 acre of dense wooded land on the back end and a 6 foot privacy fence along the front. About 4 acres of the property is surrounded by privacy fence with the exception of the wooded area.

There is a shared private road is in horrible shape and since there is no HOA no one wants to fix the road. Everyone just keeps getting taller and taller vehicles.

There is no "normal" ISP in my area. I cannot even get dialup. Right behind me, there is a subdivision that gets internet along with the rest of the County but since I live on a private road I cannot reasonably obtain it for less than 60k. As a first responder, I am on truly unlimited/unthrottled FirstNet service and have a first generation MR1100 which is only 4g LTE capable. I cannot be sure when the network will be 5g. It is paired to my beloved RT-AC68P running Merlin on it. It really is enough as it sits for most of the house unless I try to watch a high resolution movie with the room where the Network equipment is, shut the door to that room, and then shut the door to my bedroom. I have been able to mitigate that partially but not consistently by taking my old Linksys EA3500 router with Open-WRT using a set of DLink AV2000 powerline adapters. It works, but that router is so quirky and my internet of things tend to want to connect to that router when it is on the wrong side of the house. I have been able to mitigate that somewhat through the settings but not consistently. Enough hassle with that old router. My scenario is unsupported and it's really not worth my constantly wrangling with it.

Now I have lawyered up to see if I am entitled to internet and have lawyered up on the road. I really don't want to talk about that anymore. Neither has resulted in fruition. I am not moving either.

Some day, both situations will change so I will hold out just like everyone else.

With the privacy fence, I cannot see what is going on outside of my property and I'd like to monitor the interesting things happening in front of my fence since the road is horrible.

From my front door to my front fence is about 400 feet. I'd like to be able to monitor a bit outside of that fence to where my property ends on that side....maybe about 500 feet out. The rear of the property I am not as concerned about at the moment.

Since I don't know what tomorrow will bring as far as internet speed I want good quality stuff today but don't want to future proof too much and waste money. However, good quality ASUS routers ARE affordable.

There are charts here sure, but I would like to know your thoughts. It seems that gaming routers top the charts, but I have no real interest in gaming and my bandwidth is not the best anyways averaging about 40 mbps. I can and have done better with external antenna setups etc., but really there are still limits and it became a hassle for reasons outside of the scope of this post. I'd like to prioritize distance inside my home and stick with the ASUS brand which I have grown comfortable after years of crappy routers.

Since ASUS routers are affordable and there are always sales going on, I'd like to try an ASUS mesh setup this time around. I could of course use the AV2000 powerline adapter but I want to keep things simple. My attic is a pain in the behind to get to and running a patch cable is a pain on my knees. I really don't like paying someone I don't know to come into my house to run a patch cable between the two points either. Good folks are hard to find.

Given my circumstances, I'd like your recommendation for 2 of the best ASUS routers that work best for distance to run a mesh and Merlin. I am looking for overkill, so I don't have to worry about any dead spots. I also have an attached garage and a small shed right near my bedroom that my current setup works pretty well in when the EA3500 doesn't start to act quirky. This is where the overkill requirement comes from.

I say 2 of the best ASUS routers for distance even though I have the RT-68 for 2 reasons.

1) There may be a situation where I may travel with the MR1100 and RT-AC68P so I don't want to depend on it as my primary router any more.

2) As awesome as the RT-AC68P is, I want to refresh it.

Finally, I would like an outdoor AP to monitor the Solar/IP cameras that I intend to run up in the area of the front fence. Any thoughts on this device?

Thanks for taking the time to read.
 
I've been looking at the ubiquiti line lately...and coming up impressed. If I knew then what I know now...
 
Welcome to the forums @ukiltmybrutha.

If you want to stay with Asus routers (as I would too), I would start with the RT-AX86U. Buy two, but only open one to test with. You may find it to be enough for what you are using it for today (even with the doors closed). If you do discover that an additional node is needed, open up the second one (if not, return it).

The RT-AX86U is the best bang for the buck today. Even at its inflated prices (sales help). I am not suggesting this router to you for just the performance it offers. Rather, it is because of stability and reliability, in addition to not a lot more money to future proof as much as possible, today.


As for the camera out at 400 or 500 feet, you may need either a Fibre connection for that distance or, a wireless bridge (or that is what an additional AiMesh node may provide. A diagram of your layout would be helpful to visualize things here). Only if the router(s) used inside the home can't connect reliably at that distance (I would guess they would though, with proper placement).

The following links may also be helpful to you.

AiMesh Ideal Placement

Almost all L&LD Links

About L&LD


With your 'extra' routers, don't forget that you can repurpose them as Media Bridges. This will connect your wired-capable devices to your WiFi with much stronger signals than the devices themselves are capable of.

Media Bridge Mode


Start building this system from the core and work outwards, beginning with a single router. Add additional equipment as required. And only after you have experimented with optimum placement of the existing equipment first.

HTH.
 
Welcome to the forums @ukiltmybrutha.

If you want to stay with Asus routers (as I would too), I would start with the RT-AX86U. Buy two, but only open one to test with. You may find it to be enough for what you are using it for today (even with the doors closed). If you do discover that an additional node is needed, open up the second one (if not, return it).

The RT-AX86U is the best bang for the buck today. Even at its inflated prices (sales help). I am not suggesting this router to you for just the performance it offers. Rather, it is because of stability and reliability, in addition to not a lot more money to future proof as much as possible, today.


As for the camera out at 400 or 500 feet, you may need either a Fibre connection for that distance or, a wireless bridge (or that is what an additional AiMesh node may provide. A diagram of your layout would be helpful to visualize things here). Only if the router(s) used inside the home can't connect reliably at that distance (I would guess they would though, with proper placement).

The following links may also be helpful to you.

AiMesh Ideal Placement

Almost all L&LD Links

About L&LD


With your 'extra' routers, don't forget that you can repurpose them as Media Bridges. This will connect your wired-capable devices to your WiFi with much stronger signals than the devices themselves are capable of.

Media Bridge Mode


Start building this system from the core and work outwards, beginning with a single router. Add additional equipment as required. And only after you have experimented with optimum placement of the existing equipment first.

HTH.

I really like this post. Thanks for your take on the routers. I have lost many hours on lesser routers and I am terrified of switching brands.

While awaiting a response, I "redid" my router setup by starting over. I personally think it's the old firestick in my bedroom at the other end of the house which might be causing grief. Probably the application cache bogging it down.

I am going to implement your thoughts.....maybe keep what I have and save money until it's obsolete...heck I can even bump this thread asking for an update in a few years.

Thanks for taking the time to read and offer suggestions!
 

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