Merlin 384.4_2 on AC68R - no Radar, no AiMesh menus

[newb]

I use Merlin's firmware 384.4_2 on RT-AC68R.
I cannot locateneither RADAR nor AiMesh entries anyplace.
What am I doing wrong or not understanding?

 

[DonnyJohnny]

I use Merlin's firmware 384.4_2 on RT-AC68R.
I cannot locateneither RADAR nor AiMesh entries anyplace.
What am I doing wrong or not understanding?

Do more reading...
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/release-384-ng-asuswrt-merlin-384-4-is-now-available.45406/

 

[RMerlin]

I use Merlin's firmware 384.4_2 on RT-AC68R.
I cannot locateneither RADAR nor AiMesh entries anyplace.
What am I doing wrong or not understanding?

Wifi Radar is only available on the RT-AC86U.

AiMesh is not available in my firmware.

 

[NErdgOd]

In a previous post you said you'd have an answer when the source code comes out...
@RMerlin, i respect you and your coding, i do, never had any problem, your changelogs are good and thorough, even though i dont think english is your first language, your firmware is very satisfactory... but In the post it says "there is currently no new information on aimesh yada yada" I don't wanna even risk bothering someone on the internet with the horribly dreadful and tedious task, nay, heavy burden, of repeating themselves on the internet, that would just be so inconsiderate of me, but perhaps, possibly, you could link me to anywhere you explained why AiMesh is not supported on your frimwares the first time; ie the "old information" because a good 10 minutes of googling, even changing phrasing and multiple pages, all it was was you telling people it hasn't been done, not why it can't or what you're waiting for to do it? Thadbegreat.gift

BTW, this is one of the top posts that comes up on google. The more you repeat yourself, the less you'll have to.

 

[RMerlin]

AiMesh has compatibility issues with some of the changes I've made to the firmware. Since the entire implementation is closed source, it's impossible for me to analyze it to determine the extent of these issues, but there are already a few that showed up during my initial tests and for which I had no solutions. And reverting these changes are out of the question, some of them being what I consider vital improvements, such as the ability to assign hostnames to DHCP reservations.

Therefore AiMesh will not be supported for the foreseeable future.

 

[NErdgOd]

AiMesh has compatibility issues with some of the changes I've made to the firmware. Since the entire implementation is closed source, it's impossible for me to analyze it to determine the extent of these issues, but there are already a few that showed up during my initial tests and for which I had no solutions. And reverting these changes are out of the question, some of them being what I consider vital improvements, such as the ability to assign hostnames to DHCP reservations.

Therefore AiMesh will not be supported for the foreseeable future.

gotcha, AiMesh = closed source = closed topic.

I appreciate your quick and thorough response.

P.S. to anyone googling as i was:
reverted both of my ac68u to stock just to test the throughput and range of AiMesh, my results were equal to using the 5ghz radioas a link between the two, and just setting the 2.4ghz to the same ssid (With roaming assistant enabled and tuned, and mac cloned the secondary 2.4ghz MAC to the primary.)

seemingly no difference in:
- local and web ftp access/download/upload?(only had LTE to test... not stable. local upload showed the same both tests),
- samba between computers or computer and router
- internet DL speed

AiMesh did seem to have higher latency tho by like 5-10 ms... weird

TL;DR:
AiMesh just seems to be a convenience feature, a little configuring and testing does wonders

 

[gof]

gotcha, AiMesh = closed source = closed topic.
P.S. to anyone googling as i was:
reverted both of my ac68u to stock just to test the throughput and range of AiMesh, my results were equal to using the 5ghz radioas a link between the two, and just setting the 2.4ghz to the same ssid (With roaming assistant enabled and tuned, and mac cloned the secondary 2.4ghz MAC to the primary.)
<snip>
TL;DR:
AiMesh just seems to be a convenience feature, a little configuring and testing does wonders

What's the purpose of cloning the MAC on the secondary router (I'm assuming you have it in Access Point mode, or is it in Bridge mode)? Or does this somehow hide the fact that the client is switching access points when moving (no network change?). Any links to more discussion of this?

 

[NErdgOd]

What's the purpose of cloning the MAC on the secondary router (I'm assuming you have it in Access Point mode, or is it in Bridge mode)? Or does this somehow hide the fact that the client is switching access points when moving (no network change?). Any links to more discussion of this?

I personally believe it does handover faster to the other router. However, I don't have any proof. Sometimes it seems to not even acknowledge the AP switch at all, the wifi signal just increases as I get closer to the shack (where the secondary router is) I've done this with downloads and/or Netflix going with no inturuption

 

[zazzn]

@NErdgOd Could you help me understand how I should be properly set this up?

I have 2 68U's one as the router the other as an AP.

The AP is in the center of my house which covers the bedrooms and garage.

The 2nd is in the office which covers the kitchen and backyard.

I've tried every configuration in the past but none have worked well. There is quite a lot of overlap in my network since the house is only 1600 SQ FT but one router was certainly not sufficient due to placement.

It's very hard for me to use the roaming assistant because I want the best range I can get in the backyard from RT68#1 so I want as long range as I can get.
For RT68#2 (AP) I also want as long range as I can get because when I'm in the driveway tuning some cars with my laptop I want wifi to look up things on the internet so again roaming assistant will cause problems here.

Here are the configurations I've tried

SSID = Mywireless (2.4 and 5.0 share ssid across all router/ap) issues with connections
SSID=Mywireless24 SSID2=Mywireless50 Issues with connections
I've also tried using the same channels on both channels between ap/router (saw I should try this but logic tells me this is bad as it will cause tons of interference)
Then I tried channels which were opposite and the clearest

In all cases, the most reliable I found was all bands to have separate channels and SSID's
Meaning
SSID = Mywireless24Office
SSID = Mywireless24Center
SSID = Mywireless50Office
SSID = Mywireless50Center

While technically this worked, if I do not move around the house, it was horrible at dropping to the best AP and took a significant amount of time to join a new AP

Are you saying in your configuration you used one SSID for all channels, separate wifi channels on all AP/Router and turned on the roaming assistant to say 80DB finally changed the mac address on AP to match the master router?

 

[heysoundude]

@NErdgOd Could you help me understand how I should be properly set this up?

I have 2 68U's one as the router the other as an AP.

The AP is in the center of my house which covers the bedrooms and garage.

The 2nd is in the office which covers the kitchen and backyard.

I've tried every configuration in the past but none have worked well. There is quite a lot of overlap in my network since the house is only 1600 SQ FT but one router was certainly not sufficient due to placement.

It's very hard for me to use the roaming assistant because I want the best range I can get in the backyard from RT68#1 so I want as long range as I can get.
For RT68#2 (AP) I also want as long range as I can get because when I'm in the driveway tuning some cars with my laptop I want wifi to look up things on the internet so again roaming assistant will cause problems here.

Here are the configurations I've tried

SSID = Mywireless (2.4 and 5.0 share ssid across all router/ap) issues with connections
SSID=Mywireless24 SSID2=Mywireless50 Issues with connections
I've also tried using the same channels on both channels between ap/router (saw I should try this but logic tells me this is bad as it will cause tons of interference)
Then I tried channels which were opposite and the clearest

In all cases, the most reliable I found was all bands to have separate channels and SSID's
Meaning
SSID = Mywireless24Office
SSID = Mywireless24Center
SSID = Mywireless50Office
SSID = Mywireless50Center

While technically this worked, if I do not move around the house, it was horrible at dropping to the best AP and took a significant amount of time to join a new AP

Are you saying in your configuration you used one SSID for all channels, separate wifi channels on all AP/Router and turned on the roaming assistant to say 80DB finally changed the mac address on AP to match the master router?

Reflash router and AP to Stock Asus firmware, setup AiMesh. Move router and AP around, and play with antenna orientation on both to achieve optimal coverage for you. (is yours a 2 storey house? maybe relocating one of the nodes up there, as far away from the master node as posssible, will help coverage) maybe you'll find the need for a 3rd node - it's not a sqft issue often, it's a matter of the radio pixies not being able to propogate as perfectly as we imagine/hope they can/do.

 

[NErdgOd]

Yeah, I ended up just going the repeater route, with two separate sets of ssids. One for the she'd, one for the house. They're far enough away for my phone and laptop to drop on their own. But if you dont need custom firmware, I also recommend you use the stock with aimesh for your situation. Remember the antennas make a disk shape signal perpendicular to them, ie imagine a straight up antenna, the signal is like a huge ufo shape with the antenna in the center. Tip of the antenna is the top of the ufo. So if the routers upstairs you need angles and such to cover that area well. Higher gain antennas worked really well at making one 68 cover a three story house they're like +9 or 12db. The antenna switch made the biggest difference for me.

 

[heysoundude]

Part of me thinks AiMesh is futile - 5G will be rolling out quite soon, and when that’s as ubiquitous as DSL (why else are they pushing fibre to homes?), the RF data blanket will be thick as molasses on an Alaska February night and fast as warp 19.

We ain’t seen nuthin yet: data rates, lack of privacy, cancer rates...and we’re paying for it.

 

[NErdgOd]

Yeahhhh... I'm not switching to a wireless sevice provider. Ever. That's why they're rolling out fibre. Wireless is so much latency and probably will have a speed cap even with the "unlimited" plan for residential anyway. I use 1.5 terrabytes a month of banwith at the least

 

[heysoundude]

Fine having fibre. Just don’t use the modem/routers the big telcos provide: I’m supposing that they’ll be 5G nodes and the fibre is backhaul. You can fit a lot of light in those pipes, and to get the speeds, they need a lot of them fairly close together.

<tin_foil_hat=on>

 

[zazzn]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies, I just realized Asus did release AImesh, pretty cool, so mesh will automatically know about the device and disconnect it from that AP so it reconnects and ends up hopefully on the stronger AP, I'm guessing. I just bought a Deco 5 system for my mother and so far I'm really impressed.

I’ve just flashed one of my rt68’s To factory firmware. Looks like the second tm1900 that i got for free is gong to have to be binned and another asus purchased to make my mesh. Wish the n56u was a supported device would nicely perfectly replace the tm1900 in my case

 

[octopus]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/the-tm-ac1900-is-not-supported.48056/
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...d-forks-on-non-asus-devices-is-illegal.44636/

 

[heysoundude]

First, what he ^ said.
AiMesh was developed specifically for people like you, with the issues you had. Wish we had known what you had from the start, full disclosure.
Don’t fret - you can use all the TM1900s. You’ll just have to contend with multiple SSIDs (I’d simplify from what you had)...
The router and AP were cabled together, rather than a wireless link, right? Do the same for the 3rd one.
Or scrap the TM versions and buy a 3100

 

[zazzn]

Hi,

Sorry I forgot to mention I have a 1600sq ft one story house.

Also to be honest I though when you flashed the tm1900 to a rt68u it was the same thing since the cfe and firmware were the same. I’ve seen reading other threads it’s not considered the same. I only have two devices one is a real rt68 the other is the tm1900 which was given to me by T-Mobile to help with my shirtty reception in house. It is actually the reason why I want mesh, because my cellphone translations are horrid and my calls drop when I move around the house when on T-Mobile WiFi calling. Go figure they blocked the actual usecase that T-Mobile tried to fix...

Anyways, it’s a shame DDWRT doesn’t really have a mesh system with the ability for a master/slave controller system. Lord knows I have enough old ddwrt routers hanging around! Going to explore openert and Batman or what ever it is. I actually don’t care so much about mesh but more about the hand off for roaming, pretty much what most people have issues with as well.