What's new

Mesh Network Question...Too many nodes??

  • SNBForums Code of Conduct

    SNBForums is a community for everyone, no matter what their level of experience.

    Please be tolerant and patient of others, especially newcomers. We are all here to share and learn!

    The rules are simple: Be patient, be nice, be helpful or be gone!

Spartacus

Occasional Visitor
I've posted previously about getting a third node for my Asus ZenWifi XT8 network. (LSS: you CAN buy just one). My question now is whether I should. I have roughly 1750 sq ft. of Living Space and 2 nodes. From the literature, it *seems* like a single node should cover the whole house but it doesn't seem to do that well. I'm guessing it's simply the layout and the walls are blocking the signal. Hence, the second node. Now I'm trying to expand a little into the backyard...no signal at all.

That said, I'm reading that you can have too many nodes. How would I judge whether adding a third node would actually degrade performance? I don't want to go to the expense only to discover it was a mistake.
 
A single RT-AX68U, RT-AX88U, RT-AX86U, or a GT-AX6000 would (should) easily cover that 'smaller' area. Particularly if it was located centrally and optimally (not in a 'closet', not under a bed, etc.).

Without testing in your specific environment though, nobody will be able to tell you (without outright guessing) whether any specific recommendation will work or not.

All you can do is buy with a return policy and test fully before the return period expires.

Myself? I would not pursue adding more nodes, particularly if those nodes are using wireless backhaul. I would get a better router to test instead.
 
A single RT-AX68U, RT-AX88U, RT-AX86U, or a GT-AX6000 would (should) easily cover that 'smaller' area. Particularly if it was located centrally and optimally (not in a 'closet', not under a bed, etc.).

Without testing in your specific environment though, nobody will be able to tell you (without outright guessing) whether any specific recommendation will work or not.

All you can do is buy with a return policy and test fully before the return period expires.

Myself? I would not pursue adding more nodes, particularly if those nodes are using wireless backhaul. I would get a better router to test instead.
Thanks for the feedback. All the nodes are ethernet backhaul so no issues there. Sounds like it would be an interesting experiment to try a single router. Amazon to the rescue :cool:
 
Don't order just a single router (order as many as fit your budget), also order a third node too while you're at it. More testing can be done back-to-back. Be sure you only open the boxes as you're ready to test them. Don't want to have that many routers all powered up during your testing.
 
I have roughly 1750 sq ft. of Living Space and 2 nodes. From the literature, it *seems* like a single node should cover the whole house but it doesn't seem to do that well. I'm guessing it's simply the layout and the walls are blocking the signal. Hence, the second node. Now I'm trying to expand a little into the backyard...no signal at all.

Two, wired, dual-band RT-AX86Us or similar, spread far apart with a node near the outdoor living area ought to be plenty of coverage inside and out.

Wiring tri-band is a bit of an application misstep. How far apart are the XT8s... I'm curious why two are not enough? Have you tried them wireless with the dedicated 4x4 5-2 band backhaul and then place them for best coverage?

OE
 
Two, wired, dual-band RT-AX86Us or similar, spread far apart with a node near the outdoor living area ought to be plenty of coverage inside and out.

Wiring tri-band is a bit of an application misstep. How far apart are the XT8s... I'm curious why two are not enough? Have you tried them wireless with the dedicated 4x4 5-2 band backhaul and then place them for best coverage?

OE
Router and node are approx. 35ft apart. Single node using ethernet backhaul. They're both on the same side of the house. I have a plan to relocate them in opposite corners of the house so we'll see how that goes.

Can you explain "Wiring tri-band is a bit of an application misstep?" By eliminating the wireless backhaul, I've freed up the 5-2 band and set it to "AX only". My thinking is that should allow my few Apple devices that support ax to use that band exclusively. Does that not make sense? Admittedly, I only know enough networking to be dangerous
 
Router and node are approx. 35ft apart. Single node using ethernet backhaul. They're both on the same side of the house. I have a plan to relocate them in opposite corners of the house so we'll see how that goes.

Can you explain "Wiring tri-band is a bit of an application misstep?" By eliminating the wireless backhaul, I've freed up the 5-2 band and set it to "AX only". My thinking is that should allow my few Apple devices that support ax to use that band exclusively. Does that not make sense? Admittedly, I only know enough networking to be dangerous
Will be interesting to see your results.

Currently I have 1 x XT8 with 3 x CD6s. Considering another 2 x XT8s to replace the 3 x CD6s.
 
Can you explain "Wiring tri-band is a bit of an application misstep?" By eliminating the wireless backhaul, I've freed up the 5-2 band and set it to "AX only". My thinking is that should allow my few Apple devices that support ax to use that band exclusively. Does that not make sense?

Yeah, that makes sense. My view is that a residential network does not have a huge amount of clients, so segmenting relatively few on different WLANs is not necessary. And, the 5.0 band is tight on space to begin with, especially if you have a lot of close neighbors (with their new-fangled WiFi6 tri-band 3+ node mesh systems), so finding room for one WLAN is easier than finding room for two. But if your radio space can accomodate both 5-1 and 5-2 WLANs, then no problem.

OE
 

Sign Up For SNBForums Daily Digest

Get an update of what's new every day delivered to your mailbox. Sign up here!
Top