Need a new router, advice would be great

[OBENZ]

Hi,
I have an ac86u which is great but I have 2 bedrooms that out of reach even if I only live in a 160m2 apartment for some reason the doors or walls are blocking my wifi so I’m using powerlines to get my devices connected which is not ideal as the actual throughput is weak, 1200mbps advertised speed is translated to 120-200. I need a solution, should I get a mesh router like the linksys ax ones or an AX86 to complement my existing set up and cover more range ?or the ax88 pro for that matter

 

[L&LD]

I would recommend the RT-AX88U Pro today. The three-plus-year-old RT-AX86U (or even the still hardware-crippled RT-AX86U Pro) are not worth buying today (and the older model won't receive 3.0.0.6.xxx level firmware (afaik), going forward.

Note that the newest AX class routers may exhibit greatly enhanced WiFi performance over the once-king of AC class routers, the RT-AC86U. See the link below to see how much more performance AX class hardware offers (even entry-level AX class hardware, in this case).

[ 386.4 alpha Build(s) ] Testing available build(s)

There are some odd regressions being discussed on the dnsmasq-discuss list from the PiHole guy (Dominik). https://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2021q3/015598.html https://lists.thekelleys.org.uk/pipermail/dnsmasq-discuss/2021q3/015596.html I see Merlin is testing 2.86 out...

www.snbforums.com

Note that even though the customer wanted 2x RT-AX68Us, a single example greatly outshone the once venerable RT-AC86U in that environment. For not only throughput but range too.

The main point of the above being do not automatically assume that you will need to set up the new network in AiMesh. Proceed with the single new main router and slowly proceed from there.

 

[Justinh]

RT-AX88U Pro today. The three-plus-year-old RT-AX86U (or even the still hardware-crippled RT-AX86U Pro)

How is the AX86U Pro hardware-crippled?

 

[L&LD]

A single 2.5GbE Port which you can use for either WAN or LAN.

Not both.

And at prices equal to the model I suggested or higher!

 

[Tech9]

I have an ac86u which is great but I have 2 bedrooms that out of reach even if I only live in a 160m2 apartment

If RT-AC86U can't do the job no other single router will be much better. RT-AC86U has excellent range comparable to much newer RT-AX86U. Get one RT-AX86U Pro and run AiMesh with your existing RT-AC86U as node. Wireless AiMesh will cut the throughput to node attached clients in half. This is how it works on dual-band routers. The node as a Repeater doing retransmissions (single radio serving both the backhaul and the clients). Avoid RT-AX68U (router with issues, discontinued, replaced by different models already) and don't overpay for something you don't need (expensive tri-band models).

 

[sfx2000]

A single 2.5GbE Port which you can use for either WAN or LAN.

this is probably a good rant thread over in the router sub-forum, as too many vendors have done this - a single 2.5 port is kind of useless - two is twice as nice...

All ports supporting 2.5 would be great, but having two - one WAN and one LAN, is a practical solution...