Question about (normal) guest network with ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000

[HHawk]

Hi all,

Since I am planning to order 3 of these this evening (or tomorrow morning), I am looking for some honest advice about the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 routers.

I have been running 3 ASUS RT-AC86U (AC2900) in AiMesh mode (running MerlinWRT). This works nicely, however the Guest Network has always been a pain to use. Apparently I have to disable Hardware NAT (and/or enable Intranet Access) on the routers, otherwise the Guest Network will not work. No clue why? Perhaps it's MerlinWRT firmware or it's the routers themselves. See also this thread...

Now the only thing I want to know, is if the Guest Network (just regular, not "Pro Guest Network") works without issues and I do not need to disable things like "Hardware NAT" or enable "Intranet Access" on these ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 routers.

Maybe someone has this enabled or gave it a go. And I would highly appreciate your input / experience on this.
I was thinking about getting 3x "Flint 2 (GL-MT6000)", but I rather go with a more known brand to be honest. But I really need to solid and working "Guest Access" without issues.

Thanks in advance!

 

[maxbraketorque]

What firmware are you running on the main and AP routers?

 

[TheLostSwede]

You can find something of a review of the GL-MT6000 below.

GL.iNet GL-MT6000 "Flint 2" WiFi 6 router review - Part 1: Unboxing, teardown, and first try - CNX Software

GL.iNet Flint 2 (also known as GL-MT6000) is a new WiFi 6 AX6000 router based on MediaTek MT7986 (Filogic 830) Arm SoC running of fork OpenWrt 23.05 and

www.cnx-software.com

GL.iNet Flint 2 router review – Part 2: WiFi 6, 2.5GbE, WireGuard performance - CNX Software

In the first part of the review of the GL.iNet GL-MT6000 “Flint 2” WiFi 6 router, I had a look at the package content and the hardware design with a

www.cnx-software.com

As for the GT-AX6000, do note that the most recent, official firmware update is 10 months old and Asus doesn't seem to be in a hurry to update it. Been running mine for a few months without any glitches, but I don't use the guest network, so I can't answer the specifics you're asking about.

 

[HHawk]

@maxbraketorque you mean for the RT-AC86U, right? As I do not have the ROG GT-AX6000 routers ofcourse. But running FW 386.12_6 on all of the RT-AC86U. Guest Network is completely broken (see my first post) in the router or in MerlinWRT firmware. I am not going to fool around with these routers anymore; I have simply given up on them and also they are getting really old / outdated. Also are quite slow.

@TheLostSwede Yeah I know about that website, did already read them several times. Too bad you have no experience at all with the "Guest Network", becuase that was my main question.

So I am hoping someone can answer the Guest Network question. Didn't order them yet, as I am awaiting a response here. Thank you in advance!

 

[TheLostSwede]

Well, I also only have one unit, so I still couldn't tell you how it works with AiMesh enabled. Doubt many people own more than one.

Enabled the guest network just to try and it seems to work as intended without the need to disabling anything else.

 

[HHawk]

@TheLostSwede

Well thank you for testing the Guest Network! However, after re-reading this thread again, I think it might be related to running a "Guest Network" along with an AiMesh setup. Hence, the problems I am also experiencing.

Maybe @RMerlin has the answer for this?

 

[maxbraketorque]

@maxbraketorque you mean for the RT-AC86U, right? As I do not have the ROG GT-AX6000 routers ofcourse. But running FW 386.12_6 on all of the RT-AC86U. Guest Network is completely broken (see my first post) in the router or in MerlinWRT firmware. I am not going to fool around with these routers anymore; I have simply given up on them and also they are getting really old / outdated. Also are quite slow.

@TheLostSwede Yeah I know about that website, did already read them several times. Too bad you have no experience at all with the "Guest Network", becuase that was my main question.

So I am hoping someone can answer the Guest Network question. Didn't order them yet, as I am awaiting a response here. Thank you in advance!

ok, I misunderstood your original post. I thought you were using a GT-AX6000 as the main router. Anyhow, during the few months when I ran my GT-AX6000 routers in main/mesh mode, guest network functioned properly, and that was on the early beta of 3.0.0.6. People who are trying the current 3.0.0.6 beta seem to be saying that it works really well.

As for the AC86Us, mine never seemed slow. When I replaced mine with GT-AX6000 and RT-AX86U Pro routers, there was no appreciable improvement in wireless networking speed or router GUI speed. I ran my AC86Us in main/AP mode, and with the addition of a script to modify the VLAN settings on the AP, I successfully had an isolated guest network that spanned the main and AP routers. Since I'm running 388 on my GT-AX6000's and my RT-AX86U Pro's that are configured for main/AP mode, I am using the same script on those routers to get a network-wide isolated guest network.

 

[HHawk]

@maxbraketorque thank you!

It seems to be working without issues, even Asus confirmed it:
From your email I understand you have some questions regarding Ai Mesh and the guest network function.
Our previous iterations of Ai Mesh did not provide the guest network over the nodes which indeed resulted in the problems you encounter.
Our recent iterations of Ai Mesh have that solved and it should work flawless on the setup you have chosen.

And in regards to the older AC86U; well since we are using a ton of new devics on 2.4 Ghz. network, it seems to have a ton of performance issues (we have now approx 70 - 80 devices on out network). It's either that or somehting else (hardware related). But also the routers are simply getting too old. We will have fiber soon and with be a 2 GB/s connection, so I need to upgrade my routers anyways.

Ordered the new ones yesterday. In the future I will upgrade to WIFI 6E or WIFI 7 when it becomes affordable.

Only downside of the GT-AX6000 is the size. It's pretty big compared to my current ones. Oh well. I will be able to solve that somehow. ;-)

Thanks again for your reply back!

 

[TheLostSwede]

The GT-AX6000 is chunky for a lack of better words, everything, including the antennas is chunky about it. I bought it because it was on a special here, which made it about 50% cheaper than the RT-AX88U Pro, which never seem to be on sale here.

 

[HHawk]

Yeah exactly. The GT-AX6000 is for me about 125 Euro (per router) cheaper than the RT-AX88U Pro. So I am saving 375 Euro.