Rt-AX86S for home & AX3000 as travel router- Can I easily Mesh both at home?

[peanstein]

Main ? is:
I want to strengthen the signal at home, and was wondering if I can switch travel router to part of home Mesh, and when needed, convert back to travel router settings w/out too much hassle. ( I get that same SSID on both at home is a no-no and never have both on at same time)

Backstory:
The AX86S as my home router, using Diversion and Skynet, and the AX3000 only for travels, also using Diversion/Skynet.
The Travel router uses the same SSID & PW as home router, so we don't have to use new credentials on attached devices.
When traveling, we use Airbnb, and when possible, disconnect rental place's router, and plug mine in it's place.
If not possible, I plug my router in one of their their LAN ports.

ANy tips or suggestions are appreciated!

tia

 

[Tech9]

the AX3000

There is no AX3000 model. Whatever this device is* - for AiMesh it has to be ASUS and for Node it has to be reset to factory defaults. This means all travel configuration will be lost.

* - The only AX3000 class travel router from ASUS is RT-AX57 Go.

 

[peanstein]

There is no AX3000 model. Whatever this device is* - for AiMesh it has to be ASUS and for Node it has to be reset to factory defaults. This means all travel configuration will be lost.

* - The only AX3000 class travel router from ASUS is RT-AX57 Go.

apologies.

* RT-AX3000
I figured I'd have to reset it.

Would saving settings in Admin console for each configuration, then reloading work?
If so, would I also save/reload JFFS partition?

Thanks

 

[Tech9]

RT-AX3000 is not a travel router. It's missing essential for travel routers WISP work mode. You can't use this one in any place with no Ethernet port and local LAN DHCP. Very limited usability for this purpose. Anyway, whatever configuration you have on it will be lost the moment you add it as AiMesh node to your RT-AX86S.

 

[peanstein]

RT-AX3000 is not a travel router. It's missing essential for travel routers WISP work mode. You can't use this one in any place with no Ethernet port and local LAN DHCP. Very limited usability for this purpose. Anyway, whatever configuration you have on it will be lost the moment you add it as AiMesh node to your RT-AX86S.

Thanks for clarifying.
I see I am using the term "Travel router" incorrectly.
In my case, I leave my house, and travel with my spare router

For my purposes, would saving the router settings & JFFS Partition be sufficient to switch the router back to the router settings for non-mesh use?
Or I am better off reloading everything from scratch?

Thanks for steering me right

 

[Tech9]

Yes, you can export and save the configuration file, load it back when you need the router for something else. Get a real travel router though because in any place with wireless access only your RT-AX3000 is useless. Also, if I'm the owner of Airbnb I won't be happy if you touch my equipment. If this equipment is connected to ISP line with specific MAC registered your router obviously won't work and I may have to call the ISP to restore my connection after. Don't do that.

 

[bbunge]

Save yourself a lot of trouble and get a real travel router. I got one of these on Amazon ($40)and it works great!

GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Portable WiFi Travel Router, Mini VPN Wireless Router for Fiber Optic Modem, Mobile Internet WiFi Repeater, Dual Band Openwrt Computer Routers, Home/Business/RV/Cruise ​

I have it configured to VPN to my home router via Wireguard or OpenVPN.

 

[chris2025]

I recently bought an Asus RT-BE58 Go travel router, which is a quad CPU WiFi 7 dual-band router, and is also Merlin supported, for use on the road. It is pretty tiny to travel with, and it can be powered off of almost any cell phone USB-C power adapter/cord for convenience.

If you're in the US, it often goes on sale for $99, and you can get it for $85 with the recycle promotion at Best Buy.

I've used it while traveling, both in WISP mode, as well as plugged directly into a LAN port of the host property router (double NAT), and it's worked pretty well in both cases. I've used it with VPN Director to connect back to my home VPN servers, both using OpenVPN and Wireguard. I tested it with both the stock firmware as well as Merlin and both seemed to work fine.

It also has a physical toggle switch on it to allow easy transition between two mode configurations - like for instance between a home mode config and a travel mode config... I guess it wouldn't help with AIMesh node though if you need to factory reset it.

 

[peanstein]

Save yourself a lot of trouble and get a real travel router. I got one of these on Amazon ($40)and it works great!

GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Portable WiFi Travel Router, Mini VPN Wireless Router for Fiber Optic Modem, Mobile Internet WiFi Repeater, Dual Band Openwrt Computer Routers, Home/Business/RV/Cruise ​

I have it configured to VPN to my home router via Wireguard or OpenVPN.

Looked at a gli router ~ 6 months ago but lost track of looking further in to it.
$40 is dirt cheap so will probably go that route and leave the 2nd asus as a permanent mesh for home.

I'll read up on this but can I load Tailscale on it, as that is what I use for my TrueNas, and other machines?

Thanks for the tip!

 

[peanstein]

Yes, you can export and save the configuration file, load it back when you need the router for something else. Get a real travel router though because in any place with wireless access only your RT-AX3000 is useless. Also, if I'm the owner of Airbnb I won't be happy if you touch my equipment. If this equipment is connected to ISP line with specific MAC registered your router obviously won't work and I may have to call the ISP to restore my connection after. Don't do that.

It was never an issue, and worked with owners beforehand to confirm it was ok.

 

[peanstein]

I recently bought an Asus RT-BE58 Go travel router, which is a quad CPU WiFi 7 dual-band router, and is also Merlin supported, for use on the road. It is pretty tiny to travel with, and it can be powered off of almost any cell phone USB-C power adapter/cord for convenience.

If you're in the US, it often goes on sale for $99, and you can get it for $85 with the recycle promotion at Best Buy.

I've used it while traveling, both in WISP mode, as well as plugged directly into a LAN port of the host property router (double NAT), and it's worked pretty well in both cases. I've used it with VPN Director to connect back to my home VPN servers, both using OpenVPN and Wireguard. I tested it with both the stock firmware as well as Merlin and both seemed to work fine.

It also has a physical toggle switch on it to allow easy transition between two mode configurations - like for instance between a home mode config and a travel mode config... I guess it wouldn't help with AIMesh node though if you need to factory reset it.

Will look in to this model as well since there's one for sale locally at the moment.
Thanks for the info, and I like that is can use Merlin fw, as I'm somewhat familiar with the GUI.
Thank you

 

[chris2025]

I'm pretty sure you can run TAILMON on any Merlin supported Asus router, which allows you to install and run Tailscale right on the router itself. I haven't tried it on the BE58 Go yet, but I have run it on other Asus Merlin routers via the Tailmon entware app in amtm. You can then make the Asus router an exit node on a Tailscale network for other Tailscale clients to connect to... it works very well and is fairly easy to configure using menu options.

 

[Tech9]

I'll read up on this but can I load Tailscale on it, as that is what I use for my TrueNas, and other machines?

Specific models only:

Tailscale - GL.iNet Router Docs 4

Documentation for GL.iNet Router Productions

docs.gl-inet.com