RT-AX86U - What to pair with for AIMesh?

[LexLuthor]

I have an RT-AX86U as my main router with an RT-AC68U paired as AIMesh node using Ethernet uplink. I just got a new laptop wirh a Realteak Wifi 7 chip and I'm having lots of problems with losing the connection ocassionally, even if I'm right near the RT-AC68U. I think it might not be playing so nice with the very old RT-AC68U. Plus I'm not getting as good range as my last laptop with an Intel Wifi 6 chip.

Wondering what my best option is here? Should I get another RT-AX86U and use that as AIMesh node instead? Is there a cheaper Asus router that would pair well with the RT-AX86U and would serve that function just as well? Or to better prepare for the future, should I get a RT-BE86U or RT-BE92U and use that as the main router and make my current RT-AX86U the AIMesh node?

I'm not really a power user and don't need great speed across my network. I've just got a ton of TV, computers, phones, etc connected to the network that I need a reliable connection for and good range. My interneet connection is 300M/300M.

Or should my current combination not really expierence this kind of issue and I should try to troubleshoot that better?

Thoughts?

 

[degrub]

Turn off the AC68U and test to see if your new laptop connects and doesn't have the issues you are seeing.
If it doesn't, i would get another AX 86u to use as a node. wifi 7 is still being worked out across vendors. You may want to see if you can switch your laptop adapter to use only wifi6. You won't really loose anything if reliability is more important to you.

 

[LexLuthor]

Turn off the AC68U and test to see if your new laptop connects and doesn't have the issues you are seeing.
If it doesn't, i would get another AX 86u to use as a node. wifi 7 is still being worked out across vendors. You may want to see if you can switch your laptop adapter to use only wifi6. You won't really loose anything if reliability is more important to yo

I need to test a bit more thoroughly, but, yes seems like it works fine with the AC68U cut, though the AX86U is too far away to provide covered in some parts of the house. I was just pinging the main and mesh routers and it was a mess of high latency with packet loss when conencted ot the AC68U. I then bound to the AX86U and it was fine and then bound to the AC68U and it was find and then took off the binding and it was fine. It's intermittant issue, but i do think with the AC86U off it seemed to work find for a good while earlier. Maybe it has something to with trying to switch between routers.

To disable wifi7 on the laptop adater, do I just change 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless mode to a/n/ac/ax instead of a/n/ac/ax/be and the disable 6GHz band entirely?

Even if that solves the issue, I think I've got a range issue.

No point in trying to future proof with a Wifi 7 router at this point and there's no cheaper router that would be worth pairing with my AX86U, so just get another one of them?

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have an RT-AX86U as my main router with an RT-AC68U paired as AIMesh node using Ethernet uplink. I just got a new laptop wirh a Realteak Wifi 7 chip and I'm having lots of problems with losing the connection ocassionally, even if I'm right near the RT-AC68U. I think it might not be playing so nice with the very old RT-AC68U. Plus I'm not getting as good range as my last laptop with an Intel Wifi 6 chip.

Wondering what my best option is here? Should I get another RT-AX86U and use that as AIMesh node instead? Is there a cheaper Asus router that would pair well with the RT-AX86U and would serve that function just as well? Or to better prepare for the future, should I get a RT-BE86U or RT-BE92U and use that as the main router and make my current RT-AX86U the AIMesh node?

I'm not really a power user and don't need great speed across my network. I've just got a ton of TV, computers, phones, etc connected to the network that I need a reliable connection for and good range. My interneet connection is 300M/300M.

Or should my current combination not really expierence this kind of issue and I should try to troubleshoot that better?

Thoughts?

Have you check for an OEM driver update for your new laptop network adapter?

OE

 

[bbunge]

An AX86U Pro may cost less than a new AX86U. A refurbished AX class router would be a better option than the AC68I.

 

[LexLuthor]

Have you check for an OEM driver update for your new laptop network adapter?

OE

I do not see anywhere to get the driver from Realtek. I have the current driver that is listed on the machine specific Lenovo page. The network adapter is a Realtek RTL8922AE.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have the current driver that is listed on the machine specific Lenovo page.

That one may be as current as it gets.

OE

 

[LexLuthor]

Still evaluating the new laptop with wifi 7 disabled on the laptop adapter. No drops yet, but ever intermittent. Still the range of the AC68U isn't right and I need to replace that. So best to replace that with another AX86U and worry about Wifi 7 another time?

Also, wondering if there's a way to swap the position of my 2 routers, but I don't think so. Main router is downstairs next to my ISP ONT and the mesh node is upstairs. There is only 1 Ethernet cable snaked between the 2 and it would be hard to get another cable snaked. If I want the main upstairs, I'm going to need 2 Ethernet cables upstairs, right?

 

[degrub]

What would you accomplish by having the main upstairs instead of by the ONT ?

 

[OzarkEdge]

If I want the main upstairs, I'm going to need 2 Ethernet cables upstairs, right?

Correct. ONT <wire> router <wire/wireless> node

A new router upstairs with no node downstairs might provide enough coverage, assuming you do not need to wire any clients downstairs.

OE

 

[Tech9]

If I want the main upstairs, I'm going to need 2 Ethernet cables upstairs, right?

It's actually possible with single Ethernet wire and 2x smart switches on both ends doing WAN and LAN on VLANs. With your 300/300 ISP line the user experience will be the same. Is this extra complication and added cost needed though - perhaps not. I would move the RT-AX86U upstairs using the available Ethernet wire for WAN and get second RT-AX86U off eBay for node. They are pretty reliable devices and safe to purchase used. Even if the node is wirelessly connected it will work better than your old RT-AC68U.

 

[LexLuthor]

What would you accomplish by having the main upstairs instead of by the ONT ?

Most of my devices are upstairs and that would give me better covered out back, but I don't think coverage downstairs would be acceptable then, but it's possible, I'd have to test....but.....see below...

Correct. ONT <wire> router <wire/wireless> node

A new router upstairs with no node downstairs might provide enough coverage, assuming you do not need to wire any clients downstairs.

OE

I do have some wired devices downstairs. I could probably move some hardware around to avoid that, but I probably will have coverage issues downstairs anyhow. I can swap routers and then connect to the downstairs router wirelessly instead of Ethernet Backhaul mode, but that's going to potentially give me 2 issues downstairs with that mesh node maybe not getting a great signal to the master node and also not providing enough coverage downstairs.

It's actually possible with single Ethernet wire and 2x smart switches on both ends doing WAN and LAN on VLANs. With your 300/300 ISP line the user experience will be the same. Is this extra complication and added cost needed though - perhaps not. I would move the RT-AX86U upstairs using the available Ethernet wire for WAN and get second RT-AX86U off eBay for node. They are pretty reliable devices and safe to purchase used. Even if the node is wirelessly connected it will work better than your old RT-AC68U.

Yes, 2nd used/refurbished RT-AX86U is probably the best way to go here. My current RT-AX86U is not a pro, so I'd have to go through a bit of a PITA process of manually mirroring my current settings to the new router. I have all of my devices named and use USB application with servers that have logins that I may or may not know passwords for, but I guess it's worth the effort to make the Pro one the master router. I'm on Merlin firmware so there's really no safe way to save/restore settings to the new router, right?

Edit: Just lost the connection for a bit in a place I never would have lost the connection with my other laptop and that's with wifi 7 still disabled on the laptop network adapter. I'm really not sure what the issue is. Range may just not be as good on the new laptop and with the suspect range on the AC68U, it's just a bad combo. I also don't get nearly as good range as I got on the old laptop outside. Tomorrow maybe I'll put both laptops next to each other outside and read the signal strength.

 

[Tech9]

I have all of my nodes named and use USB application

What "all of my nodes"? Post #1 says RT-AX86U router with RT-AC68U node. One router with one node. My suggestion requires no re-configuration of the router. If you want to do it differently with different model devices - plan your migration steps accordingly.

 

[LexLuthor]

What "all of my nodes"? Post #1 says RT-AX86U router with RT-AC68U node. One router with one node. My suggestion requires no re-configuration of the router. If you want to do it differently with different model devices - plan your migration steps accordingly.

I meant devices, not nodes, sorry. And if I get an AX86U Pro, unless I don't care about using my current non-pro AX86U as the main router, I don't see any way that I'm going to avoid going through a whole setup process to manually mirror the old router settings onto the new router. Still that seems like the right answer to me in the end. I don't have to worry about where each goes because it'll be the same router, so put the new AX86U pro downstairs replacing the AX86U non pro and move the not pro upstairs as a mesh node and connect it via Ethernet.

 

[Tech9]

Just use the new Pro router as node and enjoy life without reconfiguring anything. The two routers running different firmware can't share the new Pro features anyway. If you enjoy reconfiguring everything without much user experience benefits - go ahead.

 

[LexLuthor]

Just use the new Pro router as node and enjoy life without reconfiguring anything. The two routers running different firmware can't share the new Pro features anyway. If you enjoy reconfiguring everything without much user experience benefits - go ahead.

What extra does the Pro offer exactly? Isn't it a faster CPU or that's not going to really matter, even if I'm using VPN or something CPU intensive? If I'm not going to notice any real-world differnce, then sure, I guess I'l just make the new router the Mesh node.

 

[Tech9]

In your specific configuration there will be no noticeable real-world difference.

 

[LexLuthor]

In your specific configuration there will be no noticeable real-world difference.

That's great to know I'll probably go that route.

Is there much case to future proof to get a WiFi 7 router or, again, I'll not really see any real world difference?

And if I did want to consider that, what's better between the BE92U and BE86U? They seem to be the same retail price, but the BE92U is triband so the BE86U must have some other advantage.

 

[Tech9]

Is there much case to future proof to get a WiFi 7 router

You'll spend more money and bring new issues home.

 

[LexLuthor]

I had some time to test some more things out this morning.

I moved the AX86U upstairs. Speed outside when connected via 5G was way better. Even with -80dBm, I was getting 200M+ download. That's much better than when I was connected to the AC68U that was upstairs. Seems like my downstairs devices are still getting enough connection from where the AX86U is now. Seems like 5G has enough reach everywhere. If a device slips back to 2.4G, speeds do drop to like 20Mbps though.

Downstairs, I have a printer and a phone ATA adapter with no built in wifi that I would prefer to keep wired into the network downstairs. I moved the AC68U downstairs and now it's connected via 5G backhaul (GUI says connection is "Great"). I'm not sure I really need devices connecting to that, but I presume if anything does connect to that, it shouldn't really make things worse? Is there any way to keep that connected via wireless backhaul so that I can use the Ethernet ports, but not have any devices connect to it wirelessly? I suppose I could bind every device to the main router, but that's not such a clean option. The GUI has an option to disable 2.4G and 5G radios on the mesh node, but I'm pretty sure that would drop the backhaul and I would lose wireless access to that router entirely. For now, I'll keep that on as a mesh node with 5G backhaul and see if it makes things worse. If it does, I'll consider moving the printer and ATA upstairs.

The new laptop was losing the connection ocassionally before I started playing around with this and nothing I've done would have really fixed that other than I'll be nearer the AC68U less and I could always just bind that to the AX86U only if I think it's not playing well with the AC68U.

I'm not going to order anything new and see how this works for a bit. Seems like a much better setup with the AX86U upstairs with better reach to the devices that get used most frequently.