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RT-AX89X

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Dear AX89X users,

If you have also used an AX86U, could I seek your humble opinion on which is better in terms of 5G range, stability, and any other factors which you think are important?

Thank you.
 
Dear AX89X users,

If you have also used an AX86U, could I seek your humble opinion on which is better in terms of 5G range, stability, and any other factors which you think are important?

Thank you.
AX86U will get better support in terms of firmware updates. However, AX89X is future proof with 2 10Gig ports. You can also use SFP+ to ethernet transceiver to have two 10 gigabit ethernet ports for a true 10 Gbps internet connection as well as 10 Gbps LAN. Only QNAP QHora-301W can do that so it is worth checking out that router as well.
 
Have been following this thread for a while now and, if anyone's interested in doing so, I'd really appreciate some owners' current-point-in-time impressions of the AX89X. Does it still feel like a complete oddball in the Asus router lineup with sidelined support? Do its quirks outweigh its advantages? Is it easy to get wowed by specs that don't really translate to real-world performance?

The reason I ask is because I'm looking to take as much of my wired LAN to 10G (or at least >1Gbps) as possible. Right now the speed bottleneck is the router, an AX88U. Both its LAN and WAN aggregation, which are the only ways to eke out speeds above 1Gbps, are resulting in 25% speed drops rather than increases.

My plan is to install a modem with a 2.5G+ LAN port (e.g., a Netgear CAX80, Motorola MB8611) and connect that to the AX89X's 10G Ethernet port. I'd then connect the AX89X's SFP+ port to the SFP+ on a D-Link DGS-1510-28X switch via a fiber cable, which should avoid the heat issues that come from the transceivers.

That should theoretically give me the ability to connect my desired >1Gbps LAN devices (e.g., one 2.5G Mac mini, one 10G Mac mini M1, one 10G ReadyNAS) and also hit maximum throughput from my over-provisioned 1,200Mbps Comcast/Xfinity service. So far the AX89X is the only device I've come across that could give me this capability while also letting me keep the AiMesh setup that I've invested quite a bit in.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on whether this is achievable with the AX89X, if it's just a hobbyist's headache rather than a production-ready router, whether I'd be better off just waiting for the possible successor, etc. Thanks in advance.
 
Have been following this thread for a while now and, if anyone's interested in doing so, I'd really appreciate some owners' current-point-in-time impressions of the AX89X. Does it still feel like a complete oddball in the Asus router lineup with sidelined support? Do its quirks outweigh its advantages? Is it easy to get wowed by specs that don't really translate to real-world performance?

The reason I ask is because I'm looking to take as much of my wired LAN to 10G (or at least >1Gbps) as possible. Right now the speed bottleneck is the router, an AX88U. Both its LAN and WAN aggregation, which are the only ways to eke out speeds above 1Gbps, are resulting in 25% speed drops rather than increases.

My plan is to install a modem with a 2.5G+ LAN port (e.g., a Netgear CAX80, Motorola MB8611) and connect that to the AX89X's 10G Ethernet port. I'd then connect the AX89X's SFP+ port to the SFP+ on a D-Link DGS-1510-28X switch via a fiber cable, which should avoid the heat issues that come from the transceivers.

That should theoretically give me the ability to connect my desired >1Gbps LAN devices (e.g., one 2.5G Mac mini, one 10G Mac mini M1, one 10G ReadyNAS) and also hit maximum throughput from my over-provisioned 1,200Mbps Comcast/Xfinity service. So far the AX89X is the only device I've come across that could give me this capability while also letting me keep the AiMesh setup that I've invested quite a bit in.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts on whether this is achievable with the AX89X, if it's just a hobbyist's headache rather than a production-ready router, whether I'd be better off just waiting for the possible successor, etc. Thanks in advance.
Let me start by saying personally this is the best router I have ever owned. I use the Sfp+ port with a transceivers connected to an arris s33. At any given time there is upwards of 30 connections going at once. Here is a little list of devices 4 xboxs, 2 gaming computers and one which streams most days and tablets, Etc. It never misses a beat it has always held up. The wifi on it reaches thru the whole house as well as like a 20 ft perimeter around my house and never really to much interference from neighbors {Live in the city}. Also even though it has a built in fan I added a fan of to the side for extra cooling. But with that said everyone's experience will vary.
 
Try setting it to160Mhz ONLY and manually select a control channel. That might force devices to use 4 stream.
hi
I just got an AX89x and i am unable to connect at more than 1200 mbps with my 2 laptops.
I readed in the dongknowhow review that he had to disable the Extended NSS setting for the 2400 Mbps to work. But mine is already disabled.
Any idea of what i should do ?
160 MHz is enabled, i am into 20/40/80/160mhz mode, smartconnect is disabled
I have 22790 fmw, AX200 modules with last intel drivers.
thanks
 
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Well, I've got the AX89X (HW A1) in place. On the WAN side, it's connected to the multi-Gig port of a Netgear CAX80 (a combo device in bridge mode) via the router's 10Gbps RJ45 port. On the LAN side, it's connected to a 10Gbps-capable D-Link DGS-1510-28X via this 10GTek SFP+ Twinax cable. Connecting the two devices via SFP+ using two Cisco SFP-10G-SRs and this multimode fiber cable also worked with similar speed results.

I was pulling max ISP speeds (1200Mbps) down the WAN when I had my iPad Pro M1 connected directly to the CAX80 via this hardwired 2.5Gbps USB-C adapter, but the AX89X's speeds are less impressive now that everything's up and running. I'm seeing more like 900Mbps down on the 2.5Gbps wired iPad Pro M1 when it's behind the AX89X. Could be that there's more overhead with 50+ connected devices.

And, of course, because the firmware on this high-end device is several versions behind for reasons I can't quite divine, I'm forced to revisit all the issues that were already solved on my AX88U. For instance, the AX89X keeps giving me DNS issues when I try to use a Pi-hole, and the logs are packed with "not mesh client, can’t update it’s ip" errors. At least one of the two AiMesh nodes, an AC88U, keeps dropping offline despite being wired—although I just watched as the other node, a wired AC68U, got disconnected for no apparent reason.

Oh, and the AX89X's GUI is slow as all get-out.

So, as always, one step forward, two steps back. I did this upgrade to squeeze a little more performance out of select wired connections, but some of my concerns about this being a "niche" device with its fair share of quirks have definitely been borne out. If anyone else is eyeing the AX89X and, like me, getting giddy about the prospect of eking next-gen speed out of their network, my advice would be to hold off for a while longer. Performance boosts are nice, but I'd rather have stability.

[UPDATE: I had to pull the AC88U as a node. It would constantly drop offline after just a few minutes. I swapped it out for a Blue Cave, which is working just fine despite still being on .384.]
 
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Well, I've got the AX89X (HW A1) in place. On the WAN side, it's connected to the multi-Gig port of a Netgear CAX80 (a combo device in bridge mode) via the router's 10Gbps RJ45 port. On the LAN side, it's connected to a 10Gbps-capable D-Link DGS-1510-28X via this 10GTek SFP+ Twinax cable. Connecting the two devices via SFP+ using two Cisco SFP-10G-SRs and this multimode fiber cable also worked with similar speed results.

I was pulling max ISP speeds (1200Mbps) down the WAN when I had my iPad Pro M1 connected directly to the CAX80 via this hardwired 2.5Gbps USB-C adapter, but the AX89X's speeds are less impressive now that everything's up and running. I'm seeing more like 900Mbps down on the 2.5Gbps wired iPad Pro M1 when it's behind the AX89X. Could be that there's more overhead with 50+ connected devices.

And, of course, because the firmware on this high-end device is several versions behind for reasons I can't quite divine, I'm forced to revisit all the issues that were already solved on my AX88U. For instance, the AX89X keeps giving me DNS issues when I try to use a Pi-hole, and the logs are packed with "not mesh client, can’t update it’s ip" errors. At least one of the two AiMesh nodes, an AC88U, keeps dropping offline despite being wired—although I just watched as the other node, a wired AC68U, got disconnected for no apparent reason.

Oh, and the AX89X's GUI is slow as all get-out.

So, as always, one step forward, two steps back. I did this upgrade to squeeze a little more performance out of select wired connections, but some of my concerns about this being a "niche" device with its fair share of quirks have definitely been borne out. If anyone else is eyeing the AX89X and, like me, getting giddy about the prospect of eking next-gen speed out of their network, my advice would be to hold off for a while longer. Performance boosts are nice, but I'd rather have stability.

[UPDATE: I had to pull the AC88U as a node. It would constantly drop offline after just a few minutes. I swapped it out for a Blue Cave, which is working just fine despite still being on .384.]
Thank you for sharing your experiences. Sorry to hear that your hardwired AiMesh nodes were dropping offline (I would've thought hardwiring would make it more stable).

I was thinking of setting up 1x AX89X hardwired to 2x AX86Us via a 10G switch but now I think I will use 3x AX86Us via a 2.5G switch instead. Cheaper and probably more reliable given the more regular FW updates.
 
Asus firmware engineers just shared a beta (9.x) version that seems to solve the SFP+ disconnects I've been experiencing after every reboot. I also peeked at the AiMesh section, and it brings the AX89X up to par with other AiMesh 2.0 routers in terms of features like enforcing system-wide Ethernet backhaul.

So take heart, everyone! AX89X firmware development may be strangely quiet, but progress does seem to be taking place behind the scenes.
 
Asus firmware engineers just shared a beta (9.x) version that seems to solve the SFP+ disconnects I've been experiencing after every reboot. I also peeked at the AiMesh section, and it brings the AX89X up to par with other AiMesh 2.0 routers in terms of features like enforcing system-wide Ethernet backhaul.

So take heart, everyone! AX89X firmware development may be strangely quiet, but progress does seem to be taking place behind the scenes.
Could share it?

Why it get so few updates is beyond me. Love my AX89 it's been working great since day 1 and the 10GB speed on LAN-ports make my Qnap's and Computer is amazing. :)
 
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Asus firmware engineers just shared a beta (9.x) version that seems to solve the SFP+ disconnects I've been experiencing after every reboot. I also peeked at the AiMesh section, and it brings the AX89X up to par with other AiMesh 2.0 routers in terms of features like enforcing system-wide Ethernet backhaul.

So take heart, everyone! AX89X firmware development may be strangely quiet, but progress does seem to be taking place behind the scenes.
god news! this is the most powerfull router of asus and the less updated :-(
 
Could share it?
I'm not comfortable sharing anything that hasn't been explicitly authorized by Asus. My post was more of an FYI. You can report issues directly to Asus using the feedback form in your AX89X's GUI, which is what led to the beta firmware being issued to me.
 
How do you find yourself with the beta firmware? Do you know when they publish the official version? Is anyone kind enough to share the Beta in private? Thank you
 
I tried the beta and mine says update failed but a process bar started. When it finished said upgrade applied enter your router again but I don't see any change.

I'm using my 89 as an aimesh node, is that why?
 
I tried the beta and mine says update failed but a process bar started. When it finished said upgrade applied enter your router again but I don't see any change.

I'm using my 89 as an aimesh node, is that why?
I'm using it on mine with AiMesh - 89X is master and an 86U as a node. Seems to work better than the latest firmware although I still get a few issues with wired clients disappearing occasionally for a few seconds.
 
Dear AX89X users,

If you have also used an AX86U, could I seek your humble opinion on which is better in terms of 5G range, stability, and any other factors which you think are important?

Thank you.
I have an RT-AX86U which I had paired with 3 x Asus XD4 in a mesh but I wasn't happy with the XD4s so sent them back and got an AX-89X to replace the XD4s in the hope the 8 aerials would help with longer range.

I have the AX89X in the exact same space as was previously occupied by the AX86U and I am very happy with the increase in range and speed at range (no real difference when close around 800Mbps on my iPhone 11 from a 1G connection). For example my M1 MacBook Air gets a link of 720Mpbs with an RSSI - 63dBm at my desk in the next room (old house where some wall are 3 bricks thick) where as in the same conditions I got only 288Mbps with an RSSI - 72dBM from the AX86U which was still usable but not making the most of my connection.

I now have the AX86U as a node in AiMesh running from the AX89X and I am very happy but there is room for improvement with the AX89X which I am hoping comes with a future firmware, as many have said on the forum it seems the AX89X is a bit behind other more popular models in firmware updates from Asus but I am running a beta version and it certain is helping.

My reason for purchasing the AX89X was too make as much of the signal as I could in a difficult environment and although most of the house I have wired up with CAT5E (started it 10 years ago) whilst renovating, my wife has made it clear that having multiple APs everywhere isn't something she will tolerate. The AX89X gives me the best speed possible even on a poor connection all the way into the high 70's (dBM) when in the garden.

Hope that helps.

Regards, Ian
 
I updated to the beta posted here and my node didn't work, it changed to firmware version 9 but it lost connection.

I tried to do a factory reset as the asus web page but didn't work, does anyone know how to do it?

Lucky for me I bought 2 AX89X and I had to open the second or my garden would lose internet
 

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