Upgrade from Asus RT-AX88U (RT-BE88U / ROG Strix GS-BE18000 / ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI)?..

[CornfieldWin]

Surprising, when I compare these 3, the only advantage the 88U Pro have over non-Pro is 2.5GB LAN ports?!

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Oh come on. One has three (3) likely decorative antennas and the other has four (4)! That's what you get for listening to marketing.

TDLR: The AX88U Pro uses the new processor also found in the BE Wifi 7 product line so that ASUSWRT and Merlin will likely recieve updates for some time to come (both have so far). Meanwhile the old version AX88U uses the old processor which has been declared EOL and will NOT be getting updates.

Truth in advertising: we are at the point where router upgrades get less and less essential unless your needs aren't met or they change fairly drastically in the future. In your case one more router with the new processor (AX88U Pro or BE88U) should get you whole house coverage together with what you have. After that who cares about WIFI 7, 8, 9 ... which likely will be overkill piling on overkill.

 

[CornfieldWin]

The non-Pro is on the 3.0.0.4.388 firmware branch whereas the Pro version is on 3.0.0.6.102. So the Pro has VLAN support. Also the non-Pro has x8 LAN ports vs. the Pro's x5 (albeit one is 2.5GbE).

The Pro has six ethernet ports: 2 are 2.5G, and 4 are 1G. It is really a smart switch as those ports can be re-assigned to other VLANs. In router mode, one 2.5G port is reserved for WAN and the other 2.5G port is LAN by default but can be assigned to WAN (in bonded mode I believe but have never looked further). In AP mode, all six ports are pure LAN (on native VLAN 1 by default). [That is why I called it a smart switch, because it truly is one]. 3.0.0.4 works just fine on my AX5400 as a AIMesh node which I just updated in the GUI AImesh tab as well as the 3.0.0.6 for the Pro last night without a hiccup. The AX88U and AX5400 were both early AX products and like share very similar guts. Caveat: I have never been able to get Wifi Guest Portal mode to work in router mode or to even appear in AP mode.