What is the best way to extend the Asus RT-AC87U?

[jbodine74]

What is the best way to extend the Asus RT-AC87U? Can it be wirelessly extended or does it have to be connected via ethernet? Can it be exteneded by a Netgear or Linksys range extender? Looking for advice and tips. I have to extend it it wirelessly in my house.

 

[Jong]

Extending via an Access Point wired by Ethernet is always the best option, by some way. I have two AC87s, the second is an AP wired into the AC87 router. If that is impossible for some reason try Powerline - one Powerline adapter wired into your router, the other into an Access Point. Only if Powerline does not work for you would I go wireless.

 

[jbodine74]

Thanks. How do I set it up to be extended wirelessly? Is there s setting in the web interface or do I just buy a range extender and have that join my network?

 

[Jong]

If you are going some distance/through walls the raw speed is unlikely to be any better than good Powerline (although that can be somewhat dependent on the situation). You also have the performance implications of cluttering up the airwaves with your wireless bridge traffic. Lastly bridges often are not perfect and have problems passing some kinds of packets - multicast/Airplay etc. Better avoided if possible.

There are two ways of doing wireless extension, if you insist:

- WDS, built into most routers/APs, but it halves wireless performance and limits security to the seriously broken WEP
- Buy another router/AP that supports "repeater mode". The AC87 does NOT at the moment (believed to be a hardware restriction). I believe, although don't take my word for it, that the AC87 should still be fine as a router, provided the AP supports repeater mode, but you will notice performance and stability implications as well as probable issues with some protocols/applications, as mentioned above.

Hooking up APs from a different manufacturer (either of the router itself or the chipset contained within) by either of the above methods is somewhat pot luck - some will work, some will not. Better to get a repeater with the same vendor AND chipset as the router if you can. Not sure if that is possible with the Quantenna chipset used for 5Ghz in the AC87 though (not looked into it).

 

[jbodine74]

Thanks for the information. I will give it a shot and report back. It might be a few weeks before I try to tackle this.

 

[Jong]

Of course, any purpose built "extender" is "an AP with repeater mode", but even the Asus RP-AC52 uses a different chipset to those in the AC87.

 

[jbodine74]

So I tried a Linksys RE6500 Extender and that was not very good. I also tried powerline with that and I had all kinds of trouble. I will be returning those. Case closed.

 

[jegesq]

I've had great experiences using the Asus RT-AC66U as a repeater. It works great with the AC3200 (not using Smart Connect, but separate SSID's), and I have also used the AC66U in repeater mode with another AC66U in router mode.

Powerline can be good, but only if your house is wired so that the area where you're trying to extend signal to is on the same circuit as the area you're extending from. Powerline results are highly variable and there's just no way to predict how your environment will work with it until you try it.

I've used range extenders from various vendors over the years (e.g., Belkin range extender, Netgear, etc.) and using Repeater Mode on the AC66U is far and away the best.

BTW, using a second AC87U as a "repeater" (even if it were yo support that mode) would be overkill IMHO, i.e., way too expensive a device to be used merely as a range extender. You can pick up wireless repeaters or other solid ASUS routers that do support "Repeater" mode for far less and they will work fine with your AC87U functioning as a wireless router, and you can choose which band (2.4 or 5 ghz) that you want to repeat.

One other advantage to using the AC66U as a repeater is that you are NOT required to use WDS to repeat (as is the case with "true" repeater mode when using other routers from other manufacturers as repeaters). Thus, you still can use WPA-2 security and you don't have to run your router (the 87U) in "open" mode, as you must when using WDS.

Don't give up just because you didn't have a good experience with Powerline in your setting. There are other solutions out there that work just fine.

 

[jbodine74]

Thanks for the advice.