Wifi set up troubleshooting and guidance

[pizzachips]

Hi everyone - new to the forum and a proud owner of 2 new ASUS routers.

Currently I have the following setup:

• Gig fiber (with Bell from Canada)
• 3 Story House (w/ basement) - roughly 1,000 sqft per floor
• Network Set Up
  • Modem --- Cat6 ----> AX88U (Basement) --- AiMesh with Wired Backhaul via Moca 2.5 with Cat6 --- AX82U (2nd Floor)
  • Merlin installed just on AX88U (since not available for AX82U)
  • AiMesh and guest wifi enabled
  • Roughly 40-50 devices on the network simultaneously (with the majority being IoT devices and the rest being phones / laptops) - all IoT devices are on guest network

I have a few things I'm struggling with ...

1. General network speed - when I do speed tests, I'm getting the following:
   • Modem --> 1gb down, 800mb up
   • AX88U --> 700 down, 500 up (via wifi - about 5 feet from the router)
   • AX82U --> 500 down, 200 up (via wifi - about 5 feet from the router)
2. Intermittent drops (on both nodes)
   • No idea why this is happening but the issue is as follows
     • Devices (confirmed on android phones and a macbook) will lose internet every hour or so despite being very close to the router with full bars - wifi still shows as connected but internet just stops working completely
     • Quick reconnect to the wifi will instantly fixes the problem immediately

Looking to the group here for guidance on how to debug this better and any recommendations on how to set this up better. I also have a spare AX88U that I can use to replace the AX82U but its still sealed and planning to refund it if not necessary (or hooking it up as a 3rd node in the future if there is another good Moca price)... still pending on this decision...

Thanks in advance for any help that is provided!