Dual band / Tri band mix

[slrt]

I have a couple of ZenWifi XT8s, currently connected using a wireless backhaul.
I'm moving to a new apartment with Ethernet cabling. I was considering buying a RT-AX89X as the main router, and use the XT8s as nodes. Is there a way to make the XT8s' 5GHz-2 160MHz band paired with the main routers' 5GHz band?

 

[Tech9]

Apartment, 3x routers - how big is this apartment? 160MHz in a crowded Wi-Fi environment, DFS channels - not the best idea.

 

[slrt]

It's 170m², filled with brick and concrete walls.
Actually in my area the 160MHz area is pretty free, at least so far. The nearest airport >15km away, far enough that Asus's discovery software isn't bothered by it (at least given the concrete walls), and the only network I can see in WiFi analyzer from channel 100 and up is mine.

 

[Gustour]

If the new apartement is ethernet cabling, why not use ethernet backhaul ? I did that in my house, 1 x rt-ax88u as main, and 2 x zenwifi xt8 as aimesh, ethernet backhaul.
So the 5Ghz-2 is used to connect devices.

 

[slrt]

That is precisely my intention. Are you able to get the 5GHz-2 use the same name and band as the main router's 5GHz, and have clients roam between them?

 

[Gustour]

i use smart connect, and both 2.4ghz and 5ghz (1 & 2) have same ssid, same wpa password, and clients roam anywhere in house without a problem I am rly happy with my home network

 

[slrt]

Sweet! From what I heard, in this setup (dual-band router + tri-band nodes) only 2.4GHz and 5GHz-1 participate in SC, but I guess they've fixed it in the firmware.

 

[Gustour]

Or they just didn’t setup correctly (Ethernet backhaul)

 

[slrt]

Hey @Gustour, how exactly did you set up your mesh?
I got the AX89X, and I cannot configure the second 5GHz band of the XT8s. Furthermore, all devices appear under "5" rather than 5-1 or 5-2.

 

[Gustour]

Hey @Gustour, how exactly did you set up your mesh?
I got the AX89X, and I cannot configure the second 5GHz band of the XT8s. Furthermore, all devices appear under "5" rather than 5-1 or 5-2.

You have to use Ethernet backhaul only, to be able to have devices on 5-2. And it shows 5-2 only on the app. On the web interface it shows only 5.