AC RT88U buying advice (and layer 2 switch)

[ugo1]

Hi,

I have some questions about the Asus AC3200 or the AC88U

my actual schema is: modem / router (usr robotics 9108) --> layer 2 switch --> internal lan

1- is possibile if I plug the ethernet printer to the the AC88U /AC3200 lan port) share the Ethernet printer and internet on the vlan on a layer 2 switch (HP1810 -8G)?

2- if I assign to the 2,4 Ghz band the guest access I can still use it for private (not guest / normal) wi-fi access?

3- led can be turned off

4- tri-band is for who have many device and dual band for who has some device (es four)?

Regards

Ugo

 

[ugo1]

What about the RT AC87U?

 

[System Error Message]

i think he wants the 8 ports.

Your list is confusing
1) Are you planning to plug internet into the switch instead of router (this will be inefficient though and consumer routers dont support wan and lan on same port)
2) you dont assign a band to guest access, you assign an SSID for guest access. You can have as many SSIDs on the same band.
3) LED can be turned off on many asus routers
4) AC88U is not triband, it is dual band. It has 4 channels on 2.4 Ghz (not recommended) and 5Ghz. Through the use of MU-MIMO you will benefit otherwise you're better off with AC1900 or AC3200. If you wanted to split devices than triband helps. It is not exactly to do with number of devices but more to do with traffic with multiple devices that can use up all wifi bandwidth of 1 radio (practical speeds not theoratical). AC5300 is triband with MU-MIMO. For MU-MIMO to work both client and AP must support it.

Never plug your internet into a switched port. Routers have the WAN port connected to CPU and LAN ports are connected to switch chip which connects to CPU. So using LAN port on consumer router for WAN is a terrible idea and so is using the same switch for LAN and WAN.

MU-MIMO is for multiple devices that all have MU-MIMO so the speed stacks up. 2 clients with 2x2 wifi with MU-MIMO can take full advantage of the AC88U.

 

[sfx2000]

my actual schema is: modem / router (usr robotics 9108) --> layer 2 switch --> internal lan

Have you considered replacing the modem? That one is fairly ancient, and it might be time to look at something a bit more recent...

 

[ugo1]

i think he wants the 8 ports.

Your list is confusing
1) Are you planning to plug internet into the switch instead of router (this will be inefficient though and consumer routers dont support wan and lan on same port).

no i'm planning to plug internet to the usr 9108 (turning down his wi-fi and using it as a modem) then plug the Asus xxxx using the wan port to the usr 9108 and Asus xxxx lans to the switch

2) you dont assign a band to guest access, you assign an SSID for guest access. You can have as many SSIDs on the same band.

ok perfect

3) LED can be turned off on many asus routers

with read that can be done only with Merlin

4) AC88U is not triband, it is dual band. It has 4 channels on 2.4 Ghz (not recommended) and 5Ghz. Through the use of MU-MIMO you will benefit otherwise you're better off with AC1900 or AC3200. If you wanted to split devices than triband helps. It is not exactly to do with number of devices but more to do with traffic with multiple devices that can use up all wifi bandwidth of 1 radio (practical speeds not theoratical). AC5300 is triband with MU-MIMO. For MU-MIMO to work both client and AP must support it.

I have not interest to split devices from band, I need split devices from SSID (GUEST which must have access to internet but not at intenal lan and HOME which must have access to internet to internet an the interenal lan)

Never plug your internet into a switched port. Routers have the WAN port connected to CPU and LAN ports are connected to switch chip which connects to CPU. So using LAN port on consumer router for WAN is a terrible idea and so is using the same switch for LAN and WAN.

see my answer at point 1

MU-MIMO is for multiple devices that all have MU-MIMO so the speed stacks up. 2 clients with 2x2 wifi with MU-MIMO can take full advantage of the AC88U.

at the end if I don't have MU-MIMO "client" there is no differences between the AC-3200 and the RT-AC88U apart from the first is a tri-band router and the RT-AC88U is dual-band router?

Ugo


PS: I know that the Usr 9108 is old but is always on 24/7 from years with very very few restart and next year is planned the arrive of the fiber...

 

[System Error Message]

well for your case if you get the AC88U i dont see why you need a switch unless you plan to do LACP and vlans. guest SSIDs use vlans which are preconfigured in APs. Essentially if you want a guest SSID just enable it and its done. If you dont have MU-MIMO than go with the AC1900 or AC3200. A band can have as many SSIDs as you like so you dont need triband as both guest and internal SSIDs will share the same radios and band.

 

[ugo1]

Hi,

I need lacp for my home server where I store one copy of my data witch are big 422 10 bit clip files (a second copy is made on secondary external hard disk). I need also to separate the "home subnet" lan to the "office subnet" lan. As the RT-AC88U seem to have a bit of more performance I think I will go with it. At the end seem the AC3200 and the AC88U are for you on the same level and for me two band should be enough. (I'm still using an usr 9108....)

Ugo

 

[zoomee]

Highly recommend the AC-88U over the RT-AC3200. I ended up ditching my AC3200 as it never had a stable firmware - problems with wireless, then with local networking - it was the most problematic router I've ever had!

The AC-88U however has been a dream! - worked perfectly fine with two different firmwares. The 8 ports comes in handy (I use a TP-link switch also) and the Link Aggregation feature (LACP?) I use with my Synology NAS which has slightly increased copying speeds. It also performs better on the 5Ghz WIFI band than the crappy 3200.

 

[System Error Message]

I've never had problem with AC3200, i used RMerlin's firmware and it was always stable, i did however use it as an AP.

As with the AC88U it depends on your use. If you only want to use LACP for one thing than you dont need a switch as the router can perform LACP with another device that isnt a switch. If you need to do LACP with multiple things thats when you get yourself a switch. Infact compatibility is a concern between AC88U LACP with switches but less of a concern with computers like your file server. However i am not sure the AC88U's firmware supports LAN VLANs.

If you plan to do vlans with guest wifi you will need to figure out what vlans do the guest wifi use and perhaps use LACP between the AC88U and switch to reduce the 1Gb/s bottleneck so that internet traffic doesnt slow down when you get LAN transfers between wifi and switch.