AC68U wifi

[LaFemme69]

May I please seek help with my wifi.

I have 2xAC68U in Aimesh, the main one on the main floor and the AiMesh mode one is upstairs on the 2nd floor. my wifi is not as good as I hope it would b nor as promising as AiMesh sounds.

When I type 192.168.1.1, I updated to the latest FW for AC68U. not sure if it's the main router, the AiMesh mode or both. I have a feeling just the main one but how do I update the AiMesh mode to the latest FW as well?

(1) is AiMesh just Asus sale gimmick, should I just set up the routers as range extender and take out AiMesh
(2) is there a unique settings to improve wifi signal? I've changed the channels for 2.4Ghz (11) and 5Ghz (149)....that's about all I know.

thanx.

 

[banger]

I too have an AC68U and I am finding it quite interesting with wifi. There are lots of recommendations on here to tweak this and tweak the channels but I have gone back to basics and done a factory reset and will monitor to see how my wifi setup performs. Previously I was experiencing one device dropping wifi and I also discovered my old N55U has a stronger 5ghz signal than the AC68U.

As for updating the AIMesh Node firmware I found this https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1035199

 

[OzarkEdge]

May I please seek help with my wifi.

I have 2xAC68U in Aimesh, the main one on the main floor and the AiMesh mode one is upstairs on the 2nd floor. my wifi is not as good as I hope it would b nor as promising as AiMesh sounds.

When I type 192.168.1.1, I updated to the latest FW for AC68U. not sure if it's the main router, the AiMesh mode or both. I have a feeling just the main one but how do I update the AiMesh mode to the latest FW as well?

(1) is AiMesh just Asus sale gimmick, should I just set up the routers as range extender and take out AiMesh
(2) is there a unique settings to improve wifi signal? I've changed the channels for 2.4Ghz (11) and 5Ghz (149)....that's about all I know.

thanx.

Maybe my install notes will help.

The router webUI has a page for updating firmware. You can always download the firmware from Asus and then upload it to the routers.

Be sure to reset each router before configuring the root node and adding the remote node.

OE

 

[LaFemme69]

I too have an AC68U and I am finding it quite interesting with wifi. There are lots of recommendations on here to tweak this and tweak the channels but I have gone back to basics and done a factory reset and will monitor to see how my wifi setup performs. Previously I was experiencing one device dropping wifi and I also discovered my old N55U has a stronger 5ghz signal than the AC68U.

As for updating the AIMesh Node firmware I found this https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1035199

thank you for the link. checked it out but to my surprise, I do not see any AiMesh node. I am CERTAIN that I have a node on the 2nd floor office. also, I have devices connected to them and they all work. so I am not sure why my AiMesh router doesn't pick it up.

how is your wifi with ur basic setup so far?

thanx.

 

[banger]

thank you for the link. checked it out but to my surprise, I do not see any AiMesh node. I am CERTAIN that I have a node on the 2nd floor office. also, I have devices connected to them and they all work. so I am not sure why my AiMesh router doesn't pick it up.

how is your wifi with ur basic setup so far?

thanx.

So far so good although I did experience a momentary audio stream glitch a couple of hours ago but really need to test for 7 days at least.

 

[KGB7]

Ive never used AiMesh, but I had great success with using second router as a Repeater. You will find the setting in the Administration Tab.

1.Connect each router, one by one, via lan cable to a pc/laptop to update firmware.

2. If you are going to use Repeater Mode, you will have to sacrifice one of the bands on 2nd router. So pick what wifi band that you want to use to connect two routers and the other band will be available for your devices.

3. Setup main router as normal. Set all the settings, what ever. Once you have chosen the Wifi Band that you will bond two routers, make sure you use 40mhz if you are using 2.4ghz band to connect two routers and 80mhz if its 5Ghz band. Set channel manually.

4. Connect second router to PC via lan cable and Chose Repeater Mode. Click apply. Find your 1st router on the menu screen and connect to the wifi band that you have chosen to bond them. Let the 2nd router finish its process.

5. You are finished. Unplug the PC from 2nd router that is now a repeater and you can move it anywhere in the house.

6. On your first router, that is not a repeater, it will have both Wifi Bands available. The 2nd router that is now a Repeater, will only have one of the Wifi bands available. The band that is not available, is the band that connects both routers together.

7. You can also connect devices to the 2nd router/Repeater to LAN ports if you want to; printer, media server, tv, computer, etc etc.

 

[LaFemme69]

Maybe my install notes will help.

The router webUI has a page for updating firmware. You can always download the firmware from Asus and then upload it to the routers.

Be sure to reset each router before configuring the root node and adding the remote node.

OE

thank you for the response. if I already have the AiMesh set up, where along your install notes I should follow to see if it makes a difference with my wifi.....or I have to do from the beginning of the note.......I had a hard time at the beginning when I set it up since I didn't have a computer nearby the AiMesh router so it was a bit challenging. Plus, I already have quite a few things configured with the AiMesh router.

thanks

 

[OzarkEdge]

thank you for the response. if I already have the AiMesh set up, where along your install notes I should follow to see if it makes a difference with my wifi.....or I have to do from the beginning of the note.......I had a hard time at the beginning when I set it up since I didn't have a computer nearby the AiMesh router so it was a bit challenging. Plus, I already have quite a few things configured with the AiMesh router.

thanks

My notes cover the basics. With some experience, you can do some things differently to accomplish the same thing. I'll leave it to you to decide what you should do or redo. With networking, it's helpful to establish stable/working network functions before adding bells and whistles.

OE

 

[LaFemme69]

Ive never used AiMesh, but I had great success with using second router as a Repeater. You will find the setting in the Administration Tab.

1.Connect each router, one by one, via lan cable to a pc/laptop to update firmware.

2. If you are going to use Repeater Mode, you will have to sacrifice one of the bands on 2nd router. So pick what wifi band that you want to use to connect two routers and the other band will be available for your devices.

3. Setup main router as normal. Set all the settings, what ever. Once you have chosen the Wifi Band that you will bond two routers, make sure you use 40mhz if you are using 2.4ghz band to connect two routers and 80mhz if its 5Ghz band. Set channel manually.

4. Connect second router to PC via lan cable and Chose Repeater Mode. Click apply. Find your 1st router on the menu screen and connect to the wifi band that you have chosen to bond them. Let the 2nd router finish its process.

5. You are finished. Unplug the PC from 2nd router that is now a repeater and you can move it anywhere in the house.

6. On your first router, that is not a repeater, it will have both Wifi Bands available. The 2nd router that is now a Repeater, will only have one of the Wifi bands available. The band that is not available, is the band that connects both routers together.

7. You can also connect devices to the 2nd router/Repeater to LAN ports if you want to; printer, media server, tv, computer, etc etc.

Thank you for the detailed instructions. I had the exact setup as a repeater when I had an AC68U (main) and N66U (repeater). However, I did not know about the 40Mhz and 80Mhz at that time. Wifi wasn't too bad, no complaints.

Since, I invested in another AC68U after learning about AiMesh marketing hoping to see if I can improve the wifi. so I set the 2 AC68U in AiMesh. Several occasions, I noticed that wifi hasn't been the same so I performed several tests, I noticed that wifi up on the 2nd floor is slow but I don't have anything to reference to because I never had to do testings before with Repeater since I never had complaints.

so now I am not sure if it's AiMesh, router settings/firmware or both that is messing up with Wifi. I do have thoughts of going back to Repeater setup like yours' utilizing the 2nd AC68U as the repeater (instead of N66U). Since I had a difficult time setting up AiMesh, I'm afraid what if Repeater setup is worse then I'd have to AiMesh again.

Questions for you:
(1) do you set up 40Mhz and 80Mhz on the main router or repeater?
(2) knowing my set up, main router on the main floor of a 2300 sq. home and the repeater will be in the office on the 2nd floor, should I set up the repeater on the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz?
(3) ur setup is also with 2 AC68U on Merlin's latest ASUSwrt?

sorry for the long post.

thank you.

 

[LaFemme69]

My notes cover the basics. With some experience, you can do some things differently to accomplish the same thing. I'll leave it to you to decide what you should do or redo. With networking, it's helpful to establish stable/working network functions before adding bells and whistles.

OE

thanks for the advice about networking. I definitely lack experience with networking. I did think about 'establish stable/working network functions before adding bells and whistles'......but too late, it was after the fact! lol

 

[KGB7]

Thank you for the detailed instructions. I had the exact setup as a repeater when I had an AC68U (main) and N66U (repeater). However, I did not know about the 40Mhz and 80Mhz at that time. Wifi wasn't too bad, no complaints.

Since, I invested in another AC68U after learning about AiMesh marketing hoping to see if I can improve the wifi. so I set the 2 AC68U in AiMesh. Several occasions, I noticed that wifi hasn't been the same so I performed several tests, I noticed that wifi up on the 2nd floor is slow but I don't have anything to reference to because I never had to do testings before with Repeater since I never had complaints.

so now I am not sure if it's AiMesh, router settings/firmware or both that is messing up with Wifi. I do have thoughts of going back to Repeater setup like yours' utilizing the 2nd AC68U as the repeater (instead of N66U). Since I had a difficult time setting up AiMesh, I'm afraid what if Repeater setup is worse then I'd have to AiMesh again.

Questions for you:
(1) do you set up 40Mhz and 80Mhz on the main router or repeater?
(2) knowing my set up, main router on the main floor of a 2300 sq. home and the repeater will be in the office on the 2nd floor, should I set up the repeater on the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz?
(3) ur setup is also with 2 AC68U on Merlin's latest ASUSwrt?

sorry for the long post.

thank you.

1. I set 40Mhz on 2.4ghz band or 80mhz on 5Ghz band on First router. This way, both routers will connect with each other with highest possible speed connection.
If you bond two routers on 2.4ghz band at 40mhz, both routers will connect to each other up to 300Mbps
If you bond two routers on 5Ghz band at 80Mhz, both routers will connect to each other at speeds up to 867Mbps.

2. You will have to test both and see what works the best for your home and your needs. In a 4 story townhouse, bonding two routers on both bands worked with out issues in my experience. Main router was on the 1st floor and 2nd router was on the 4th floor. In a 2800 Sq.ft, 4 story townhouse.

3. My set up was using earlier Merlin and/or Fork firmwares. Both worked flawlessly using 2 AC68 routers. At this time, I'm using one AC68 router, since I moved to a smaller place.

AiMesh is supposed to be noob proof, but it doesn't work as well as it should on all products. On some products it works great and on some it doesn't. Thats why I prefer to set up everything manually, even if it takes longer. But at the end of the day, I end up with better setup that I don't have to worry about and try to figure out why things aren't working or speeds are too slow over wifi or via lan.

If you want the best possible setup, you must test, re-test, and try different settings and options. It does take time, but its worth it.
But......If you just want one click Aimesh setup, than you will have to spend $$$ on brand, that is tested and proven to work flawlessly as AiMesh.
Personally I love tinkering, trying every possible combination of every possible setting, even if takes me all day. I... love it.
But if that's not who you are and you just want push one button and be done in 5min, then get your self another Credit Card and throw +$600 - $800 towards an Aimesh system that is build for ground up, to be just an AiMesh.

 

[LaFemme69]

1. I set 40Mhz on 2.4ghz band or 80mhz on 5Ghz band on First router. This way, both routers will connect with each other with highest possible speed connection.
If you bond two routers on 2.4ghz band at 40mhz, both routers will connect to each other up to 300Mbps
If you bond two routers on 5Ghz band at 80Mhz, both routers will connect to each other at speeds up to 867Mbps.

2. You will have to test both and see what works the best for your home and your needs. In a 4 story townhouse, bonding two routers on both bands worked with out issues in my experience. Main router was on the 1st floor and 2nd router was on the 4th floor. In a 2800 Sq.ft, 4 story townhouse.

3. My set up was using earlier Merlin and/or Fork firmwares. Both worked flawlessly using 2 AC68 routers. At this time, I'm using one AC68 router, since I moved to a smaller place.

AiMesh is supposed to be noob proof, but it doesn't work as well as it should on all products. On some products it works great and on some it doesn't. Thats why I prefer to set up everything manually, even if it takes longer. But at the end of the day, I end up with better setup that I don't have to worry about and try to figure out why things aren't working or speeds are too slow over wifi or via lan.

If you want the best possible setup, you must test, re-test, and try different settings and options. It does take time, but its worth it.
But......If you just want one click Aimesh setup, than you will have to spend $$$ on brand, that is tested and proven to work flawlessly as AiMesh.
Personally I love tinkering, trying every possible combination of every possible setting, even if takes me all day. I... love it.
But if that's not who you are and you just want push one button and be done in 5min, then get your self another Credit Card and throw +$600 - $800 towards an Aimesh system that is build for ground up, to be just an AiMesh.

i also love to tinker and mess around to see if i can achieve what i want but unfortunately i get frustrated that i don't have the background and knowledge to get the results to my favor. plus, my family aren't very forgiving either when the internet is down or slow. lol

 

[KGB7]

i also love to tinker and mess around to see if i can achieve what i want but unfortunately i get frustrated that i don't have the background and knowledge to get the results to my favor. plus, my family aren't very forgiving either when the internet is down or slow. lol

Sometimes even I get frustrated when things don't work as they should. Its the byproduct of learning, testing and trying to figure things out. I got in to IT field 24 years ago and Im still learning and I will continue to learn as technology grows and changes. And I will have days when I'm frustrated.

Do you remember when you had to program a VCR or when a cassete player ate your tape for no reason?? Good times. The sales person at Circuit City had no answers. But we asked someone else for answers and guidance or figured out on our own.

You have us here on the forum, to help you along the way. When I got in to IT, forums barely existed and knowledge and answers were scares. Even today, I will run in to a specific issues, with specific hardware or software and it would take me an hour or three to find an answer, and at times I end up asking a question on a different forum that is geared towards specific software or hardware. A person will come along giving me an answer. At this point, I'm a member of dozen IT related forums, that's not including my personal interests and hobbies which is another dozen forums.

As far as your family goes, they can either pay for their own internet, read Harry Potter books or books about Marxism....lol.
I have a book about Methodology by Edith Hamilton. Awesome book, read it twice in the last 3 years. Im still trying to find a good book about Vikings. Any recommendations?
My step father was a huge fan of Egyptian history, had over a dozen books on every topic from the 1950s through 1980s. He had an answer for everything about Egyptian history. He owned many any books about WW2 airplanes. He was my YouTube and wikipedia before there was YouTube and Wikipedia.

If you have a question, ask away and if I don't have an answer, some else will have an answer or we will try to find an answer together. But never stop tinkering, no matter how frustrating it gets. The knowledge you gain along the way, is worth more than gold.

 

[barnold]

It doesn’t sound like you have set up aimesh as it would be obvious from the main GUI settings pages. If set up correctly you could only access the main router that way.... the node would redirect your browser to the main router. Have you tried the Asus router app on your phone for setting things up? It’s pretty good.

 

[LaFemme69]

Sometimes even I get frustrated when things don't work as they should. Its the byproduct of learning, testing and trying to figure things out. I got in to IT field 24 years ago and Im still learning and I will continue to learn as technology grows and changes. And I will have days when I'm frustrated.

Do you remember when you had to program a VCR or when a cassete player ate your tape for no reason?? Good times. The sales person at Circuit City had no answers. But we asked someone else for answers and guidance or figured out on our own.

You have us here on the forum, to help you along the way. When I got in to IT, forums barely existed and knowledge and answers were scares. Even today, I will run in to a specific issues, with specific hardware or software and it would take me an hour or three to find an answer, and at times I end up asking a question on a different forum that is geared towards specific software or hardware. A person will come along giving me an answer. At this point, I'm a member of dozen IT related forums, that's not including my personal interests and hobbies which is another dozen forums.

As far as your family goes, they can either pay for their own internet, read Harry Potter books or books about Marxism....lol.
I have a book about Methodology by Edith Hamilton. Awesome book, read it twice in the last 3 years. Im still trying to find a good book about Vikings. Any recommendations?
My step father was a huge fan of Egyptian history, had over a dozen books on every topic from the 1950s through 1980s. He had an answer for everything about Egyptian history. He owned many any books about WW2 airplanes. He was my YouTube and wikipedia before there was YouTube and Wikipedia.

If you have a question, ask away and if I don't have an answer, some else will have an answer or we will try to find an answer together. But never stop tinkering, no matter how frustrating it gets. The knowledge you gain along the way, is worth more than gold.

thank you for ur kind words of wisdom and support.

u r absolutely right. my trait is in the healthcare sector and i learn a lot about techie from learning, tinkering and experimenting throughout the years because technology is my hobby. learned from my mistakes and the wonderful minds of others' from such forums as snb.

 

[LaFemme69]

It doesn’t sound like you have set up aimesh as it would be obvious from the main GUI settings pages. If set up correctly you could only access the main router that way.... the node would redirect your browser to the main router. Have you tried the Asus router app on your phone for setting things up? It’s pretty good.

i've thought about that myself too that i may have not set up AiMesh the way it should coz it's odd that my 192.168.1.1 webgui doesn't display my node. however, i did follow the steps outlined when i set it up and the node is working.

i can see the node router w an IP from the list of devices connected to my router though, not just under AiM list of nodes. when I type the node IP in the web browser, it leads me to the main router..... i figured that's how it's suppose to be since both routers are 'one'.

i do have the ASUS mobile app installed but never thought of updating FW from my tablet. i guess i can download the latest fw on my tablet and upgrade.

will take a look.

thanks.

odd things from Asus mobile app.....
(1) The 3rd image showed my modem is offline which it is not.
(2) 2nd image showed my AiMesh router is offline, which it is not
(3) the last image showed that my AiMesh node is 'wired' which is not, it's on a different floor. everything connected to that node is working fine though.

as you can see 1st image, AiMesh node not shown in WebGUI.

 

[KGB7]

i've thought about that myself too that i may have not set up AiMesh the way it should coz it's odd that my 192.168.1.1 webgui doesn't display my node. however, i did follow the steps outlined when i set it up and the node is working.

i can see the node router w an IP from the list of devices connected to my router though, not just under AiM list of nodes. when I type the node IP in the web browser, it leads me to the main router..... i figured that's how it's suppose to be since both routers are 'one'.

i do have the ASUS mobile app installed but never thought of updating FW from my tablet. i guess i can download the latest fw on my tablet and upgrade.

will take a look.

thanks.

odd things from Asus mobile app.....
(1) The 3rd image showed my modem is offline which it is not.
(2) 2nd image showed my AiMesh router is offline, which it is not
(3) the last image showed that my AiMesh node is 'wired' which is not, it's on a different floor. everything connected to that node is working fine though.

as you can see 1st image, AiMesh node not shown in WebGUI.

1. Factory Reset both routers.
2. Connect each router, one at a time via lan cable to PC/laptop and upgrade each router with same firmware, one at a time.
3. Set up Mesh.