AiMesh AC3100 and AC86U which one should be node and master?

[mvadu]

I am currently using a AC3100 with merlin as a sole router. It is supporting close 15 wireless and 4 wired devices. It is also running 3 OpenVpn profiles based on different client configs. Now I bought a Rt-ac86U to create a mesh network. With this I am planning to retire one old tplink ethernet bridge and move two other wireless devices to use ethernet. so my question is between the two which one should be used as master?

Also if the devices are going to be connected to mesh node all the time, can I run the OpenVpn clients on the node itself so that the main router needn't run all 3 client profiles?

 

[L&LD]

If your ISP speeds both up and down are over 70Mbps and up, then the RT-AC86U is the one to have as the main router. Depending on the server it connects to, it can do 200Mbps or better (the RT-AC3100 is limited to about 70Mbps).

 

[mvadu]

If your ISP speeds both up and down are over 70Mbps and up, then the RT-AC86U is the one to have as the main router. Depending on the server it connects to, it can do 200Mbps or better (the RT-AC3100 is limited to about 70Mbps).

I have bell fiber coming to living room connected to a SFP media bridge -> cat 7 to currently ac3100. Speed tests show easy 100/100, while bell advertised speed is 100. how hard is it to move the router config from my current router to AC86U? Can I export from current and import into 86u?

 

[L&LD]

No, don't do that unless you want problems.

For only 30Mbps 'more', I wouldn't switch the roles of the routers myself.

 

[mvadu]

Thank you.. I just tried adding 86u as a mesh node. I have to say the " Find AiMesh node", and a adding with a click of button is really smooth. One thing I noticed is there is no way to access mesh node's own firmware settings? if I manually try to go to node IP, it redirects to main one. Accessing Main_Login.asp it asks for the credentials, and then goes to AiMesh_Node_FirmwareUpgrade.asp.

Is that by design? Sorry for asking too many questions, this is the first time I trying out a mesh network.

 

[L&LD]

What firmware are you running? On each of the routers?

 

[mvadu]

What firmware are you running? On each of the routers?

Merlin 384.19 (latest release version as of today)

 

[Seth Harman]

I have this same setup, both an AC86U and an AC3100. You're going to want the AC86U as the main router. In case you ever decide you want to start doing anything with VPNS (and it appears you are) the AC86U has hardware-based AES encryption/decryption which makes it significantly faster than the AC3100 in this regard. As well, I have gigabit fiber coming into my house and my total up/down increased pretty dramatically once I swapped the AC3100 out as the main router for the AC86U. So, in general, the AC86U is going to be more "future proof" than the AC3100.