Any Benefit to using a AX88U for Main Router?

[twodose25]

Any benefit or advantage to using Asus ax88u for main router and using ax86u for access point’s, or just use 86u throughout, besides the cost?

 

[jksmurf]

AX88U or AX88U Pro; AX86U or AX86U Pro (and there are multiple combinations)
The response you get will depend on which pairing as the FW available for each is different.

 

[twodose25]

88U ax6000 and 86u ax5400.
or even the pro models on both.

 

[jksmurf]

OK, so a brief summary from me would be:

• The Pro Models set up as a Primary Router give you GNP (Guest Network Pro) capabilities with customisable VLANs for IoT, Guest Networks etc.
• If you're not into any of that (non-Pro still has 3 'Guest' Networks) then you will need to look at differences between non-Pro and Pro. There are many threads on Pro vs non-Pro RT-AX88U/RT-AX86U you on this forum, I will let you search for those. Watch out for the number of 2.4G LAN Ports on one vs the other, if that is improtant to you (wired LANs).
• The FW available on non-Pro variants as a main router propagate only the primary LAN and the Guest Network GN1 to Nodes.
• The non-Pro FW only propagates one Guest Network (GN1) to nodes (in addition to the main network), but with the GN Pro FW VLANs propogation to nodes differs (for the Router combinations you are considering) depending on if you use nodes with Pro (3006 branch FW) or non-Pro (3004 branch FW) nodes (see rest of thread too).
• Whether you go for RT-AX88U or RT-AX86U variants I would recommend the Pro Version of either, for the main router at least (and the nodes if you can swing the cost, but not a must). The reason for this is if at some stage you upgrade to a Wifi7 (BE Class) main router, then that Pro main Router you get now, can later be used as a Node to which all network interfaces will propogate from the BE Router
• e.g. my RT-AX88U Pro propogates the main SSID (both bands) and my IoT VLAN (2.4Ghz only) plus my Guest VLAN (5Ghz only) to my RT-AX3000 Node (3004 Branch FW). See attachments. Those limitations are not apparent with Nodes on 3006 FW (Pro Models).
• The RT-AX88U Pro has pretty good coverage (slightly better than the RT-AX86U Pro) so you might find your node requirements in terms of numbers can be fewer.

Hopefully that will give you a start, there's a huge amount of information underlying that brief summary, you will have to dig into it in more detail, but I didn't want to swamp you with it here; your eyes will just glaze over.

 

[twodose25]

Main reason for updating Router and AP’s is because of EOL of the rt-ac68u < I have 3 of them and a rt-ac88u that is used for main router. The 88u sits next to a 920+ synology NAS and it has an 8 port switch which runs into a patch panel. I was checking the wifi speeds on the 86u and the 88u and im wondering why the wifi speeds are so much slower on the 88u than on the 86u, on the 5.0ghz on the 86 getting 235/7.12 downloads and on the 88u 5.0ghz getting 97/7.09, the 86 is a ac1900, 88 is a ac3100, shouldn’t the wifi speeds be higher on the 3100?, Im only sitting about 10 yards from the 88u and the 86u is in the upstairs of the house.

 

[jksmurf]

Main reason for updating Router and AP’s is because of EOL of the rt-ac68u < I have 3 of them and a rt-ac88u that is used for main router. The 88u sits next to a 920+ synology NAS and it has an 8 port switch which runs into a patch panel. I was checking the wifi speeds on the 86u and the 88u and im wondering why the wifi speeds are so much slower on the 88u than on the 86u, on the 5.0ghz on the 86 getting 235/7.12 downloads and on the 88u 5.0ghz getting 97/7.09, the 86 is a ac1900, 88 is a ac3100, shouldn’t the wifi speeds be higher on the 3100?, Im only sitting about 10 yards from the 88u and the 86u is in the upstairs of the house.

If you haven’t already, maybe ask that as a separate thread, there’s folks much more experienced and technically qualified than me to help you run it to ground.

Maybe you just need to fix your existing system .

 

[twodose25]

OK, thank you for your input. I appreciate...

 

[aex.perez]

I have both, AX88u and 2 AX86u, get pretty much identical wired and WiFi speeds from each of them. AX88u cause I needed the ports, AX86's because I needed to extend range to the other side of the house and wired devices in the rooms there are in, and they had sufficient ports. Works great, has lasted a long time, gets proper care and maintenance. As always, YMMV.

3 SSID's, Smart Connect, 2.4Ghz 40mhz (~216Mbps U/D), 5Ghz 160Mhz (~680Mbps U/D). I'm in a good place, with little WiFi around me. My WiFi6 Tablets were cheap and didn't come with a 5Ghz radio, so 2.4Ghz AX with 40Mhz Bandwidth that they take advantage of, worked great to monitor the camera feeds. I also get ~940Mbs U/D wired from all of them, Wired Backhaul. Took plenty of trial and error to get it just right, but here I am. Been with these for awhile, circumstances at the time dictated the approach, have not been dissappointed.

Good Luck...