Anyone got a 68u and 86u setup?

[Goobi]

Hi Community. I currently got a AC68U running Merlin 384.4_2. I recently purchased a AC86U. I would like to use my new 86U as my router in my upstairs office and my 68U downstairs.

All my downstairs devices will connect to the 68U via wireless but may wire a PC to it in the future. I would like to use the same SSIDs (1 for 2.4 other for 5) across the devices.

AIMesh does not seem like an option since I plan on using Merlin on my 86U at least but probably on both. I guess repeater, ap, bridge are all options. The devices will not be connected via Ethernet due to their distance from each other, although if noticeably different performance I would not be opposed to using power over Ethernet to connect them.

Anyone got these two devices working together using Merlin? If so, any suggestions on how to best set this up for best performance? Any tips or gotchas to be aware of? Thanks in advance.

 

[dvohwinkel]

Hi Community. I currently got a AC68U running Merlin 384.4_2. I recently purchased a AC86U. I would like to use my new 86U as my router in my upstairs office and my 68U downstairs.

All my downstairs devices will connect to the 68U via wireless but may wire a PC to it in the future. I would like to use the same SSIDs (1 for 2.4 other for 5) across the devices.

AIMesh does not seem like an option since I plan on using Merlin on my 86U at least but probably on both. I guess repeater, ap, bridge are all options. The devices will not be connected via Ethernet due to their distance from each other, although if noticeably different performance I would not be opposed to using power over Ethernet to connect them.

Anyone got these two devices working together using Merlin? If so, any suggestions on how to best set this up for best performance? Any tips or gotchas to be aware of? Thanks in advance.

I have my RT-AC86U as my main router and my RT-AC68U as an AP (connected via a cat-5e cable to port 1). You can see the versions in my sig. I have them set to different channels, but they have the same SSID(one for 2.4Ghz and one for 5Ghz). It works great. I am waiting on 384.5 Beta before I upgrade my RT-AC86U.

One setting I would recommend is setting under Wireless->Professional-> Roaming Assistance (enable it and play with the numbers.. I am currently using -75) . You want to force weak clients to disconnect and reconnect to the stronger signal.

I played with AiMesh and it was too buggy.. maybe in a couple of years it will be more mature.

 

[GK59]

So I'm curious, I was always under the assumption that to have an extender or router set for an AP, it would need to be at least an equal model but this isn't the case? I have myself an AC86U having upgraded from an N66U, would this be a less than ideal AP (N66U)?

 

[DonnyJohnny]

So I'm curious, I was always under the assumption that to have an extender or router set for an AP, it would need to be at least an equal model but this isn't the case? I have myself an AC86U having upgraded from an N66U, would this be a less than ideal AP (N66U)?

You can use most router as AP and not necessary same brand or model.

Ac86 vs N66, wireless technology better and processor speed faster. You will definitely experience better performance from ac86 in term of wireless speed and lan transfer speed as the processor is more powerful.

AP vs extender. AP mode (linking router and ap via lan cable) is highly recommended as there will not have any decrease performance of wireless speed compare to extender/repeater (linking router and ap via wireless)