Asus Ai mesh mixing wired and wireless mesh

[gommm]

I live in a skyscrapper with steel reinforced concrete walls so I have both interferences from my neighbours downstairs and upstairs and also a very had time having wifi signal go through the walls of my apartment.

I have an GT-AX11000, I'm planning to add 3 new access points. 2 of those will be wired (the apartment is wired in cat6a throughout) but 1 cannot be (it's for the kitchen and our guest room and unfortunately there's no place to easily pass the cables). I plan to try to use aimesh

What will be the impact of having one wireless aimesh access point? Is there anything I can do to minimise the impact?
From what I read, the only real impact is that the wireless aimesh access point will use the second 5ghz band as a dedicated backhaul, given that my GT-AX11000 is the only tri-band router I have, I don't really think it's that much an issue? That access point will only ever have 2 clients and doesn't need overly fast connections. I have an old AC86U I could use for that (given the fact that I don't care about speed)

For the two other access points, I plan to use AX86Us, is mixing and matching routers like this a problem or not?
Merlin doesn't support 388.x on AC86U. Will having different firmware versions be an issue?

 

[OzarkEdge]

What will be the impact of having one wireless aimesh access point? Is there anything I can do to minimise the impact?

Having an AiMesh wireless backhhaul prevents you from disabling ALL wireless backhauls... so you will have to manage them all... node placement, Tx power, priority, interference, model/firmware quirks, if any...

From what I read, the only real impact is that the wireless aimesh access point will use the second 5ghz band as a dedicated backhaul, given that my GT-AX11000 is the only tri-band router I have, I don't really think it's that much an issue? That access point will only ever have 2 clients and doesn't need overly fast connections. I have an old AC86U I could use for that (given the fact that I don't care about speed)

A dedicated wireless backhaul requires a dedicated backhaul band on each end... the AC86U is not a tri-band router/AP, so no dedicated wireless backhaul... and it will only permit WiFi5 3xAC 80MHz bw links/rates vs. WiFi6 4xAX 80 or 160MHz bw (if no RADAR/ DFS) link rates.

For the two other access points, I plan to use AX86Us, is mixing and matching routers like this a problem or not?

Conventional wisdom is to mix and match models/firmware within reason. I would plan for 388 level firmware support.

With all wireless backhauls enabled, node 2.4/5.0 bands will be shared between clients and wireless backhauls, even though you prioritize the wired backhaul.

Ideally, the firmwares only share the wireless when needed for backhaul, and do not failover to wireless backhaul sporactically/unnecessarily... this remains to be proven for any given installation.

Merlin doesn't support 388.x on AC86U. Will having different firmware versions be an issue?

Prove your new network and hardware with stock ASUSWRT firmware and basic configuration from scratch first, imo. Later, you can migrate to ASUSWRT-Merlin on the router/root node only, if you need its added features.

OE

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

@gommm, is there TV coax running into the kitchen or guest room? If your apartment is wired for cable tv in most rooms, you could use a pair of MoCa adapters to connect your main router to the distant access-point. One concern, being an apartment building, you should encrypt your MoCa and add a POE filter so you aren't sharing your data with neighbors.
The beauty if Moca is you get wired speed and no problem with wifi interference.

 

[gommm]

@gommm, is there TV coax running into the kitchen or guest room? If your apartment is wired for cable tv in most rooms, you could use a pair of MoCa adapters to connect your main router to the distant access-point. One concern, being an apartment building, you should encrypt your MoCa and add a POE filter so you aren't sharing your data with neighbors.
The beauty if Moca is you get wired speed and no problem with wifi interference.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of this. I'm trying to search but I'm guessing MoCa being an international standard would work in any country (I'm based in HK)

A dedicated wireless backhaul requires a dedicated backhaul band on each end... the AC86U is not a tri-band router/AP, so no dedicated wireless backhaul... and it will only permit WiFi5 3xAC 80MHz bw links/rates vs. WiFi6 4xAX 80 or 160MHz bw (if no RADAR/ DFS) link rates.

So if I understand correctly, having that AP would make the entire wifi network slower even if I'm not connected to that AP?

I'm using that AP mainly for two things: a bunch of internet of things connected wireless clients (oven, kettle, vacuum cleaner) and when guests stay in the guest bedroom. So speed for anyone connected to that AP is not important.

On the other hand, the other APs and the main node do need good connection speed.

Prove your new network and hardware with stock ASUSWRT firmware and basic configuration from scratch first, imo. Later, you can migrate to ASUSWRT-Merlin on the router/root node only, if you need its added features.

I plan to do that when I set it up just to simplify troubleshooting but I've been using Merlin for a long time and I would have a hard time no longer using it. So, if Merlin didn't work for my setup, I'd have to rethink my setup.

With Asus stock firmware the issue is the same though, AC86U only supports 386.x whereas AX86U and GT-AX11000 all support 388.x

 

[gommm]

@gommm, is there TV coax running into the kitchen or guest room? If your apartment is wired for cable tv in most rooms, you could use a pair of MoCa adapters to connect your main router to the distant access-point. One concern, being an apartment building, you should encrypt your MoCa and add a POE filter so you aren't sharing your data with neighbors.
The beauty if Moca is you get wired speed and no problem with wifi interference.

Well, so I tried looking into it, turns out that the coax connection in the kitchen leads directly to the building and is independent from all the other coax connections in the apartment.

I was originally planning to try and see if I could just add a network cable through there but that also means that if I do a PoE filter it won't work because the point of entry is different for the kitchen and for the rest of the apartment...

At this point, I guess I can use Ai mesh but am I correct in my understanding of @OzarkEdge that having that AP over wifi will result in the entire AI mesh network being slower?
Otherwise I can maybe set it up as a repeater and not make it part of Ai Mesh (It's not a huge issue if the connection is not that fast over there because it's really only for iot and guests)

 

[OzarkEdge]

At this point, I guess I can use Ai mesh but am I correct in my understanding of @OzarkEdge that having that AP over wifi will result in the entire AI mesh network being slower?
Otherwise I can maybe set it up as a repeater and not make it part of Ai Mesh (It's not a huge issue if the connection is not that fast over there because it's really only for iot and guests)

A wireless AiMesh node connected over shared WiFi is generally the 'same as' a wireless repeater/extender... the router and node WiFi is shared between wireless clients and wireless backhaul. How the firmware chooses to divvy up the available bandwidth between clients and backhaul is not documented, so assume 50-50... even with minimal node traffic, the performance difference can be noticeable.

An AP is wired. No shared WiFi.
A repeater/extender is wireless. Shared WiFi.
An AiMesh node is one or the other or both. Prefer wired only.

OE