Asus Aimesh any good?

[JohnB_123]

Using AIMesh with a wired backhaul in two different environments across three different Asus products. It works exceptionally well, with the caveats noted above.

• Guest SSIDs not supported on nodes (only the main router)
• Roaming works reasonably well but not perfect (there are times when you'll wonder why one device is connected to a given node, but that was my experience on Netgear too)

We moved to Asus after wrestling with IPv6 compatibility issues on Netgear, along with cellular VoIP drops when moving nodes (both TMobile and ATT).

I don't use wireless mesh (only wired for backhaul) and believe there are superior products in that arena, but they have other drawbacks - notably so/so IPv6 compatibility, even buggier firmware builds or subpar performance.

 

[a-seus-am-i]

Does AIMesh provide anything in terms of hand off stability/ability or AP configuration other than the obvious stuff? I'm using wired APs but was wondering if using AIMesh would handle handoff better or other capabilities.

 

[JohnB_123]

Does AIMesh provide anything in terms of hand off stability/ability or AP configuration other than the obvious stuff? I'm using wired APs but was wondering if using AIMesh would handle handoff better or other capabilities.

Yes.

it’s centralizes configuration to the main AP, hands off clients between nodes based on relative signal strength. Independent access points with the same SSID rely on the client to roam between nodes.

 

[a-seus-am-i]

Yes.

it’s centralizes configuration to the main AP, hands off clients between nodes based on relative signal strength. Independent access points with the same SSID rely on the client to roam between nodes.

Oh interesting. So there's something actually in that mode that is supposed to make it better for hand offs and actively manages the nodes for more optimized coverage? I know it makes configuration easier, but assumed that it was just an easy way to setup access points for people who didn't want to do it themselves. If you're telling me there's some other features that are only enabled when you use AIMesh then maybe it's worth trying out. I also assumed AIMesh was worse than just setting up individual APs since it uses the same channel for all access points which would cause interference.

 

[JohnB_123]

Oh interesting. So there's something actually in that mode that is supposed to make it better for hand offs and actively manages the nodes for more optimized coverage? I know it makes configuration easier, but assumed that it was just an easy way to setup access points for people who didn't want to do it themselves. If you're telling me there's some other features that are only enabled when you use AIMesh then maybe it's worth trying out. I also assumed AIMesh was worse than just setting up individual APs since it uses the same channel for all access points which would cause interference.

they do indeed all use the same channel (afaik at least, in my experience etc). But the router acts as a controller and steers the client to the appropriate node, including itself, based on signal strength.

 

[a-seus-am-i]

they do indeed all use the same channel (afaik at least, in my experience etc). But the router acts as a controller and steers the client to the appropriate node, including itself, based on signal strength.

Ok. Then that's something I assume a normal AP setup won't do I assume. Guess I'll give it a try then and see if it works better.