I have not owned either of these routers.
However, I previously relied on the 2-channel
AX88U using Broadcom’s
BCM4908 CPU; the 3-channel
AXE-11000 (1x 2.4GHz / 1x 5GHz / 1x 6GHz) uses the seemingly-identical
BCM49408. Both have Broadcom’s
BCM43684 radio, with the AXE adding RF components for the 6GHz channel (I believe my same radio can handle 5GHz and 6GHz 802.11ax because they use the exact same technology, just on mildly different bands).
And I’m now using the
AX-88U Pro, the 2-channel version of the 3-channel (1x 2.4GHz
AX-11000 Pro you’re considering. Both use the same newer
BCM4912 CPU and
BCM6715 radio. The same CPU/radio combo is also in their 6GHz-capable big brother, the 4-channel
AXE-16000 (1x 2.4GHz / 2x 5GHz / 1x 6GHz).
—
The
TL;DR version is: Odds of being happy with the AXE-11000 are
, the AX-11000 Pro should be solid and satisfying. If you really
really want 6GHz now, skip the AXE-11000, splurge for the expensive but newer / superior AXE-16000.
—
The long version is:
Between the AXE11000 and the 11000 Pro, personally I think that being able to divide your 5GHz devices across two different channels would help more in the near term than having 6GHz, given how long it’ll take for 6GHz to be ubiquitous. I kinda wish now that I’d gotten the 11000 Pro to do that.
But the real problem is that the original AX88, and from what I’ve seen its big brother AXE-11000, kinda sucks.
With the old AX88, coverage was unusually poor in a basic single-floor home. I had enough stability issues to put a remote-controlled 110V plug on the router and the key fob on my dining table. And I mean the WiFi would randomly just
die until the router was restarted. Often I could see coming because the 5GHz channel stopped working (or just disappeared!) first. I know it wasn’t mesh or “smart connect” related, because I run two separate SSIDs and manually choose the 2.4 or 5GHz network on each client. It could also get overloaded by things like a long list of static DHCP rules, or simple ad blocking (a JFFS script to load and DNS-block a published list of advertising domains).
I would search for info periodically to see if I had done something wrong. I’d always find some folks saying they loved their AX88 / AXE11000, others suffering similar troubles (some of whom got relief after firmware updates / rollbacks, factory resets, etc., but those never cured my ills).
The straw that broke the camel’s back was putting a WiiM in my bedroom, having it show poor WiFi signal, and getting random audio streaming interruptions. In an ordinary one-story house!
I know it’s not the house, because the AX88 Pro has since given me everything I wanted. I waited until it was out for months and others had it, I did research and didn’t find similarly random issues. It’s solid for weeks at a time, running Diversion plus Skynet (firewall for Merlin) plus a whole bunch of static DHCP rules. And sitting in the same place the old AX88 was, both 2.4GHz and 5GHz are fine even at the corners of the house.
And as newer replacements, the Pro models should definitely get firmware updates as the older ones, possibly longer.
—
So. Long version conclusion (and bonus rant).
I would absolutely, totally, 150% recommend the AX88U Pro, or if you need the 2x5GHz channels the AX11000 Pro, over “getting 6GHz” on the AXE. Get the AX11000 Pro. You can stop reading here or keep going if you want.
If you really,
really want 6GHz now, consider splurging for the AX11000 Pro’s big brother, the AXE16000. It has the dual 5GHz channels of the AX11000 Pro, plus the 6GHz channel.
Or, just get the AX11000 Pro, and add 6GHz if needed.
I really believe that, for the near future, the best case for 6GHz is uncongested backhaul for large transfers. Devices only congest your WiFi channel while they’re using the channel, and you only “feel” congestion when the effects are perceptible. If you get a new phone with 6GHz, and checking WiFi or watching TikToks “feels” faster on 6GHz than 5GHz, your phone wasn’t the problem and isn’t solving things for your other 5GHz devices. Where you typically “feel” congestion (and where you can do something to reduce it), is when everyone tries to watch 4K movies at once, or your Xbox demands a 100GB Call of Duty update. So, add a 6GHz Ethernet bridge and switch to your home theater setup, plug in as many devices as you can (Xbox/Roku/etc.), get them off your 2.4/5GHz channels. Your Roku will maintain 4K streams, your Xbox will update faster,
and you’ll reduce congestion for your other devices.
I snagged an Arris Surfboard Thruster (a 6GHz Ethernet bridge pair) cheap off Woot!. A 10GbE switch connects the bridge, a NAS and a Thunderbolt dock. Because of my ISP’s garbage upload speeds, a bridge is currently only useful for basic Internet while video editing, and I was using Powerline AV2. But now my ISP is teasing “coming soon” synchronous HSI. The Arris bridge can saturate gigabit locally, which means I’m prepared to (finally!!) have automatic online NAS sync/backup, without rearranging my house or burning substantial $$$ on Ethernet drops.
The Arris Surfboard Thruster kit (both base and receiver) is only $140 on Amazon right now, making the AXE11000 + Thruster only about $20 more than the AXE16000. To set up a 6GHz Ethernet bridge with the AXE16000, you’d need a separate bridge receiver, which will be more than $20. Even if you just use it to move your Xbox off WiFi, you’re more likely to notice large Call of Duty patches downloading faster, than a TikTok starting a fraction of a second sooner.
Some will disagree with me (especially the folks I’m jealous of, who had/have the original AX88 / AXE11000 without issues). But I hope it’s useful for you and maybe others in the future, trying to pick between these various models.
