Asus RT-AX92U (2-Pack) vs TP-Link Archer AX600 w/RE605x Wi-Fi Range Extender

[WeirdG]

I'm looking to go with one of the two options mentioned in my the subject line. The cost to me is nearly the same. I need something that can properly cover a 2700 sqft house along with the basement, has good performance, and can handle a family of four (2 gamers and 2 Netflix/sports streamers). The house has some dead spots that have been addressed through the use of wifi extenders, but ideally I'd like to cut it down to only two devices if possible. In an ideal world, I'd like to get by with only using a router and no extenders.

The plan is to use either AiMesh or OneMesh, depending on which brand I decide to go with.

Which option would you choose and why?

 

[skintup]

Does it have to be 1 of those 2? I love AI mesh, I love the ASUS interface, but I don't love my RT AX92U's. Could the backhaul be wired? I would go to somewhere like Mercari and buy 2 ASUS routers that are supported by either Merlin or Koolshare. I picked up AX11000 there for about $150 6 months ago. If it has to be a wireless backhaul I would get 2 tri-band routers, just make sure either Merlin or Koolshare supports 1 of the 2.

Does TP-link offer something like Trend Micro? That's like a $100 a year bouns vs Netgear in ASUS's favor IMO.

 

[WeirdG]

Does it have to be 1 of those 2? I love AI mesh, I love the ASUS interface, but I don't love my RT AX92U's. Could the backhaul be wired? I would go to somewhere like Mercari and buy 2 ASUS routers that are supported by either Merlin or Koolshare. I picked up AX11000 there for about $150 6 months ago. If it has to be a wireless backhaul I would get 2 tri-band routers, just make sure either Merlin or Koolshare supports 1 of the 2.

Does TP-link offer something like Trend Micro? That's like a $100 a year bouns vs Netgear in ASUS's favor IMO.

Ya, I paid around $300CAD for both setups. I've been testing the AX92U setup for the past few days and I haven't run into any issues with it so far. Been testing it using AiMesh with the wireless and wired backhaul. No issues. Merlin would be nice, but not really a requirement because I'm setting up the routers at my brother's house. His family isn't really tech savvy so it wouldn't benefit them. I'll be more or less setting up things and never touching it again.

The TP-Link Archer AX6000 comes with HomeCare security which is a security service offered by Trend Micro for free. I've been reading good things about that router, so I'm looking forward to trying it out this week when it arrives. I was testing the Archer AX90 last week, but that comes with HomeShield security which is a subscription based service offered by Avira. The free version of HomeShield comes with a basic security offering.

 

[skintup]

Ya, I paid around $300CAD for both setups. I've been testing the AX92U setup for the past few days and I haven't run into any issues with it so far. Been testing it using AiMesh with the wireless and wired backhaul. No issues. Merlin would be nice, but not really a requirement because I'm setting up the routers at my brother's house. His family isn't really tech savvy so it wouldn't benefit them. I'll be more or less setting up things and never touching it again.

The TP-Link Archer AX6000 comes with HomeCare security which is a security service offered by Trend Micro for free. I've been reading good things about that router, so I'm looking forward to trying it out this week when it arrives. I was testing the Archer AX90 last week, but that comes with HomeShield security which is a subscription based service offered by Avira. The free version of HomeShield comes with a basic security offering.

Well, I had good results with AX92U with a wired back haul to my bedrrom, its been perfect. The problem came with the placement of the other Ax92u and it up being the most used to a node in my mesh. It actually handled more traffic than my AX11000. The processors stayed close maxed out and things dropped. I put a quad processor ASUS in its place put those 2 in less utilized areas and have a lot of success with them. I noticed if my family generates about 90GB of data use a day 80 GB of it happens within a 3-4 hour time period. So my upstairs AX92 was being overwhelmed. Today I moved a GT 53000 in its place and moved the node in question down to my study. My upstairs router had 5 kids, gaming systems, streaming etc pulling all at once. It was just too much for the AX92. I only have 1-night semi under my belt, but so far no drops and everyone is streaming 4k, and no gripes gaming lag. I may make the GT5300 the Main router and put the AX11000 upstairs if I see any more issues. ALl the kids have been happy (for tonight).

 

[leerees]

AX92u will offer 900mb/s to wifi clients if you share the AX wireless backhaul. It also offers gamer centric features such as WTFast and QOS. The AX92u offers amazing pings over WiFi (less than an extra 2ms vs Ethernet). It also handles high traffic. You can torrent, media serve and game at the same time.

Asus have released a newer mesh the XT8, although I don't much about them. The AX92u's perform really well now and I did a lot of research before I brought them. I also tried other mesh (unfortunately not TP Link) and the AX92u was much better. (Greater range + lower pings)

Buffer bloat is +10ms - +15ms under load. This is really good compared to my ISP router which added over 100ms. These numbers are achieved without QoS enabled.

Some people have reported WAN issues but it's rare and could be ISP related.

The AX92u had some horrible firmware releases in the past which basically made them unusable. Luckily this has all been fixed.

If you get the AX92u's, the first thing you should do is update the firmware and share the AX wireless backhaul (to get 900mb/s).