ASUS xt mesh system questions

[dda]

Hello,
I have an ASUS aimesh system consisting of 2 xt12’s and 4 xt8’s (the first generation ones). The 2 xt12’s and 2 xt8’s are connected via hardwired connections, and there are two xt8’s that are connected by WiFi. Coming out of the cable modem at the primary node (one of the hardwired xt12’s) the speed is pretty close to the 1000 mbps promised and the WiFi speed close to the xt12’s is 300-400 mbps so pretty good. But to one side of my house I have no hardwired jacks and have two xt8’s as satellites in this area. I am getting very slow speeds in the parts of the house closest to only the wireless xt8’s. And at one of the wireless xt8’s even though the status is “great” according to the ASUS app, it isn’t serving any of my devices, even though computer that is sitting right next to it. That computer seems to insist on connecting to one of the more distant hard-wired xt8’s. The xt8 for whatever it’s worth doesn’t branch off the primary node in the network map, it connects itself to one of the other nodes. Trying to figure out if it is a dud / if perhaps replacing it with another xt12 might help? I’ve tried rebooting and optimization and again the computer doesn’t want to connect to the perfectly great appearing wireless node next to it, but would rather connect with one farther away. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[Tech9]

Any thoughts?

You perhaps have too many nodes. Not sure why you need 6x routers. If a device close to one sees a good signal and connects to another further away - the nodes are too close. You have to reduce the number, they are fighting with each other. More Wi-Fi than needed doesn't make it better, only worse. AiMesh uses the same wireless channels on all nodes and doesn't scale well. Over 2-3 nodes and some busy clients around - you are facing potential bandwidth and interference issues.

WiFi speed close to the xt12’s is 300-400 mbps so pretty good

Good Wi-Fi to common 2-stream client is about 500Mbps (AC) and about 800Mbps (AX).

 

[dda]

Hello,
I have an ASUS aimesh system consisting of 2 xt12’s and 4 xt8’s (the first generation ones). The 2 xt12’s and 2 xt8’s are connected via hardwired connections, and there are two xt8’s that are connected by WiFi. Coming out of the cable modem at the primary node (one of the hardwired xt12’s) the speed is pretty close to the 1000 mbps promised and the WiFi speed close to the xt12’s is 300-400 mbps so pretty good. But to one side of my house I have no hardwired jacks and have two xt8’s as satellites in this area. I am getting very slow speeds in the parts of the house closest to only the wireless xt8’s. And at one of the wireless xt8’s even though the status is “great” according to the ASUS app, it isn’t serving any of my devices, even though computer that is sitting right next to it. That computer seems to insist on connecting to one of the more distant hard-wired xt8’s. The xt8 for whatever it’s worth doesn’t branch off the primary node in the network map, it connects itself to one of the other nodes. Trying to figure out if it is a dud / if perhaps replacing it with another xt12 might help? I’ve tried rebooting and optimization and again the computer doesn’t want to connect to the perfectly great appearing wireless node next to it, but would rather connect with one farther away. Any thoughts?
Thanks!

One other weird thing I just noticed now - if I connect my computer directly to the satellite node via ethernet cable that doesn't seem to be taking on any wifi connections, the connection speed is pretty good - 300 download and 653 upload mbps - so clearly the satellite node is getting good signal from the other mesh nodes even though it isn't hardwired to my home's ethernet network. But if I disconnect the computer and use my home's wifi network, the download speed drops to 70 - which I assume is because it is picking up a wifi signal from one of the more distant nodes and not the one sitting only 10 feet away. Any ideas why this is the case?

 

[dda]

Thank you - I did wonder about this - the house is a fairly large house that is a quad level and previously before the mesh I had only one router and a repeater and it couldn't reach everything - so then I started with one on each level and then had to put satellites in the parts of the house that weren't wired for ethernet (the basement and the attic) - without the extra nodes I wasn't getting good reception in those areas. That solved the basement problem, but the one in the attic is the one that is as described above - seeming to be able to get good data to itself but not connecting with the computer that is in the attic.

 

[Tech9]

No idea what your place looks like and where it is located. Wi-Fi planning in different regions requires different approach. If you really need that many APs you perhaps need professional help in Wi-Fi planning. Just buying more off the shelf home equipment and placing it around is not the solution.

 

[RobJack]

If you want a sanity check on the Wi-Fi status of the XT-8 Node that your PC refuses to connect to, try binding your PC to that node and then check your up/down speeds. As Tech9 previously said, you likely do have too many nodes, but I understand your logic of adding more nodes to serve those remote locations of your house. For those scenarios, binding your devices to the nodes closest to them can be useful in making your network more stable until such time you are able to redesign your network, possibly using prosumer equipment with a proper router and AP units.

 

[dda]

Thanks for all of your help. It's interesting, I brought in a laptop and that one is connecting wirelessly to this specific XT8 node, and I noticed my phone is too. So it is only the one PC that seems to refuse to connect to the node - maybe it is the PC and not the node. I will look into the binding. Outside of the attic, the set up works well enough for me at this point so not enough to tear it up, but also didn't want to invest in a replacement node and it sounds like this wouldn't fix it anyway. Good to have the input. Thanks everyone!

 

[Tech9]

even though computer that is sitting right next to it

Client sitting right next to an AP may see the signal too strong and prefer to connect somewhere else. I have 4x APs in my place and if I enable Wi-Fi on a device right next to one chances are the device will choose to connect to another AP. Any options to wire this computer or it has no Ethernet port?