ASUS XT8 w/ 2.5G multigig switch +XT8 nodes not working (need help)

[Moaf]

Hi everyone,
Slight noob here so apologize in advance
My current ISP is 2.5G internet so I'm really wanting to take advantage of the extra bandwidth

Current setup:

• ISP with 2.5G internet
• ISP modem setup in bridge mode > wired to main XT8 node via 2.5G WAN port (wireless router mode/AI mesh mode)
• I have 2 additional XT8 nodes (1 on each floor) that are currently hard wired via CAT5e ethernet to the 2x 1G LAN ports on the main XT8 node (Ethernet backhaul mode)
  • Everything is solid and works perfectly fine right now but as you can imagine, the two XT8 nodes on each floor are limited to the 1G LAN ports they're plugged into on the main XT8 router node (and I'm thinking if I can get 2.5G into each of those nodes I'd potentially get some faster speeds)

Since each XT8 has a 2.5G WAN port, my goal is to have the 2x XT8 nodes on each floor be plugged in with 2.5G - so I bought a unmanaged 5port 2.5G multigig switch to go between the modem and the main XT8 router to hopefully then give out 2.5G ports from the switch to my other 2x nodes

What I tried

• ISP modem 2.5G port > 5port 2.5G multigig unmanaged switch > 2.5G WAN port of XT8 router
  • This works - my internet still works without issue with the single XT8 router node
• When I connect in the OTHER 2x XT8 nodes into the 5port 2.5G multigig switch, they aren't detected and don't come online (I can see there's data transfer happening as the switch lights up showing 2.5G speeds)
  • I thought this would be a simple plug-and-play but guess it isnt this easy

So not sure where to go from here - is this even a viable solution to get 2.5G speeds to all my XT8 nodes?
I've tried changing the operational mode to "AP mode" but nothing will connect after I make the change (also can't find the IP to reconnect to the node) so I eventually have to hard reset so I can set it up as wireless router mode again
i THINK I need scenerio#3 from here https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1044151/ - but I login via the web gui (asusrouter.com) and change operational mode to AP mode - everything just breaks.
Also in this scenerio, i noticed they're using the LAN port on the main node which is only 1G - where I'd want to use the WAN port for the 2.5G speeds (I've ready setting up in AP mode will allow you to use the 2.5G WAN port as LAN but goes back to everything just not working the moment I set it to AP mode)

I'm sure i'm doing something wrong but if anyone can point me in the right direction or maybe a step-by-step guide would be helpful
Appreciate any insight - thanks in advance,

 

[Tech9]

ISP modem setup in bridge mode

change operational mode to AP mode - everything just breaks.

Yes, because your ISP modem/router is in bridge mode or it acts as Modem only. You need a device acting as Router on your network in order to use AiMesh in AP Mode.

is this even a viable solution to get 2.5G speeds to all my XT8 nodes?

Not really. No single device will exceed Gigabit speeds limited by remaining Gigabit LAN ports or Wi-Fi. The only XT8 radio capable of exceeding Gigabit throughput on Wi-Fi is 5GHz-2 and you need 160MHz wide channel (non-guaranteed DFS range) and 160MHz capable client (not all support it). In reality your 2.5Gbps ISP plan is going nowhere after the modem with exception of rare cases when aggregate traffic wired + wireless exceeds Gigabit. You may have potential benefits, but with conditions.

 

[Moaf]

Thanks for the reply
In that case, is it possible to set one XT8 node in router mode and setup the other 2x XT8 nodes in AP mode, then the 2 others can plug into the switch? I've been struggling to figure out how because currently all 3 are in a mesh when I login to the GUI - and if I change the operational mode to AP mode it seems like it's changing all 3? Not exactly sure how.
But would this theoretically work?

Ya totally understand the XT8s probably aren't the best option to take advantage of the 2.5G ISP speeds but it's what I currently have and wanted to try and take advantage of the faster ISP speeds. I'll likely upgrade at a later point to some other ASUS Wifi 6E/7 that has more than 2x multigig ports

 

[Tech9]

is it possible to set one XT8 node in router mode

The only XT8 as Router option is what you see in Scenario 1 and 2 in Asus FAQ above. The switch has to be on the LAN side of your XT8 Router (main node), the modem on the WAN side. It doesn't make much sense with single 2.5GbE port routers and 2.5GbE switch in between. You'll always have Gigabit LAN port limit somewhere on the Router or nodes, WAN or LAN side.

Ya totally understand the XT8s probably aren't the best option

Your 2.5Gbps ISP is overkill on this case. Even if you replace the equipment after the modem it's like investing in faster downloads and speed tests. Makes sense only if you need 2.5GbE LAN for faster transfers between PCs or to/from NAS. If you don't have such needs - don't chase ISP speeds. You'll be wasting money in upgrades with ever diminishing return of investment.