Beta ASUSWRT 386 RC2 public beta with full functions AiMesh 2.0

[SignedAdam]

I want asus to hurry up to with the beta and push this out unfortunately it’s going to take as long as it take, if you need the features of the beta then I suggest you join in. even if your return window closes you now have the knowledge that good things are coming to people who wait!

If you are with in the EU it is my understanding that you can return anything with in 6 months of it being delivered “if it’s faulty or not doing as advertised ”as you have mentioned guest network is not working across all of the nodes and just the main router, I would argue that’s not working as advertised” however it is your decision and I’m not able to give legal advice, if you need real advice, then contact your citizens advice as I can’t give it. I can only share what I’d do in your situation.

Background: I purchased 4x CT8 units (2x packs) a few days ago as a potential replacement for Orbi RBx50 mesh. Intended use is strictly AP mode all wireless backhaul mesh — I like my routers/firewalls separate and can’t run wires in this environment. Got the basic single SSID setup to work with good performance (good enough to seriously consider replacing the Orbi setup) on stock latest firmware and nodes collocated with the Orbi nodes (which form a very stable and good performance star in my environment). Tried Guest network and immediately figured out it works only on the base unit — a showstopper. Was about to repack to return the setup, but learned of this beta and the fact that Guest network on all mesh nodes is part of it (and obviously many other VERY interesting and valuable functions) and decided to give it a shot. I am in a 30 day return window countdown now.

Result of initial testing of 9.0.0.4.386.41535: Summary = works ok as an AP mesh AS LONG AS GUEST NETWORK IS OFF; becomes completely unusable as soon as Guest network is turned on. Unusable = base and guess network up and down cyclically every couple of minutes — had to recover to factory to get back to sanity, no other way to do it as the units didn’t stay up long enough to even be able to manually turn off Guest network.

Next steps: Let’s see how far ASUS can get within 30 days to stabilize this. I am rooting for them as I really (really!) like where this is going, but it’s all going back Jan 30th if it’s not stable/usable as I can’t just throw away that kind of money to help a large company do software testing.

 

[baz]

Quick update... So I installed the beta 386 rc2-10 on all 3 of my devices (AX88U main AP, AC88U Mesh node and AX58y Mesh node with wired backhaul). I let it run over night and the network was pretty much unusable. A lot of my IOT dropped and wouldn't go back on, laptops would just hang and time out. Once I rebooted all router it was somewhat useable but slow. I run the main AX88U in AP mode because I run Firewalla as my main router/Firewall. I do have a Netgear running on a Network Segmentation of Firewalla as a guest network in AP mode that has Freshtomato on it, and there are no issues.

 

[jonjon]

For reference, here is my setup:

Asus AX89-X as the main Mesh router
Asus ZenWifi AX (XT8) x 2 as the AiMesh nodes

Asus AX89-X running the public release firmware 3.0.0.4.386.22790
Asus ZenWifi AX (XT8) x 2 running the 2020/12/01(9.0.0.4.386.41157) RC9 Beta

I skipped RC10 for the time-being due to all the negative results mentioned above.

What I have noticed both with the public release firmware and also the RC versions for the ZenWifi AX (XT8) is that the wireless backhaul will randomly switch between 5GHz ("Great" connection) band to 2.4GHz ("Weak" connection) band.

I have had random success of getting both wireless nodes back onto the 5GHz band by doing a manual reboot of the main (AX89-X) Mesh router (by pressing the Off / On button) but a few days / week later, one of the wireless (XT8) nodes will flip back to the 2.4GHz ("Weak") band.

I believe a few others on this thread also mentioned this issue however the I believe the person mentioned the last node, so at least I know this is not isolated to myself. In my case, it is often happening on the last node too however I have seen it switch between node 1 (Living Room) and node 2 (Bedroom; last node).

Any plans to look into this issue further and hopefully resolve it for the next RC beta release along with the speed slowdowns mentioned for RC10 Beta?

Much appreciate any insight to this strange issue.

Jon

 

[y-y]

Background: I purchased 4x CT8 units (2x packs) a few days ago as a potential replacement for Orbi RBx50 mesh. Intended use is strictly AP mode all wireless backhaul mesh — I like my routers/firewalls separate and can’t run wires in this environment. Got the basic single SSID setup to work with good performance (good enough to seriously consider replacing the Orbi setup) on stock latest firmware and nodes collocated with the Orbi nodes (which form a very stable and good performance star in my environment). Tried Guest network and immediately figured out it works only on the base unit — a showstopper. Was about to repack to return the setup, but learned of this beta and the fact that Guest network on all mesh nodes is part of it (and obviously many other VERY interesting and valuable functions) and decided to give it a shot. I am in a 30 day return window countdown now.

Result of initial testing of 9.0.0.4.386.41535: Summary = works ok as an AP mesh AS LONG AS GUEST NETWORK IS OFF; becomes completely unusable as soon as Guest network is turned on. Unusable = base and guess network up and down cyclically every couple of minutes — had to recover to factory to get back to sanity, no other way to do it as the units didn’t stay up long enough to even be able to manually turn off Guest network.

Next steps: Let’s see how far ASUS can get within 30 days to stabilize this. I am rooting for them as I really (really!) like where this is going, but it’s all going back Jan 30th if it’s not stable/usable as I can’t just throw away that kind of money to help a large company do software testing.

It seems you and I got the same problem with the Guest Network 1.

Frankly, @ASUSWRT_2020 has not even acknowledged it as an issue. To be fair, he/she may not have the liberty to acknowledge anything in a public discussion forum.

You may see another beta within the 30 days return window, but, unless you can get some insights from @ASUSWRT_2020, I wouldn't wait if I were you.

BTW, do you have better options that supports meshed guest network?

 

[OzarkEdge]

For reference, here is my setup:

Asus AX89-X as the main Mesh router
Asus Asus ZenWifi AX (XT8) x 2 as the AiMesh routers

Asus AX89-X running the public release firmware 3.0.0.4.386.22790
Asus ZenWifi AX (XT8) x 2 running the 2020/12/01(9.0.0.4.386.41157) RC9 Beta

I skipped RC10 for the time-being due to all the negative results mentioned above.

What I have noticed both with the public release firmware and also the RC versions for the ZenWifi AX (XT8) is that the wireless backhaul will randomly switch between 5GHz ("Great" connection) band to 2.4GHz ("Weak" connection) band.

I have had random success of getting both wireless nodes back onto the 5GHz band by doing a manual reboot of the main (AX89-X) Mesh router (by pressing the Off / On button) but a few days / week later, one of the wireless (XT8) nodes will flip back to the 2.4GHz ("Weak") band.

I believe a few others on this thread also mentioned this issue however the I believe the person mentioned the last node, so at least I know this is not isolated to myself. In my case, it is often happening on the last node too however I have seen it switch between node 1 (Living Room) and node 2 (Bedroom; last node).

Any plans to look into this issue further and hopefully resolve it for the next RC beta release along with the speed slowdowns mentioned for RC10 Beta?

Much appreciate any insight to this strange issue.

Jon

I would try moving the nodes around to see if the wireless backhaul responds/improves. Also try different fixed channels.

OE

 

[jonjon]

Hi OE,

Thank you for your prompt response and suggestion, however I already have set fixed channels for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands as follows:

2.4GHz -- channel 10 -- channel bandwidth 40 MHz
5GHz -- channel 157 -- channel bandwidth 80 MHz

I also turned off Airtime Fairness.

Please see attached snapshots. I guess I can continue to "play around" with various fixed channels for the 5GHz band if that will help?

I have also tried moving the nodes around, especially the last (Bedroom) node without any lasting effects.

Thanks

 

[LexxM3]

It seems you and I got the same problem with the Guest Network 1.

Frankly, @ASUSWRT_2020 has not even acknowledged it as an issue. To be fair, he/she may not have the liberty to acknowledge anything in a public discussion forum.

You may see another beta within the 30 days return window, but, unless you can get some insights from @ASUSWRT_2020, I wouldn't wait if I were you.

BTW, do you have better options that supports meshed guest network?

There is no downside to waiting out the 30 days except the handwringing at the end to “trust or not to trust” whether ASUS will get this figured out quickly (“before WiFi 7 stabilizes and we start this cycle again”). I might also be able to solve the guest network issue temporarily by keeping my Orbi mesh in place for that, giving ASUS more time to fix the instabilities, although this needlessly uses up local wifi spectrum and increases chances of interference, as well as preventing me to recoup some of new costs by selling off my current Orbi setup.

Netgear Orbi RBx50 has worked well for me including its rudimentary guest network facility for the secondary home IoT network. I have a base plus 4 satellites setup with around 70 STAs on that consisting of RBR50v2 as base and RBS50v2, RBS50v1, and a couple of RBS50v1 converted to satellites from RBR50v1 as satellites. On stock firmware, although Voxel is a great option there as well.

The main reasons to consider changing from Orbi are: lack of roam “encouragement” and lack of node binding on Orbi (on any reboot, many STA get stuck on base unit connection permanently with poor network performance, but not poor enough to disconnect and roam) as well as promised increases in wireless performance on ZenWiFi (which I mostly observed, but it’s not completely clear cut —Orbi still notably wins some spots in my house). But Orbi is stable for me and at least good enough, so ZenWiFi is “only” an attempt to improve, not a radical transformation (although STA node binding and better roam “encouragement” are very very tempting).

 

[LexxM3]

I want asus to hurry up to with the beta and push this out unfortunately it’s going to take as long as it take, if you need the features of the beta then I suggest you join in. even if your return window closes you now have the knowledge that good things are coming to people who wait!

If you are with in the EU it is my understanding that you can return anything with in 6 months of it being delivered “if it’s faulty or not doing as advertised ”as you have mentioned guest network is not working across all of the nodes and just the main router, I would argue that’s not working as advertised” however it is your decision and I’m not able to give legal advice, if you need real advice, then contact your citizens advice as I can’t give it. I can only share what I’d do in your situation.

Thanks. I am in Canada, not EU, and I’d rather not play more return games regardless as I already have enough drama in my life. If ASUS steps up and delivers a stable and effective product, they’ll have my business and support (I influence everyone around me regarding technology). If they don’t, they won’t. I am long past the naïveté of loyalty to a tech brand — they are all mostly organizationally-incompetent and only occasionally and accidentally temporarily succeed with great products.

 

[KingBravery]

For reference, here is my setup:

Asus AX89-X as the main Mesh router
Asus ZenWifi AX (XT8) x 2 as the AiMesh nodes

Asus AX89-X running the public release firmware 3.0.0.4.386.22790
Asus ZenWifi AX (XT8) x 2 running the 2020/12/01(9.0.0.4.386.41157) RC9 Beta

I skipped RC10 for the time-being due to all the negative results mentioned above.

What I have noticed both with the public release firmware and also the RC versions for the ZenWifi AX (XT8) is that the wireless backhaul will randomly switch between 5GHz ("Great" connection) band to 2.4GHz ("Weak" connection) band.

I have had random success of getting both wireless nodes back onto the 5GHz band by doing a manual reboot of the main (AX89-X) Mesh router (by pressing the Off / On button) but a few days / week later, one of the wireless (XT8) nodes will flip back to the 2.4GHz ("Weak") band.

I believe a few others on this thread also mentioned this issue however the I believe the person mentioned the last node, so at least I know this is not isolated to myself. In my case, it is often happening on the last node too however I have seen it switch between node 1 (Living Room) and node 2 (Bedroom; last node).

Any plans to look into this issue further and hopefully resolve it for the next RC beta release along with the speed slowdowns mentioned for RC10 Beta?

Much appreciate any insight to this strange issue.

Jon

Same problem with me. Now I just using public release firmware for Zenwifi and they are stable for now.

 

[ALEX1002]

Today I am at my breching point. This Asus stuff really dissapointed me. I spent almost $500-600 CAD on their crap that doesnt work at all. Never correct more then 1 week witohut issues. Even with all the tweaks and recommandtion it doesnt work.. Now my phones constantly disconecting from the 5G Wireless.

 

[ALEX1002]

Hi OE,

Thank you for your prompt response and suggestion, however I already have set fixed channels for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands as follows:

2.4GHz -- channel 10 -- channel bandwidth 40 MHz
5GHz -- channel 157 -- channel bandwidth 80 MHz

I also turned off Airtime Fairness.

Please see attached snapshots. I guess I can continue to "play around" with various fixed channels for the 5GHz band if that will help?

I have also tried moving the nodes around, especially the last (Bedroom) node without any lasting effects.

Thanks

Thanks for posting these settings, I will try these with my setup and see if itworks out!

 

[gfondeur]

Today I am at my breching point. This Asus stuff really dissapointed me. I spent almost $500-600 CAD on their crap that doesnt work at all. Never correct more then 1 week witohut issues. Even with all the tweaks and recommandtion it doesnt work.. Now my phones constantly disconecting from the 5G Wireless.

Disable Random MAC address from your phones

 

[Scottp]

I have a ax200 wifi module that's supposed to be delivered today for my laptop. I saw some ax201's that look like they would work?

I retrofitted an AX200 in my asus n550jk laptop (6yr old), got an adapter from mini pcie to m.2 NG, antenna connector is smaller, came with adapters, I swapped antennas to avoid the adapters improved signal slightly. If you are on Linux kernel 5.10.3 fixes some performance issues with ax200

 

[rlj2]

I retrofitted an AX200 in my asus n550jk laptop (6yr old), got an adapter from mini pcie to m.2 NG, antenna connector is smaller, came with adapters, I swapped antennas to avoid the adapters improved signal slightly. If you are on Linux kernel 5.10.3 fixes some performance issues with ax200

Well my eyesight sucks nowadays. I screwed up those little connectors and by the time i was done, the antenna connectors also. So 2 more items on the way

 

[ALEX1002]

Disable Random MAC address from your phones

Random mac is already off. It refuses to connect to the 5G or keeps on dropping it. All my phone's, ios and android same issues. Computers seems fine.

 

[LexxM3]

Learned a new-to-me behaviour, not sure if it’s current beta only or “normal” modern ASUS router/AP. System is 4 node AP-only CT8 on 30-Dec-2020 beta. Turns out that when you change the wifi password, it also sends the entire system into an infinite wifi recycle loop including to mesh nodes. Never did stabilize after an hour. I power cycled (not reboot, that didn’t help and it seems reboot doesn’t actually reboot as my uptime didn’t clear) the base unit with the intent of power cycling all modes and ... system stabilized with new wifi password within a couple of minutes.

But for that hour of cycling, I was staring at this rather ironic status . I now have the base CT8 on a Tuya smart socket that is able to execute an off-pause-on power cycle routine all on its own without internet access (since it’s connected to the wifi of the AP that it is powering).

 

[jonjon]

I would try moving the nodes around to see if the wireless backhaul responds/improves. Also try different fixed channels.

OE

Hi,

I have just changed my fixed channel from 157 to 140 on the 5GHz band only, leaving the 2.4GHz band set on channel 10. Everything else stayed the same. Manually rebooted the main Mesh router (AX89-X) and the XT8 nodes have re-established their connection on the 5GHz band backhaul.

I used a Wi-Fi scanner and analyzer for macOS called WiFi Explorer Pro 3 to look for unused or less used channels in my area. If channel 140 doesn't work out, my next step will be channel 144...

Let's see how this goes.

Thanks again

Jon

 

[srkbear]

Just upgraded to the latest build on my XT8... for whatever reason, the problem persists where the last node in the chain is dropping to 2.4GHz backhaul, resolved previously by dropping just that node back to the release software. Frustrating!

View attachment 28969

Noticed your AiMesh chain configuration, with your XT8s wirelessly chained to each other in series. I have a GT-AX11000 as my main router, with two ZenWifi AX XT8s as my nodes. But in my setup each XT8 is connected to the 11000 directly (via the “preferred backhaul” option) instead of daisy chained to each other as you do, and I have zero problems (please see attached photo).

Prior to my purchasing the 11000, I had a third XT8 in my primary router position as you do, but with the nodes also chained in parallel instead of series and things worked without issues as well.

You should be able to change the backhaul preference for each of your nodes under the “maintenance” tabs for both, accessible in the menu you have posted in your screenshot.

I don’t know the layout of your home, obviously, or the distance between your nodes and your primary router. But it may be worth changing both of your nodes to prefer your primary XT8 as backhaul a try, with all three mesh units running the same firmware version, and see if you can maintain a “great” 5ghz connection all around. Best of luck!

 

[Philibuster]

I installed this firmware on a 2x xt8 system individually configured as AP mode. Rc9 gave me decent wifi performance (iperf3 to local wired server) both up and down, but rc10 has markedly lower upload throughout. ~100-120mbps instead of ~400. Download has dropped but not as much. Used to be 650ish consistently on my phone, but now pulls 450-500.

 

[reddeath]

I have two RT-AC88U routers and have been running one of them as the main router and the second as an access point and switch, with Ethernet connection between them. Both routers are configured to run wifi networks with the same SSIDs and passwords. I have configured the setting for disconnecting in case of low signal, to automatically switch between the routers. The router in AC mode also supports LAG, using a hidden UI config page.
I would like to understand what is the difference between my setup and the AI Mesh, of whichever version. It seems to me that I am loosing functionality or flexibility, instead of gaining anything. But maybe I am not understanding the benefits correctly.