AX88U As Router, But AC86U or AX58U for Nodes?

[MailManX]

I decided to purchase an AX88U to use as the main router in a very large house. I had previously purchased a couple of refurbished AC86U's to use as nodes in a new AiMesh network. However, I'm concerned about them being refurbished and am returning them before I open the boxes.

It was my intention to replace them with two new AC86U's because I know that is a very good router. They would be my nodes. However, it was suggested that I consider AX58U's (AX3000) instead. They are exactly the same price.

I do not have any AX clients in my house. The only reason that I purchased the AX88U is that I need a new router anyway and want it to be a powerful router as the lead for my new network. As for nodes, I didn't feel the need for AX. However, if the AX58U has similar or better specs than the AC86U, and/or if it will "mesh" better with the AX88U router, then I will purchase two AX58U's instead of AC86U's.

I'd appreciate feedback/advice. THANKS!

 

[MailManX]

I'd appreciate feedback/advice. THANKS!

I'm going to call this a tie! Darn! That means that I have to make this momentous decision!

 

[brummygit]

I'm running an AX88U with AX56U AiMesh nodes (no 160Mhz) and they work fine for my use cases - I accept that the AX56U can't support the same speeds but they are used to expand the edge of my network mainly for IoT devices. I decided to stick with AX-line routers for all nodes in the hope that configuration options for the AiMesh would be more aligned and therefore less problematic.

I guess if you plan to only ever run the AX88U in AC networking mode you would be fine with AC86Us, but as our mobile phones already support AX I decided to try a bit of future proofing. I could also be misguided in my decision making.

 

[HellDiver]

I had a AX58U, signal was pretty poor. Swapped it for a AX56U and the signal is excellent on that router, similar to the AX92U.

Signal on any of the AX routers is significantly better than my previous AC88U, which was much better than my previous stalwart N66U.

Actually, I got two AX56U in AiMesh, and to be honest the second unit is wasted unless I happen to be out in the garden. I wasn't so impressed by the way AiMesh worked on the tri-band AX92U, it insisted on disabling/dedicating one of the bands for the meshing, even though I was using ethernet backhaul.

 

[Jayce Ooi]

I am using AX88U with AC86U now. So far so good. Will test AX58U when I got one soon.

 

[dfunked]

I tried an ax58U with a ac68U as a node and had major issue with any ax compatible devices not being able to connect to the ac68U. All good when I turned off ax on the ax58U though. I'd say if you plan to use ax, then make sure every node supports it too.

Didn't really spend a lot of time troubleshooting really though, as my house is well covered by just a router. I was only playing around with it while I had a spare.

 

[thewizard1241]

I tried an ax58U with a ac68U as a node and had major issue with any ax compatible devices not being able to connect to the ac68U. All good when I turned off ax on the ax58U though. I'd say if you plan to use ax, then make sure every node supports it too.

Didn't really spend a lot of time troubleshooting really though, as my house is well covered by just a router. I was only playing around with it while I had a spare.

Good to know

 

[JohnSmith]

I currently have my main router as an AX88U, and a couple of AX58U's AP's in the wings, ready to try out AiMesh 2.0 when it is V386 final (most likely Merlin's version which is still in Beta), and see if this will replace my older AC66U's A1's for AP's in the long run.