AX92U - Underrated?

[uncjigga]

Moving my home office from the 1st floor to a 3rd floor finished loft prompted me to upgrade my router after 6+ years of faithful service from my R7000. I have AT&T gigabit service and the home has structured ethernet wiring (unfortunately only Cat5e). While the R7000 provided excellent coverage (even on 5Ghz) for 2 floors of my small footprint home, I thought I'd need to switch to a mesh setup and put a node on the 3rd-floor. I did a ton of research on the various mesh router options, and initially I wanted to buy 2 AX86Us to connect via AiMesh. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them in stock, but I did find a slightly discounted AX92u bundle. The initial reviews left me skeptical, but then I saw the updated DongKnows review and decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did! Out of the box, the router was a cinch to setup with IP passthrough from the Arris fiber gateway. After a quick firmware update, I was ready to pair it with the 2nd router/AiMesh node. There were a few settings I needed to change to set it up for wired Ethernet backhaul, but it was pretty simple.

I've had it setup for a week, and I've had zero issues with the current stable firmware. No resets (my R7000 required 3-4 resets every week) and speeds are stable. I'm using a single SSID in tri-band smart connect and didn't change any of the default settings, and so far it's doing a good job of matching clients to the right band and optimizing client/node distribution (between laptops, tablets, phones, thermostats, streaming devices, assistants, smart home stuff I have 26+ clients.) One interesting note--I thought the 5Ghz-2 band was WiFi 6 exclusively, but my laptop's 7265ac adapter regularly connects via the 5GHz-2 band. I'm regularly pulling between 400-500mbps speedtests off an 866mbps link rate.

That brings me to my question--why is there so little love for this router? I understand its primarily sold in a mesh kit (hence no Merlin love) but based on features/specs this combo delivers an unbeatable value. For under $350, you're getting a tri-band mesh with 6100mbps of headroom--similar setups go for $450 or more (heck look at Asus' own XT8!) I get that my use case is very specific and not everyone can take advantage of wired backhaul, but I think the AX92U provides a great mesh setup regardless.

 

[L&LD]

For me, the 'so little love' is because it is a tri-radio router, not a (full fat) tri-band router. Add in no RMerlin support and these types of devices are niche (for environments where there are many (32+) client devices that need to connect wirelessly.

I have always found a second (wired) router to work better than a single tri-radio router in the last decade. And by better, I mean speeds and dependability. Not only that, but they are also more easily repurposed and much cheaper too.

 

[Techtype]

Moving my home office from the 1st floor to a 3rd floor finished loft prompted me to upgrade my router after 6+ years of faithful service from my R7000. I have AT&T gigabit service and the home has structured ethernet wiring (unfortunately only Cat5e). While the R7000 provided excellent coverage (even on 5Ghz) for 2 floors of my small footprint home, I thought I'd need to switch to a mesh setup and put a node on the 3rd-floor. I did a ton of research on the various mesh router options, and initially I wanted to buy 2 AX86Us to connect via AiMesh. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them in stock, but I did find a slightly discounted AX92u bundle. The initial reviews left me skeptical, but then I saw the updated DongKnows review and decided to give it a go. I'm glad I did! Out of the box, the router was a cinch to setup with IP passthrough from the Arris fiber gateway. After a quick firmware update, I was ready to pair it with the 2nd router/AiMesh node. There were a few settings I needed to change to set it up for wired Ethernet backhaul, but it was pretty simple.

I've had it setup for a week, and I've had zero issues with the current stable firmware. No resets (my R7000 required 3-4 resets every week) and speeds are stable. I'm using a single SSID in tri-band smart connect and didn't change any of the default settings, and so far it's doing a good job of matching clients to the right band and optimizing client/node distribution (between laptops, tablets, phones, thermostats, streaming devices, assistants, smart home stuff I have 26+ clients.) One interesting note--I thought the 5Ghz-2 band was WiFi 6 exclusively, but my laptop's 7265ac adapter regularly connects via the 5GHz-2 band. I'm regularly pulling between 400-500mbps speedtests off an 866mbps link rate.

That brings me to my question--why is there so little love for this router? I understand its primarily sold in a mesh kit (hence no Merlin love) but based on features/specs this combo delivers an unbeatable value. For under $350, you're getting a tri-band mesh with 6100mbps of headroom--similar setups go for $450 or more (heck look at Asus' own XT8!) I get that my use case is very specific and not everyone can take advantage of wired backhaul, but I think the AX92U provides a great mesh setup regardless.

There were many problems with earlier firmware versions (justifiably coloring many opinions that you will get), also most of the buyers would likely not be able/capable of using wired backhaul. That being said, with the current firmware and wired backhaul, it is an extremely nice setup (and a relative bargain).

 

[SoCalReviews]

For me, the 'so little love' is because it is a tri-radio router, not a (full fat) tri-band router. Add in no RMerlin support and these types of devices are niche (for environments where there are many (32+) client devices that need to connect wirelessly.

I have always found a second (wired) router to work better than a single tri-radio router in the last decade. And by better, I mean speeds and dependability. Not only that, but they are also more easily repurposed and much cheaper too.

... and of course it's difficult at this time to beat the flexibility of the AX86U with the Merlin support and the extra 2.5Gb Ethernet port which allows for a blazing fast 2x router wired Mesh setup without needing to give up one of four main LAN ports on each router.

 

[AndreiV]

I have always found a second (wired) router to work better than a single tri-radio router

But if you actually read the OP you would see the purchase was a TWIN PACK , ie; 2 routers which he has hard wired.

I realise that the thought that someone has great success with routers that Merlin doesn't write firmware for sends your pacemaker into a whirl but there really are millions of ASUS users that do very well without 3rd party additions.

As it is these "niche" routers are selling out in marketpaces all over the globe.

 

[SoCalReviews]

But if you actually read the OP you would see the purchase was a TWIN PACK , ie; 2 routers which he has hard wired.

I realise that the thought that someone has great success with routers that Merlin doesn't write firmware for sends your pacemaker into a whirl but there really are millions of ASUS users that do very well without 3rd party additions.

As it is these "niche" routers are selling out in marketpaces all over the globe.

The current TWIN PACK fire sale on the AX92U does seem like a really sweet deal... especially when comparing to the XT8. It's all the other aspects and features of the newer model AX routers like the AX86U that could steer potential buyers in a different direction.

 

[tglesel]

I am actually quite pleased with my 2 AX92Us , but there are still some flaws in the latest firmware when running them in a wireless mesh setup, where you need to invest some time on fine tuning and workarounds on Wi-Fi conf. My AX92Us are running rock solid for me now.

 

[Techtype]

I am actually quite pleased with my 2 AX92Us , but there are still some flaws in the latest firmware when running them in a wireless mesh setup, where you need to invest some time on fine tuning and workarounds on Wi-Fi conf. My AX92Us are running rock solid for me now.

Yes, if you are a perfectionist (as I am) you can tune it for near perfection (especially for the 5ghz-2 band to make maximum use of AX). But, this requires wired backhaul.

 

[L&LD]

@AndreiV, a twin pack of these doesn't make them better. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Sales of anything are not indicative of the worth of a product. Marketing always wins, against the majority.

 

[AndreiV]

Sales of anything are not indicative of the worth of a product. Marketing always wins, against the majority.

I think you are confused or deluded here.

The success and volume of sales is absolutley an indicator of a products worth.

AS to "two wrongs" you are the one that continually decries as useless anything that isn't Merlin , I never said anything about rights or wrongs.

I think you need to step back from your evangelizing position and realise that millions of people use ASUS routers without any 3rd party firmware or add ons, Merlin is the niche here not the other way around.

 

[L&LD]

I'm not confused nor am I mud-slinging as you are continuing to be. Re-read what I wrote above and see how misdirected your comments are.

Regardless of RMerlin support or not, an effectively crippled three radio router is inferior to two, two radio routers with full Wi-Fi bands on each available radio.

You can continue to believe that sales=worth and that marketing plays no part. That's not my problem.

A product stands on its own or not. How many are sold is irrelevant.

 

[AndreiV]

an effectively crippled three radio router is inferior to two, two radio routers

Hmm, so now, in your opnion, ASUS are selling crippled routers ........... hmmm.

 

[L&LD]

No, not just Asus. All current three radio routers (below any AX 6E models) are the same.

 

[thiggins]

@AndreiV @L&LD If you two want to throw jibes at each other, please do it elsewhere.

 

[leerees]

The AX92 is for people that want to cover a large area.

It has one ac 5ghz band and another ax 5ghz band which can both be used by the clients, even in wireless backhaul mode.

This strange configuration offers a unique benefit:

Having 2 different spec bands allows for some creative home brew load balancing.

For example: you can set all non essential devices to connect in ac mode. This leaves the ax band free for high priority devices such as phones.

I specifically purchased the AX92u to do this and it's been working great.

The AX92u's will deliver 950mb/s on the AX channel, even if that band is shared as a wireless backhaul.

It also has a third 2.4ghz band.

The XT8 superscedes the AX92u, but I still prefer the AX92u due to the ac band.

 

[HellDiver]

I have a 92U, and on it's own it's a great router. But, the wheels fall off completely if you try and use AiMesh - it always does really strange stuff with the 3rd band (turns it off is the main issue). I'm not sure if the 5GHz-1 radio that remains is indeed WiFi6 or not.

So, I don't use the 92U and instead use a pair of 56U which seem just as capable, but give a better result with all the work-from-home devices (2 laptops and an extra phone each for me and the OH in heavy use all day). If it wasn't for those, the one 92U would be more than sufficient for our use.

 

[thiggins]

I'm not sure if the 5GHz-1 radio that remains is indeed WiFi6 or not.

The only Wi-Fi 6 radio in the AX92U is 5GHz-2. It's four stream AX.

 

[HellDiver]

The only Wi-Fi 6 radio in the AX92U is 5GHz-2. It's four stream AX.

Usefully AiMesh uses 5GHz-2 for the backhaul, even if you're using ethernet. As I said, wheels fall off.

 

[thiggins]

Isn't there a checkbox to tell AiMesh to use Ethernet for backhaul?

 

[HellDiver]

Isn't there a checkbox to tell AiMesh to use Ethernet for backhaul?

There is, but it still keeps the 5GHz-2 turned off even if ethernet backhaul is specified.