Buying advice for AX-router with Merlin-support

[andrenb]

Well. To be honest, it seems strange to me to look for an additional AX router to manage QoS in Orbi mesh. If so, I would buy a router without WiFi (not Asus). However, I don't know the Orbi at all.

The Orbi mesh is in access point mode. I´m running a TP Link ER605 today but find it limiting in options to more granulary control the QoS-settings and I also get easy access to check up on the connection at the house when travelling through the app.

I want a simple setup and gui, and I haven´t found other routers in the same price range without wifi built-in with all the same «bells and whistles» as the Asus routers, unless I want to do a lot of the setup through CLI commands myself.

 

[Piotrek]

@andrenb I don't know what you're missing or what you're expecting, but the real improvement in this situation is to increase your ISP download speed to 250-300 Mbps.
Even the best qos won't make everything run smoothly all the time.
Don't expect much improvement after replacing the ER605.
On the other hand, in the form of an experiment, you know best how much you want to spend on a new toy.

 

[andrenb]

@andrenb I don't know what you're missing or what you're expecting, but the real improvement in this situation is to increase your ISP download speed to 250-300 Mbps.
Even the best qos won't make everything run smoothly all the time.
Don't expect much improvement after replacing the ER605.
On the other hand, in the form of an experiment, you know best how much you want to spend on a new toy.

I wish I could.

This is a house in a remote location and until recently I had two ISP's delivering 40/20 and 40/40 in a dual wan load balancing setup. Now that I finally can get 100/30 on one line I don't need that setup anymore and that's when I thought I'd upgrade the router too.

When working from home and the kids are streaming or downloading a game from Steam I want an easy setup that makes sure I get prority of the bandwidth so that my meeting on Teams won't get affected. The Er605 has no way of prioritizing different types of traffic, you can only hard limit the max available bandwidth for a device.

In our home in the city I have fiber with 500/500 and no need for Qos since there's plenty of bandwidth for everyone's need. I use equipment from Ubiquiti there, having the Dream Machine Pro as the router but it's 600$ and I thought I'd get more bang-for-buck with an Asus-router for under 300$.

I´ve heard good things about using Merlin with Cake as QoS for asymmetrical speeds like the 100/30 line, and maybe even the regular Asus Adaptive QoS will get the job done.

 

[Piotrek]

Have you tried to set Bandwich Control?
Are you using Omada SDN Controller?
Please show your settings: Transmission -> Bandwich Control

 

[Tech9]

you can only hard limit the max available bandwidth for a device.

This is what you need. A new router won't improve the situation much.

 

[pilotbob3]

Purchased a used, acceptable GT-AX6000 off of Amazon for $195. Came with everything including box. Was as close to brand new as possible. Flashed with Merlin and works perfectly. YMMV, but thought it was a very good deal. It's my main router in a AiMesh config with an AX86U and AX3000 as nodes.

 

[andrenb]

Have you tried to set Bandwich Control?
Are you using Omada SDN Controller?
Please show your settings: Transmission -> Bandwich Control

I'm using the ER605 in standalone mode.

The Bandwith Control looks like this (pic borrowed from the internet as I'm not at the house until Saturday):

I thought maybe the "Enable Bandwith Control when bandwidth usage reaches X %" could be helpful so that some of the devices get throttled only when there's a lot of traffic on the network. This works as in the devices get lower bandwith when there's high traffic, but even hours later when the traffic is low on the network said devices are still throttled.

I'm guessing there would be more options if I got the controller for the TP Link.

Either way I picked up the GT-AX6000 today for only 210$, so I'll give it a go the upcoming weekend to see if it helps us get the most out of our broadband line.