Can you networking gurus help me decide what to get? mesh? single? rt ax86s, xt9

[Thelastone]

so l have a single rt-ax86s - its all the way in the laundry room so its quite away from my bedroom


i have got some lan cables to certain tvs so we have no issues getting the internet there.....


my question is?

1. do i get XT8's and create a mesh network and get coverage as i heard these are good, i may even get the xt9's
2. do i just buy another rt-86u/rtax86u pro/ rt ax86s? but that is dual band so i heard this may not be the best to create a mesh networkl?
3. can i buy a rt-ax88u pro it has more more has 2.5gbps ports and is more future proof and i can use the current rt-ax86s an a secondary node (but these are two different routers so will a messh work and they are both still dual band?

currently i only have 1 rt-ax86s

 

[Tech9]

i have got some lan cables to certain tvs so we have no issues getting the internet there.....

What's the issue connecting a wired node there? You can have a cheaper dual-band wired node closer to your bedroom...

Lock your router, nothing open to Internet! There is a malware killing Asus routers and your model is one of most often affected according to the little statistic we have at this time. See this before you end up with zero working Asus routers:

Solved - RT-AX86U dead WiFi asking for country code?

Hey everyone So a friend of mine bought an used RT-AX86U and asked me to take a look at it because the wifi led are not lighting up and the SSIDs wont show up. Installing merlinWRT didn't fix it either. Looking at the wifi settings opens a popup asking for a country code and the channels are...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Thelastone]

What's the issue connecting a wired node there? You can have a cheaper dual-band wired node closer to your bedroom...

Lock your router, nothing open to Internet! There is a malware killing Asus routers and your model is one of most often affected according to the little statistic we have at this time. See this before you end up with zero working Asus routers:

Solved - RT-AX86U dead WiFi asking for country code?

Hey everyone So a friend of mine bought an used RT-AX86U and asked me to take a look at it because the wifi led are not lighting up and the SSIDs wont show up. Installing merlinWRT didn't fix it either. Looking at the wifi settings opens a popup asking for a country code and the channels are...

www.snbforums.com

Thanks

You have scared me about the malware

Also what do you think if the options i have mentioned

I cannot put them near the lan cables as it will look odd the way the tv is plus i dont like putting routers near my childrens bedroom or living room

 

[Tech9]

Also what do you think if the options i have mentioned

I would personally avoid any ZenWiFi models. And Asus AiMesh altogether. You can have 100mW or less PoE powered APs in rooms instead of home routers blasting 400-900mW each for no good reason and with no control. Higher initial cost, but the overall experience will be much better and you'll never look back at home AIO routers and home "mesh" marketing BS. It will look much nicer as well, easily approved by the better half.

In my signature:

Cloud Gateway Ultra - Ubiquiti Store

Compact Cloud Gateway with 30+ UniFi device / 300+ client support, 1 Gbps IPS routing, and multi-WAN load balancing.

store.ui.com

Access Point U6 Mesh - Ubiquiti Store

Sleek, indoor/outdoor WiFi 6 AP with 6 spatial streams designed for mesh applications.

store.ui.com

Plus easy to do Kid's Network with per App filtering, traffic inspection, geo blocking, logging, etc. whatever you need to keep your kids safe online.

 

[Thelastone]

I would personally avoid any ZenWiFi models. And Asus AiMesh altogether. You can have 100mW or less PoE powered APs in rooms instead of home routers blasting 400-900mW each for no good reason and with no control. Higher initial cost, but the overall experience will be much better and you'll never look back at home AIO routers and home "mesh" marketing BS. It will look much nicer as well, easily approved by the better half.

In my signature:

Cloud Gateway Ultra - Ubiquiti Store

Compact Cloud Gateway with 30+ UniFi device / 300+ client support, 1 Gbps IPS routing, and multi-WAN load balancing.

store.ui.com

Access Point U6 Mesh - Ubiquiti Store

Sleek, indoor/outdoor WiFi 6 AP with 6 spatial streams designed for mesh applications.

store.ui.com

Plus easy to do Kid's Network with per App filtering, traffic inspection, geo blocking, logging, etc. whatever you need to keep your kids safe online.

Can you help me with this then?

The 100mw is better for me?

So what your saying is i have a virgin media that is in modem mode which will connect to aps via poe

 

[Thelastone]

I would personally avoid any ZenWiFi models. And Asus AiMesh altogether. You can have 100mW or less PoE powered APs in rooms instead of home routers blasting 400-900mW each for no good reason and with no control. Higher initial cost, but the overall experience will be much better and you'll never look back at home AIO routers and home "mesh" marketing BS. It will look much nicer as well, easily approved by the better half.

In my signature:

Cloud Gateway Ultra - Ubiquiti Store

Compact Cloud Gateway with 30+ UniFi device / 300+ client support, 1 Gbps IPS routing, and multi-WAN load balancing.

store.ui.com

Access Point U6 Mesh - Ubiquiti Store

Sleek, indoor/outdoor WiFi 6 AP with 6 spatial streams designed for mesh applications.

store.ui.com

Plus easy to do Kid's Network with per App filtering, traffic inspection, geo blocking, logging, etc. whatever you need to keep your kids safe online.

Most my tvs and apple tv and others are wired anyway

 

[Tech9]

Can you help me with this then?

Make sure it fits your needs first and you are comfortable doing it by yourself. Then we can discuss specific details further.

I can help with both hardware choice and specific settings questions, but don't expect me to plan your home network A to Z.

 

[Tech9]

If you are not comfortable doing yourself what you see above - a new RT-AX86U Pro as main router and your existing RT-AX86S as node. Both routers will blast up to 980mW each, AiMesh has little control, it is what it is situation. If it works - excellent. If it doesn't - nothing much you can do to improve.

 

[Thelastone]

If you are not comfortable doing yourself what you see above - a new RT-AX86U Pro as main router and your existing RT-AX86S as node. Both routers will blast up to 980mW each, AiMesh has little control, it is what it is situation. If it works - excellent. If it doesn't - nothing much you can do to improve.

900mw each is good or bad? Are these some radiactivr waves or you saying the higher the better coverage?

 

[Thelastone]

If you are not comfortable doing yourself what you see above - a new RT-AX86U Pro as main router and your existing RT-AX86S as node. Both routers will blast up to 980mW each, AiMesh has little control, it is what it is situation. If it works - excellent. If it doesn't - nothing much you can do to improve.

What do you think of the rt ax88u pro?

 

[Tech9]

900mw each is good or bad?

Bad is when you have no control over all the APs in one system. AiMesh has very limited control.

What do you think of the rt ax88u pro?

All RT-AX86U Pro, RT-AX88U Pro and GT-AX6000 are perhaps the most popular models around. All three are built around the same hardware, all three have Asuswrt 3006 Pro firmware available. The usually cheaper and more compact size RT-AX86U Pro has 1x 2.5GbE port and 3x3 2.4GHz radio, the other two have 2x 2.5GbE ports and 4x4 2.4GHz radio. 5GHz radio is all the same as well as CPU/RAM. Gaming marketed GT-AX6000 has RGB lights, if important.

 

[Tech9]

If you need just a little coverage extension an AX-class repeater/extender will work well too. Asus has AiMesh compatible RP-AX56/58 devices in case you want to see the extender in GUI. Otherwise any extender will do the same thing, Asus or other brand. AiMesh allows Guest Network propagation.