Disadvantages of Access Points vs, AiMesh

[A1MB1G]

What would be the disadvantages of setting up my ASUS Zenwifi XT8 router and node as access points?

I suppose that would not permit it to be setup as a Mesh network? What about Guest Wifi network? I’m assuming guests would only be able to connect to the primary router?

 

[CaptainSTX]

What would be the disadvantages of setting up my ASUS Zenwifi XT8 router and node as access points?

I suppose that would not permit it to be setup as a Mesh network? What about Guest Wifi network? I’m assuming guests would only be able to connect to the primary router?

I think a better question is what are the advantages of MESH system vs. an AP particularly if you an Ethernet connection from your router to the AP or the MESH nodes.

Also in some cases a double NAT might suit your situation better.

 

[A1MB1G]

I think a better question is what are the advantages of MESH system vs. an AP particularly if you an Ethernet connection from your router to the AP or the MESH nodes.

Also in some cases a double NAT might suit your situation better.

Either way, I’m trying to better understand the ramifications of either setup. For my situation, I have my main ISP router/modem on the main floor and was going to connect my ASUS zenwifi on the top floor and one on the bottom floor I’m able to have them both wired to the ISP router since I have Ethernet throughout the home.

in this situation, would it be better to use access points? How does this impact a guest wifi network and again, what are the pros and cons?

any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Tech9]

In Access Point mode you'll lose all Asuswrt router features. Guest Network will be available on ISP modem/router only.
In Router + Node AiMesh you'll have Asuswrt features available on the Router and Guest Network available to the Node.

I would run this setup as it was designed to run - Router + Node with ISP modem/router in Bridge Mode, if available. If Bridge Mode is not available, then ISP modem/router stays in Router Mode with reserved IP for the ZenWiFi router and that IP placed in DMZ. Some Asuswrt features (like VPN Server) may require extra work in double NAT setup. You may leave ISP modem/router Wi-Fi enabled on different channels as a backup wireless network.

 

[RogerSC]

In Access Point mode you'll lose all Asuswrt router features. Guest Network will be available on ISP modem/router only.
In Router + Node AiMesh you'll have Asuswrt features available on the Router and Guest Network available to the Node.

I would run this setup as it was designed to run - Router + Node with ISP modem/router in Bridge Mode, if available. If Bridge Mode is not available, then ISP modem/router stays in Router Mode with reserved IP for the ZenWiFi router and that IP placed in DMZ. Some Asuswrt features (like VPN Server) may require extra work in double NAT setup. You may leave ISP modem/router Wi-Fi enabled on different channels as a backup wireless network.

I wouldn't leave the wireless radios on the ISP router enabled if you also have a mesh wireless system. Generally, the mesh wireless systems software assume that they're controlling all the wireless in the space, and another source of wireless messes up the mesh software. You should let your mesh system control all the wireless in your space, and it'll do a better job for you. If your mesh fails, then of course the ISP router's wireless radios can be turned on and used as a backup.

 

[Tech9]

and another source of wireless messes up the mesh software.

It doesn't. By backup Wi-Fi I mean different SSID network using different channels.

 

[leerees]

The advantage of the mesh is having one SSID for the whole network and Aimesh automatically roaming the clients to the correct channels / radios. The hand-off as you move around is seamless. The user gets to experience "uninterrupted WiFI".

I know it sounds a bit gimmicky, but it really does work.

It's easier to setup and adminkster compared to standalone APs and repeaters. The mesh is self healing and will find different backhaul routes and radios based on current wifi conditions.

 

[Tech9]

The hand-off as you move around is seamless.

Depends on what you are comparing it to. AiMesh is far behind Omada and UniFi in clients roaming experience. In my AiMesh tests it behaves exactly the same as a group of wireless repeaters and Roaming Assistant doesn't work at all. The more mixed AiMesh is, the worse it gets in roaming and stability. You may have good results with all the same routers. I wouldn't purchase 8x consumer routers, if large area coverage is needed. There are better options.

 

[leerees]

Depends on what you are comparing it to. AiMesh is far behind Omada and UniFi in clients roaming experience. In my AiMesh tests it behaves exactly the same as a group of wireless repeaters and Roaming Assistant doesn't work at all. The more mixed AiMesh is, the worse it gets in roaming and stability. You may have good results with all the same routers. I wouldn't purchase 8x consumer routers, if large area coverage is needed. There are better options.

They provide Internet across a block of apartments. It took a lot of planning, testing and tweaking of smart connect rules. We chose the AX92u's for 3 reasons

1) They have smart connect, which fits in with our network plan
2) They have a strong 4x4 AX backhaul which we can afford due to no neighboring traffic in this band
3) They are cost effective

Roaming assistant works based on the values you set it. I've never seen it ignore the rules.

High throughput is important for our clients. We work on the premise that 5g is for AC only, those with N devices are steered onto 2.4g which will still net them a reasonable 80mb/s. With this rule in place, AC users all get 400 - 550mb/s regardless of which apartment they stay in.

I have stated in other threads that the majority of connection issues on the AX92u are either bad firmware, backhauls having a poor RSSI or improperly configured smart connect rules. If you can get all this right, they will perform very well.

For this network, we worked in the speed limitations of AC to our advantage, therefore not requiring QoS which would bog down the AX92u's slow dual core CPU.

I'm sure there's commercial solutions available, I'm also aware the AX92u is not the best Asus router out there. It's a niche router who's specs suit our needs.

 

[coxhaus]

Depends on what you are comparing it to. AiMesh is far behind Omada and UniFi in clients roaming experience. In my AiMesh tests it behaves exactly the same as a group of wireless repeaters and Roaming Assistant doesn't work at all. The more mixed AiMesh is, the worse it gets in roaming and stability. You may have good results with all the same routers. I wouldn't purchase 8x consumer routers, if large area coverage is needed. There are better options.

You can add the Cisco small business wireless APs in the mix as they work well also. Wire is always better than wireless.

 

[Tech9]

2) They have a strong 4x4 AX backhaul which we can afford due to no neighboring traffic in this band

I would use wired Omada instead. The APs are $100, the controller is $100. SmartConnect, Guest Network, native VLAN support. Not sure if 8x AX92U are more cost effective. The AC radio on AX92U is 2x2, EAP245 APs are 3x3. Higher usable bandwidth with better stability and less Wi-Fi pollution. AX92U is acceptable only if you have no way to wire the APs.

Roaming assistant works based on the values you set it. I've never seen it ignore the rules.

Perhaps, router model differences. I tested with AC86U routers and no matter how RA is set, some clients hold the AP even below -80dBm levels, as long as the connection is live. AX92U comes in pairs for AiMesh, could be a better AiMesh router. At the end of the day, if it works well for you, there is nothing to fix. I like all the same equipment, consumer or SMB.

 

[leerees]

I would use wired Omada instead. The APs are $100, the controller is $100. SmartConnect, Guest Network, native VLAN support. Not sure if 8x AX92U are more cost effective. The AC radio on AX92U is 2x2, EAP245 APs are 3x3. Higher usable bandwidth with better stability and less Wi-Fi pollution. AX92U is acceptable only if you have no way to wire the APs.



Perhaps, router model differences. I tested with AC86U routers and no matter how RA is set, some clients hold the AP even below -80dBm levels, as long as the connection is live. AX92U comes in pairs for AiMesh, could be a better AiMesh router. At the end of the day, if it works well for you, there is nothing to fix. I like all the same equipment, consumer or SMB.

We chose the AX92u's specifically because they only have 2x2 AC (not 3x3). It stops one apartment hogging all the bandwidth.

Unfortunately, we can't drill holes in the apartments to run ethernet cables. The AX92's have a really strong AX backhaul channel so it works well.

 

[coxhaus]

Think of running a wireless backhaul as using a hub instead of a switch for all the connections. The radio is a shared media. It will be slower than wire.

 

[bsdsource]

In Access Point mode you'll lose all Asuswrt router features. Guest Network will be available on ISP modem/router only.
In Router + Node AiMesh you'll have Asuswrt features available on the Router and Guest Network available to the Node.

Is this specific to this particular router + node setup as access points? Guest networks work perfectly fine in access point mode. Not sure why guest network would be an issue.

 

[Tech9]

No. There is no routing in Access Point mode. Guest Network is available, but it doesn't separate devices from your main network. At least this is what happens to other Asus router models and I expect it's the same with XT8. One workaround is to set the clients isolated.

 

[kaanaslan]

The advantage of the mesh is having one SSID for the whole network and Aimesh automatically roaming the clients to the correct channels / radios. The hand-off as you move around is seamless. The user gets to experience "uninterrupted WiFI".

I know it sounds a bit gimmicky, but it really does work.

It's easier to setup and adminkster compared to standalone APs and repeaters. The mesh is self healing and will find different backhaul routes and radios based on current wifi conditions.

Hello leerees, I know this is a very old response but I'd be happy to get an answer.

You said that the advantages of Aimesh are that there is only one SSID (I assume this happens if you activate the Smart Connect on both routers?) and the other one is there is no interference. But in many tutorials on youtube I see that there will be interference between the 2.4GHZ and 5GHZ bands of the main router and the node router.

I need to understand how this works. In my house I have the Quadband GT BE98. And I want to add one Aimesh node to my house. I'm considering to get the Asus Rog Rapture AX6000 router.

The Wifi SSIDs of my Main Router are:

Home_Internet - 2.4G
Home_Internet - 5G
Home_Internet - 5G-2
Home_Internet - 6G

So without connecting any AiMesh node these are the SSIDs I see in my house.

I'll connect the AX6000 (which is only dualband) as Aimesh mode with ethernet backhaul.

So I assume that the SSIDs names won't change. But in Youtube videos they say there will be 2 Home_Intertnet - 2.4G and Home_Internet - 5G SSIDs that will be detected and there will be interference. Is this correct? How can I avoid it?

I was thinking maybe SmartConnect would solve this problam by just making only one SSID (Home_Internet) in the whole house. But in that case I think the Node Router is also being converted to Smart Connect. So does it mean that I'm going to see 2 Home_Internet SSIDs? Or is it just going to be one?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[bennor]

Hello leerees, I know this is a very old response but I'd be happy to get an answer.

Just an FYI, user leerees last visited this site on Aug 10, 2023.

 

[kaanaslan]

Oh yes thank you. Maybe he might get notified via email

 

[Tech9]

I need to understand how this works.

Just add the new router as AiMesh node and it will automatically use one of your main router's bands for backhaul. Which one on a 4-band router - you are about to find out. The SSID will remain the same. Your new router in wireless AiMesh is going to work as a Repeater. The throughput to connected to it clients will be reduced in half.

SmartConnect

I will give you single SSID for all available for clients bands. Not very Smart as technology, but will give you some Connect.

 

[kaanaslan]

So for example if I have one 5G SSID called Home_Router 5G in the main router, the aimesh node will have the same SSID. Does it mean if I’m in the coverage of both routers, will I see 2 Home_Router 5G SSID in wifi hotspot list or only one?