Extending WiFi coverage to garden

[Chrisgtl]

I have the following;

VM ISP Modem (Bridged Mode) > pfSense Router > Asus 86U (AP Mode)

The 86U has 3 LAN clients connected and provides WiFi to the wireless clients throughout the house. I have seperate SSID's for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

Currently the existing WiFi signal drops-off once I've taken about 4 steps away from the house. I would like the WiFi signal to cover the seating area in the garden. I have no way of getting an Ethernet cable from my 86U to the rear part of the house (not without spending silly amounts of money and making a mess!).

Just before exiting the house to the garden I have two power points.

When the UK summer arrives I would like to take my Sonos speaker outside and stream music to it so I need better WiFi coverage.

Would you add to my Asus WiFi hardware or set something else up? How stable is Asus MESH using Wireless backhaul?

I could buy the newer AX88U to plug into the pfSense and run my existing 86U towards the garden area. How does this compare to something like the Ubiquiti products that are available?

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have the following;

VM ISP Modem (Bridged Mode) > pfSense Router > Asus 86U (AP Mode)

The 86U has 3 LAN clients connected and provides WiFi to the wireless clients throughout the house. I have seperate SSID's for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.

Currently the existing WiFi signal drops-off once I've taken about 4 steps away from the house. I would like the WiFi signal to cover the seating area in the garden. I have no way of getting an Ethernet cable from my 86U to the rear part of the house (not without spending silly amounts of money and making a mess!).

Just before exiting the house to the garden I have two power points.

When the UK summer arrives I would like to take my Sonos speaker outside and stream music to it so I need better WiFi coverage.

Would you add to my Asus WiFi hardware or set something else up? How stable is Asus MESH using Wireless backhaul?

I could buy the newer AX88U to plug into the pfSense and run my existing 86U towards the garden area. How does this compare to something like the Ubiquiti products that are available?

With the 86U in AiMesh AP mode, you can add another 86U as a wired or wireless AiMesh node to extend WiFi coverage to wherever you place it.

My notes briefly outline how I use a 2x86U AiMesh to cover my property. My AiMesh is router root node + remote node. Since you have the pfSense router, your AiMesh would be AP root node + remote node.

You could buy a cheaper remote node like the AC66U B1, but I prefer the redundant, capable hardware of 2x86U.

As for other solutions, I would avoid new release products for now (like Dream Machine and AX). But that's a personal choice.

OE

 

[Klueless]

There is some overlap (you might find something useful) in this thread ...
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/wireless-bridge-recommendations.62489/

 

[Grisu]

I wont trust it to be stable, if you got the money better use Ubiquiti for Wifi coverage.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I wont trust it to be stable, if you got the money better use Ubiquiti for Wifi coverage.

It should be as good and as stable as the existing 86U.

OE

 

[Chrisgtl]

Everywhere has sold out of the 86U but there is a second hand one near me that finishes tomorrow.

I've been looking further into the Ubiquiti products and I always come away feeling somewhat confused. So many products, but no idea which ones would be best suited for my needs.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Everywhere has sold out of the 86U but there is a second hand one near me that finishes tomorrow.

I've been looking further into the Ubiquiti products and I always come away feeling somewhat confused. So many products, but no idea which ones would be best suited for my needs.

Frankly, when I look at their website I quickly conclude I don't want to take that ride for home networking... I don't want to mess with all that sh*t. Most people can't, I've never had to, and I don't need to.

That leaves the usual suspects and the newcomers... big data that wants to own you with their over-priced, shrink-wrapped, plug-n-play mesh systems.

I've just been staying the course with Asus... one router works better than ever; a second one extends the network; a new one upgrades the network.

Perhaps write down your needs and preferences and reflect on that.

OE

 

[CaptainSTX]

Everywhere has sold out of the 86U but there is a second hand one near me that finishes tomorrow.

I've been looking further into the Ubiquiti products and I always come away feeling somewhat confused. So many products, but no idea which ones would be best suited for my needs.

Used AC86s have a poor track record. There are probably still 2018 models floating around and the the 2018 models have a poor reliability record.

If you must buy a used AC86 be sure you have the ability to return it.

 

[Chrisgtl]

Frankly, when I look at their website I quickly conclude I don't want to take that ride for home networking... I don't want to mess with all that sh*t. Most people can't, I've never had to, and I don't need to.

That leaves the usual suspects and the newcomers... big data that wants to own you with their over-priced, shrink-wrapped, plug-n-play mesh systems.

I've just been staying the course with Asus... one router works better than ever; a second one extends the network; a new one upgrades the network.

Perhaps write down your needs and preferences and reflect on that.

OE

How do you find two 86U's in AiMesh? How often do you see dropouts if any? Are you using 5Ghz as the backhaul?

 

[L&LD]

I have a customer with 2x RT-AC86U's in AiMesh. No issues at all since originally flashing with RMerlin 384.15_0 and upgrading just a few days ago to RMerlin 384.16 Beta 2 on both the main router and the AiMesh 'node'.

Very stable performance with fixed Control Channels, and separate 2.4GHz/5GHz SSIDs. The firmware upgrade to Beta 2 was even done via an OpenVPN connection. No issues at all.

 

[OzarkEdge]

How do you find two 86U's in AiMesh? How often do you see dropouts if any? Are you using 5Ghz as the backhaul?

I find it fine. The only drops we experience are related to the source, imo... usually TuneIn, very seldom HBONow and Sling, seldom cellular, and never DIY BYOD VoIP. The 86Us have had some issues. And the AiMesh rollout across many models has had issues. But the concept is appealing and viable, imo, and the performance is fine and it's moving forward, best I can tell.

My router Wireless Log records both a 2.4 and a 5.0 GHz wireless backhaul. I believe the system defers to using the faster 5.0 GHz backhaul. The backhaul signal and speeds vary with distance and path and ambient conditions. Mine is not great, but good enough to deliver ISP speeds of 115/12 to wireless clients on the node, 77' away, through the kitchen, from the brick house to the detached brick garage.

OE

 

[Chrisgtl]

Used AC86s have a poor track record. There are probably still 2018 models floating around and the the 2018 models have a poor reliability record.

If you must buy a used AC86 be sure you have the ability to return it.

Thanks for the heads-up. The seller confirmed their 86U was bought from Amazon May 2018 so I left it well alone. The winning bid was quite close to the price of a new unit so I'll keep reading and watching out for stocks returning to the UK.

 

[Chrisgtl]

Just to add closure to this thread. Bought a second hand 86U (manufactoring date 2019) and set it up as a AiMESH. Full 5GHz signal at the far end of the garden now. Only had it setup for 3 hours so far but not one dropout (Got my Sonos streaming Radio 2).

Very happy with the results. Perfect!