I have had my fill of the XT8 ignoring the 5GHz-2 backhaul as an AiMesh node...

[SolidSonicTH]

This problem NEVER goes away and I'm tired of fighting with it.

I'm going to attempt a couple more things but I'm also looking forward at this point. Can anyone recommend an alternate router that works well as an AiMesh node? I liked the firmware fidelity I got from the XT8 as an AiMesh node, I just can't stand how I cannot tell it to just IGNORE the 2.4GHz band for the backhaul (like use the 5GHz-2 as a backhaul or don't even connect), so I'd like a router that has similar functionality when it's a node. I don't mind the XT8 I use as a primary node but as an AiMesh satellite node it has been nothing but annoyance after annoyance. The AX56U and AC68P both stay stable on 5GHz but I guess those don't have to try to interact with the backhaul the way the XT8 does.

I was looking at some of the ROG Rapture routers as a possible alternative. Do they need to be tri-band to have the dedicated backhaul property of the XT8 or does that only matter to the main node?

 

[kildare]

I originally had a 6 nodes AiMesh network (AP mode, 1 main XT8 and 5 XT8 nodes, mixed wired and wireless backhaul).

Tired of backhaul instability regardless of any firmware version, about 6 months ago I replaced the XT8 main node with a GT-AX11000 Pro.
Since then all backhauls are stable and always reported as Great, never rebooted any of the nodes till today!!

 

[SolidSonicTH]

I originally had a 6 nodes AiMesh network (AP mode, 1 main XT8 and 5 XT8 nodes, mixed wired and wireless backhaul).

Tired of backhaul instability regardless of any firmware version, about 6 months ago I replaced the XT8 main node with a GT-AX11000 Pro.
Since then all backhauls are stable and always reported as Great, never rebooted any of the nodes till today!!

Hm...so you replaced the main node.

Problem I'm seeing from that picture is that router lacks some of the stuff I use on my XT8, particularly the VPN server, unless it's stored somewhere else.

 

[Tech9]

This router has VPN client/server and can do about 4x faster VPN than your XT8.

 

[kildare]

Problem I'm seeing from that picture is that router lacks some of the stuff I use on my XT8, particularly the VPN server, unless it's stored somewhere else.

As I'm using the AiMesh in AP mode, no VPN settings are available on the main node.
To connect to Internet I use a business grade VPN multiwan firewall/router.

 

[SolidSonicTH]

What are the notable differences between the AX11000 and its Pro equivalent? I see that it has double the number of LAN ports but besides that they're mostly similar?

 

[kildare]

For ex. see here:

Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 vs Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Pro: What is the difference?

What is the difference between Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Pro and Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX11000? Find out which is better and their overall performance in the router ranking.

versus.com

 

[glens]

This problem NEVER goes away and I'm tired of fighting with it.

I absolutely love my XT8s, but I've got better purpose for the very good 5-2 radios than as a backhaul. Wire is cheap as well as 100% effective and reliable.

Are you using UNII-4 for DFS-free backhaul, if you can? The only other option I see to keep the wireless backhaul 100% the way you set it is to back off to 80MHz to keep DFS out of the loop. I'd guess it's the most-likely source of your issue.

Another possibility is the master unit not knowing about any different interference the node encounters, thus sticking with choices not problemmatic for only the master itself. I don't know how or even if the master gets or considers such environmental information from nodes, thus the conjecture. I only ever briefly toyed with AiMesh. Didn't care for the inflexibility / lack of control as a tradeoff for (some) convenience.

When the node opts for 2.4GHz as the backhaul, does it then stay parked there forever or does it eventually switch back on its own? Or don't you know because upon notice of the situation you immediately start trying to tell it it's wrong for having done so and intervene?

 

[RogerSC]

This problem NEVER goes away and I'm tired of fighting with it.

I'm going to attempt a couple more things but I'm also looking forward at this point. Can anyone recommend an alternate router that works well as an AiMesh node? I liked the firmware fidelity I got from the XT8 as an AiMesh node, I just can't stand how I cannot tell it to just IGNORE the 2.4GHz band for the backhaul (like use the 5GHz-2 as a backhaul or don't even connect), so I'd like a router that has similar functionality when it's a node. I don't mind the XT8 I use as a primary node but as an AiMesh satellite node it has been nothing but annoyance after annoyance. The AX56U and AC68P both stay stable on 5GHz but I guess those don't have to try to interact with the backhaul the way the XT8 does.

I was looking at some of the ROG Rapture routers as a possible alternative. Do they need to be tri-band to have the dedicated backhaul property of the XT8 or does that only matter to the main node?

Wondering if your backhaul reverting to 2.4GHz. is as simple as having the XT8 nodes too far apart? Never had this happen, my nodes are about 40' apart, and always shows "Great" connection. Wireless is variable, and it can look good when you first connect them, but if the wireless varies enough, possibly due to the nodes being too far apart, the mesh will revert to 2.4GHz. for its backhaul.

All nodes in your mesh need to have three radios to get the best wireless backhaul speed.

 

[j4y-t]

Apologies if this is an obvious suggestion, but in addition to the above (DFS channels and nodes too far apart), there's a setting under AiMesh: if you click your XT8 satellite node, then 'Management', you can set Backhaul Connection Priority to "5Ghz-2 Wifi First". Another suggestion is to disable "Roaming Assistant" under Wifi --> Professional for the 5GHz-2 band.

 

[SolidSonicTH]

Apologies if this is an obvious suggestion, but in addition to the above (DFS channels and nodes too far apart), there's a setting under AiMesh: if you click your XT8 satellite node, then 'Management', you can set Backhaul Connection Priority to "5Ghz-2 Wifi First". Another suggestion is to disable "Roaming Assistant" under Wifi --> Professional for the 5GHz-2 band.

I did disable the Roaming Assistant thing. That does help but it isn't a consistent solution and it still kicks over to 2.4GHz.

Anyway I got myself an AX11000 Pro at the earlier recommendation and will be converting the root XT8 to a satellite node. I had to disable Roaming Assistant on the NEW router's 5GHz-2 band too because even with this it defaulted to 2.4GHz but after doing that it at least was on 5GHz but we'll have to see how well it performs once it's actually in the environment. Not ENTIRELY full of confidence but hopefully this will be the final frontier (at least until such time that I can affordably convert the whole shebang to Wifi 7, I suppose).

I absolutely love my XT8s, but I've got better purpose for the very good 5-2 radios than as a backhaul. Wire is cheap as well as 100% effective and reliable.

Are you using UNII-4 for DFS-free backhaul, if you can? The only other option I see to keep the wireless backhaul 100% the way you set it is to back off to 80MHz to keep DFS out of the loop. I'd guess it's the most-likely source of your issue.

Another possibility is the master unit not knowing about any different interference the node encounters, thus sticking with choices not problemmatic for only the master itself. I don't know how or even if the master gets or considers such environmental information from nodes, thus the conjecture. I only ever briefly toyed with AiMesh. Didn't care for the inflexibility / lack of control as a tradeoff for (some) convenience.

When the node opts for 2.4GHz as the backhaul, does it then stay parked there forever or does it eventually switch back on its own? Or don't you know because upon notice of the situation you immediately start trying to tell it it's wrong for having done so and intervene?

I only ever notice it's fallen to 2.4GHz when I notice my network performance becoming unbearably grind-y. Even at 2.4GHz I SHOULD be able to get decent bandwidth but whenever the node falls to 2.4GHz it also becomes noticeably sluggish in addition to just being slower. Sometimes it rights itself but oftentimes it just lands there and stays there.

I'm wondering if the location I'm running it out of has some sort of external interference that disrupts the 5GHz band but I have other AiMesh nodes and devices that can consistently hang on the 5GHz band without falling off it so the problem seems to be specifically with the XT8s' ability to communicate with each other.

 

[sfx2000]

Anyway I got myself an AX11000 Pro at the earlier recommendation

So you spent $400USD based on a forum recommendation... I suppose that might be a challenge to the spouse/life partner...

HW rarely solves the problem... the HW you had was just fine, IMHO...

Have you considered where your AIMesh nodes are relative to each other?

That is where one of two problems are - the other is the clients themselves - and they have their own behavior about what to do...

 

[SolidSonicTH]

So you spent $400USD based on a forum recommendation... I suppose that might be a challenge to the spouse/life partner...

HW rarely solves the problem... the HW you had was just fine, IMHO...

Have you considered where your AIMesh nodes are relative to each other?

That is where one of two problems are - the other is the clients themselves - and they have their own behavior about what to do...

I did this based on the belief that the XT8s have crap antennas. This thing has antennas all the way around it so I can't blame the antennas on this one if there are 5GHz drops.

The XT8 nodes were about 80 feet away from each other across a couple of walls (they're at opposite ends of a single-floor condo unit). I had also added an 802.11ax node between the two XT8s that I was trying to use as a signal booster to help them out to talk to each other but that still didn't create consistent results (my hope was that if the XT8s can't get a strong 5GHz signal between themselves the satellite node would hop onto the AX56U to get to the router in order to stay at 5GHz).

Also I have read stories of people whose XT8s were in the same room as each other with open air and still couldn't negotiate a 5GHz signal between them. Seeing as this new router still had to have Roaming Assistant turned off for the 5GHz-2 band in order for the XT8 to talk to it at 5GHz I can believe that is possible and that even this may not solve the issue but I'm out of ideas on how to get the XT8s to stay at a consistent rate regardless (I have had issues with the XT8s I run at my house as well in the past and they were closer than the two at the condo but as of late they do seem to stay consistently 5GHz, along with the rest of my AiMesh network here).

 

[sfx2000]

did this based on the belief that the XT8s have crap antennas. This thing has antennas all the way around it so I can't blame the antennas on this one if there are 5GHz drops.

The XT8 nodes were about 80 feet away from each other across a couple of walls (they're at opposite ends of a single-floor condo unit). I had also added an 802.11ax node between the two XT8s that I was trying to use as a signal booster to help them out to talk to each other but that didn't create consistent results.

Physics rock - you've got a couple of high power nodes close to each other...

Can't say the clients can tell one from the other...

You've got too much radio action happening - each 2.4GHz radio can easily cover 1500 sq ft with good performance, and 5Ghz - 750 sq ft with very good radios...

Put too many AP's in what is likely a 1000-1500 sq ft flat - well, that's the problem - sometimes less is more...

 

[sfx2000]

XT8s have crap antennas.

No - they don't - they are just fine, and meet regulatory ends with FCC, EU-RED, and other agencis...

 

[SolidSonicTH]

Well I started with only two but that wasn't getting a clean signal either so I was assuming I needed something to bridge the hop between the two nodes.

Also at this point, with JUST the root node and literally nothing else, my PC over Wifi 6 only gets around 200 Mb/s (it's in the same place as the far node) so it does need something to help it along. That airgap is not ideal for whatever the signal is between those two endpoints.

Besides, replacing the main router will also motivate me to do some network redesign separate from the signal consistency issues that I wasn't getting around to because it was "just working" already.

 

[glens]

I was satisfied with the performance of two XT8s in my usage, except for not being able to link them over 2.5Gb ethernet. So on a great sale price I picked up a GT-AX6000 to use as the router instead. The GT has excellent radios, but so are the XT's 5-2 radios. In fact I see little difference. Even the XT's 5-1 are good: I've found them usable through many interior walls (at oblique angle) plus exterior brick, plus a wall of American pine trees.

It's a relatively simple matter to run ethernet between the units if they're on interior walls and you have access to the attic above or an unfinished basement below. It gets more complex otherwise, but still worth the effort. That's were I recommend you spend your next networking money.

 

[PureSpeed]

This is what I did with my set up I have GT-AXE16000 as my primary and 2 XT8’s as nodes in a 3500sq foot house. I got a price quote to switch all my coax over to Cat 6 and the price was ridiculous if I could do it myself it would’ve of been fine but for health reasons I couldn’t so what I did was using my existing coax went with moca’s for 125 bucks I got my XT8’s wired backhaul and they have been rocksolid for a year now. The XT8’s can be annoying at times in a wireless backhaul it’s been well documented my point is if you can try moca’s for a wired backhaul and see what happens the ole saying goes toss something till it sticks and my setup stuck for cheap. Happy Holidays

 

[Jaded5542]

This is what I did with my set up I have GT-AXE16000 as my primary and 2 XT8’s as nodes in a 3500sq foot house. I got a price quote to switch all my coax over to Cat 6 and the price was ridiculous if I could do it myself it would’ve of been fine but for health reasons I couldn’t so what I did was using my existing coax went with moca’s for 125 bucks I got my XT8’s wired backhaul and they have been rocksolid for a year now. The XT8’s can be annoying at times in a wireless backhaul it’s been well documented my point is if you can try moca’s for a wired backhaul and see what happens the ole saying goes toss something till it sticks and my setup stuck for cheap. Happy Holidays

Probs cheaper just to use those Coax converter kits?

 

[PureSpeed]

Probs cheaper just to use those Coax converter kits?

You talking about the F female to RJ45 Male coaxial adapters? If so no they break easily and I mean extremely easy. Moca’s yea can be pricey but evilbay you can get them on the cheap used with the power adapters my 2 ECB7250 2.5GB adapters were 125.00 out the door taxes and shipping