Is it possible to build a Wifi Mesh with a different brand of Router?

[Logi]

I have another brand that I would like to connect to

 

[drinkingbird]

I have another brand that I would like to connect to

Only by using WPS which is an antiquated and slow technology.

Just run the other brand in access point mode and configure it independently. You can still use features like roaming assistant on the asus (and on the other brand if it supports it).

 

[L&LD]

If you want to use the Guest Network 1 throughout the area, no.

What router do you have? What firmware is it running? What 'other brand' router are you considering?

 

[bbunge]

Only by using WPS which is an antiquated and slow technology.

Just run the other brand in access point mode and configure it independently. You can still use features like roaming assistant on the asus (and on the other brand if it supports it).

As I remember from long ago WDS, not WPS, requires like hardware. I had several WRT54G routers in a WDS network that did what I need it to do.

 

[Logi]

If you want to use the Guest Network 1 throughout the area, no.

What router do you have? What firmware is it running? What 'other brand' router are you considering?

The other router is a T-Mobile Home Internet Sagemcom 5688W, that is located on one corner of the house to get good signal, I cannot run an ethernet cable from there, so my idea is to connect it via Wifi to my RT-AX88U who is the main router of the house, I will be using the Wifi from the Sagemcom 5688W to send the signal to the AX88U then the AX88U distribute the main Wifi signals (different SSID than the Sagemcom 5688W) to the house, is this even possible?

 

[bbunge]

The other router is a T-Mobile Home Internet Sagemcom 5688W, that is located on one corner of the house to get good signal, I cannot run an ethernet cable from there, so my idea is to connect it via Wifi to my RT-AX88U who is the main router of the house, I will be using the Wifi from the Sagemcom 5688W to send the signal to the AX88U then the AX88U distribute the main Wifi signals (different SSID than the Sagemcom 5688W) to the house, is this even possible?

With the hardware you have now, no. Set up another router as a media bridge to connect to the 5688w and connect the AX88U to the media bridge. Use the AX88U as an access point.
Better to figure out how to run a cable, though.

 

[Tech9]

I will be using the Wifi from the Sagemcom 5688W to send the signal to the AX88U then the AX88U distribute the main Wifi signals

Only if you use your Asus as a Repeater. If you have another wireless bridge to receive the signal from your ISP router - possible to use your Asus in Router mode, but this Wi-Fi WAN won't be reliable, will have increased latency and variable throughput. It also has to be on different channels than your Asus. I don't think you are going to be very happy with this setup in a long run.

 

[drinkingbird]

As I remember from long ago WDS, not WPS, requires like hardware. I had several WRT54G routers in a WDS network that did what I need it to do.

Typo. WDS can work between brands, some are doing proprietary special setups but plain old slow WDS should interoperate. Always did back when it was relevant. But a repeater will be faster than WDS these days.

 

[Logi]

Only if you use your Asus as a Repeater. If you have another wireless bridge to receive the signal from your ISP router - possible to use your Asus in Router mode, but this Wi-Fi WAN won't be reliable, will have increased latency and variable throughput. It also has to be on different channels than your Asus. I don't think you are going to be very happy with this setup in a long run.

I was thinking on the Wireless Repeater mode, I will try to use a long ethernet cable to connect them better

 

[Tech9]

Repeater will cut the throughput to connected to it devices in half due to retransmissions. Find a way to run a cable.

 

[drinkingbird]

I was thinking on the Wireless Repeater mode, I will try to use a long ethernet cable to connect them better

If you have coax between the two areas, get a couple MOCA adapters. Far better than running repeater mode.

The other option (I think already mentioned) is to connect two routers together at the "remote" location, run one in media bridge (aka ethernet bridge) mode and the other in AP mode. That effectively gets you a dual radio AP and won't cut your throughput in half. Though wireless backhaul is still not the preferred method if you can avoid it.

Not sure if a dual radio Asus will let you run repeater mode with backhaul on one radio and clients on the other, without using AiMesh. I don't think so but could be wrong. @Tech9 probably knows. If so, that may be a good solution for you.

But the coax with MOCA may be your best bet.

 

[Logi]

If you have coax between the two areas, get a couple MOCA adapters. Far better than running repeater mode.

The other option (I think already mentioned) is to connect two routers together at the "remote" location, run one in media bridge (aka ethernet bridge) mode and the other in AP mode. That effectively gets you a dual radio AP and won't cut your throughput in half. Though wireless backhaul is still not the preferred method if you can avoid it.

Not sure if a dual radio Asus will let you run repeater mode with backhaul on one radio and clients on the other, without using AiMesh. I don't think so but could be wrong. @Tech9 probably knows. If so, that may be a good solution for you.

But the coax with MOCA may be your best bet.

I was thinking on setting up an AX86U close to the T-Mobile Home Internet gateway (with Wifi disabled, only being use with Ethernet), and connected via Ethernet the two of them, (T-Mobile Gateway + AX86U), then the AX86U will be the main router in the Asus AiMesh, then I will setup the AX88U as the satellite AiMesh using the Asus Mesh technology.

Will that setup be better (more performance) than the media bridge and AP mode? Thank you

 

[drinkingbird]

I was thinking on setting up an AX86U close to the T-Mobile Home Internet gateway (with Wifi disabled, only being use with Ethernet), and connected via Ethernet the two of them, (T-Mobile Gateway + AX86U), then the AX86U will be the main router in the Asus AiMesh, then I will setup the AX88U as the satellite AiMesh using the Asus Mesh technology.

Will that setup be better (more performance) than the media bridge and AP mode? Thank you

Both the 86 and 88 only have one 5ghz band so they will act as a repeater even in aimesh. You could use 5ghz for backhaul and 2.4 for clients but that will severely impact your performance, probably even worse than repeating the 5ghz.

In this case, having one running in media bridge mode connected to the other running in AP mode should be faster than aimesh with wireless backhaul. The only way to get full wireless throughput (in the setup you propose) is with a tri band Asus router where you can dedicate one 5ghz signal for the backhaul (the tri band would have to be the node, main router can be normal 2 band like the 86 or 88).

Is MOCA not an option (no coax between the two points)?

 

[Logi]

Both the 86 and 88 only have one 5ghz band so they will act as a repeater even in aimesh. You could use 5ghz for backhaul and 2.4 for clients but that will severely impact your performance, probably even worse than repeating the 5ghz.

In this case, having one running in media bridge mode connected to the other running in AP mode should be faster than aimesh with wireless backhaul. The only way to get full wireless throughput (in the setup you propose) is with a tri band Asus router where you can dedicate one 5ghz signal for the backhaul (the tri band would have to be the node, main router can be normal 2 band like the 86 or 88).

Is MOCA not an option (no coax between the two points)?

Yes MOCA is an option, I am worried that it will be the same as the Powerlink devices where the real speed is much less than advertised, I need at least 500Mbps on the Ethernet cable between the MOCA end points, is that achievable?

 

[drinkingbird]

Yes MOCA is an option, I am worried that it will be the same as the Powerlink devices where the real speed is much less than advertised, I need at least 500Mbps on the Ethernet cable between the MOCA end points, is that achievable?

MOCA is leaps and bounds better than powerline.

1G or more should be attainable pretty easily as long as your COAX is decent. Ideally, if you can isolate a run of coax for use only for MOCA (not connected to anything else) you'll have a connection that is nearly as good as straight ethernet cable (probably even equivalent to ethernet). Even if you can't isolate it, shouldn't have any issue exceeding 500M or even 1G as long as it doesn't run through a bunch of splitters and is set up properly.

Wireless backhaul in repeater mode you're probably not going to get 500M on AX unless you can manage to get a stable 160mhz channel and the distance is fairly small with minimal obstructions. Even in the media bridge setup, getting and maintaining that speed may be difficult, depending on distance and obstacles, noise in your area, etc. It is doable, but will probably be a bit of a headache.

MOCA is definitely the way to go if you can do it, and cheaper than buying a second Asus. Especially if you can set up a dedicated run of coax, you can get 2 gigs or more (obviously if you have 1G ports on the devices it connects to you'll be limited to that).

 

[Logi]

MOCA is leaps and bounds better than powerline.

1G or more should be attainable pretty easily as long as your COAX is decent. Ideally, if you can isolate a run of coax for use only for MOCA (not connected to anything else) you'll have a connection that is nearly as good as straight ethernet cable (probably even equivalent to ethernet). Even if you can't isolate it, shouldn't have any issue exceeding 500M or even 1G as long as it doesn't run through a bunch of splitters and is set up properly.

Wireless backhaul in repeater mode you're probably not going to get 500M on AX unless you can manage to get a stable 160mhz channel and the distance is fairly small with minimal obstructions. Even in the media bridge setup, getting and maintaining that speed may be difficult, depending on distance and obstacles, noise in your area, etc. It is doable, but will probably be a bit of a headache.

MOCA is definitely the way to go if you can do it, and cheaper than buying a second Asus. Especially if you can set up a dedicated run of coax, you can get 2 gigs or more (obviously if you have 1G ports on the devices it connects to you'll be limited to that).

This setup will be a straight coaxial cabled between the two MOCA devices, nothing in between, only a joint that I have to do, because the cables arrive at a central patch panel where I will have to bridge the two rooms, I would assume the bridge/joint will not cause major degradation

 

[drinkingbird]

This setup will be a straight coaxial cabled between the two MOCA devices, nothing in between, only a joint that I have to do, because the cables arrive at a central patch panel where I will have to bridge the two rooms, I would assume the bridge/joint will not cause major degradation

No as long as the coupler isn't some 20 year old POS (and if it is, get a replacement for a dollar or whatever), you should have no issue running 2.5Gig moca over that. That is definitely your solution. Actiontec and Gocoax seem to be the brands of choice but hitron, Asus, and some others seem to work fine too. May want to pop into the MOCA forum and see what recommendations are in there.

RG6 Tri or Quad shield is best but even RG58/59 should be able to sustain a gig or more (probably 2.5 even) on a dedicated run.

 

[Logi]

No as long as the coupler isn't some 20 year old POS (and if it is, get a replacement for a dollar or whatever), you should have no issue running 2.5Gig moca over that. That is definitely your solution. Actiontec and Gocoax seem to be the brands of choice but hitron, Asus, and some others seem to work fine too. May want to pop into the MOCA forum and see what recommendations are in there.

RG6 Tri or Quad shield is best but even RG58/59 should be able to sustain a gig or more (probably 2.5 even) on a dedicated run.

I bought this one at Amazon, I hope they are good:

ScreenBeam Bonded MoCA 2.5 Network Adapter for Highest Speed Internet, Ethernet Over Coax - Starter Kit (Model: ECB7250K02) https://a.co/d/2xfg1St

 

[CaptainSTX]

I bought this one at Amazon, I hope they are good:

ScreenBeam Bonded MoCA 2.5 Network Adapter for Highest Speed Internet, Ethernet Over Coax - Starter Kit (Model: ECB7250K02) https://a.co/d/2xfg1St

I have no personal experience with this item however take note that Amazon has a warning note on this item's listing that this is a frequently returned item.

 

[Logi]

I have no personal experience with this item however take note that Amazon has a warning note on this item's listing that this is a frequently returned item.

MOCA installed, works great, fantastic suggestion, thank you all!!!