Need Advice for AiMesh with AC86U primary with two AC68U nodes

[JT Strickland]

OE, I just saw your decimal point. I didn't realize you could put decimals in there. Unless that is the decimal point after the 192.168.1(.) I bet that is what that is. And, I thought you had said that came from Merlin. I didn't mean to give undue credit. I thought I was quoting you on that. I must have misread, and I apologize.

Smokin, I will give that a shot, but I want to give the Aimesh the "old college try". It is a bit much with the two routers, but since I had them, I wanted to try and see how they would do. I got a helluva signal at the house, I guarantee you that. I had said earlier that I may put one of the pair of 68U's in the closet in case one of the others quit. I don't see how wireless could improve over an ethernet cable, either, but maybe it could complement it, I don't know. Sounds like you have already been through it and know what is best for your situation, which is similar to mine. If I try for myself and it don't work, I will remember and learn from it. Not only will I give your advice consideration, I will definitely give it a try. I almost started out that way after I got the RT-AC86U.

thanks again to everybody,
jts

 

[OzarkEdge]

I got a helluva signal at the house, I guarantee you that. I had said earlier that I may put one of the pair of 68U's in the closet in case one of the others quit.

Some WiFi considerations:

You probably only need one node at the house. The 68U upstairs only needs to cover the 1200 sq. ft. lower level. Too much signal can be detrimental. A secondary consideration might be where you need LAN/wired connections, such as for a media center on the ground level.

If you use all three nodes, you might consider lowering the Tx power a notch. I assume this extends to all nodes. The 86U signal at full power will easily reach the house.

Be sure to use a non-radar sensitive high channel 149 or above for the 5 GHz radio.

OE

 

[JT Strickland]

Yes, sir, I got it on channel 149. There's another faint channel there too, but 149 appears to have the least interference with other wifi's. I was considering toning it down to 40 Ghz, but I think you are talking about the power slide at the bottom of the wireless professional page. Maybe bump it down to 60% or 75%?

I wondered if the nodes mirrored whatever settings that the AC86U has. Probably so, or the ones that they can mirror, since there's no way to control them otherwise. They obviously inherit the radio channel settings, network data, etc. The 2.4 Ghz is busier, but I only have one client on it, a printer.

I will probably take out the last node in the chain after I finish testing, depending on what I find. I know that it may be just as good, maybe better, to configure as Smokin' did, but I kind of like the single network (or double, counting the 2.4 and 5), because if I walk from the house to the office, and back, it picks up and keeps on cooking and I don't even notice. It may be better in the long run, don't know yet.

thanks,
jts

 

[OzarkEdge]

Yes, sir, I got it on channel 149. There's another faint channel there too, but 149 appears to have the least interference with other wifi's. I was considering toning it down to 40 Ghz, but I think you are talking about the power slide at the bottom of the wireless professional page. Maybe bump it down to 60% or 75%?

I wondered if the nodes mirrored whatever settings that the AC86U has. Probably so, or the ones that they can mirror, since there's no way to control them otherwise. They obviously inherit the radio channel settings, network data, etc. The 2.4 Ghz is busier, but I only have one client on it, a printer.

I will probably take out the last node in the chain after I finish testing, depending on what I find. I know that it may be just as good, maybe better, to configure as Smokin' did, but I kind of like the single network (or double, counting the 2.4 and 5), because if I walk from the house to the office, and back, it picks up and keeps on cooking and I don't even notice. It may be better in the long run, don't know yet.

thanks,
jts

The 5.0 GHz high channels 149 or above have the most Tx power (usually this is desirable), and will not be sensitive to any nearby radar. You can leave the 80MHz bandwidth.

Leave the full Tx power until you have had some time to observe how your wireless clients behave. You might find your clients connecting to the 86U in the office when sitting on your front porch... when sitting on your neighbor's front porch!

If your AiMesh works and your wireless clients are happy... everything just seems to work ok, then I doubt you will have to consider wired APs. The intent of AiMesh is to perform better than APs, otherwise what's the point. When it does, I see no reason to give it up.

OE

 

[JT Strickland]

I am going to give it a good trial and try to give it some good tests.

One thing I haven't mentioned, I live within a stone's throw (when I was younger) to a small county airport with a runway about a mile long. While the FBO at the airport doesn't have radar, I am sure some of the planes do. There are a couple of jets that home here, a lear type and a little larger one, so that may have some impact.

I was disappointed before and thought to trash the Aimesh, but the majority of what I was seeing was slow processor speed with a VPN. This was new to me too, so I didn't have a clue what it would do, or supposed to do. The AC68U's were actually doing a pretty good job by themselves, but I didn't know it. And I had a bad cable to my tablet that threw another variable into the equation.

I am currently getting 250/10 Mbs from my ISP, and the two firesticks will only do about 10% of the download speed, or about 25/10 Mbs with the VPN app, and close to 100/10 without. It was nearly the same when I had the two 68U's, and with the 75/5 ISP package. A Fire HD 8 gen 6 is similar to the firesticks, as is my desk/ field tablet that has an older processor. The iPhones and iPad will smoke, about the same as my PC (plus or minus 200/10 Mbs with VPN app, 255/10 Mbs without). Maybe a newer model like the 4k firestick would do better.

thanks again,
jts