Need help designing & building AIMESH system

[Osage]

Presently I have a 1 node - 1 router aimesh system. The node is my old Asus RT-AC88U and my router is my new Asus GT-BE98 Pro. It works well but I need to set up a 2 node - 1 router aimesh system so as to obtain greater range. The nodes will/are connected to the router via wifi. Which Asus should I purchase to use as another node? Should I ditch my old RT-AC88U and purchase two similar nodes. (For background/design info I need the extention converage to connect to security & smart home devices which primarily want 2.5GHz.) Thanks for your suggestoins in advance.

 

[drabisan]

Not an easy call considering you need backhaul to be wireless. Can you please define what "greater range" means for you? In 2.4, in 5 or in 6GHz?
GT-BE98 Pro has only 1 5GHz radio but 2 6GHz radios.
6GHz will have shorter range, but it will do as a great backhaul - I would still favour an cable as a backhaul.
I would guess today you're using 5GHz radio as backhaul, that will have to be shared between clients and backhaul. It will work, but not great - think a client attached to 5GHz on node - it will send the frame to the node, radio will have to get clear for the node to send the frame to router.

It seems you must have a radio backhaul. And a dedicated radio would be the best option - not to share the same radio resource between clients and backhaul.

If you have the option to proceed with a dedicated 6GHz radio as backhaul, that would work.
But:
- AC88U can't be in that picture
- expensive to have 3 GT-BE98 Pro, but that would be the best option IMHO
- problematic on how much 5GHz radio between router+2 nodes will overlap and interfere eachother - more than likely a lot!

 

[Osage]

Yes, I require a wireless backhaul. Presently, as you surmised, the 5GHz radio is the backhaul. There is approximately 48 feet between the router and the present node. I would like to extend that by about 36 feet, but at about a 135 degree angle—like this.

Also presently I need Node 2 to be primarily responsible for 2.5GHz radio transmission.

Question: What if I had a triband with two 5GHz radios at Node 1(like the GT-AX11000) and moved the RT-AC88U to Node 2? Would that work?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome.

 

[Tech9]

Should I ditch my old RT-AC88U and purchase two similar nodes.

Yes, if you want Asuswrt 5.0 features to nodes you need nodes running on Asuswrt 5.0 firmware. For wireless backhaul it better be dedicated. This means you need multi-band router, this means your options are more GT-BE98 Pro or at least GT-AX11000 Pro. Quite expensive for non-guaranteed wireless backhaul results. Your entire system performance depends on current Wi-Fi environment conditions. This can be solved with 6GHz wireless backhaul, but it has less range, your routers have to be closer and the price goes even higher. I personally wouldn't do it with early Wi-Fi 7 products.

 

[Osage]

Question: What about using the GT-BE98 Pro as the router and then using either 2 Asus ZenWiFi BQ 16 Pro's or 2 ZenWiFi Pro ET12 as the nodes (dumping the RT-AC88U). Would that work? And be a reasonable fix...or should I just give it up for awhile as suggested by Tech9?

 

[OzarkEdge]

Question: What about using the GT-BE98 Pro as the router and then using either 2 Asus ZenWiFi BQ 16 Pro's or 2 ZenWiFi Pro ET12 as the nodes (dumping the RT-AC88U). Would that work? And be a reasonable fix...or should I just give it up for awhile as suggested by Tech9?

You could run a second AiMesh in AP Mode... if that would help slice and dice the modelware.

AiMesh1 in Router Mode <wire> AiMesh2 in AP Mode

OE

 

[Tech9]

2 ZenWiFi Pro ET12

This model still runs on Asuswrt 4.0 firmware.

or should I just give it up for awhile

I would wait for better priced and more mature Wi-Fi 7 devices if this is what you want.

 

[Osage]

I have posted in several different forums across the internet but so far have had difficulty obtaining a recommendation about how to build an aimesh 1 router 2 node system using all Asus products. There are a few requirements however.


1. The router must be the Asus GT-BE 98Pro


2. The backhaul must be wireless not cable


3. Node 1 must connect to the router and node 2 must connect to Node 1. (In other words this is not a two router two modem situation)


4. Node 1 and Node 2 can only connect wireless. (Node 2 will not/can not be directly connected to the router either by cable or wifi)


5. Most clients will use 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz


6. Max distances are -- from router to Node 1 no greater than 48 feet; from Node 1 to Node 2 no greater than 36 feet, from Node 2 to router no greater than 78 feet


7. Must use ALL Asus products


8. Although cost is not an issue the most cost effective design is best


YOUR MISSION IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT IS TO DESIGN THE ABOVE

 

[Crimliar]

While it works fine for me, AiMesh is pretty much Plug and Pray. At least with the setup here, if I use the spare node, I can't guarantee that a node will connect to the router or the other node. Then there is the problem of do you need "BE" capable AiMesh nodes? And I probably have a phobia about daisy chaining repeaters of any kind even if AiMesh handles it better than old dumb repeaters used to.
There you go, I've solved nothing and thrown a few new spanners into the works - my day is complete!

 

[Tech9]

I have posted in several different forums across the internet but so far have had difficulty obtaining a recommendation

Most likely because no one with some networking knowledge will recommend Router -> Repeater -> Repeater configuration and less likely with extremely expensive first generation Wi-Fi 7 home routers running firmware on early development stages. Your must be Asus, must be wireless, must be AiMesh requirements in fact kill all available better options right from the start. I have to decline this mission due to low success probabilities.

 

[Osage]

Thanks for the feedback Tech9..I guess I'm back to the drawing board.

 

[Tech9]

First off you have to share some details about your expectations. What speeds, how many clients, what type of clients? Also details about what the place looks like, what building materials, how many walls in between the routers, etc. Without seeing your drawing board we can't make any suggestions. My only advice so far - figure out the infrastructure first, don't invest heavily in consumer products. They are all sort of disposable with few years life cycle.