[Official Beta] AiMesh beta firmware for RT-AC68U/RT-AC86U/RT-AC5300/RT-AC88U

[Mic]

It look like based on prior information either band can be used for backhaul and the router chooses the better one. We don't have clear answers yet for other parts of my question.

Would appreciate it if Wilson could reply to the following recent query. Thanks.

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Wilson:
Can you explain the backhaul portion of the technology? For wireless connections between router and node, does it use the 5 or 2.4 GHz? For the node, is it effectively a repeater and so the throughput is cut by half? I assume that there will be no throughput penalty with wired backhaul, is that correct?

 

[Wilson_Deng]

I haven't seen this answered anywhere yet -- can AiMesh be enabled with the primary device in AP mode?

I would like to set this up with a pfSense router feeding two AC68R's operating as access points. Everything I have seen regarding AiMesh refers to setting up the "primary router" and then the other devices as nodes. I'm not sure if this is because the primary device has to be operating as a router, or because that's just the most common configuration.

AiMesh router (primary) could be work in AP mode.

 

[mgeoffriau]

AiMesh router (primary) could be work in AP mode.

Excellent, that's great to hear. I saw that it was a possibility in early alpha but wasn't sure if it had made the cut.

As an aside, I'd like to extend my thanks for ASUS's involvement with the enthusiast market -- definitely puts the company #1 for me when considering purchases.

 

[drabisan]

Hi,

Basically no matter tri-band to be primary or secondary are both ok to use.
why suggested to put tri-band to secondary is there will be a dedicated backhaul to connect to primary, so will not degrade speed for clients link to secondary lot.
if you only have 1 tri and 1 dual, we suggest this.
if you have 2 tri, would be better for sure.

Thank you for insight! Really useful!

As I can good quality ethernet in my house, I think/hope primary will choose wired to connect to node/slave. 5GHz wifi works between 2 locations, but it's -75-76dB so borderline coverage with slow speed. Solution should not choose wifi in such case, as it will have a full 1gbps link to use.

 

[effortless]

I had setup an RT-AC3100 and two RT-AC68Us as nodes. Yesterday, the RT-AC3100 started acting up worse than it has been. Before it was dropping clients on wifi on and off, but yesterday, it was as if the Wi-Fi was off although all the Wi-Fi lights were active. I tried turning the Wi-Fi off or the LEDs off using the hardware buttons, but that did not work either. I was able to login to the router through LAN connection. I did see one of the two nodes is missing as well. Only hard reset was able to bring Wi-Fi back up on RT-AC3100.

 

[arthurlien]

Thank you for insight! Really useful!

As I can good quality ethernet in my house, I think/hope primary will choose wired to connect to node/slave. 5GHz wifi works between 2 locations, but it's -75-76dB so borderline coverage with slow speed. Solution should not choose wifi in such case, as it will have a full 1gbps link to use.

You can choose the ethernet manual.

 

[drabisan]

It looks like "Tri-band models are now in early beta stage." means there's no "Find AiMesh node" in the status page.
I just received my new GT-AC5300, install the beta firmware on it, but I can't find any trace of AiMesh setting on it. For refference see attached image.
I upgraded my RT-AC68U to corresponding firmware and setting is there.

It looks like until the beta grows a bit, I have to have 68U as router and GT-AC5300 as node.

 

[thg0432]

Hi,

Basically no matter tri-band to be primary or secondary are both ok to use.
why suggested to put tri-band to secondary is there will be a dedicated backhaul to connect to primary, so will not degrade speed for clients link to secondary lot.
if you only have 1 tri and 1 dual, we suggest this.
if you have 2 tri, would be better for sure.

Are there plans for other triband models besides the 5300's? I was hoping to not have to shell out another $300+ dollars...

 

[drabisan]

Granted, 68U as router and GT-AC5300 as node, works. It detects by itself Ethernet in between and roaming is actually impressive!
A good/bad aspect: I have a static 5GHz channel setup on 68U, channel 60. For some reason it chose 100. Not bad, it works, is interference free. But I don't actually understand the logic behind.
AC5300 chooses 40. Why? I can't really tell. There's no option to choose the channel for node.

And really bad: on 68U I have channel width 20/40/80. And it successfully negotiate 80MHz. But for some reason AC5300 chooses 20MHz spacing. And that's bad at so many levels.

I do understand it's a beta software, early beta. I'll submit feedback through router interface also. This is just a forum.

 

[effortless]

I wasn't able to login to my router (RT-AC3100), I couldn't click on the username or password form. I was receiving an error:
"Note: the router you are using is not an ASUS device or has not been authorized by ASUS. ASUSWRT might not work properly on this device." I had to hard reset. Has anyone seen this before?!

 

[arthurlien]

I wasn't able to login to my router (RT-AC3100), I couldn't click on the username or password form. I was receiving an error:
"Note: the router you are using is not an ASUS device or has not been authorized by ASUS. ASUSWRT might not work properly on this device." I had to hard reset. Has anyone seen this before?!

View attachment 11005

You are using the FW version is RT-AC3100_9.0.0.4_382_18943-g5cf14d5. is't correct ?

 

[effortless]

You are using the FW version is RT-AC3100_9.0.0.4_382_18943-g5cf14d5. is't correct ?

Yes, that's correct. First and only AiMesh firmware for the RT-AC3100 that I saw available.

 

[Stephen Harrington]

AiMesh router (primary) could be work in AP mode.

Hi Wilson or anyone else who may care to chime in!

I have an RT-AC86U arriving to be my main house router, but it will have Wifi disabled because it’s basically in a concrete box with the cable modem away from the areas that need coverage. Want the horse-power for VPNs etc. It will run Merlin firmware for features I need.

My intention then was to have 3 or 4 RT-AC68U units in AP mode all on wired gigabit runs back to the main AC86U. They can all run the stock AIMesh firmware.

Am I correct that as long as all the WAN ports of the 3-4 AP units can “see” each other on the network I can then have one Primary and 2-3 Secondary Nodes and run AIMesh once I’ve initially set it up on wireless as per the setup instructions?

StephenH

 

[nightanole]

Hi Wilson or anyone else who may care to chime in!

I have an RT-AC86U arriving to be my main house router, but it will have Wifi disabled because it’s basically in a concrete box with the cable modem away from the areas that need coverage. Want the horse-power for VPNs etc. It will run Merlin firmware for features I need.

My intention then was to have 3 or 4 RT-AC68U units in AP mode all on wired gigabit runs back to the main AC86U. They can all run the stock AIMesh firmware.

Am I correct that as long as all the WAN ports of the 3-4 AP units can “see” each other on the network I can then have one Primary and 2-3 Secondary Nodes and run AIMesh once I’ve initially set it up on wireless as per the setup instructions?

StephenH

You can do what i did, run the AI mesh in AP mode. So have your main router be what ever (merlin, pf sense etc) and have 1 RT-AX68U be the master AI mesh node AP, and it will handle wifi for it and all the nodes. You have to setup one AP as a router first, setup the wifi etc, then put it into AP/ai mesh mode. You are correct that all the notes need to be plugged in via the wan port. The wan port does not have to directly plugged into the master ai mesh AP though, it an go through switches etc.

 

[hotsauce2007]

well,

looks like the japan page has a new tab for AIMESH system, I´ve looked into the USA version and wasn´t able to find it or any reference to it

https://www.asus.com/jp/Networking/RTAC68U/AiMesh/

 

[mgeoffriau]

well,

looks like the japan page has a new tab for AIMESH system, I´ve looked into the USA version and wasn´t able to find it or any reference to it

https://www.asus.com/jp/Networking/RTAC68U/AiMesh/

English language page: https://www.asus.com/aimesh/

 

[arthurlien]

Granted, 68U as router and GT-AC5300 as node, works. It detects by itself Ethernet in between and roaming is actually impressive!
A good/bad aspect: I have a static 5GHz channel setup on 68U, channel 60. For some reason it chose 100. Not bad, it works, is interference free. But I don't actually understand the logic behind.
AC5300 chooses 40. Why? I can't really tell. There's no option to choose the channel for node.

And really bad: on 68U I have channel width 20/40/80. And it successfully negotiate 80MHz. But for some reason AC5300 chooses 20MHz spacing. And that's bad at so many levels.

I do understand it's a beta software, early beta. I'll submit feedback through router interface also. This is just a forum.

The issue can be duplicated and find the solution.

 

[arthurlien]

Yes, that's correct. First and only AiMesh firmware for the RT-AC3100 that I saw available.

The issue can be duplicated. It's looking the solution to fix it.

 

[arthurlien]

It looks like "Tri-band models are now in early beta stage." means there's no "Find AiMesh node" in the status page.
I just received my new GT-AC5300, install the beta firmware on it, but I can't find any trace of AiMesh setting on it. For refference see attached image.
I upgraded my RT-AC68U to corresponding firmware and setting is there.

It looks like until the beta grows a bit, I have to have 68U as router and GT-AC5300 as node.

The issue can be duplicated. It's looking the solution to fix it.

 

[Stephen Harrington]

You can do what i did, run the AI mesh in AP mode. So have your main router be what ever (merlin, pf sense etc) and have 1 RT-AX68U be the master AI mesh node AP, and it will handle wifi for it and all the nodes. You have to setup one AP as a router first, setup the wifi etc, then put it into AP/ai mesh mode. You are correct that all the notes need to be plugged in via the wan port. The wan port does not have to directly plugged into the master ai mesh AP though, it an go through switches etc.

Thanks for that reply, was hoping something like that would work. I’m still unclear from your reply on one thing. Do the wired connections from the WAN ports of my 3 slave AIMesh AP nodes need to end up (via switches etc) into a LAN port on my master AIMesh AP, and then WAN port of master AIMesh unit connects to whatever router I am using?

Or can all 4 WAN ports of the AIMesh APs (master and slaves) be wired to the main house router, like you would do if you weren’t using AI mesh?

This will make a big difference to how I situate things and cable them.

StephenH