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

[pete y testing]

just a note here , the 88u and 5300 although the do connect are still in very early stages of beta with stability and throughput issues , the rt-ac68u paired are quite stable on their own , again this is a work in progress and issues like this should be reported so wilson can continue the beta testing

 

[raven-au]

Hi all,

I installed 9.0.0.4_382_17231 on an RT-AC5300 (main) and an RT-AC88U (node) and apart from getting caught by WPS requirement installation went fine.

Unfortunately, I need access the main node via an ethernet connection to the node and that was unusably slow which pretty much put a stop to further usage.

AFAICS there's no way to tell what node clients are connected to and it appears the clients list shows nodes and clients connected to nodes as wired, not certain about that and couldn't leave the setup in place so I can't recheck.

Ian

 

[Keyser-_-soze]

Hi All, knowing that the AC88 and the AC3100 are very similar, do you guys think AC88 firmware could work on AC3100?

 

[RMerlin]

Hi All, knowing that the AC88 and the AC3100 are very similar, do you guys think AC88 firmware could work on AC3100?

It won't, the RT-AC3100 is missing the Realtek switch found on the RT-AC88U. You'll have to wait for an RT-AC3100 build.

 

[Rutger]

i think thats a known issue at this stage

will also kill the link if you change channels in the primary

Just for your information: In the previous version of the firmware (9.0.0.4_382_16443) the guest account can be enabled.
Is it an idea to compile a list of known issues? As you say "it is a known issue" for the latest fw, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

[pete y testing]

you will also find in the new fw you cant access the ip address of the secondary's any more

 

[deep3lue]

When I updated the main AC-68U router to the latest firmware, I couldn't find a clear direction to update the secondary one. However when I found the way (I think since like I said there wasn't a proper direction on how to update the secondary one) the main router ended up no longer have the AiMesh function shown.

I gave up on the beta and went back to the original AP mode.

It worked when it was supposed to but when it came to updating the firmware, the main router doesn't sent a command to update the secondary one and there wasn't a clear set of instructions on how to update the secondary one.

I'll wait for the official firmware to be released instead. Thanks for all the hard work!

 

[Spawn32]

Installed on my 5300 last night, so far so good.
@Wilson_Deng are there plans to support the Google Home like the Alexa, would be really nice

/Spawn

 

[Wilson_Deng]

Installed on my 5300 last night, so far so good.
@Wilson_Deng are there plans to support the Google Home like the Alexa, would be really nice

/Spawn

Hi,

Yes, you nailed it.

 

[Wilson_Deng]

When I updated the main AC-68U router to the latest firmware, I couldn't find a clear direction to update the secondary one. However when I found the way (I think since like I said there wasn't a proper direction on how to update the secondary one) the main router ended up no longer have the AiMesh function shown.

I gave up on the beta and went back to the original AP mode.

It worked when it was supposed to but when it came to updating the firmware, the main router doesn't sent a command to update the secondary one and there wasn't a clear set of instructions on how to update the secondary one.

I'll wait for the official firmware to be released instead. Thanks for all the hard work!

Hi Sir,

Will it possible to have your log and config file for us to debug?

Thanks.

 

[Wilson_Deng]

Installed on my 5300 last night, so far so good.
@Wilson_Deng are there plans to support the Google Home like the Alexa, would be really nice

/Spawn

btw, did you use 5300 to be the primary router? did you add any secondary node?

 

[raven-au]

you will also find in the new fw you cant access the ip address of the secondary's any more

I noticed, that's kind of annoying as it means firing up a Windows machine to run the recovery (I presume) and locating the recovery download, certainly not ok for test and probably questionable for release firmware.
I guess I'll need to locate the recovery download.

 

[iceorbital]

sorry, what's the WPS workarround? I'm trying to connect an ac88u as a node of an ac86u, and the pairing fails with a WPS fail error. Both routers running latest firmware, did perform factory reset on the ac88u (that was previously running merlin, in case it matters)

 

[arthurlien]

sorry, what's the WPS workarround? I'm trying to connect an ac88u as a node of an ac86u, and the pairing fails with a WPS fail error. Both routers running latest firmware, did perform factory reset on the ac88u (that was previously running merlin, in case it matters)

Hi iceorbital,
According to I can't duplicated your issue in my side. Could you try the step as below?
1. backup your ac86u's configuration by web (Administration -> Restore/Save/Upload Settings -> Save.
2. reset default ac86u.
3. Re-Configure ac86u.
4. Add ac88u as node.

Kindly Regards,

Arthur

 

[princi]

I really like this concept from Asus - using old / existing routers to create a mesh solution (if have many Asus routers).

Unfortunately, I have no need for a mesh solution. What I need is an easy way to manage multiple VPN tunnels to various countries - making it super quick & easy to change the tunnel an end device is using.

Alas, very little seems to be out there.

 

[raven-au]

sorry, what's the WPS workarround? I'm trying to connect an ac88u as a node of an ac86u, and the pairing fails with a WPS fail error. Both routers running latest firmware, did perform factory reset on the ac88u (that was previously running merlin, in case it matters)

For me it wasn't so much a workaround as "not disabling WPS" as recommended by the AiProtection check (on the main, ac5300, not the node, ac88u, which was unchanged factory defaults).

I don't really know if what I did changed the defaults, I disabled it as per my normal setup procedure then realized that might be what was causing the WPS fail massage.
I enabled it but I also did something else, so I disabled it again and re-enabled it again and the pairing then worked.

 

[Raphie]

Hi I'm new to the forum, I own a Ac5300 and AC66u
The AC66u is in AP mode and connected via Gbit.
I've got 4 wireless networks this way 5G upstairs and downstairs and 2.4G upstairs and downstairs.
Is my understanding that AImesh is a new standard simmilar to what we already had with wireless bridging? i.e. plant an access point somewhere and it gets added to the wireless pool? The advantage is now central management from the router and the new 802.11s standard, though still losing half the bandwidth on wireless management bridge overhead? Is this understanding correct? Or am I missing something?

 

[RSengine]

@Wilson_Deng I just want to say ASUS is doing an awesome job by taking this consumer-friendly route. This is why I love ASUS. Tell the development team that this is great! Game changer!

I have no incentive to buy any other company’s mesh system now since they all have a limited feature set compared to this. AMAS/AiMesh is the only consumer mesh solution I know of that has OpenVPN, dual WAN, and Ethernet backhaul. I’ll just buy an AC86U now to add to my ASUS routers

One clarification - If this is true mesh function, does this allow dual or multi WAN across different nodes? (i.e. I have a modem in the living room, another modem in the kitchen, and my smartphone as USB modem that I want to keep in my bedroom). How is this done in the UI?

 

[Wilson_Deng]

@Wilson_Deng I just want to say ASUS is doing an awesome job by taking this consumer-friendly route. This is why I love ASUS. Tell the development team that this is great! Game changer!

I have no incentive to buy any other company’s mesh system now since they all have a limited feature set compared to this. AMAS/AiMesh is the only consumer mesh solution I know of that has OpenVPN, dual WAN, and Ethernet backhaul. I’ll just buy an AC86U now to add to my ASUS routers

One clarification - If this is true mesh function, does this allow dual or multi WAN across different nodes? (i.e. I have a modem in the living room, another modem in the kitchen, and my smartphone as USB modem that I want to keep in my bedroom). How is this done in the UI?

Hi Sir,

Thanks for your comment, I will tell development team definitely.
In terms of the dual wan on separate nodes, actually we did think this use scenario before, and indeed, with great effort on this currently, so we add this to our backlog for now.

 

[snbdora]

@Wilson_Deng The AiMesh seems interesting. I could test it now that I recently moved to a big house. Currently I've 87U and would buy another Asus router ( not decided which one yet ). Looking at the doc, it seems the 87U will have some sort of limitations. Would you mind to clarify the limitations of 87U?
If the limitations are profound to use AiMesh efficiently, then I would replace it.
Thanks