Possible upgrade questions

[DaveMishSr]

OK guys. Haven't been around for a while. Wondering if it's worth it to upgrade to WiFi 6. Currently running 4 AC3100's, 1 mesh router & 3 nodes. All is fine.

Have 2 Roku 4k TV's & a Roku 1080p stick along with 2 smartphones & 2 laptops. Just me & the missus now so gaming is not a concern. Have been looking at either the ax88u or the new ax58u. Not sold on either. Willing to upgrade the 2 of the nodes also if it's worth it but the garage is fine as is.

Here's my questions.

Is it worthwhile to upgrade? If so which router should I consider? Honestly I'm happy with what I've got but WPA3 and 160 MHz bandwidth are considerations. If not for that then I would not be considering the possibility of upgrading.

I'm also not especially happy with Asus. They haven't issued a firmware update for the AC3100's since September. I have just gone over to Merlin on the mesh router (should have done so long ago) as Eric is awesome.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance. Stay healthy all.

 

[digits n bits]

Hi Dave,
I have both the RT-AX88U and the RT-AX58U. I use both in Aimesh and stand-alone.
Both are good standalone routers but in Aimesh they still have a few issues that need to be worked out. You can think of the AX-58U like a mini AX88U, not quite as fast and WiFi range is a bit less. But it will cover 2000 sq. ft. easily. AX is still a work in progress but much better than before. WPA3 was just enabled awhile back and there aren’t many wifi6 clients that can take advantage of 160mhz channels yet. I have six AX clients and only one uses 160 the others are all 80. The new iPad Pro has WiFi 6 2x2 but operates at 80 like the iPhone 11 for example.

I think from your description and use I’d say don’t fix what is isn’t broke.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Hi Dave,
I have both the RT-AX88U and the RT-AX58U. I use both in Aimesh and stand-alone.
Both are good standalone routers but in Aimesh they still have a few issues that need to be worked out. You can think of the AX-58U like a mini AX88U, not quite as fast and WiFi range is a bit less. But it will cover 2000 sq. ft. easily. AX is still a work in progress but much better than before. WPA3 was just enabled awhile back and there aren’t many wifi6 clients that can take advantage of 160mhz channels yet. I have six AX clients and only one uses 160 the others are all 80. The new iPad Pro has WiFi 6 2x2 but operates at 80 like the iPhone 11 for example.

I think from your description and use I’d say don’t fix what is isn’t broke.

Thanks for the detailed response. That was pretty much my thinking. My network is running great. When my son & his wife were here there were times when 4 TV's were streaming, 2 in 4k and 2 in 1080p, with my son banging away on his Xbox. No hiccups ever.

So I I'll hold off for now.

 

[Grisu]

Definitely, wait for wide support of Wifi-6e when you can use more 160MHz channels without DFS. Recent Wifi-6 routers probably wont ever get 6e upgrade.