Primary w/ two(2) secondary routers

[Zerpersande]

When you log into the Asus (the one connected to their device) you should be able to see the "WAN IP" right on the main page. If it starts with 192, 172, or 10 it is a private IP. If it starts with 100 - that is Carrier NAT and a whole other ballgame but still considered "public".

I have the new Asus AX3000 installed. Everything seems to be working. It is still feeding the AC85U and it is accessible.

You were right about the new IP address. But the WAN address has now changed to 117. Comments there?

Because your RT-AC85U is/was an Access Point. Use 192.168.2.1 if/when you switch it to Router.

Just got a new Asus AX3000. The AC3200 is now going to be the secondary. The new router’s IP is 182.168.50.1. Should I set the AC3200 to 192.168.51.1?

You don't need 2x or 3x routers, except to play around with some settings and kill some time. Just one router with her computer wired to it and Wi-Fi enabled is all you really need. I have an idea what's the average size apartment in Japan.

We’re not in an apartment but own a house. But houses are still small. Your assessment is correct regarding need vs want though.

 

[Tech9]

Should I set the AC3200 to 192.168.51.1?

You don't need to change the IP - 192.168.1.1 is already different than the the default IP of your new router.

 

[drinkingbird]

All of the info will become very useful when my ‘same day delivery’ router arrives in about an hour.

I was using 192.168.1.2 for the AC85U with the AC3200 at 192.168.1.1

Are those the LAN IPs on both routers? If so that won't work right. The LAN on the first router should be 192.168.1.1, wan on second router should be 192.168.1.x (something other than .1, you can use a static or just let it grab one from DHCP) and LAN on second router should be 192.168.2.1

If you configure static WAN on 2nd router the gateway and DNS should both be 192.168.1.1 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0. but rather than that it would be better to just add a DHCP reservation for it in the first router and let it learn that stuff.

 

[drinkingbird]

Are those the LAN IPs on both routers? If so that won't work right. The LAN on the first router should be 192.168.1.1, wan on second router should be 192.168.1.x (something other than .1, you can use a static or just let it grab one from DHCP) and LAN on second router should be 192.168.2.1

If you configure static WAN on 2nd router the gateway and DNS should both be 192.168.1.1 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0. but rather than that it would be better to just add a DHCP reservation for it in the first router and let it learn that stuff.

Never mind saw your follow-up, sounds like you're set. The new WAN IP is normal with a hardware swap, you don't need to be concerned with the WAN IP, it will change from time to time.

You can keep 192.168.50 on the main router and 192.168.1 on the 85 or 3200 or whichever you keep, or change them to 1 and 2, or 50 and 51, whatever is easiest for you to remember/work with.

As long as the 3rd number is different on each LAN you're good. So if you set up all 3 you'll need to pick 3 different ones.

 

[Zerpersande]

Well, something isn’t right. 2.4Ghz isvrunning up/down at about 75Mbps on my iPad.

 

[Zerpersande]

I’m going to reset to factory defaults on both routers tomorrow morning. The new router seemed to be working great until I configured the 3200 and started it up. 2:30a.m. here so need some sleep.

 

[Tech9]

Well, something isn’t right. 2.4Ghz isvrunning up/down at about 75Mbps on my iPad.

Sounds about right. Your iPad has 2-stream Wi-Fi, the router comes default on 20/40MHz wide channel and fails back to 20MHz in most cases. Your maximum link speed is 144Mbps with about 90Mbps throughput in close to ideal conditions. Up/down 75Mbps is very good for 2.4GHz band.

 

[Zerpersande]

Sounds about right. Your iPad has 2-stream Wi-Fi, the router comes default on 20/40MHz wide channel and fails back to 20MHz in most cases. Your maximum link speed is 144Mbps with about 90Mbps throughput in close to ideal conditions. Up/down 75Mbps is very good for 2.4GHz band.

Well, something is off bc the progress bar hangs when going to a website, refreshing a page, etc. And in settings I could see the WiFi connection switching to ‘No Internet Connection’ and back on.

 

[Tech9]

Disable Smart Connect on the router. Go to iOS Settings, Wi-Fi, Forget This Network, Re-connect again. Your iPad must be connecting to 5GHz band.

 

[Zerpersande]

All is well. The key to the problem was in the packing. It took a couple of minutes to figure out how those antennae folded up, but after that it went quickly. Everything back in plastic, return it to Amazon because it was defective and DONE.

 

[drinkingbird]

All is well. The key to the problem was in the packing. It took a couple of minutes to figure out how those antennae folded up, but after that it went quickly. Everything back in plastic, return it to Amazon because it was defective and DONE.

If it was working fine before you added the 3200 then it may have been config issue or conflicting wireless channels etc. While you wait on a replacement (if you still want a new router) you can set up your current two to see if you can get it working.

Technically the 3200 looks to be a better router, faster CPU and double the RAM. However it also is the better wifi (tri band, dual radios, more antennas, etc). So if you want the main router to be dedicated to the 1 wired connection only, then maybe the 85U (even though it isn't quite as powerful) is a good choice for that with the 3200 as your wireless router.

Once you get it working and stable the way you want, swapping out the 85 (should you want to) should be relatively straightforward. Of course, if your main router is not going to do any wifi and is just there for routing/dhcp/dns then maybe something like a Ubiquiti Edgerouter is a better choice....

Unless you plan to eventually try to convince her to use wifi and/or let you share it.

The setup you're trying to do does require some tweaking etc to get everything working right, especially if you want to run the second router in router mode and not an AP or part of AiMesh. For example, having the second router act as DNS for clients connected to it is inefficient, and it may make more sense to point those client directly to the main router. But dual hopping the DNS also shouldn't be a huge impact, few msec maybe for DNS lookups. Making sure all the IPs are sorted correctly and not conflicting is important too.

But channel selection (and disabling 40mhz channels) is critical to have the two playing nicely together. Or disable wifi on the main router completely if you aren't going to use it, leaving the full spectrum available for the secondary router.

Other things like enabling WAN access to the GUI on the secondary router would ensure you can manage both routers regardless of which network you're on.

So lots of things to tweak and toy with to get it all working nicely.

 

[Tech9]

Technically the 3200 looks to be a better router, faster CPU and double the RAM. However it also is the better wifi (tri band, dual radios, more antennas, etc).

No. BCM4709A0 ARMv7 1GHz, 256MB RAM and BCM43602 radios. It's an old router from 2014 on old 382 firmware.

 

[drinkingbird]

No. BCM4709A0 ARMv7 1GHz, 256MB RAM and BCM43602 radios. It's an old router from 2014 on old 382 firmware.

And the 85U has 880mhz CPU with 128 of RAM. Of the two, hardware wise, the 3200 looks better. But if it can't run newer firmware that is an issue.

 

[Tech9]

Of the two, hardware wise, the 3200 looks better.

Looks better, but AC85U is newer AC Wave 2 router with 4x4 radios on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. MT7621A is pretty good low-cost chipset and I wouldn't be surprised if it outperforms older technology AC3200. It depends what the intended use is. If @Zerpersande is interested in custom firmware - that changes the game. AC3200 is one of the best routers for Fresh Tomato. There was a new firmware release on Nov 06, 2022.