[Purchase advice] Access point for Asus Rog Rapture GT-AX11000

[OldPantsOnFire]

My current Asus covers most of the apartment very well, except one room.
I've pulled an ethernet cable to the problematic room, and now wondering what access point to get.

Requirements:

• The room is pretty small - 9 sq.m. (100 sq. feet)
• There's one desktop connected over WiFi it's pretty far from the RJ45 (I know, I know), plus it has to support a few phones.
• I'm connected to the world using 1Gbps link - but it's far from being the only device at home, as long as the AP can do, say, 300 Mbps it's gonna be fine.
• WiFi6 is a nice-to-have, but I can think of no extra requirements - just stable connection and the less hassle the better.

What do you think about ASUS ZenWiFi XD4 Plus?

 

[jzchen]

Access point vs AiMesh node? But my more important question is are you buying a 1-pack or 3-pack? Because at first glance I thought you might as well get an ET9, but further research I saw they typically sell the XD4 Plus in a set of 3...

 

[Tech9]

One RP-AX56/58 extender as AiMesh node will be more than enough. Plugged to the wall, Ethernet cable to the LAN port for wired backhaul, will be almost invisible and will work well for this room and some area around.

[AiMesh] How to set up Range Extender (RP series) as an AiMesh Node? | Official Support | ASUS Global

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

Access point vs AiMesh node? But my more important question is are you buying a 1-pack or 3-pack? Because at first glance I thought you might as well get an ET9, but further research I saw they typically sell the XD4 Plus in a set of 3...

I was thinking about buying a single node. They sell XD4 Plus in 1/2/3 nodes configurations.
In fact, I'm not really sure what AiMesh gives me compared to a regular access point - I assumed it would let me manage it from the same UI...

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

One RP-AX56/58 extender as AiMesh node will be more than enough. Plugged to the wall, Ethernet cable to the LAN port for wired backhaul, will be almost invisible and will work well for this room and some area around.

[AiMesh] How to set up Range Extender (RP series) as an AiMesh Node? | Official Support | ASUS Global

Unfortunately, I don't see these for sale in Israel :-(

I do see things like XD4 AX Mini and XD4 Plus...

 

[jzchen]

Unfortunately, I don't see these for sale in Israel :-(

I do see things like XD4 AX Mini and XD4 Plus...

I actually have one of each RP-AX56 and RP-AX58. You bring up a good question about Access Point vs AiMesh Node. Mesh means your devices can hop from node to node without interruption of WiFi service. The thing we aren't told, at least not clearly, is that too much of a discrepancy in performance between/among the routers/access points/range extenders means that the lower model actually limits the mesh. In order to allow hopping they have to match channel AND bandwidth. So ideally don't stray too far from the AX11000 IF you wish to have a mesh. It would limit the AX11000 to the maximum throughput of the RP for each of the meshed channels. If your devices don't move around or very rarely move then Access Point mode may work out better...

 

[sfx2000]

My current Asus covers most of the apartment very well, except one room.
I've pulled an ethernet cable to the problematic room, and now wondering what access point to get.

Requirements:

• The room is pretty small - 9 sq.m. (100 sq. feet)
• There's one desktop connected over WiFi it's pretty far from the RJ45 (I know, I know), plus it has to support a few phones.
• I'm connected to the world using 1Gbps link - but it's far from being the only device at home, as long as the AP can do, say, 300 Mbps it's gonna be fine.
• WiFi6 is a nice-to-have, but I can think of no extra requirements - just stable connection and the less hassle the better.

What do you think about ASUS ZenWiFi XD4 Plus?

I think you're fine as is - perhaps level set expectations...

A single AP can cover a two-bedroom apartment/condo/flat on a single level without any issues..

 

[Tech9]

Mesh means your devices can hop from node to node without interruption of WiFi service.

AiMesh doesn't have that. Marketing name for wired Access Points and wireless Repeaters.

A single AP can cover a two-bedroom apartment/condo/flat on a single level without any issues..

Not in Israel where houses are required by law to have "mammad" or bomb shelter rooms.

 

[sfx2000]

Not in Israel where houses are required by law to have "mammad" or bomb shelter rooms.

Israel is about twice the size of San Diego County all told... it's smaller than New Jersey...

Where it gets interesting - overlay it over the Bay Area...

 

[Tech9]

What matters is:

2.4GHz band - up to 100mW
5GHz band - up to 200mW
5GHz DFS range - good luck
Buildings - mostly reinforced concrete

One AP per X number of rooms - doesn't apply.

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

I actually have one of each RP-AX56 and RP-AX58. You bring up a good question about Access Point vs AiMesh Node. Mesh means your devices can hop from node to node without interruption of WiFi service. The thing we aren't told, at least not clearly, is that too much of a discrepancy in performance between/among the routers/access points/range extenders means that the lower model actually limits the mesh. In order to allow hopping they have to match channel AND bandwidth. So ideally don't stray too far from the AX11000 IF you wish to have a mesh. It would limit the AX11000 to the maximum throughput of the RP for each of the meshed channels. If your devices don't move around or very rarely move then Access Point mode may work out better...

Found RP-AX56 for sale (no RP-AX58 though).

Both RP-AX56 and ZenWiFi XD4 Plus seem to support 802.11ax (and 802.11ac - which is what the desktop supports using ASUS PCE-AC68), and this seems good enough to a WiFi noob like me.

Looking at the feature comparison, XD4 Plus seems much more feature-rich: https://www.asus.com/eg-en/product-...4,14807&LevelId=Networking-IoT-Servers-WiFi-6

Unless I'm missing something important, I'm thinking about going with XD4 Plus as it sells for almost half the price of RP-AX56...

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

I think you're fine as is - perhaps level set expectations...

A single AP can cover a two-bedroom apartment/condo/flat on a single level without any issues..

As someone already mentioned, that reinforced room is an issue. While usually it has an acceptable reception, it becomes unusable once the reinforced door is closed - which happens more than we'd like since Oct 7th.
I already have a cable there - so I just need something that would share WiFi. Any router would do, but staying on the same network is a nice bonus - as, from my experience, switching networks while the other is still (barely) available doesn't always work smoothly.

 

[degrub]

Turn the RF power to minimum and see if that is good enough. You may have to restrict bandwidth as well to get highest bandwidth possible. Reflections can be an issue.

 

[Tech9]

Looking at the feature comparison

All extra features will be disabled and unavailable in AP Mode or in AiMesh node configuration.

Any router would do

Get the cheapest AiMesh compatible option regardless of features, nothing else is needed there.

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

All extra features will be disabled and unavailable in AP Mode or in AiMesh node configuration.



Get the cheapest AiMesh compatible option regardless of features, nothing else is needed there.

I do need some features, e.g. Ethernet connection (not a pure repeater) and 802.11ax support - but these are present in all the options available to me.

Other than that - what you say makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

Turn the RF power to minimum and see if that is good enough. You may have to restrict bandwidth as well to get highest bandwidth possible. Reflections can be an issue.

Gotta admit - I've never considered this. Thank you.

 

[OldPantsOnFire]

Update: Eventually, I got the ASUS ZenWiFi XD4 Plus.

The setup only took a few minutes - plug in the RJ45 and the power cables, detect the new node from the main router's AiMesh menu (Add Node) and you're done.
Optionally, enable backhaul mode (under AiMesh/System Settings) - which was the whole point in my case.
Very smooth experience overall.
Thanks everyone for your help!