Really disappointed with AiMesh, I switched to something else

[Richard Li]

Well, after trying out AiMesh for sometime. I tired to work with engineers in ASUS in order to make it stable, but finally I cannot make it stable in my home environment. The last firmware version that I have tried is 3.0.0.4.384.45149. It is time for me to give up and try out something else.

I switched from my ASUS AiMesh setup (2x RT-AC88U + 1x RT-AC86U) to a Synology solution (MR2200ACx3).

What my comments is Synology rocks!! It works, it is stable, it is standard (802.11r), it transfers fast as well!! I think it is the point of no return, haha. I never got a disconnect from any of my 5x devices in my smart home configuration using the Synology mesh.

Compare with ASUS AiMesh, my devices keeps on disconnects and reconnect and sometime will stay offline unless reboot it. Too many problems.

 

[WiFiNemesis]

What my comments is Synology rocks!! It works...

My experience with dual RT2600ac's and the new SRM 1.2 software has been quite different. The upgrade process did not go well, WiFi backhaul pollutes the spectrum even when ethernet backhaul is used, unannounced (and undocumented) changes to the way firewall rules work took some figuring out, and various software bugs have made the Synology experience downright disappointing.

Hope your luck is better...

 

[Jedi2155]

I have 2x AC68U's and I've been getting constant disconnects via AiMesh. The only reason I even bothered with AiMesh was so I can get software updates to my Tesla in the garage, but at this point I'm just say screw it. MediaBridge works fine though.

 

[Kingp1n]

I have 2x AC68U's and I've been getting constant disconnects via AiMesh. The only reason I even bothered with AiMesh was so I can get software updates to my Tesla in the garage, but at this point I'm just say screw it. MediaBridge works fine though.

Do you have roaming assistance enabled or disabled? Some folks have done some testing by using the app called Wifiman...also the Asus aop received an update which wld help with roaming assistance and the distance to each device.

 

[Jedi2155]

I've tried a variety of options, but even with roaming assistance disabled, the AiMesh Node still occassionally drops the entire network. I've also tried turning off explicit and universal beamforming.

My main complaint is my WIRED PC to the AiMesh node keeps dropping.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I've tried a variety of options, but even with roaming assistance disabled, the AiMesh Node still occassionally drops the entire network. I've also tried turning off explicit and universal beamforming.

My main complaint is my WIRED PC to the AiMesh node keeps dropping.

If all you need is an expanded network area, you might want to try operating the second router in AP mode. The only hitch is that its necessary to run an ethernet cable between the main router and AP.

 

[Sanna1967]

Thats why we name it.... AiMess!

 

[Jedi2155]

If all you need is an expanded network area, you might want to try operating the second router in AP mode. The only hitch is that its necessary to run an ethernet cable between the main router and AP.

Yeah, thats always been the problem. If it was easy I would've done it already.

 

[tallytr]

I think if one needs reliable Mesh Wi-fi, one needs to use Google Wi-Fi ?
I only read about it, one system ships with 3 (up to 5,000sqft?) of these white "hockey pucks" and apparently working well....
To me the AiMesh thing is more an afterthought Asus came up with after feeling some pressure from Google?
I tried for a year and got super frustrated, at a time using 3 Asus devices (router + 2 nodes) only to eventually figure out that the RT-AC86U alone is such an awesome router, how many people really need a mesh system at home when using a powerful RT-AC86U?

 

[DummyPLUG]

I found enable "Protected Management Frames" will affect aimesh, so I always disable it when using aimesh
I love to have a real mesh with 802.11r/k/v as well,but either them lack ethernet backhaul or force to use app to setup, or can't set sperate SSID for 2G and 5G, or need a controller, or wifi speed is slow.

 

[DummyPLUG]

I think if one needs reliable Mesh Wi-fi, one needs to use Google Wi-Fi ?
I only read about it, one system ships with 3 (up to 5,000sqft?) of these white "hockey pucks" and apparently working well....
To me the AiMesh thing is more an afterthought Asus came up with after feeling some pressure from Google?
I tried for a year and got super frustrated, at a time using 3 Asus devices (router + 2 nodes) only to eventually figure out that the RT-AC86U alone is such an awesome router, how many people really need a mesh system at home when using a powerful RT-AC86U?

Me.. I had 3 AC86U for my house, want to use unifi but my wife complain that UFO is too ugly at the ceiling

 

[maxbraketorque]

I like ASUS a lot, and my non-AiMesh setup has worked great for me, but I agree with many others that AiMesh seems like a duct tape and bailing wire solution. Can only hope that ASUS will eventually get it working well for the vast majority of users, or adopt a standard protocol. If one of these doesn't happen, I think AiMesh will do them more harm than good.

 

[tallytr]

I like ASUS a lot, and my non-AiMesh setup has worked great for me, but I agree with many others that AiMesh seems like a duct tape and bailing wire solution. Can only hope that ASUS will eventually get it working well for the vast majority of users, or adopt a standard protocol. If one of these doesn't happen, I think AiMesh will do them more harm than good.

Good point I think. Having said that most people are not into the details and will likely not wire up the nodes and simply ignore most of the small issues?

Me on the other hand with some OCD care about the details and now with one RT-AC86U and Merlin 384.9 enjoying a "clean" system log and a super stable router client record

Update 2/24/2019.
Still extremely happy with Merlin, never had a router that stable before...

 

[InfiniteLoop]

I have 5300 and to 86u's and an OLD house with copper wire and pipes it can literally go from full bars to 2 bars through one wall... the only two issue I have currently in my mesh is that I have two JBL wifi speakers that will drop from the closest mesh router and then connect to the main hub at 1 bar. The second is that phones will just have full wifi and then all traffic will stop the device will stall then claim it lost internet access switch to cellular then a heartbeat rejoin wifi and be fine.

Reboot of the JBL fixes it reboot of the closest 86u will fix it. I just scheduled all my routers to reboot every other day at 3am and it remains mostly stable..

 

[Jedi2155]

I tried a daily reboot cycle, but it doesn't seem to help it sadly. Still get disconnects. Current running a AP repeater on the 2nd router but it kinda works.

 

[o-l-a-v]

I had a ac68u, two ac3200 and a n66u. First time I heard about AiMesh I was so stoked, there were hope for my two very expensive ac3200 and even my old n66u. Time went by, and my routers never got included in the AiMesh system. Even more time went by, and people were not happy with ac68u in AiMesh either.
AiMesh has been a grand fiasco, you can't tell me otherwise. I'm so happy I finally sold my ASUS routers and went Google Wifi which just works. I'll never look back to the false hopes of a working mesh network with existing ASUS gear. You've had years to get this experience right, but it's still broken. You have many users supplying you with crash logs free of charge, you still haven't made AiMesh stable and available for a acceptable number of devices. It's a shame really. How do you expect to recover from this?
Best regards; one who'll never trust Asus for anything network specific again.

 

[apotts]

I tried a daily reboot cycle, but it doesn't seem to help it sadly. Still get disconnects. Current running a AP repeater on the 2nd router but it kinda works.

I have resorted to 3 mains power time switches, that each stop the power for 1 minute daily on the router and the 2 nodes. The inbuilt re-boot function never seemed to do a proper re-boot.

Very tempted by something simple like Google wifi atm.

 

[Grisu]

I am leaving the Asus boat too, sold all 3 routers and now going with other vendor with no problems anymore.

Beside known problems with Aimesh and disconnections I extremly miss guest-wifi on mesh-nodes!

 

[apotts]

going with other vendor

Dare I ask?

All I need is:

3 wifi "points"
No disconnects
Wifi calling that actually works.

Not a great demand, but it's not happening here.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I am leaving the Asus boat too, sold all 3 routers and now going with other vendor with no problems anymore.

Beside known problems with Aimesh and disconnections I extremly miss guest-wifi on mesh-nodes!

What brand/model?