Really wanted AiMesh, tried hard with many different combos, still buggy

[snovvman]

I have an AC5300 and two AC88Us. I meshed them and have been tinkering for months to get them more reliable:

--Tried Merlin builds from 384.13 to 384.16, and all recent factory Asus builds. I use the same build for all the device every time I make a change
--Factory reset/cleared NVM each time
--Used suggested settings such as turning off universal beamfroming, specify a channel, use 20Mhz channel width, etc.etc.
--Tried roaming assistant on and off, with different values, across different firmware versions

The results are slightly different each time, but the general issues that persist are:

--Ecobee and Ring intermittently disconnects and reconnects
--Without roaming assistant, Chamberlain (garage door) and Rachio would disconnect and not reconnect until I reset the near node
--Even though I was using Ethernet backhaul and chose Ethernet, one of the nodes would connect wirelessly

I set up a heartbeat monitor to watch the disconnects.

To eliminate the possibility of the clients themselves being the culprit, I spun up my tri-band Linksys Velop. It has been completely trouble free. All the devices stay connected,

I love the Asus features, tweakability, guest flexibility, loggin, and so much more.

With the Velop in bridge mode, it does not tell me sh!t and it is virtually not configurable for anything. But, it works.

I still would like to go back to Asus, but it seems like AiMesh is problematic. When I run the 5300 alone, it is fine. No disconnects. Unfortunately, I do not have the coverage I need. I prefer mesh over using extenders.

Any thoughts or input? Thanks.

 

[cvee]

Unfortunately no answer but I can agree with your findings. I can’t use it in AIMesh mode because all my wifi lifx lights becomes unavailable after a few hours.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[K-2SO]

I would run 1 main router and 2 in AP mode. More control and no guessing games. One SSID per band. Have you tried this? Same performance as AiMesh band-aid Asus solution.

 

[snovvman]

I would run 1 main router and 2 in AP mode. More control and no guessing games. One SSID per band. Have you tried this? Same performance as AiMesh band-aid Asus solution.

Ah yes, the one thing I did not mention, I have used a different SSID for each band from day one, even before the mesh. I use a Sonicwall NS firewall so the master is already in AP mode.

 

[K-2SO]

Business firewall with consumer WiFi. Well... you don't see much anyway. Can't use VLAN capabilities. Can't use Merlin options. No guest network. Why?

 

[snovvman]

Business firewall with consumer WiFi. Well... you don't see much anyway. Can't use VLAN capabilities. Can't use Merlin options. No guest network. Why?

I have managed switches that control traffic/devices/broadcast domain as needed. I may switch to UniFi at some point, but was happy with what Asus provided. The high-end consumer devices push out new standards faster (e.g., WiFi 6) than enterprise. I find the Merlin options useful and the multiple guest networks enough for the isolation I want.

 

[K-2SO]

I find the Merlin options useful and the multiple guest networks enough for the isolation I want.

Master in AP mode and 2 AiMesh nodes = no guest network separation. What you use Merlin for in AP mode?