Review / Performance of ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P

[esfu]

How is the reliability / performance of ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P.

I am planning to replace a non ASUS non mesh access point with one of these as ASUS mesh node and add one more of same model as an additional ASUS mesh node to my existing configuration.

Existing configuration consists of Main ASUS RT-AX92U router + ASUS RT-AX92U mesh node + Two Access Points (one of these two AP will be replaced with the above model if I purchase it)

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[bbunge]

How is the reliability / performance of ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P.

I am planning to replace a non ASUS non mesh access point with one of these as ASUS mesh node and add one more of same model as an additional ASUS mesh node to my existing configuration.

Existing configuration consists of Main ASUS RT-AX92U router + ASUS RT-AX92U mesh node + Two Access Points (one of these two AP will be replaced with the above model if I purchase it)

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You really want to downgrade from AX to AC? Does not sound too smart!

 

[AndreiV]

How is the reliability / performance of ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P.

I am planning to replace a non ASUS non mesh access point with one of these as ASUS mesh node and add one more of same model as an additional ASUS mesh node to my existing configuration.

Existing configuration consists of Main ASUS RT-AX92U router + ASUS RT-AX92U mesh node + Two Access Points (one of these two AP will be replaced with the above model if I purchase it)

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Why would you replace an AX 92U with an AC model? AC routers will never move on from the 386 firmware branch .

 

[esfu]

Why would you replace an AX 92U with an AC model? AC routers will never move on from the 386 firmware branch .

No. I think my original post is not clear enough.

AX-92U main router along with AX-92U AiMesh node stays as it is. They are connected using wired backhaul via unmanaged switches.

I have a 2015 TP-Link TL-WDR3600 with Gargoyle (based on OpenWRT) firmware which is used as a pure access point. This is connected to a wall ethernet socket through wired connection to Main AX-92U router. This access point's SSID is also different from the Main Router AX-92U SSID. This TP-Link TL-WDR3600 access point is placed about 30 cms away from my TV to which Roku Stick, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Google TV are connected and all these streaming devices connect to this TP-Link TL-WDR3600 based access point. This TP-Link TL-WDR3600 access point is acting up frequently now and this will be replaced with ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P which will be configured as second ASUS AIMesh node via wired connection to Main Router AX-92U.

An additional ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P will be newly added as a third ASUS AiMesh node via wired connection to Main Router AX-92U.

This way, I intend to obtain WiFi coverage with same SSID across the home via ASUS AiMesh.

Hope this clarifies the original post and also my thought process.

 

[Tech9]

ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P

What ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P? This one?

RT-AC1900P｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS USA

ASUS has a range of wireless routers suitable for every purpose. Whether it's for your home, for business trips, or for any other need or environment, there's an ASUS router for you.

www.asus.com

This was an RT-AC68U variant exclusive to BestBuy in USA/Canada. Based on >10-years old technology and perhaps soon will be EOL model. You already invested in 2x almost EOL routers (RT-AX92U, no firmware update for 1 year)... why investing in more?

 

[esfu]

What ASUS WiFi Gaming Mesh Router RT-AC1900P? This one?

RT-AC1900P｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS USA

ASUS has a range of wireless routers suitable for every purpose. Whether it's for your home, for business trips, or for any other need or environment, there's an ASUS router for you.

www.asus.com

This was an RT-AC68U variant exclusive to BestBuy in USA/Canada. Based on >10-years old technology and perhaps soon will be EOL model. You already invested in 2x almost EOL routers (RT-AX92U, no firmware update for 1 year)... why investing in more?

Yes. The only reason I invested in this is I got a 2 pack new units for $110 at Amazon and has AIMesh. Single unit sells almost one and half times that (including in the above link which lists it at $139.99).

I had got the 2 pack new AX-92U for $250 (to be fair I knew nothing of mesh or AIMesh when I purchased AX-92U. I just purchased the two pack due to the price as single unit was listed around $180 to $190) which now either shows out of stock or lists for almost $374 on Amazon or are used units if it is lower price (somebody returning it probably due to the reasons you mentioned).

I learnt about mesh in general and its advantages only after the AX-92U purchase. By the way, I have started liking ASUS routers due to better firmware features, better mobile app, option of Merlin which is ASUS firmware with added benefits and to some extent AI Protection Pro for lifetime of router unlike other companies who have paid subscription after free trial or free year

I can't understand the router pricing these days as the latest models are pretty expensive for whatever reason. May be supply chain issues are still persisting.

My existing 2015 TP Link purely used as an access point is acting up frequently now and needed something to replace it for a good price point.

 

[bbunge]

Using the AC68U in AiMesh will limit the WIFI bandwidth and channels of the AX routers. While they will work as nodes and they still have great range an AX router is a better choice. Amazon has AX58U refurbished for about $100.00.

 

[esfu]

Using the AC68U in AiMesh will limit the WIFI bandwidth and channels of the AX routers. While they will work as nodes and they still have great range an AX router is a better choice. Amazon has AX58U refurbished for about $100.00.

Do you mean to say that devices will NOT connect to the AX-92U units using WiFi at full speed available on AX-92U if AC-1900P is used as additional node.

I can understand that devices will connect to AC-1900P node at limited bandwidth available to AC-1900P but when connecting to AX-92U, I presume that they will connect at better bandwidth as per AX-92U specs.

Currently, as I mentioned before, most of the streaming devices like Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Google TV HD and mobile phones will connect to the AC-1900P using WiFi as this will eventually replace the existing TP Link AP. These streaming devices at least the Full HD only versions do not go over 50 Mbps even if more bandwidth is available.

I also have an old desktop connected to current TP Link AP through wired connection on LAN port and the desktop PC gets the full bandwidth available from ISP. This old desktop PC will connect to the AC-1900P using LAN port like it is currently.

The second AC-1900P will be used as an additional node for better coverage. A Ring Camera will connect all the time to this node and mobiles will be connecting to it less frequently.

 

[Tech9]

Your choice. I wouldn't buy non-popular routers with firmware issues history and long period of no support (AX92U) and facing EOL 10-years old technology ones (AC68U) just because they come cheap. They come cheap on liquidation price. AiMesh is more marketing name and less mesh.

From AC1900P you can get 300Mbps maximum to connected to it clients in wireless AiMesh, in ideal conditions and on a good day. Most of the time it will be less. Not sure why you need 4x routers as well, but seems like you know better what are you doing. I call this AiMess configuration. Good luck.

 

[esfu]

Not sure why you need 4x routers as well

Because concrete walls do not allow router signals to reach far or with sufficient strength.

It is easier to place extra access point or mesh node compared to finding an optimal location which is not always possible.

All the devices that will be using the access point or node using WiFi are streaming devices and only one of which will be active at any given time as they are all connected to same television. They never go above 50 Mbps is my observation so 300 Mbps or even 200 Mbps should be fine with them.

The desktop is connected using LAN port on access point and that should not cause any bottleneck as it is wired connection.

All access points or nodes are connected through Ethernet wire through walls and unmanaged switches to main AX-92U or each other.

 

[ncohafmuta]

For what it's worth, i have an AC1900P as my main router using merlin and i'm happy with it. Stable with 5Ghz,Ch 149,20/40/80 and 2.4Ghz for IoT and have an AC Infinity USB fan blowing on it. I have a fire tv 4k max connected to it at about 12 ft 1 floor up and get about 300-400Mbps. 30 ft 2 floors up i get about 250 on our laptops.

 

[Micgang]

Hey. Wondering what you ultimately decided? Is it working as you expected? I’m currently running a Frankenstein mix of Asus routers in mesh configuration. Ax 86u as router, AX92u as a node, and AC 1900p as a node. Seems to be working fine. I have the 2nd 92u node that flaked out after the recent firmware update. I want to dial it back to the previous version and try it out again…

 

[esfu]

Is it working as you expected?

I replaced one of my old Gargoyle based routers being used purely as an access point having its unique SSID with ASUS AC-1900p used as mesh node with my RT-AX92U continuing to be my main router.

I am observing a strange thing.

Previously, I was connecting to the Gargoyle based access point mainly

Family mobile phones (which obviously move around the house and connect to nearby routers or nodes),
Google Home Mini,
Alexa Echo Dot,
Amazon Fire TV Stick,
Google TV HD,
Roku Streaming Stick

all connecting to the Gargoyle based access point having its unique SSID.

Now, I am connecting all of the above to the main network (not the guest network) on the ASUS RT-AX92U which is also available on the AC-1900P mesh node.

Now, I observed that the Google Home Mini and the Alexa Echo Dot are often kicked off the network and cannot access the internet. The Google TV HD, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku Streaming Stick continue to stay connected to the internet. This is baffling me as I am wondering that if it is AC-1900p that is causing problems, why would it throw off selected devices off the main network (not the guest network) while allowing other devices to stay connected.

 

[The_bhagwan]

I have three RT-AC68U Version B2 which is really the same hardware as the AC-1900p. While troubleshooting issues with AiMesh I used a program called Ping Plotter to graph many weeks of pings, one per second on the nodes IP addresses. Noticed lots of droppped packets, about 3.5%. And the packet loss is continious, not related to load or internference. Does this with either Merlin or Asus firmware. If I swap node with a older v1 RT-AC68U there is zero packet loss. Starting digging around on this site for answers and came across a review of AC-1900p that gave it a fail score on dropped UDP packets, which makes sense why I see so many dropped pings. Interesting that this mostly happens when configured as a node. When I configure one as a media bridge it much better and acceptable. Havent tested pings if configuring as repeter or single wifi router, just nodes.
Heres the review that mentions UDP - AC1900P review. Attached is 48 hour plot of RT-AC68U v.B2 configured as node, where red is packet loss. (No red on v1 RT-AC68U.)
So as an AiMesh node I really dont like B2 version of RT-AC68U (AKA AC-1900p).