RT-AC3200 / RT-AC68U Media Bridge Questions

[GeorgeK]

I currently have a RT-AC68U which is used as my main router. I am having a rearrange of my PCs at home - this will mean that two which are currently wired will more than likely have to go wireless. One thought I have had is to buy a RT-AC3200 to use as my main router and then repurpose the RT-AC68U as a media bridge and then use ethernet cables to connect these two PCs to the 68U.

Some questions:

1) Should this results in faster speeds for them than just connecting wirelessly to the RT-AC68U? Neither have wireless adapters at the minute so I would need to purchase one for each.

2) Would the 2 PCs which are connected to the media bridge network directly with one another through the media bridge (i.e. at gigabit speed) or would all traffic still pass back through the AC3200?

3) Is it possible to use one of the AC3200's 5GHz channels solely for the bridge connection and then use the other for wireless devices (phones, laptop etc)? I'm guessing yes to this - if I named one "bridge" and then didn't connect any other devices to this then that would work surely?

4) Is there a better option I'm overlooking?

Thanks in advance

George

 

[GeorgeK]

Another option I have since thought up is to keep the RT-AC68U as the main router and instead buy a RP-AC68U to use as a media bridge. Thoughts?

Edit: Or a EA-AC87

 

[setaylor]

I currently have a RT-AC68U which is used as my main router. I am having a rearrange of my PCs at home - this will mean that two which are currently wired will more than likely have to go wireless. One thought I have had is to buy a RT-AC3200 to use as my main router and then repurpose the RT-AC68U as a media bridge and then use ethernet cables to connect these two PCs to the 68U.

Some questions:

1) Should this results in faster speeds for them than just connecting wirelessly to the RT-AC68U? Neither have wireless adapters at the minute so I would need to purchase one for each.

2) Would the 2 PCs which are connected to the media bridge network directly with one another through the media bridge (i.e. at gigabit speed) or would all traffic still pass back through the AC3200?

3) Is it possible to use one of the AC3200's 5GHz channels solely for the bridge connection and then use the other for wireless devices (phones, laptop etc)? I'm guessing yes to this - if I named one "bridge" and then didn't connect any other devices to this then that would work surely?

4) Is there a better option I'm overlooking?

Thanks in advance

George

I have this exact setup, and it works great.

1) your remote PCs are limited to the speed you can get bewteen the 3200 and the 68. In my case, no wireless adapters were as good, so in a sense, yes is the answer.
2) The 3200 is still the router so yes, it passes back and forth and is limited by the wireless speed between 3200 and 68.
3) Yes, I dedicate one of the 5GHz radios to the bridge using a seperate SSID.

I am transmitting from house to garage, about 100 feet away and through a wooden wall in the house and a closed metal garage door. I find the connection extremely solid and fast enough...I even run a fileserver out there in the garage!

 

[GeorgeK]

That's really very helpful - thanks for getting back to me! Since posting this I have picked up another 68 on another forum for £50 so I'm going to give that a try as a media bridge first and then if I'm not happy with the results then I'll try the 3200 next I think. The only limiting factor of the 68 over the 3200 is the single 5GHz band instead of the dual 5GHz bands from what I can tell. There won't be too many devices also on the single 5GHz band though so hopefully that won't affect things too much (2 phones and a laptop). Interestingly a reply on another forum suggested that devices on the far side of the bridge would all communicate locally amongst themselves... Have to see what happens when the 2nd 68 arrives later this week. Good to know that you're getting good signal over a long distance. I'm looking at about a 5m distance but through an external wall.

 

[sfx2000]

Since posting this I have picked up another 68 on another forum for £50 so I'm going to give that a try as a media bridge first and then if I'm not happy with the results then I'll try the 3200 next I think. The only limiting factor of the 68 over the 3200 is the single 5GHz band instead of the dual 5GHz bands from what I can tell

AC3200's do not have a good rep for media bridge purposes, as only one of the 5GHz radios can be used there...

Stick with the 68U...

 

[GeorgeK]

AC3200's do not have a good rep for media bridge purposes, as only one of the 5GHz radios can be used there...

Stick with the 68U...

How do you mean? Surely with the 68U only one 5GHz radio can be used as it only has one?

 

[jegesq]

SFX, I think you're misunderstanding. If you are saying that the AC3200 shouldn't be used as the Media Bridge (because only one of the two 5GHz radios can be used), I would agree. But I don't think that's what is being suggested here.

I believe the OP just wants to use the AC3200 as a router, and connect the AC68U as a media bridge. And in my experience, like that of SETaylor, such a setup works fine, no matter which of the two 5ghz radios on the AC3200 to which one connects the media bridge. My own network setup involves using three different media bridges (one AC68 and two AC66's) all in media bridge mode. Two of the bridges are connected to the low-band 5GHz radio of the AC3200 and one is connected to the upper-band 5GHz. They all work fine.

 

[szsqzhilong]

Another option I have since thought up is to keep the RT-AC68U as the main router and instead buy a RP-AC68U to use as a media bridge. Thoughts?

Edit: Or a EA-AC87

hi guy

according to your information , i think you can buy RP-AC87 or RP-AC68U ，these support media bridge mode . RP-AC87 has one ethernet port and RP-AC68U has five ethernet ports .

 

[sfx2000]

SFX, I think you're misunderstanding. If you are saying that the AC3200 shouldn't be used as the Media Bridge (because only one of the two 5GHz radios can be used), I would agree. But I don't think that's what is being suggested here.

The AC3200 (and other "Smart" connect devices) add a level of complexity with bridging...

That being said - disable Smart Connect on the 3200 - stick shift it into two SSID's - one for local WLAN, and one for the bridge to the 68U - but this depends on that 68U getting good coverage on 5GHz...

Wireless bridges - keep it simple, and they work...

 

[jegesq]

@sfx2000: I don't use Smart Connect on my AC3200, but instead as you say, "stick shift it into" three separate SSID's (the two 5Ghz, and one 2.4Ghz). Yes, this often confuses friends and family to see three different SSID's, but a media bridge can only connect to one of them at a time, and I've never had any trouble connecting any of my three separate media bridges to my AC3200.

You could very well be correct that using the SmartConnect feature of the AC3200 to combine everything into a single SSID would add a level of complexity that might foul things up with media bridges. I've never tried that, and also don't think that is what GeorgeK above was suggesting doing either.

@szsqzhilong: I've tried and tested both the Asus RP devices you mention. Worst. Ever. Devices. I've. Ever. Used. Really, they are just lame, slow, hard to configure correctly, and after a couple of days of frustration, I returned them. Would not recommend them to anyone, and that's tough for me, because I generally love Asus stuff. But not those two devices. Just terrible. YMMV, but that was my experience with them.