RT RC5300 and RT AC1900P working together

[Markboz]

Hello all,

I have a question can you hook these two together in your WiFi system? Would it be better to do it wirelessly or hook them together in your house by Ethernet cable from the first floor to the second floor? Or is this not a good set up for extending your range and WiFi system in your house?

I have Rt Ac5300 set up now as my main router in my house but my office on the second floor is not getting a hard strong WiFi signal in that part of my house.

Thank you all for your help!

 

[dctrbnsttr]

I use one AC5300 as my main routers with 2 AC1900Ps as ai mesh nodes. They are connected wirelessly and all seems to work well. Definitely has provided much better wifi coverage in my 2 story 3500 sq foot house. Can't speak to connecting them by ethernet. But, can't help but think that would work better. No guest network through the mesh nodes yet.

 

[Markboz]

I use one AC5300 as my main routers with 2 AC1900Ps as ai mesh nodes. They are connected wirelessly and all seems to work well. Definitely has provided much better wifi coverage in my 2 story 3500 sq foot house. Can't speak to connecting them by ethernet. But, can't help but think that would work better. No guest network through the mesh nodes yet.

Has it decreased your performance any or do you feel it has increased your performance?

Also do you if the can be hooked up by Ethernet?

 

[Grisu]

Everytime much better if you have the possibility for ethernet backhaul and change mesh-settings accordingly!
WiFi mesh is always second choice like ALL Wifi are second choice no doubt.

Maybe you wont see big differences in your special situation, but if you're maxing out your equipment you'll see what's better anyway!
If you only surf on a 50Mb/s line and thats your only usage you probably wont benefit of ethernet.

 

[dctrbnsttr]

I cannot speak wrt performance. My routers/wifi are not my data bottleneck. The throughput of my dsl line is my limiting factor.

 

[Markboz]

Everytime much better if you have the possibility for ethernet backhaul and change mesh-settings accordingly!
WiFi mesh is always second choice like ALL Wifi are second choice no doubt.

Maybe you wont see big differences in your special situation, but if you're maxing out your equipment you'll see what's better anyway!
If you only surf on a 50Mb/s line and thats your only usage you probably wont benefit of ethernet.

So by having it hardwired is a better performance?
Also how do you get them to work when they are hardwired together is there a set up page that talks about how to do this?

And is this a good router to have paired with the 5300?

Thank you

 

[Grisu]

of course it is, more stable, reliable and faster. WiFi per definition is only half duplex while LAN is full duplex (if not changed in driver settings) with full 1Gb/s all the time stable.
Just plug an ethernet cable from one parent LAN port to node WAN port.
They all are able to be connected via LAN, you only have to choose right mode (router/AP/MB/repeater/Aimesh-node), you will see the picture according to.
If using Aimesh you will have to change setting to use ethernet backhaul (auto maybe would use WiFi instead).

 

[Markboz]

of course it is, more stable, reliable and faster. WiFi per definition is only half duplex while LAN is full duplex (if not changed in driver settings) with full 1Gb/s all the time stable.
Just plug a ethernet cable from one parent LAN port to node WAN port.
They all are able to be connected via LAN, you only have to choose right mode (router/AP/MB/repeater/Aimesh-node), you will see the picture according to.
If using Aimesh you will have to change setting to use ethernet backhaul (auto maybe would use WiFi instead).

Do you have to reset the routers when you do this or can you just hook it up and your set to go? Or do they have a step by step manual for this?

Thank you very much for your time and help

 

[HuskyHerder]

Just wanted to emphasize what @Grisu said LAN on the 5300 to WAN on the node !

Ethernet backhaul is great if you can. I have mine setup that way. To change to ethernet from wifi https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1035253/

 

[HuskyHerder]

If you have already linked them then simply change the connection type. Once they are moved it took less than a minute for them to see each other.

No need to reset, if you already have the AiMesh setup. * If you don't currently have them linked then you would need to reset the nodes and pair them.

Setup guide : https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1035087

I would certainly make a suggestion of making a backup of your current config if things go wrong.

* Currently you must setup the node through WiFi and complete the process. Once done you can change to ethernet.

 

[Markboz]

Just wanted to emphasize what @Grisu said LAN on the 5300 to WAN on the node !

Ethernet backhaul is great if you can. I have mine setup that way. To change to ethernet from wifi https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1035253/

Now I know this may sound stupid but when I do this the second router will also still be able to produce a WiFi signal right and not just be a Ethernet hook up? I know stupid question

Thank you

 

[HuskyHerder]

@Markboz

Yes to WiFi, and Yes to Ethernet hookup so best of both worlds.

Currently guest networks are not supported across the nodes. A guest network would still be available from the primary router.

 

[Markboz]

If you have already linked them then simply change the connection type. Once they are moved it took less than a minute for them to see each other.

No need to reset, if you already have the AiMesh setup. * If you don't currently have them linked then you would need to reset the nodes and pair them.

Setup guide : https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1035087

I would certainly make a suggestion of making a backup of your current config if things go wrong.

* Currently you must setup the node through WiFi and complete the process. Once done you can change to ethernet.

Thank you so very much !! is there anything else I should be aware of while doing this?

 

[HuskyHerder]

Eh nope, don't think so. I am sure if I forgot something someone will chime in.

Just make good backups. I have no fear of wiping things and starting from scratch but some are not up to that, or want that headache. So yeah good backups indeed!

 

[Markboz]

Eh nope, don't think so. I am sure if I forgot something someone will chime in.

Just make good backups. I have no fear of wiping things and starting from scratch but some are not up to that, or want that headache. So yeah good backups indeed!

Just make the back up on the router it’s self right? And it won’t cause any issues with my settings now when I do this right?

 

[Markboz]

Just make the back up on the router it’s self right? And it won’t cause any issues with my settings now when I do this right?

Also one other question for you is what are your thoughts on this router RT AC68U compared to the AC1900P

Thank you

 

[HuskyHerder]

I don't know enough about the 1900P sorry,

Yeah just make a backup from the router, before jumping in just incase something goes wrong you can easily get back and running quickly. Though everything went smooth for me. Follow the instructions and you'll be fine. I did note that for me and the 68 its best to perform a reset just immediately prior to attempting the pairing. Though there really should be nothing to go wrong, based upon my understanding of how it works, I'm an old die hard and believe in redundancy.

 

[HuskyHerder]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-1900p-best-buy-or-68u-which-one-is-better.35118/

 

[Grisu]

Also one other question for you is what are your thoughts on this router RT AC68U compared to the AC1900P

I personally would prefer 68U and speed up CPU frequency to 1200MHz, because 1900P probabely more expensive and a bit different (better) hardware with 1400MHz, but you will still find here some people with problems only on 1900P version.
Or take an 86U, 4 years newer hardware and likely that longer support.

 

[Markboz]

of course it is, more stable, reliable and faster. WiFi per definition is only half duplex while LAN is full duplex (if not changed in driver settings) with full 1Gb/s all the time stable.
Just plug an ethernet cable from one parent LAN port to node WAN port.
They all are able to be connected via LAN, you only have to choose right mode (router/AP/MB/repeater/Aimesh-node), you will see the picture according to.
If using Aimesh you will have to change setting to use ethernet backhaul (auto maybe would use WiFi instead).

I have both units now and want to get the RT AC1900P up and running. Already have had my AC5300 up and running for about a month and want to hook up the other router by hard wire Ethernet cable hook up. So from what I have read from your post it sounds like I just hook the AC1900P to the other end of my Ethernet cable and plug it in and I am ready to go?

Also do you have to go into the AC1900 and set up your network name and password all again the be able to connect anything via WiFi or does it just automatically pick it up from the the AC5300 router?

I have not had another router hooked up to my network, and the settings on the AC5300 are still just the stock firmware, and I did update the firmware on the 5300 when I first set it up out of the box.

Please help me on if this is correct or if I am doing something wrong, or what other settings need to be done in my AC5300 unit along with the RT AC1900P.

Thank you so very much for your help on this, I have just never done this before and just want to make sure I do this correctly.