Some advice from you pro's

[pinkfloyd1173]

I have the ax88u router and have a friend who is selling a new ax11000 router.

Was wondering if the ax11000 is a better router then the ax88u??

Have no issues with my ax88u other then when I try to do a hard reset by holding down the wps button. The power button never blinks like it is supposed to do after a few seconds?

I think Mr. Merlin supports the router, hope so.

Any advice guys.

Thanks in advance.

 

[L&LD]

Are you following the proper sequence for your model?

[Wireless] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset | Official Support | ASUS Global

Why is the friend selling the 'AX11000?

The RT-AX86U is in many ways an upgrade to the RT-AX88U, the 'AX11000, maybe not so much.

 

[BreakingDad]

The RT-AX86U is in many ways an upgrade to the RT-AX88U

Define many ways, I require the bragging rights.

 

[L&LD]

RT-AX88U or RT-AX86U as main Router using AiMesh 2.0 with Merlin firmware.

Looking for some thoughts regarding what appliance is preferred when deploying a two-node AiMesh configuration. I will test and compare, but am curious as to what others may have experienced. As of today, both Nodes would be running Merlin 386.1_beta. Diversion, Skynet & Unbound. Available...

www.snbforums.com

 

[BreakingDad]

RT-AX88U or RT-AX86U as main Router using AiMesh 2.0 with Merlin firmware.

Looking for some thoughts regarding what appliance is preferred when deploying a two-node AiMesh configuration. I will test and compare, but am curious as to what others may have experienced. As of today, both Nodes would be running Merlin 386.1_beta. Diversion, Skynet & Unbound. Available...

www.snbforums.com

Interesting about the smart connect slowing things down. I have this on, maybe I should turn it off.

 

[OliverK]

I have the ASUS RT-AX11000 since Jan 2021.
It's a nice router.
Recently there is also Merlin support (beta - as of March 2021).
The main feature I found useful compared to AX88U and AX86U that the AX-11000 has VPN Fusion, which is a more complex OpenVPN client, which I wanted.

It can connect to 16 different VPN Servers at a time, and it can set up rules for the home network for 64 clients to go to different VPN connections.
- Direct home office and work through the open web for fast video calls.
- Gaming goes through the open web for speed, OR you connect to a dedicated VPN server for gaming.
- Normal traffic goes through the standard VPN that you subscribe to, ExpressVPN, Nord VPN, and similar.

Other than that, I didn't find big differences. I don't use any of the gaming specific features.
I hear many people say the default firmware is buggy on Asus, and one needs Merlin to correct the bugs.
The AX-11000 has now merlin support, but I didn't try it yet.

The AX11000 and AX86U have 2.5GbE ports, which can be useful if you have fiber internet connection and is needed, or you want to upgrade to 2.5GbE, but then you need a device on the other end that can use it (switch and network card). It is affordable though.

I have 10GbE between the NAS and my PC anyway (with a 10GbE switch inbetween), and the AX11000 is used as Wifi access point, DHCP server, and VPN client.
I don't use the 2.5GbE anyway.

However, I have some stability issues with the AX11000, every now and then the internet is not accessible, and I have to manually reboot it (I have even set a daily reboot schedule, but didn't help). I didn't find it why. I was searching for solutions, this is how I found this topic, too... Now I concluded to switch of the VPNFusion for the next two weeks and see if the internet-disconnect issue goes away.

I recommend that you search for "AX11000 freeze", "AX86U freeze", "AX88U issues" and similar terms, and you can see what types of issues people have.

If the AX88U works, and you have no issues, I would rather stay with it.
Although the new features might be interesting, but you might get new bugs and issues with the new device as well.

I just

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

Are you following the proper sequence for your model?

[Wireless] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset | Official Support | ASUS Global

Why is the friend selling the 'AX11000?

The RT-AX86U is in many ways an upgrade to the RT-AX88U, the 'AX11000, maybe not so much.

He does not need it, plus he does not like Asus routers, he won it at a raffle, its brand new. I have followed the proper sequence L&LD.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

I have the ASUS RT-AX11000 since Jan 2021.
It's a nice router.
Recently there is also Merlin support (beta - as of March 2021).
The main feature I found useful compared to AX88U and AX86U that the AX-11000 has VPN Fusion, which is a more complex OpenVPN client, which I wanted.

It can connect to 16 different VPN Servers at a time, and it can set up rules for the home network for 64 clients to go to different VPN connections.
- Direct home office and work through the open web for fast video calls.
- Gaming goes through the open web for speed, OR you connect to a dedicated VPN server for gaming.
- Normal traffic goes through the standard VPN that you subscribe to, ExpressVPN, Nord VPN, and similar.

Other than that, I didn't find big differences. I don't use any of the gaming specific features.
I hear many people say the default firmware is buggy on Asus, and one needs Merlin to correct the bugs.
The AX-11000 has now merlin support, but I didn't try it yet.

The AX11000 and AX86U have 2.5GbE ports, which can be useful if you have fiber internet connection and is needed, or you want to upgrade to 2.5GbE, but then you need a device on the other end that can use it (switch and network card). It is affordable though.

I have 10GbE between the NAS and my PC anyway (with a 10GbE switch inbetween), and the AX11000 is used as Wifi access point, DHCP server, and VPN client.
I don't use the 2.5GbE anyway.

However, I have some stability issues with the AX11000, every now and then the internet is not accessible, and I have to manually reboot it (I have even set a daily reboot schedule, but didn't help). I didn't find it why. I was searching for solutions, this is how I found this topic, too... Now I concluded to switch of the VPNFusion for the next two weeks and see if the internet-disconnect issue goes away.

I recommend that you search for "AX11000 freeze", "AX86U freeze", "AX88U issues" and similar terms, and you can see what types of issues people have.

If the AX88U works, and you have no issues, I would rather stay with it.
Although the new features might be interesting, but you might get new bugs and issues with the new device as well.

View attachment 32598
I just

Thanks for the info, I dont use all the features trhge ax88u has, not that tech savy, lol. I figuired it might help for gaming but if its the same thing, might as well stay with my ax88u.

 

[BreakingDad]

plus he does not like Asus routers

Is there something "wrong" with him ?

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

Is there something "wrong" with him ?

He likes that netgear netduma software stuff, I tried it when the first netgear router with that software came out. I did not like it was buggy and had to always change settings. Asus set it and forget it, most of the time.