Why AIMesh? What am I missing?

[OzarkEdge]

Thats why I ask to at least support Smart Connect on 68U as Aimesh-node if one got a 86U as main router as most of us got an 68U and want to expand it with a newer type router.

I think this AiMesh Phase2 beta thread suggests Smart Connect is coming to 68U and Blue Cave routers, but I don't see it being discussed by the beta testers so I'm not sure if 68U Smart Connect is in the Phase2 beta firmware (and will it include the AC1900?).

OE

 

[Bill Smith]

This good man has some good videos about AiMesh, look at them all and especially the last one (05), it has additional information about how to configure it correctly.

01. How to Set Up ASUS AiMesh System [Whole-Home WiFi]

02. Testing my Asus AiMesh System [Speed Test, Roaming & more]

03. WiFi Repeater on ASUSWRT [ASUS RT-AC68U Wireless Router]

04. AiMesh vs. Repeater vs. Access Point [ASUS RT-AC68U Operation Modes]

05. Testing ASUS [AiMesh] [Repeater] [Access Point] Whole-home WiFi

These were excellent! Thanx!

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Great videos. Notice he's using converted TM-AC1900 Personal Cellspot routers for his demonstration?

 

[Bill Smith]

Great videos. Notice he's using converted TM-AC1900 Personal Cellspot routers for his demonstration?

I read that AiMesh has been thwarted on these routers. Vid probably made before that happened. Or there is a way around it I haven’t heard of.

I’m about a week into this process of going from pretty old tech to the new stuff. The responses to my post here have been overwhelmingly helpful. But I’m no expert LOL.

 

[Grisu]

I read that AiMesh has been thwarted on these routers. Vid probably made before that happened. Or there is a way around it I haven’t heard of.

there is

On the last you can see how fast self healing is if LAN or node has gone.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

I read that AiMesh has been thwarted on these routers. Vid probably made before that happened. Or there is a way around it I haven’t heard of.

Yes - these videos are fairly current. They were posted in June, well after Asus launched the ineffective TM attack. Nothing much has changed, with that regard, since then.

 

[RandomName23]

Thanks much for the pointer. I’ll definitely read it.

I realize there are situations where central mgmt is a big win. Just not for me.

With my second AC1900P on the way, I’m mainly trying to decide whether I can run Merlin (and give up AIMesh). But I will have invested in the right hardware if someday the other method won’t work.

I’m just trying to do some homework before I have to set it up. And to learn what I might be giving up -including non obvious things like performance or reliability for example- if I went with the other old method I described.

Thanks again.

If you just have two routers that are hard-wired you probably won't see a ton of benefits in using Aimesh over your old Tomato setup. Aimesh is beneficial because it allows you to connect two routers together via a wireless backhaul, there is centralized management, it will auto heal if you have 3 or more nodes and one goes down it will auto-heal the mesh, allows you to keep using the asus firmware (not sure this is quite an advantage at times), etc.

Since you are hard wired between your nodes I would just try whichever one works best for you. I don't think it matters much in your situation. One advantage you would gain with the Tomato is the lack of the centralized management so you would have full control over your nodes. In Aimesh you only have full control over the main router, unless you change settings via SSH.

 

[Max Nguyen]

I've actually been really happy with my 2x RT-ac86u setup. My mobile devices seem to connect to the closer router all the time which is a nice change. I had a google wifi setup before, which would always keep my mobiles connected to the router closest to my home entrance, and would kick me down to 2.4ghz and never back up to 5ghz.

I have my aimesh connected via ethernet backhaul. One in the basement, one on the top floor.

 

[FunkyBoss]

I've actually been really happy with my 2x RT-ac86u setup. My mobile devices seem to connect to the closer router all the time which is a nice change. I had a google wifi setup before, which would always keep my mobiles connected to the router closest to my home entrance, and would kick me down to 2.4ghz and never back up to 5ghz.

I have my aimesh connected via ethernet backhaul. One in the basement, one on the top floor.

Great to hear this... I also picked up 2 RT-AC86U's this week, and will be setting them up with the wired backhaul this weekend

 

[Markboz]

Can you use the TM-AC1900 on a AiMesh system the one that has T Mobile on it?

Thank you

 

[Grisu]

not allowed to discuss TM-conversion in this forum as it is still possible but not legal.

 

[Bill Smith]

I am feeling stupid right now. I got my second AC1900P and want to set it up as an AP. But can’t figure out how? What I have done in the past is hook a laptop up to a router in a closed network then go to 192.168.1.1 and access the settings.

That doesn’t seem to work because when I log into this router it seems to want an internet connection and since there is none it won’t display the GUI.

I tried plugging the wan port into my existing AC1900P but it won’t show up on my network. Presumably because it’s trying to use 192.168.1.1 which is already in use by the router.

 

[HowIFix]

Use:
- Device Discovery v1.4.8.2 (2018/07/23)

 

[Grisu]

If you reset the router (WPS holding while powering on and after 15s release it) you will see its WiFi SSID on your clients (ASUS and ASUS_5G). Connect to it and set whatever you want to. After ready connect ethernet in WAN port.

 

[Bill Smith]

Use:
- Device Discovery v1.4.8.2 (2018/07/23)

This appears to be an executable. What is it?

 

[HowIFix]

You can use the ASUS Device Discovery tool to find the IP address of wireless router.

 

[Bill Smith]

This appears to be an executable. What is it?

Never mind. Figured it out. Thanks!

 

[Bill Smith]

You can use the ASUS Device Discovery tool to find the IP address of wireless router.

Can’t seem to get it to work. Do I plug the new router into my network?

You can use the ASUS Device Discovery tool to find the IP address of wireless router.

I couldn’t get it to find my new router. But the WPS method worked. Many thanks.

 

[Markboz]

not allowed to discuss TM-conversion in this forum as it is still possible but not legal.

Sorry did not know

 

[tallytr]

I have two AC86U's. Modem and router in the basement. Using AiMesh, 3rd floor second AC86U Ethernet backhaul and much prefer that setup over previous AP using same SSID.
iOS devices finally roam, before they sticked to the 2.4Ghz band, now it's 5Ghz and really seamless.
Even if performance should be lower (I don't experience it) the convenience (central management) won me over.
Guest Network with main router is OK with me.