Your opinions on AiMesh

[doc octopus]

Hi everyone, I would like you to share your experiences with the aimesh function. I would like to connect two routers, gt-ac5300 as the main router and rt-ac86u as a node, using the wifi as a backhaul channel, due to the distance between its equipment and the impossibility of laying ethernet cables.
Thanks in advance to those who want to participate.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Works great in my case (see signature).
I have an ethernet backhaul, however....

 

[drabisan]

If your only option is a wireless backhaul...distance and material walls are build from will be the decisive factors.
There's no way to predict how well it will work.
But you may do some tests before and you'll be able to guess.

Idea is: place a router where your "new" router will be. Than take a laptop and put it where your node will be. If you see 5GHz at at least -70db, you're borderline and it's not good. If you only see 2.4GHz, you have a BIG problem. It will work, but the speed will be s..t!
With both router and node having 2*5GHz radios, one it will become backhaul and speed will be decent. But if distance+walls makes only 2.4 to be seen between the 2 spots, there's no way to get decent speed. You'll have to move the node on a spot where you see router with good parameters. Ideally below -65db.

Don't set your expectations high. Wireless backhaul is a b..h, it's a shared environment so the speed it's never great.

Another point: GT-AC5300 never had a super firmware! A weekly restart it's a must and even then it may fail...usually it will forget to broadcast beacon on one 5GHz radio. There wasn't enough time to tell if latest firmware solved that problem, but I have one for nearly 1y and I did end up with a weekly reboot schedule to keep it stable.

 

[BradsterACT]

I ran 2 RT-ac68u in AIMesh through one cupboard a brick wall ----> 10 meters across the lawn--->Through a brick wall and Node is in Garage. Throughput is comparable to repeater mode and the whole yard gets excellent wireless and will swap between node and router seemlessly.

Ive since swapped out RT-AC68U router for DSL-AC68U and added a second node in a weatherproof box to service the backyard.

In repeater mode they seem to sync up well...usually at 1300....not sure how to check it as an AI mesh node

If you get a good signal in wireless bridge or repeater modes it should be fine for AI mesh.

Both your routers are vastly superior to mine so ide expect even better results.

 

[Volfi]

Works great for me, wireless.

 

[DummyPLUG]

I will not use gt-ac5300 as main router, I will choose a more professional one and use 2*AC86U or even AC68U as AP. Depends on the location you may end up using 2.4G for backhaul so the AC68U and AC86U will not have much differnet. I am using AC68U/86U for indoor as it is really good for that price, but for outdoor we have some setup as the same price as a AC68U but provide 1.2G (600mbps full duplex) with 800m distance.

 

[Network_noob]

I can't seem to find a setup that works... I have a 86U and 68U setup with aimesh.. Wireless backhaul. constant drops when a device switches between.. 86U is on far side of house 68U on the other side.. House is 1200sqft. I tried with one router but signal is really weak on other side of house. ideas?also wifi won't reach outside, constantly drops.

 

[arthurlien]

I can't seem to find a setup that works... I have a 86U and 68U setup with aimesh.. Wireless backhaul. constant drops when a device switches between.. 86U is on far side of house 68U on the other side.. House is 1200sqft. I tried with one router but signal is really weak on other side of house. ideas?also wifi won't reach outside, constantly drops.

Can you send feedback (system log and wifi log checked) by feedback function ?

 

[indark]

I can't seem to find a setup that works... I have a 86U and 68U setup with aimesh.. Wireless backhaul. constant drops when a device switches between.. 86U is on far side of house 68U on the other side.. House is 1200sqft. I tried with one router but signal is really weak on other side of house. ideas?also wifi won't reach outside, constantly drops.

you dont want to put the routers on the different end of the house.
you said the signal is really weak on the other side of the house, of course it will not be stable when routers can barely talk to each other.
instead of
A-----------------B
you should try
-----A-----B------

 

[DaveMishSr]

Hi everyone, I would like you to share your experiences with the aimesh function. I would like to connect two routers, gt-ac5300 as the main router and rt-ac86u as a node, using the wifi as a backhaul channel, due to the distance between its equipment and the impossibility of laying ethernet cables.
Thanks in advance to those who want to participate.

I am very happy. My setup is using 3 RT-AC3100's and the mesh is kicking butt. It is allowing my bandwidth limiter settings to throttle my son's firestick and xboxone. When he uses both at once, and he does so regularly, then bandwidth across the network disappears. I was using the 2 nodes as repeaters before going over to the mesh. That was not ideal though as I could not share the WiFi key with him because QoS settings do not carry over to repeater mode.

The setup was not magical and completely painless. It took a little trial and error to tweak the settings in order to find the best configuration for my environment but it was well worth the effort. My main router has now been up for 16 days 12 hours 28 minute(s) 53 seconds and is as stable as a rock. DirecTV streams on demand like nobody's business, Fire Stick works good, XboxOne does xbox stuff without any issues and even my stupid Note5 connects great! I am using 2 nodes due to the fact that I have 3 flatscreens and need the LAN ports. The best mesh feature is the ability to mix and match equipment but IIRC its best to use the same model throughout.

So the mesh gets two thumbs up from me. In this instance the hype lived up to its billing.

 

[VANT]

my AIMesh setup (86u + 68u) work ok.

 

[MarkyPancake]

I've recently replaced my AC68U with an AC86U and after reading a few things about AiMesh, I might have a play with it with these two routers, so the trusty AC68U might not be fully retired just yet. Does mean going back to stock firmware though. Decisions, decisions.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi everyone, I would like you to share your experiences with the aimesh function. I would like to connect two routers, gt-ac5300 as the main router and rt-ac86u as a node, using the wifi as a backhaul channel, due to the distance between its equipment and the impossibility of laying ethernet cables.
Thanks in advance to those who want to participate.

My AiMesh setup is shared here. Works OK.

OE