Any experiences with the new Asus AI Mesh Wifi ? Fast? Reliable? All reviews I had read said a big YES.
In my case I use an ASUS RT-AC68U as my main router and I´m considering buying another one to set a WIFI MESH to improve use of Roon, to get rid of a Linksys RE6500 wifi extender that has been problematic, in my home.
Thanks!
I went from the same ASUS router to a four pod Eero mesh system. Did not use a range extender with the Asus router. I would anticipate the Asus mesh would provide a similar improvement as the Eero.
I use google WiFi, and it finally resolved a decade of frustration with extenders, powerline adapters and high powered APs. I would expect asus to have a solid implementation as well.
I just set one of these up in my house yesterday. Main router is an RT-AC3100 and the mesh node is a RT-AC68U. I live in a vintage building with plaster over metal lathe (like thick chicken wire) over clay tile. Every room is like its own Faraday cage. I’ve got CAT6 running to each room, but due to the floorplan the only logical places for wireless routers/nodes are at the front and back of the house, which means they are out of range of one another wirelessly.
Not quite as easy to set up as I had hoped - but that’s because I was trying to set up the node to talk to the main router over Ethernet, when I think ASUS expects you to do it via WiFi. I ultimately ended up directly connecting a LAN port on the main router to the WAN port on the node (and putting the two devices about a foot away from each other). Even then, the AIMesh software only would recognize the node via wireless. To Asus’s credit, once the node is recognized you can go into the AIMesh interface and specify that you want the router and the node to communicate via a backhaul Ethernet connection. Once I did that I moved the node to the back of my house and things worked without a hitch. I used to have another device back there acting as an access point/repeater, but it didn’t do as good of job as this setup and it was harder to configure/administer.
I can’t speak to how well the system works if you don’t have everything hardwired together (which is probably the much more common use case) but I’m a fan of AIMesh in my environment.
Robert, what advantages have you experienced, or hassles have you avoided, by using a mesh system versus the alternative?
The eero mesh coverage is excellent. The firmware is user friendly. Support is good if you need anything.
Using a conventional router, you’re often stuck having your router on one side of the house (with your computer equipment), and the distant section(s) of the house would suffer weak or inconsistent wifi coverage, Range extenders are stop gaps, but they never worked as well for me as a mesh system. Performance of specific devices can be measured and addressed.
If my eero mesh router system stopped working tomorrow, I’d go out and buy another setup. I like it that well. There are other companies bringing out the same types of mesh setups. I’m sure those will work better than conventional router setups.
Additionally, many extenders run at half duplex and literally cut available capacity in half as a result. I have even used a few newer “better” extenders that can dedicate either their 2.4 or 5ghz radios to the router backhaul, and even these devices seem to lack stability forcing unplug/replugs, resets, etc. I threw my hands up a couple years ago with it all.
I have had google wifi now since launch, and I have had almost had zero issues. Also since deploying a 3 node google wifi (3x asus onhub APs) I have cut the cord and stream exclusively, and it remains rock solid. I often have 30 or so devices on the network, and can easily have 4 streaming live HD video and google wifi handles it without issue. Bandwidth tests done from the mesh points are almost as good as when wired directly into the core node. Never mind the fact that the system will hand you off to the AP that will perform best automatically.
I do’t think about wifi about wifi anymore. From what I have read, most mesh systems perform as well a GWIFI.
I have a newish extender that I configured to be an access point. My network is almost completely wired. Yet, I have frequent issues with “weak signal” which could be anything from my cable connect to the TV or audio system. A reboot of the offending device almost always helps, but that begs the problem of why this is happening in the first place. I have no troubleshooting prowess in networking: a dark art, to me.
Robert, is your house totally wireless? To TVs audio systems, Roon?
I have a blended network. Cable TV, internet and digital phone are supplied by Spectrum cable. I have a Cat 6 ethernet cable running across the house from my office out to the listening room/media center. Ethernet over power modules for my Solar PV system, and four eero mesh pods to handle the wireless stuff (Video doorbell, ipads, iphones, weather station, Amazon Tap, and the other wireless components). I can run more stuff via wireless but don’t need to unless I want to. Nothing is better than a wired connection. I have 30+ items on the network.
Certainly. Think I found my network issue. Turns out the TiVO mini has both cable and ethernet connections, and having both, I blithely hooked up both. But you only need ethernet! Might have introduced signal conflict with the cable. Fingers tightly crossed. Wife is not happy.
I just receive my second ASUS RT 68U. Setup the Asus AImesh took me 15 minutes. No problems in the setup path with the new 68U:Upgrade firmware with latest, reset it to default and then connect it to the main Asus 68U, the router connected to Internet, as an AImesh device. Three hours playing music with no problem at all (with the linksys RE6500 extender the skips in music were frecuent and pretty annoying). All devices connects perfectly to the mesh all around the house. I´ll update my comment if I find any problems but, so far, looks perfect: stable and fast, really fast.
A warning to those considering the eero mesh setup. The LAN and WiFi shut down if the Internet is not available. This is not user selectable so if you have an Internet outage your Roon will be unusable as well as any of your LAN dependent systems.
Rob, Whoa! Confirmed by their tech support? I think you meant unusable…
That is incredible. Thx for the headsup.
Reponse from eero customer support regarding loss of an internet connection. Good info for Eero users…
Jared (eero Customer Support)
Apr 24, 2:21 PM PDT
Hi Robert,
Thank you for reaching out to eero support! I’d be happy to help answer the questions you have about using your network while your internet connection is down.
If eeros lose their connection to the internet, they will still provide a local WiFi (and Ethernet) network in your home. We understand that your local network is just as important as your internet connection. We also take great care to ensure this connection is secure using WPA2-AES encryption, and other custom security methods used only by eero to ensure that all of the devices connected to your network are authorized.
Some of these security protocols require the internet to get going, but don’t require the internet to continue functioning after they start up. What this means is if your gateway eero loses an internet connection and is rebooted or loses power for any reason, then it will not be able to utilize these security measures and will not restore the local network until internet is restored.
If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to reach back out to us.
Kindly,
Jared | eero Support
If you’d like immediate answers to general questions, please visit our Help Center.
Or give us a call at (877) 659-2347 We’re available 7 days a week: 7am – 5pm PT
I read that as saying you can lose internet and be okay, but if you lose internet and power, or have to reboot your device for any reason after internet connectivity is lost, than you will have no lan connectivity until access to the internet is restored.
Still a horrific design.