publicat la

Analysis: How fast is the WiFi when you create your own ASUS AiMesh?

Sponsored by
  • misc by Ciprian Adrian Rusen published on 03.12.2018
  • Share:

ASUS started the year with news of its AiMesh system, which allows existing users of ASUS routers to add other ASUS routers and create their own home-made mesh WiFi systems. If you want to improve the wireless network coverage and speed in large homes, buying a mesh whole-home WiFi system makes a lot of sense. But what if you did not have to, and you just bought another ASUS router to create a mesh WiFi? Do you still get real-life benefits in WiFi speed and coverage? To answer these questions, we created our own ASUS AiMesh system and compared it with a competing whole-home WiFi system. Here is what you get as real-life downloads and WiFi signal strength:

NOTE: If you do not know what a mesh WiFi is, please read this article first: What is a mesh wireless network or whole-home WiFi system?

The setup we used for testing ASUS AiMesh

First, let’s take a look at the apartment that was used in our testing and how it is set up. You can see that the primary ASUS AiMesh device is placed in the living room. When using wireless routers, the signal strength is not that high in rooms like the Kitchen and the Medium balcony. To improve the coverage of the network, I placed the second router in the Big Bedroom. As a result, the Medium balcony should benefit from stabler WiFi. Then, the third router was situated just near the entrance to the Kitchen, to improve the coverage there too.

ASUS AiMesh

The routers we used to create the ASUS AiMesh setup are two ASUS RT-AC86U (one of them used as the main router for the AiMesh), and one ASUS RT-AC88U.

ASUS AiMesh

Our testing was done using a fast 1 Gigabit Internet connection that’s capable of uploads on the internet of up to 500 Mbps. We used an HP Spectre 13 laptop for our measurements, and we compared all the results obtained by ASUS AiMesh with TP-Link Deco M5 (a competing mesh system also comprising three devices), and with the ASUS RT-AC88U router that we initially had in the test apartment, as the only router managing our network.

ASUS AiMesh on the 2.4 GHz wireless band: Stable signal strength, and two to three times faster downloads

We measured the signal strength with inSSIDer, in all the rooms in our apartment. You can see below that the ASUS AiMesh delivered very excellent signal strength in all rooms, with smaller variations than the TP-Link Deco M5, and a lot stabler than that of a traditional router.

ASUS AiMesh

Then, we used SpeedTest to see how fast the internet connection is in all rooms when using the 2.4 GHz wireless frequency. ASUS AiMesh was outstanding, delivering a download speed which was two to three times better than the TP-Link Deco M5, depending on the room.

ASUS AiMesh

When measuring the upload speed, the differences were smaller but still significant, in most rooms.

ASUS AiMesh

 

Next, we used the PassMark Performance test to transfer data between two computers connected to the network, on the 2.4 GHz band. Again, ASUS AiMesh delivered outstandingly fast downloads, in all rooms. Except in one room, the AiMesh was two to three times faster than TP-Link Deco M5.

ASUS AiMesh

When we measured the upload speed, the differences became smaller, but even here ASUS AiMesh performed admirably.

ASUS AiMesh

The conclusions we can draw from these measurements on the 2.4 GHz band are the following:

  • ASUS AiMesh delivers very stable signal strength
  • ASUS AiMesh offers incredibly fast downloads, sometimes three times as fast than TP-Link Deco M5
  • ASUS AiMesh provides fast uploads

ASUS AiMesh on the 5 GHz wireless band: Stable signal strength, fast downloads, significantly faster uploads

We measured the signal strength with inSSIDer, in all the rooms in our apartment. ASUS AiMesh delivered incredibly stable signal strength in all rooms, which varied a lot less than that offered by TP-Link Deco M5.

ASUS AiMesh

We then used SpeedTest to see how fast the internet connection is when using the 5 GHz wireless frequency. ASUS AiMesh was very fast in all rooms on our test apartment. In some, ASUS AiMesh was significantly faster than TP-Link Deco M5, while in others the differences were relatively insignificant between the two.

ASUS AiMesh

When measuring the upload speed, ASUS AiMesh was consistently and significantly faster than TP-Link Deco M5.

ASUS AiMesh

Next, we used the PassMark Performance test to transfer data between two computers connected to the network, on the 5 GHz band. ASUS AiMesh was very fast in all rooms, but in a few of them, TP-Link Deco M5 proved to be a worthy challenger.

ASUS AiMesh

The upload speed measurements showed one more time that ASUS AiMesh is significantly faster than TP-Link Deco M5.

ASUS AiMesh

The conclusions we can draw from these measurements on the 5 GHz band are the following:

  • ASUS AiMesh delivers very stable signal strength
  • ASUS AiMesh offers much faster uploads than TP-Link Deco M5
  • ASUS AiMesh provides fast downloads

Did you create your own ASUS AiMesh system?

We think that it is an excellent idea on ASUS’s part to allow their users to create their mesh WiFi systems so that they improve the wireless coverage in their homes and apartments. The setup is not that difficult, even though it takes some time and patience, and the results seem to be great. Before closing this article, let us know whether you have created your own ASUS AiMesh, what routers you used and whether you are satisfied or not with the results. Comment below and let’s discuss.

NEWSLETTER:
DAILY

Receive our daily newsletter. You may unsubscribe at any time. For details read the Privacy policy.

Eroare. We could not add you to our newsletter.
WEEKLY

Receive our weekly newsletter. You may unsubscribe at any time. For details read the Privacy policy.

Eroare. We could not add you to our newsletter.
  • Discover:
  • Smarthome
  • Blog
  • Hardware and Sound
  • Network and Internet
  • Recommended
  • Wireless
Share: See comments Add comment
Article by Ciprian Adrian Rusen

Related articles

WiFi vs. Ethernet backhaul: Performance improvements for your mesh WiFi system!

How to choose an ASUS wireless router for your home

ASUS RT-AX92U: The advantages of using different network names for each WiFi band!

ASUS products for remote work and online learning

popular articles

How to change the search engine on Chrome for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS

  • tutorial
  • Codrut Neagu
  • 02.18.2021
The address bar in Google Chrome can be used as a search box, and the default search engine is, obviously, Google. Do you want to know how to change Chrome’s search engine from Google to something...

12 small things that Windows 10 does better than older versions

  • misc
  • Codrut Neagu
  • 02.16.2021
More than a couple of years have passed since Windows 10 was launched back in 2015, and many things have changed since then. Although the most popular operating system in the world has received...

Which features from Windows 7 are no longer available in Windows 10?

  • misc
  • Codrut Neagu
  • 02.12.2021
The latest operating system from Microsoft - Windows 10 - is definitely full of new things compared to previous Windows versions. But, like all things in life, there are also some elements missing...

Popular reviews

ASUS ROG Flow X13 GV301 review: A convertible gaming laptop

  • review
  • Codrut Neagu
  • 02.17.2021
Each year, gaming laptops are getting lighter and thinner than they’ve ever been. However, no gaming laptop can truly match ultraportables in terms of portability. That’s where ASUS goes off the...

TP-Link Archer AX20 review: Redefining value for money?

  • review
  • Ciprian Adrian Rusen
  • 02.15.2021
TP-Link’s line-up of Wi-Fi 6 routers includes some exciting models with good hardware that are very reasonably priced. If you want a good mid-range model, you should look at the new TP-Link Archer...

Best free file recovery software: Recuva vs. the competition

  • misc
  • Codrut Neagu
  • 02.02.2021
In this day and age, you can find many apps that promise to help you recover deleted files. It is great to have lots of options, but the question is, which programs are good at recovering deleted...

Search

Subscribe

  • E-mail
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Twitter

Categories

  • Productivity
  • Entertainment
  • Security
  • Smartphone
  • Smarthome
  • Health

Other

  • Subscription options
  • About Digital Citizen
  • Newsletter
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Contact us

Digital Citizen

Search

Categories

  • Productivity
  • Entertainment
  • Security
  • Smartphone
  • Smarthome
  • Health

Other

  • Subscription options
  • About Digital Citizen
  • Newsletter
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Contact us

Subscribe

  • E-mail
  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Twitter

This Site Uses Cookies

This site, like many others, uses small files called cookies to help us improve and customize your experience. Learn more in our cookie policy.

Granular Cookie Control