I am pretty sure ac88u was bottlenecked by its CPU on working as aimesh node(repeater). Asus hnd platform (ac86u) had a stronger CPU to handle the traffic so you saw better performance in the secondary bathroom. I would suggest you put ac88u as the main unit and setup two 86u as nodes, that should boost your coverage and speeds.
Yes, I created our own mess system using a RT-AX88Uwith a pair of RT-AX92A I found straight away, that when adding our old Asus Router as part of the mess system, it didn’t perform well. While factory settings have been fair, it’s nowhere near as fast as advertised without tweaking which lead me here.
Using Blue Cave as the main and two Lyra Trio as the nodes.
Somehow the speed drops very badly everywhere in my apartment.
On its own. The Cave does better. What’s going on? Everything is at default
had rt-ac88u and bought a new rt-ac86u.
but unable to add the88u as a node. search reveals the 88u as a node but at end of set up i will get a message unable to add.
i have uploaded both merlin 384.13 firmwares. resetted the node and still not luck. this is not as simple as it is made to be
OK, I got the additional AC-RT3100 and set it up as an AIMesh Node. That node was placed on the second floor in a back bedroom nearer to the garage as well as the den. Den issue and garage issue with slow or non-connectivity RESOLVED! Other issue cropped up however which has taken a couple of days to sort.
Issue: Node goes offline periodically and only a reset will bring it back – BUMMER!
Resolution: NOT ASUS Tech Support!
First, I can tell you that – in my experience anyway – Asus tech support is terrible! I did some sleuthing in various forums and pinged some of my MVP brothers and sisters and found out the solution.
Turns out that you need to make a couple of modifications in the ASUS Router in the Wireless menu option and Professional Tab – (Main) app.
First – Turn off Universal Beamforming and Airtime fairness (if the node is online, doing this in the main router does it for both).
Second – Use a fixed channel on both bands, rather than an ‘auto’ channel selection (again, if the node is online, doing this in the main router does it for both). I went with the channel that the router app said it was already using.
Now the node is working fine, high speeds all over and it has taken almost half of all of my 50 devices and all are running fine.
As an aside related to ASUS support. The only thing I got after 5 different techs was, reset to factory defaults, go through the process again (endless loop here) and always keep the node connected to the main router with an Ethernet cable – DUH! That defeats the purpose of having a WiFi AIMesh network!
Bottom line, no Ethernet cable connected WIFE working great on both and my entire network is now humming along happily – IN SPIT of Asus tech support. It is a great idea and their routers are awesome but their tech don’t have a clue – at least in my experience (I used to be a Senior Escalation Engineer at Microsoft so I do know a bit about tech support).
I have an ASUS RT-AC3100 and love it. I have another RT-AC3100 arriving in a few days and plan to set that up as AI Mesh. I have an older home (built in 1928) so lots of plaster walls and even a brick wall between my den and living room. The den is the most problem area currently. It is the room my wife and I spend time in the evenings watching Netflix so dropped or weak signals is a real problem. I have the router in the center of the house in the attic. I added an extended antenna which helped some but still have an issue with signal in there. I also have a detached garage that is about 30 feet from the house where I have a web enabled TV and Amazon Fire stick as well as a Garadget web enabled door opener and an Amazon Echo (I have 7 of them around the house and garage). I have turned the house in to a Smart home with Nest, TPLink, Amazon and Samsung devices scattered throughout (wall switches, outlets, locks, thermostat and cameras (Zmodo). All my TVs have Amazon Firesticks (no cable) and my cable is ATT Fiber Gigabit. Altogether, I have 52 devices on my network including all the above and 2 Samsung S8 phones and a variety of tablets and PCs. Amazon actually asks me from time to time to test products since my network is so diverse and dwelling construction is so challenging. I have tried all the Mesh devices on the market and found them all to be severely lacing in my situation Only the Asus RT-AC3100 has consistently performed moderately well to handle all of my retirements. I look forward to testing the ASUS AI Mesh solution and will provide input after I have it all set up and tested. Oh, I am also a 15 time Microsoft MVP in various networking and server product alignments so I have a good bit of experience and enjoy testing and diagnostic work. 🙂
Yesterday, I configured GT‑AC5300 and RT‑AC5300 in a mesh setup (aimesh). First I set up the GT‑AC5300 as my main router/aimesh router node and then I set up the RT‑AC5300 as a slave AiMesh node. When I started both of them (connected to LAN and internet), they both updated automatically to the latest firmware (mentioned below). I have been testing their AIMESH functionality and the VPN functionality and they both seem to be pretty good. One thing I have noticed that having these 2 routers too close to each other can cause AI mesh to work in a hopping confused way (which is probably expected). So increasing the distance between the 2 helped with having the clients stick to the main or node. Also for the backhaul I have the node connected to the router via ethernet, which I believe they both consistently connect at 300mbps. I am pretty pleased with these 2. The cost however for having these 2 in a mesh setup is pretty high and probably justifiable on a very large home…bigger than 3000 sq feet. Hope this helps a bit for anyone considering AIMESH specifically with these 2 routers.
RT‑AC5300 Version 3.0.0.4.384.21045 released 2018/06/12
GT-AC5300 Version 3.0.0.4.384.21045 released 2018/06/01
I have two AC3100 and the network speed is much lower on the 5G network when I use AIMesh. While signal strength goes up to 5 bars in Windows, performance drops from 351 mbps to 13mps! I am using the latest Asus FW as of today (5/16/2018). Send a support request and log to Asus a few days ago. So far no response.
two AC5300. Working well with first mesh firmware. Recent firmware update a total disaster. I have now downloaded the old firmware and started over. I also noted if you change any setting in wireless good luck. Wifi just stops transmitting, from the router. Also mobile app update doesnt work properly.
They need considerable software debugging. Not ready for primetime use.
I have an ASUS AC68U that has been solid and worked for years, but there was a slight deadspot where my downstairs FireTV lives. I managed to get a hold of a new Asus router and re-purposed my older one to be configured as the aimesh-node. The results are impressive, I no longer have dead zones downstairs. I recommend this setup in case you want to re-use your old Asus routers (as long as you update to the latest firmware). Helps improve signal without giving up on your old hardware as junk.
Great article and timely for me. I’m planning an upgrade from my Netgear R6300 + 2 extenders to a mesh system. I need solid WIFI coverage for a 2,000 square foot basement, 2,000 square foot first floor, and 1,500 square foot second floor. A pair of high performance tri-band routers with AiMesh seems like what I need. I’m not impressed with the “boxed” mesh WiFi Systems for large homes. Will AiMesh Work with 3 routers? I like good WiFi on my deck and patio too!
I used ASUS RT AC3100 & ASUS RT-AC1900P. The 3100 upstairs and the 1900 down in the basement where there was barely to none wi-fi. The speed and signal is significantly stronger and faster and a place where there was none
Great article:
I have created an AiMesh with 2 AC5300 routers in my home, a large 2 storey house with a lot of walls and other obstacles. I had issues with weak wifi signals at both ends of the house and have found the AiMesh setup has completely eliminated the issue.
I set the routers up using a back haul cable and let the routers decide if they would talk to each other through wireless or via the cable. The setup was relatively painless after I found some instructions on how to achieve what I wanted to do online.
In all I am very pleased with the AIMesh setup although the AC5300 router is a great device to begin with.
Excellent review – this is exactly what I needed to make my decision. I’ve been using ac5300 in bridge mode from a ac3100 and I was wondering if the aimesh would provide the stability I was looking for. I am going to go to try it out and let you know.
22 Responses to “Is ASUS AiMesh worth it? Does it increase your Wi-Fi speed?”
I am pretty sure ac88u was bottlenecked by its CPU on working as aimesh node(repeater). Asus hnd platform (ac86u) had a stronger CPU to handle the traffic so you saw better performance in the secondary bathroom. I would suggest you put ac88u as the main unit and setup two 86u as nodes, that should boost your coverage and speeds.
Yes, I created our own mess system using a RT-AX88Uwith a pair of RT-AX92A I found straight away, that when adding our old Asus Router as part of the mess system, it didn’t perform well. While factory settings have been fair, it’s nowhere near as fast as advertised without tweaking which lead me here.
Using Blue Cave as the main and two Lyra Trio as the nodes.
Somehow the speed drops very badly everywhere in my apartment.
On its own. The Cave does better. What’s going on? Everything is at default
Noticed the AIMesh Node when place on the 1st floor was hardly pulling any download speed. Is there any setting to sort this out.
Should I expect the same download/upload speed from the Main router as the node?
thanks
had rt-ac88u and bought a new rt-ac86u.
but unable to add the88u as a node. search reveals the 88u as a node but at end of set up i will get a message unable to add.
i have uploaded both merlin 384.13 firmwares. resetted the node and still not luck. this is not as simple as it is made to be
OK, I got the additional AC-RT3100 and set it up as an AIMesh Node. That node was placed on the second floor in a back bedroom nearer to the garage as well as the den. Den issue and garage issue with slow or non-connectivity RESOLVED! Other issue cropped up however which has taken a couple of days to sort.
Issue: Node goes offline periodically and only a reset will bring it back – BUMMER!
Resolution: NOT ASUS Tech Support!
First, I can tell you that – in my experience anyway – Asus tech support is terrible! I did some sleuthing in various forums and pinged some of my MVP brothers and sisters and found out the solution.
Turns out that you need to make a couple of modifications in the ASUS Router in the Wireless menu option and Professional Tab – (Main) app.
First – Turn off Universal Beamforming and Airtime fairness (if the node is online, doing this in the main router does it for both).
Second – Use a fixed channel on both bands, rather than an ‘auto’ channel selection (again, if the node is online, doing this in the main router does it for both). I went with the channel that the router app said it was already using.
Now the node is working fine, high speeds all over and it has taken almost half of all of my 50 devices and all are running fine.
As an aside related to ASUS support. The only thing I got after 5 different techs was, reset to factory defaults, go through the process again (endless loop here) and always keep the node connected to the main router with an Ethernet cable – DUH! That defeats the purpose of having a WiFi AIMesh network!
Bottom line, no Ethernet cable connected WIFE working great on both and my entire network is now humming along happily – IN SPIT of Asus tech support. It is a great idea and their routers are awesome but their tech don’t have a clue – at least in my experience (I used to be a Senior Escalation Engineer at Microsoft so I do know a bit about tech support).
Thank you for sharing your experience. I’m glad that you have found a solution.
I have an ASUS RT-AC3100 and love it. I have another RT-AC3100 arriving in a few days and plan to set that up as AI Mesh. I have an older home (built in 1928) so lots of plaster walls and even a brick wall between my den and living room. The den is the most problem area currently. It is the room my wife and I spend time in the evenings watching Netflix so dropped or weak signals is a real problem. I have the router in the center of the house in the attic. I added an extended antenna which helped some but still have an issue with signal in there. I also have a detached garage that is about 30 feet from the house where I have a web enabled TV and Amazon Fire stick as well as a Garadget web enabled door opener and an Amazon Echo (I have 7 of them around the house and garage). I have turned the house in to a Smart home with Nest, TPLink, Amazon and Samsung devices scattered throughout (wall switches, outlets, locks, thermostat and cameras (Zmodo). All my TVs have Amazon Firesticks (no cable) and my cable is ATT Fiber Gigabit. Altogether, I have 52 devices on my network including all the above and 2 Samsung S8 phones and a variety of tablets and PCs. Amazon actually asks me from time to time to test products since my network is so diverse and dwelling construction is so challenging. I have tried all the Mesh devices on the market and found them all to be severely lacing in my situation Only the Asus RT-AC3100 has consistently performed moderately well to handle all of my retirements. I look forward to testing the ASUS AI Mesh solution and will provide input after I have it all set up and tested. Oh, I am also a 15 time Microsoft MVP in various networking and server product alignments so I have a good bit of experience and enjoy testing and diagnostic work. 🙂
Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to your experience with AiMesh. 😉
Yesterday, I configured GT‑AC5300 and RT‑AC5300 in a mesh setup (aimesh). First I set up the GT‑AC5300 as my main router/aimesh router node and then I set up the RT‑AC5300 as a slave AiMesh node. When I started both of them (connected to LAN and internet), they both updated automatically to the latest firmware (mentioned below). I have been testing their AIMESH functionality and the VPN functionality and they both seem to be pretty good. One thing I have noticed that having these 2 routers too close to each other can cause AI mesh to work in a hopping confused way (which is probably expected). So increasing the distance between the 2 helped with having the clients stick to the main or node. Also for the backhaul I have the node connected to the router via ethernet, which I believe they both consistently connect at 300mbps. I am pretty pleased with these 2. The cost however for having these 2 in a mesh setup is pretty high and probably justifiable on a very large home…bigger than 3000 sq feet. Hope this helps a bit for anyone considering AIMESH specifically with these 2 routers.
RT‑AC5300 Version 3.0.0.4.384.21045 released 2018/06/12
GT-AC5300 Version 3.0.0.4.384.21045 released 2018/06/01
Great article.
Question, did you connect all routers by ethernet cables or they connnected to the mesh system wirelessly?
thanks
Wirelessly.
I have two AC3100 and the network speed is much lower on the 5G network when I use AIMesh. While signal strength goes up to 5 bars in Windows, performance drops from 351 mbps to 13mps! I am using the latest Asus FW as of today (5/16/2018). Send a support request and log to Asus a few days ago. So far no response.
two AC5300. Working well with first mesh firmware. Recent firmware update a total disaster. I have now downloaded the old firmware and started over. I also noted if you change any setting in wireless good luck. Wifi just stops transmitting, from the router. Also mobile app update doesnt work properly.
They need considerable software debugging. Not ready for primetime use.
I have an ASUS AC68U that has been solid and worked for years, but there was a slight deadspot where my downstairs FireTV lives. I managed to get a hold of a new Asus router and re-purposed my older one to be configured as the aimesh-node. The results are impressive, I no longer have dead zones downstairs. I recommend this setup in case you want to re-use your old Asus routers (as long as you update to the latest firmware). Helps improve signal without giving up on your old hardware as junk.
Great article and timely for me. I’m planning an upgrade from my Netgear R6300 + 2 extenders to a mesh system. I need solid WIFI coverage for a 2,000 square foot basement, 2,000 square foot first floor, and 1,500 square foot second floor. A pair of high performance tri-band routers with AiMesh seems like what I need. I’m not impressed with the “boxed” mesh WiFi Systems for large homes. Will AiMesh Work with 3 routers? I like good WiFi on my deck and patio too!
Yes, AiMesh will work with three routers, even more.
I used ASUS RT AC3100 & ASUS RT-AC1900P. The 3100 upstairs and the 1900 down in the basement where there was barely to none wi-fi. The speed and signal is significantly stronger and faster and a place where there was none
Great article:
I have created an AiMesh with 2 AC5300 routers in my home, a large 2 storey house with a lot of walls and other obstacles. I had issues with weak wifi signals at both ends of the house and have found the AiMesh setup has completely eliminated the issue.
I set the routers up using a back haul cable and let the routers decide if they would talk to each other through wireless or via the cable. The setup was relatively painless after I found some instructions on how to achieve what I wanted to do online.
In all I am very pleased with the AIMesh setup although the AC5300 router is a great device to begin with.
Thanks for sharing your experience. 😉
Excellent review – this is exactly what I needed to make my decision. I’ve been using ac5300 in bridge mode from a ac3100 and I was wondering if the aimesh would provide the stability I was looking for. I am going to go to try it out and let you know.
Thanks for appreciating our work. Looking forward to your feedback, after you create your own AiMesh.