Wireless Mesh Setup (XT8 or AX92U?)

[jasonho]

Looking for additional comments and advice as I intend to Mesh up my current place

My current BB and main router (AX88U) is located at A *Living*. But my wifi signal is extremely weak in Main and esp Bedroom 2. In actual fact, my phone will switch to 4G once I get near to Bedrm 2 windows.

I did some readup on Mesh setup (eg Dongknows) and looking at the 2 tri-band Mesh options :

1) Zenwifi XT8 (or should I go with CT8?)
2) AX92U (twin)

I intend to put the satellite unit at B location (Bedroom 3).

Looking for any kind soul who has tried with these 2 Mesh system or setup to give some advice/comments. Thanks!


PS : Wired lan option was considered but decided its too messy and hassle to go with that. My wifi bedroom wifi usage is limited to purely mobile and TV box (apple TV / Mi Box).

 

[xonix]

Can you clarify why you feel that wired lan would be "messy" ?

If you house has data points, I feel that the best option would be to leave ax88u as main router wired to data points and adding 1 or 2 AiMesh nodes.

 

[jasonho]

Can you clarify why you feel that wired lan would be "messy" ?

If you house has data points, I feel that the best option would be to leave ax88u as main router wired to data points and adding 1 or 2 AiMesh nodes.

Yes I fully understand the advantage of wired Mesh setup but due to some of the fixed fittings in the Bedroom, it will require lots of work to "pull" the cable into the room.

Lets take it's not a option now.

 

[tank_t]

How old the house dont have LAN cable connection? Btw where is the ont? When mbr door not close is there wifi ?

When you mean weak. U mean surfing slow or low signal bar?

Take a photo of the ax88u routing facing front and side view. Height of router placed.

 

[jasonho]

15 years old flat.....ONT is at point A.

I was referring to the WiFi signal with door opened in my previous post.

AC88u is next to ONT and facing main BDRM direction. It's sitting on TV cabinet so it's roughly 40-50cm from floor.

PS I would imagine my place should be well covered with a Ax88u but can't imagine why my BDRM 2 is getting such weak signal.

 

[XiaoFu99]

15 years flat should have coaxial point (unless you sealed up during reno). Link 1 MoCA pair up between point #A and bedroom 2 as mesh ethernet backhaul (or simple wireless AP) should solve your problem at bedroom 2 and MBR.

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

 

[jasonho]

15 years flat should have coaxial point (unless you sealed up during reno). Link 1 MoCA pair up between point #A and bedroom 2 as mesh ethernet backhaul (or simple wireless AP) should solve your problem at bedroom 2 and MBR.

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

Thanks, I read on the MoCa thread and realize it can be quite a setup to do

1) Moca POE Filter
- Is this required or optional? Reason is I checked on my flat riser and it seems like its is locked. Not sure what are the chances of asking SH to open it up for me

2) I need 2 moca adapters and both these adapters require power points (i saw its AC powered) too right?

 

[kashix]

Just go xt8 since you’re all using wifi 6 already

Posted with iPhone 12 Pro Max Pacific Blue HardwareZone Forums app

 

[XiaoFu99]

Thanks, I read on the MoCa thread and realize it can be quite a setup to do

1) Moca POE Filter
- Is this required or optional? Reason is I checked on my flat riser and it seems like its is locked. Not sure what are the chances of asking SH to open it up for me

2) I need 2 moca adapters and both these adapters require power points (i saw its AC powered) too right?

POE wise, I think maybe not if you can disconnect the starhub incoming signal to your splitter.

Yes, it's an adapter to power your MoCA (just like any router).

Or any chance you can put a mesh node along your hallway (e.g. outside of WC1) to have line of sight with point A? If yes, a wireless mesh maybe an option as well.

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

 

[xiaofan]

15 years old flat.....ONT is at point A.

I was referring to the WiFi signal with door opened in my previous post.

AX88u is next to ONT and facing main BDRM direction. It's sitting on TV cabinet so it's roughly 40-50cm from floor.

PS I would imagine my place should be well covered with a Ax88u but can't imagine why my BDRM 2 is getting such weak signal.

Old flat has thick concrete walls which is very good at blocking wifi signal. The placement of your RT-AX88U is also unfortunately not in the central location. Therefore it is expected that the AX88U can not cover the flat. MBR and BR2 suffer from two walls and long distances.

Between Zenwifi XT8 and RT-AX92U, XT8 is a better mesh solution.

Still in your case, you already have the Asus RT-AX88U which support AImesh, it is a bit wasted if you go with the Zenwifi XT8 unless you want to sell away the RT-AX88U. I will say just buy one RT-AX58U (around S$229) and put in bedroom 3. You will have performance drop compared to triband mesh solution like XT8 but it should still be okay.

Even if you use XT8, the wireless backhaul link speed will be limited due to the wall and distance between the mesh node and main node. So you may not get that good speed in BR2 and MBR either.

BTW, it will be good to move Point B as close to the BR3 door as possible.

 

[jasonho]

POE wise, I think maybe not if you can disconnect the starhub incoming signal to your splitter.

Yes, it's an adapter to power your MoCA (just like any router).

Or any chance you can put a mesh node along your hallway (e.g. outside of WC1) to have line of sight with point A? If yes, a wireless mesh maybe an option as well.

Sent from Samsung SM-G965F using GAGT

The challenge is accessing the splitter which I believe is inside the locked box in the Riser.

For my hallway (towards my bdrm), its quite narrow and no power point. So no chance of adding a mesh node there

 

[tank_t]

40-50 cm quite low. Try to position the antenna pointing towards the bed room.

How many devices in the house ison wifi?

15 years old flat.....ONT is at point A.

I was referring to the WiFi signal with door opened in my previous post.

AC88u is next to ONT and facing main BDRM direction. It's sitting on TV cabinet so it's roughly 40-50cm from floor.

PS I would imagine my place should be well covered with a Ax88u but can't imagine why my BDRM 2 is getting such weak signal.

 

[BradenHeat]

The challenge is accessing the splitter which I believe is inside the locked box in the Riser.

For my hallway (towards my bdrm), its quite narrow and no power point. So no chance of adding a mesh node there

hmm just food for thought though:

- have you try placing the ax88u further away from tv console and closer to the bedroom directions ?

- x8t mesh for all rounder, because of the tri-band effect. But if you have LAN ports to one of the rooms, simple long LAN cable extension to another Asus AX router and aimesh should do the trick.

might have missed this obivious point but : wheres the LAN port outlets in the floor plan ?

 

[jasonho]

Old flat has thick concrete walls...

Between Zenwifi XT8 and RT-AX92U, XT8 is a better mesh solution.

Still in your case, you already have the Asus RT-AX88U which support AImesh, it is a bit wasted if you go with the Zenwifi XT8 unless you want to sell away the RT-AX88U. I will say just buy one RT-AX58U (around S$229) and put in bedroom 3. You will have performance drop compared to triband mesh solution like XT8 but it should still be okay.

Even if you use XT8, the wireless backhaul link speed will be limited due to the wall and distance between the mesh node and main node. So you may not get that good speed in BR2 and MBR either.

BTW, it will be good to move Point B as close to the BR3 door as possible.

Unfortunately bdrm fittings restrict where I can put my node. I will see if I can even borrow my bro ac88u unit to test.

40-50 cm quite low. Try to position the antenna pointing towards the bed room.

How many devices in the house ison wifi?

Less than 20

hmm just food for thought though:

- have you try placing the ax88u further away from tv console and closer to the bedroom directions ?

- x8t mesh for all rounder, because of the tri-band effect. But if you have LAN ports to one of the rooms, simple long LAN cable extension to another Asus AX router and aimesh should do the trick.

might have missed this obivious point but : wheres the LAN port outlets in the floor plan ?

Based my current living hall fitting layout, A is the only place where I can put my main router unless, I am willing to put cable to another spot.

Based on my understanding, AX92U is also a tri-band. alot of people here do favour XT8 though, I will take a closer look.

As for lan points, this flat is a old flat, and no lan point were catered during renovation. So wired Mesh is not a option for me

 

[xiaofan]

Unfortunately bdrm fittings restrict where I can put my node. I will see if I can even borrow my bro ac88u unit to test.

Based my current living hall fitting layout, A is the only place where I can put my main router unless, I am willing to put cable to another spot.

Based on my understanding, AX92U is also a tri-band. alot of people here do favour XT8 though, I will take a closer look.

As for lan points, this flat is a old flat, and no lan point were catered during renovation. So wired Mesh is not a option for me

RT-AX92U is not a good AX mesh solution with wireless backhaul. It will actually become an AC mesh solution as the 5GHz_2 AX band will be used for backhaul by default and 5GHz_1 is only AC.

"[AiMesh] How to use RT-AX92U's Wi-Fi 6 band on AiMesh mode? | Official Support | ASUS Global" https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1043439/

For testing you do not need AImesh capable routers. If you have any wireless router capable of running in wireless bridge mode or repeater mode, put that in Position B to see if it can have good connection with your AX88U in A position. Connect a laptop with gigabit Ethernet to the secondary router and then carry out SpeedTest.

Example: Starhub issued D-Link 868L, Linksys EA7500 or EA8100; M1 issued Asus routers like RT-AC1200G+ or RT-AC2600, etc.

 

[tank_t]

Imo the location is not optimised. The mbr have a clear line of sight only 13m apart.

The low height could be a problem when people move around.

My ac88u is about 1.8m high. And my mbr does not have a clear LOS , signal has to bounce 2 right angles about 7-9m away and my flat is 20 years.

I still got good signal able to watch youtube and stream online. Max speed around 10mbps which is good enough for most surfing.

 

[jasonho]

RT-AX92U is not a good AX mesh solution with wireless backhaul. It will actually become an AC mesh solution as the 5GHz_2 AX band will be used for backhaul by default and 5GHz_1 is only AC.

"[AiMesh] How to use RT-AX92U's Wi-Fi 6 band on AiMesh mode? | Official Support | ASUS Global" https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1043439/

For testing you do not need AImesh capable routers. If you have any wireless router capable of running in wireless bridge mode or repeater mode, put that in Position B to see if it can have good connection with your AX88U in A position. Connect a laptop with gigabit Ethernet to the secondary router and then carry out SpeedTest.

Example: Starhub issued D-Link 868L, Linksys EA7500 or EA8100; M1 issued Asus routers like RT-AC1200G+ or RT-AC2600, etc.

I must have misread it somewhere but I thought XT8 is the same - meaning the 5ghz-2 is used for backhaul and the fronthaul 5GHz-1 is ac speed too.

Based on dongknow 2020 review : https://dongknows.com/asus-zenwifi-ax-xt8-review/ , he mentioned a new firmware update that opens up the front-haul to support 4×4 160MHz specs, effectively doubling the XT8’s Wi-Fi speed for clients. Quite confusing as a lot of XT8 online product specs still indicates it’s 5GHz-1 is still 2x2

Any XT8 owners to confirm if fronthaul 5GHz supports 4x4 160Mhz specs yet ?

If it’s truly upgraded to 4x4 for 5GHz-1 , then it’s a no brainer for me then.

 

[xiaofan]

I must have misread it somewhere but I thought XT8 is the same - meaning the 5ghz-2 is used for backhaul and the fronthaul 5GHz-1 is ac speed too.

Based on dongknow 2020 review : https://dongknows.com/asus-zenwifi-ax-xt8-review/ , he mentioned a new firmware update that opens up the front-haul to support 4×4 160MHz specs, effectively doubling the XT8’s Wi-Fi speed for clients. Quite confusing as a lot of XT8 online product specs still indicates it’s 5GHz-1 is still 2x2

Any XT8 owners to confirm if fronthaul 5GHz supports 4x4 160Mhz specs yet ?

If it’s truly upgraded to 4x4 for 5GHz-1 , then it’s a no brainer for me then.

The high speed 4*4 AX 5GHz_2 band will be used for dedicated wireless backhaul. That is the same for XT8 and AX92U.

The difference is the 5GHz_1 band.

RT-AX92U: 2*2 AC 80MHz (up to 867 Mbps)
XT8: 2*2 AX 80MHz (up to 1201 Mbps)

That is why RT-AX92U is rated AX6100.
400Mbps (2.4GHz AC) + 867Mbps + 4804 Mbps

XT8 is rated at AX6600
574Mbps (2.4GHz AX) + 1201Mbps + 4804Mbps

 

[rAcEr]

I would recommend using a tp-link wireless gigabit powerline kit to solve your issue. Around s$100 from hachi tech.

 

[jasonho]

Managed to snatch a AC88U and aimesh-ed with the AX88u . Node at B location .

Bdrm 3 where the Aimesh Node is

Surprisingly my speedtest is only 150++ despite of me standing next to my Aimesh Node

MasterBdrm

Managed to get 200++ for speedtest

Bdrm 2 where there were no WiFi signal before

Previously no WiFi, now 120-140+ for Speedtest!

Now I wonder if XT8 can improve the situation or should I just go with a RT-AX58U as suggested by @xiaofan

PS : Tested using Wifi Analyzer App and Speedtest App on Mi10T , speedtest is average of 3 runs