Aimesh house setup questions

[jcenteno1287]

Hi all...here trying to learn and find tips on how to better manage my collection of random ASUS and ROG wifi routers..

Service Provider/Speed: Century Link fiber 960mbps (checked at the main router and I actually get the full 950+mbps)

Devices available:
RT-AX86U (current main router)
GS-AX5400 (wired into the 86u as a node)
RT-AX82U (wireless but not working well)
GT-AX11000 not being used at the moment.

I have a 2200 sq foot house (single level) the main router is inside of a "media closet" in my bathroom closet... the signal was weak at the opposite side so I replace the century link provide router with a RT-AX86U. This improved the connection but then I learned about Aimesh and was able to find a ROG GS-AX5400 for cheap on Facebook marketplace and added it (wired from the RT-AX86U) to the opposite side of the house. With this setup things improved but download speeds on the other ends of the house like the garage are still a bit weak. I got a RT-AX82U and a GT-AX11000 from a friend and decided to try the AX82U into the Aimesh wirelessly in my garage... which quite frankly doesn't work that well (half the time it doesn't even show connected). The GT-AX11000 was the last one I have and I am not sure how to restructure my whole network setup.

Note: I just finished hardwiring 2 extra location on the house with cat6. So I know have the main location with the main router and 3 locations on opposite ends of the house I can connect the routers directly to the main one.

Questions:

1- with the current random list of routers which one should I have as the main one?
2- Should I keep one as the main and just sell the other 3 random routers I got and just get 3 of the same model for nodes? would this make my setup more stable?


Thanks for the help!

[Murph_9000]

Have a close look at the advanced features on them. The ROG GT routers are probably the most feature rich, then ROG GS, then ASUS RT. Some of the advanced features around things like QoS really need to be on the router that faces the Internet (the one directly on your ISP line / modem / etc). So, it may be best to have the GT as primary router and directly on the Internet, with the others as AiMesh nodes/repeaters. Directly connecting the mesh repeaters over Ethernet, back to the primary, should give the best overall performance.

[jzchen]

I agree your unused AX11000 as the main router. You're going to have to play a little with the wiring since both that and the RT-AX86U have a 2.5 G Ethernet port, which can be used for 2.5 G backhaul. The 2.5 G port can be used as a WAN port and doing so I bumped up the WAN speed 100 Mbps. If it doesn't improve using it as WAN port then use it as wired backhaul.

BTW- Unless you use the internet in your bathroom or for some other reason you don't mind sharing I'd move it out of that closet and out of the bathroom if possible. You're losing signal strength going through every wall...

[david_mckee1]

I also have the GT-AX11000 and RT-AX86U routers in my setup, along with 5 others. Definitely use the AX11000 as the primary, ASUS tech suggested this as well when I contact them and shared my setup. I'd probably ditch the other two routers since your home is a single-story, 2200sqft.. The only reason I'd keep the others connected is if you like using them as hardlines in the other rooms.