ASUS - ZenWiFi Pro XT12

Hey OP. I've been living with wireless backhaul mesh for the last few months in our new place and with a few tweaks, it's been fine. I'm using Asus AiMesh with two remote nodes, plus a couple of old OpenWRT routers purely as bridges for wired devices. I'm in the process of running cable just now just to make the most of my FTTP connection but some generic tips that seemed to help me, if you do go down the wireless route. - Choose a system with multiple radios in each node, so you can dedicate a channel to the backhaul. - Look for mesh nodes that allow you to plug devices into them and position them accordingly. The "wired" devices will obviously still be using wireless via the mesh, but keeping their own radios quiet keeps the spectrum free for the mesh nodes and wireless-only devices to talk. The mesh nodes will almost certainly have better antennae and radios than the client devices. - Try to position the nodes so they are all talking with the main router rather than hopping via each other. On consumer gear this can be more of an art than a science but it boils down to finding different locations with the same signal strength to the main router so they link directly. - Although not acting as mesh nodes, I've repurposed a couple of old routers running OpenWRT + Relayd in the office and games room, so my PCs and old consoles without wireless can get internet. - Some mesh systems allow you to lock clients to a particular node. Play around with this - you can steer dumb devices to their nearest node rather than them trying to pick up a faint signal from a further one and shouting over everything else. Smart speakers and displays are particularly bad for this. In my office, about 25 metres and 1.5 floors (it's a L-shaped split level house) away from the main AP, my main PC wired into a mesh node can pull around 400Mbps down on a 990Mbps fibre connection. Previously with the PC and laptop using their own radios, I'd be lucky to see over 150 on either. Good luck!

I have an Asus XT12 mesh system with two points. I recently had to factory reset them due to a borked FW update and since I was messing with it I took the time to separate my 2.4 and 5ghz bands. Everything is much happier now.

Netgear isn't who I'd recommend. Not only are they expensive but they need a specific base station router rather than all the satellites being capable of running the whole thing. ASUS with AImesh is the most versatile as it will work with any of their own products even older ones and you can mix and match freely. I don't think you can mix and match TP link but at least they don't require a specific base station so you can use the routers in any location/configuration and extend/replace as needed without a worry that it's not compatible because it's only a satellite/base station. TP-Link/Netgear software and features are worse than ASUS and far more basic/limited. Eero requires a subscription for stuff you get for free/default on ASUS, also MerlinWRT is a god send.

Unifi is not the way for WiFI mesh and even if you don't need mesh it's not for the average joe either. They are expensive but the easiest setup and most feature rich for the average consumer is ASUS.

I have a 2 nodes ASUS XT12 with a dedicated wifi6 wireless backhaule. The 2nd node is 2 stories upstairs (bricks walls and wood ceilings) and I can use the full 1Gb/s internet speed provided. Before I had a ubiquiti amplitude. Coverage was ok but the max speed I've got was 500 Mb/s. The asus is expensive but works really well. In my situation the 2 nodes are communicating at 2Gb/s. The nodes have also 2,5Gb ports. So attaching wired devices allows to communicate really well.

You must have gotten a dud. Deco BE95 system. Simply amazing. Had it for 12 weeks now. Zero drops. 5800 sq ft home. ISP 6 Gig up and Down. Wired backhaul. 121 connected devices. Wired devices that can handle multi gig speeds - 6 GIG WiFi 7 - 2.5-4.3 GIG WiFi 6E - 1.8-2.4 GIG WiFi 6 - 1.1-1.6 GIG WiFi 5 - 600 mbps - 900 mbps WiFi 2.4 - 200-500 mbps The consistency, reliability and speed blow every simple competitor out of the water in my experience! Amazing system and have tried them all! Eero Max 7, Orbi 970s, Asus ZenWifi

Yeah I like the ASUS approach as well. Mine just works, and it is so easy to add another node anytime I want since their stuff is all interoperable with the AiMesh setup.

Never ever asus for me anymore. What a piece of junk. 1200 dollar down the drain here..

WiFi Mesh in my experience is great if there are good sight lines and few thick walls! Can you wire the house for Ethernet backhaul? My wife won't let me wire the flat (which twists and turns and has very thick 19th century walls - and has the internet intake in absolutely the farthest corner from where I'd want it) so I've finally just gotten a decent mesh going with two Asus BQ16s and two Zen XT12. I found the high end processors in the 12 made a huge difference when I upgraded from the XT8. The BQ16 are a really good upgrade but not absolutely necessary: I could have stayed with an all XT12 set up but the XT8's were simply not powerful enough for my set up. Obviously I have a long daisy chain going but it now works well and is fast. In a consumer/prosumer set up you won't get the monitoring/notifying you seem to want - they all are pretty much set it up and hold your breath.

To echo what plenty of others are saying, but also provide links to specific items to Do-It-Yourself and save money but still get good finished product. Assuming you have roof/attic access above the rooms and can run power to the attic: * buy bulk CAT6 cable, shielded twisted pair, not CCA (CCA stands for copper coated aluminum). [Get good shielded copper wire, like this](https://a.co/d/ijNWYa0). * buy a [crimper toolkit like this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GRX9DW) * watch a few youtubes on terminating Cat6 cable. * buy a mesh wifi system like Amazon Eero, tp-Link Deco, Asus Zen Wi-Fi, etc. [Here's a good article / review of mesh systems and what to look for](https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-mesh-wifi-routers/) **NOTE:** mesh wifi is the consumer grade solution. If you can afford it, you're better off getting Wifi Access Points (APs) - the business grade solution - Ubiquiti is the best known of the AP options. Connection works similarly, with one key difference -- APs require power over ethernet (POE) instead of an electrical outlet / power supply. There are pros and cons of installing either Mesh or APs. * buy at least one [Unmanaged Ethernet Switch like this](https://a.co/d/88WLwNn) - this one is 8 port (1 connection in, 7 out). * You'll run an ethernet cable from your Comcast box to your wifi mesh router. Then you'll run a **long** ethernet cable down toward your L-corner dead zone. You'll plug that long ethernet cable to the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch. Then you'll run another ethernet cable from the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch to one of your mesh wifi satellites. BAM! Good internet within reach of that mesh satellite. You'll need to estimate/experiment with how many satellites the system needs (get multiple people to watch netflix on iPads, and spread them along rooms close to the mesh satellite -- see how many people / how many rooms you can cover before you need to add another mesh wifi satellite). I did a low-key simplified version of this at my house. Reply here if you have questions / need help. # You can do this yourself.

It can be great. I assume there isn't interference from your neighbours. I love Asus's AImesh system, as you can choose from many different options. Also, you could pick some used devices for cheap, maybe to test them out. Is there COAX in the house?

ET12 have no 5Ghz band 2. I returned mine & got the XT12s, which give me 1Gbps wireless mesh setup from furtherest device east to west. 6Ghz is super crappy for distance.

I do t know which is the best bit I sure know that Asus AI Mesh is terrible. The backhaul will start great and then about 20 minutes later drop to 50% or less. It's quite common, Google it

I'd avoid TP-Link out of security concerns, Asus ZenWifi or Alta Labs AP's with the Route10 is the way I'd go.

I would upgrade to better mesh system. ASUS makes nice mesh routers. I have zenwifi AX they are great get WiFi all over the house and good bit in tho the yard around the house. House location has no cell phone service.

For gaming use cable, for wifi coverage of this size, you can do well with asus aimesh, you can pick two routers of your choice, cheaper than ismesh system and many settings available.

I've been using AiMesh since the beginning, and it was rocky at first, but now I'm currently quite happy with it. One solid main router and two APs outside. What unifi did you get to replace your setup and do you think it was worth the cost?

After trying Google Nest and multiple Tp-Link Deco devices, I always fondly look back at one Apple's two devices - the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule, which continues to work fine at my home. The only devices that appear to work without a hitch are the Asus ones. I'd recommend looking at Asus mesh systems like the RT-AX92U or ZenWiFi series. They work beautifully with wired backhaul, which you can now take full advantage of. What you'll find good: actual web interface (no more phone-only nonsense), robust VLAN support for segregating IoT devices, proper MAC filtering, and ethernet ports on every node. Given your 2200 sq ft layout with that fireplace, keeping a similar node placement with Asus units should give you solid coverage.

I've been using Asus Aimesh for years. 3 nodes and seamless switching when walking around. There does seem to be a client limit at about 75-80 wifi devices whiche forced me to move iot devices to a separate wifi network. Asus is great to start with but unifi likely my next system

I've had success with Asus Zen Wifi and Amplifi; but I think Asus is a better product personally. I have Ubiquiti in my home right now and don't particularly like it.

You can connect mesh nodes through Ethernet. OP has an Asus router, so they can buy more WiFi6 Asus Routers and connect them through Ethernet to set them up as AiMesh Nodes. My house network is set up like that, and I only have issues when streaming to my phone when going downstairs because it changes nodes, so it lags for like two seconds, and then goes back to normal. Other than that, it's a great experience all around.

Hello! I have an asus zen WiFi mesh net with two of the three nodes set up. I have Ethernet over coax and have the downstairs node connected via Ethernet. I should (based on the range of these routers) have excellent coverage in the house. I have noticed however my devices sometimes get confused which node it should connect to, resulting in sub par speeds. The nodes are very far apart. When I did add the third node I felt I was getting crazy interference. Any suggestions?

Asus AiMesh can be configured without an app and uses local credentials for management.

I had a lot of issues with the google nest wifi- for the past year or so I have used an Asus ZenWifi which works better for me, and I do have usable network access from my shed which is about 100 Ft away from the house. My biggest issue is getting a signal past the walls/siding in our house- there is 'double' siding because the house originally had asbestos siding, and a former owner put vynil over it. I get by this with a small enclosure holding one node just out side the walls of the house.

I went from DD-WRT for years to ASUS AiMesh and have been on Unifi equipment for a good four years now. I never have any issues with roaming (3600+ home) and I can fine tune whenever necessary (rare). I love the Unifi and don't plan on moving away any time soon. If you want peace of mind, I definitely also recommend Unifi.

It's called a wired backhaul mesh. Look it up. The point of using mesh nodes connected through ethernet is to keep the "seamless" transition between nodes without having any network degradation between them.

Avoid tp-link and any other CCP networking equipment. Don't intentionally put stuff with backdoors in them just to save a few bucks. Unifi is great but it's expensive and you really should use it wired. If you're just looking for plug and play mesh Asus has good offerings. Their AI mesh system works well

Getting 1Gps wireless is going to require specific clients and a higher end mesh (likely WiFi 7). So you really need to specify a budget. High level you want a 3 unit (unless you meant 3 floors + the basement, then 4 units). Get a tri-band unit. I have great success with the Eero Pro 6E, Asus XT12s (really hard to find now but XT8/9 are easy to find and have really solid performance for the price). The Deco BE63 are on sale and WiFi 7 and the XE70s are solid.

I have been an Asus AIMesh user for a long while now. I have/had a fairly robust Asus system when I lived on my father's property and I built out a system to cover both the main house and the detached studio I was living in. I like the Asus products for all of the settings and lack of subscriptions. The products can be a little buggy when they're first released (I would not rush to buy a new product), but Asus is generally good about pushing updates out and they have been relatively rock solid. I moved into my own house about 3 months ago and haven't moved any of my network equipment over yet, because I've dreaded having to mess with his setup. I need to get my Asus Wifi 7 router back from his house and set up one of the nodes to act as his main router. Frontier gave me an Eero 7 that I have been using at my house and it SUCKS. I easily have 60+ devices, with a lot of smart home/IoT devices, and the Eero has not been reliable in keeping everything connected. If I was starting from scratch I would consider Ubiquiti, but the Asus has been good to me for 5+ years. If you are in the United Sates, I would be nervous about purchasing any TP-Link products with the possible government ban looming. All of my switches are TP-Link, so that's a bummer if they get eliminated from the market.

I have a 2 ZenWiFi AX's on each floor of my house. WiFi everywhere, including a bench at the back fence of the property kicks butt. I'm using wired backhaul over coax between the two and another wired to living room entertainment center that has a lot of smart home hubs. I have 1gig up and down fiber to the house and the 1gig coax adapters I use work well. The entertainment center that is after two coax connections gets 650 gb still.

I can't tell you which to buy but I can tell you that I would not buy Asus! Google Asus wireless backhaul speeds and You'll see others have issues that I'm also fighting with where their wireless backhaul is unstable. Mine can establish at around 900Mbps and then randomly drop to 300 and stay there until I disconnect (remove from config!) the Node and re-add it which is time consuming. I have posted this all over the internet with photos and config print screens and until now it continues. Googling this and you'll see others also have this issue. Mine isn't low end gear either. I have a BT10 with backhaul to an XT12.