Falcon1986

Agreed. This also dedicates CPU resources to just running the AP and switch.

You mean MLO? Last I heard, MLO wasn't yet implemented on the U7-Pro, but should be in a future firmware update. I agree. Many are misled by specifications leading to high expectations.

I suggest asking the ISP for the steps. Every gateway is different. And the ISP should give you the exact instructions as to how to do it so you don't get locked out of their network.

It's been a while since I used PiHole. Isn't there a client list of devices that query the PiHole for DNS? It shouldn't matter if the clients have a static IP or getting through DHCP.

If what you have now is sufficient for your needs, stick with it. When you upgrade, see if the performance you get from the AT&T setup is adequate for you. If not, you can consider 3rd party routers. BTW, are you referring to an all-in-one consumer wireless router or a more advanced setup with separate router, switch, AP, etc? I've had good experience with Synology and Ubiquiti (EdgeMax, AmpliFi and UniFi lines) brands. The only TP-Link router I have is running in AP mode on the last-supported DD-WRT firmware, and it performs decently. I like unmanaged Netgear switches and the Nighthawk R7000 (played around with Tomato/FreshTomato). The last Linksys product I owned was a WRT54G running DD-WRT, which you can imagine is retired.

That should be fine. ...which sounds like you're not behind CG-NAT. Well, go ahead and test. I predict you'll encounter double-NAT.

Set the channel selection to ‘AUTO’. UniFi will select the best channel based on it’s survey scans. Please remember that the U7-Pro can only do 2x2 on the 6GHz antenna. While the wider channel widths afforded by 6GHz can help improve bandwidth compared to 5GHz, this is going to be far less than a 4x4 or 16x16 stream configuration. I don’t think the S24 Ultra would have antennae for greater than 2x2 streams anyway, or else it would have battery drain issues. Furthermore, because the U7-Pro is limited by a 2x2 stream on 6GHz, any other device connected on 6GHz will have to share bandwidth with your S24 Ultra. Your speeds seem to be consistent with what is observed in real-world scenarios with the U7-Pro. Remember, WiFi still runs at half-duplex speeds, plus you have various overheads to account for.

I don’t see the need for DSL wireless router if you’re not going to utilize DSL. If these are your only 2 options, that will depend on what you have planned for it. So far, you only intend to run a server, which is nothing special for any router, until it comes to opening firewall ports. However, this will depend on the next part to your question. Is this server intended for LAN use or to be accessible via the WAN as well? I suspect that ZTE device is a fiber gateway. In addition to it being an ONT that authorizes your access to the ISP’s network, it has its own router built in. That means you will have to ask the ISP if there’s any way of running it in ‘bridge mode’ or ‘IP passthrough mode’, so you can have your own router act as full firewall and avoid double-NAT. If the ZTE device is incapable of bridge/passthrough, you’ll be stuck with double-NAT. So you’ll have to figure out how to forward ports on both it and your router so you can access the server from the WAN. There are workarounds depending on who you ask. I’d also ensure your ISP does not have you behind CG-NAT because, if they do, you’ll have to pay for a static IP or set up an external VPS/tunnel.

Crosstalk Solutions Lawrence Systems NetworkChuck

Take a look at ServeTheHome and the associated YT channel for suggestions.

Well, you could eliminate needing another piece of hardware altogether to run a DNS ad blocker. Instead, install the pfSense plugin pfblockerng with the relevant blocklists and call it a day. Alternatively, you could install Proxmox, allocate resources for pfSense and an ad blocker separately, and install pfSense and PiHole. My preference is AdGuard over PiHole since it's a bit simpler to use. I've heard of people using AdGuard blocklists within pfblockerng. The obvious downside to the above setup is that everything is dependent on one piece of hardware running 24/7. If the hardware fails, the entire system fails. However, with only 2 services on the same hardware, I don't think it's as high risk. The more services you add, the more you should give consideration to bare metal. On the other hand, you save on power consumption, heat production and physical space. I've been on a break from pfSense for a while. Using a simpler setup while occupied with "life". So my information might be a little dated... I remember pfSense CE being a little behind in hardware support compared to pfSense Plus. OPNSense tends to support newer hardware much quicker than pfSense. Whichever one you choose, ensure it supports the Intel NICs your appliance has. Don't ignore SFP/SFP+ when you need high bandwidth over short distances. You might find that your overall cost and heat production are less in comparison to ethernet at these speeds. As an aside, a good quality UPS with surge protection and line conditioning is a needed investment when you're using expensive network setups. You won't know how valuable some form of battery backup is until your appliance fails to boot due to a corrupt write that occurred during power failure. Of course, if your mains power is reliable and you don't have lightning strikes in your area, this investment might not be as important or can be delayed until the budget allows.

What make/model of wireless card? Asus has Realtek drivers but doesn't give model. Go into Device Manager > Network Adapters. What make/model of WiFi router/gateway? What are the wireless antenna settings of the wireless router/gateway? How far are you from the WiFi source? Do you live in an area with a lot of WiFi broadcasts? Run a wireless survey using WiFi Analyzer. Post screenshots of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency analyses.

@TheKenetical A little bit of flex on the adapter isn’t going to do much. Not quite seeing what you mean when you say that the adapter isn’t fitting into the slot. What does “crash” mean? My interpretation of “crash” is that Windows throws an error code or blue screen or the computer completely shuts off randomly. Show us a picture of that. If the antennae are damaged, you could simply get replacements. BTW, from your video, it doesn’t look like the antennae are installed. Aren’t you using the antennae? Also, in addition to what @kirashi suggested, try uninstalling the adapter via Device Manager. Shut down and move the adapter to the slot above. Start back up and install the drivers.

And your ISP isn't using CG-NAT? Look at the status page of the Gigaspire and the WAN IP address. If it's within the 100.64.0.0-100.127.255.255 range, then you're behind CG-NAT, which means you won't get port forwarding to work in the usual way.

I think you are misinterpreting the information being presented and becoming overwhelmed. If you're learning about DFS channels for the first time, read more about it here, paying attention to the last 2 segments... I do not believe your hardware is too old to work. They both have limitations, but that doesn't mean they can't work together within those limitations. Some quick Google searches on Linux forums returned results that seem to suggest that the Archer T2U does not support 5GHz channels above 116. This is not a driver limitation; it's a hardware limitation. If you know your DFS or weather radar channels, you'll realize that from channels 52-116 are within that range (particularly in North American countries) and, since you should try to avoid this range whenever possible, you're only left with channels 36-48 to work with. Do you recall my previous recommendation? As you've proven to yourself already, using the Archer T2U at the shop worked on 5GHz but not at your home. The shop's 5GHz broadcast is probably already on a compatible channel that your adapter can "see", but your DIR-853 at home is likely broadcasting on a channel that your adapter cannot "see". Most wireless routers will allow you to change the broadcast channel, and support for channels 36-48 is ubiquitous. So log in to your DIR-853 and, under advanced wireless settings, change the 5GHz WiFi channel to a channel within that range instead of "auto". Apply and wait for a few minutes to see if your adapter picks up the signal.

Your LAN interfaces are only rated up to gigabit. There's your bottleneck.

You have a point, and I'm not disagreeing. It's just that a 2.4GHz can work at that distance in wooded areas with decent speeds. If the OP has access to 2.4GHz equipment within their budget, then the setup might be practical in this scenario.

Interesting. Well, Asus's AiMesh is a unique mesh system. Wouldn't be surprised if newer generations of AiMesh can interconnect like this. Agreed.

As in a load balancing or failover setup?

My understanding is that AiMesh is designed to work in router mode specifically, whether you choose to have it on wired or wireless backhaul. Configure the system in AP mode and you might lose mesh. You're essentially turning it into a distributed system of APs. As per the site you referenced... AiMesh has gone through different generations, so newer versions might be able to provide mesh even in AP mode, even if as backup. You might have to test and see.

Can you clarify the download and upload speeds you’re paying your ISP for? What type of internet connection do you use? What make/model of network hardware are you using? Starting from the ISP device, router, switch, etc. What category of ethernet are you using? Are your computers reporting 1Gbps link speed at their respective NICs?

If there isn’t any significant 2.4GHz interference nearby (especially in a forest) and only looking to maintain about a 50Mbps link, 2.4GHz PtP antennae might just work. While I do agree with you on a 5GHz setup, 2.4GHz antennae are more forgiving when it comes to precipitation and occasional intervening light vegetation. @idmb can adjust the height of each antenna’s mount point to clear the vegetation. Pole-mounted on a roof is best, but you have to be wary of lightning strikes. I have never used TP-Link’s PtP wireless gear, so can’t comment on how well the link will work. But when I used Ubiquiti’s EdgeMax PtP, the built-in signal meter made alignment super easy. Plus, I believe the wireless link used some proprietary technology that made it a little more robust than other manufacturers’ offerings.

@dugacs The point about running speed tests at the different sites was to assess if there’s any bufferbloat to be concerned about. While many ISPs don’t offer any form of traffic management protocol on their gateway devices, you don’t tend to normally need it on gigabit connections. However, if your upload speed is limited, then you may benefit from applying it to upload traffic only. Your speedtest.net result isn’t too concerning regarding speeds or latency. But keep in mind that these are tests between you and the speed test server, not the game server. However, you might have run the tests when the entire network was “quiet” and not notice any local disturbance. Do you notice the “freezing” when other people in the home are online? Are you or anyone else running background downloads/updates/P2P that could be choking the bandwidth? There’s also the possibility that the game servers themselves, or the nodes en route, might be highly congested. This is something out of your control.

@NobleGamer I was of the understanding that once you configure the Asus mesh units in AP mode, they can all be independently wired to a switch/router via their WAN ports. The wired/wireless backhaul via AiMesh, on the other hand, requires a “wheel-and-spoke” configuration. Quoted from DongKnows.com:

@dugacs Make and model of “modem” and switch? I assume that when you say “modem”, you actually mean internet gateway. Who is your ISP and what type of internet connection do you have? If you’re paying for 1Gbps internet service, that’s for download speed. What is your upload speed limit? Run speed tests at speedtest.net, fast.com and waveform.com. Pay attention to the latency values (unloaded and loaded) and post screenshots.