Asus RT-AC66U B1 mesh node issues

[Lurking]

i have two Asus RT-AC66U B1 connected to each a other via Ethernet (CAT6). One (main) connected to our fiber modem, the other as a mesh node WIRED via CAT6 to the main router. The PC connected to the node via CAT6 also gets the full 600Mbit up/down our fiber is rated at. So the CAT wiring in the house should be fine and the node SHOULD be fast. 

 

but in reality, phones connected to the node are much slower (even when standing close to it) than when connected tot he main router. and most phones just connect tot he main router, even when they are physically close to the node. that makes the WiFi node almost pointless. 

 

Location wise the fiber modem and main route are at one end of our house. The node is at the opposite end. due to fiber ending at one end, putting a single WiFi router in the middle of the house isn't practical. 

 

To make sure it all works fine i also upgraded. and both show me they are on the latest version. BUT if you look at the actual firmware number, they are different:

The very last set of digits is slightly different. Is this supposed to be? Or are those just checksums or something? 

It also shows me connection is bad and the error says it may be pwoered off. But it is powered on, and the PC hard-connected to the node gets signal fine

 

But the PC that is hard-connected to the node gets the 600Mbit up/down our fiber is rated at. So obviously the cable between the router and node(router) is fine. 

 

Is there anything i could do to improve this? The Asus manual points out over and over the node and the main router should have the same firmware. but how do i get the node to get the same version as the main router if the Asus GUI tells me it is on the latest?

 

And this being a node prevents me from logging in directly (at least not without resetting and breaking the mesh?). 

 

And in case this is just based on these routers not being great, I'm also open to buy a new WifI 7 router and hopefully forego the mesh business. But if the above can be fixed/improved, I also don't need WiFi 7 that bad. 

 

And this may be totally  unrelated, but caused me to look into this again in the first place. i had some flaky remote to work issues, which could be work related. Internet also is fine otherwise. and my wife said she wasn't able to remote into work. Obviously if this could be related tot he router, it will be "new router day". but I'm really not sure and hope updating firmware and re-booting resolved any such issues. 

 

anything I could try? 

 

[OhYou_]

what is Ai about it

[Falcon1986]

On 10/17/2025 at 4:25 PM, Lurking said:

The very last set of digits is slightly different. Is this supposed to be? Or are those just checksums or something? 

If you go to Asus' website for the AC66U B1 and look for firmware, you'll notice that there are different firmware versions, the latest being 3.0.0.4.386_52048. The router on version 3.0.0.4.386_51733 is not on the latest revision and should probably be updated if the problem you're experiencing is related to something that the newer firmware fixes. Can't say for sure; you'll just have to proceed with caution and try doing a manual update.

 

Additionally, you should reset settings to default on the AC66U B1 that you intend to use as mesh node before connecting it to the primary router and running the AiMesh adoption.

 

Finally, this might not necessarily be an AiMesh problem. Your wireless environment might be too congested for your clients to connect at reliable speeds. You can run a spectrum analyzer on a device close to the node to see what clients are detecting.

[Lurking]

7 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

If you go to Asus' website for the AC66U B1 and look for firmware, you'll notice that there are different firmware versions, the latest being 3.0.0.4.386_52048. The router on version 3.0.0.4.386_51733 is not on the latest revision and should probably be updated if the problem you're experiencing is related to something that the newer firmware fixes. Can't say for sure; you'll just have to proceed with caution and try doing a manual update.

 

Additionally, you should reset settings to default on the AC66U B1 that you intend to use as mesh node before connecting it to the primary router and running the AiMesh adoption.

 

Finally, this might not necessarily be an AiMesh problem. Your wireless environment might be too congested for your clients to connect at reliable speeds. You can run a spectrum analyzer on a device close to the node to see what clients are detecting.

thanks. I'm halfway there and the Asus software is so buggy. On the mesh-router i wasn't really able to perform a  reset (pushing the reset button doesn't do any of the reset procedure - at least the LED indicate nothing). But for some reason it reset anyway and i (hopefully) manually uploaded the firmware. 

 

but when trying to log in to  either of the routers, the pages are extremely slow and unresponsive. and even with the correct password, it pretends i entered it wrong 5 times and lets me wait. I also installed the Asus Device Discovery search software. but it only can see one router at a time. i remember when these were new, it was able to see both at the same time. 

 

Fortunately my main router still works, even if i can't access it. i think i may look into buying a new Wifi 7 router and don't deal with Asus bugs and slowness anymore. Considering the Mesh didn't really work well anyway, a good router may be enough to cover my house. What is a good brand these days? ideally a router that doesn't appear to be that slow accessing or buggy as these Asus routers. 

 

i don't know if a mesh solution is worth it if it is this buggy and seems to have issues with firmware upgrades for he node. but hopefully something not Asus is better? but maybe i try a solution without mesh first and see how it goes, then add a mesh node if needed? Or i get a router separate from the WiFi and put the WiFi thingy in the middle of my house? 

 

Edit: and now i think i finally managed to reset that node. but i still can't see it in my network. i also can't see whatever the default SSID would be. i just removed it and live without node. 

 

BTW, now that this is just a router and no mesh, i wonder if it is a good idea to set the firmware to auto-update? The reason i had it in manual was, that i thought an auto-update also could introduce malware in case someone hacks the Asus server. Or if they release a buggy firmware. And I also think not that thing being so old, they likely don't actively support it anymore anyway. 

 

[Donut417]

On 10/19/2025 at 5:29 PM, Lurking said:

What is a good brand these days? ideally a router that doesn't appear to be that slow accessing or buggy as these Asus routers. 

Newest LTT video is about a WiFi 7 router. I have a Synology RT2600 AC, they have a newer WIFi 6 or 6E version. Id consider buying a Synology router again. Though the WIFI router LTT just show cased looks compelling to me as well.