Custom mesh networking with ASUS

[ryanmmax]

Asus is enabling mesh networking with many of their existing routers through “aimesh”.   Expand on your existing router or just go really high end.   Personally since im expecting to move into a bigger home in the near future now i can buy a  AC1900 that will be sufficient for my current home and not worry about coverage in the future.

 

Now we can mesh our big bad overkill gamer routers and have a hole nest of spiders!

 

https://www.engadget.com/2018/01/03/asus-mesh-wifi-aimesh/

 

https://www.asus.com/AiMesh/

 

Quote

AiMesh is available as a free firmware update, which adds support for the protocol to your router. Currently, the ASUS RT-AC68U, RT-AC86U, RT-AC88U and the RT-AC3100 routers can handle the update,

 

[Thermosman]

It's the apocalypse, the spiders are coming!

[NumLock21]

I picture the invasion of those routers, like the headcrab from Half Life leaping on to their victim's face as they scream blarghhhh!!!!

[Matu20]

Okay, so at which point do these routers start to make the investment make it worth the money?

[JediFragger]

That router takes me back to Stargate SG-1 Replicators

[ryanmmax]

29 minutes ago, Matu20 said:

Okay, so at which point do these routers start to make the investment make it worth the money?

 

 

Well if you need a mesh network because your house is large then immediately.  I am purchasing the TM-AC1900 for $50 with the expectation of of needing at least 2.  Google mesh on the other hand is $100 per puck. 

 

https://slickdeals.net/f/11119759-asus-tm-ac1900-dual-band-gigabit-router-refurbished-48-free-s-h

https://www.amazon.com/Google-Wifi-system-set-replacement/dp/B01MAW2294

 

The real question is, do the mesh systems like google or Orbi have the same power, range, throughput, ect as dedicated routers.  Maybe its their simple design but they just don't look as powerful as a router with external antenna.  If I am right then you could have a bigger better mesh by connecting several highish end routers then by buying a more expensive mesh system.  

 

 

SIDE NOTE- Who does these companies graphics? if your using a routers wifi to act as the back bone and extend the range, then your extender needs to be in range of your base!  This would suggest that wifi based extensions only increase coverage area by  ~30% an even then your connection between them is at its limit.   So take the time and run the Ethernet backbone!

[Matu20]

51 minutes ago, ryanmmax said:

 

 

Well if you need a mesh network because your house is large then immediately.  I am purchasing the TM-AC1900 for $50 with the expectation of of needing at least 2.  Google mesh on the other hand is $100 per puck. 

 

https://slickdeals.net/f/11119759-asus-tm-ac1900-dual-band-gigabit-router-refurbished-48-free-s-h

https://www.amazon.com/Google-Wifi-system-set-replacement/dp/B01MAW2294

 

The real question is, do the mesh systems like google or Orbi have the same power, range, throughput, ect as dedicated routers.  Maybe its their simple design but they just don't look as powerful as a router with external antenna.  If I am right then you could have a bigger better mesh by connecting several highish end routers then by buying a more expensive mesh system.  

 

 

SIDE NOTE- Who does these companies graphics? if your using a routers wifi to act as the back bone and extend the range, then your extender needs to be in range of your base!  This would suggest that wifi based extensions only increase coverage area by  ~30% an even then your connection between them is at its limit.   So take the time and run the Ethernet backbone!

Thank you so much.

[paddy-stone]

10 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

I picture the invasion of those routers, like the headcrab from Half Life leaping on to their victim's face as they scream blarghhhh!!!!

Or like the alien grubs that came out of their eggs on the "Alien" films

 

[Tech_Dreamer]

12 hours ago, ryanmmax said:

“aimesh”

[imreloadin]

2 hours ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

This is the first thing that popped into my head as well

[AnonymousGuy]

I've had 2 Asus routers(AC66 and AC87) die on me with no warning so I'm done using any of their networking products.  Had a Linksys 1900ACS that needed to be completely hard-reset to assign IPs to new  clients after 2 months or so.  That router also had the shittiest UI layout I've ever seen.  When that happened a second time I switched to a Synology 2600 and holy fuck their tech support and product is business-class.

 

EDIT: To add to my rage, the AC66 died when I was in Boston on vacation.  I had to bother a coworker to check to make sure my house didn't burn down because nothing was online for me to be able to verify that it was still there (thermostant, ip cameras, servers, etc).

[NumLock21]

16 minutes ago, AnonymousGuy said:

I've had 2 Asus routers(AC66 and AC87) die on me with no warning so I'm done using any of their networking products.  Had a Linksys 1900ACS that needed to be completely hard-reset to assign IPs to new  clients after 2 months or so.  That router also had the shittiest UI layout I've ever seen.  When that happened a second time I switched to a Synology 2600 and holy fuck their tech support and product is business-class.

Linksys was by cisco and now it's belkin. My old linksys takes about 10-20 seconds to boot up, connect with the modem and be readly for internet. My new one AC1750, takes over 3 minutes to do the exact same thing. 

[dalekphalm]

My problem with MESH WIFI networking is that to get good range, you need to place them pretty far apart, which will mean the signal between each Node is bad, which means the overall signal is bad.

 

Alternatively, to get a "good" signal, you have to place the nodes so close to each other that you don't get that much of a range boost.

 

However, if Ethernet backbone is not possible, it's certainly better than nothing.

[mynameisjuan]

I can see it now....

 

"but why do I have one bar I right next to the AP" *little does he know he is still connected to the far end AP*.....god MESH is amazing right?

[dalekphalm]

Just now, mynameisjuan said:

I can see it now....

 

"but why do I have one bar I right next to the AP" *little does he know he is still connected to the far end AP*.....god MESH is amazing right?

Well a properly designed MESH network should have seamless handoff. Though I doubt these cheap consumer solutions will.

[mynameisjuan]

1 minute ago, dalekphalm said:

Well a properly designed MESH network should have seamless handoff. Though I doubt these cheap consumer solutions will.

I doubt this has any AP controller worth a damn. 

[dalekphalm]

Just now, mynameisjuan said:

I doubt this has any AP controller worth a damn. 

Entirely possible. Personally I wouldn't buy a consumer grade Mesh WIFI network to begin with.

 

Not until there are true prosumer options, with a proper controller that will do stuff like seamless handoff, anyway.

[mynameisjuan]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

with a proper controller that will do stuff like seamless handoff, anyway.

Honestly any device used in MESH or has MESH capabilities should be required to have seamless handoff or be required to have it to call it MESH

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, mynameisjuan said:

Honestly any device used in MESH or has MESH capabilities should be required to have seamless handoff or be required to have it to call it MESH

I agree.

 

But is there any standard that exists to even enforce that? Because I'm guessing that WIFI manufacturers won't agree unless forced to

[mynameisjuan]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

I agree.

 

But is there any standard that exists to even enforce that? Because I'm guessing that WIFI manufacturers won't agree unless forced to

Nope def nothing to enforce it, unless it becomes a 802.x standard. 

 

It would make my job a hell of a lot easier for sure lol

[ryanmmax]

5 hours ago, mynameisjuan said:

I can see it now....

 

"but why do I have one bar I right next to the AP" *little does he know he is still connected to the far end AP*.....god MESH is amazing right?

Quote

Seamless, Pain-Free WiFi

AiMesh can create a single, house-wide network name so there’s no need to constantly switch between networks as you roam around your home. AiMesh keeps an eye on the signal strength to your device, and switches it seamlessly to another source if necessary. All you have to do is enjoy it! If you prefer separate network names for each frequency band, you can do that as well — AiMesh is designed to work the way you want!

Now i guess you can "predict" that it wont do a good job of monitoring signal strength or that the hand off will be clunky...  Unless you are sprinting around your house while streaming to your phone its not like the router even has to refresh its signal strength that frequently, what once every second or two, on a 1GHz processor? 

 

These ASUS units are designated to be overkill both on signal strength with external antenna and processing power for the nerdy gamer because they have to do everything from a single location.  In contrast the Orbi/google mesh networks are designed to rely on a network to achieve coverage so they don't need to worry about signal strength, and as for processing power they don't talk about it because its not its target audience.  

 

There difference between something engineered and something built to work.  The Mesh Networks are engineered to do a specific job and thats it no more no less.  The ASUS system is being built to work, through a lot of overbuilt power at the problem and be done with it.   Both can do the job, but if you engineer a Prius don't expect to beat some over modded civic in a race.

 

[Donut417]

23 hours ago, Thermosman said:

It's the apocalypse, the spiders are coming!

[mynameisjuan]

2 hours ago, ryanmmax said:

Now i guess you can "predict" that it wont do a good job of monitoring signal strength or that the hand off will be clunky...  Unless you are sprinting around your house while streaming to your phone its not like the router even has to refresh its signal strength that frequently, what once every second or two, on a 1GHz processor? 

 

These ASUS units are designated to be overkill both on signal strength with external antenna and processing power for the nerdy gamer because they have to do everything from a single location.  In contrast the Orbi/google mesh networks are designed to rely on a network to achieve coverage so they don't need to worry about signal strength, and as for processing power they don't talk about it because its not its target audience.  

 

There difference between something engineered and something built to work.  The Mesh Networks are engineered to do a specific job and thats it no more no less.  The ASUS system is being built to work, through a lot of overbuilt power at the problem and be done with it.   Both can do the job, but if you engineer a Prius don't expect to beat some over modded civic in a race.

 

There are a lot of MESH routers that advertise the same thing. Yeah ASUS might make them over kill but its still going to suck ass. Refreshing is not a problem, hell mikrotik haplites refresh twice per second and are 400mhz for $19.95. CPU barely hits 1-2% doing so. Processing power is not the problem here. 

[r3d3mpt10n]

Mikrotik Router + multiple Ubiquiti AC Lites with cabled connections to router. Simple and very effective

[dalekphalm]

On 1/6/2018 at 5:37 PM, r3d3mpt10n said:

Mikrotik Router + multiple Ubiquiti AC Lites with cabled connections to router. Simple and very effective

Why mix Mikrotik router with Ubquiti AP's? Why not choose Mikrotik AP's, or a Ubiquiti Edge router, and keep everything seamless with the same manufacturer?