Was looking at the ET8 as option. This one seems faster, but the ET8 has WiFi 6E support.
Any reason to go with the ET8 over this one? Or is this the better choice?
"In short, in a fully wireless setup, the ET8 proved to be complicated in my testing. Indeed, there was no scenario where it would outdo the XT8, a more straightforward solution, at least in the satellite's performance. However, if you use wired backhauls and have many 6GHz clients, the ET8 delivers better performance, as seen in the performance section below. And generally, the ET8 is more reliable since it doesn't use DFS channels at all." https://dongknows.com/asus-zenwif...ch-to-buy/
They would work great, but also be overkill, as their main strength is the extra band for the wireless mesh backhaul.
Thinking in terms of our offices. Right now, I have hardwired cat6 to each office and a router setup as an AP for each floor. I'd still like to mesh the wifi though for seamless connections traveling with mobile devices from floor to floor.
Thinking in terms of our offices. Right now, I have hardwired cat6 to each office and a router setup as an AP for each floor. I'd still like to mesh the wifi though for seamless connections traveling with mobile devices from floor to floor.
So these are great access points and would work well for that. You can even do what you want with different brands of access points, as long as they're on the same LAN segment. But ASUS does bring some smarts in terms of managing channels and encouraging devices to handover smoothly, that they brand under AiMesh. But mostly you're paying for the wireless backhaul with these guys.
So these are great access points and would work well for that. You can even do what you want with different brands of access points, as long as they're on the same LAN segment. But ASUS does bring some smarts in terms of managing channels and encouraging devices to handover smoothly, that they brand under AiMesh. But mostly you're paying for the wireless backhaul with these guys.
OK, thank you for the information. Right now we're actually using Asus X3000 wifi6 routers and it seems to be working OK but I haven't been able to get them to mesh when used as access points.
OK, thank you for the information. Right now we're actually using Asus X3000 wifi6 routers and it seems to be working OK but I haven't been able to get them to mesh when used as access points.
do you mean that they aren't becoming visible to each other in the management interface? Or that that the handover isn't smooth? There are lots of reasons that handover isn't smooth with WLAN, but the main reason is that access points are being used in router mode. In that case, they are issuing their own DHCP lease, and as clients move from one AP to another, they get a new lease, which breaks all of their existing IP connections. If you can put your access points in L2 mode, put them all on the same VLAN and subnet, then have a single device issue DHCP clients, and use the same SSID, you should get handover even with different brands.
Most (all?) AP companies use a proprietary system to solve this problem (like AiMesh) but they often need to be on the same subnet, sometimes they need to be directly plugged into each other. It's reasons like this that consumer grade Wi-Fi doesn't really scale into large offices.
do you mean that they aren't becoming visible to each other in the management interface? Or that that the handover isn't smooth? There are lots of reasons that handover isn't smooth with WLAN, but the main reason is that access points are being used in router mode. In that case, they are issuing their own DHCP lease, and as clients move from one AP to another, they get a new lease, which breaks all of their existing IP connections. If you can put your access points in L2 mode, put them all on the same VLAN and subnet, then have a single device issue DHCP clients, and use the same SSID, you should get handover even with different brands.
Most (all?) AP companies use a proprietary system to solve this problem (like AiMesh) but they often need to be on the same subnet, sometimes they need to be directly plugged into each other. It's reasons like this that consumer grade Wi-Fi doesn't really scale into large offices.
Thanks so much for the detail on all of this. I do feel like I would be better off with a "prosumer" type product like Ubiquiti or similar. Right now I have the SSID labeled separately but even when they were the same, I couldn't get them to mesh. They are indeed configured as access points.
Either way, I could not get the router access UI to let them mesh. I feel like it was asking one to be primary but I don't really want that. I want them all as satellites if that makes sense.
Thanks so much for the detail on all of this. I do feel like I would be better off with a "prosumer" type product like Ubiquiti or similar. Right now I have the SSID labeled separately but even when they were the same, I couldn't get them to mesh. They are indeed configured as access points.
Either way, I could not get the router access UI to let them mesh. I feel like it was asking one to be primary but I don't really want that. I want them all as satellites if that makes sense.
Yeah, that's where it gets complicated quickly. Mesh networks usually discover their satellites automatically. Some mesh networks allow you to 'add' satellites, and if they are on a different subnet, it will link them with some kind of tunnel. If they were all in the same VLAN and didn't mesh, it might've been something else.
Modern WLAN marketing is quite confusing when it should really be simple. Back to basics, each AP is just a broadcast Ethernet domain. If just in L2 mode, each AP is basically an old fashioned hub, providing a broadcast domain to clients just as if they were plugged into it. It's up to the clients themselves to move to an AP with a better signal. When they move within the same subnet, they'll keep their IP address and router address. If different, they'll get new ones and all sessions (web/etc) will break.
Ubiquity and any true enterprise grade product often have less fancy features (except multiple VLAN, SSIDS etc) and often just more robust basics.
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Any reason to go with the ET8 over this one? Or is this the better choice?
Any reason to go with the ET8 over this one? Or is this the better choice?
"In short, in a fully wireless setup, the ET8 proved to be complicated in my testing. Indeed, there was no scenario where it would outdo the XT8, a more straightforward solution, at least in the satellite's performance. However, if you use wired backhauls and have many 6GHz clients, the ET8 delivers better performance, as seen in the performance section below. And generally, the ET8 is more reliable since it doesn't use DFS channels at all."
https://dongknows.com/asus-zenwif...ch-to-buy/
Thinking in terms of our offices. Right now, I have hardwired cat6 to each office and a router setup as an AP for each floor. I'd still like to mesh the wifi though for seamless connections traveling with mobile devices from floor to floor.
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Looks like it. When I got it yesterday it seemed like a one day code.
OK, thank you for the information. Right now we're actually using Asus X3000 wifi6 routers and it seems to be working OK but I haven't been able to get them to mesh when used as access points.
Most (all?) AP companies use a proprietary system to solve this problem (like AiMesh) but they often need to be on the same subnet, sometimes they need to be directly plugged into each other. It's reasons like this that consumer grade Wi-Fi doesn't really scale into large offices.
Most (all?) AP companies use a proprietary system to solve this problem (like AiMesh) but they often need to be on the same subnet, sometimes they need to be directly plugged into each other. It's reasons like this that consumer grade Wi-Fi doesn't really scale into large offices.
Thanks so much for the detail on all of this. I do feel like I would be better off with a "prosumer" type product like Ubiquiti or similar. Right now I have the SSID labeled separately but even when they were the same, I couldn't get them to mesh. They are indeed configured as access points.
Either way, I could not get the router access UI to let them mesh. I feel like it was asking one to be primary but I don't really want that. I want them all as satellites if that makes sense.
Either way, I could not get the router access UI to let them mesh. I feel like it was asking one to be primary but I don't really want that. I want them all as satellites if that makes sense.
Modern WLAN marketing is quite confusing when it should really be simple. Back to basics, each AP is just a broadcast Ethernet domain. If just in L2 mode, each AP is basically an old fashioned hub, providing a broadcast domain to clients just as if they were plugged into it. It's up to the clients themselves to move to an AP with a better signal. When they move within the same subnet, they'll keep their IP address and router address. If different, they'll get new ones and all sessions (web/etc) will break.
Ubiquity and any true enterprise grade product often have less fancy features (except multiple VLAN, SSIDS etc) and often just more robust basics.