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expired Posted by raajiivv • Oct 11, 2023
expired Posted by raajiivv • Oct 11, 2023

3-Pack ASUS ZenWiFi AX1800 AiMesh WiFi 6 System (White)

+ Free Shipping

$133

$280

52% off
Amazon
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Deal Details
Amazon has 3-Pack ASUS ZenWiFi AX1800 AiMesh WiFi 6 System (White, AX1800 XD4 3PK) on sale $132.76. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Community Member raajiivv for sharing this deal.

About this Item:
  • WiFi 6 (802.11ax), WiFi 5 (802.11ac), WiFi 4 (802.11n), 802.11g, 802.11b
  • 1 x Gigabit LAN, 1 x Gigabit WAN Ethernet Ports
  • 1.5 GHz Triple-Core CPU, 256MB Flash, 256MB RAM
  • Internal Fixed Antennas
  • Dual Band (2.4 GHz/5 GHz), AX1800

Editor's Notes

Written by SlickDealio | Staff

Original Post

Written by raajiivv
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Amazon has 3-Pack ASUS ZenWiFi AX1800 AiMesh WiFi 6 System (White, AX1800 XD4 3PK) on sale $132.76. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Community Member raajiivv for sharing this deal.

About this Item:
  • WiFi 6 (802.11ax), WiFi 5 (802.11ac), WiFi 4 (802.11n), 802.11g, 802.11b
  • 1 x Gigabit LAN, 1 x Gigabit WAN Ethernet Ports
  • 1.5 GHz Triple-Core CPU, 256MB Flash, 256MB RAM
  • Internal Fixed Antennas
  • Dual Band (2.4 GHz/5 GHz), AX1800

Editor's Notes

Written by SlickDealio | Staff

Original Post

Written by raajiivv

Community Voting

Deal Score
+27
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Model: XD4 W-3-PK

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Top Comments

Use this with wired backhaul and it is very nice. Have been using the system for many years at my house and my parents. I needed a fourth "node" so I added an ASUS AX-3000 as the router and made the three cubes into nodes.

These days I only use the system as an access point with the AX-3000 as the brain. OPNsense is now my firewall and router. The ASUS system is well thought out and adaptable. Good quality for consumer grade.

I actually run the three cubes powered by PoE with Revodata PoE extractors from Amazon.
This one also supports Wired Ethernet Backhaul. From product description

More Stable WiFi with Wired Connections between ZenWiFi Hubs
If you have Ethernet ports in your walls, you can set ZenWiFi AX Mini to use Ethernet backhaul, reserving all WiFi bands for your wireless devices for even more stable and reliable networking

43 Comments

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Oct 17, 2023
422 Posts
Joined Feb 2006
Oct 17, 2023
don_keesho
Oct 17, 2023
422 Posts
Quote from checlp :
The practical benefit is that you have multiple wifi access points on the same network spread out around an area (your house) instead of one WiFi router access point. All professional WiFi "mesh" systems use wired backhaul. Wireless triband is consumer grade and easier if you don't already have, or are unwilling to run Ethernet cable to each node. If I owned triband system, I'd still run wired backhaul and not utilize the third band.
Thanks, though i wasn't asking about a single router acting as an access point. I asked about "dedicated" wireless access points (plural).

Essentially the question is what benefit is gained by using mesh nodes as access points versus just purchasing dedicated access points. Another person pointed out that these cost less than APs, but I was wondering if there is any practical benefit (or drawback).
Oct 17, 2023
15 Posts
Joined Oct 2013
Oct 17, 2023
asima9632
Oct 17, 2023
15 Posts
I have used these at both my home and my parents home.

My home has Comcast and I bought my own modem instead of renting from them. The rental savings over 2 years has already paid for the modem and will now almost cover the zenwifi mesh system.

I have a 3 story townhouse and it's shaped like a shoebox so the rooms in the front and back have spotty wifi signal.

This mesh system was perfect for our home. I setup the main node where the coaxial cable comes in for the modem and then run the back haul with cat6 cable.

Only 1 area of the home was wired for this and so I had to run powerline over ethernet adapters. These basically plug into an electrical outlet and run the network signal over your electrical wiring of the home.

I bought the ones rated for gigabit speed and overall our network has been pretty reliable. Surprisingly these adapters work even though I have power straps to split the plug outlet. Also even with the microwave in the kitchen and washer dryer etc they have maintained a connection.

I have had those adapters since 2017.

My parents home is smaller and 3 nodes was more than enough with wifi back haul. Only had to reset the system 1 time as in fully reconfigure it from scratch.
Oct 17, 2023
443 Posts
Joined May 2016
Oct 17, 2023
findcarsforme
Oct 17, 2023
443 Posts
Does it supports open firmware?
Oct 17, 2023
442 Posts
Joined Nov 2011
Oct 17, 2023
dealcrinimal
Oct 17, 2023
442 Posts
Quote from checlp :
Backhaul is the data being sent between the modem to and from each WiFi "node." There is wired backhaul (best), and WiFi backhaul (convenient). With WiFi backhaul there is just regular old backhaul which uses your WiFi network's bandwidth (that is this package) thus using up some of your total available data. Then there is dual band...

Dual band is referring to a third WiFi band dedicated for backhaul, and actually doesn't have anything to do with WiFi 6. The third band for backhaul allows for more bandwidth in total; it's like having another WiFi network just for the nodes to talk to eachother and pass data.

Wireless backhaul is convenient and used by many, but for the most solid WiFi network should be avoided whenever possible. Wired backhaul is always better, faster, and more reliable, but you have to plug each node into an ethernet port for "wired" backhaul. If you cannot do wired backhaul than this mesh system is not the best choice for you unless your WiFi network has very little demand and load. Since this is dual band, it really should be run with wired backhaul.
I appreciate all of your comments on this thread. I have a 4 story townhouse, and it has always been difficult getting wireless everywhere without issues arising. I have even gone the Ubiquiti path but it got too expensive after realizing I needed a cloud key or their cloud wired router to set up a decent mesh network with APs where I could also manage QoS,etc in a cloud account.
Most recently I have been running a pair of Asus AX6100 (small ugly square black routers) in a mesh but they just started getting buggy and I have to reboot the system weekly. I think their specs were decent when they were released, but not sure how they compare to these.

What I am trying to set up now is a bigger mesh with wired backhaul. Except my house only has coax running to several rooms. So I am going to try MoCA 2.5 adapters and do wired backhaul, as well as a wired router (going to thy the Microtik Hex S first) next to my cable modem in the basement. I probably need a third AP node in the mesh, so I am wondering about these or the AX3000. (also on sale for 199 for a 3 pack). But these AX1800 are a great deal for 3 right now!

The speed I currently pay for is 400 Mbit but We have gone up to 1 Gb internet before, so I want to but wireless devices that can handle that as well. Do you have a recommendation as to these or the AX3000 for the new mesh, and do you think I could mix these and my AX6100/AX92U routers that are flaky? I also run a Pi hole as a DNS sink hole for ads connected to the primary router, by the way. It has helped a lot. Thanks!
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Oct 19, 2023
checlp
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Quote from lupi :
I run a GT-Ax11000 as my main router with an OG orbi system setup to handle roaming access points for WIFI. This looks like a decent sale price to get a more modern setup for wifi throughout the house.

I haven't run across anything saying yes or no for compatibility yet, anyone else have a similar setup they are running?
GT-AX11000 should be compatible and could then be used as the main router with the three cubes as "nodes."
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Oct 19, 2023
checlp
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Quote from jetoff :
where are you getting the PoE from? a switch?
Yes, power comes from a Brocade ICX6450 switch.
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Oct 19, 2023
checlp
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Quote from don_keesho :
Thanks, though i wasn't asking about a single router acting as an access point. I asked about "dedicated" wireless access points (plural).

Essentially the question is what benefit is gained by using mesh nodes as access points versus just purchasing dedicated access points. Another person pointed out that these cost less than APs, but I was wondering if there is any practical benefit (or drawback).
Highly simplified but…. The access points as a "mesh" are seen as one single WiFi network and not multiple different networks. So a controller (in this case the primary ASUS router) switches the client as you move around your (presumedly) house from node to stronger node as it detects that your signal is stronger on a closer node. You can move around freely without changing networks and typically almost never noticing a disconnection from the WiFi network.

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Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Oct 19, 2023
checlp
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Quote from asima9632 :
I have used these at both my home and my parents home.

My home has Comcast and I bought my own modem instead of renting from them. The rental savings over 2 years has already paid for the modem and will now almost cover the zenwifi mesh system.

I have a 3 story townhouse and it's shaped like a shoebox so the rooms in the front and back have spotty wifi signal.

This mesh system was perfect for our home. I setup the main node where the coaxial cable comes in for the modem and then run the back haul with cat6 cable.

Only 1 area of the home was wired for this and so I had to run powerline over ethernet adapters. These basically plug into an electrical outlet and run the network signal over your electrical wiring of the home.

I bought the ones rated for gigabit speed and overall our network has been pretty reliable. Surprisingly these adapters work even though I have power straps to split the plug outlet. Also even with the microwave in the kitchen and washer dryer etc they have maintained a connection.

I have had those adapters since 2017.

My parents home is smaller and 3 nodes was more than enough with wifi back haul. Only had to reset the system 1 time as in fully reconfigure it from scratch.
You may also consider wired backhaul for two nodes and wireless for one. It might or might not work better than wired using the power lines. Does the ASUS router web GUI show you are connected at 100Mbps or 1000?
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Oct 19, 2023
checlp
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Quote from findcarsforme :
Does it supports open firmware?
It does not support Merlin. I'm not sure about others.
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Joined Dec 2013
Oct 19, 2023
checlp
Oct 19, 2023
265 Posts
Quote from dealcrinimal :
I appreciate all of your comments on this thread. I have a 4 story townhouse, and it has always been difficult getting wireless everywhere without issues arising. I have even gone the Ubiquiti path but it got too expensive after realizing I needed a cloud key or their cloud wired router to set up a decent mesh network with APs where I could also manage QoS,etc in a cloud account.
Most recently I have been running a pair of Asus AX6100 (small ugly square black routers) in a mesh but they just started getting buggy and I have to reboot the system weekly. I think their specs were decent when they were released, but not sure how they compare to these.

What I am trying to set up now is a bigger mesh with wired backhaul. Except my house only has coax running to several rooms. So I am going to try MoCA 2.5 adapters and do wired backhaul, as well as a wired router (going to thy the Microtik Hex S first) next to my cable modem in the basement. I probably need a third AP node in the mesh, so I am wondering about these or the AX3000. (also on sale for 199 for a 3 pack). But these AX1800 are a great deal for 3 right now!

The speed I currently pay for is 400 Mbit but We have gone up to 1 Gb internet before, so I want to but wireless devices that can handle that as well. Do you have a recommendation as to these or the AX3000 for the new mesh, and do you think I could mix these and my AX6100/AX92U routers that are flaky? I also run a Pi hole as a DNS sink hole for ads connected to the primary router, by the way. It has helped a lot. Thanks!
Nice thing with ASUS is that almost all of their routers can work together to be used as mesh nodes. You might want to try the AX92U as the primary main router and make this pack all nodes. You also may want to install Merlin on the AX92U as it runs better and has extra features for a more advanced user like you. You can even ssh in as root and do almost anything you want that may not be in the GUI.

I run an RT-AX3000v1 (v2 won't work) with Merlin and just use the three cubes from this kit as nodes for it. The RT-AX3000v1 is more powerful and has many more features.
Oct 20, 2023
442 Posts
Joined Nov 2011
Oct 20, 2023
dealcrinimal
Oct 20, 2023
442 Posts
Quote from checlp :
Nice thing with ASUS is that almost all of their routers can work together to be used as mesh nodes. You might want to try the AX92U as the primary main router and make this pack all nodes. You also may want to install Merlin on the AX92U as it runs better and has extra features for a more advanced user like you. You can even ssh in as root and do almost anything you want that may not be in the GUI.

I run an RT-AX3000v1 (v2 won't work) with Merlin and just use the three cubes from this kit as nodes for it. The RT-AX3000v1 is more powerful and has many more features.
Thanks for this additional tip. I had checked and unfortunately the AX6100 doesn't have a merlin offering, but I will try it out again with the stock firmware. I do have an AC88U laying around which I CAN put merlin on and maybe use it as a router of not an AIMesh access point, unless I limit my AX routers to AC speeds (??) I will have to do a test to see if it limits clients much to not have AX, but like I said, I am only paying for 400Mbit internet right now, so the older AC88U might just work fine in the mesh. The big thing is that I think I need to have a dedicated router to manage the IPs and switch my AX routers to AP mode, that will hopefully end my troubles.
I did have one more question - do you know if the AX6100's support wired backhaul, or if there is a list of which ASUS routers can do this? I just spent a good deal of time getting the coax in my house finished and am looking to to utilize that with MoCA adapters for wired backhaul. Thanks.
Oct 20, 2023
235 Posts
Joined Nov 2017
Oct 20, 2023
BernsB
Oct 20, 2023
235 Posts
Quote from jsr44 :
How would this work with a top of the line Comcast router?
Put the "top of the line Comcast modem/ router" in bridge mode (Comcast tech support can do it) and use one of these as the main router. The others become APs off your network.

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