expired Posted by sr71 • Nov 28, 2023
Nov 28, 2023 8:21 AM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by sr71 • Nov 28, 2023
Nov 28, 2023 8:21 AM
ASUS AX5400 Dual Band Mesh WiFi 6 Gaming Router (Refurb)
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The only difference is that this supports 4 spatial streams in the 5GHz band instead of 2 streams.
There are no client devices that support more than 2 streams, so a single device will connect using 2 streams with either router.
In theory, with MUMIMO, the 4 streams will mean that this will handle multiple devices a bit better, but in practice, it doesn't really make much of a difference. Esp. since the ports on this devices are all GbE.
But that's where the extra 2400 number comes from in the model number, since that's the maximum nominal link speed of a WiFi 6 devices using 160MHz channels connecting using 2 spatial streams.
Now, if those 2 extra streams had been on a different channel (either in 6GHz if this was 6E instead of 6 or a separate radio/channel in the 5GHz band) and if the device had Ethernet ports that could do more than 1Gbps, then it might be worth it. But otherwise, it's all fluff on paper with almost no real-world difference.
It's not a bad device for someone who's upgrading from WiFi 5. But for someone who already has an "AX3000" class WiFi 6 router, don't bother with this one.
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Also, for the Merlin fans, these are supported by the GNUton fork, https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt...g/releases
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The only difference is that this supports 4 spatial streams in the 5GHz band instead of 2 streams.
There are no client devices that support more than 2 streams, so a single device will connect using 2 streams with either router.
In theory, with MUMIMO, the 4 streams will mean that this will handle multiple devices a bit better, but in practice, it doesn't really make much of a difference. Esp. since the ports on this devices are all GbE.
But that's where the extra 2400 number comes from in the model number, since that's the maximum nominal link speed of a WiFi 6 devices using 160MHz channels connecting using 2 spatial streams.
Now, if those 2 extra streams had been on a different channel (either in 6GHz if this was 6E instead of 6 or a separate radio/channel in the 5GHz band) and if the device had Ethernet ports that could do more than 1Gbps, then it might be worth it. But otherwise, it's all fluff on paper with almost no real-world difference.
It's not a bad device for someone who's upgrading from WiFi 5. But for someone who already has an "AX3000" class WiFi 6 router, don't bother with this one.
It will do wired mesh if you have a spot to run one Ethernet cable or already have one run someplace workable. You could even combine it with a MOCA or Powerline adapter to provide a wired backhaul connection without having to run an Ethernet cable.
Even Triple or Quad band routers still don't completely remove the limitations of a wireless backhaul on a mesh. The higher frequency the band the better the performance but the worse the range. 6e on a wireless backhaul mesh seems mostly pointless because you'll either be limited by the performance of the 5ghz backhaul or have the router so close to get a good 6e connection that you don't get much benefit for improved coverage. The dual 5ghz models are a little better in that at least theoretically you can get a decent 5ghz connection between the routers and then between the second router and a device that is farther away and still get good speed by using the 2 different 5ghz bands. Might still not be much better coverage than you could get on the 2.4ghz band unless you space them out more and end up decreasing the backhaul bandwidth.
The only difference is that this supports 4 spatial streams in the 5GHz band instead of 2 streams.
There are no client devices that support more than 2 streams, so a single device will connect using 2 streams with either router.
In theory, with MUMIMO, the 4 streams will mean that this will handle multiple devices a bit better, but in practice, it doesn't really make much of a difference. Esp. since the ports on this devices are all GbE.
But that's where the extra 2400 number comes from in the model number, since that's the maximum nominal link speed of a WiFi 6 devices using 160MHz channels connecting using 2 spatial streams.
Now, if those 2 extra streams had been on a different channel (either in 6GHz if this was 6E instead of 6 or a separate radio/channel in the 5GHz band) and if the device had Ethernet ports that could do more than 1Gbps, then it might be worth it. But otherwise, it's all fluff on paper with almost no real-world difference.
It's not a bad device for someone who's upgrading from WiFi 5. But for someone who already has an "AX3000" class WiFi 6 router, don't bother with this one.
Coverage range? Get a second access point.
Single-device speed? Get something with a 2.5Gpbs Ethernet port since you're at the point where you can easily saturate a standard 1Gbps port, and your Ethernet port speed is your bottleneck.
Support for more devices talking at the same time? Get something with more radios. This device has 2 radios, a 2x2 on 2.4GHz and a 4x4 on 5GHz. A device advertised as "tri-band" (with either two 5GHz radios or a 5GHz and a 6GHz radio, if it's WiFi 6E) will be a better fit than this.
But honestly, AX3000 is pretty good as far as WiFi 6 goes. The more premium WiFi 6 routers add paper specs that don't really translate well to real-world benefits. A real upgrade would be WiFi 7, but that stuff is still too new and too expensive.
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