[Network|AiMesh]ASUS AiMesh System (WiFI 6) Review ~ Dream Spec system that choose a person ~

When I first discovered Asus AiMesh system over a year ago, I thought I found a dream network system. I had immediately purchased its flagship WiFi 6 capable router, Ax11000. Then I purchase another Ax11000 to create AiMesh system. This is my review of using Ax capable AiMesh system over a one full year of daily.

Disclaimer: AiMesh system can be constructed with variety of Asus routers in different combination so this is an experience based on my setup, and may significantly differ if other router combinations are used.

*In keeping with Asus naming convention, AiMesh node in this article refers to both wirelessly connected node/router unit or wired backhaul access point/router unit. Therefore, mesh system in this article refers to both wired and wireless mesh system unless otherwise indicated. For more detail about official definition, please refer to here.

Background

What’s AiMesh?

AiMesh is a conceptually brilliant approach of to a consumer mesh network system. AiMesh is a mesh network system that can be constructed by combination of any relatively recent Asus routers. In order to understand why this is such an innovative and brilliant concept, one must understand the pros and cons of traditional single unit router and typical consumer mesh system.

Single unit performance router

Traditional single unit routers have rich features and generally more performance than equivalently priced mesh system units. The major limitation is area of coverage.

Mesh system

In consumer market, mesh system is gaining popularity. The primary reason is to have a larger area of seamless coverage with simple setup and minimum maintenance.

AiMesh

So guess what is AiMesh about? It is advertised as the best of the both world. Essentially, this is the system extending high performance stand-alone router unit coverage throughout your home. In AiMesh system, one of the router unit takes a role as a “router”. Then other router units act as AiMesh node (mesh node or access point).

How I met AiMesh

Prior to the AiMesh setup, I had Eero Pro x 3 via wireless mesh network. Eero Pro setup was functioning perfectly to the level I comfortably say the experience was plug and forget. However, my obsession lead to placing cat 6 ethernet wiring throughout my home and added 1 Gbps download internet service. Now these new setup opened entirely new potential for me with Eero Pro setup could create bottleneck in the system due to its 2×2 Wi-Fi 5 MIMO hardware, which caps practically 600 Mbps max speed. This has lead to third round of my whole home mesh network system search*.

*Up until recently, I thought mesh network is the only way to construct single SSID, seamless home coverage. Therefore, access point based system were not included in this search.

This is when I discovered Asus AiMesh. I was truly thrilled about its concept. It really sounded like a dream for someone like myself who likes to keep adding cutting edge technology device. Also, there weren’t much Wi-Fi 6 mesh option in early 2019.

Even though I was not accustomed to tweaking network settings, more options sounded more to do in my spare time as a technology hobbyist. So I ended up choosing Ax11000 as a starting point.

The specific Asus AiMesh system features got me excited were:

• WiFi 6 compatible devices even back in early 2019
• VPN Fusion feature
• Flexibility/richness feature

Home Setup

In order to cover my 3800 sqft ranch style 2 floor home, I have initially started out with two Ax11000 routers: one for router and one for AiMesh node.

Two were connected via cat 6 ethernet cable. Two units were not enough to give end-to-end WiFi coverage so I started to look for another mesh node device. This needed to be WiFi 6 capable as well since I wanted to go with “the latest = the greatest“ approach. I eventually purchased a pair of AX92U.

So in the end, I got 4 AiMesh node system setup to cover my 3800 sqft home. For actual node placement, I had some choice but slightly limited by physical location of Ethernet jacks.

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Ax11000 router unit is placed on the ground-level kitchen utility rack as this is where cable internet enters our home. Three AiMesh nodes were connected via cat 6 ethernet cable with switch placed in the basement storage room.

The reason no AiMesh node was placed on the Northern end of house was because placements were based on the demands of WiFi usage at the time of setup. Southern end of home were at the time, the higher demand with office in basement and master bedroom on ground-level. Unfortunately, the placement AiMesh node on one floor did not penetrate enough to the other floor.

Disclaimer: AiMesh setup can be highly dependent on which router units are used.