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

★★☆☆☆Features☆☆☆★★

From here is negative points of the system. The AiMesh system despite has been out for years, perhaps related to so many hardware combination, it has been buggy including some never resolved stability issue.

Buggy software/Missing Feature

Although there are robust feature list on AiMesh system using Ax11000 as a router, some of features weren’t functional like Guest network, VPN Fusion mentioned above. Also, despite my setup consisted all Tri-band router units, smart connect won’t utilize the third band at all when AiMesh nodes are connected using wired backhaul. Although I could have manually set the second 5GHz band as a separate SSID, I had hoped it offered part of smart SSID.

Although Ax11000 unit had great number of features, there are a few features that I wished I had. Some of these include.

• RF Scanner
  
  Scans radio frequency i.e. interference around each of Node or Access Point.
  
• Multi-SSID on single access point or mesh network.
  
  With this type of feature, one can have a Smart SSID and separately 5 GHz dedicated SSID as well as Guest SSID i.e. 3 separate SSID using all mesh nodes/access points.
  
• Wi-Fi Coverage Topology Map
  
  Although this is usually a gimmick when measured on the mesh node/access point side only, I found it is still an useful feature to at least give some rough starting point/guidance where to place nodes/access points and if I need to buy another.

Lack of official customer support

When I originally had an issue with mesh node disconnecting, which was a major issue, I sent an email to Asus support. Initially, I though I was getting somewhere but quickly realized it was templated email to stall time. Eventually after a week, I received totally irrelevant response.

Having said this, most technical support are usually not helpful. So what I care more is official forum where experienced users trying to help each other. To my surprise, Asus does not have official forum where users can help each other.

Asus does not have official forum where users can help each other.

The reason why I did not give zero star here is because unofficially, SmallNetBuilder forum have highly Asus experienced users with fairly active support. I think this is as good as most other official user forum can get for Asus users if not better. Basically, Small Net Builder forum is must bookmark site for Asus router users.

Small Net Builder forum is must bookmark site for Asus router users.

Aesthetics

I’m sorry if there is Asus router aesthetic fans out there, but these units are not aesthetically pleasing. They do look powerful though. For vast majority of people, the best aesthetics of network gear are ones that blends in background. Although it is understandable unit like Ax11000 having so many antenna’s need to be bigger in size compared to many of mesh wifi node system like Nest WiFi router, but Netgears RAX200 despite having similar spec look far better.

Conclusion

Conceptually, AiMesh system is highly innovative and brilliant combining flexility and robustness of dedicated router system with expandable coverage with simple setup of consumer mesh system. Mostly, it works as advertised. The system delivers expected range of performance. Although one could blame on software, the AiMesh system itself has been out for years and owning over one full year of setup, I did not see substantial fix of the system. Though once system is tweaked, it can achieve what it is promised to do, and I can see this may be a dream system for some. AiMesh is the system that choose the user. You need to know what you are doing and willing to spend time to troubleshoot.

When compared to high performance standalone router, AiMesh setup has reduced performance, which is true for pretty much all consumer mesh system. Features are robust but some are lacking compared to controller based system such as Ubiquiti UniFi. As a mesh network system, it requires some configuration/troubleshoot before providing decent still not perfect stability.

For the majority of people, if one is looking for simple setup with stability and decent performance, I would recommend consumer mesh system like Eero Pro. For the higher performance and willing to pay more, perhaps system like AmpliFi Alien might be worth looking into.

For those who are looking for what AiMesh trying to achieve, robust feature and flexibility but added stability and scalability, I highly recommend looking into system like UniFi, which in my personal opinion superior to AiMesh system in pretty much in every regards except wireless backhaul.