Testing ASUS' AiMesh mesh networking feature

Putting old routers to good use

Imagine you bought the ASUS RT-AC86U router for your home. Sometime later, you are suffering from upgrade-titis and decide that you want the faster RT-AC88U. What do you do with your old RT-AC86U? It’s still a pretty capable router, so giving it away would be a waste, or you could sell it off online, but dealing with time wasters and lowballers is a major annoyance. If only there was a way I could use it to expand my home Wi-Fi…

Well, now you can with ASUS AiMesh. In a nutshell, AiMesh allows you to use multiple ASUS routers to create your own mesh Wi-Fi network. In the above scenario, this means that you can use the RT-AC88U as your primary router and your older RT-AC86U as a mesh Wi-Fi node. If you have Wi-Fi dead spots in your home, this can be very useful.

Unfortunately not all ASUS routers are supported at the moment, but a good many of their popular models are. Here is the list of supported routers at the point of writing:-

• RT-AC68U
• RT-AC68U V2
• RT-AC86U
• RT-AC88U

ASUS says AiMesh will also be coming to its two AC5300-class routers - the RT-AC5300 and ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 - soon.

Setup

Getting AiMesh to work isn’t as complicated as you might think. Granted, it isn’t as easy as the current crop of purpose-built mesh networking systems like the Google Wifi or Linksys Velop, but it isn’t too difficult either.

The other thing to note is that even with AiMesh enabled, you retain all of the features of your ASUS router. This means features like AiProtection, QoS, Parental Controls, VPN, etc., are all intact and usable. This is great because most mesh networking systems only offer very basic networking features.

ASUS recommends that you use the faster router as the primary router, so in our testing, we will be using the RT-AC88U as the primary AiMesh router and the RT-AC86U as the AiMesh node.

1. Update firmware

The first thing that you want to do is to ensure that all of your ASUS routers are running the latest firmware. You can do so by going to the Administration menu and then the Firmware Upgrade tab.

2. Factory reset AiMesh node

Next, factory reset the router that is going to function as the node. You can do so by pressing and holding on to the reset button on the router for at least 5 seconds. Release when the power LED is flashing slowly.

3. Power up your AiMesh node

The next time you power up and connect to your AiMesh node (i.e. when you log in to the router's admin panel), the RT-AC86U, you will be greeted by a screen asking you to select the operating mode of the router. Pick AiMesh and then select AiMesh node. It will then prompt you to connect to your AiMesh router, which in our case is the RT-AC88U.

4. Connect to your primary router

The last thing to do is to connect to the primary router. Now, in the main menu for the ASUSWRT router management interface, you will see an AiMesh menu on the top right. Hit ‘Search’ and let it look for the AiMesh node. Once it finds the node, it will ask if you want to add it to your AiMesh system. Answer to the affirmative and the let router do its magic. After a while, you will see a message saying that the node has been successfully added.

How AiMesh works

AiMesh works like other mesh networking systems. It will use the optimum frequency band - either 2.4GHz or 5GHz - for backhaul data transmission to relay data from your primary router and across nodes to your client device. When using a tri-band ASUS router, it will try to use 5GHz network for backhaul communications since the 5GHz network is faster.

However, if your home has a LAN network in place or if you don’t mind a long Ethernet cable running through your home, you can also connect the AiMesh router to the AiMesh node using via Ethernet. In this mode, the routers will use the Ethernet connection for backhaul communication, which will free up the wireless network.

Test Setup

We are testing AiMesh using the same setup that we used to test other mesh networking systems. We have two notebooks, one acting as a host machine and the other as a client device. The router, or in this case, node, acts as a gateway. Since mesh networking systems typically manage their own wireless and channel settings on their own, we will enable Smart Connect and let the ASUS routers manage these settings.

The client device is a 2015 13-inch MacBook Pro, which is one of the few client devices in the market to come with a 3x3 Wi-Fi receiver, allowing it to achieve wireless speeds of up to 1,300Mbps.

To evaluate, we will be measuring the time and calculating the speed achieved when transferring a 1GB zip file. We will do multiple tests with different setups and different distances to simulate use around a typical single story flat and in a multi-story home.

Since we are measuring the mesh performance, we will only be testing the extreme ranges:

    •    15m - To simulate extreme distances on the same floor (e.g. router in the hall, but test point is at master bedroom toilet)

    •    Second story - One floor above

    •    Third story - Two floors above

To evaluate the performance of ASUS AiMesh, we will be comparing it to the Google Wifi and Netgear Orbi. The former is one of the most popular mesh networking systems, while the latter offers superlative mesh performance and was the winner of the Best Mesh Networking System award at our Tech Awards 2018.

Mesh performance at 15 meters

In this test, we placed the AiMesh node (RT-AC86U) in between the AiMesh router (RT-AC88U) and the 15-meter mark to create a mesh network to get signal to the 15-meter mark. We did the same for other mesh networks to see how their performance would compare.

At 15 meters, we could still maintain a connection to the single  ASUS RT-AC88U router. We were using Smart Connect and could see that the client device was connecting to the RT-AC88U via 2.4GHz. Download speeds were quite decent at 79.77 Mbps but upload speeds were dismal at just 20.36 Mbps. Still, it's interesting to note that the single node performance of the Google Wifi and Netgear Orbi was non-existent at this range and a traditional router like the RT-AC88U had better range to service the intended test spot.

With the RT-AC86U acting as an AiMesh node, download speeds improved by about 20% to 96.11 Mbps. It was encouraging but it was no match for dedicated mesh networking systems like the Google Wifi and Netgear Orbi. Upload speeds, however, were much more impressive. In AiMesh mode, we managed 174.41 Mbps. That's an improvement of a staggering 850%! Upload speeds far surpassed the Google Wifi system and weren’t that far off from the Netgear Orbi.

Mesh performance on 2nd floor

In this test, we placed the AiMesh node (RT-AC86U) on the second floor and created a mesh network to expand Wi-Fi coverage on the second floor. We did the same for the other mesh networks to see how their performance would compare.

From the second floor, we could still maintain a good connection to the RT-AC88U through its 2.4GHz network. Download speeds were 193.28 Mbps while upload speeds were once again lower at 37.56 Mbps.

In AiMesh mode, download speeds took a dip to 103.77 Mbps. We suspect that there are handing off issues where the AiMesh router, in this case, the single RT-AC88U, still has a strong presence. From the second floor, it seems that the client device is unable to properly determine if it should connect to the AiMesh router (RT-AC88U) or AiMesh node (RT-AC86U). In our tests, it seems to have connected to the AiMesh node, which resulted in data having to travel a longer distance which resulted in lower speeds.

On the other hand, upload speeds improved significantly from 37.56 Mbps to 93.40 Mbps - an improvement of over 250%. In this case, with upload speeds already so poor when connected to the AiMesh router, it makes sense to rely on the AiMesh node for better upload performance.

Mesh performance on 3rd floor

Since we only have two ASUS routers, we will be measuring performance by connecting to the AiMesh node on the second floor.

From the third floor, we could no longer establish a connection with the AiMesh router (RT-AC88U). We could, however, still connect to the AiMesh node (RT-AC86U) on the second floor and the results were very promising. We achieved download speeds of 275.77 Mbps, which outstripped even the Netgear Orbi by 39%. Upload speeds were equally good at 213.16 Mbps, which just marginally faster than the Orbi.

Final Thoughts

Our benchmark results show that while AiMesh works, it isn’t perfect. It seems that AiMesh has some problems determining which is the best router to connect to at ranges where the client device is within working range of both the AiMesh router and AiMesh node.

However, AiMesh shines when you are out of range from the AiMesh router. In our tests, we found that at the third floor, where a signal from the AiMesh router cannot be received, the performance of the AiMesh network is more than a match for a high-performance mesh networking system like the Netgear Orbi.

In short, AiMesh is a good way of putting your old ASUS routers to use - as long as your routers both support AiMesh. It still needs to iron out some of its kinks. But if ASUS manages to refine it, it could easily give ASUS an edge in the router market as it would encourage existing ASUS owners to upgrade to another ASUS router. Even in its current form, we think it is one of the best new features that we ever seen introduced in a router.

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