Enable MESH for many ASUS routers, AiMesh

[razel]

Well effin' played ASUS! Taken out of the Google's MESH playbook for onHub/GWiFi. Perhaps we can see a future for standardized MESH across manufacturers? MAYBE? Could be possible. ASUS and TP-LINK did manufacture onHub.

My recommended router prior was the ASUS RT-AC68 which is part of the current list of supported routers. Others are:

RT-AC68U
RT-AC1900 series
RT-AC86U
RT-AC88U
RT-AC5300
GT-AC5300

Two of those I owned and sold. Wish I didn't Advertising details here.

Waiting for reviews to see if an online cloud account is required to enable/complete/start MESH setup. That is my biggest gripe with many MESH WiFi systems.

 

[monkey333]

flashed my tm-ac1900 to a ac68u and got the mesh going, no account creation required.

 

[pcslookout]

What is MESH WiFi systems ?

 

[sdifox]

What is MESH WiFi systems ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_mesh_network

 

[sdifox]

flashed my tm-ac1900 to a ac68u and got the mesh going, no account creation required.

one TM-AC1900 flashed back to AC68U covers my house so no mesh needed.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have a small apt, so really, no mesh needed, but it would be cool to try.

I hesitate to be beholden to router vendor firmware bugs, though.

I've got a few AC68U. Any word if the Mesh works on an RT-N12/D1? I've got a few of those too, and they are really cheap and cheerful, even if they are only 10/100 and N300 2.4Ghz.

Although, Tomato firmware supports wifi bridge and WDS modes, on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz radio.

 

[sdifox]

I have a small apt, so really, no mesh needed, but it would be cool to try.

I hesitate to be beholden to router vendor firmware bugs, though.

I've got a few AC68U. Any word if the Mesh works on an RT-N12/D1? I've got a few of those too, and they are really cheap and cheerful, even if they are only 10/100 and N300 2.4Ghz.

Although, Tomato firmware supports wifi bridge and WDS modes, on both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz radio.

So you have a bunch of wifi routers sitting around doing nothing because you don't trust vendors on firmware bugs?

Only available on the AC units I think.

 

[razel]

Agree above, appears to be AC only. Digging into the smallnetbuider thread for the beta firmware where the great Merlin.. the creator of ASUS Merlin firmware tends to reside, it appears the cheapest one it currently supports is the AC66u which I have seen at Fry's on sale in the $60 range. Digging into more research GWiFi/onHub and OpenWRT do 802.11s which is a MESH standard. I think a future for standardized MESH across different routers of different vendors is possible. Whether they want to do it so that they can make more money is the bigger question now.

 

[sdifox]

Agree above, appears to be AC only. Digging into the smallnetbuider thread for the beta firmware where the great Merlin.. the creator of ASUS Merlin firmware tends to reside, it appears the cheapest one it currently supports is the AC66u which I have seen at Fry's on sale in the $60 range. Digging into more research GWiFi/onHub and OpenWRT do 802.11s which is a MESH standard. I think a future for standardized MESH across different routers of different vendors is possible. Whether they want to do it so that they can make more money is the bigger question now.

I picked up the tmobile one for 40 :awe:

 

[VirtualLarry]

You have to patch the CFE on the T-Mobile "CellSpot" (AC68U) routers, in order to use Asus firmware, just FYI.

 

[sdifox]

You have to patch the CFE on the T-Mobile "CellSpot" (AC68U) routers, in order to use Asus firmware, just FYI.

Running asuswrt-merlin :awe:

 

[Engineer]

Running asuswrt-merlin :awe:

Unless you had a very old TM model, you would have still had to flash the Asus CFE to get the Merlin firmware on there.

 

[sdifox]

Unless you had a very old TM model, you would have still had to flash the Asus CFE to get the Merlin firmware on there.

Yes, I know. I had to hack the bootloader. I meant it is already done.

 

[Engineer]

Yes, I know. I had to hack the bootloader. I meant it is already done.

Ah, OK. I didn't know if you had the old, old, old version or if you had to edit and flash the Asus CFE.

 

[sdifox]

Ah, OK. I didn't know if you had the old, old, old version or if you had to edit and flash the Asus CFE.

Bought a refurb but it was brand new.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Bumping this thread. Anyone else try the new Asus "AiMesh" firmware yet, preferably on an AC68U/R? Still debating. I like Shibby Tomato, it works well for me, and if I really, really, wanted to, I could enable WDS or Wireless Bridging with Tomato. But I like the idea of a "quick handoff" between mesh nodes. Not that I would even need that, in a two-room apt, but hey, it might impress the ladies...

 

[sdifox]

Bumping this thread. Anyone else try the new Asus "AiMesh" firmware yet, preferably on an AC68U/R? Still debating. I like Shibby Tomato, it works well for me, and if I really, really, wanted to, I could enable WDS or Wireless Bridging with Tomato. But I like the idea of a "quick handoff" between mesh nodes. Not that I would even need that, in a two-room apt, but hey, it might impress the ladies...

Err how will

Bumping this thread. Anyone else try the new Asus "AiMesh" firmware yet, preferably on an AC68U/R? Still debating. I like Shibby Tomato, it works well for me, and if I really, really, wanted to, I could enable WDS or Wireless Bridging with Tomato. But I like the idea of a "quick handoff" between mesh nodes. Not that I would even need that, in a two-room apt, but hey, it might impress the ladies...

I am only running one tmobile wap to cover my two storey house...

 

[razel]

Been following the beta threads. No suprises so far reported. I haven't tried it yet, but buying an ASUS router that does AiMESH is on my hobby shopping list. I really regret selling the AC68s that Walmart had on clearance for $50 now. God damn....

 

[razel]

Aww ya. The Asus AC66U (version B1) is supported and is $60 at newegg flash with coupon code. Only bought one. Not sure which version I'll get. I think my 3 year old onHub (which I'm fan of for friends/family) may have to find a new home.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Still holding out hope for Mesh "node" support for leaf nodes for the RT-N12/D1 routers, because they are so cheap.

Or at least support for the AC66U / AC1750 models, pre-"B1". (The B1 variant, is apparently AC68U hardware, rather than AC66U.)

 

[Larkin Barkin]

Hi! Hoping someone on this thread can steer me in the right direction. I have an ASUS RT-AC68U, with the latest firmware installed (3.0.0.4.385_10000 ). I also acquired a TM-AC1900, which I successfully re-flashed into the same (latest) firmware as my AC68U. The TM box seems to be doing great, but...when I configured it as an AIMesh node, my AC68U (used as the AiMesh Root) cannot find it! I tried to reverse the roles - i.e., configure the TM box the AiMesh root, and the AC68U as a node, but they still failed to recognize each other. I even flashed both with the latest Merlin firmware - same result! I was wondering if anyone here was up against a similar issue... Either there's some hardware quirk with the TM version of the router, or perhaps there's some obscure setting that I didn't know of... Any help would be much appreciated .