ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 router +AIMesh review

Posted on: 07/10/2018 12:25 PM

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At this price, I think it should flip and walk around to ensure everyone has good signal. It looks like bug anyway.

Posted on: 07/10/2018 01:13 PM

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I am not a fan of powerline adapters, they consume quite a bit of energy, are prone to disturbances and are very dependant on your electric wiring. If you have to run them over a different group, perf drops so fast. However, they are very handy to use in places where you need a bit of internet.

Honestly, the best way is to run an ethernet wire to say your attic and create an access point. If you can't my second suggestion would be a mesh or repeater setup.

any repeaters/mesh that you could recommend, it's quite a big house i'm moving too with quite a few dead points even just the floor above the router. Sadly cause its private property i cannot run any wires through it so looking for alternatives...or even a router like the nighthawk?

Posted on: 07/10/2018 01:23 PM

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An Asus router without support for Asuswrt-Merlin is a waste for power users and tinkerers.

https://www.snbforums.com/forums/asuswrt-merlin.42/

Posted on: 07/10/2018 01:45 PM

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I currently have an N900 router (WNDR4500 v3) that is on the 2nd story of my house with effective wireless reception all the way to the basement, garage, back deck, front porch, anywhere I expect it to reach. It covers a large area even without a load of antennae hanging off of it in every direction. The router covers everything inside; some outside.

I don't like anything that calls itself a mesh network system for home (unless you live in a mansion or castle it doesn't make sense). They want you to buy multiple units so they nerf the range of each and tell you you need another unit for each floor to have effective coverage.

Also, unless people are consistently doing large file transfers on their home networks requiring Gbps speeds, most people are over-buying network functionality from both the electronics shop and their ISPs. Consider a 1080p stream only requires 6Mbps while a 4K is around 4x that (24Mbps). Gaming and music require far less for each connection.

Posted on: 07/10/2018 02:08 PM

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€400 for a wireless router? Go get yourself a couple of UniFi access points and an edge router or USG... If you're going to pay pro prices, get pro gear not this abomination of a device.

Same here, at this price pont range its way better to get dedicated enterprise level components from Ubiquity.
Unifi AP + Edge router + HP passive mangeable switch.

@Hilbert Hagedoorn
fully agree wit you there, powerline adapters are
- unreliable,
- expensive (at least for gigabit speeds)
- do not work over different phases (in my case 3-phase home electricity distibution, each room different phase)
- do not work well or at all over UPS, power line conditioner, surge protection or filter.
- vulnerable to security attacks from any point on same power line.

They should be as last resort when nothing else works.

I think it's closer than you think - the GT-AC5300 goes for $380 on Amazon currently, in order to get similar WiFi/Port specs with Ubiquiti you'd need a UAP-HD ($287) & ER-8 ($302.61) or USG ($108 + $25 8 Port TP Link switch or something)

The AC5300 has a more user friendly interface/setup procedure for a non-techie and is one unit vs the 3 if you go with the USG. The ubiquiti system is probably more reliable and slightly better performing but overall I think the price point on the ASUS is fair for the general consumer, given the specs. For someone more advanced I'd probably recommend the Ubiquiti. I personally use a pair of nanostations for a long range run from my main house + 2 UAP's for various Wifi around the property although I've been thinking about getting some Unifi Mesh AP's for outside - I've been really happy with their devices and deploy them in commercial environments all the time - but overall the ASUS GT isn't a bad device.