[SOLVED] Does it matter what router I use for a media bridge?

[scubaslim]

Hi, I'm planning on buying a ASUS RT-AX86U. I'm also planning on buying another Wifi 6 router (probably either AX55 or AX56U) to use as a media bridge to hook up all my non-wifi 6 devices...

Does it matter what Wifi 6 router I use for the media bridge? or are all Wifi 6 routers created equal when being used in media bridge mode?

thanks

 

[kanewolf]

Hi, I'm planning on buying a ASUS RT-AX86U. I'm also planning on buying another Wifi 6 router (probably either AX55 or AX56U) to use as a media bridge to hook up all my non-wifi 6 devices...

Does it matter what Wifi 6 router I use for the media bridge? or are all Wifi 6 routers created equal when being used in media bridge mode?

thanks

Just to be sure that everybody is speaking the same terminology, when you say "media bridge" Are you describing a device that gets WIFI as input and then provides wired connection to clients ?

 

[scubaslim]

Just to be sure that everybody is speaking the same terminology, when you say "media bridge" Are you describing a device that gets WIFI as input and then provides wired connection to clients ?

yes

 

[kanewolf]

yes

OK, then an Asus router that has that function built-into the firmware would be fine.
Of course, a true wired connection would be better yet. Even if you use MoCA. WIFI is still less reliable and has lower performance than high quality wired connectivity.

 

[scubaslim]

OK, then an Asus router that has that function built-into the firmware would be fine.
Of course, a true wired connection would be better yet. Even if you use MoCA. WIFI is still less reliable and has lower performance than high quality wired connectivity.

I tried using MoCA once in the past, but I couldn't get it to work because of how my OTA and cable are wired... So all ASUS wifi 6 routers used as media bridges will basically perform the same? I'm mostly concerned about range.

 

[kanewolf]

I tried using MoCA once in the past, but I couldn't get it to work because of how my OTA and cable are wired... So all ASUS wifi 6 routers used as media bridges will basically perform the same? I'm mostly concerned about range.

There is no way to reliably predict WIFI performance. That is one reason wired is more reliable.

 

[scubaslim]

There is no way to reliably predict WIFI performance. That is one reason wired is more reliable.

I understand what you're saying, but you're not really answering my question.

Right now I have 2 RT-AC68U's in this setup and it worked great until recently. I'm just wondering if getting a more expensive router for the media bridge has any benefit over a cheaper one? How much does the client effect the signal?

 

[bill001g]

Be very careful about the fine print on wifi6 routers.
Both the ax55 and ax56 only support 80mhz radio channels. This is the same as the older 802.11ac. The other thing that make wifi6 faster is qam1024 but this tends to only work at close distances.

The ax86u does support 160mhz. This extra bandwidth is the key feature that makes wifi6 faster. The reason many routers only support 80mhz is because of the radar avoidance complexity so even if you have all 160mhz devices they may drop back to 80mhz. The only real solution is wifi6e equipment which is becoming more common but is still fairly expensive.

I am going to bet if you were to directly use your 802.11ac device with the ax86u it will perform as fast as using those bridge routers. Those devices even though technically they are running wifi 6 will be using 80mhz and qam256 which is about the same speed as 802.11ac using similar encoding.

 

[scubaslim]

Be very careful about the fine print on wifi6 routers.
Both the ax55 and ax56 only support 80mhz radio channels. This is the same as the older 802.11ac. The other thing that make wifi6 faster is qam1024 but this tends to only work at close distances.

The ax86u does support 160mhz. This extra bandwidth is the key feature that makes wifi6 faster. The reason many routers only support 80mhz is because of the radar avoidance complexity so even if you have all 160mhz devices they may drop back to 80mhz. The only real solution is wifi6e equipment which is becoming more common but is still fairly expensive.

I am going to bet if you were to directly use your 802.11ac device with the ax86u it will perform as fast as using those bridge routers. Those devices even though technically they are running wifi 6 will be using 80mhz and qam256 which is about the same speed as 802.11ac using similar encoding.

Thank you. That is very helpful. So if I want the full benefit wifi 6 in this setup, I'd also need my media bridge to be 160mhz?

 

[bill001g]

Yes to get the top speeds out of wifi6 you must have 160mhz. This is very messy though because of weather radar and now you are using even more bandwidth that neighbors can interfere with. Very hard to say how fast you will actually get where you live too many variables.

I assume you are plugging the remote devices into the "bridge" via ethernet. If you expect to connect via wifi and then have the signals repeated over wifi6 that I suspect will not work.

 

[scubaslim]

Yes to get the top speeds out of wifi6 you must have 160mhz. This is very messy though because of weather radar and now you are using even more bandwidth that neighbors can interfere with. Very hard to say how fast you will actually get where you live too many variables.

I assume you are plugging the remote devices into the "bridge" via ethernet. If you expect to connect via wifi and then have the signals repeated over wifi6 that I suspect will not work.

No, I won't be repeating signals. I think i'll go with the AX58U as the media bridge. thanks