Having spent several days with a pair of Asus XT8 as nodes to an RT-AX88U router, in a fully-enabled 802.11ax wireless network with older SB legacy clients, I can now give some preliminary observations. Of note is that in the middle of configuration and shake down, Asus released a firmware update of the XT8, which complicated matters for an additional day or two.
Generally speaking, the integration of the XT8s as new nodes went off uneventfully. I prefer to connect new nodes by direct ethernet to the router, and then enable and configure the new nodes through the HTTP router controls. The first XT8 was configured with an ethernet backhaul. The second was configured as a wireless backhaul bound to the first XT8, which utilized the second 5ghz channel as a dedicated backhaul, as designed. Of note is that the primary XT8's ethernet backhaul traverses an intermediate switch layer. So the subordinate XT8's backhaul path to the router consists of a 5 ghz leg, and an ethernet leg through a managed Cisco 350 series switch back to the AX88. Following a full network reboot, all clients successfully logged into the new mesh network, and the network then re-assigned the wireless clients amongst the various nodes over a 24 hour period. As earlier stated, we had three (of ten total) Squeezeboxes operating in wireless networking: two Touches, and one little-used Radio that is mainly confined to one location. These did exhibit connection issues as the Asus mesh started juggling around its wireless clients. First, it is clear that the XT8 currently struggles with older 2.4ghz radios, particularly operating under n and earlier 802.11 standards. What we observed was that the nodes would simply drop them out when transferring clients (all clients) amongst the nodes. This was not uniform, and newer dual band clients have remained more stable with the XT8s at 2.4 ghz; what we noticed with these is that the XT8 would initially pick them up at 5 ghz, and then they would reassign to the router at 2.4 ghz. However, the 802.11g radios in the Touches struggled to maintain connection with the XT8s over time, and the Radio's transmitter was even a worse match for the XT8. Binding the SB clients to the nodes did not alleviate the drop outs that inevitably occurred as other roaming clients were being reassigned. We also noticed some conflicting DHCP reassignments with the Radio, which has happened previously with this model in Asus router environments. When that occurs, the tell-tale sign is that the client connects to the network, but is unable to communicate with LMS. Of further note is that most of our 2.4 ghz clients are IoT or third-party issued devices, and are confined to an Intranet-restricted guest network for security reasons. In an Asus mesh system, all guest network traffic goes only through the main router; the nodes are not used. What we observed was, predictably, that all 2.4 ghz guest clients were completely unaffected by the mesh changes. This confirmed that the AX88 at its present firmware revision has a very stable 2.4 ghz section. Because we had some very early issues with the Radio when the AX88 was first introduced, and now the AX88 has a very stable 2.4 ghz section, I believe that Asus will eventually do the same with its XT8 series. But for now, the implementation in the XT8 is problematic to the elderly legacy radios in these SB clients. The good news is we were able to get all three Squeezebox clients working, using various workarounds, but primarily by binding the clients to the AX88 router. For one Touch, because ethernet was available in the room, we simply ran a cable to it, and eliminated the wireless issue altogether. Yes, this is cheating, as that SB is no longer wireless. But it was quick and easy. The device that sacrificed its ethernet to the Touch has a much newer AC radio, and has maintained a stable and excellent connection with the nearest XT8 node (and a faster one than its fast ethernet allows). For the Radio, what we found to work was binding its assignment to the AX88 router, and clearing all earlier DHCP table assignments for it (this can be done via the Asus app). While the Radio and Touch's transmitters are antiquated, their 2.4ghz range offers a big advantage over newer 5 ghz radios. So even bonded to the router at some distance, the Touch receives a strong (100% LMS/ -59 dBm) signal, without resort to node-roaming. For the second Touch, in an outbuilding, the solution proved more problematic. That outbuilding relies on a node for good signal, and the router is quite a distance away. Binding the Touch to the distant router resulted in a relatively weak signal that was unacceptable IMO (60% LMS/ -79 dBm). So for that client, we used a more powerful 2.4 ghz Netgear 802.11n network extender operating in media bridge mode (and with a static IP assignment), with the Touch using its ethernet port. We allowed the extender to operate normally in the mesh network, and it initially connected with the nearest XT8 node, but then dropped out. However, the extender was later picked up by the router on its 2.4 ghz band, where it has remained locked. The extender maintains a good -65 dBm signal back to the router, better than the Touch's internal radio. However, we will probably at some point replace that extender with a 5 ghz AC model to allow a roaming connection to the much nearer XT8 node. So the summary is that the Asus XT8 does present some issues with older legacy 2.4 ghz clients. If your entire wireless network is going to consist of only XT8s, then you are going to have a problem running a wireless SB client, at least for now. But if you can maintain at least one other node (or in our case the router) as a non-XT8 device, then the solution is to bind the SB clients to that more mature device. The SB line is not incompatible with 802.11ax wireless technology in my opinion, only with some less mature and/or SOTA equipment (and that should improve). Were our mesh network entirely made up of AX88s, there would likely be no issues whatsoever. The problems are the continuing 2.4 ghz band teething issues with the XT8s. Again, our entire wireless network is now 802.11ax-enabled. And at least in the case of the Asus RT-AX88U, the old SB wireless clients function still well with it. The only limitation is the range of some of the SB radios over longer distances, in which case a more powerful range extender in media bridge mode presents a good solution. For those balancing their AX network clients with these older legacy ones, bear in mind that inserting an older AC node into these Asus mesh networks to accommodate legacy equipment will degrade AX client performance. Finding a more mature AX device to handle legacy traffic (such as the AX88) eliminates that compromise. I hope this provides some encouragement to those still struggling with 802.11ax wireless networks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ sgmlaw's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13995 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=112167 _______________________________________________ Radio mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/radio
