ASUS - RT-BE58U

Thank you Asus. So I just bought 2 of these routers and set up an "AiMesh" system. Fantastic purchase, asus is one of the few companies that lets you set up a mesh wifi network with an ethernet backhaul. Mesh system works great to be honest, i connected all smart devices TV's, robot vacuum, A/C split units and a photovoltaic inverter on a superate IoT network. the application is pretty nice and the setup on both pc and the app is pretty straightforward. If you're looking for a mesh wifi system, I bet any asus router will do the trick, for a very reasonable price (i bought 2 of these for 220 euros shipped). Another option was to go for a ubiquity system, even during black Friday the total cost for the main router and the extender would've been 350 euros, granted it does have a built-in PoE port. But in my case, i already had the ethernet cable routed to another room next to a wall outlet so it's not something that I needed. I'm super happy with the purchase, i recommend it to anyone.

I just did this. Was running 5 google wifi pucks gen 1 all hardwired around our 1964 lathe and plaster house. Upgraded to Sonic 10g. After some research I went with **Asus BQ16 Pro 2** pack. One each at the opposite corners of the house and then one **ASUS RT-BE58U WiFi 7 BE3600** for the garage, all wired cat6 backhaul. Black Friday got the BQ16 routers down to $715, and the BE3600 at $99. I ended up getting a couple TRENDnet 5-Port 10G Switches, TEG-S750. If you are just doing wifi and don't need anything 10G on your network you can skip this. So far wifi reception has been great, even out in the backyard where my google wifi pucks struggled. The router interface is easy to use and has options that other routers charge you for. My iPhone 16 was getting 1350 Mbps speed test in the living room with the router. Right now in the middle of the house between the two routers I'm getting 747 Mbps on the iPhone.

Go for a WIFI 7 Mesh system. I Love ASUS, excellent software,frequent firmware updates. Good Luck!

When my Nest wifi was finally on its last life, I purchased a much more expensive Asus mesh router setup that supported wifi 7. For whatever reason the more advanced features of MLO didn't work with my TV. So basically I had to cripple my expensive setup to work with the device I use all the time. I ended up returning that and switched to the Nest Pro and have had no issues. Been about a year now. Solid connectivity and speed. I bought the 2 pack for 250, not on sale.

Asus with Ethernet back haul. Router + 2 APs. Works great, gigabit access all over the house!

I have been using the Asus AI-Mesh system for years. Seems very robust, to me. Devices seemlessly switch between the nodes. It handles 2.4ghz and 5ghz fine. Sonos works without a hitch. I am definitely using wired ethernet backhaul, however, from the remote node. Currently two of the Asus RT-AX55.

Hey OP. I've been living with wireless backhaul mesh for the last few months in our new place and with a few tweaks, it's been fine. I'm using Asus AiMesh with two remote nodes, plus a couple of old OpenWRT routers purely as bridges for wired devices. I'm in the process of running cable just now just to make the most of my FTTP connection but some generic tips that seemed to help me, if you do go down the wireless route. - Choose a system with multiple radios in each node, so you can dedicate a channel to the backhaul. - Look for mesh nodes that allow you to plug devices into them and position them accordingly. The "wired" devices will obviously still be using wireless via the mesh, but keeping their own radios quiet keeps the spectrum free for the mesh nodes and wireless-only devices to talk. The mesh nodes will almost certainly have better antennae and radios than the client devices. - Try to position the nodes so they are all talking with the main router rather than hopping via each other. On consumer gear this can be more of an art than a science but it boils down to finding different locations with the same signal strength to the main router so they link directly. - Although not acting as mesh nodes, I've repurposed a couple of old routers running OpenWRT + Relayd in the office and games room, so my PCs and old consoles without wireless can get internet. - Some mesh systems allow you to lock clients to a particular node. Play around with this - you can steer dumb devices to their nearest node rather than them trying to pick up a faint signal from a further one and shouting over everything else. Smart speakers and displays are particularly bad for this. In my office, about 25 metres and 1.5 floors (it's a L-shaped split level house) away from the main AP, my main PC wired into a mesh node can pull around 400Mbps down on a 990Mbps fibre connection. Previously with the PC and laptop using their own radios, I'd be lucky to see over 150 on either. Good luck!

Netgear isn’t who I’d recommend. Not only are they expensive but they need a specific base station router rather than all the satellites being capable of running the whole thing. ASUS with AImesh is the most versatile as it will work with any of their own products even older ones and you can mix and match freely. I don’t think you can mix and match TP link but at least they don’t require a specific base station so you can use the routers in any location/configuration and extend/replace as needed without a worry that it’s not compatible because it’s only a satellite/base station. TP-Link/Netgear software and features are worse than ASUS and far more basic/limited. Eero requires a subscription for stuff you get for free/default on ASUS, also MerlinWRT is a god send.

Unifi is not the way for WiFI mesh and even if you don’t need mesh it’s not for the average joe either. They are expensive but the easiest setup and most feature rich for the average consumer is ASUS.

Older ASUS AiMesh user here, and similar story. Portal plays shockingly well, and my PS5 isn't even hardwired.

if you insist on wifi i personally love asus ai mesh. i’ve had nothing but great experiences with it so far. speeds are consistent through my entire house. eero on the other hand i personally have had very, very bad luck with. Devices that don’t roam properly across the nodes correctly, hit or miss connection drops during hand offs, poor speeds on satellite nodes (even with the pro models with tri band) and half of the good features being behind a stupid paywall. i personally wouldn’t ever touch eero again.