ZenWiFi AX Mini (XD4)

I've had the ASUS ZEN WIFI Mini xd4 since 2020 and just recently upgraded the main router to an ASUS RT-AX82U AX5400 DUAL-BAND WIFI-6 GAMING ROUTER so I could put one of the nodes in my basement where I spend a lot of time. The coverage is amazing and the speed is good everywhere. Heck, as soon as I turn onto my street my phones switch to it and I'm the 4th house down. I'd recommend to anyone and you have free internet security for the life of the product. And all of the mesh systems are compatible with one another.

If it was me, I would buy a mesh system that is capable of being hardwired together as multi access points. I have a hardwired ASUS AX Mini. It is awesome. Best Wifi set up I've ever had. It is getting older, but when I replace it, I will hard wire with the same install method. Netgear is a terrible company. They have fine print gotcha business policies. Most products have a 90 day warranty. After that, they will charge you to talk with a representative, saying it a tech support contract is required. They did this to me on a hardware defect. Talking to Netgear is like talking to phone scammers, they are trained to get your credit card info for BS support services.

Third this. I've had Asus minis before and currently 4 XT9's. No issues.

I would upgrade to better mesh system. ASUS makes nice mesh routers. I have zenwifi AX they are great get WiFi all over the house and good bit in tho the yard around the house. House location has no cell phone service.

I have a similar house and tried Linksys Velop and Asus ZenWifi AX mesh options. Neither were terribly reliable. In the end I ran a couple of Ethernet cables and now have two InstantOn AP22 access points which provide great coverage and have been rock solid.

Not sure why you’d want to stay away from mesh. It’s a great system especially if you use a wired backhaul (even over a MOCA network) like I do. I have over 100 devices in my HomeKit/HomeBridge home with 3 Asus ZenWifi AX APs/Routers. Totally rock solid connection 95% of the time (sometimes I have to reset a couple Meross light switches when I reboot/update the WiFi). How many Sq Ft in your place?

I had Netgear (with an external firewall and generic access points) before they acquired Orbi, then tried Orbi which did not have enough info/options. Then went to at least 4 different types of AX Asus units for the longest time (10+ years with plenty of options and info but started to become unstable), then recently switched to Gryphon AX due to the need for parental controls for kids. I am thinking of going to Unifi next in a year or 2, as I miss the options/info that Asus provided, and get more with Unifi.

You can connect mesh nodes through Ethernet. OP has an Asus router, so they can buy more WiFi6 Asus Routers and connect them through Ethernet to set them up as AiMesh Nodes. My house network is set up like that, and I only have issues when streaming to my phone when going downstairs because it changes nodes, so it lags for like two seconds, and then goes back to normal. Other than that, it's a great experience all around.

It's called a wired backhaul mesh. Look it up. The point of using mesh nodes connected through ethernet is to keep the "seamless" transition between nodes without having any network degradation between them.

Yeah I like the ASUS approach as well. Mine just works, and it is so easy to add another node anytime I want since their stuff is all interoperable with the AiMesh setup.

You must have gotten a dud. Deco BE95 system. Simply amazing. Had it for 12 weeks now. Zero drops. 5800 sq ft home. ISP 6 Gig up and Down. Wired backhaul. 121 connected devices. Wired devices that can handle multi gig speeds - 6 GIG WiFi 7 - 2.5-4.3 GIG WiFi 6E - 1.8-2.4 GIG WiFi 6 - 1.1-1.6 GIG WiFi 5 - 600 mbps - 900 mbps WiFi 2.4 - 200-500 mbps The consistency, reliability and speed blow every simple competitor out of the water in my experience! Amazing system and have tried them all! Eero Max 7, Orbi 970s, Asus ZenWifi