@Simonsayz Thank you so much for your response. How's the coverage?
Coverage will be the same as per the individual routers performance & coverage. Remember, Mesh is just the same router acting as a seamless Range Extender. Their individual performance stays the same. Their original range stays the same, they are just transmitting the same SSID now.
So if you have good WiFi routers, you will have good coverage. Asus only certified their high-end routers for AiMesh. The AC88U that I have was already giving me coverage till the 3rd house in my street. I only added the second router downstairs coz I had few legacy devices downstairs which only operated at 2.4Ghz WiFi, no 5Ghz. The 2.4Ghz band was already over-populated in my neighborhood and the legacy devices had a slow-down sometimes coz of the noise in 2.4Ghz. So I got the second one downstairs for that.
@Simonsayz Have you connected the routers with LAN or Wifi?
I have them wireless connected, coz the AC88U has a tremendous range and the second router was getting full signals downstairs. I speed tested with wireless and with LAN, there was no difference, so went wireless.
@SimonsayzWhere did you buy these routers from and how much did it cost you?
Imported the AC88U from U.S. for $350 when it launched, bought the AC68U used from OLX for 12K.
@SimonsayzI was thinking of purchasing TP-Link M4 (4 pieces).
I'm not brand loyal, If you want to buy TP-Link, check with the users for their experience or online reviews and go ahead, just sharing my experience with Asus routers, which has been excellent and stress-free. Asus has regular firmware updates for their routers. The AC68U is 8 years old now and still gets updates, although there are several revisions of AC68U, in terms of CPU & RAM, I bought the last revision. AC88U has a Dual Core 1.4Ghz CPU with 512MB RAM, plenty powerful for a crowded network.
I have 100Mbps GPON connection and over 27 devices in the house, with multiple 4K streams running and few gaming devices running. I wanted the perfect QoS for every user, so had to go with these routers.
I have had a TP-Link router and range extender long time ago, wasn't a good experience, but those weren't their high-end products and this was when TP-Link wasn't well known, maybe things have changed, TP-Link users can guide you better.
@Simonsayz What do you think go for multiple nodes not so powerful or two powerful Mesh routers?
Remember, even before there was Mesh Networking, we used to extend WiFi coverage via dedicated Range Extenders or setting up a Router as Access Point within the same Network. So, AiMesh and these "packs" are two different kinds of solutions. In AiMesh, you select compatible routers according to your needs and create a Mesh, you can add any number of routers, upgrade/sell/change the routers but in the pre-packaged "packs" the devices are fixed, the "packs" are one unit, no upgrades, no customisation, no re-use by parts and you sell them as a pack if you wish to upgrade. Those are different solutions all together.
So, it all depends on what you need out of the Network you design, if you have a lot of devices, a very fast Internet connection and need best QoS & Firewall features then go for a high-end router that has the power to perform those functions. If you don't have such a demanding network then go for cheap & efficient setup. Buy according to your needs, chasing the latest technology gets expensive, trust me. Best of luck in your purchases bro.
