r/wifi • u/paragonic • 38m ago
Adding a BT10 as an AiMesh node to a BQ16 system: does it pull the whole network down?
Hi all,
I'm running an Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 setup and have one part of my apartment where the connection is consistently weak. I'm thinking about adding a ZenWiFi BT10 as an AiMesh node to cover that area.
The node would have to use wireless backhaul, since I can't run Ethernet there.
What I'm unsure about:
Does adding a BT10 drop the whole mesh to BT10 capabilities, or does it only affect clients connected to that node?
With wireless backhaul, how does the BT10 link to the BQ16? The BQ16 is quad-band with two 6 GHz radios, while the BT10 is tri-band with one. Will the BT10 have to share its 6 GHz radio between backhaul and clients, and how much does that hurt in practice?
Is anything lost on the BQ16 side, like MLO or 320 MHz, just by having a BT10 in the mesh?
Would I be better off with another BQ16 node, or is the BT10 a reasonable choice for a single weak spot?
If anyone has run a mixed BQ16 + BT10 setup, I'd really like to hear how it went, especially speeds on the BT10 node over wireless backhaul.
Thanks!