Sky MER Compatible Modem Router

[Bisgedi]

Hello, currently looking to swap out my SR203 SkyQ modem router for a 3rd Party one. Pref Asus, Netgear then TP Link (as I will look to add a WiFi mesh system in). Currently Sky Superfast (FTTC) so I know currently I need a VDSL modem router but one that is compatible with Sky MER. I've seen a few DSL modem routers but for the life of me struggle to find where Sky MER is supported. Also when I do get FTTP will this affect the VDSL router and need to get a standalone WiFi router? Plus does the mesh WiFi system have to be Sky MER?

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

My advice would be buy a seperate modem and router this will ensure the modem on the a modem router doesn't interfer with the ont modem when fttp arrives.

The standard choice for the modem would be the tp link td w9970 for £35

Instructions for setting up tp link td w9970 as modem bridge

select sky vdsl from isp list
https://www.tp-link.com/uk/support/faq/1332/

And we are finding that the asus rt ax range work more consistantly than other routers

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

Full list of asus rt ax routers known to work with Sky mer

RT-AX56U	386.3_2
RT-AX58U	386.3_2
RT-AX86U	386.3_2
RT-AX88U	386.3_2
GT-AX11000	386.3_2
RT-AX68U

[Bisgedi]

Thank you for this. 

when FTTP does arrive, how will this change my set up? Will this simply remove the TP link for the equation? Sorry for the simple question but I do not know what FTTP looks like into the house

Want to ensure I can use Asus AX router along with the ZenWifi mesh in the long run purely for AiMesh

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

"Will this simply remove the TP link for the equation"

Yes, and for £35 its not alot to pay for something that will be redundant in the next few years

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

"Want to ensure I can use Asus AX router along with the ZenWifi mesh in the long run purely for AiMesh"

The zenwifi xt8 are both router and mesh node so one needs to be sky mer (which they are anyway) and the other is set up using aimesh and doesn't need sky mer

[Bisgedi]

Thank you for this Cookie, much appreciated and totally makes sense!

Does this apply across the whole ZenWifi range?

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

The other asus wifi 6 mesh units are an unknown for sky mer the most used one here is the xt8.

The others should be combined with one of the routers i mentioned to ensure compatibility and set up using aimesh

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

Other advise the xt8 is tri band that is its got one 2.4ghz, one 5ghz ac and one wifi 6 ax wifi bands.

The routers in the table are mainly dual band ie they have one 2.4ghz and one combined 5ghz ac /wifi 6 ax wifi band

[mae-3]

@Bisgedi 

The Asus XT8 is tri-band all 802.11ax wireless bands @cookiemonsteruk but fully compatible with any previous device supporting 802.11ac concurrently.

[cookiemonsteruk]

@mae-3 

More interested in the cross functionality between dual band ax router and tri band ax mesh

Would you need to find a channel that 5ghz ac co exist with the wifi 6 ax on the dual band and then manually set them on the tri band. I know the logical choice would be the xt8 as router/mesh . But for someone like me who has a dual band ax how would that work if at some stage i wanted to add an xt8

[Bisgedi]

The GT-AX11000 is also tri band so combined with XT8 you could use a wireless backhaul?

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Bisgedi 

Whats your planned setup?

With my rt ax58u i could be more realistic and look at the other dual band ax mesh options. With ax3000 on the rt ax58u having a ax6000 mesh would be overkill.

[mae-3]

@Bisgedi & @cookiemonsteruk 

The difference between tri-band and dual-band is when you use AiMesh with tri-band nodes the backhaul is over one of those 5Ghz sets of channels and is reserved for the backhaul only.  With dual-band, the backhaul is shared on the single 5Ghz channels with the 5Ghz clients.

                                                     4.4Gbps 160Mhz wide 802.11ax

AiMesh <<----- 5Ghz-2 band B 5Ghz DFS backhaul ----->> AiMesh (Tri-band)

     |                                      (backup 2.4Ghz)                                                           |

     |    2.4Ghz channels                                                                                             |.   2.4Ghz channel

  5Ghz-1 band A client's lower channels                          5Ghz-1 band A client's higher channels

AiMesh. 5Ghz band channels (dual-band bandwidth and channel width depending on router) 

    | 5Ghz clients and backhaul shared

    |.2.4Ghz backhaul and clients

AiMesh

[cookiemonsteruk]

@mae-3 

I'll sleep on your last post and probably be even more confused in the morning 😁😴👍