Overthinking Backhaul Setup

[jaeforceone]

I am overthinking but would like to see opinions if anyone is willing to share! Just need the best optimization for wifi management with multiple devices.

My family's internet needs are pretty typical, 2.4 smart devices, wyze cameras, govee lights, laptops, cell phones, smart TVs all connected via wifi. House is around 2400sq ft.

I currently have att fiber at 1G. Connected to the att modem/router (bridge mode) is a AX86U Pro. The att equipment lives behind a door of a laundry room that is on one side of the house. The AX86U pro sits on a wire shelf at least 8ft in the air. The laundry room is also the main connection point where all single run cat6 cables are connected to various rooms throughout the house. Today I purchased a BE88U and decided to use it as an access point (for now) with a single cat6 backhaul to the AX86U Pro. The BE88U sits in the living room and is the most central part of my one story house.

I know it would be ideal to run the att modem/router bridged to BE88U then backhauled to AX86U Pro. However, there is only one run of cat6 cable in each room from the laundry room. If I connect the att equipment to the BE88U in the living room, there is no other cat6 cable to backhaul to second router to use as an access point. I guess I could set both routers side by side but the laundry room location has helped me view the live feeds of my exterior wyze cameras when needed.

Would it benefit to switch routers so that the BE88U as the main and the AX86U Pro as the access point? Even though the BE88U will live 8 feet up and also behind a door?

Also does connecting the routers via the 2.5G ports enhance/optimize the backhaul?

Thanks in Advance

[jzchen]

Partly I hope to clarify because ASUS distinguishes router, access point, and AiMesh "node".  We also have AT&T fiber and the BGW320 allows IP Passthrough and not bridge mode.  There's a difference between bridge mode and IP Passthrough.  With IP Passthrough the Ethernet ports on the "router" aka Residential Gateway still get assigned LAN addresses.

The easy one, yes 2.5 GbE will improve backhaul speed.

You can use the AT&T Residential Gateway as a Router, then assign the BE88U as Access Point with AiMesh.  Then add your AX86U as an AiMesh node.  Only one Ethernet connection would be necessary from both ASUS routers.. You could turn on the WiFi on the Residential Gateway to service your cameras (if I'm not mistaken on where it is) and move the two ASUS wherever you wish.

Another possibility may be to consider asking if AT&T can run the fiber to the central location, but this may incur labor cost, and possible holes in walls.

Feel free to clarify it's the middle of the night and my head is a little cloudy now...

[jzchen]

"Would it benefit to switch routers so that the BE88U as the main and the AX86U Pro as the access point? Even though the BE88U will live 8 feet up and also behind a door?

This is tricky, but yes the goal is to make the BE88U the primary router or at least primary Access Point.  It's hard to say if it is beneficial to put it "8 ft up and behind a door".  If it would be only serving outdoor cameras then it would waste the WiFi 7 function as an extreme example...

[jaeforceone]

sorry, yes your assumptions are correct. the att router is on IP passthrough mode and currently the primary access point is the ax86u pro with the be88u as a node. going to switch the two even if its location is not the best because I feel it would be a waste to not utilize the features of wifi7. I have another AC86U that I may use as a 2.4 only node if that is possible or just bind the cameras to it via the app. I had issues with the att router's wifi even when my laptop was the only device connected (via wifi) and also the ax86u pro as an wifi access point so I decided to turn off the wifi on the att equipment.

thank you for your insights.

[JohnRichard]

Any chance you  have Coax Cables in each of those locations?

I'm using ScreenBeam MoCA 2.5 GHz Adapters on each end so that my ISP''s Router/Modem is relegated to Bridge Mode and my Asus BQ16 is doing all of the Routing:  Feed the WAN from the Laundry via Coax to the to the Living Room, then from new BE88U via Cat6 back to (switch in) Laundry Room to feed the rest of the house?