No. Anything provided for free from any ISP is crap
No ISP in the world provides good routers
Easier. Because with TIME, you don't have to use VLAN
Just have to put in the PPPoE username & password
But still, do not buy chapalang routers. Get ASUS. Yes they are expensive, but they are 100% worth it

Yes
Just ask them to write it down for you

fruitie you already terminate your 500Mb/s @ RM129?

1. State your budget
2. If you're using UniFi, you need to get a router that supports VLAN
3. You can't change the modem. You can only change the router
No. ISP-provided routers are crap. You're better off buying your own router

That's because the Huawei MESH system that you're using is relying on WiFi backhaul, thus the reduced speed
You want full speed at all corners, you need to connect each MESH router using Ethernet

None of the aftermarket routers you're looking at can fix your issue either

If you want full speed on WiFi, you need to get MESH routers with tri-band capability. And those aren't cheap
The cheapest would be Deco X90 and a 2-piece set will cost you around RM1K

So you have 2 choices:
1. Connect all MESH devices using Ethernet cable (cheaper but uglier unless you hack the wall but that would cost a lot of money too)
2. Buy MESH devices with tri-band capability

Your current Dual-Band MESH system:
1 x 2.4GHz for your devices to connect
1 x 5GHz for your devices to connect & also being used for the MESH routers to connect with each other (this is why you're getting slower speed)

Tri-Band MESH system:
1 x 2.4GHz for your devices to connect
1 x 5GHz for your devices to connect
1 x 5GHz/6GHz dedicated WiFi backhaul for the MESH routers to connect with each other

There's also another cheaper MESH router with a tri-band capability but its hardware is limited to WiFi 5 (WiFi AC)
It's Deco M9 Plus which is around RM779 for 2 piece pack

And no, your budget is not gonna get you anything that will fix your issue

This post has been edited by sHawTY: Dec 2 2022, 04:44 PM

With CAT6 Ethernet backbone, you don't even need the XT8. You can go with XD4 tri-pack so you can have bigger coverage all over the house and still have some money leftover

There's absolutely no need to get anything above 2x2 MIMO nowadays because no Wi-Fi 6 devices is capable of supporting more than 2x2
Even desktop PCI-e Wi-Fi 6 cards is limited to 2x2

This post has been edited by sHawTY: Dec 3 2022, 09:19 PM

How much devices?
By the way, the switch you're using, it's an unmanaged switch right?

25 devices is still on the low side
I'm using almost 100 devices out of my old GT-AC5300 and it's still running perfectly. And that's a 5 year old router

By the way, those 3 switches is connected to one another right?

This post has been edited by sHawTY: Dec 4 2022, 05:52 PM

The CAT6 Ethernet cable will be used to connect the MESH routers. This way, you will get full speed on all MESH routers
Find the perfect place where you would put the MESH router and route the CAT6 cable to that place

Then all the CAT6 cable should go to 1 main area (preferably the store room) where you will install the main router

All rooms should have their Ethernet points, yes & no, it depends on your budget
But all rooms having their own AP, not necessary. They should be in certain strategic places, not all rooms

Can you share your house floor plan?

RT-AC86U is a problematic model
It’s best if you save up more money and go straight to RT-AX86U Pro

Or hack the wall and install Ethernet ports so each mesh Deco can connect to each other using a much more reliable connectivity

Do you have Ethernet ports on the wall that can connect the ground floor to the 1st floor?
If no, then you need a tri-band MESH such as the Deco XE75, dual band MESH ain't gonna cut it

Your router also needs to support 160MHz in order for your WiFi card to utilize it
Not all router supports 160MHz bandwidth