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The ZenWiFi XT8 AX6600 Whole-Home tri-band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (model XT8) is a souped-up version of the CT8. Both are part of the new ZenWiFi family Asus announced earlier this year.
The only differences between the two, albeit big ones, are that the XT8 features Wi-Fi 6 and a multi-gig WAN port. Other than that, they share everything else, the appearance, setup process, features, how they work as mesh systems, and even some shortcomings.
This review focuses on these differences. It's intended for those who have already read my take on the CT8.
In all, compared to the CT8, the ZenWiFi AX XT8 has more than enough to justify the extra $100 you'd need to spend. Though not a must-have, it's a reasonably-priced, flexible Wi-Fi 6 AiMesh system with a ton more to offer than its more expensive rivals.
Asus ZenWiFi XT8: Everything the CT8 has and a lot more
As a mesh system, the ZenWiFi AX, like the CT8, includes two identical routers. From the front, you can't tell the hardware of the XT8 and the CT8 routers apart. The two look the same, sharing the single-slot-toaster design, and are available in white or charcoal colors.
Familiar design, now with Multi-Gig WAN support
On the back, though, you'll note that the XT8's WAN port is now a Multi-Gig port that works either at either 1Gbps or 2.5Gbps. Also, the USB 3.2 Gen 1 port is on the right side instead of the left.
Like the CT8, the XT8 features Dual-WAN—you can turn its USB port or another LAN port into a second WAN port if you want it to host two broadband connections at a time for load balancing or high availability.
By default, there's no Multi-Gig LAN port. And that's disappointing since that means locally, the best wired-to-wireless connection you'd get out of the XT8 is 1Gbps.
But when working as a node, the XT8's 2.5Gbps WAN port now works as a LAN port. However, generally, in real-world usage, it's not a good idea to count on the wireless backhaul to reliably deliver the same speed as a wired Multi-Gig LAN connection.
Also, you'll need to have a second node unit before you can see the value of this port. With a 2-pack, the speed is limited by the other Gigabit ports anyway.
High-speed backhaul band, presently no 160MHz channel support for clients
Each XT8 hardware unit is an AX6600 tri-band router with one 2.4GHz and two 5GHz broadcasters. The router dedicates one of the 5GHz bands, the 5GHz-2, as the dedicated backhaul, which works solely to link the two hardware units to form a mesh system.
The 5GHz-2 is the most powerful band, featuring 4x4 Wi-Fi 6 to deliver up to 4800Mbps. It also supports the venerable 160MHz channel width. Thanks to this strong backhaul connection, you can place the XT8's hardware further from each other and still have a fast mesh system.
The other 5GHz band (5GHz-1) uses 2x2 Wi-Fi specifications and generally caps 2400 Mbps for Wi-Fi 6. Unfortunately, however, the XT8's front-haul doesn't support 160MHz channels. As a result, Wi-Fi 6 clients can connect at 1200 Mbps at most in a wireless setup, while Wi-Fi 5 devices will get 867 Mbps.
Update: Asus told me on February 11, 2020, that it would might release a new firmware update that opens up the front-haul to support 4x4 160MHz specs, effectively doubling the XT8 satellite's Wi-Fi speed for clients. This never turned out to be the case, however.
Many mesh routers don't support 160MHz channel width for end-users. Examples of these include big-name products like the Ubiquiti Alien and the Netgear Orbi RBK 852.
Wired backhaul support
Like all AiMesh routers, the ZenWiFi AX supports wired backhaul—you can use a network cable to hook one router to another.
In fact, if you have a Multi-Gig switch, it's one of a few Asus broadcasters that supports Multi-Gig backhauls. But there might be a catch.
Extra: Important note on using wired backhaul
Since the XT8 is purposely built for a wireless setup, its firmware might not be tuned for a wired backhaul setup. As a result, new firmware might cause issues if you use wired backhaul with it.
Generally, in my experience, if your (wired) network is stable, it's a good idea not to upgrade the firmware right away but only after the subsequent version of the new version is available.
In other words, a new major upgrade tends to include issues that need to be ironed out by a minor version. If you're aware of this, then it's OK to use this mesh with wired backhauls.
In a wired backhaul setup, by default, the XT8's 5GHz-2 band is still not available to clients—it remains a hidden dedicated backup backhaul in case the wired connection is lost.
So, when you use SmartConnect, this 5GHz-2 band is not part of the main Wi-Fi network. In short, it will not be available to clients at all.
There's a way to make use of this band, however. You can manually create a new unhidden SSID with it, different from the primary Wi-Fi network. This SSID will then be available, throughout the AiMesh system, as separate 5GHz-only full 4x4 Wi-Fi 6 Wi-Fi network for clients.
In other words, like all tri-band AiMesh systems, with a wired or wireless backhaul, you'll need to do a bit of tweaking to make the 5GHz-2 band available to clients.
Update: With the latest firmware that supports AiMesh 2.0, there's an option to combine all three bands via Smart Connect when the wired backhaul is in effect.
Asus AiMesh and firmware updates
Considering the vast number of hardware options, most of which can be combined into a mesh system using the AiMesh feature, firmware can be tricky for Asus, especially with hardware running firmware versions that start with the 3.0.0.4 kernel.
AiMesh was first added as a major feature via firmware version 384 in early 2018—represented by the RT-AC86U. It was buggy at first, but it became stable with the latest minor updates. In early 2020, Asus released version 386, which was also buggy in the early stages, to add AiMesh 2.0 via the introduction of the ZenWifi product line. By late 2022, version 386 had become fully mature, and Asus released version 388 (dubbed Asuswrt 4.0) to add better VPN support, triple gaming/protection levels, and more. This version became stable by late 2023.
When it comes to updating—especially in an AiMesh setup of mixed hardware units using wireless backhauling—keep the following three items in mind:
- Avoid the initial major release: This is the first firmware version of a model where the middle three digits of the firmware version change, such as from 384 to 386 or from 386 to 388. Generally, things start to be good with the first minor update to a major firmware release.
- Avoid using Auto-Update for firmware: Instead of letting the hardware update itself, you should update the firmware when you see fit. (It's OK to choose Auto-Update for the security-only updates when that's an option.)
- Version consistency (in a mesh system): Generally, it would be best to use the firmware version of the same major release for all AiMesh members. (Mixing hardware of different major releases can produce mixed results.)
On the one hand, moving between major releases might break your AiMesh setup or even your standalone router. On the other hand, new hardware comes with a specific initial version that is out of the box—you have no option to downgrade it—and some old models won't get the latest release. So, depending on the mesh combo, your luck will vary.
As a rule, when using hardware with the 3.0.0.4 kernel in a mesh system, it's best to wait for a few minor updates of a major release before upgrading. Depending on the hardware combo, you might need to rebuild the system from scratch or reset and re-add a satellite node if you change the major firmware version (in one or all hardware units involved.)
ZenWiFi AX XT8: Detail photos
ZenWiFi AX XT8: Hardware specifications
| Model | XT8 |
| Full Name | Asus ZenWiFi AX AX6600 Router |
| Mesh-Ready | Yes (2-pack) |
| Dedicated Backhaul Band | Yes (5GHZ-2) |
| Wired Backhaul | Yes |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 6.29 x 2.95 x 6.35 in (16 x 7.5 x 16.15 cm) |
| Weight | 1.56 lb (710 g) |
| 5GHz-1 Wi-Fi Specs | 2 x 2 AX: Up to 1200 Mbps |
| 5GHz-2 Wi-Fi Specs | 4 x 4 AX up to 4800 Mbps |
| 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Specs | 2 x 2 Wi-Fi 6 up to 574 Mbps |
| Front-haul Channel Width Support | 20Mhz, 40MHz, 80MHz |
| Backward Compatibility | 802.11ac/n/g/a/b |
| Mobile App | Asus Router |
| Web User Interface | Yes (Full) |
| AP Mode | Yes (as a router or a mesh) |
| USB Port | 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 |
| Gigabit Port | 3 x LAN |
| Multi-Gig Port | 1x 2.5 Gpbs/1Gbps WAN |
| Link Aggregation | No |
| Dual-WAN | Yes |
| Processing Power | 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 256 MB Flash, 512 MB RAM |
Familiar settings, features, and shortcomings
Again, other than the more powerful hardware, the XT8 shares the same set of settings and features as the CT8. It also uses the same web interface and the Asus mobile app. That said, you can find out more in the review of the CT8, including how to set the system up.
To avoid repeating myself, I'll recap below some significant points.
Asus ZenWiFi XT8’s highlights
- Out of the box, the two XT8 hardware units are pre-synced. No matter how you change them individually—like using each as a standalone router for a different home—once restored to default settings, they are ready to work together as a mesh.
- The XT8 router can work with all other AiMesh-enabled routers as the router unit or a satellite node.
- You can restore the XT8 router with the settings of any previous Asus router, making upgrading an easy job. Note, though, that it's always better to set it up from scratch to avoid potential setting conflicts
- The XT8 can work as a node for a system hosted by any other AiMesh-ready router. Or it can host one to extend its own network.
- There are lots of network settings, enough to make almost any advanced user happy, and features anyone would appreciate. These include AiProtection (online protection and parental control), Traffic Analyser, Adaptive QoS, VPN (client or server), and an excellent Dynamic DNS.
- AiMesh now has a new section of its own within the web interface, which makes managing and adding additional nodes easier. You can also make use of the XT8's USB port even when it's working as a node.
- The USB port can do all that you can think of for a router peripheral port. You can use it to host a printer, a cellular modem, or a storage device to deliver all storage-related features you can imagine—data sharing/syncing/streaming, Time Machine backup, PC-less downloading, and more.
Asus ZenWiFi AX6600’s shortcomings
And like other Asus routers, the XT8 shares the same shortcomings, too. First and foremost is the fact it can be buggy. Due to the sheer amount of features and settings, it seems Asus has had trouble keeping tabs on them all.
For example, a firmware update can cause issues—you might need to reset the system and set it up or restore settings from a backup file to fix it. Like the case of other AiMesh routers, the Guest networking feature was only available at the router unit and not throughout the system during my trial.
(For the latest on AiMesh, check out this frequently updated post.)
On top of that, make sure you understand the inherent risks of using the DFS channels, which is the only option to make the router's 5GHz band work in the 160MHz channel. Hint: Turn this off if you want to make sure your connection is stable.
Other than DFS-related issues, you can expect most of the system's shortcomings to be addressed one way or another via future firmware updates. However, the excessive amount of settings can be overwhelming for home users and might cause the system to remain buggy in some shape or form.
ZenWiFi AX XT8 AX6600: Excellent performance
For the official scores, I tested the ZenWiFi AX in a wireless setup. The system doesn't have the Wi-Fi specs to be the fastest on the market. Instead, it delivers extensive Wi-Fi coverage and still with excellent real-world throughputs.
I used both 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 and top Wi-Fi 5 clients for the testing. Keep in mind that, in the intended wireless setup, the XT8 is a 2x2 system of both standards on its fronthaul.
Fast Wi-Fi speeds
As a mesh router, the XT8 delivered precisely the kind of performance I had expected from it—hardware without Multi-Gig LAN or 160MHz channel width support.
(The router will deliver better Wi-Fi performance when you use it as a standalone device or open the 5GHz-2 band to clients.)
My Wi-Fi 6 client connected at 1.2Gbps and had a sustained speed of almost 840 Mbps at a close range of fewer than 10 feet (3 m).
When I increased the distance to 40 feet (12 m), it registered higher than 770 Mbps. Wi-Fi 5 clients fared the worst on the chart. However, that's because the XT8 is the only one among the existing handful of Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems on the market that doesn't feature 3x3 or faster Wi-Fi 5.
That said, its scores of some 660 Mbps and 450 Mbps for close and long-range, respectively, weren't bad at all.
The XT8 did it best when working as a mesh. The node (satellite) unit delivered the best performance to Wi-Fi 6 clients, averaging 850 Mbps and 792 Mbps for close and long-range, respectively. These were faster than higher-specced systems.
Excellent range, reliable signals
With two units, the XT8 could cover anywhere between 4000 ft² (372 m²) to 5000 ft² of residential space in my testing with fast Wi-Fi speeds.
I tested the system with the node placed some 40 feet away. But in anecdotal tests, I could put it some 70 feet away and still get speed fast enough to deliver my 300 Mbps internet in full.
Your mileage will vary, but it's safe to say, thanks to the full 4x4 Wi-Fi 6 backhaul, in a wireless setup, the XT8's range delivers. The system proved to be reliable, too. It passed my 3-day stress test without any disconnection.
Real Wi-Fi 6 speed via (buggy) wired backhaul
The XT8's wired backhaul also worked in my trial—in this case, the distance between the two units doesn't matter much.
I created a separate network with the 5GHz-2 band and was able to get the full 2400Mbps connection speed from it using my 2x2 Wi-Fi 6 clients.
Note, though, that this connection speed was between the clients and the XT8. So, the only time you truly benefit from the Multi-Gig Wi-Fi speeds is when you have a Multi-Gig WAN connection and the clients connect directly to the router.
Since the XT8 has no Multi-Gig LAN port, clients connected to the node won't get real-world speeds faster than 1Gbps. Still, it's nice to have the option to have a 5GHz band working for high-speed clients. Or is it?
Update: Over additional testing, as it turned out, the XT8 might have an issue with the wired backhaul. Again, it seems the system was tuned for a fully wireless setup and a firmware update might cause problems when you use it in a wired setup—you might need to reset it and set it up again. Though the issue hasn't been consistent, to be sure, it's better to use it in homes that have no wiring.
Decent performance as a mini-NAS server
Without a Multi-Gig LAN port, the ZenWiFi AC XT8 can't compare to those with one in terms of network-attached storage performance when hosting an external drive. But it was much faster than the CT8 in my testing.
When coupled with the SanDisk Extreme portable SSD, via a Gigabit connection, the router scored 46 MB/s and almost 65 MB/s for writing and reading, respectively.
These numbers are decent enough for casual network storage sharing, but you should think of a real NAS server if you want to do more.
Asus ZenWiFi XT8's Rating
Pros
Fast Wi-Fi performance and large coverage at a comparatively affordable cost
Improved and flexible AiMesh
Lots of network settings and useful features, including free real-time online protection for life
Full 4x4 dedicated backhaul band with optional wired backhaul support
Multi-Gig WAN port with Dual-WAN and WAN link aggregation
Cons
No 160MHz 4x4 support for Wi-Fi 6 clients in a dedicated wireless backhaul setup
No Multi-Gig LAN port or LAN link aggregation
Only four network ports on each hardware unit
Firmware can be buggy, especially via wired backhaul
Storage performance (when hosting an external drive) could be better
Conclusion
The ZenWiFi AX XT8 AX6600 Whole-Home tri-band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System is one out of more than a dozen Asus AiMesh systems I've tested, and it's one of the best, if not the best to date, for those needing a fully wireless setup.
If you have gotten your home wired, consider a dual-band alternative.
The system is far from perfect, though. It's not the fastest, nor does it deliver all the features you can get from an Asus router—it has no game-specific features or Multi-Gig LAN port. And like most Asus routers, it can be buggy, too. You might need to work at it for a bit before it works for you.
In return, it has an excellent combination of everything you'd look for in a mesh Wi-Fi system: fast performance and broad coverage. There's hope that it will only get better with firmware updates.
Most importantly, at less than $450, it's a steal. Many other 2-pack wireless mesh systems on the market, like the Netgear Orbi RBK852 or the Arris SURFboard mAX Pro, cost hundreds of dollars more yet have less in features and network customization.
Hi Dong, Hope all is good mate?
I am about to purchase the Asus ax6600 (2 pack) and I currently have full fibre 900mbps.
I have 2 floors and upstairs in my master room has little to no signal especially with the door closed.
I want to place one of the 6100 downstairs by the modem and run a cat8 ethernet cable (approx 20/30 meters) upstairs and have the 2nd 6100 node in the master room using the ethernet cable for wired backhauling.
My first question is would the distance between the main router downstairs and node upstairs be a problem even though it will have wired backhauling.
Secondly would the type of ethernet cable make a difference & if I use a cat8 for the backhauling should I also change the cat5 from router to modem?
Ideally I would want wireless backhauling and save running an ethernet cable upstairs but this wold mean I would have to keep the node downstairs close to the router and I would want the node as close to the master room as possible as that’s where most of the devices are.
Any cable that’s CAT5E or higher is fine, Mo — more here. For your case, get the ET8, or any Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 or Tri-band Wi-Fi 6E hardware, instead — more here. Make sure you read the posts before asking questions next time. 🙂
Hey Dong – thanks for your posts!
I just got an XT8 to replace my Google Nest WiFi+Google WiFi mesh and the performance of the XT8 doesn’t stack up. When I’m in the room with both the XT8 and the Nest, I get slightly better speeds (using Ookla) on the XT8. But even 15′ away, the Nest performs better. When I’m a floor above and maybe 30′ feet away, the XT8 is bordering on non-existent.
Even one node is supposed to cover 2750 sq-ft, but I know if I’m like 50′ feet away I’ll get no signal.
Can you please let me know why this is happening?
Thanks a lot…Jason
I can’t, Jason. Try this post.
Hello Dong,
I have read thru the comments and I was hoping you could answer a question regarding the Asus ZenWifi ET12 mesh units. I have had Netgear for over 30 years, so I am learning a new GUI. Is there a setting that I am missing, my speeds and range are awesome.
However, the router isn’t recognizing my Ooma, Chamberlin, Harmonylink, and many other IOT devices. It also isn’t recognizing my Netgear POE switch, its not the switch, I swapped it out with 2 other known working ones (GS724Tpp). Any direction or guidance would ne greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance
Generally, In a network connected devices are recognized by their MAC addresses, Jeff. The actual names given by users or manufacturers are always hit or miss.
Hello! I recently purchased the ZenWifi ET8 and the connection was amazing closer to the main router but I kept having issues with the satellite by having random disconnects thus forcing all the devices to the main router instead of the satellite.
I’m returning the ET8 and considering buying the XT8 as I read that has a more stable mesh connection.
But I’m also thinking if I even need a mesh system for a 1,500sqft house when I can just use a single (powerful) router like the GT-AX11000 Pro that can provide coverage to the whole house.
The question here is, which one would you recommend: ZenWifi AX XT8 or GT-AX11000 Pro?
Thanks in advance!
Check out this post, Pepe. And here’s the review of the GT-AX11000 Pro. Make sure you actually read. 🙂
hello dong,
I am thinking of buying the 2 pack of XT8 to use with wired backhaul, so I will have two SSID one with DFS and one without. I live relatively close to an airport, about 20km away. Will having two 5ghz ssid prevent me from losing the connection if there is a radar cut? i.e. will the router switch me to the SSID without DFS automatically?
Thank you Dong, you do an extraordinary job on your website.
No, Miguel. Switching from one SSID to another, if that happens as you’d like, will cause brief disconnections, too. In your case, just stop using DFS channel to be sure, it won’t make much of a difference in real-world usage in most cases. And that means you should get Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 or Tri-band Wi-Fi 6e hardware. For example, a 2-pack ZenWiFi XD6 will do you a solid.
I forgot to comment that I would use the two 5ghz networks with smart connect(it organises them by speed as I have read), and the 2.4 ghz one separately. So would it do the switch automatically if the DFS was cut off, or as you say Dong wouldn’t it do it anyway?
Change “SSID” into “band” in my previous reply, Miguel.
Ok thanks.
So I think I will get a RT-AX86u pro & XD6S(offer), I will have more power in the router than with a XD6 system and the mesh with wired backhaul will work just as well, don’t you think Dong?
I haven’t tried this combo, but it likely will work well. 🤞
Dong, thank you for the detailed information. I have a question that in my reading you alluded to but maybe didn’t give a definitive perspective. I have a XT8 base station and one wireless XT8 node that have been running well since 2020. Today I turned on the U-NII-4 band for the 5ghz backhaul after reading about the option on your site. I noticed that the 5ghz was not set as a dedicated backhaul but as a shared front/backhaul. Based on my reading of this review and some of your other articles, I think it would be best to set it a a dedicated backhaul on a channel in the U-NII-4 band. Does this sound like the best option to you? Thanks in advance.
It makes no difference, Nathan, since there’s no clients that support UNII-4 anyway. Dedicated only means when it’s not used for anything but backhauling.
Thanks, that makes sense. To clarify, you would recommend keeping the backhaul in the UNII-4 band?
Yeah. It should work better since it’s clean.
Hi Dong.
I’ve read your XT8 specific stuff and some of your more general things without seeing this addressed: in ASUS WiFi 6 offerings, why is it that some support WPA3 and others (e.g. XT8) do not? Most of my clients would not support WPA3 today, but some would. Where do you think the market is going and should I care?
That’s just a matter of firmware, Al. And no, you shouldn’t care. More here.
Hey Dong! I had XT8s running as 2.5gig backhaul mesh nodes for an AX89X, then a GT-AX6000, and now a GT-AX11000 Pro. They were fine for a long time, but with recent firmware they’ve completely bombed, rendering the main webgui terribly slow and causing random dropouts with clients until they’re either downgraded to 386 firmware or removed from the AiMesh. Any ideas? Does Asus know about this issue? I’ve gone back and forth with their support for weeks and finally gave up as nobody over there seems to care about this terrible bug.
Go back to the previous firmware version, John. More here.
Got it! Thanks 🙂
Hi Dong,
I recently bought and setup the ASUS XT8 mesh system after my previous AiMesh setup (ASUS Blue Cave and ASUS RT-1900P with wired backhaul) started dropping connections on a regular basis. I opted for the tri-band system (possibly overkill). After setting up the XT8 mesh system, everything is running well and connecting at a faster rate than with the old setup, and I am getting good signal all over my 3 story house. My only concern is when I look at the status of the router, 80% of the available RAM (512 MB) is being used all the time. I have about 15-20 devices in total connected at any one time. My previous setup worked for 5 years and I want this new setup to last at least as long. Do you think it is wise to switch out to a different primary router with more RAM (1 GB)?
Thanks in advance for your help and I appreciate all the info on your site,
Tom
You shouldn’t use this set if you have wired backhauling, Tom, as mentioned in the review. I’d not worry about the RAM usage, you should just ignore it.
Thank you!
The problem with dropped connections and general reliability and stability seems to be something that is being reported across Asus routers (in both the standard Asus and Merlin firmware versions) and appears to be endemic to almost all of the firmware releases based on the 388 versions so the Asus firmware. Many people have dropped back to the latest 386 version of the firmware for their particular Asus router. It would be nice if Asus could provide some guidance on what is going on here. Maybe Dong who seems to have good connections with Asus could get some guidance on this.
I already wrote about that, Randall, but most folks don’t have time to read. 🙂
I recall reading that, but my point here is that the 388 based releases is that they are no longer new: there have now been 3 or 4 iterations of the 388 releases going back to October and things don’t seem to be getting any better with respect to this issue. This is no longer a “new major version” problem but something that Asus seems to be having problems getting their hands around. I personally have experimented with all of the iterations of the 388 releases in both the Asus official releases and the Merlin releases based on the Asus GPL versions of the 388 releases made available to the Merlin community, and have given up for now and gone back to the last 386 releases for both the XT8 and XT12 since I needed a stable network.
Yeap. And I mentioned that, too (did you read the whole thing?). Generally, don’t update the firmware just for kicks. In my XP, the 388 version works better with Wi-FI 6E and “Pro” hardware. Hopefully, it’ll get stable eventually, just like the case of 386 when it first came out.
After my recent FW upgrade (main AX11000 and two XT8 nodes), I too experienced dropped connections & unstable mesh.
Finally decided to hard re-set all my devices and set-up the mesh from scratch. Its been more 10+ days, mesh performance have been rock-solid.
(my recent FW upgrade to 3.0.0.4.388_22525, nodes on 5Ghz wireless backhaul)
Hi Dong,
Currently I have this tri band mesh system set up with wired backhaul and it is working great. 95% of our devices are WIFI 5 devices, but I anticipate more WIFI 6 and possibly WIFI 6e devices in the near future. If I were to get a tri band 6e router like the RT-AXE7800 in the future and set it up with wireless backhaul with 2 XT8 nodes, I believe 50% of the 5Ghz band on the AXE7800 and 50% of the 2nd 5Ghz band on both XT8s would be the backhaul. This should leave me with all 3 bands for devices (5Ghz band at 50% bandwidth). Am I correct in this logic?
Your thinking is correct, Tom, but you might have difficulty syncing the two. I’d recommend against it. It’s not a good idea to mix standards and hardware with different number of bands, the result will be hit or miss. More in this post.
Thank you Dong!
Hi! Really love your informative explanations on networking!
I am thinking of combining my Asus AX11000 and XT8 pairs into a single mesh network (and sunsetting my pld AC2600)
Currently I have 3 network on the AX11000, 2 on XT8 and 1 on AC2600:
– AX11000 2.4ghz – 20 wifi bulbs
– AX11000 5ghz – wifi5 devices
– AX11000 5ghz – wifi6 devices
– XT8 2.4ghz – 20 wifi bulbs
– XT8 5ghz – any other devices
– AC2600 – 20 wifi bulbs
After combining it will be:
– Mesh 2.4ghz – 60 wifi bulbs
– Mesh 5ghz – all other devices
– Mesh 5ghz – wireless backhaul
– one of the XT8 will be wired to my PS5 and wireless mesh back to AX11000 which is the main router. I’m still not sure if this is a good idea as the PS5 is relative near to AX11000 and a direct wifi6 connection might be faster?
Overall I just wanted to make things cleaner and have a lag free setup for the PS5. Not sure if it’s a good idea as I don’t want to make the wifi bulbs connection unstable too.
I don’t see a question, but this post will help.
That’s actually quite helpful! I have not heard about ATF before.
My question is whether or not it is better to keep things separate like how it is now, my worry is whether each router operating on its own will affect each other.
Or is it better to combine them, but still keep the slower clients on the 2.4GHZ SSID.
Oh ya sorry. the other question is on whether it is faster (lesser lag) to use:
A) XT8 wired to PS5, then wireless backhaul to AX11000.
B) PS5 direct connect to AX11000 via Wifi6 (they are just 5 meters away with the AX11000 in a wooden cabinet)
Sorry but I can’t address random/specific questions like those. You should start with this post on how to use multiple broadcasters (and it’ll also explain what a “broadcaster” means) and follow the related ones. Good luck!
Hi Dong – I’d appreciate your thoughts on my situation: I have a 3-storey home. Running cable is not an option.
I just purchased a Netgear Nighthawk MK83 for $300 (despite the poor real world performance) because of the number of Ethernet ports (at least 3 devices will be connected by Ethernet in an office on the second floor) and the three units (so one can be on each floor).
I am now wondering if a 2-pack XT8 for $350 would offer better performance, even though there would be no unit in the basement. Does it make sense to assume that each floor should have its own unit? Do you have any resources on how to position routers/satellites in a multi-store home?
Excuse the length of this post, and thanks in advance for any input.
The XT8 will likely be much better, Jim. This post will explain more about how you can take the most out of a mesh system in general. For the XT8 in particular, this setup guide will help, too.
Good luck!
1. How many devices does this product support?
2. Does this product allow for assigning an access point? If so, what is the process to do so? I have numerous devices, but they primarily connect to the main node. Oft-times, some of the 2.4 devices disconnect.
Hi Brian,
1. Check out this post.
2. Check out this post.
You should entire each post in its entirety but the table of content will help. Please note the commenting rules. 🙂
You can force devices to always use a particular access point this is the Bind option under the Wi-Fi device. I am not aware of a restriction on number of connected devices, you could run out of ip addresses depending on your subnet configured, but normally this would stop new devices connecting not kick off devices. What version of firmware are you on?
If have north of 65 devices (many are wired). I do separate out the 2.4 GHZ and the 5GHZ to different SSIDs, I have 3 different access points and have seen up to 45 on one of the access points.
Hello Mr Ngo,
So I am considering ditching my tp-link x5300 setup for these ASUS XT8 however is wired backhaul still an issue with these? I have the option to use two XT8s as wired backhaul and a third (possibly a fourth) in wireless backhaul (no ethernet can be easily ran to these locations). I may need depending on the ability for the signal to reach a unit in my barn I may need to run a powerline wired backhaul (same circuit) to the barn XT8.
My problem with other units has been sending signal through our plaster & lathe wall (old 1920s farmhouse) and then out to the barn converted garage (35′ from house). The tp-link setup I using now works great with 2 wired, upstairs unit wireless and then powerline to the garage with a separate tp-link wireless powerline unit.
Switching because of privacy concerns as my wife does telehealth sessions from our home occasionally. Briefly we had a three Netgear RBK 752 units but it was not very stable.
Thoughts & suggestions?
It’s been months, or maybe a year or so, since wired backhauling was last an issue, and that may happen again with new firmware, Matt. But in that case, you can always reuse the old version that works and update the firmware later when a newer (and better version) is out. The key is don’t turn on the auto-update. I’d say go with the XT8, it’s even better now with the support for UNII-4.
I used the link to amazon above and donated a few coffees yesterday. Thanks for your time.
Thanks for the support, Matt. Appreciate it. And you’re welcome! 🙂
One last thing, AiMesh would allow me to XT8 for primary point (router) and then for areas like my barn use a XD4? Any issues going this route to save some $$$ ?
It’ll work — I haven’t tried — but mixing Tri-band and Dual-band can be problematic and will be slow in performance unless you use wired backhauling — make sure you read this part carefully. Actually, read the whole post and follow the related posts (at the top of the page or linked when applicable) if you have additional questions.
I ended up going with 2 RT-AX86U units due to availability and trying to finish this project over the weekend.
WOW! One unit pretty much cover both floors of the whole house with solid fast signal pushing through plaster & lathe walls! I have unit connected using AiMesh (wired backhaul) on the far end of an addition wing that is closest to our barn and it is delivering a solid signal to the barn.
Thanks again for the site and your insight!
Excellent! Thanks for the update!
Well it AX86Us did work and then failed miserably today. Both units went through boot loops and when they stopped the connections never stabilized. Each unit backhaule with cat 6 and lines test clean according to an IT friend. Spent the rest of the day fishing wire; now back to using our old combination of Nest & Google Wi-Fi units (everything is stable again).
I do have a couple of pairs of XT8 arriving tomorrow, but hesitant to give them a go now that our network is working well again. Is it normal for ASUS to be so buggy? I really don’t have the time to play IT guy for my Wife’s telehealth while I have programming projects due yesterday. :/
Take care
It can be a lot of things, Matt:
1. Make sure you use Ethernet Backhaul Mode
2. Don’t turn on too many features unless you need them or know how they work.
3. Don’t use the mobile app — you might tap on things without what would happen. Generally don’t mess around too much.
4. Use the stock firmware or Merlin, not both.
Generally, this router works well. I’ve been using many similar combos.
Hi,
Thank you very much for the informative site, I spent here a couple of hours after discovering…
I am looking for a mesh with wireless backhaul, and I need it to be reliable and not necessarily the fastest. As for the clients, I have two WiFi-6 clients, several WiFi-5 clients, and four WiFi-4 clients. Would you recommend the ZenWiFi AX XT8?
Should I take a pack of 2 Asus RT-AX92U routers instead?
(My work will pay for it, so the price is not an issue)
I’d go with the XT8 between the two, Noam. Or you can get the XT12. Note, tho, that “reliability” is alway a wild card when you use wireless bachhauling.
Thanks. I’ll update how it works.
I have a 3 level home about 5500 square feet. We changed from Xfinity 1 gig to AT&T fiber also 1 gig. I had already been using four of the ZenWifi AC CT8 with decent results. The router was on the edge of the home in the office on the 1st floor. I had a node directly above in the bedroom and another at the other end of the 2nd floor in master bedroom. Finally, a 4th one on the 1st floor near the center. There were none in the basement, but we got decent coverage. I decided to try this ZenWifi AX XT8 two pack, one in office and one center of the house on the main level. I think I’ll return it, because although near the main router speeds around 500+, I could barely get a decent signal upstairs on the far end of the house (my bedroom) with two devices. I added back one CT8 as a node, so with 3 it functions ok, but I was hoping to move away from Wifi 5 router/ mesh completely. I can’t afford another 1-2 of these AX XT8 to replicate my old set up. Does that sound about right based on the specs?
I can’t address specificities, K. But this post will help you out.
Thanks,
I ended up going with another two XT8 (total of four) to essentially replicate my set up with the four CT8s that I ended up selling. I actually made another post testing these four XT8 against two of the XT12 that just went for sale on Amazon. So I’m in WiFi 6 for good, and won’t go back to WiFi 5 routers.
Do you have a link to your post?
Good call. Like I said in this post on Wi-Fi 6, it’s much better than Wi-Fi 5 in a mesh.
Dear Dong-
Thanks for all the work you put into this fabulous site.
I have 5 of these units installed in a client’s house, 4 in the main area of the house and the 5th in an ADU situated about 100′ from the main part of the house. All the units are connected with Ethernet from the XT8 Router unit to the nodes’ WAN ports. The 4 in the main house work great and are stable and very fast (<500 Mbps download). The 5th unit doesn't successfully join the LAN and actually causes some of the other units to crash. I suspect it's too far from the rest of the Mesh system. Is there some way to put this 5th unit in AP mode and use it that way? When I go to the AP setting in Administration section, it puts all the units into WAP mode. I just want to use the 5th unit in the ADU in this way. Is this possible? Thanks in advance.
@Dong: could you explain a bit how version numbering of Asus’ firmware works?
I see all beta firmwares begin with v9.x.x.x.xxx.xxxxx and all stable versions with 3.x.x.x.xxx.xxxxx. The last 5 digits always seem to be ascending, whether it’s a v3 stable or v9 beta firmware.
Am I correct that I should look towards the last 5 digits? If they’re higher in numbering, then it’s newer?
The changelog isn’t very clear on this, as they seem to have totally other improvements… 🙁
See: https://www.asus.com/supportonly/ASUS%20ZenWiFi%20AX%20(XT8)/HelpDesk_BIOS/
They are two separate lines of update and it only makes sense when you compare the V9 and V3 lines separately, Henk. In other words, don’t put any beta and public versions side by side.
Ah, clear. Thx!
But I would think improvements from the v9 beta firmware is getting integrated in the final v3 versions. In that case I would think a v3 version form a later date and time would be an improvement over an earlier released v9 beta?
Is is that not even so and is the v9 beta line a development for a later v9 stable/final version?
That might or might not be the case, Henk. So beta settings/features might never make it to the final.
Dear Dong,
You are so right about the FIRMWARE update for the XT8 when using WIRED BACKHAUL. The recent 3.0.0.4.386.48706 created problems on my devices connection; it often CONNECTED WITHOUT INTERNET, especially on the main router. It took me weeks to troubleshoot. And found out that changing the BACKHAUL CONNECTION PRIORITY from 1G to AUTO and DISABLE the ETHERNET BACKHAUL MODE in the AIMESH system settings….Problem solved.
By the way, I have the AX3000 (dual Band) on my node and main is the XT8 (3 band). It run without any problems (WIRED) without any issues until the latest updates for the XT8.
Thank you
Yes, that has happened before. This set is meant for wireless backhaul. You can revert back to the previous firmware and wait for the next release.
Dear Dong,
Reverting back to the older firmware seems to be a hassle. I just hope that Asus can make improvements on the firmware updates to support XT8…considering it isn’t a cheap router.
Thank you for your reply
Yeap. My strategy with Asus has been to wait for a second firmware update after a working version before updating. And turn off “Auto Update”, of course. 🙂
My two XT8 on 48706 are stable using wired backhaul. I had some issues more than a year ago, but since then all firmwares were working quite well.
The hardware of different regions can be quite different, K. But this set is best used in a wireless setup. It’ll work, and work well mostly, in with a wired backhaul but expect surprises now and then.
Hi Dong wants to thank you for this detailed analysis. I am in Mexico and here all the walls are made of concrete. I have ethernet wiring and I would like to know which device do you recommend, Asus XT8 or Deco XE75?
Tnks
If you have wiring, then go with the XE75, or better yet, the ET8 (or ET12), Jorge! Buena suerte!
Hi Dong,
I bought the XT8 a few months ago on my 1 gig service. Some reason I only get about 300-400mbps on Wifi (39% of the speed) Isn’t that low for a 1gig service?(810mbps) I ended up upgrading to a 2 gig service today to see if it improve. The service I’m getting from a test while logged into the fios modem is 2200 mbps. I’m only getting 37% of the speed At between 650-820 mbps. I was told by Netgear senior support I should be getting about 70% wifi speed of your total hardwire speed. I use a Wifi 6 phone and my new MacBook Air (802.11ax) am I missing something. I have a lot of thing hardwired but some are on Wifi so both are important to me and I want to make sure I’m not getting ripped off by the isp.
More on testing in this post, Adam. Follow the linked posts, too.
650-820 mbps download makes sense. XT8 has a problem with Fios for wi-fi upload speed.
I think Adam was more concerned about getting the speeds he paid for. For that, the only way to figure out is at the ONT.
I was under the impression you should expect 70% of the true speed. So 650-820 about 37% of the 2200mbps I’m actually getting when I log into the modem and do a speed test. So 1100 mbps would be 50% but it’s only about 37%. Also … they installed this this morning and it’s on their modem until they come back out tomorrow. I’m hoping to use a MOCA to be able to use the XT8 or at least test it. I don’t know if I’m expecting to much but I was told by Netgear senior tech as well as frontier that 70% of the speed should be seen while in Wifi. Am I missing something?
You missed basically EVERYTHING, Adam. You should start with this post. READ it. All of it. Or READ the post I linked in the previous reply. Follow the related links if necessary. That’s part of the rules before asking questions, by the way.
I did read it Mr Dong …. Nevermind.
Glad you did. You should have your answers now.
Adam,
Even in Dong’s test, he has 1.2 Gbps speed and got 835 mbps download. The specs also say:
5GHz-1 Wi-Fi Specs: 2 x 2 AX: Up to 1200 Mbps
Im suffering from paralysis of analysis. Do you still recommend the xt8 as a best solution for mesh for an unwire medium sized house. Coverage and reliablity more important than raw speed.
Yes, C. For your case, make sure you don’t use the 160MHz channel width.
Dong, do you means disabling 160MHz channel width for backhaul SSID Asus_5G-2 so that it’s only 20/40/80 MHz? Why is that?
Follow the link in the review about this bandwidth, Grayson. Generally, follow the related link if you don’t know something mentioned here on this website. After that, put two and two together. 🙂
Thanks for your reply and your website is great. Really appreciate all the info you give out!
I just installed the xt8 and speed is great on phone. One problem is that my new laptop doesnt want to connect to the node a few feet away and always connects to main unit. If I force it to it is much slower. Also laptop barely has any speed if I plug it into node lan port. Sorry for noob question but hopefully you can point me in right direction.
Get a new laptop? Call the tech support of the laptop’s vendor? Or check out this post. This is not a laptop support website, you know. Or any type of tech support website for that matter. 🙂
Hi Dong, I place 2 XT8 units in 2 floors (around 6 meters) and the signal strength of the second one = -56 dBm. Should I leave it wireless backhaul or use an 1Gbs cable as backhaul? Which one should be faster? Thanks.
It’s always better to use wired backhaul, Huy. Also, keeping them too close to each other does more harm than good. More here: https://dongknows.com/mesh-wi-fi-system-explained/
Hi Dong,
Has there been any firmware update from ASUS that combines all three wireless bands via Smart Connect when the wired backhaul is in effect?
Regards,
Andrew
I haven’t tried, Andrew, but that should work now with the latest firmware. Make sure you pick the wired backhaul as the only backhaul link within the web user interface: AiMesh -> System Settings -> Ethernet Backhaul Mode.
Hi Dong,
Thanks for the quick reply. I haven’t purchased the device yet, hoping to get a confirmation from you to go ahead.
I have another question. Currently I’m using RT-AC86U. Due to the way my home is set up, I can only use wired backhaul in my living room and study room with the XT8. If I want to set up my old router in my bedroom, I can only connect it wirelessly in AiMesh. Does that mean my whole AiMesh will be using wireless backhaul? Or will the two XT8 use wired backhaul, while the RT-AC86U uses wireless backhaul?
Regards,
Andrew
Check out this post, Andrew.
Hi Dong,
I’ve purchased the XT8 and just want to confirm that it can now use tri-band as wireless when using ethernet backhaul.
Regards,
Andrew
You can find that out yourself, Andrew. It should work, but I generally recommend it for a fully wireless setup.
I’ve narrowed my choices to the XT8 because I was originally planning on a mesh system, but after researching believe my needs could be addressed by 1 unit instead of a mesh (1600 sq ft home, lots of walls, some exterior brick and need to reach cameras). I do like the multiple ethernet ports this unit has.
However, if I do have dead spots, I would like the option to expand. Should I buy a single unit XT8 ($249 Amazon) and see if that works or commit to a 2 unit system ($399 Amazon)? I’m afraid I’ll create other issues if I “over build”.
Thank you. I appreciated all the articles I read. It helped me learn a lot.
You can start with one, Jim. But in that case, you might want to get the RT-AX86U or GT-AX6000. But the XT8 might work well, too. That depends on your home and where you place it, etc. More in this post.
Hi Dong,
Thanks for your review. It is why I chose to get the XT8.
Would you have any updates or tips on how to resolve the random latency spike on the XT8? Because of it my VPN (for work) gets disconnected. Prefer not to connect a cable to my laptop to resolve it. My laptop is connected to the satellite, and it seemed not to happen when it is connected to the router…
It’s likely the DFS issue as I mentioned in the review, Joseph. More in this post.
Hi Dong,
I turned off the DFS, but it was not the issue.
I was looking at the systems log in the Asus admin page, and it did not indicate my laptop disconnecting from the router, so it may be something else. Thanks for the suggestion above.
Just adding onto my comments above as I experimented. The VPN connection is steady and does not break when connected to the XT8 router. So the VPN disconnection only occurs if it is connected to the satellite.
Which is why I mentioned the DFS, Joseph. Check on it again, make sure you pay attention.
Hi Dong, following up with our conversation. I have switch the 5ghz to 80mhz only, auto control channel, and made sure the “use DFS Channels” is unchecked. Unfortunately the VPN is still dropping. Am I missing anything else to ensure DFS is not used? Sorry and thanks.
Try repowering your mesh, Joseph. Unplug it from power, wait 10 seconds or longer, then plug it back in.
So I repowered my mesh and unfortunately it is still disconnecting. I have now also disabled beamforming as well. Any other suggestions is appreciated.
5GHz-1 Wi-Fi Specs 2 x 2 AX: Up to 1200 Mbps
5GHz-2 Wi-Fi Specs 4 x 4 AX up to 4800 Mbps
###################################
why it has 4 x 4 for 5GHz-2 but only 2 x 2 for 5GHz-1 ?
That’s the same question as why we don’t have wings but birds do. It is how it is.
Appreciate the super detailed review. Any idea how to account for the lackluster NAS performance compared to other Asus routers with similar specs that also lack a multi-gig LAN port?
For example, your NAS tests show the RT-AX92U and RT-AX88U as having nearly double the read/write throughput. Spec-wise, I don’t see significant difference, and the AX92U in particular is only dual-core versus the quad-core here, so in theory the CPU power should not be the limiter.
I much prefer the “white box” form factor of having the antennas integrated, but these NAS specs are concerning. Might a firmware update resolve this, or is it somehow attributable to the hardware?
It is what it is, M. If you want real NAS performance, I’d recommend getting a NAS server. It’s a router you’re looking at. More on that in this post.
Hi Dong
I would really appreciate it if you could help me on this.
I wonder if my AX3000 could work well as a wired router together with my xt8’s acting as 2,5gig AP’s (with a multigig switch off course)?
Or would i be better of with the same or higher specced hardware like the xt8’s for routing?
Would turning off the 58u’s broadcaster (using it as a wired router) lighten it’s cpu load, freeing up memory, making it do routing better?
Thank’s
It’ll work fine, Nils. But i wouldn’t do it. More in this post.
Thank you for replying Dong.
Is it the use of the lower specced ax3000 as wired router you do not agree on?
I thought that highest spec hw first mostly applied to mesh networks.
I thought that it going dark would free up some cpu and ram, compensating for lacking hw.
Also one big reason i would still want to use the 3000 as a “wired” router is the AI-protection that comes with the router.
The RT-AX3000 has no Multi-Gig port, Nils. That’s the main reason I wouldn’t use it with a Multi-Gig switch. On top of that, the XT8 is generally not great with wired backhaul, check its review for more.
Hi Dong,
First of all, THANK you for your work and detailed explanations!
I would need your expertise and help in order to buy the appropriate equipment for our future home that will be ready in a few months (by the way, I live in the south of France).
Our house is 140 square meters (that’s about 1500 feet) and it has 2 floors with a total number of 4 bedrooms (ground floor has 75 square meters and 65 square meters for the 1st floor)
After carefully reading your post, I believe the ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 system is what I need for my home but I am afraid it is not enough to cover my backyard as well.
As far as I understood, I can’t add a 3rd standalone unit or even a second ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 to have 4 nodes in total (also i guess this option would be a bit overkill).
My idea is to use an Assus host router and to connect the ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 to it as 2 nodes.
That way I can put the host router in the middle of the house to cover the wireless gate door bell outside the house , one of the ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 (first node) close to the exit on my back yard and the 2nd ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 upstairs to cover the 3 bedrooms I have there.
My question is: which Assus host router to buy? I believe I need a tri-band wifi6E.
I was thinking of ASUS GT-AX11000 (it costs 469 euros here in France) but it’s a bit expensive and I am not sure I really need to pay that much, maybe there is a better alternative.
This router will be connected via ethernet cable to my ISP provider box that will be situated in my garage (i have 1Gbit fiber optics).
Can you help me with this? Can you give me one or 2 more models from Assus that are cheaper but enough to hold my 25-30 overall devices I have at home (tablets, phones, pcs, door cameras, outside wifi cameras etc).
Thank you in advance for your reply,
Sorin from France 🙂
Check out this post on AiMesh combos, Sorin.
Dong,
There is a known issue regarding wi-fi upload speeds with this. Can you add wi-fi upload speeds to your tests?
More on testing in his post, Grayson — it’s a long post. And yes, I did the testing with both upload and download as well as many other things.
Do you have any charts for Wi-Fi upload speed for this router? I can’t get more than around 180mbps and people say that Asus knows about the issue but hasn’t done anything about it.
No, Grayson, and I’m not experiencing this issue with AT&T Fiber as well as some other Fiber services in my area. We got over 300Mbps upload easily which is the max of the plans we tried it with.
Ahh, it’s a fios issue. “XT8 can not go higher than 200 Mbps UL when connected to a FiOS ONT (for WiFi). Asus has known about this for over a year”
Hi Dong, I’ve read many of your comments and posts about xt8 vs xd6 and which scenario to use which.
If I’m going to use wired backhaul, given that the xt8 firmware has been updated to allow the previously dedicated 160mhz / 5ghz-2 backhaul to be used on fronthaul, would you still suggest I use the xd6? Or can the xt8 on wired backhaul be used now too with similar results?
I still recommend that XD6 for your case, Sameer. It’s a matter of tri-band vs dual-band and in your case, the division the 5GHz spectrum is unnecessary.
Thanks Dong! My only issue with the XD6 is that I need aUSB port, which the XD6 doesn’t have but the XT8 does. Is there any way I can configure the XT8 to operate as much as possible like an XD6? e.g. the new firmware of the XT8 allows me to use the 5ghz-2, so am I able to ‘disable’ the 5ghz-1 band on the XT8 when using wired backhaul so I effectively have the same channel-widths as the XD6? Thereby giving myself a XT8-come-XD6 but with a USB port? or am I missing something / making my life more difficult? Is there any other solution if I want a mesh system with a wired backhaul with USB port?
(thanks for your great content)
You can get a router and a different node, Sameer. More in this post.
Cool thanks Dong. I might go for the Asus RT-AX86U as router and XD6 as nodes. One question on this setup though – I notice the AX86U runs 2.4ghz in 3×3, whereas the XD6 runs 2.4ghz in 2×2. Any issues with that – or good to go ahead?
That won’t matter, Sameer. That band is going to be slow, by the way, just how it is.
Hello Dong, thank you for your great website.
I have AX11000 as the main router and 3 x XT8s as wireless APs. One of the issues I have is that they keep ignoring my specified topology, ie Preferred WiFi Uplink AP setting – I’ve tried both 3.0.0.4.386_45934 and 386 rc3-3 firmware to no avail, do you know how to force them to stick to the right setting?
Also, many devices – both IOTs and Macs – choose their AP very weirdly, ie definitely not the closest one/the one with the strongest signal, what can be causing that?
Many thanks.
Check out this post on the handoff, Alex. But the gist is Wi-Fi doesn’t work the way you “see” things, since it’s indivisible, to begin with. In your case, just click on the Optimization button in the AiMesh section of the web interface and let the system does its things. (Also, don’t use the mobile app, or use it but don’t trust what you see.)
As for your IoTs, Id’ recommend separating the bands, or creating an extra SSID via the Guest network (you can enable the intranet access for it to work as a non-Guest network — more in this post.)
Hi Dong,
My house is 3000sq ft and two stories. Currently, I have 600 mbps download blaze plan from xfinity and I use Netgear C6300. I wasn’t getting enough speed or connection hence decided to buy mesh wifi and after reading tons of reviews online, I bought this Asus AX6600.
My question is do I need to buy another modem with 3.1 or can I continue using the current Netgear C6300?
Second question, is it going to be overkill for 600mbps speed. Should I switch to gigabyte plan?
I really appreciate your help in advance. Thank you!
Check out this post, Mukesh.
Thanks for all the help. My XT8 keeps loosing wifi broadcast. I have to power down and power up the node to get wifi again. Happens multiple times a day – sometimes every 10 minutes. Up to date on firmware. Please help.
Check the already answered comments, Philip. It’s likely the DFS issue.
What I realized today after I replied back to Dong is that I wasn’t selecting the backhaul band so I could then modify the settings (see below reply to my comment on Dec 15 2021 where he links to the post that discusses DFS).
You need to go to Wireless->General->Band and then select the “5Ghz– 2 ” band from the drop-down box – this is the backhaul band. When you select this, then you’re able uncheck “Enable 160 MHz” under Channel bandwidth as well as select a Control Channel that is outside the DFS range.
‘ll know in a few consecutive days if this has resolved the issue as my disconnect issues with my XT8 have been occurring every 24 to 36 hours.
Hi Dong, were you able to find out how many concurrent client connections each access point could support?
Thanks,
Brian
It’s a matter of bandwidth, Brian. More in this post.
Hi Dong,
I purchased the XT8 about 6 weeks ago and have had some trouble with it. I’m using ethernet backhaul with both units connected. My speeds are actually very good. HOWEVER, I’m experiencing a very annoying issue: at random times, the units will disconnect briefly for a minute — not a full reboot, but one which causes my WiFi devices to disconnect and reconnect. Imagine all the notifications from smart home devices warning of a WiFi interruption, as well as audio and video buffering.
I’ve raised this issue to ASUS but they haven’t offered a solution yet (they suggested changes to various settings like channel bandwidth, control channel, WAN DHCP query and LAN Switch Control, but nothing worked). In fact, I recently exchanged the units and still having the same issues with the replacement units.
Do you think it’s their firmware? I’m on their latest update.
Check out this post, Jamie. Chances are, it’s the DFS issue.
Thank you, Dong, for the quick reply! After reading this, I think perhaps you may be right, which is why ASUS did advise me to make some changes to the Channel Bandwidth and Control Channel settings for each band. And yes, I reside pretty close to a large airport and military installation, so this might explain the root of the problem with WiFi 6. Hopefully I can do some further fine tuning to these settings (a nice feature of ASUS’ router management vs. other manufacturers). In any case, I really appreciate your detailed explanation.
Sure, Jamie. Good luck!
Hi, again,
So, per your article on the DFS issue, after modifying these settings (I’m using channel 36 on my 5Ghz band) I’m still experiencing the problem. Not any worse, but not any better. And ASUS has not offered me any further solutions.
Is just something I’m going to have to tolerate with WiFi 6 routers like this — and in particular this XT8 one?
It’s not the channel number, Jamie. You need to disable the 160MHz channel width on the backhaul band. The first screenshot in this post is shown with that turned on. You need to uncheck the box, save the changes, and restart your router. Take your time, pay a bit of attention, and you’ll get it right.
So after figuring out how to get to the backhaul band and modify its settings (btw it appears the web interface has changed slightly since your original post with the screenshot), I was able to follow your instructions to disable the 160 MHz channel width and then set a control channel outside of DFS. Surprisingly and unfortunately, the WiFi disconnect issue is still present and actually more frequent now (has happened twice in the last 24 hours vs. perhaps once every 24 to 36 hours).
I appreciate that you aren’t ASUS tech support, but I’ve gotten nowhere with them, so just wondering if you have other advice — including how to address this with ASUS. Because this keeps happening, I’m quite disappointed in this XT8 system and may be looking at returning it for an alternative. This is my second set of the XT8 as I had experienced the same issue with the first set (I exchanged it for this 2nd set thinking the first was defective).
Thanks in advance!
I’d recommend resetting it and setting it up again, Jaime. Now, disable the 160MHz on the backhaul, and that’s it, leave the rest alone and see how it pans out. You might have changed so many settings that you don’t even know what causes the issue anymore. Don’t use the mobile app, by the way! Also, make sure the disconnection issue is not Internet-related, it could be your modem or your provider. It’s impossible for me or anyone outside of your home to know. For more, check out this post on troubleshooting.
Well, Dong, I followed your advice exactly (did a full factory reset and unchecked both “Enable 160 Mhz” and “Auto Select channel including DFS channels”). Unfortunately this has failed to resolve the disconnect issue I originally asked you about. I wanted to wait a couple of weeks to see if things improved before asking you for more advice.
One thing that happens when I apply the above settings is that the “Auto Select channel…” option goes back to being checked. Nothing I do stops this from happening.
Anyway… given that I have wired my house (YAY!) and thus have both my nodes connected by Ethernet, I’m wondering if exchanging the XT8 for the XD6 would resolve my DFS problems.
On the other hand, I *could* tolerate this issue…while it is mildly disruptive, it is not what I expected with a top-tier WiFi 6 router like the XT8.
Thoughts? Other ideas? Thanks again — I would have been totally lost without your posts!!!
You shouldn’t have gotten this set if your home is wired. Remember that I answer questions assuming folks have read the post with attention. Maybe you should do that first. For your case, you have plenty of options, more in this post. If you want to keep the XT8, revert it back to an older firmware — *READ* this review for more.
Here’s a postscript to my last post about this: Because of your advice, I exchanged the XT8 pairs for the XD6 (because my house is wired) and voila, all my issues are resolved. No more disconnects. DFS was definitely causing this annoying problem. It’s a shame that the XT8 firmware is so problematic, i.e., it does not really allow for disabling auto control channels.
Dong — if I knew about your review site in the first place, I most likely wouldn’t have erred in buying the XT8 (my purchase decision was based on the NYT Wirecutter and cNET reviews).
Hi Dong,
Thanks for the reviews. I recently bought Asus xt8 (2-pack) and replaced the Linksys Velop AC6600 (3-pack).
My home is a two storey house, and about 3000 sqft including basement. Since there is only a few minor devices in the basement, I put one XT8 on the main floor and the other one on the second. Two routers are connected wirelessly, and my PC connects to the node on 2nd floor by wifi. I did get faster speed according to speedtest.net. My internet plan is 1000 and I am getting around 500 on my PC(wifi 6 client) instead of 200-300 from the old Linksys setup. I noticed that the speedtest.net now takes very long time(more than 5s) to connect after clicking go, but turns out the ping is low.
I found that some websites is slower than before. It would take a 2-3 seconds to start loading depends on the websites, and some video website(YouTube etc) takes longer time(5s or longer) to be completely loaded(video thumbnails are blank at first and load slowly after). But this doesn’t always happen, sometimes they work well.
Also, I found some of my smart home devices disconnect sometimes. My hue app occasionally stuck at connecting. And my nest cameras take longer time to watch real time, and sometimes lagging when apply settings. None of these happened when I was using Linksys.
When it comes to gaming and downloading, it’s a great improvement over the Linksys. The download speed is much faster and the ping in game is lower.
I am wondering what could cause the problems. I did not use any QoS setting. I tested packet loss and jitters, and the result seems fine. Is this a ‘stability’ issue? What can I do to resolve this? Will it help if I add an Asus Gt-Ax11000 as the main router? Or should I buy Linksys MX12600 instead?
Thank you for time!
That’s likely because you turned on the Network Protection/Parental Control feature (part of AiProtection), Wei. Another possibility is you have the backhaul band (5GHz-2) in 160MHz, which is fast but might take some time to negotiate — more in this post.
Thank you so much for such a fast reply! I’ll try turn the AiProtection off.
If I want to utilize my basement in the future, would you recommend adding another set of XT8 or a AX11000 as main router?
Here’s the review of the GT-AX11000, Wei, and here’s the post on combos. You need to make that decision yourself based on what you want/need.
Hello Dong,
I am looking at getting a mesh system for our house, and I have narrowed down the choices to either the ASUS ZenWifi XT8 or the TP-Link Deco X5700. I like the features that the XT8 offers, but the performance numbers for the X5700, based on your chart, are very hard to ignore (Router Performance of 1436.24/1116.24 Mbps for the X5700 vs 835.6/792.1 Mbps for the XT8). Since the XT8 was tested before the release of AiMesh 2.0 and the Smart Connect feature, would that improve the performance numbers for the XT8 in a wired backhaul setup? For reference, I currently have Xfinity Gigabit internet service, and a Motorola MB8611 DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem.
Thanks.
Here’s how I test Wi-Fi , Jamison. If you read that post and check out the text of the reviews, you’d know the reason for the big differences in the performance numbers and how they don’t mean much.
Hi Dong. First time I have seen your reviews. They are great, detailed and easy to understand for a noob like me. I live in Melb, Aus. I have a long house, with one area (a rumpus room) downstairs at the back of the house. Brick veneer house with timber stud/plaster walls. My max speed is 250Mbps. My house has been wired so I can connect satellites via ethernet at each end of the house and in the middle if need be. Areas needed for wifi would be more at front and rear of house. I have some devices that need to connect at 2.4 I currently dont have any wifi6 devices but in the future I suppose they will come. Is there any advantage at all to get tri band or is it just wasted because I will be wired. Which unit should I go for? Thanks for your help.
Get a dual-band set mentioned in this post, Adrian.
Thanks Dong. Not sure what to look at here. Is there a need to get a different router, say the RT-AX86U, and a pair of XD6? Or could I just do with a pair (or 3) of XD6? And if I went with the XD6, could I add the RT-AX86U later if I felt I needed to?
You need to read the entire post and pay attention, Adrian. Sorry but I’m not going to address questions that have been addressed.
Thanks, but I am fairly tech illiterate. I’m not sure why a different router would be an advantage rather than just having 2 x XD6’s.
Also, with the XD6, can you tell me if I have the option of selecting the 2.4 band for individual devices that need to connect to 2.4?
Hi Dong,
Currently I am using Ax86u as aimesh router and two of Ax58u as aimesh nodes. I get my house wired and use ethernet backhaul. Should I switch from this combo to 3 packs of XT8?
PS: are you Vietnamese?
No, Ben, as I mentioned in this review, the XT8 is best used in a wireless setup — but if you need more, check out this post. Speaking of reading you can find out more about it in the About section.
Hi Dong,
Thanks for the excellent reviews and I’m sorry if this is repetitive.
I’m looking for a 2 pack mesh wifi, RT-AX92U in a 2-pack is $330 while the XT8 is $430. I do not see any reason to choose the XT8 over the RT-AX92U model at this price if I’ll wired backhaul.
Both models will have the same performance if wired backhaul, however RT-AX92U has broader coverage, 2 USBs and is cheaper.
Am I missing something?
Thanks
If you’re correct, Claudio. But if you have wired backhaul, I’d recommend using a dual-band set instead, like the XD6, or any dual-band combo mentioned in this post.
Thanks a lot Dong, XD6 does not have USB but I will have a look on the link and check the other routers prive.
Thank you for an excellent review, can you confirm if this system allows for a second satellite to be connected? I would have thought this was the case, and I think you are saying this is correct in other comments, but I’ve read elsewhere that it’s limited to 2 units only?
Like all AiMesh solutions, you can use up to 7 units in total, Lee. More in this post on Asus AiMesh.
Hi Mr. I read and read and hands down your are the best.
Sorry about my bad English, is not my primary language.
I am seriously thinking about changing the Mesh that I currently have in the house/office (Google WiFi using a central point plus 3 satellites. It is OK, but in some places I only have some as 40mbps from my 200mbps internet connection in FiberHome, I think about a NETGEAR Powerline adapter Kit PLP2000-100PAS for one of the hubs, but not sure if it can reach 100 or more mbps at all). Unfortunately I cannot make wired connections, so I must only use wireless connections between the hubs.
My incoming connection have 3 internet providers, FiberHome at 200mbps, and two WISP at 20mbps and 15mbps, all comes to a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter PoE (5 ports) in a configuration that if my 200 connection is up is the only one used, in case of drop the two WISP come in a load balance scenario (for my job I need a 7×24 connection).
I’m thinking about the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8) (maybe?) in a 1 + 3 configuration (1 primary and 3 satellites/hubs) , most because the house is big and is full concrete and bricks, extra to that is not a square and 3 floors in total.
There are basic factors that I need/interest me:
1. Ease and convenience to configure (control from my iPhone etc), but that have some pro features that I miss in my Google WiFi)
2. A guest network, if I can limit it in terms of how much bandwidth it provides to guest better
3. If possible to define bandwidth limits to certain equipment’s connected is a BIG plus
4. Statistics of use and speed test of the provider
5. That I can see ho is connected and how much is using the bandwith
6. That can be accessed from outside the house if necessary (remote control or something like that)
7. That does not require rare subscriptions to pay every month or yearly
8. And before my wife kills me, be “decorative” or not visible (big advantage from the Google Wifi, small and can be hidden easy), but I know, nothing is perfect
Some friends talk me about the Unifi Alien, but after read a lot I don’t think it is the best option, so I return to the Asus as option
Any advice and is possible to do all that I like to do with the Asus XT8?
Thanks in advance, regards
Go with the XT8, Dariusz. And your English is excellent!
Thank you so much. Then is time for a change 😉
Now Asus announced the XT12, sounds as a beast but no release date for now 🙁
That one will take a while, probably well into 2022 is my guess.
I think the same.
Thanks a lot again for your help
Regards
Sure, Dariusz.
Dong,
Can the Asus AX XT8 be used in Access Point mode instead of a router?
I have a situation where I can’t replace the router but I want to replace the routers wifi functionality with a better option and also a mesh system.
Yes, Colin. See the hardware specification part of the review.
Hi Dong. I had a pair of CT8 set up with wired backhaul. One of those units died. I returned it for warranty repair and in the meantime I purchased another pair of CT8. I have one node in the basement and the third unit in a detached garage, both with wired backhaul. ASUS was unable to repair my defective CT8 due to parts availability and did not have a replacement available either. They offered to replace it with an XT8 which I accepted. My question is whether there would be any real advantage to using the XT8 as my main router. My current system is working well and I have no WiFi 6 devices at this time. Cell phone upgrade coming soon so it may be WiFi 6 capable. I think I read in one of your articles that it was not good to mix these two if using wireless backhaul but what about when they are hardwired? Or better to leave my setup as is? Thanks for your great testing and articles.
You shouldn’t mix the XT8 and the CT8 in a wireless setup, Scott. More in this post, which will explain what you should do if you do use them together. Make sure you read it in its entirety!
I read that again and this is the part I was asking about: “Sometimes, you want to mix a router with the best feature set with a more affordable node. Of course, in this case, you’ll get the Wi-Fi performance at each mesh unit according to their hardware specs.
Again, if you use wired backhaul, there’s not much concern here. But if you think of a wireless mesh, it’s best to use routers of the same Wi-Fi standard (Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6) and performance tiers for better reliability.”
I am using ethernet backhaul to both locations. I will probably turn off wireless backhaul and run 5Gz 2 on a separate SSID. Still a bad idea or nothing to be gained doing this? Sorry if I misinterpreted something. Thanks.
That’s a good idea and it’ll work work, Scott. Make sure that the wired backhaul is in use.
Will do. Thanks.
Sure, Scott. I think I missed the part you mentioned wired backhaul — I only have so much time for each comment :). With that you have a lot of options, worse comes to worst, you can always use the CT8 in the AP mode. Good luck! The XT8 is a much better router.
Hello,
I opened the 5Ghz-2 giving the same SSID as the 5Ghz-1. It seems to work, but maybe this method is not recommended?
It’s generally a better idea to keep it as a separate SSID, S.
I specify that I fixed the 5Ghz-2 on Wifi-6 only.
Hi Dong,
Great review. I just purchased Asus XT8; however, I realize that there is a restriction in my country that all 5ghz band is only allowed at Ch 149+, which is only available 5ghz-2 (iPhone could not detect the wifi on channel 36-44). So is there any way to swap around the dedicated backhaul to 5ghz 1 instead of 2? or open more channels on 5ghz1? If none of the options are available, would it be ok for some devices to join the dedicated backhaul SSID while keeping the 5ghz2 dedicated for backhaul?
Thanks for the help
Your best bet is opening up the 5GHz-2 band for clients, Allen, as I mentioned in the review. And that means it’s no longer “dedicated”. In your case, there’s no benefit in getting tri-band hardware at all.
Hi sir,
Thanks for all the valuable info on this mesh system. On your advice I purchased this about 18 months ago and it has been pretty solid and stable….until today which I can’t figure out for the life of me. I have the main unit in my basement connected to my modem and then one node upstairs connected via wifi. Wifi works great everywhere in the house. IThe problem is i can’t maintain a ethernet connection for devices plugged into the main unit. For example, When I connect my laptop directly to the main unit via ethernet, it works. However when I connect another device to the main unit via Ethernet it won’t connect and also I lose connectivity to my laptop. Once I unplug both devices, then plug the laptop back in, it connects right away. Its almost like the asus will only allow one IP via Ethernet or something. At the mesh node upstairs, like I mentioned, i have that connected via wifi, but there is an IP camera connected via Ethernet, and it functions properly. What brought this all to my attention is that all the devices that were attached via ethernet to my network switch(which is connected to the main asus in basement) like 3 tvs in my basement, all lost their connection today. I have unplugged that network switch from main router so I’ve taken that part out of the equation to try to make troubleshooting easier. If I didn’t explain well enough, please let me know and I will fill in the blanks. I have tried all the simple steps like power cycling the cable modem and ASUS router, unplugging cables and such. Its just seems like the main ASUS unit will only allow one device to connect to it via Ethernet therefore making any other devices unable to connect as well as my switch. Any suggestions please. Thanks in advance! I appreciate it!
That’s odd, Kevin. But you can try using an older firmware version.
Thx for getting back to me.. I decided to do a factory reset and start from scratch and that did the trick. I dont know what happened but its resolved. Keep up the good work. We appreciate it!
Sure, Kevin.
Hey Dong!
Huge fan of yours! Is it possible for me to connect the XT8 straight to the modem, or does it have to go through a router? I was recommended the AX88U as the router/switch to connect to the LAN points, and have the XT8 run through wired backhaul. Is this a good setup?
Thanks in advance!
The XT8 is a router, Nic. So yes, you can set it up just like you do any router — in fact, you don’t want to use another router with it to avoid double NAT. The 2nd unit needs to connect to the first one, though, just like any mesh. More on mesh systems here. You can take the 88U out of the question in this case. More in AiMesh combos in this post.
Hi Dong,
Thanks so much for the reply! I have 8 network cables at my modem point I need to connect to run wired connections in my house. Can I run this setup:
Modem > Switch > Network Cable A > Network Cable B > XT8?
Thank you again!
Sure, Nic. It helps if you READ my replies though. To answer your question, no, you can’t do that and expect things to work. Check out this post. (Make sure you READ the linked post this time.)
Dong,
First, thank you so much for all of the work you put into this website. It is by far and away the biggest wealth of knowledge I’ve found on the entire internet as far as explaining the ins and outs of all the newest networking technologies.
I am currently using a Linksys MR9000 Max-Stream AC3000 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 5 Router along with a Linksys Velop Intelligent Mesh WiFi System, Tri-Band, 3-Pack (AC2200). I’ve got the MR9000 connected to my router and acting as the main router. Then I have the three Velop units setup as wireless nodes.
After reading a LOT of info on your page, I am feeling like this system SHOULD be working a LOT better than what I’m experiencing. I have been considering changing over to one of the new WiFi 6 systems such as the ASUS ZenWifi XT8 (2 pack) or a Netgear Orbi RBK852 system with 1 extender (2 total units) but I’m not really sure if I will even feel like we have upgraded or not.
We have a 4 bedroom house that is about 3,400 sq ft but unfortunately, the main modem and router has to be in the office that is on one end of the house. No possibility of having it in the center of the house. I’m sure that would make a HUGE difference but I have to work around that. And the biggest issue we’re having is that it seems like the number of devices we are using at any one time is overloading the system. We currently have about 50-60 devices connected at any given time. If one of the nodes goes down. We notice it.
Does WiFi 6 handle more devices so much better that it would help fix my issues by upgrading? Or is there a way to tune my current setup to handle them more efficiently?
Would I be better off spending my money on a REALLY good Nighthawk router that could cover my whole home and stop using the additional nodes for now? Such as the RAX120 or the RAX200?
Also, I’ve had a lot of trouble trying to decide whether to keep the three bands combined or going with them separated. Some of our devices don’t want to work with them combined but the overall performance seems better when they are combined otherwise.
And one final thing to add to the equation. We probably screwed up big time with this but we got the Circle Home Plus device thinking it would be the answer to easily deal with having 4 kids and all of their devices but it has been a nightmare to setup and make work with the Velop system. We’ve ended up going with the app version only and leaving the hardware out of the equation completely because of how badly it slows down the network speeds. We like the app and how it works but it won’t help you with things like PS4’s and other devices unless you have the hardware in place. I now see that some of the Netgear devices come with the Circle Parental Controls built-in. Would going that direction with a WiFi 6 system solve those issues? Or should we be able to get the Circle Home Plus device we already have working with the ASUS system?
I probably seem like I’m just out to spend money on WiFi devices. I’m not. I just want our network to work and currently I feel like I have more than I need and it still isn’t working the way I’d hoped.
Any help you can offer about ANY of this mess is greatly appreciated.
You should have read my reviews on this one and the MR7350, Ian. The point is you made a terrible purchasing decision. So yes, go with the XT8, Orbi AX4200, or the Velop AX4200, make sure you read the reviews. But before that also make sure you read this post on mesh systems.
READ is the keyword here. Don’t just scan through and look for what you want.
Hi Dong,
Thanks for all the great info you’ve provided.
I do have my home wired in the main but will ‘potentially’ want to place a node where it would need to use WiFi and I like the option of being able to utilise the additional 5GHz band if I do go fully wired for the backhaul. With that in mind I have boiled it down to the Asus AX AT8 or the TP-Link Deco X90 (X5700 not available it seems in UK). Of those two which would you steer towards?
Thanks
Nick
Go with the XT8, Nick. Just don’t upgrade the firmware immediately, or be prepared to downgrade it to a previous version when need be and you’ll be find.
Many thanks for the reply Dong
Sure, Nick! 🙂
Hi Dong,
Thanks for all your great reviews and taking the time to respond to all questions.
Based on your review I am considereing to swap my Netgear R8000 + multiple EX8000 mesh extenders for a couple of Asus XT8.
Reason being that in my fairly large house (thick concrete walls and floorts) I need several extenders, a setup which simply does not work reliably with these Netgear boxes. Connections drop all the time. Roaming from extender to extender does not work seamlessly either.
Netgear mesh extenders can only connect to the router, not to eachother, which means the remote parts of my house will never get decent coverage.
Can you confirm whether the Asus XT8 would works in a setup with a router plus 3 to 4 satellites?
Does Asus support satellite to satellite to router connects?
I only answer questions that have not yet been addressed, Han.
You can use multiple XT8 units (up to 7 in total, I believe, including the router unit), but using a wireless mesh with a daisy-chain setup is never good, though chances are the XT8 will be better than what you have now. You should consider getting the place wired.
Thanks for pointing me towards the daisy-chain part, I somehow missed that. I understand that it is not optimal, but there is no way I can reach part of my house without it – it is on the other side of the street. I have no means of getting a cable across the street, and the router itself is too far away.
So it is either suboptimal daisy chaining, or stick to using a 4G modem there (which is more stable, but expensive).
If you have any other suggestions then please let me know!
One more question. I could get the main house wired but not the annex across the street, that connection would always be wireless.
Would such a hybrid solution work at all? Or will the satellite try to connect to a dedicated wireless backhaul (which is switched off in the rest of the house)?
It will work at all. It’s just a matter of degrees.
If you can’t run wires then using wireless is the only way, Han. In that case, tri-band hardware will help, but the performance will always be fluctuating.
Just tested this with a setup of 4 Asus XT8s. I can confirm that they automatically switch to daisy chain (when needed) and that works just fine.
As you pointed out, performance does drop but I am still getting around 80 Mbps (in the annex across the road), so I am very happy.
Stability has been excellent so far, and the UI is so much better than Netgear. Thanks again!
For the nodes, you can try to select the “preferred wifi up-link AP”, this will ensure that the nodes always connect to AP.
Excellent! Thanks for sharing the result, Han. And I second what Sunny said, though the success rate depends on the placements, of course.
Thanks much for your extensive notes on troubleshooting Wi-Fi dropout issues. I’ve been using my pair of Asus ZenWiFi AX XT8 units for a year. Initial performance was very solid. Very few dropouts. But of late, I’m seeing more and more dropouts. I’m starting to suspect a defective ZenWiFi master unit. Is there a simple way to replace the master unit with the slave/remote mesh unit to help trouble shoot this?
I’m seeing frequent drop outs on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz channels. And am seeing the issue with several different brands of IOT devices (Lenova, Honeywell, Google). I currently have four devices, across both channel frequencies, with connect time of under 10 minutes.
I’ve gone through your extensive set of notes on how to fix WiFi drops, but that has not resolved the problem.
One of the Lenova units is located within 5 feet of the mesh master station. And has typical connect time of under 10 minutes. It is set for 5 GHz operation. My Wi-Fi analyzer tool shows multiple signals at 2.4 GHz, but very little at 5 GHz.
I’ve tried powering off the slave unit, and running solely with the master. That did not resolve the issue. I was next thinking of replacing the master unit with the slave unit, but was unsure how to do that.
Very much appreciate any trouble shooting suggestions.
Yes, Arthur, you can back up the router unit, remove the node, reset the router, then restore the settings to the node, then add the former router as a node.
Dong, thanks for the suggestion of back up and restore to do the transfer to my second XT8 unit.
When I recently tried to do back up of the XT8 settings using my Windows 10 PC, I got a message ‘‘Settings_ZenWiFi AX.CFG was blocked because this type of file can harm your computer.’
This may be a Windows 10 change. I have successfully done backups in the past. I’ve asked ASUS tech support for a work around, but they have not yet responded. Net result, I’m not able to create a back up.
You need to actively let the browser save the file, Arthur — take your time and figure that out. That file is safe. If you don’t know how to do that on the current browser, use a different browser. If you don’t know what a browser is, well, I don’t think you can do what I suggested. This is like you’re asking me to help you troubleshoot a car, but you don’t know what a steering wheel is. And I’m not good at teaching folks how to use a computer. 🙂
I also had a lot of drop trouble with IOT devices, mainly Tasmota (ESP32) and Shelly. Setting static IP addresses did not help. Google’s devices actually retain the connection well.
Eventually I just gave up. I added an old TP-Link Access Point as an IOT-only network, with a different band and name, and connected it to the Asus by Ethernet. Did not experience a single drop since.
Dror, thanks for suggestion to move high dropout devices to another router. That worked.
I would agree with you that different designs show a quite different dropout performance. The devices I was having the worst dropout issues with were four Lenovo clocks. I moved three of the clocks to an older ASUS RT-N66U. Connect time went from minutes to 7-9 hours. I’ve left the Honeywell and Google Home devices on the XT8. I’ve seen recent uptime with the Google devices of 18-51 hours, Honeywell 1-8 hours. The one Lenovo clock I left on the XT8 continues to show poor connect time.
Before turning on the RT-N66U, I did swap the XT8 Master and Slave units. That swap did not solve the issue of frequent Lenovo dropouts.
Hi Dong, great review of the product!
I have some questions about this router and hope that you can help me.
1) I am planning to buy it, in a pair mode. I noted in your review, you mentioned that XT8 can turn one of the Gigabit LAN ports into second WAN port. I would like to ask, can I turn the 2.5G WAN port to become a LAN port and has it connect with my NAS (running at 2.5G port too) and turn one of the Gigabit LAN port to WAN port for internet use (my internet is 1Gb speed)?
2) I will be placing the other unit as node in another room, and use a 2.5G switch to connect with the node’s 2.5G WAN port (by right it will be functioned as LAN port now), and wired connect to 2 PCs (both with 2.5G port). Will this setup giving more stable connection rather than to connect as WIFI directly? Most importantly, it’s about the file transfer speed from my NAS to PC. Due to some limitation, I was unable to use wire in the other room, so I came out this idea.
3) From your review, I still not so understand about the 3rd 5Ghz setup (4800Mbps). Will this 3rd 5Ghz wifi connection comes out automatically? Also, is XT8 (router and node) using the 4800Mpbs speed to connect with each other? Can my PC connect this bandwidth (4800Mbps)?
Thank you so much!
Hi Ray,
1. No, you can’t change the LAN 1 into the primary WAN port. Like I said many times in the review, there’s no Multi-Gig LAN option on the router unit. Period.
2. Yes, the Internet connection still depends on the (Wireless) backhaul between the node and the router. Keep that in mind.
3. There’s no 3rd 5GHz setup but only using the 5GHz-2 (backhaul) band as a separate SSID. It would be best if you reread the review. Your PC can’t connect at 4800Mbps since there are no faster clients than 2×2 (2400Mbps), at least for now. More in this post.
Hi,
I read your review in other post (https://dongknows.com/multi-gigabit-wi-fi-6-routers-to-bring-home-today/), you mentioned “Also, when using the XT8 as a single router, you can turn one of the three Gigabit LAN ports into a WAN and the WAN port into a Multi-Gig LAN.”. But based on your reply in No.1,you said I cant change LAN 1 into the primary WAN port as there’s no Multi-Gig LAN option on the router unit. I’m confused.
Yes, I meant the 5Ghz-2, so there will be 3 SSID, 2.4G, 5G-1 and 5G-2, right? But do you know which bandwidth that both router and node used for connection? is it the 4800Mbps?
Any news about 4×4 (4800Mbps) wifi card soon? I heard Asus going to launch it last year, but till now, I dont see anything yet.
Thanks!
Sorry for the confusion, Ray. That was a mistake. I was trying to say something about Dual-WAN and mistyped it. The 5GHz-2 is used as a backhaul, as mentioned in the review. I don’t think faster-than-2×2 clients will be available soon, if at all. But more bandwidth also means the broadcaster can handle more clients at the same time. More in this post.
Hi Dong, once again, thanks for your reply!
Based on your review, I noted that the 5Ghz-2 was used as deliciated backhaul, this would means both router and node actually using it for connection, right?
I noted also the 5Ghz-1 is not support 160MHz channel, and it generally capped at 1200Mbps. Is there any new firmware update to open the front-haul to support 4×4 160MHz? or any firmware update to improve the 1200Mbps to 2400Mbps?
For wireless setting, can the 5GHz-2 be used at the same time as dedicated backhaul and connect to my PC (client)?
Thank you for answering my questions.
Read the review, Ray. I answered those questions, specifically at the end of wried backhaul section for the 5GHz-2 band — make sure you follow the link for detailed steps.
Hi Dong.
I’m very curious on what you mean by your review “ you’ll need to have a second node unit before you can see the value of this port”.
Are you saying that with a 3rd unit of XT8, one will be able to make use of the 2.5gbe port? How does this work?
I presently own 2 unit of the XT8 and I have recently bought an Asustor NAS, but I’m having slow file transfer speed of 20-25MB max. Have tried out various different settings by connecting to the main unit and node unit, but nothing is solving the problem.
Thanks
That’s likely due to the server itself, Rudran. I’d recommend a Synology. As for what I say, it’s just math, if you don’t have a 2nd unit, there’s no way you can see the full 2.5Gbps locally. But that does NOT specifically apply to your case unless your NAS server has a Multi-Gig port.
Thanks Dong. My NAS server does have 2X 2.5gbe port. Yet the transfer speed over LAN is slow. 🙁
Then it’s likely your NAS. Also, make sure you test via a wired connection, not Wi-Fi.
I’d been trying to find a way to get 2.5gbps wired backhaul, and I think I finally stumbled upon it — but Dong, if I’m missing something here, please let me know.
It does seem that you can use the 2.5gbps WAN port as a LAN port not only when the device is set to be a node, but also when it’s set as “AI Mesh router in AP mode.” So using my old Netgear r7800 as a primary router, one XT8 as a “Mesh in AP” and one as a straight-out node, I wired a LAN port from my R7800 to the LAN port on the “router” XT8, and the WAN ports of the two XT8s together. To my somewhat surprise, it seemed to work — and the UI reflects the uplink on the node at 2.5gpbs.
Just to confirm that the reporting in the UI wasn’t only based on what port I was using, I tried it again, but let a gigabit switch sit in between everything. That time, the UI showed the uplink at 1gbps, as expected. So it appears to be reflecting real uplink speed.
I haven’t tested this at any length, but if it works the way it looked like it did in my quick trial, that’ll be my setup in my new apartment — allowing for 2.5gbps wired backhaul and all three bands to be accessible to wireless devices. Eventually, I’ll put a 2.5gbps switch between things so I can wire my desktop and a NAS that way (I don’t yet own a 2.5-capable NAS, but plan to eventually).
That works, as intended, but it doesn’t make any difference since the bandwidth on either side of the Multi-Gig backhaul connection is Gigabit, Louis. In other words, if you have Multi-Gig Internet or a Multi-Gig server, you won’t experience any difference in performance on any device at all compared to a pure Gigabit wired network. Check out this post for more.
1) Thanks for a reply on such an old post. I’ve only discovered your site in the last week but read a bunch of your posts, and the way you help your community here is really great.
2) If I’m not mistaken (but it’s very possible I am), there’s still some benefit here to my setup. Follow my thinking below, but tell me if I’m missing something …
I only have 300mbps Internet, so I’m not expecting anything on the network to benefit from faster internet speeds.
But I’d think if I wire both XT8 2.5gpbs WAN ports to a 2.5gpbs switch, as well as the R7800 handling the 1gbps incoming internet, then additional 2.5 gbps devices (like a NAS) also connected to the switch get the benefit of being reachable by 4×4 wireless clients (rare as they are) at faster-than-gigabit speeds — since a wired backhaul also frees up the 4×4 5Ghz-2 band to be used by clients. In practice, it may not often achieve those speeds, but should theoretically be able to under very good conditions, right?
And with or without the switch, any two wireless devices connected on that 4×4 5ghz-2 band should then also get potentially faster that 1gbps speeds when talking to each other, even if one is connected to the AI Mesh Router an one is connected to the node, correct? I’m thinking, for instance, one computer with a 4×4 connection remoting in to control or transfer files to/from another.
If you have a switch in between the two then you’d get some benefits locally but hardly anything via the XT8. We don’t have 4×4 Wi-Fi 6 clients. In short, what you have doesn’t hurt but there’s no real benefit until you change the Netgear to a dual-port Multi-Gig router. Also note that the XT8 is NOT ideal for wired backhaul. Read the review for more and existing comments for more.
I have done this. I have 3 XT8’s all connected to at 2.5GBps to a switch and then the switch is connected via a 10Gbps (SFP+) to my RB5009 mikrotik router (which does my routing) my XT8’s are in access point mode and are all connected using CAT6a all XT8’s show connected as 2.5gbps in the app/web interface
Yeah, I’d seen that about the wired backhaul in general. I’m crossing my fingers it evens out with a firmware update, but I suppose the wise move isn’t to plan for it.
I’ll likely wind up with a 2.5gbps switch at some point in the future to support a NAS and a PC, but they’ll be all wired. I’d been trying to work through this to, for instance, maximize the connection between wireless clients and the NAS, in the rare/theoretical/future event I’ve got a 4×4 client in good enough conditions to sustain a 4×4 connection. My new S22 phone says on its spec sheet it does 4×4, but I can’t really see a use case where that matters to me.
Then again, all this future-planning is probably silly because by the point I could realistically have a bunch of 4×4 clients, all the technologies will have moved on and I’ll want something else anyway 🙂
I’d also been thinking about alternate setups, like getting a GT-AX6000 and using both XT8s as nodes. Or maybe I’ll say “F it” to the idea of running ethernet all throughout my new apartment, and just buy a third XT8 to sit between the existing two wirelessly and improve the coverage without wires. I’ve been reluctant about that because I want a good, low-latency connection between my PC and an Nvidia Shield for in-home game streaming, but at least in my tests so far in my current apartment (PC wired to one XT8, Shield wired to the other, the XT8s on wireless backhaul), I’m only seeing 3ms pings as-is, and I can definitely live with that. It’s yet to be seen what I’d get with three units and a bigger space, though.
Great review. When you are comparing the speeds of the various Mesh systems, does the distance you show include things like walls?
This ASUS XT8 seems like a great system. Trying to decide between this, the Alien and Netgear Orbi 6. I was leaning towards this one, though wonder about the Wifi 5 speeds versus the Orbi 6 (AX6000)? And the Alien looks incredibly cool, but again for the fastest speed and reliability, which is your recommendation?
House is an old house. About 5000 square feet (excluding garden). The “internet” connection from the ISP comes in at one end, and on the exact opposite end is my office upstairs and a Smart TV downstairs. There are brick walls inside and at the moment I’m looking for a wireless backhaul mesh system to somehow maximise/utilise the 900Mbps service.
Ideally I’d love to future proof for Wifi 6, or 6E (or 7 at this rate), though I’m guessing only new smartphones can connect that way. I probably won’t be replacing my Mac any time soon (though you never know). And I guess it’s possible to connect via ethernet to the satellite unit of a Mesh system too am I right?
Also, is there any way to know beforehand whether one should be buying a 2 unit pack, or 3 unit pack?
No, Varda. More on how I test Wi-Fi in this post.
It’s impossible to know how many units you’d need. You have to find that out yourself. Start with this post on mesh systems.
Hi Dong, Thanks !
The post is quiite impressive.
Just would like to know, whether XT8 support upnp or not.
Your response will be highly appreciated
Yes, Mukesh. Like almost all Asus routers, you can find the XT8’s UPnP toggle in the WAN section of its interface.
Nice review. Just to clarify, when you were talking about the Wifi 5 speed the client can get owing to it being a 2×2, you wrote in the article “some 660Mbps and 450Mbps”. On the table/chart below that, it says 553 and 450Mps for the XT8 right?
Could you just clarify whether it’s 553, or 663?
Thanks
Those were the number of the router unit (top chart), Tom, not the satellite.
Hi – great resource on the topic! I have a CT8 mesh system and am thinking of upgrading to an XT8. Can I mix the two in AP mode? I’m assuming if I connect the XT8 to the main router and then add in the CT8 units [2] as nodes – that will be okay? [We have a large house]. I’m also assuming that anyone within range of the XT8 will get Wifi 6 – but those close to the CT8s will only get Wifi 5?
Yes, Bunzena, you can totally mix the two in the AP mode (for the satellite). And in this case, your assessment about Wi-Fi 5 vs Wi-Fi 6 is correct. More in this post.
Dong, nice review. Are these definitely easy to use to provide a stable connection for the home?
And secondly, do these provide faster speeds than the Orbi AX 6000 if we measure using wireless backhaul with both that and the ASUS? I got the impression from one of your charts that the Orbi was a faster speed?
The ASUS sounded better, but I got confused by the speed chart shared. Would appreciate you clarifying, thanks
That depends on your home, Kristina. Wi-Fi depends a lot on the environment. But I’d go with the Asus.
Hey Dong. Great site. I bought this unit a few years back after seeing great reviews. It has worked great since then after following the advice here after firmware updates. My Node is connected to the main unit via Wi-Fi. We recently finished our basement and I had the basement hardwired for ethernet. I purchased three new TVs and attempted to connect them but none of them will connect to the Internet successfully via Ethernet. I connected my MacBook to each of those ethernet lines with no problem. All of the TVs will connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi. I also have a PlayStation that connected to Wi-Fi previously with no issue and still connects via Wi-Fi but will not connect via ethernet either. I’m at a lost. Just as a reference I have all of these ethernet lines plugged into a switch which then connects to the main router. For testing purposes, I plugged one of those ethernet lines directly into the router by passing the switch to rule our the switch as a problem, but I still cannot connect the TV to the Internet via ethernet.
I’m looking for some advice on your experience with this unit if there is something special that I need to change in the settings To allow the ethernet to work. I don’t think so but I am at a loss here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again
It looks like an issue with the TVs themselves, Kevin. You need to check with their manual or the manufacturer.
Hey Dong and Kevin,
I had a similar problem with my two units. I would periodically lose connectivity on anything connected through Ethernet. Was unable to fix it working with ASUS so they replaced the 2 units, everything has worked fine since. It is unlikely your problem is with the unit but it could be.
That was my next step. I will give it a whirl. Thank you
Hi Dong,
I just read your post titled “Double NAT vs. Single NAT: How to Best Handle an (ISP-Provide) Gateway” last night and it was super informative. I currently have a Gateway from my ISP, do you think the Asus XT8 can be used as two APs for the Gateway to get the best coverage for my house?
I was hoping to utilize the cables that run through the house to hardwire the XT8 units on the main floor and upstairs so that they will provide the best wifi speeds.
What are you thoughts on using the XT8 as APs for my Gateway? Or do you have another suggestion that I could potentially look at.
Yes, Ken. The XT8 has the AP mode (as I noted in the review). And it would be best if you used the XT8 as the router of your home and the gateway in the bridge mode. Also, if you run cables, the XT8 is not a great choice (though it’ll work out fine.) By the way, all you asked has been addressed in this review and the double-NAT post. My suggestion is you read anything here in its entirety. 🙂
My AC88U finally bit the dust and can no longer keep a 5Ghz connection. Looking at either the XT8 (2-pack) or the AX92U (2-pack) for the new mesh system. I only get about 400 up/down on my internet so just looking for a solid stable connection across my devices. Which would you go with? I want to ensure if we do get fiber that the router can maximize the speeds across the devices. One is the big difference between these two routers as they seem on paper to be very similar.
-Thanks, love the site!
Go with the XT8, Adam. You want the Multi-Gig WAN port.
all the asus routers including this one has only 16 parental control device list, which is very unfortunate since i have like 30 iot wifi switches which i don’t want to have them ping back home. is there a way around this? here is the feature i am talking about: https://demoui.asus.com/ParentalControl.asp
Also Dong any chance you can suugest any other router which has atleast 30 device which can block internet but allow internal communication?
Parental Controls have little to do with IoT, V. You can just block a domain completely and that will apply to all devices within the network.
Thanks
Sure, V. Just don’t block dongknows.com. 🙂
Your best option is to just block each of your IOT devices from the internet, directly:
Click on the computer icon under Network Map, then you will get a Client status list on the right. Click each of the IOT devices and toggle Block Internet Access. This can be used on any number of connected devices.
This worked thanks Dror, amazing.
Hi Dong,
This site is great. Thank you for all this information. I recently rearranged my home where my primary PC is now on wifi (previously it was hardwired and I was getting very close to 1 Gbps (I have a gig connection and gig hardware (switch and Cat 5e cables)). I have an ASUS Blue Cave as my primary router and a ASUS AC1900P as the node which is hard wired and I have good coverage throughout my home. Because I have moved my primary desktop PC, I use a USB wifi adapter and I am getting a 250 Mbps connection. I would like a faster connection to the desktop and I am planning other peripherals near the desktop that I would like to be connected via ethernet. I am thinking of upgrading to WIFI 6 and considering the Zen WIFI XT8 2 pack. I have 3 scenarios and I’d like your thoughts on them, please.
1) Zen WIFI XT8 (2 pack): One would be the primary router and the second would be next to my PC using wireless backhaul to maximize the internet connection. I would not use the other 2 WIFI 5 routers.
2) Zen WIFI XT8 (2 pack): One would be the primary router and the second would be next to my PC using wireless backhaul to maximize the internet connection. I would use the other 2 WIFI 5 routers as nodes connected via ethernet back haul. (I have good coverage in my home currently but perhaps this will give me faster connections?)
3) One Zen WIFI XT8 unit only as the primary router, the Blue Cave as a node (wireless backhaul), the AC1900P as a node (wired). (My home is only 3000 sq ft and should have good coverage with only one XT8 unit. Would the wireless backhaul to the Blue Cave utilize the full 5Ghz band?)
4) I am open to other suggestions involving other ASUS AX routers.
Thank you!
I think the #2 is the best among what you proposed, Tom. But there are mere options in this post on AiMesh hardware.
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but
your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back later.
All the best
Hi Dong
I have a problem with the stability of the wifi speed in my XT8.
Both units are connected by cable (the icons in the application confirm it). When I stand at the Nod, the speed is 700/500, then I walk inside the house (e.g. approaching the main unit) and when I return back to the NOD unit, I have a speed of 120/50. The same is true for the main unit (router). For faster speeds to come back, I have to turn off and on the wifi on my phone.
Do you have any idea what it results from?
(I will add that the internet is stable at 950/500).
Thanks in advance.
Marcin
Separate the 2.4GHz from 5GHz, Marcin. Your device just got to switch to 2.4GHz as you move because this band’s signal is stronger. Or you can wait 5-10 mins each time you move before testing. And no, you didn’t have a problem with stability. Things are just not what you expected.
The first review of xt8 was done in Feb 2020. It’s now Jul 2021. Is the XT8 still worth getting as it’s almost 2 years old model or should I just wait another half year or so in hope of a new model to replace the XT8? Is the XD6 a good option since it’s newer?
Yes, and not necessarily, Dave.
Hi Dong,
So if xd6 and xt8 is the same price, which would you recommend?
I haven’t tested the former, Dave.
In a one router setup on fios gig speed would you go zenwifi xt8 or rt-ax92u?
I’d go with the RT-AX92U, JD. It’s a lot more fun and comes with more options. But the XT8 has the 2.5Gbps WAN port meaning you can rest assured you get the full 1Gbps.
thanks for the fast reply.
would you go with the rt-ax86u or 88u over one of the triband mesh routers in this situation for any reason?
keep up the good work and info!
Check out this post, JD.
Hi, Dong,
Best reviews on the internet. Before reading through your work, I was just going to go with an Orbi setup. I have gigabit internet, and I got a great deal on some SRK60s ($75 each) and then SRK80s ($165 each!). But while I want a stable connection with minimal restarts, I don’t like the Orbi lag I keep hearing about and would like to do things like band assignments, scheduling, and incremental improvements in the future.
So I found another great deal on several XT8s ($150 each). But in the back of my head, I kept hearing you say “wired backhaul”, so I took another look at my config again and realized I may be able to do just that (getting in the crawl space this afternoon with some fish tape; at least 1 or 2 sats can be wired, 1 is still in question).
If I want fast and stable and am able to wire everything up, should I keep the XT8s or start looking for deals on RT-AX86Us or maybe a GT-AX11000 w some 92s? (Would there be an advantage to using the 2.5gb for the wired backhaul, by the way? I’ll probably put my synology and desktop on a multigig switch with link agg, so not sure what I’ll be doing with the 2.5gb).
If I must do hybrid, are the XT8s the way to go?
Am I being dumb (i.e., is my family going to yell at me often) for leaving 3 or 4 SRK80s and moving into the ASUS platform?
Thanks so much for all the hard work; I’ll keep ad-block off and continue using your Amz links!
It would be best if you moved to Asus, Jeff. The XT8 will work with a wired backhaul. It’s just that it *might* have issues after a firmware update (this has happened). If you’re going hybrid and money is not an issue (it seems like that), I’d use the GT-AX11000 as the main and a couple of RT-AX92U as nodes — you can also go all of the latter. This way, things will be great no matter if you go wireless, wired, or mixed. If you want things to be stable, turn off 160MHz — more in this post. Oh, I can’t say anything about your family yelling at you. In fact, if you find out how to be safe from that, please let me know.
Thank you for this, Dong. Incredibly helpful.
I ended up pulling the trigger on a GT-AX11000. I’m doing my typical sanity check with just one router (always the same location), a wired machine running iperf3 (if you’re not familiar, you might consider it over the file-sending methodology), and tests all over my home. I’m consistently getting 150-250 Mbits/s less than on a single GT-AX11000 than a single XT8. I know you get these questions a lot, and they’re hard to debug, but if you can think of anything off-hand that might explain the surprising difference, I’d love to hear it.
I have all the game priority stuff off on the AX11000 running smart connect across 2.4, 5-1, and 5-2; otherwise it’s a recently-reset router-mode setup.
I’d stop using iperf, Jeff, seriously. I don’t use it for a reason. But it’s your call, just don’t count me in. 🙂
Hi Dong!
I am in a slightly different situation. I have a GT-AX11000 as my main router, but I want to add some nodes in order to increase range and build a mesh. Overall speed isn’t so important to me, but range is. That is, I could deal with even 10 Mb/s if the range was 100-200+ feet or more.
I have no way to do a wired backhaul so it would be a completely wireless system. I guess I could buy another GT-AX11000, but in an effort to save money I have been looking at the RT-AX92U and Zen XT8 as nodes.
Right now the RT-AX92U and Zen XT8 both cost about the same. Which one would be a better choice? Would another AX11000 be any better? Are there other models to consider?
Thanks so much!
I’d go with the XT8, Dimitri. Make sure you add them as nodes, one at a time, with the other being turned off, as mentioned here.
Thanks, Dong! Based on your recommendation I bought a single XT8 to add to the AX11000. I have really great coverage with these two routers using AiMesh. I was thinking I would need to bridge two buildings 150 feet from each other, but it’s not necessary as the signal is so good throughout both structures and carries quite far even outside. Signal is a little weak (but still quite fine) on the opposite side of the building from where I placed the XT8 so I am going to add another XT8 there, but with just these two routers I am easily covering 100,000 square feet. Granted, there are not a lot of obstructions except for interior walls. I placed the routers in the windows of each building so they have line of sight and don’t need to penetrate exterior walls. Thanks again!
Sure, Dimitri. Thanks for sharing. Yes, outdoor signals can go pretty far. It’s always walls that are problematic. Cheers!
Dong, thanks for the great article and review of the XT8’s! I picked up a set of these and wired them into my AX88U Router. Performance has been great to wireless clients. I have experienced a problem with my NEST thermostat falling off the network (and have noticed the ping going to 57K ms)! Rebooting the XT8 node clears it for an hour or so but it keeps happening. I swapped the other node with the one closest to the NEST and voila! no more problems. Do you think I have a bad node?
Not really, Robert. It might have been the Nest has been connected to the same node in the first place. It’s a bit tricky in your case to figure things out since you’re using tri-band nodes and a dual-band router. More in this post.
Dong,
Thx for this review. I have a few questions. I day trade from my home office ( 3k sq ft and on the 2nd floor) I have AT&T internet 1000 fiber 1gb. Would I need two units or may I do just one unit? Amazon has 1 or 2 unit setups. Also, will this increase my internet speed? My rig is wifi 6 capable. Should I do a mesh system or wifi 6 router? Apologies to Robert for jumping on his thread, but I couldn’t find a way to ask questions.
Thx
Hi Rob,
That depends on your place. More here. But it seems like you might need more than one unit. In that case, you need to understand how things work — more here. You DO NOT want to use the eero. Get one of these mesh systems.
Hi Dong,
Thanks for the great review.
I’ve got a 2.2 Gigabit internet connection with the Cat 7 ethernet from my modem going into the 2.5G on the WAN port on the XT8, the problem is, my router is connected to the node using wired backhaul from the routers Gigabit port so my node wont be getting full speeds and the gigabit port becomes the bottleneck. Is there anyway to do link aggregation for wired backhaul between both units?
Thanks for your help.
No, Raju. For now there’s no way to have Multi-Gig wired backhaul yet, unless you use the RT-AX89X as the main router and the XT8 as a node. But even then you might still need a Multi-Gig switch.
Hi Dong,
I took your earlier advise and split the bands on my xt8 router. I have the 2 pack set, with on primary and 1 AI mesh over the 5ghz wireless band.
I move specific devices to 5ghz and the iot devices to the 2.4ghz. All seems to work well except on robot vacuum clear. It’s meant to connect to the 2.4ghz only, yet it’s not discoverable and just won’t connect, even after factory reset to the vacuum device.
I know it’s me router because I Hotspotted my mobile and managed to connect the vacuum easily.
I read on a forum that sometimes ports need to be open, so I added those specific ports, and still no luck.
Any thoughts on what on my router can be blocking this device from being discovered?
Any specific setting that may need to be enabled or disabled?
It may be worth while noting that all wifi6 setting are off since I have minimal wifi6 compatible devices and iot devices work better with wifi6 off.
Thanks
T
Check out this post on the connection issue, Thasigan. You might just need to name the 2.4Ghz band something simple or use the Guest network for it in case you don’t want to change the current name.
Don’t, just took the plunge on the ax88u and 2 xt8s. The xt are hardwired to the 88u. I’m having a problem with one of the xt8s. Whenever I walk to the part of the house that is closest to the xt8 I get full signal on my iPhone but no web pages load. If I turn Wifi on and off it loads fine.
Hi Dong! Just got a pair of XT8 the other day after the Deco X60 3-piece system didn’t exactly live up to my expectations in terms of speed and coverage. Allthough the XT8 was faster on the node unit, the system delivered a weaker or no signal far away in the garden and had worse coverage in the house than the X60 did even though i put them in exactly the same place. I only split the bands and used the 5GHz-2 as a hidden wireless backhaul in the setup. I only really got wifi-5 units to test the router so far and I guess that 200mb/s on the Deco node is a decent speed for my sons gaming on our 500/500 fiber line (I refuse to use wired backhaul). Do you think I can get better wifi-signal on the XT8 by changing the settings some more or should I go back to the X60?
You need another XT8 unit, Chris.
Thanks for the input. I should say that the third Deco unit only covers a small piece of the front side of the house. The other 2 units cover the back side of the house and the garden, as do the Asus. Do you rellay think I get a better signal in the garden by placing another TX8 in the front side of the house?
adding another unit in the front of the house will likely not affect the signal in your garden. its surprising as my xt8s are giving me the ability to connect on the main road!! i stay on the second floor in an apartment building inset about 10m from the street, and the router isn’t really on the edge of the network – although there are no major walls impeding the signal to the road.
perhaps a solution would be to place one node much closer to the garden, and give the node in the front of the house a little more work to do? also i wonder what the wireless backhaul signal strength is like, how many walls/how much space is there between the main mesh router and the node in question? I use wired backhaul, so im not really sure about how signal strength is affected by placement, or how one can test it.
Theres also an option to optimize the network once the nodes are all set up in their final locations. Maybe try that?
Hope that helps,
Hi again Dong! Just compared my Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact to my wifes iPhone 8 and she has a much stronger and stable wifi connection to the XT8. So maybe the problem is with my phone. Gonna test the router some more before i decide. And perhaps get another unit 😉
It’s not a food idea to use phones to test the speed of a router, Christoffer. You only get the speed of the phone. More on testing in this post: https://dongknows.com/how-to-do-an-internet-or-wi-fi-speed-test/
Hi Dong,
I am upgrading my Wifi. I have an old AC5300 router.
I just got a AX88 router (Came with topup for re-contracting my Internet)
So I am wondering if I should get 2 units of XT88 to connect to the Main router AX88. Downside is the AX88 is only dual band, not sure if it is a good idea.
The other method will be to buy a Powerline and use the XD4.
Here is a picture of my proposed setup with floorplan. I am usually in bedroom 3 but it doesn’t have a cable connectivity.
https://s3.cloudstorage.rstorcloud.io/image/639.png?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=RSTOR17QTD86X1AP7D1T9B6ISM%2F20210601%2FOSA01%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20210601T080253Z&X-Amz-Expires=2476626&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=6182992e5a1753309cb1a014d86f70b4af07eae372b69243501bc25d2e3b548c
Use the old AC5300 as a wired backhaul node of the AX88U (or in the AP mode), where you’d place the wired XT8, and you’re set, Nick. There’s no need to get a new set of XT8. More in this post.
Hi Dong, I have a question about guest mode and wired/wireless backhaul. My setup is a ASUS GT -AX11000 with 2 ZenWiFi AX in wireless mesh mode. The main unit is on the top floor (3rd floor) with the 2 Zen units directly below on the 2nd and 1st floor almost directly below each other. I can do wired backhaul on the 2nd floor unit but not the 1st floor unit. The question is can I place the 2nd floor unit in wired backhaul and turn on its guest mode? What’s odd is the two zen units always connect directly to the main router but never to each other.
I’ve never been to your home, Carmine, so the floors you mentioned don’t mean much in terms of showing the spaces between the hardware. However, if you have a wired backhaul from the router to one of the XT8s, then there’s no need to worry about placement or to which device the other node connects. That makes no difference.
I want to thank you for all the reviews that you do, and the help that you give your readers and fans. You do a great job, and are really appreciated out here in user land.
I do have a question about the ZenWiFi. If I use wired backhaul and can now access the 5GHz-2 radio as a result, does it make sense to use just the 5GHz-2 radio, since it’s a 4X4? While I see an option for smart connect for 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1, and 5GHz-2, I don’t see an option for just 2.4GHz. and 5GHz-2. What I see when I use the tri-band smart connect is that most clients end up on the 5GHz-1 radio, with one or two on the 5GHz-2 radio. I’d like it to be the other way around, I think, since the 5GHz-2 radio has twice the horsepower that the 5GHz-1 radio has, as it were.
Do you have any comments on this, whether I should make the 5GHz-2 radio my main client radio with wired backhaul or not? Or is there a speed advantage to having 2X2 clients on the 2X2 radio? Not clear to me, I’d really like to hear what you think about that.
Thanks!
Hey,
I’m using two xt8 as nodes and one ax88 as main router. In this configuration it ist possible to deactivate each band separately. I’m only using the 2,4 and the 5ghz-2 at the moment. The 5ghz-1 uses the lower channels. I’m actually using no device which needs these lower channels and to give the neighbors some space on the 5ghz.
You can only if you use each XT8 in AP mode via wired backhaul, Marcus. More here. https://dongknows.com/best-aimesh-routers-and-combos/
Are you sure that the wired backhaul option isn’t available if one xt8 is in router mode. It’s located at the main router AiMesh>Settings(at the top of the overview)>wired backhaul
By default this setting is off.
I never said it was not available. Read the review again, Marcus, and other related posts.
Dong –
I have an XT8, live next to an international airport, and can’t access 160mhz for backhaul. Would I be better off with a different mesh system?
Thanks!
D
Yes, D. Either that, or you need to turn the use of the DFS channels off completely via the web interface — configure the 5GHz-2 band to use only the 80MHz. It’s a bit of work to get that done but it’s doable. 2400Mbps for backhaul is plenty.
Dong – thanks so much. I locked it on 80 and am getting much higher speeds. Really appreciate it. -D
Sure, D. Glad, it worked out. 🙂
I don’t use smart connect but I do have wired backhaul between my two xt8 nodes. All my 5ghz clients use the 5-2 band (wifi 6 clients – macbook, dell, etc) and the 2.4 ghz bands (ring, nest, sonos, etc). I have the 5-1 band enabled but It’s normally unused. I do see in the professional tab for wireless that there is an ‘enable radio’ switch for each band. I haven’t tried to disable the normal 5-1 band though – it may or may not work.
Hi,
Would like your thoughts regarding how I can boost the standard settings on my Asus mesh system with 3 Asus zenwifi ax xt8. I have fiber 1000/1000 in and all connections are via wifi. I have a lot of IoT devices and other devices in total 40. Some are using 2,4 hz and most 5 hz. How can I boost my mesh? I have the latest firmware.
There’s no such thing as a “boost” for Wi-Fi, Zoran, that’s a terrible marketing term designed to fool people. Don’t use it. You can only “extend” a network. When doing it wirelessly, you generally will lose speed. More on that in this post.
A short feedback from me.
I’m running the Ax88u as main router. i got two xt8 for a low price and wanted to integrate them into my network as node. Adding them as node with a wired connection is pretty easy. The only challenge was to get the second 5G available for clients. By default the 5G-2 is used as Backhaul connection which is not necessary if they are connected by wire. After couple of hours testing an searching I got the 5G-2 finally released. The Ax88u is running with both 2,4 and the 5G. Both xt8 are running with 2,4 and the 5G plus 5G-2 merged together as a single 5G without smart connect enabled.
“By default the 5G-2 is used as Backhaul connection which is not necessary if they are connected by wire. After couple of hours testing an searching I got the 5G-2 finally released.”
So how did you do this?
You have to go to AiMesh>system settings(which is located at the top of the page above the “add aimesh node” and “optimization” button)>Ethernet backhaul mode and turn the toggle on.
Thereafter the 5ghz-2 is available for clients and each radio (2,4, 5ghz-1and 5ghz-2)can be enabled separately for each node
Follow the link in the post, Mike.
Hey Dong,
Thanks for the post.
I have had the ZenWifi AX for 3 months now, but I tend to have Wifi stability issues.
* The 2.4G is dedicated to connected home devices (light bulbs, door lock, thermostat, etc.). There is about 20 clients on the 2.4G network over the 2 nodes. But many times, turning the lights on/off some devices are delayed by >15seconds.
* The 5GhZ network is used by phones, laptops and music streamers. When running a speed test with Wifi 5 MacBook Pro (6 feet from the router, direct line of sight), I noticed that the first 5-6 seconds of the speed test stall at 60-70Mbps, before gradually increasing to 300Mbps down / 600Up (sometimes with a big dip back to 70 along the way).
Same test wired to the router I run at 600Mbps down, and 800Up, and I reach those speeds almost instantly and keep them.
Any idea what could be happening? Any diagnostic tips and tools ? Optimisation guides ?
Many thanks.
Likely somet DFS-related, Leo. Including for your backhaul. Check out this post. https://dongknows.com/how-to-fix-wi-fi-dropping-and-disconnection-issues/
Dong,
Your site is by far and away the defacto source of quality information. In formation. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. In my case I know have too much information and I’m hesitant on making a wrong decision. My home is old 1923 brick house with thick walls, A basement, 2 floors and an attic that all need top notch wifi. I was looking at the XT8 for my solution. I want to use a wired backhaul. Two questions. You mention that the XT8 is only good for a wireless backhaul but now with AiMesh 2.0 exposing the second 5G network to clients is not a good solution? Also I don’t believe a synced pair would suffice. Are there any issues in combining 2 sets of XT8 in one mesh network? Thank again!
If you use wired backhaul, it’s better to go with one of these AiMesh sets, Dino. The XT8 will work but new firmware updates *might* cause issues, that has happened before. But to answer your questions, you can also open the 2nd 5GHz band to clients, no matter what. And four XT8 units will work fine together.
Hey Dong,
I’ve read both of your XT8 & CT8 reviews, & I’m still unsure on which one to get. I am moving into a new home, & will be just getting Verizon Fios 500mbps internet service. The house is about 1700sqft: two floors, a basement, & backyard. What I’m mostly looking for is great speed & coverage to all the ends of the house, & want to get all, if not most, of the mbps I’m paying for from both the router & satellite. Also, the router & satellite will be connected wirelessly. I don’t have many devices that will take advantage of the WiFi 6. Can’t go wrong with either one, but would love your input! Thank you for your work as well.
Hey Dong,
Reading both of your reviews on the CT8 & XT8, I’m still kind of unsure which one to get. I am currently moving to a new home & will be just getting the 500mbps Verizon Fios internet service. The new home is roughly 1700 sqft; two floors, a basement, & backyard. What I’m mostly looking for is great coverage & speed on all ends of the home, & getting most of the mbps I’m paying for from both the router & satellite. Also, both the router & satellite will be connecting wirelessly. I don’t have many devices that will take advantage of the WiFi 6. Pretty sure I can’t go wrong with either one, but would love your input! Thank you for your work.
You already got the answer, Chris. Either will work out well considering your place is relatively small. But with the yard, you’re better off with a 2-pack. I’d go with the XT8, which has a better backhaul range, just to be sure, but if money is tight, go with the CT8. You probably won’t see the difference.
Hello Dong,
Thank you for all your reviews. I have been your follower since many years and I appreciate your work a lot.
My new house is about 8000sft on a single level. I have previously used Asus Rt86u along with Merlin and it is the best router I have used.
My new house has ethernet cables running all over so I can run a wired backhaul.
My question is: will 2/3 more 86u routers with merlin be a better choice than the XT8 for mesh benefits.
My primary need is seamless transfer of wifi when I move around the house.
Don’t use the XT8, Sai. It’s only good for a wireless setup. For your case, you can get a few dual-band Wi-Fi 5 units and it will work out well. Or go with the XD4. More AiMesh options in this post.
Hi Dong,
Thank you for you insight. I’ve purchased the xt8 a few months ago however I’m experiencing a few issues which I believe could be configuration related.
1. My wifi cameras often lose connectivity for a few seconds? Is this related to the aimesh finding the best channel and closest node?
2. My Google home devices don’t work with snooping turned enabled. They lose connectivity
3. Wifi bulbs sometimes disconnect and need to be reset to reconnect
I mainly have wifi 5 devices and I’m using smart connect (2.4 + 5ghz). If I use individual network Google devices act up.
Any guidance on the optimal configuration?
Other than getting the latest firmware etc, Thasigan, I’d recommend:
1. Separate the two bands.
2. Use simple Wi-Fi names.
3. Use a string of numbers as the Wi-Fi passwords.
4. Use compatibility Wi-Fi settings, instead of speed-favored.
You can read more on how to deal with those IoTs devices in this post.
The connectivity issues you’re experiencing are frequently related to DHCP.
Besides upgrading the devices to the latest firmware, define static IP addresses for them in the router, and configure the devices to that IP address, rather than fetch it from the DHCP server.
thank Dror – all smart home devices are on static IP’s and have been provisioned
Hi Dong,
I posted before that I was having problems with my second XT8 node connecting to the router and you suggested that I wait for the next firmware and reset the system. Since then I have tried multiple firmware versions including the latest version, reset the system multiple times by holding a paper clip in the reset buttons, swapped the second node with the router, all to no avail. And it doesn’t matter how far the the node is from the router either, I’ve tried from inside the same room and multiple rooms. All I get is it goes from a Great connection, to eventually a Weak connection to Not Connected at all and back again. I was just wondering if there is anything I can try that I haven’t tried yet. I wonder if the system is actually being fully reset as sometimes the second nodes blue light is quickly blinking when it says it is connected. I’ve tried calling Asus but their wait time is long which is why I am asking here. Again, I truly enjoy your site. Thanks for any possible ideas.
Try the 30-30-30 reset on all units, Mark. That’s when you press the reset button for 30 seconds, then unplug the router from its power source for 30 seconds, then plug it in with the reset button still depressed for another 30 seconds. In all, you press and hold the reset button for 90 seconds. Note that might put the routers in the recovery mode. In this case, you just need to load the firmware on them via the web interface, so make sure you download the firmware on your computer first.
Hi Don, Firstly thanks so much for your website it is a recent find and has been an invaluable source of knowledge.
I am wondering if it is better to get a ready Mesh system like the Asus Zenwifi AX XT8 Mesh-system or alternatively I have been really close to getting an Asus RT-AX86U that you have recommended and adding another one to create a mesh in my house. Which would you recommend?
Really appreciate any answer!
That depends, Eddy. More in this post. https://dongknows.com/best-aimesh-routers-and-combos/
Hi Dong, thanks for the great review!
I want to upgrade my Airport Time Capsule to WIFI 6 system, currently airport covers my house well, and I get usable 5G signal in all locations except for two far corners where the speed drops down to 20Mbps.
I have 1Gbps fiber connection with ISP router in one corner of the house, and I essentially need an AP in my living room (which is the centre of the house). I know there are better standalone routers, but I need something that also look nice in my living room. So my questions:
1) Do you think a single XT8 or Linksys MX4200 can cover my house? In your test which one has an edge in coverage?
2) Does XT8 support bridge mode and I can later add more mesh nodes (I’m pretty sure Linksys does but not sure about Asus)?
3) Do you recall the length of power cord of XT8 and MX4200? I ask because I need to place the router 2,2 meters away from the power supplier.
Thank you in advance!
Hi Mai,
1. That’s impossible for me to know, I’ve never been to your house. You should read this post, it’ll help.
2. Yes, I mentioned that in the review. I assume you know what bridge means, if not the post linked above will explain that.
3. It’s generally about 4 feet (1.2m). You’ll need an extension cord.
Thank you! Did you find MX4200 or AX8 has better coverage (if anything obvious)?
They two has about the same coverage, Mai.
The XT8 power input is spec’ed as 19V with max 1.75A.
Any 19V power adapter of 33W or above with a 4*1.35mm connector would do, e.g. this one , or official Asus laptop power adapters
Has anyone tested the new .42095 firmware ? Has it been stable?
So far no issues…👍
Also no known problem with update. Does anyone know if ASUS provides a more detailed README or other file providing more detailed information on what each update does other than simply listing the CVE’s fixed? What is on their website is pretty basic, and a somewhat more complete update history file would be very useful. Any pointers would be helpful. Thanks
Not very stable. Reboots at random intervals. And this is after I have my router set to reboot every night @ 3:00am.
Make it reboot once a week or so. Not everyday. 🙂
Couple of weeks of continuous uptime on 42095 at this point. This firmware version has been stable, no problems. There is one repeating message in the system log “not mesh client, can’t update it’s ip” as I recall, but apparently doesn’t have any effect. Mesh is working fine. It would be nice if Asus would fix that, and no spontaneous reboots, disconnects, etc.
Oh yeah, I don’t use scheduled reboots, haven’t needed to.
I did upgrade and found that it was stable – except that Sonos equipment would not connect in a stable manner. Apparently with Asus you need to do a hard reset and manually reconfigure the system for it to work with Sonos. Once I did that all my Sonos equipment started working perfectly again.
I suspect the source of the issue is some sort of carryover misconfiguration/corruption after upgrades that makes this necessary. It’s unfortunate that Asus’s firmware has such issues.
Thanks for your review. I just ordered a pair of XT8s and I’m planning on using them in AP mode, connecting my existing ‘gateway’ (Cisco ASA) to a LAN port of the nearest unit. Could you confirm that I won’t be able to use the guest network feature since these units won’t be routing traffic?
I hope that the traffic inspection/security features will still work, or are they bound to the WAN port, which won’t be used?
Finally, I couldn’t find any reference to VLANs in the user manual except for ‘VID’ on the IPTV setup page. Is there any way to map a SSID to a particular VLAN? That’s what I’m doing today with the AP the XT8s will replace.
Thanks again for your in-depth review.
None of what you mentioned will work, Dan. In the AP mode, the mesh will do nothing but broadcasting Wi-Fi signals. However, if you use each XT8 unit as an individual AP, then you’ll be able to control each’s Wi-Fi settings as well as using its Guest network/USB features. No other features are available.
Thanks for your reply. Looks like it might not be the best system for my use case. Do you have a recommendation for an AP-only mesh system?
For now, I’d recommend getting one of these mentioned in this review, Dan. It’ll work out well. You likely won’t need to the controller.
Thanks a lot, the TP-Link Omada seems to be what I was looking for.
My setup would use one root AP and one mesh AP. I can’t tell if a 5Ghz band is dedicated to the wireless uplink, do you know if that’s the case?
Also, a controller is required to setup the mesh network according to the tplink website. I’ll be able to run the software version however, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction.
Sure, Dan. These are PoE APs, you don’t need to think about wireless backhaul.
Not sure I understand your comment. The mesh AP will be powered via PoE, but, by definition, will only connect to the network wirelessly (via the root AP). So traffic from stations associated with the mesh AP has to be backhauled wirelessly to the root AP. I am not sure how it is implemented on the EAP245v3.
You need a router or a switch, Dan. The APs connect to each other via the wired backhaul. You can make it work wirelessly but the performance is far worse. Try it.
Got it. If I had a wired connection available at the second location where I want Wi-Fi coverage, I would just buy another AP. But I don’t, that’s why I’m looking into ‘wireless mesh’ solution. The XT8s looked good because of the features and dedicated backhaul band. But most, if not all of the features, won’t be available to me since I have no use for the router part. I know about dual-NAT and I’m not interested 🙂
If only TP-Link would add a dedicated radio, it would be perfect.
At least I know where I stand now. I might still give a try to the TP-Link option, my second location only has a few devices so coverage is more important than bandwidth.
Thanks again for your feedback.
You can consider this extender for the place without wire, Dan. It’s not ideal about the second-best option. If you set it up correctly, it’ll work out well.
Thanks again. I’m spending way too much time on this 🙂
Now I’m thinking of upgrading my existing AP to the EAP245 and using the EX8000 for the second location. The EAP245 is 3×3, not 4×4, but I think that I should still get decent backhaul speed.
Of course, there’s the nanoHD which is 4×4, but twice the price…
Dong, IIUC his suggested setup is:
WWW Cisco ASA (wired only) XT8 ))) XT8
Isn’t that exactly what “Access Point(AP) mode / AiMesh Router in AP mode” is for?
The dedicated backhaul should still work for him, as will the guest network etc.
The Guest network will work if you each router individually in the AP mode, not as a mesh in the AP mode, Dror.
In AP mode, all nodes broadcast guest net.
Easy to create on the fly by app.
Yeap, that’s always the case, Jon, as mentioned in this post. It’s just a bit more work to manage, and you need to run network cables.
Hello, Mr. Ngo,
I wanted to state my appreciation for your recommendations and also sharing your expertise on routers over the years. I just recently upgraded to the XT8, but I got caught up in thinking that I needed a mesh system. Actually, my house is only about 1800 Sq. Ft. total, so just one standalone router is more than enough. The single XT8 is against the wall in my basement, but I’m still getting the full download speed of my ISP plan (500 Mbps) from the opposite wall upstairs. Thanks again, and stay safe!
Sure, Ed. You, too! 🙂
Hi Dong, I have been running a pair of these AX routers for 4 months and apart from initial issue that I managed to resolve with help on here they have been superb. I have them scheduled to reboot twice a week in the middle of the night and now have backup of my configuration which I would recommend before doing any tinkering. I would know like to try and extend coverage to an outbuilding on property that’s 100ft from closest box. I have a garage I could place a box in to reduce distance to 50 meters. My current speed around house is over 100 and would be happy to get 20 in my outbuilding. Any advice on adding extra nodes to network that would get me this outcome at the most affordable price would be very much appreciated, thanks Andy
Assuming you meant feet the two times, Andy. Get two more units and place one in the garage and the other at the far location. Try to keep the optimal distances between them. Hopefully, that works out.
If you meant meters, you need to run a network cable.
Thanks Dong, it is feet an that’s what I had in mind, however wondering if I could get cheaper ASUS boxes to extend as can’t afford to spend as much as I did before on the AX. Would the AC work or a cheaper option?, thanks Andy
Check out this post, Andy.
For a home wifi upgrade, would you recommend the XT8s or two ax11000?
If money is not an issue, I’d go with the latter, Matt.
Perfect, thanks! We may split up the purchases over time but were curious to know the optimal solution.
Hello hope everything is good
I’m about to get the asus zenwifi xt8 ax6600 but I have a question
Main router/ modem —— asus Tx8 —- switch—— each Tx8 will be hard wired via Ethernet to the wall and and directly connect to the switch, will it work? And dose the performance going to be better?
That’s fine, Aziz. But in this case, I’d recommend not getting the XT8, but the XD4 (or a few dual-band routers) instead.
Will just one unit of Asus ZenWiFi AX XT8 as a router cover a house of 110m2, if placed in one corner of the house? I know in theory it will, but
the distance form the router (on the ground floor) to one of computers on the 1st floor will be around 15m, with walls 2 between. Maybe two units of mini version will work better?
That depends on the walls around the house, Artur, but it likely will work. Better yet, try to run a cable and move the router closer to the middle.
Thanks, do you know what signal strength will single router deliver at 15-20 meters away?
In general which of these options will deliver better signal at that range: single ZenWiFi AX XT8 or two units of AX mini?
Impossible to tell, Artur. That depends on your place. If you have wired your home, then consider the XD4. If not, the XT8 is the way to go (that’s if a single router won’t cut it.)
Hi Dong,
I am struggling to decide between the Orbi 75x and Asus XT8.
I am waiting on gig fiber to be installed. My concern with the X8 is stability and with the 750 the lack of features. In my set up will be connecting the mesh network over wifi as it is extremely unlikely to be able to run a cable. The last issue is that i want my work computer to be on the guest network, this looks to not work on the Orbi and on the Asus looks like guest wifi over the notes is relatively new…
Thanks,
Kiko
I already gave you my recommendation, Kiko. You need to keep reading to make your own decision — that’s on you. One thing is for sure, you will NOT get everything. Read these:
1. On guest network.
2. On Mesh.
3. On Wi-Fi 6.
4. On routers.
Hi Dong,
Your website seems to be more comprehensive (and genuine) than a lot of big tech reviewer sites… It’s also impressive how you find time to answer hundreds of comments!
My house is a 3 floor rectangle-shaped townhouse, with just a little less than 2000sq ft. I’ve got a 1Gbps fibre cable coming to my ground floor home office (corner of the building) and then the ISP router giving WiFi coverage, which really struggles with top floor, and has almost no features for security or parental control. It’s a rental property, so I can’t put any cabling in.
After visiting multiple mainstream tech review sites, I found a great deal on a single brand new XT8 for £180 when it retails for £220 and bought it, but then discovered your website…
After reading your guides and reviews, key takeaway is that a Tri-Band solution is a must in my case, as I cannot use the wired backhaul, HOWEVER it appears that a single router may be enough for the size of my house, and of course a similarly priced RT-AX92U (there’s actually a set of these for sale at £150 each at the moment) or RT-AX82U seem to have WAYYY more features.
Have I made a mistake with the XT8, and should I swap it for 82/92? Looking into the future, perhaps sticking with XT8 and adding another unit for a mesh system would be the optimal, but I can’t get over the fact the RT series come with so many more features.
It’s your call, Mantas. Check out the reviews for more. Here’s the review of the RT-AX92U.
Great reviews! I’m hooked and have already bookmarked your site. Thank you! My head is spinning from everything I’ve read. Maybe you can help. I have a 4300 sq. ft. house and I’m considering this XT8 mesh router unless you can recommend something else. Alternatively, I’m considering a combo mesh router and modem in one since I also need a modem, though I sense they aren’t very good. CBK752 is really the only one I’ve seen. I have 100mb internet – may increase to 200mb. I connect through cable. Any personal favorite on a good router and modem or combo unit to buy? Thank you! 🙂
I think the CBK752 will do, Victoria. It can handle multi-gig Internet so it’ll last you a very long time. And on the Wi-Fi side, it’s basically the RBK752.
But generally, it’s a better idea to get a separate modem. That way you’re free to use any router/mesh you want. In that case, get one of these modems, then the XT8 if you want a fully wireless mesh system. If you have wired your home, use the XD4 instead. More on how to pick a mesh in general in this post.
Great site Dong, first time poster here. I have had the 2 pack XT8 system for around 3 weeks now and it’s been rock solid, that is until today when I updated the firmware to version 3.0.0.4.386.41793 today and it’s been nothing but problems since then. Before updating, the second node’s connection always said Great. Now it goes between Weak and Disconnected. I reset the system to factory settings and the router reset but the node didn’t, so I did a hard reset and then ran the setup again. For a couple of hours it said the connection was Great but it’s gone back to going between Weak and Disconnected. I’d appreciate any advice you or anyone can give me to rectify this issue.
Thanks,
Mark
This happens a lot of this set, Mark. I’d recommend reverting to the previous firmware (you can do that manually, just download the firmware and flash them individually, on the node first, then on the router). Then wait for the next release before updating. 🙂
I bought zenwifi xt8 2-pack in december 2020 and was working great until I upgraded the firmware to version 3.0.0.4.386.41793. I had the same exact problem as stated here. The wireless backhaul quit working and my node would not connect to the router after this update. It kept going in and out and disconnecting. After much testing and calling ASUS support I ended up going back to the previous firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_26044 on the router and the node and now all is back to normal, working fine like when I bought it. I hope ASUS fixes whatever this problem is in the next firmware update for Zenwifi xt8. They should post something on the website not to update or remove the firmware update.
Yeah, that happens a lot, Jeff. I’d recommend not upgrading right away but wait for the subsequent release of any new firmware version. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for posting Mark. I was going to update my set today however I think I’ll hold off for a while. My system has been fairly solid – I’ve only had to reboot them 3-4 times in 8 months.
Good call, Bruce! Either that or you might need to reset the router and set the mesh up from scratch with the new firmware. (You can backup and restore the settings.)
Has anyone else had similar issues with 3.0.0.4.386.41793? I am slightly concerned about upgrading to this version if it is unstable. Admittedly I am only using my 4 XT8 nodes as Access Points and have a 2.5G wired back haul.
@Dong when I combine the 5-2 and 5-1 into a single SSID, do you believe I will see any performance improvement? Currently I get around 870mbps on Wi-Fi 6 on the 5-2 band but 917mbps via wired connection.
You can’t combine the two, Jez, you just put them in one Wi-Fi name. It’s a matter of convenience and has nothing to do with performance. You should wait till the next firmware before upgrading.
Ah ok, my back haul 5-2 ssid consistently out performs my 2.4ghz/5-1 ssid, so if I am just giving them the same name, i am guessing it would be just chance as to which one I am on? I might as well leave it separate so I know I am on 5-2?
Sorry I don’t know too much about this!
If you want to make sure which band a device connects to, Jez, it’s best to separate them.
I have had the 2 XT8 units for a few days. I have the latest firmware running.
I have made the 5-2Ghz band visible to clients which is also wired backhaul between the two routers. I have connected my iPhone 12 to the 5Ghz-2 band however I never get about 610mbps download speed. I have a 1gbps download speed and on a wired connection to my PC I get full speed but on wireless my wifi6 client gets no more than 610mbps close by or far away from the router.
Is there a reason why this might be the case as I’m expecting 800mbps download speeds to my wifi6 iPhone 12
More on testing here, Stewart.
Hi,
I have a similar setup and I have seen 870mbps on the 5-2 back-haul hoping for a potential speed increase with the latest firmware – asked Dong above!
I do have a separate router – with no Wi-Fi and the XT8s are really acting as Access Points.
A quick question. I have a set of 2 zenwifi ax routers, one at each end of my house, that provide good wireless coverage for my whole house. I also have a second floor that’s above one of the two XT8’s where I have some wired clients. I’m thinking that if I get a third XT8 to provide for the wired clients upstairs that would be too much wireless, there’s already good wireless there from the downstairs XT8, and clients may get confused, and it may cause problems with the mesh. So I’m considering getting something like an RT-AX3000 and configure it as a media bridge upstairs to provide the wired ports I need.
What do you think of this idea? Would you recommend getting another XT8 and risk having too many wireless nodes, or would you get the RT-AX3000 and use it as a media bridge with the good wifi I already have upstairs?
Thanks!
I’d go with the media bridge idea, Roger.
Thanks, helps to get a second opinion *smile*. Just got the AiMesh 2.0 firmware, seems to be working just fine for me as well. Lots of “new” features.
Sure, Roger. 🙂
Just to followup here, got the Asus RT-AX3000 and it works well in media bridge mode. I’m seeing a speed test of about 600Mbps on my NVIDIA Shield upstairs without the MoCA. Using the MoCA, it’s about 800Mbps. The wifi-6 connection between the ZenWifi and AX 3000 appears to work well. Anyways, very happy with 600Mbps for streaming TV *smile*.
Nice when a plan comes together!
Excellent job, Roger! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hi Dong,
After months of beta, ASUS released stable firmware for the XT8 that upgrades to AiMesh 2.0. Finally, Version 3.0.0.4.386.41793 has many updates including the long promised guest network that broadcasts from both the router and the nodes.
Yeap, I’m aware of that, Smack. It took them long enough.
Now that wired backhaul combined with full bandwidth wireless on the second 5Ghz radio seems fully supported, there is one configuration option which I assume is fully supported but I’ve never actually seen mentioned: If one needs a 3 node configuration in order to get the coverage required, can you easily configure a 3 node wired backhaul configuration using 2 of XT8 LAN ports (on the node used as the router) as wired backhaul connections to the other 2 XT8 nodes? Also, in that configuration can you use the WAN ports on the 2 non-router nodes as LAN ports? Finally in a 3 node configuration, what is the argument for keeping all 3 nodes as XT8s or is there another ASUS router that one could use as the router node that might be less expensive but will still deliver the same functionality and performance? Is there an argument for homogeneity of boxes in an AImesh or is the ASUS mesh product really that seamless across disparate products?
I have no idea what you were trying to say, Randall. Maybe read the post on AiMesh again?
Let me try a simpler version of the question. If you want to install a 3 node version of at XT8 mesh, can you configure this as all wired backhaul with the node being used as the primary router having wired backhaul connections (via 2 of its 3 LAN ports) to the other two nodes acting as extensions.
Yes, how else would you connect nodes through wired backhaul? That’s how wired connections to other nodes are normally connected.
You can connect however that is you want AND possible, Randal. The only important part is on the node, you must use its WAN port to connect to the existing network, be it a switch, the router unit, or another node. Take a deep breath, you’ve been over-analyzing stuff. And read this post on AiMesh.
That’s what I assumed in terms of an all wired configuration but wanted to make sure. The other option would be to daisy chain the wired nodes (primary router to node A, node A to node B) which may also be supported (?) but in my case isn’t preferred. But depending on where you needed LAN ports for uses other than backhaul I can see where the daisy chained configuration might be useful. For example if you needed more than 2 satellite nodes (and needed to reserve one of the LAN ports on the router node for a switch) you might need to do a combination of configurations to get all nodes attached via ethernet.
The other part of my original question was “In a 3 or more node configuration, is there an argument for keeping all nodes as XT8s or is there another ASUS router that one could use as the router node that might be less expensive but will still deliver the same functionality and performance? Is there an argument for homogeneity of boxes in an Aimesh or is the ASUS mesh product really that seamless across disparate products?”
In theory it shouldn’t matter, but I’ve found more reliability (lately) running 4 XT8 rather than a AX11000 as my main router and 3 XT8 Nodes.
This is why you should use tri-band when you CANNOT use wired backhaul. With wired backhaul, use dual-band hardware. The reason is vendors make tri-band mesh systems with wireless backhaul in mind. So firmware updates for tri-band mesh are released based on THAT (the wireless use case) and might mess things up for those using wired backhaul. More here.
Read the post on AiMesh (again), Randall. All that you asked has been addressed in there.
Hi Dong..
Today after i update the zenwifi xt8 to new version 3.0.0.4.386.41793, my second xt8 as ethernet node failure connection from my network switch..
I have to unplug the node RJ45 from network switch and direct plug in to main xt8 router lan port only can work..
Do you know what issue about that ?
Appreciate for your reply..
That shouldn’t happen, Susukim. Try removing the node from the mesh then seting it up again with the switch in between. XT8 router (LAN port) -> switch -> (WAN port) XT8 node.
Hi,
Firmware was released yesterday 2/1/21, which now allows for a tri-band setup when using ethernet backhaul; this makes the second 5GHz band with 160MHz available as part of the mesh network.
It has always been available, Travis, just requires a bit of configuration. Thanks for the tip, though. 🙂
I guess what I’m saying is that ASUS followed up on their firmware update promise to you, which allows the second 5GHz band to be combined with the 2GHz & the first 5GHz bands, all on front haul, and all using the same SSID
Yeap. Finally, it took them long enough.
Hello Dong
I have recently installed the XT8 pair, and find I still have a dead zone on the 2nd floor of our house (XT8 nodes are on main floor and basement). I read in your review of the Nighthawk EX7500 extender, you tested it with an Asus router. Did this operate as a mesh? Would this extender operate with the XT8 as a mesh? Just looking for a less expensive way to add a 2nd satellite instead of purchasing a single XT8 (which I cant find anyway).
No, Brian. You need another XT8 unit. Avoid extenders, they tend to create more problems than they solve. More here.
Hey Dong,
Have had these for about a week now, and am very happy with them. Initially just used the app to do set up, let everything default to what the app wanted, and the mesh came right up. Over the next couple of days, made the changes that I wanted, like selecting channels instead of leaving as “auto” (when I saw that it had selected a DFS channel), turning off UPnP, changing the DHCP address pool, etc. Still working great, no down time, just fast wireless without a hard-wired connection, which was exactly what I was looking for. We do have MoCA that works fine, but consider it impermanent, our coax is old and won’t last forever. And I don’t see that I’d get enough better performance to make it a permanent part of the mesh. I do use the MoCA for other things, like reliable TV streaming, and am very happy that the ZenWifi AX has made us independent of it, that was my objective.
I do have a question *smile*. If I want to add a second “node” (third router), and I add one that has only two radios, I assume that the ZenWifi AX routers will still use their dedicated backhaul radio between themselves. What I’m assuming is that I’ll see is that the added 2 radio router will have slower wireless, but the wireless at the 2 ZenWifi AX routers will still be about as fast as it was.
Is that correct? Not sure if a less expensive router would degrade the whole mesh and I should pony up for a third XT8? Or if instead just the added node will be slower?
Thanks!
No, Roger, you need another tri-band unit — I talked about that in detail in this post. Best if it’s another XT8, if you get the GT-AX11000 or RT-AX92U, you might want the new one to be the main router.
Thanks, sounds like another XT8 is the right answer.
Hi Dong, I currently have two Zenwifi XT8’s and am planning on getting one RT-AX92U. Would it be better to hook up the RTAX92U to the modem and use the other two XT8’s as nodes or does it not matter which one i connect directly to the modem.
Thank you.
It doesn’t really matter, Sean, but the RT-AX92U has more game-related features.
On the XT8 if one “only” has a single gigabit/second to your ISP, rather than wasting the only 2.5 gbs on the main router, I assume there is no way to configure use one of the 1 gps ports for the ISP connection and save the 2.5 gbs port for a wired backhaul to the second router being used as an access point? While not knowing the details of the internal hardware architecture, one could imagine that possibly a firmware update could enable this? Do you know if this has been suggested to ASUS and their response? This would be really useful in cases where a significant portion of your traffic is local and only a portion is bound to the public Internet.
I haven’t tried this, Randall. While you can use the LAN1 as a WAN port in a Dual-WAN setup, I’m not sure if it’s possible to make the 2Gbps work as a regular LAN on the router. I’ll check with Asus and we’ll see how this pans out via future firmware.
Thanks for checking into this. This would be a really useful configuration option, as I suspect it will be a while before any ISPs start offering speeds above 1 gbps at least at any affordable price, so the 2.5 gbps second port is sort of wasted at the moment on both the XT8 used as the primary router, and also on the access point XT8. But being able to use them for a wired interconnect between the XT8s would be really useful if you have a lot of traffic both going in and out the WAN port but also to local devices such as a NAS. In fact since some higher end NASes allow for link bonding via LACP of 1 gbps ports, since the XT8 also allows for LAN port bonding/LACP you could then attach a local NAS to secondary XT8 for an effective 2 gbps local bandwidth and then still have two spare gbps LAN ports on the primary XT8 for things like a local gbps ethernet switch. This would enable an incredibly powerful local home LAN if all of this worked correctly.
While what you’re thinking makes sense on paper, Randall, it likely makes no difference in real life. That’s because chances are your end devices are all Gigabit (at best). The router needs to have more than one Multi-Gig port for what you think of to work out. For now, a single Multi-Gig connection to the server (either via the 2.5Gbps or Link Aggregation) still helps in the sense that the server can serve multiple clients better. But keep in mind that most servers cap at 6Gbps (on paper), which is the internal drives’ speed, and therefore likely MUCH lower in real-life, unless you use SSDs… Soon enough, we’ll have all 10Gbps routers and switches. For now, enjoy what you have however you like. 🙂
Dong – thank you so much for your informative site and helping (more than you know) those that are learning all about networking. For best coverage of a large area, 7,000 sq. feet ranch – with thick walls – and the need for all wireless backhaul since that’s the only possibility, would you recommend 3x AX92Us or 3x AX AT8s? Connections are fairly standard in today’s world for a family with children – connected TV’s Speakers, Zooms, Rings, Nests, etc. We’re not gamers either. Thank you so much again for your advice and all the details you provide on your site as I’ve learned a great deal since I started reading.
It’s impossible for me to give a specific recommendation since I’m not there, Josh. (More here). But for a wireless setup, tri-band is a must. You can also consider the CT8, especially if you live near an airport or weather radar station.
Hey Dong,
I know it’s way to early but do you have any initial thoughts on the ASUS Zenwifi XD6 just announced vs the XT8? Just wondering if I need to wait in buying an router.
Thanks
I have no initial thoughts, Rick.
The XD6 is dual band, so its comparison should be to the XD4 (ZenWifi AX Mini).
Hey Dong!
Thanks so much for the awesome review on the XT8.
Just wanted to check regarding the 5ghz-2 band. Lets say I’m using a single node as the router and I made the 5ghz-2 available for clients, is the high speed only available for Wifi 6 compatible devices? And would the cap speed for Wifi 5 devices be similar to the 5ghz-1?
Thanks in advance!
As a standalone router, the XT8 will work like any tri-band Wi-Fi 6 router, Heikel.
I found an interesting post on the unavailability of the 160MHz channel width for the backhaul in the UK due to channel 124 (right in the middle) being used by weather radar.
I suppose the 160MHz channels require the availability of a lot of the DFS channels. Are there many problems in the US?
It’s an inherent problem with DFS, Leonard. No matter where you are. 🙂
Hello Dong,
In your review you wrote:
“Update: Asus told me on February 11, 2020, that it would might release a new firmware update that opens up the front-haul to support 4×4 160MHz specs, effectively doubling the XT8’s Wi-Fi speed for clients. This doesn’t seem like a sure thing, however.”
My question to you is, can a simple firmware update change the number of streams?
No, Mark, but it can change the support for the channel width.
Thanks for all of the updates and advanced insight as to possible changes/upgrades to the XT8. Since you’re “in the know” to a greater degree than most of us, have you gotten any insights as to when/if Asus will be adding WiFi6E to the CT8/XT8 product line? Seems like if we’ve waited this long to upgrade to WiFi6/ax from our WiFi5/ac class routers, might be worth the additional wait for 6E. Thanks
If at all, it’s probably by the end of this year, Randall.
Great review and used it to get my zenwifi xt8 x2 to replace my ageing rt-68u. Only issue i have had is complete lockout of any hardwired connectivity. Internet and wireless continues to work but anything connected to ethernet will not show up and need to reboot device..it messes up my whole network and takes a little time to get everything back to normal. Using current firmware as off Dec 2020 and it setup up as default using th ewireless backaul to second mesh device !! very weird and not easy to bottom out. Not sure if a firmware issue.
Thank you
Gary
I don’t see a question there, Gary. But it’s indeed weird. I’d recommend you reset the mesh and set it up from scratch.
Hi Gary,
Had the same problem, went back and forth with ASUS support, finally they had me RMA both devices. It was a hardware issue so they replaced both devices. It will take a little work filling out their forms and sending setup files but stick with it, it’s worth your time.
Carmine
thank you both, will do reset but already reset from fresh…wil do it again as it would be less tedious than an rma but I will persist if it happens again as it is so frustrating.
Thx
Gary
Hi Dong,
Thanks for a great review. I have been comparing the XT8 with the NETGEAR Orbi RBK852 (which is more expensive).
The XT8 looks much better value, but I am not sure if the XT8 (W-2-PK) can be extended by adding another two satelittes nodes XT8 (W-2-PK) and still have a single mesh SSID for the whole home i.e allow a client device to roam the home and seamlessly switch to the XT8 node with the best signal. Would that work? I looked at the ASUS site and XT8 config beyond two nodes is not covered.
I notes that Lars in Norway did this, but I was not sure if it would retain a single mesh SSID.
The NETGEAR Orbi RBK852 can be extended with additional mesh nodes (RBK853 and RBK854) to extend the range of the mesh SSID for larger homes.
Hi Harp, the XT8 is part of Asus’s AiMesh. The short answer is yes and you can find out more in this post.
Harp,
I have 4 XT8 nodes hooked up in mesh.
With the latest beta firmware, there’s a “Force Ethernet Backhaul” toggle under the “AiMesh” section on the web interface (not the App). When I turn it on, Dual-Band Smart Connect turns into Tri-Band Smart Connect.
Is it better to have Tri-Band Smart Connect On or Off?
That’s your call, Azim. Either way is fine.
Are there any benefits to smart connect to make my network more reliable?
Not really. It’s a matter of manually segmenting your network vs.not.
Hi Azim,
where do you see the Force Ethernet Backhaul toggle (Ethernet backhaul mode)? It seems to be missing in my web interface.
Under AiMesh I see only topology as category – no system settings or similar.
Thanks,
Kay
Here’s how, Kay: AiMesh (section) -> Click on the node in question -> click on Network. You’ll see Link Type there which shows the current backhaul. Make sure you use the latest firmware.
Kay,
As long as you’re on the latest beta. Go on the Web Interface:
AiMesh -> System Settings
In there, there is a toggle labeled “Ethernet Backhaul Mode”. Once that is enabled, TriBand Smart Connect became an option for me.
Thank you Dong and Azim, appreciate the help!
I wasn’t aware it was only available in the current beta firmware – the Asus support article is a bit misleading as it says that the feature should be available in firmware version later than 386.xxxx.
TriBand Smart Connect works perfectly for me now with the beta firmware!
I just received mine today. So far so good and I’m impressed. I’m replacing an Orbi RBR50 2 node mesh system.
One thing that I noticed it actually doesn’t support that the Orbi does is vlans. I wish Asus would add vlan support.
I’m using the wireless backhaul right now to the second node upstairs in an old house with thick walls. I plan on running a cable between the two in the near future. I’m not sure if I would bother using the 5Ghz -2 with a dedicated SSID but maybe I’ll give it a shot some day.
I don’t have any WiFi 6 devices yet, but I did notice my WiFi 5 speeds increase slightly especially on the upstairs second node.
All in all, I’m impressed so far for the price. I almost went and purchased the $700+ Orbi system and I’m not sure it would have been worth it honestly. I could almost purchase two of these systems for that price.
I’m not sure it would have made sense to go with any other WiFi 6 mesh system, this one seems to check most of the boxes.
Nice going, Colin! And, no, there’s no router or mesh that has everything, which is a good thing in a way. 🙂
So far I’ve found the AX 6600 XT-8 to be a completely unreliable router. The first box I purchased had a DOA unit. OK, that happens. The replacement keeps going offline, sometimes for days at a time. There seems to be no way to bring it back up and ASUS support has been less than forthcoming about why this happens. This is not an inexpensive purchase. I expect more from a vendor, but perhaps I should not be so surprised. I’ve seen a lot of posts on the ASUS site about similar issues — just no fixes. ASUS also locked many of those posts so you can’t see the answers – just the questions. So perhaps that DOA unit wasn’t so unusual after all, eh?
Thanks for sharing your XP, Capros. The set I reviewed has been working well. Bit it seems there have been inconsistency in the quality of this hardware. 🙁
Too true. As a former reviewer of tech equipment, I well remember getting very thoroughly pre-tested products from vendors. It normally worked pretty well, but the retail products — well, not so much. I won’t say that’s what ASUS is doing — it’s just very disappointing that a former wonderful company now is putting out questionable products.
Do *you* know how to get the router back up once the infernal red LED lights up? Rebooting doesn’t work, nor does anything I’ve found when I log into the web interface. Web app is useless.
I’d just do a hard reset on it, update the firmware to the latest, etc.
Did that about four times. No joy. That’s what’s so frustrating. Two days ago it came back up after been down for over a week — last night it went down and this morning it was back up. Too strange.
Keep up the good work. I enjoy your reviews.
I guess I’m one of the lucky one – mine has been working flawlessly for months now. Main unit downstairs hardwired to second unit upstairs – I’m mostly using the backhaul band (5-2Ghz I think it is) for my clients. My ISP’s cable modem is unfortunately much less reliable.
Mine XT8 pair is much more stable lately. Up&running for 3 weeks without interruption. There were frequent restarts in the past. In my case, restarts were related to the attached USB disk used for Time Machine. I wonder if anyone else had such an experience.
I agree Asus support is not much of a help. They do not go deep and after a few interactions, they suggested returning the units.
Yes, Klemen, the USB drive for sure can affect the router’s overall performance (and stability). I haven’t done and exhaustive testing on this and generally only use one for a couple of hours when I review a router.
I think you are correct there are some hardware issues. I purchased mine back in April of this year and they worked fairly well, even better with the September firmware upgrade. Recently however I started to have a problem with all the Lan ports shutting down unexpectedly. WIFI continued to work but often at a much reduced speed, also it was never clear what brought them back on line, a router reboot, network reboot, or just waiting. I worked with Asus tech support who when unable to fix had me RMA them. It took about 2 week and then sent me two new units. Never told me what the problem was so I assumed it was hardware. Works great now, ….especially after I purchased a GT AX11000 to use while they were being fixed/replaced.
Hi Dong. Thanks for another great review! Will you update this review now that a bunch of firmware updates have surely come out addressing any shortcomings (and new features) noted on the current review? Thank you again.
Nope, Jacob. There’s nothing major enough to warrant an update.
Hi Dong,
in different reviews in the internet as well as some comments in this thread I can see that some users set scheduled reboot every day, every other day etc. Some do it to fix some bugs they have, others consider it to improve performance considering how sophisticated this system is (small PC). Also considering this function is available in ZenWiFi itself I assume Asus also assumes it may make sence. Do you recommend scheduling reboots for better operation? If yes how frequent?
Thanks
Yes, I’d set that to be once or twice a week, Nazar. Pick a time that won’t affect anything. The restart takes about a minute.
I’ve just setup the system. Router is connected to the Fiber ISP modem through the cable and then Router is connected to the node through 5hZ-2 backhaul. It used connection type as Wireless Router Mode (Dafault). I wander if it’s correct connection? It seems like schematically I should use AP mode as I have ISP router in between. Pls advise. Thanks.
That’s the correct setup, Nazar. If you need to keep the ISP router, check out this post that talks about your options.
Sorry the Default one is correct or AP?
Thanks.
Yes I need to keep ISP router. I read your article and it describes two main options, AP or wifi extender. It seems like the Default connection mode in ZenWifi is neither which is Wireless Router Mode.
I must keep ISP modem which will be connected by cable to ASUS ZenWifi. I don’t mind to have double NAT as nothing else is connected to ISP modem through LAN and I don’t need to communicate to ISP modem LAN ports. Should I keep it as Wireless Router Mode?
Read this post, Nazar and figure things out yourself. It’s specifically about your situation. I can’t answer everything single question you might have. 🙂
Thanks
Hi Dong,
if I have many IoT devices, 4K streaming TV’s, laptops, tablets, etc. Would I have better performance separating frequencies 2.4Hz for IoT devices and smartphones and 5Hz for 4K TVs and Xbox console? I read some Amazon reviews which point that separating frequencies gave better speed/performans rather than use them combined.
Thanks
Thanks
So I’ve finally got my pair, and after fiddling for hours to copy my old setup, the router update (for a reserved IP address) got stuck. Now I’m unable to reach the router web interface anymore, with https://router.asus.com:8443 (and http://router.asus.com) now returning ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED. The Internet is working, but being unable to reach the router is a real problem
Any suggestion what to do about it, aside from a reset and starting over?
I tried disconnecting from power for 2 minutes as I read somewhere, didn’t budge.
Thanks!
You need to use the IP address instead, Dror. It’s likely 192.168.50.1 or you can find that out the way mentioned in this post.
Thank you Dong.
I’ve tried that as well, but I’m getting the same “connection refused” error. This isn’t a DNS resolve issue, `host router.asus.com` returns the correct IP address.
That’s odd. Try a different browser/computer, Dror. Clean the browser’s cache, etc.
Tried that, didn’t work. Logging in through the app failed as well. Eventually I’ve reset the router and defined everything again. I minded to back up every once in a while, which was I really good idea indeed it occurred twice more. I think it might have to do with the fact I was making these configuration changes while being far from the main router (connected by Ethernet to the remote node).
I had this exact problem when setting up my mesh. I had to reset multiple times and start over. I changed which unit was my “main” router and everything is fine.
I saved my config, reset both, set up again with the previous unit as main, and had the same problem where I could not log in through browser or app. I reset and switched back and everything works as it should. It seems one unit is not functioning properly.
Hi Dong,
could you elaborate a little regarding “Multi-gig WAN port with Dual-WAN and WAN link aggregation” as I couldn’t find any specific posts regarding aggregation on your website.
Say I have two wired fiber modems, one has 100mbps download, 5mbps upload speed and another has 50mbps download and 20mbps upload. Can I connect them both to Asus ZenWiFi AX? If yes what my total theoretical speeds can be for download and upload?
Thanks
@Nazar, there is a Dual WAN tab, for that purpose specifically.
See details on setup here.
You have two options load-balance and failsafe, Nazar. In my XP, the former is only relevant when your two WAN connections are of similar speeds (yours are not).
Hi Dong,
I have 4x 4k TVs, two laptops, one tablet, about 25 IoT devices, 3 smartphones, 4 Apple TVs and an Xbox console. Would I have better performance with separated 2.4Hz and 5Hz where 2.4Hz will be used for IoT devices and smartphones and 5Hz for TVs, notebooks, Apple TVs and Xbox? Or will have them in one will perform equally good? Also does QoS really do any difference? Thanks
@Dong Ngo, You can ‘load balance’ the load, so you can for instance send 75% to one WAN and 25% to another. Especially when the WAN speeds are not similar. But my biggest issue with this is that the load balance option will disable QoS.
@Dong Ngo, thanks, does it mean it will increase download and upload speeds or speeds will remain the same but only the throughput will increase?
@Dror, thanks, this was useful. But I can’t understand how a USB port can be used as second WAN if modem is not 4.5G but fiber with WAN cable out. Can I use two WAN cables in Asus ZenWiFi AX to aggregate from two fiber modems?
@Dong Ngo, thanks. But I will have two similar speeds fiber modems, say 100 download and 5 upload, will my download and upload speeds double in load-balance mode or will I only increase throughput? Also can Asus ZenWiFi AX accept two WAN cables for this purpose? (not USB). Thanks
@Nazar, you can choose if you want to use one of the LAN ports for this, or the USB port (with a USB to Ethernet adapter).
@Nazar,
You can do 2 things: or connect one fiber modem to one of the LAN ports and tell the router in the configuration he has to use LAN 3 (for instance) as WAN connection; OR you can buy a USB to ETHERNET adapter and connect the fiber modem to that adapter and the USB in the router.
@Sven, thanks. But it will not increase internet speed, will it?
@Nazar, I think that depends. For one request it will not increase speed, because that one request will use one of the 2 WANs, but if you have multiple requests, these will be load balanced over both WAN connections and you will be able to use both speeds to the max and that will mean that for your perception you have 2 times the speed.
Hi Sven,
thanks. Say I have 2x 100mbps fiber modems connected in balance mode. When I’ll put a torrent file to download which pretty much fills in the whole throuput, what the download speed will be? In torrent download the higher the speed the quicker it downloads.
Torrent uses multiple connections so these will be loadbalanced over both connections. So it will use 200mbit.
Thahanks.
I have 4x 4k TVs, two laptops, one tablet, about 25 IoT devices, 3 smartphones, 4 Apple TVs and an Xbox console. Would I have better performance with separated 2.4Hz and 5Hz where 2.4Hz will be used for IoT devices and smartphones and 5Hz for TVs, notebooks, Apple TVs and Xbox? Or will have them in one will perform equally good? Also does QoS really do any difference?
Unfortunatly i am unable to connect google chromecast, Google home display(lenovo) to the New netwerk (worked before) they will not connect. Any sugestion is welcome
Check out this post, Ivo.
@I.spohr,
Perhaps change the WPA type? When I used WPA2-personal I could connect my Windows 7 laptop, but when I changed it to WPA2/WPA3-personal I could not connect anymore.
@Dong Ngo, Thanks for your reply
Before the ZenWifi AX, I used the RT AC5300 in combination with 2 Lyra Mini in AImesh configuration without any problems. Now with the new Zenwifi AX in combination with the 2 Lyra Routers in AImesh None of the google devices (Chromecast audio, Chromecast Video, google home mini, lenovo Clock, Lenovo Smart display) connect to the network, I have on all WIFI bands separate SID’s and try to connect the google devices to the 2.4 Ghz Band SID. All my other devices (laptops 11, Tablets 3, phones 7) connect ) distance to router(s) less than 3 metres ( max 6 meter)
I Did try with 5Ghz-1 and 5Ghz-2 channel aswell – No Luck
I Did
– Switch USB mode from USB3 to 2 – No Luck
– Diabled 802.11ax / Wi-Fi 6 mode – no Luck
I hope anyone has similar experience and suggestion to solve
Firmware Version:3.0.0.4.386_25790
@Sven, thanks, it is on WPA2 but not working
Dong, (and Rob please)
We currently have Xfinity gig service, SB8200 modem and two Asus 3100 routers in mesh config (one router, the other mesh connected via ethernet gig switch). Modem and router are in office at one end of house. Mesh node is in a bedroom to get coverage to two kids on devices for zoom classes, xbox, etc. House is about 2800sf.
When it’s working well, we get fast speeds on connected devices. From router, I get 948Mbps on my laptop. From mesh, connected via ethernet, I get the same. Wireless is less, of course.
Problem is with five of us on Zoom/Webex and Netflix, etc. the system is getting bogged down and we are getting slow speeds. Seems the only solution is resetting the modem and routers. We’ve had Comcast out twice.
A few questions:
Will wifi 6 mesh solve this problem?
How many mesh nodes?
Which vendor?
From this article, you are rating the Asus tops, but Rob comments On Nov 28, that the Orbi worked better than the xt8.
Other question:
Is the XT8 compatible with my 3100 routers? could I use them as additional mesh nodes in different room? That would certainly save the hundreds of dollars invested in those.
Thanks in advance,
Marty
Your current setup is fine, Marty. You just need a good QoS configuration. The RT-Ac3100, by the way, is an excellent router. It’s basically the same as my most fave, the RT-AC88U, minus a few LAN ports.
@Dong Ngo,
Thank you for the reply. I’ll read the article. I’ve just set the QOS to “work-from-home” to prioritize online conferencing. We’ll see how that works plus any other suggestions in your article.
Thanks again,
Marty
@Dong Ngo,
Thank you for the article. As noted, set to work from home, so fingers crossed. Additional information regarding SIP. Our Comcast VOIP has a separate router w/ wifi disabled, so I’m not bothering to mess w/ the Asus settings w.r.t. SIP.
Hopefully last question. Is there way or need to change settings on the mesh node, which is an identical Asus 3100?
Thanks again,
Marty
Sure, Marty. And no, you can’t manage the node separately. You’re all good.
@Marty J,
well, here’s yet another question. I’m using five of the ethernet LAN ports off the router. Three are showing 1Gbs: Desktop PC, work laptop and a gig switch that distributes to the house. I know that is getting through because the mesh node is receiving and if I plug into that mesh node, I get just shy of full speed.
Problem: Two are showing 100Mbs. One of those is to a gig switch hooked up to another desktop and the TV. The other goes to feed the Sonos system. It’s less important maybe, but simply puzzling why there are different, at least from the other switch that is transmitting at 1Gbs.
Thanks,
I’ll need to Venmo you.
Marty
That’s likely because the TV and the Sonos use Fast Ethernet (10/100), Marty. The speed between a pair is that of the slowest party involved. More here. Also, check the cables.
@Dong Ngo,
Again, thank you. That is very interesting that the slowest client decides the speed. Makes sense. I checked the Sonos line using only my laptop and the speed increased. So that one is good.
The other, not so good, even when I only had my laptop plugged in, it was still under 100Mbs. Checked the desktop and it’s supposed to have a gigabit LAN connection, but not getting it. Not sure how to check the TV (Samsung). Maybe I’ll let the TV run off wireless instead of ethernet.
I saw where someone said they checked the connectors, so that is my next step for that line. Curious as to why it would work at all if the connectors were bad. Anyway. Learning lots.
Marty
Sure, Marty.
@Marty J,
I’m not an expert. I just used what I could figure out based on my own use. The biggest change for me was moving the main router and modem connection to a better center point in the house and then surround it with enough nodes to ensure good coverage in my home, which is actually pretty small.
A few things that helped. (1) installing the nodes high on walls and without any blockage between them. (2) running a wired backhaul.
Now that said, with the firmware I had with the XT8s at the time I still struggled to maintain good connection for all the folks needing to Zoom throughout the day.
Part of that I think is some loss of speed due to the trend micro software, which I loved and hated at the same time. Part of it, I think, is just that the antennas in the XT8 just weren’t strong enough. FYI, you may have read that I was running four nodes. Even with the Orbi being stronger in regards to transmission strength, I still ended up needing one additional node to make my network as strong as possible in the worst room in the house.
We now run six folks on Zoom all day with little issue and are happy. I still don’t think the cost is justified, but in these times, we don’t have much of a choice.
@Rob,
I feel your pain. I am trying to tweak the QOS per Dong’s note(s). We’ll see how successful that is this week when we have five on video calls all day.
Like you said, we don’t have a choice.
Marty
@Dong Ngo,
Actually turns out my model is teh RT-AC88U. Eight LAN ports.
So far so good w/ QOS and other settings.
Thanks,
Marty
My home is 6100 sqft and my Internet is capped at 150mbps. My concerns are maximizing speed as well as coverage for my whole house. I need something that is wireless. I don’t have any wired capabilities. I will have around 40-50 things connected to it wirelessly. One day we may have 1 gig internet available but that will probably be a few years. Which mesh wifi 6 system would you recommend? Thanks.
That depends on your home, Lee. Check out this post first. After that pick one from this list. For sure, you can get the Orbi RBK753.
Dong,
What does the “Optimization” button/feature do in the app if you run it?
If I understand it correctly it will disconnect all nodes and then attempt to find the best connection again.
I assume this isn’t very useful to the average person with 2 nodes and a wireless backhaul. Am I missing something?
It’s unclear what it does exactly, Colin. But your assumption is about right. Don’t mess around with things too much just because you can, you might end up making necessary changes and break the system.
What’s the best option XT8 or Netgear Orbi RBK852?
That’s up to your need, Azim. More here.
I need reliability and coverage. I have an XT8 system setup in my house, and I have major disconnecting issues. Everyday I need to power cycle the whole system because it just stops working. I have the router and nodes hooked up through Ethernet.
Azim,
My personal opinion is the Orbi. I used the xt8 for two months before I had to give up. Not sure if the firmware has improved, but I just wasn’t getting the throughout that I needed in the house, even using a wired backhaul. With the Orbi, I have a family of six on zoom and videogames all day and the system barely hiccups.
In the worst room in the house, I get 650mbps connected to the satellite ( this one is not wired backhaul). I may hate theirfirmware upgrades but the hardware is solid.
Rob,
Yeah I’m debating abandoning my 4 XT8 nodes and picking up an Orbi system. It just seems like such a waste of money leaving those XT8’s now.
Azim, I had your exact setup. First of all, I loved the flexibility that the XT8 gave me in setup, parental controls, and the free Trendmicro protection. However, (a) I could never get close to the gigabit I was paying for and (b) my zoom calls would lag even when close to a node. In the end, the only thing that matters is coverage and connection. The Orbi excels at that. I combine it with the Netgear nighthawk modem that just came out to capture an extra 200 Mbps from Xfinity and my kids are happy as pie. I have plenty of negative stories about Netgear and their support/firmware, but their hardware has generally been top notch albeit not a true mesh.
Rob,
I’m getting great speeds, 800mbps on my iPhone 12 Pro Max from multiple rooms away from the closest node. What I need is reliability. Having to power cycle my whole system once or twice a day is irritating to say the least.
Hi Dong,
Could use your advice. I’m upgrading from a 3 pod Orbi RBK53 system to WiFi6 and purchased the ASUS ZenWifi XT8 2 pack. I have Google Fiber 1GB Internet but what I’m really trying to optimize for is wireless VR link between my Quest 2 (which supports WiFi 6) and my desktop PC which sports 10GB LAN and Intel AX200 WiFi. I’m concerned that by itself, the ASUS XT8 won’t be much of an upgrade from the Orbi, but by pairing it with a ROG GT-AX11000, I can unlock extra performance thanks to the 2.5gb LAN port on the ROG. Does this sound sensible to you? Do I loose anything by pairing the XT8 system with the ROG router?
Yes, Mark, the GT makes sense in terms of Internet speed, though not much of a difference considering your have 1Gbps Internet (and not faster). I’d just go with the XT8. Note, though that it might not have the same coverage as the old 3-pack Orbi.
Thanks for the review. I’m currently trying to decide between the Orbi 852, AmpliFi Alien and this one.
A few months have passed, did Asus update the firmware so quest network is available also in the mesh?
And if I’m reading correct at only supports WPA2 and not the new WPA3.Is that also something they could add in a firmware update or does it need different hardware?
Thanks in advance
The Asus supports WPA3 fine, Flippo. That’s only an issue if you use a mix of routers in an AiMesh set.
Hi Dong, thanks for the reply about WPA3.
Could you look into the guest network question? Would be a bummer if the guest network still would not be available on the satellite/mesh.
best regards
Hi Dong,
I’ve been reading about your posts on the AiMesh and finally installed it today. I used the XT8 as my main router and 6 more to finish the set up. My only issue is that I have a network switch, and it does not allow me to connect the nodes to the main router through the switch. When the nodes are connected to the LAN ports in the different rooms it disconnects the node completely from the mesh system, despite the main router being plugged into the switch directly.
You must have plugged something is wrong. Check out this post on the basics of plugging stuff in — among other things, if you’re using a MANAGED switch, make sure you know how to configure it. Also, make sure you have read THIS post in full.
I am planning to get 4 XT8 (2 sets) to cover the entire hours. I wanted to know if it is possible to combine 4 XT8s or you need a different solution as I have quite a big area to cover.
Technical, yes. It’ll work. For that big of a place, tho, you might want to get it wired first and then get a dual-band set.
It’s there an ability to quickly disconnect a specific device? It’s a current feature I have with my ISP through the modem and use with my kids
You can disconnect a device (or with the app you can disconnect al devices associated with a child).
Yes, John. You just open the Network Map, click on the device, and choose to block it. There are other things to do, too.
I’ve been using XT8 Zenwifi since June 2020. up till today, i’m still facing a problem of frequent disconnection even after updating to the latest official firmware Version 3.0.0.4.386.25790.
What happen was, in every device i’ve to disconnect and reconnect the wifi on daily basis. some times more twice a day. My system set up is, 1 router + 1 node.
Reported to Asus, they gave me the following firmware version > 9.0.2.4.386_25527 which temporarily solved the problem.
Hope the next firmware will solved the problem.
Thanks for sharing, Sulaiman. My take is you likely live close to an airport have chosen to use the DFS channel.
My Goodness. Airport is 16.63 KM = 10.33 miles frm my house. I’ve read through your ‘The DFS Channel’ article but cant figure out how to solve my problem.
Hope there is a specific article for that in future. & Thank you for sharing your knowledge and takes time to do this page.
Hi Dong,
To update on my previous request; I found the solution on DFS channel thorugh this article of yours > https://dongknows.com/how-to-fix-wi-fi-dropping-and-disconnection-issues/
Thank You for the effort.
Hi Dong,
I brought this with confidence after your great review and all my personal laptops and other devices are getting max speed all other my house which is very spread-out. The problem I have is that my work laptop cant find either the 2.4ghz or 5ghz bands so I’m having to connect through ethernet which is a pain as limits where I can work, and with young kids causes challenges.
I’ve turned off the ‘Hide SSID’ option but still not appearing, interestingly there is a network being shown that’s strong but says unknown, when trying to join it asks for SSID so have tried adding both the names for the 2.4ghz and 5ghz but gives error of not recognised.
Andy help on what might be causing this issue would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Andy
That unknown one is the backhaul band, Andy. You can actually make use of this — just follow the tri-band section of this post. As for your work laptop. It’s probably its Wi-Fi adapter is old. More on that in this post.
Thanks Dong, I had a go with the backhaul advice but it still gave error message of unable to connect so have turned the dedicated backhaul back on. Unfortunately I can’t change network adapters as it’s all locked down, I’m only in this job for 3 more weeks so think I will just cope with wired network for now.
In doing all this my 2nd node now has a weak signal, I’ve taken it out of network and added again and still the same, this is with boxes next to each other. Before I received your first post advice a friend told me to have the bands under same SSID which I now have with smart connect enabled (also tried disabled) so not sure if this would impact at all.
Your help again would be very much appreciated.
Thanks again,
Andy
I take it the node is wireless and not wired? How far away from the router is the node? What is your Internet provider speed and what speed are you getting from the node
Hi John Paul,
I’m not sure if your reply was for me or not, and you might have seen in my next reply to Dong that I have now got issues with constant weak signal to my 2nd node even when placed next to it.
My original setup that I couldn’t find network on my work laptop on is 140MBps with an ISP in the UK of EE. My 2nd node was about 25 ft away and not wired. Speed tests were giving me 130+mbps everywhere in house. I’m still getting 140 in rooms near to main node but the 2nd node is not giving much help as now getting less than 20 download in room of 2nd node and room on from this, however what’s weird is I’m still getting 20 upload, even in furthest away room.
I have my node about 40 feet away through two walls from the router and it’s only dropped out once. Speed is the same as from router when in the room of node.
I tried resetting everything the other day because an iPad was dropping out(actually both iPads from different generations drop out occasionally but nothing else does). This dropped the speed of both router and node by 2/3rds and that lasted the whole day before going back to normal the next day. I’m with Virgin and there were no reported problems with the line.
When you set the node up did you have it right next to router? Also, I’m not sure if the node uses separate channels but maybe try changing a channel in case the area is making that channel congested.
Hi Andy, yes, it was for you, thanks. Dong recommended a wired setup for me using dual band routers which I may end up doing. That said it’s not the just convenient solution as I’d have to run the wires on the outside which I’m not keen on aesthetically.
So the wireless backhaul is the way I was hoping to explore but your experience gives me pause (something else might be happening). That said, is your node on the same floor?
Unfortunately my house has lots of walls, 3 levels, and the ISP drop is at the corner of my house and after reading Dongs article on how to set up a router, I realize that might not be the best location. So I might give this a go and perhaps place the main router on the middle floor (center of the outside wall given the Omni directional nature of the signal), and wireless node on the second level, which is about 18ft away vertically / horizontally….. The way our electronic equipment is, most of the main devices that require the most bandwidth will be mostly within a 10 to 15 foot range, even if through standard walls I’m figuring I’ll get respectable bandwidth. It’s also interesting is I think I will separate the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and connect my smart devices and anything not bandwidth intense to the 2.4 GHz band while using the 5 GHz band for anything I want maximum bandwidth on
Any new info on when this system will be getting WiFi 6E support?
It highly likely will not, Kurt. More here.
Hello Dong
Thanks for this excellent review. I am considering them for my new home. Here is my setup:
1 GBit internet connection.
4 bedrooms over 2 floors, all have a wired connection to a central switch in my home, unfortunately only Cat 6 cables (not 6a).
As you see, Wifi backhaul is not important for me, since I will be using wired as much as I can, but I want to have decent wifi speed in every room, on both floors.
Would you recommend rather another set of access points which are even faster to create the mesh wifi?
You should get one of these dual-band set, Etiene. (CAT6 and CAT6a are virtually the same in your case, by the way.)
Thank you Dong! I’ve got a pair of Asus ZenWiFi AX Mini thanks to your great review. At the moment, the WiFi speed is ok-ish.
Speedtest WiFi connected to the Asus Node via wired backhaul: https://www.speedtest.net/result/10506486371
Speedtest with direct Ethernet connection to the modem: https://www.speedtest.net/result/10506315596
The Mac and the Node are very close together, no wall in between, but still a significant speed drop. Any ideas / recommendations?
More on testing here, Etienne. Nothing is wrong with the numbers there. Also, you can not expect Internet speed at the end device.
Just wanted to say thank you to your reviews and recommendations. Really happy now with my setup. The only disadvantage of using the ZenWifi AX Mini, like you’ve mentioned in your review, is having to add an ethernet switch between the two if you want to have more ethernet ports available AND want to use it in the true AiMesh mode, which gives you more config options and features,
Sure, Etienne. Glad it worked out.:)
So, may I ask you a question. I have the ASUS GT-AX11000 and want to create an AIMESH system. What would be the big difference if I bought the AX1800 (the mini version of the AX6600 if I understand this properly). I can get 3 satellites of the mini for $279 presently rather than 2 satellites in the full-size model for $449. My home is 2082 s.f. I have a 400 mb internet connection and PLASTER walls that mess with signals (although the 11000 is doing great with that). I just don’t understand if I need to spend the $449 or if the minis will give me the same end product for a better price. Thanks in advance, sir.
The AX1000, AX66000 etc, are NOT model numbers, Dave. I.e. they don’t represent particular devices, but a whole class of them. But generally, if I catch your drift, the difference is in the dedicated backhaul band. More here.
Hi Dong,
I bought a Asus RT-AX88U and tried to set up mesh with RT-AC68U as a node with ethernet backhaul.
It was very hard getting them to pair and the node kept dropping.
I tried stock firmware on both and Merlin Firmware on both.
Super frustrated….. About to return AX88U
(RT-AC68U works like a charm in AP Mode)
But I like the concept of USB wlan fall back and so I am willing to give asus one more chance.
This time I think I will go with ZenWifi-AX
So I had a few questions…
1. Did they ever release the 160Mhz Fronthaul support?
2. What’s the difficulty level for setting up ethernet backhaul mesh? I donot want smart connect and can enable the 2nd 5G band for Client. Is such a setup stable?
3. Can I pair RT-AC68U as 2nd mesh node with the ZenWifi or it is going to be same issues.
4. Is there any other mesh system that has
a. 160 Mhz client access
b. USB Wlan fallback
c. Ethernet backhaul
You’re all over the place, Laukik. First start with this post so you understand AiMesh. https://dongknows.com/asus-aimesh-overview/. Then this one to understand 160MHz. https://dongknows.com/wi-fi-6-explained/. Take your time and really read them. 🙂
Hello Dong, thanks you for your review. I’am considering to buy the ZenWiFi ax. My setup is the following. I appreciate your advice.
I have a Huawei 659 gateway router which I can’t replace. (The h659 has 7 ports, 1 Wan, 2 ethernet network ports, 2 ethernet IPTV ports and 2 IP phone ports.) The WiFi signal is too weak to cover the whole home. Connected to the h659 is a HP 1920s switch and a cat. 6 patch panel. I have a ethernet connection in every room. How best to integrate the ZenWiFi system in my network? Thank you in advance for your advice. Kind regards.
Get a dual-band mesh instead, Patrick, considering you have wired backhaul. Also, check out this post.
Thank you for your reply.
Since the mini ax laks extra ethernet ports, I’ve bought the Zenwifi AX. Because of a cashback, the difference in price was very small. What an improvement! Easy to setup (thanks to your setup guide you refered to.) Super good range compared to the h659. Thanks again.
Sure, Patrick! Cheers!
Hi Dong, thank you so much for the thorough review!
I’m currently using 2x Google WiFi with powerline backhaul in my 1300 sq ft apartment with brick inner walls, and the pucks fail to maintains the connections on the Gbps fiber. I have ~40 devices connected, with 3-4 devices in video conferences at a time.
I’m also building now my new 1800 sq ft apartment (with brick inner walls as well), that should be ready in 2 years, and there I’ll have a CAT-7 backhaul.
Would you recommend I went for the XT8? I saw that the Linksys MX10 will be sold for $500 in Black Friday, so just $50 above the XT8. Is it worth the difference?
Thank you!
I’d go with the Asus, Dror. It’s better than the MX10 in many ways. But if you intend to use wired backhaul, you can also consider a dual-band mesh instead.
Hi Dong,
Can I connect the XT8 router to my modem using a USB to RJ-45 cable and use the USB port as my primary (and only) WAN? Thus freeing up the 2.5G WAN for ethernet backhaul?
No, Rami. The USB port is only for a cellular modem.
I have a single XT8 that I’m using for an AP. Wondering if it makes sense to try and have the XT8 allocate the 5G-2 radio more than the 5G-1 radio, since the 5G-2 radio is 4X4 and would seem to have more potential throughput than the 2X2 5G-1 radio? I had thought that this would be built into the XT8 firmware, since it makes sense given the context. But I do see the 5G-1 radio being used more than the 5G-2, so I’m looking for a way to change this.
Since I’m using 5GHz. SmartConnect on the XT8 AP, would fiddling with this allow the 5G-2 radio to be used more? If so, do you know which variables I should fiddle with? If not, is there anything else I can do to get the XT8 to use the 5G-2 radio more within the constraint of having only one SSID? Along this same line, I’ve been trying to find some decent documentation on how to tune SmartConnect and haven’t found it yet.
Thanks for your help, really appreciate you sharing your experience!
Have an RT-AX88U and an XT8 here. Using the XT8 in AP mode, connected via MoCA to the AX88U. Works pretty well, but don’t see the 5GHz.-2 radio being used at all at this point. It was initially, but now it isn’t. Wondering what I can do to get the 4×4 5GHz-2 radio to get used more to share the load. I should mention that I’ve tried both tri-band smart connect and 5GHz smart connect, and neither one seems to use the second 5GHz. radio.
Any ideas what I might do?
Thanks!
You should see the XT8’s 2nd 5GHz band in AP mode, Roger. If not, you can set it up as a router (in a double nat setup at first) then switch it to AP mode. Of course, make sure you use it with the latest firmware.
Okay, I switched the XT8 to “5GHz. smart connect” and turned off the 2.4GHz. radio that I’m not using anyways. Now I’m seeing both 5GHz. radios in use again. I’m going to keep monitoring it of course, but I think that this one’s done and dusted.
Thanks.
FYI for those who are brave enough to volunteer as test subject guinea pigs, ASUS has released public beta of AiMesh 2.0 firmware for many of its routers, including this one. One of the upgrades is the long promised wifi guest network broadcast from the nodes.
Thanks for sharing, Smack. I’d recommend not trying it though (or at least get ready to move back). It’s hella buggy. 🙂
I will wait for the public release. Never a smart idea to install beta software on devices that are used the whole day.
Good call, Sven! I mean if you have extra routers laying around, it’s fun to try the beta out. Otherwise, your family might get very upset with you.
I purchased two nodes to use in conjunction with my Verizon router/modem only to find out that they are not compatible. Both ASUS and Verizon support said would need to set up as a bridge that way Verizon would be used to support FIOS TV functionality.
My question as I wanted to use the two nodes to extend coverage in my house am I better off getting another router to bridge with my Verizon router and then put my nodes where I want them or purchase another ZenWifi AX node?
You can use the ZenWiFi in a double NAT setup or AP mode, Steven. More here: https://dongknows.com/double-nat-vs-single-nat/
I just bought a set of XT8s. Not that I have a lot of WiFi 6 devices, but because the wireless backhaul is very powerful (4800Mbit). All WiFi 5 routers did not have a fast wireless backhaul as the XT8. After installing it, the reception in my whole house is perfect. I get around 450MBit, with a 500MBit subscription (on Docsis 3.0). Of course, outside the speed drops to 200MBit, but is still fast enough. I love the security features and parental controls. It even has a feature to have a dual WAN option, for fail-over or load balancing. All in all I really recommend these routers.
Thanks for sharing your XP, Sven. Glad it worked out. 🙂
Sven, how big is your house, how many floors, and how far apart vertically (assuming you have these on different floors) and horizontally from each other?
My house is 120m2 in one layer. But inside are very thick walls (up to 40cm).
From reading the review and performance, I am not sure I understand the difference between the RT-AX92U in a 2-pack ($399) versus the ZenWiFi XT8 ($449). It seems that when you reviewed the former, you said that it lost WiFi 6 due to dedicating the wireless backhaul. But is seems that this model (XT8) does the same. Can you clarify and also explain other than looks, why you might choose one over the other when they are close in price? Thank you!
Read the reviews again, Daryl. See their specs. The XT8 has Wi-Fi 6 on BOTH of its 5GHz bands. I don’t choose. I have them all. 🙂 More here: https://dongknows.com/how-to-pick-the-best-wi-fi-router-for-your-home/
Thank you for the quick reply!
I didn’t understand enough about the 5GHz-2 concept and how it uses the radios to understand how the XT8 was different to know that the 5GHz-1 is somehow WiFi6 on the XT8.
I had actually called ASUS directly prior to my post and they said the difference from a WiFi perspective was only in internal versus external antennas and some software differences in the firewall.
I think you probably know more about this than their rep since you got into the detail about how the band is used.
If I read your reviews and comments properly, it seems like the hardware in the RT-AX92U is capable to run like the XT8, but a potential firmware update aside, it doesn’t run the radio that way currently. Hopefully I got this right?
I actually ordered both systems since the ZenWiFi XT8 is on back order and I’ll be able to see if it makes a difference in my environment.
I have a follow up question:
My current setup is a real RT-AC68U with two additional T-Mobile TM-AC1900 flashed as RT-AC68Us in an AiMesh network. Would you repurpose any of the old equipment or keep them off to avoid slowing down the network versus using only the new RT-AC92U or XT8?
Mixing AC and AX broadcaster is not a good idea, Daryl, in a wireless mesh setup. If you have wired backhaul, the AX routers you mentioned might not make any difference at all.
As per the latest updates, is there a way to use SmartConnect with 5Ghz-2 band with wired backhaul?
Thanks
Nope, Parth.
Hi Dong, Great review. I just purchased the 2 pk of the Asus Zenwifi AX and I set it up but I am getting REALLY low numbers according to Ookla and my own test (moving a 3GB file from Desktop to laptop). I am getting about 200Mbps according to Ookla Speedtest with my Google Pixel 2 and my Asus Chromebook and only about 111Mbps with my Asus ROG Laptop (all fairness the laptop is about 10yrs old). I have FIOS internet with 1Gig up and down and when I run Speedtest with my desktop (hardwired to the router) I am getting about 900Mbps so the issue seems to be with the wireless portion of this setup. I did the firmware update after I set up my network, I then reset to factory and set it up again. I did the set up through the webUi and not the app. I tried searching online for anyone else that has this issue and I haven’t found anything yet. I am hoping you may be able to shed some light on this for me. Thanks.
That can be the issue with your mobile devices, Ray. More on testing here.
@Ray,
hey Ray, I had the exact same problem. You are not alone. I have 9 different divices out of which 3 support WiFi 6 and all gave me same results as yours. Low wirelessly and about 900mbps hardwired. 2.4GHz was even worst at 10mbps or less.
Tried TP-Link Deco M9 Plus and a Nokia Wifi Beacon router at the presence of an ISP Engineer and both delivered 400~600mbps wirelessly on 5Ghz. 2.4GHz went as high as 70-80mbps.
Eventually, after much testing and tinkering returned my XT8 with heavy heart.
Hope you have found a solution for your XT8.
Hi Dong, I already have 3 XT8s connected via wired backhaul. I need to add another AIMesh point for a dead spot and that will not be in Ethernet I am afraid. You already answered that I can have a mix of Ethernet and WiFi backhaul which is great. However due to budget, I am considering a cheaper RT-AX55 ( less than half the price of a single XT8!) Still a WiFi6 router but significantly less powerful. Will that cause me any issues?
Thanks
It’ll work, just don’t expect high performance from it, Mike.
Do you think the RT-AX92U will be a better bet then as it will still save me about £60 over the XT8? Thanks!
Yes, Mike. Get it.
Hi Dong – thanks and sorry for checking in again but you are ever so helpful 🙂
Prime Day here in the UK and Amazon has discounted heavily the older ZenWIfi, the CT8. I only need one unit which comes in at £130 compared to £230 for the XT8. Not terribly bothered about Wifi6 at this point. Are there any terrible disadvantages having a mix of AC and AX units other than performance obviously?
Stability could be an issue, unless you use wired backhaul, Mike. But chances are they’ll work out.
One thing I’d be very curious to hear your opinion on, and which I seldom see commented on in any reviews, is the general stabililty of router software from various vendors over time. I’ll avoid biasing your response by not giving my opinion, but there are several very well known vendors which I now avoid like a plague because while the routers work great out of the box, their software quality control sucks. In reading various reviews and bulletin boards, you inevitably sees comments to the effect that people need to re-boot their routers with ridiculous frequency due to WiFi bands malfuctioning, dropping out, ISP connection failing and manual DHCP renews being required, etc., etc. Virtually all reviewers tend to measure performance and features measured after re-booting, and I see very few comments on the ability of routers to simply continue to work reliably and at boot-time performance levels over weeks and months. I’m about to dump yet another relatively recent high performance router because it’s reliability simply sucks and I’m tired of re-booting it with regular frequency. So I’m really curious if you have any comments of specific router vendors who not only make great products that perform well at review time, but who seem to actually produce quality firmware that that works reliably without rebooting for long periods of time, and also who seem to lead the pack on getting relatively frequent firmware updates that fix reported problems sooner rather than later. Add to that, companies that actually have customer service organizations that actually seem interested in hearing about reliability issues and who response to those issues isn’t simply something like “reset the router” or “reload the firmware”. As one who has worked extensively with both consumer and enterprise class equipment, this is one case where the QC on consumer grade networking software simply is pathetic in comparison to enterprise systems (but of course sells for a fraction of the cost).
Hi Dong…I have 3 XT8s working rather well between then and I recently installed a wired backhaul. Instantly my WiFi speeds increased to 500mbs plus on my OnePlus 8 Pro after your suggestion to expose the WiFi6 WiFi network.
As it happens one of my external Nest cameras is latching onto the wrong XT8 for some reason and is saying a weak signal. No disconnections, just a weak signal affecting video quality.
I cannot run another Ethernet cable there but if I was to buy another XT8 can I use the WiFi6 as backhaul on that one, i.e. having 1 as a router, 2 on wired backhaul and another on wireless backhaul?
Yes, Mike. You can mix wired and wireless backhaul. More here: https://dongknows.com/asus-aimesh-overview/
All worked out at the end Dong. Amazon also discounted the AX92 so I just ordered one of them so we should be good with the XT8s and that AX92. The AX92 will be wired so the issues you mentioned in your review should hopefully not materialize!
Hi Dong,
I purchased a pair of Asus XT8 today, and I planned to use it with an RT-AC68P I already had as an AiMesh. I have wired networking, so I set up the AC68P as the main router. I ran a firmware update, but then both XT8’s dropped from 80MHz 5GHz coverage to 20MHz 5GHz. In the AC68P, the width was still set to 80MHz, so I didn’t understand what was going on, and I decided to set them up in AP mode instead, since I couldn’t access the settings in AiMesh mode. When I did this, one of the routers wouldn’t let me log in through the admin page, so I tried a factory reset. This led to a boot loop and I tried firmware restoration and hard reset, but it is now restarting every 2 minutes and I can’t pull it out of that loop. Have you heard any reports of this happening? And if I’m going to use them in AP mode, is there a better Wi-Fi 6 alternative? I have to return these units now so I’m considering a different model instead. I was using the Orbi RBK50 previously, but we switched to 1 gig fiber and I wanted Wi-Fi 6 to take advantage of the speeds.
That’s odd. But you shouldn’t use the XT8 when you have wired backhaul. Get a couple of dual-band AiMesh router or an XD4 set. By the way, getting Wi-Fi 6 doesn’t mean you’ll get the Gagabit Wi-Fi out of it. More here.
Thanks for your reply, Dong. I just got Ethernet terminated a few days ago with the fiber install, so I hadn’t thought of using dual-band before. I understand about the Wi-Fi 6 and gigabit, but I have seen some great improvements, going from ~300-500Mbps on AC to ~600-800Mbps using Wi-Fi 6, which is good enough for me. Do you see Wi-Fi 6 clients going beyond 2×2 to 3×3 or 4×4 in the near future? I’d like to future-proof the network now.
That likely will happen, Nathan, though we’ll need to wait to see how Wi-Fi 6E pans out first.
I’m not sure I understand your statement:
“Also, you’ll need to have a second node unit before you can see the value of this port. With a 2-pack, the speed is limited by the other Gigabit ports anyway.”
What is the added value of using a 3-unit setup?
Just use some imagination, Dan. With a 2-pack, there’s no way you can plug TWO multi-gig wired devices into the system since one of the routers already works as the WAN port.
Ahhhh… I was assuming that with WiFi backhaul enabled, you could use both the 2.5g ports for clients. But if they had thought of that, they would have needed one of the 1g ports to WAN/LAN also.
That’s disappointing.
Hi, Dong, extremely good information and review. Quick simple question. I have 2 ac5300’s setup in mesh config. I want to expand and buy a 2-pack (XT-8). Would you hookup an XT-8 or an AC5300 to the main internet router? I will have 3 of the 4 routers on a wired back haul as well.
Thanks- Andy
Since you have wired backhaul, it makes no difference, Andy.
Thanks! I have one more question. You mentioned the best way to connect mesh nodes was “around” the main router. I have a situation where I need to extend coverage in a linear manner from a node. The last node (farthest from the main router) jumps from connecting to the main router to a MUCH closer node. The closer node has a wired back haul. My wireless works much better when the farthest node connects to the much closer node, not the main router (week connection). Can I force a node to connect to my choice for it’s mesh connection?
Thanks!
If any one in the GTA wants to go splits on the two pack let me know. I just want to use one as an AP, I don’t need both and frankly can’t afford both lol.
I see there was a recent firmware up: 3.0.0.4.386_25790-gd414187. I applied the update and everything is working fine, but I’d like to know what changed and if others are having luck with this update, too.
Hello,
On my second Aimesh upstrairs, I have some problems with connecting macbook air 2020, it does not received an IP number from the DHCP.
I need to switch of the Aimesh router upstairs, and switch it back on than it works.
The strange is other devices like camera etc are connected but not the macbook air.
Hi Dong. Thanks for the review. Helped make the decision to get one!
Just a couple of questions as my expertise runs to being able to plug in and follow basic instructions. The speeds that you tested showed over 800Mbps but later you mentioned you could get your full 300Mbps at 70 feet away. Are these separate tests?
I haven’t split my two bands but noticed that moving about 20 feet away into the garden my usual speed 0f over 350Mbps dropped to around 50. Following some suggestions in your other articles, I changed the channel too 11 instead of allowing it to choose and also (I assume it was connecting to the 2.5 band)frequency at 20mhz which immediately changed my speed to an average 200Mbps in the same spot. Are there any other suggestions to maybe get full speed? Not the most important thing as it’s unlikely I will need or use full speed anyway!
Thanks again for all your great articles
Here’s how I test in detail, Cho. Wi-Fi speed is NOT consistent, it varries. Also if your Internet caps at 300 Mbps then you won’t see any higher number no matter how fast your Wi-Fi is. Internet and Wi-Fi are two different things. In your case, it’s likely the device opt to use the 2.4 GHz band. The best way to get the best speed is to get your home wired.
Good review. Seriously considering purchasing one, but have several questions you may be able to answer:
1) do you know of any issues with using one’s primary wired GbE switch, in my case a Cisco 26 port GbE switch (same one that will connected to the primary router for wired ethernet hosts) as the interconnect for a wired mesh interconnect instead of a point to point wired connection? Not worried about sharing gigabit port on primary router since virtually all of my high bandwidth traffic is between wired hosts on switch which will remain local to switch and never see the router port.
2) the cellular modem (either USB modem or RJ45 connection to a spare Android cellular phone) is an intriging Internet backhaul option. Read the manual, but can’t tell: can you configure this as a fallback WAN interconnect in case the primary wired WAN connection fails, or can it only be used as a primary WAN interconnect (or on simultaneously with the primary WAN wired interconnect). I have Comcast Mobile service, so having an extra cellular phone doesn’t cost me anything monthly except for bandwidth used, so being able to use this solely for emergency fallback is intriging as long as no traffic will use the cellular backup unless wired WAN connection is down.
1. Check out this post on home network basics, Randall. I’m a bit confused in try to understand what you’re trying to say. Then, since you have wired backhaul, there’s no need to use tri-band hardware. check out this post on AiMesh.
2. Again, I think you used “backhaul” as something else… But Dual-WAN generally means you can use both Internet connection at the same time for either load balancing (faster speed) or fail-safe (high availability).
Sorry for the confusion. My first question was basically can you use an existing GbE ethernet switch (that is also used for other wired ethernet connections) to also interconnect the routers in the mesh (instead of a dedicated point to point wired link or the second 5GHz radio). I would rather do this instead of using the second 5GHz radio to link the routers in the mesh or running a dedicated point to point link, so that it is available for a second 5GHz named SSID Wifi network.
My second question was precisely can you use the dual-WAN solely for fail-safe operation and not have it also used for load balancing. I don’t see anywhere in the manual how you configure the USB/RJ45 attached cellular device solely for fail-safe (i.e., I don’t want any traffic on it except for backup in the case of wired WAN failure.
Hope this clarifies what I was asking.
Hi Randall,
You can use a switch to connect the routers in a mesh, but it depends on your ISP connection. Your ISP gateway/modem needs to be connected directly to a router, and not a switch, otherwise (if it’s a modem) you will run into NAT issues, or (if it’s a router) you can end up with devices on a different subnet.
Yes, you can use a switch, Randall. I think you should check out this post on networking basics. And when you set up dual-wan, you’ll see the option to pick the 2nd WAN as a backup.
Hi Dong,
I’ve got an AX89X that I want to use as my main router in an Ai Mesh network. What’s the difference between the XT8 and AX6100 when added as nodes in Ai Mesh? Both are tri-band so suitable to use with wirless backhaul if one of the nodes is wired to the main router. The AX6100 two pack is a fair bit cheaper.
Thanks for your help!
Derek
The RT-AX89X is a dual-band router, Derek. You won’t have a dedicated backhaul with it. More here.
That’s understood but I was hoping to go wired from the AX89X to one of the XT8 nodes and them chain from the wired XT8 node to the wireless node using the dedicated 5 GHz wireless backhaul. Would this work?
Read the post, Derek, you’ll find the answer there. And no, the router unit controls the entire mesh. But you can set up a pair of the XT8 in the AP mode to have dedicated backhaul in between them.
Hi Dong,
I purchased a GT-AX11000 router and a pair of XT8 routers. I’ve set them up in an AiMesh star topology with the ROG as the router and the XT8 as nodes with one wired and one wireless backhaul. At the ROG I get 850 Mbps down / 600 Mbps up over wireless on my cell phone. At both nodes, I’m seeing about 50 Mbps down / 100 Mbps up on the same cell phone (note that I confirmed I was connected to the corresponding node). I would have expected much better speed at the node with a wired backhaul. I’ve confirmed the Ethernet connection to the XT8 node is good by performing a wired speed test on a laptop (750 Mbps down / 500 Mbps up). Am I doing something wrong? Is this normal?
No, you prolly, use the 2.4Ghz band on the node, Derek. Try separating the two bands.
After reading some of the reviews/posts on this site, and with Dong’s advice, I bought a couple of the XT8s to give me better bandwidth across my rented apartment that has thick concrete walls. I thought I’d share the experience with you folks in case it is helpful:
* Setup was a breeze. I already have a dedicated firewall device so I put my main router into access point mode and set the other unit as a mesh.
* A couple of weeks later I bought a third unit to add to the mesh. Installed without problems.
* Fast forward a couple of months, and suddenly the connection keeps dropping between the mesh nodes and the main router. Not great when I am working from home, and it happens a couple of times per hour.
* Scratching my head as to what to do, and worrying about my expensive mistake about buying three of these units, I put on my detective hat. I made sure the firmware was up to date, I turned off “smart connect” and used two separate networks, I switched around the mesh and main router units. I tried moving the units around. Nothing helped. It seemed that it was a problem of the mesh units dropping the wireless backhaul connection as the main router never dropped its internet connection.
* I installed “WiFi Explorer” on my mac computer. I found the MAC address of my wireless backhaul by connecting to the main router’s web interface through my browser, and searched for the network in the WiFi Explorer using its MAC address.
* I found that there were a few networks that had “Asus Tek” as the vendor. I knew that they weren’t all mine. One thing that was common with these other non-hidden networks and mine, was that they shared the same channel (visible from the “Channel” column).
* So I went back into the router web interface to look for the channel settings for the wireless backhaul. I saw that it is set to “Auto” by default. So I changed it to a different number to the channel that I saw in WiFi Explorer. It also happens that in Wifi Explorer there aren’t any other networks using this channel.
* I repeated the process in the web interfaces of all three routers, ensuring they were all on the same channel. Restarted them all.
* Boom. No more backhaul dropping out! It has been stable since. My theory is that someone upstairs/downstairs bought the same router and they are interfering on the same channel.
I hope this helps someone!
Dan
Good tip, thanks for sharing, Dan. And I suggested that plus some other tips in this post, too.
I know it’s not the answer for everyone but wired backhaul seems to solve most problems. My pair of XT8s have been rock solid with a wired backhaul for 6 months now.
Dong, just installed the XT8. Encountered a problem during smart detect. With my laptop only 6 feet away from the main router located in a closet, the laptop would try and connect to it, but message was “could not connect to internet”. Similarly my wifes laptop and her kindle could not connect, located about 30 feet from the main router. We tried connecting near the backhaul node about 75 feet away, and her kindle could connect. To resolve this tech support had me turn off smart connect and separate into three bands with different names and passwords. I can connect now in my office 6 feet away from the router but speeds are only about 65 mbps for both laptops at varying distances whereas lan cable is 900 mbps. All bands have about same low speed. Firmware is most recent version. I called tech support again and they said closet wall was the problem. That’s apparently not right as I have had wireless speeds in 270 or more range with ATTs router. Any insights? Thank you.
Check out this post, Fred, especially the simple Wi-Fi name portion.
Just tried a Samsung, a Lenovo and an HP laptop. The Samsung produced speeds of 10 mbps adjacent to the router. Tech support advised channel and frequency changes but speeds did not increase. Status is that a ticket is being forwarded to a product engineer and I may hear back from them. I have read of similar case on Internet seller reviews.
Check out this post, Fred.
Hi Dong
Just picked up a pair of XT8s and an extra single unit XT8. All paired ok but i am getting some significant stability issues. Only 3 days in but i am considering returning. So far a couple of reboots, a nest camera disconnecting when it has line of sight of 10ft from one of the mesh points and my one and only Wifi 6 device sometimes it tests at 200Mb/s and other times at 1 or 3Mb/s. What gives?,My connection is 1GB down and 100 up. I dont expect this speed everywhere but i expected a bit more stability.
Did not change any default settings.
If i return it i am thinking of heading for the Unifi Dream Machine but not sure what AP to pair it with as i need some elsewhere in my home.
If you read the comments, you’ll find a solution, Michael. But generally, update the hardware to the latest firmware and set it up from scratch. Also, use a simple Wi-Fi name and password for your IoTs.
Hi Dong – they were brand new units so i dont think a reset to default is necessary as it was set up from scratch. The third unit was also new and it needed a firmware update on day 1 – but not from out the box or during setup which was a bit strange.
This evening we were having a Duo Call which worked great, but in the meantime our phones, tablets and google nest hubs were disconnected from the wifi!! But the video call on the chromebook was perfect! That is weird!
All nodes have been updated now to latest firmware so will give them another week or so but not very happy to be fair.
Will i get a better performance if i was to keep my 3 XT8s and add an AX11000 in the mix as the main router?
Did you upgrade to the latest june firmware ? Seeing that king of experience i’ve big doubts in buying XT8 🙁
Hi David…yes I am now upgraded on all 3 units to the latest June firmware.
I am using a OnePlus 8 Pro that is WiFi 6 and sometimes I will get a connection speed in the KBs let alone MBs! Then a few minutes later my connection will revert back to 200+ MBs!!
My MacBook refused to connect and had to restart it a few times. Yesterday during a Duo call on a Chromebook all the other devices lost connectivity. My Nest Driveway camera keeps disconnecting for no reason (line of sight) and the list goes on.
Maybe my One Plus phone is the issue but the fact my MacBook would not connect and now I have an older Windows machine that won’t pick up the WiFi and even my Pixelbook Go refused to connect and had to turn WiFi on and off. This is all behaviour I have not had to do since 802.12g let alone Ax!!!
I have someone coming to install Ethernet in key locations around the house and that may improve things but then if you have Ethernet…any decent router will perform.
Will reset everything today and give it another 24 hours but my patience is running very thin.
I am in the UK and for me this was a £630 purchase!
Hi Dong,
Great review. I bought the 2 pack XT8’s a few months ago. So far they have been pretty stable with a wireless backhaul. My question is, I have a 3 storey house and the main line comes in the 1st floor. The units are placed in 1st and 2nd floor but I find the wifi signal is not strong on the 3rd floor. Streaming movies on 3rd floor gets choppy sometimes. I’m contemplating another 2 pack of XT8’s (can’t buy one unit in Canada) or should I go with AX11000? Is wireless backhaul with 2 XT8’s and AX11000 stable?
Either will work, Mike, as the main router or node. You can also get a single unit of the RT-AX92U.
Thanks So much Dong, haven’t thought about the RT-AX92U, but good tip. I could only use wifi-5 clients if I use the wifi-6 as backhaul, but it saves me some cash.
Dong,
Any idea why the XT8 is out of stock everywhere that I’ve looked. It obviously a great system but I didn’t know if there were any short term supply issues or if it would be protracted
That’s the story for most good routers (and other tech toys) lately, Bill. Unfortunately, nobody knows. You need to keep an eye out and get it when you can.
If I wanted one or the other, do you advice I get pair of XT8, or one AX11000. I know placement matters, but on average, which will give me better coverage? Thank you
The pair of XT8, Philip.
Thanks for this great review, i read it several times
I’ve a discount today, and i was going to buy and before a read ALL comments … almost 6 months after being released this WIFI 6 Mesh system doesn’t seems to be stable !!!
So i’m wondering if i’m going to buy or wait until next black Friday to buy a discounted Orbi RBK753 (or a stabilized XT8 ?)
It works fine, David. I’ve used one from day one without any problems. The key is don’t mess around too much with the settings. There are many of them and they are tempting.
Hello Dong, thank you for another great review from you. im still unsure because of my predicament. I have an cat 6 running from one side of the house to another. I need wifi in the loft (that doenst have cat cable) for security cams so im thinking i will need 3 units, ground, 1st & loft. is it better to have 3-off AX XT8, or 1-off GT-AX11000 downstairs and 2-off AX XT8 (only one wired) or could i bring a RT-AX92U into the equation. RT-AX92U £166,GT-AX11000 crazy money £360, AX XT8 2 pack £400 single £220? thank you in advance.
Regards,
Warren.
Why don’t use go with three RT-AX92U then, Warren? You can mix wired and wireless backhaul in between them and then can turn on the 5 GHz-2 band as a separate Wi-Fi 6 network. See review for more.
Yes, but for future proofing would 3 ax8 be better? I thought the 92’s dropped the wifi6 if using wireless backhall. Sorry, I have read all your post but I’m not that tech savvy.
What would be the benefits of the 92s
Read the reviews, Warren. But at least, they seem expensive where you are.
You’re correct, the XT8 would be better in that regard.
Is it possible to get Tri Band smart connect on AiMesh? I have my AX11000 and all 4 nodes connected through ethernet.
No, Korg. More here.
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The text in your article seem to be running off the screen in Opera.
I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let
you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the
issue fixed soon. Many thanks
Thanks for letting me know, Maribel. Yes, Opera has a lot of issues and is not on the list of my supported browsers. Try Brave, Chrome, Edge, or Firefox instead.
Excellent review Dong. I currently have two Asus AC88u’s running in AI Mesh. I recently stepped up to 1 Gig fiber and want to start taking advantage of wifi-6. so i was thinking of upgrading to Zen wifi AX. Would there be any benefit to using my AC88u’s with the Zen wifi AX set or should i try use the Zen alone until maybe i could get an Ax11000 down to he road. thanks
You probably won’t see any difference moving to the ZenWiFi AX which has slow specs on the front end, Rick. Stay with what you have for now, or get two GT-AX11000 units. Better yet, get a cable to connect the current two. Also, you likely won’t get 1Gbps at your devices.
Hi Dong,
I currently have GT-AC5300 as my main router with 02 XT8 Zenwifi as nodes (5Ghz2 as a dedicated backhaul).
To exploit full usage of AX band, I am thinking of upgrading/replacing GT-AC5300 with AX-11000…and 02 XT8 Zenwifi will remain as nodes.
Will this set-up provide better signal coverage / speeds, I am not an avid gamer though, so game related settings take a back seat in terms of preference.
Can you advise any alternative main router to complement my two XT8 as nodes.
Regards
You can get another XT8 unit, Sunny. Or a GT-AX11000 works too.
Hi Dong,
Thanks
Finally Asus AX11000 was delivered, have setup as main router and two XT8 as nodes.
One thing that’s puzzling me is….
When I added XT8 as nodes, both nodes got connected to AX11000 is ‘star’ format. But when I reboot any of the nodes, the node then auto connect in daisy-chain mode (AX11000>XT8>XT8).
Is there any way to force the ‘star format’, or the system is supposed t auto-select the topology by itself to deliver the best performance.
Thank you….
That depends on how you place them, Sunny. If you let the XT8 closer to each other than they are to the GT, that might happen. But in the end it’s the speed that matters. I wouldn’t worry about it unless things are slower than you’d like.
Thanks for a prompt response, so far the speeds / coverage seems fine. Will continue to monitor.
After about two hours or so, it automatically went into ‘star format’.
Yeap, that happens. I wouldn’t worry about it, Sunny.
Hi, do you still get the gaming performance options with the AX11000 and two XT8s in AiMesh?
Gaming options are available in main router AX110000.
I’ve read through many, many posts and read numerous reviews and thought I was sold on the Zen Wifi, until I read all of these comments. We are upgrading to Cox Gigablast as we’ve been having lots of internet issues. Our current gateway won’t work for that, so we are getting a new modem and router separately. The router part I’m struggling with. We have a two-story 2800 sq ft house with lots of devices and four people at home (one who is hard wired to the gateway for online gaming). I thought one Zen Wifi unit might be enough coverage and that I could add a node later if needed. But if its buggy and has issues that will be a problem as I have no networking knowledge. Also, we cannot do wired backhaul (which we presumably wouldn’t need with only one unit anyway). Budget-wise, I was hoping to stay around $250, but will spend more if needed to have the coverage, speed and reliability we’ve been lacking Is the Zen Wifi the one or should I look at a standalone router instead? The AX86u got good reviews and might be perfect, but it’s not out yet and I’m not sure we can wait another month. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
It’s very hard to answer your question, M. It depends on your home. All I can say is either will likely work out and if you start with a single router of either one, you can add a node at a later time. However, if you haven’t wired your home, then maybe start with a single ZenWiFi AX, since you’ll be better off with a tri-band mesh. Check out this post for more.
https://dongknows.com/how-to-pick-the-best-wi-fi-router-for-your-home/
Thanks for your reply. I can get two XT8 for $400 (or 1 for 250) or Costco has the Orbi RBK753S 3pk for $440. I know this a version of the “budget” Orbi , but given the similar price, which is the better overall value for speed, coverage, reliability, features? Also, can our current Netgear AC1900 combo modem/router be used in any way with Orbi or Zen Wifi to provide more wired connections (or for any other purpose on the new network)? Thanks again for your insight!!
I was surprised too. But it seems like as soon as I get about 15-20 feet away from one of the nodes, with a couple of walls (drywall) in between, many of my devices switch to 2.4ghz. These are wifi 5 devices. I’m not sure if wifi 6 clients would exhibit the same behaviour.
The backhaul between the nodes is showing up as ‘Great’ in the ASUS UI.
@ John – See my other comments and feedback in the comments section under the name “Rocky”. I have had the system in place for over a month with ZEROOOO issues. GT-AX11000 Main and two XT8 nodes (Dong’s favorite combo recommendation is what I went with). Pricey but worth the money if you have this for 10 yrs.
Recently, I updated firmware on GT-AX11000 two days ago and still no issues. Important to note that I have my devices on scheduled reboot every other day at night. Next morning, all devices function normally.
I also changed my laptop clients to Wifi 6 buying Intel AX200 cards. Have all phones with wifi 6. Even Wifi 5 clients have no issues.
Thanks Rocky. Sounds like the AX11000 is the way to go.
Hi, would you or Dong have any information on how many simultaneous devices can GT-AX11000 Main and two XT8 handle? Orbi 6 AX6000 advertises that it can support up to 60 devices.
All routers can host up to 253 devices, Willie. More here. As for how many active clients at the same time, that depends on how fast the speed you want at each of them. Take the bandwidth and divide it by the number of clients.
Great read and wealth of info, thanks Dong!
Hi Dong,
I’ve got a pair of these in my 3200 Sq Ft (wireless backhaul), and find that there are still a few places in the house where the 5Ghz band doesn’t reach (the devices fall back to 2.4).
I’d like to get another node, but don’t think they sell these individually. Would I be better off getting another set of XT8’s (and having 4 nodes total), or going with an AX1000? Is there another option I should be looking at? I don’t have the ability to used a wired backhaul.
It is available as a single unit, John. But using the GT as the main router will work, too.
Thanks Dong. These don’t seem to be available where I’m located (Canada), though it looks like I could get one shipped from the US for an additional $50.
Given that, the price difference between the third XT8 and an GT-AX11000 would be relatively small. Would there be any performance advantage going with the GT?
Then get the GT-AX11000, John, it’s much better as the main router anyway. You’ll love it.
Thanks for the advise Dong.
I have a AX11000 plus 4 XT8 nodes connected by 2.5G ethernet in AiMesh in a 3450 sq ft house. Overkill? Maybe, but I would rather be 100% sure I’m getting maximum and best coverage than find dead zones in my house.
Way to go, Korg. 🙂
I’m surprised it doesn’t handle your house … mine is larger and the 5ghz covers the front and the backyard too. I’ve got one unit on top floor towards the front of the house, one unit on main floor towards the back of the house. I am using wired backhaul though and using that free’d up backhaul band as my main 5ghz band for my devices.
I have a 3100 sqft house and my iphone and ipad routinely drop the 5ghz and revert back to the 2.4ghz. my backhaul is wireless. Other than that coverage seems good throughout.
hello: i have been having troubles with the xt8, but exceeded the 30 day return, so I am stuck with it. If i were to use them in an aimesh with another router, what is the best choice? Ax11000 or ax88u or something else? Live in 3 story house w gigabit connection from fios. Tom
Update it to the latest firmware, Tom. Then reset it and set it up again. Use the web interface (not the mobile app) and refrain from making too many changes. It should work fine now.
I feel like this tip needs to be shared a ton. While it’s totally frustrating, this has saved my Asus AX6000 experience. I was running 3 nodes and having nothing but issues. Nightly reboots were not fixing. We were seeing a ton of drops, a ton of network blips. (a ton may not be a proper metric). I switched back to my eero for a while. But I didn’t want that to be long term. Was about to go buy the Orbi (and I’m still tempted to) but I reset the entire group, redid the mesh. Probably overkill but I did each node as a standalone and then reset them again. And then redid the entire solution. We’ve been absolutely rock steady ever since, and my performance to my clients has improved.
I will say this is why I’m still looking at leaving as it seems firmware is an issue here. I don’t want to rebuild my network with every update. But I will say this: DON’T use the app. Just wire in and use the web page. It’s much better.
Agreed. Thanks for sharing, Matt.
It is supposed to. ATT tech did there test and showed 930Mbps download and upload. But, when I plug in my laptop directly to a LAN port it only gets or shows 245-394Mbps download speeds. I’m skeptical of their equipment but maybe I’m a conspiracy guy for large cable internet companies.
I’ve asked to replace it with a different modem and they continue to send the same Pace 5268AC time and time again. I’m sending back two of them today.
Sounds like it may be your cable modem. Is it capable of delivering gigabit speeds?
I’ve had the XT8 running in the house for a couple weeks now. Coverage is great. Some issues with devices transferring from node to node but not really an issue. Speed is good. Now if I could only get my dang AT&T gigabit to spit out more speed than 250-294MB download. This is the same thru wifi or even when hard wire connected to the gateway. Ugh, I’m on my third Pace gateway. 🙁
Check to make sure your ISP delivers the speed you pay for, first, Jeff. More on this post.
I’ve had zero issue since I opened up the 5G-2 network, turned on smart connect for 2.4G and 5G-1, and only have WiFi 6 devices on the 5G-2 network.
Good to know, thanks for sharing, Korg. I think most people have no issue.
I would say Ubiquiti Unifi Dream Machine, plus extra accsespoint. the ASUS ZenWiFi AX have some bugs.
I have a Gigabit internet provider and I am trying to maximize my speeds and coverage, but I also am considering the ease of use/UI. Would you recommend the ASUS ZenWiFi AX or the Ubiquiti Unifi Dream Machine?
Neither will give you the speed you want, Adam. More on this post. Depeneding on your clients, both will work out. But if you’re intending to explain your network to more than one hardware unit, the ZenWiFi AX is a better choice.
Just an update regarding my old WAN disconnection issue. I can confirm that I have not had that problem for weeks now, after disabling the OpenVPN server in the router. The firmware has not changed at all. So, I think there is a bug or a vulnerability somewhere that is exposed when certain settings are changed, like the enabling of OpenVPN.
Thanks for the helpful update, Dorian!
I am having these same issues with my Asus zenwifi. I have had it about 2 weeks and now I am constantly getting reboots/reconnections from my Centurylink modem. Were you able to figure out a solution?
My understanding is the main router uses a Broadcom BCM6755 chip which supports 2×2 20/40/80 MHz channels. So it doesn’t seem like they would be able to update it to support 4×4 160MHz, unless I’m not following.
https://www.broadcom.com/products/wireless/wireless-lan-infrastructure/bcm6755
You’re probably right, Allen, but the routers’ 5 GHz-2 band indeed supports the 160 MHz channel width.
Does anyone know how many device connections the XT8 system is rated for? I can’t find this spec anywhere.
Thanks
Bernie
Like all routers, that’s 253, but it’s impossible to say, Bernie. It’s all depends on usage. If you hear anywhere else a specific number, that’s just a rough estimation (or pure bullshit.) More on that here.
Hi Mr. Dong.
Do you remember when I asked you if I can choose between Zenwifi and Orbi 852. Well I have bought the Orbi 852 and it is working great and I am very happy with it compared with the Asus AX92u that I returned for unstable wifi speed. Since I bought the orbi 852 2days ago do speed test regularly. the speed test using Iphone11 which supports Wifi6 and the result from the satalite is great(note that the satalite is not connected by wire to the main orbi router which is also used as an access point.When I did the test it gave me the full speed that I paid for which is 520Mb (Download Speed). So I really would like to thank you for your suggestion^^
Excelente! Thanks for sharing shat, Sultan.
Based on the info here I purchased the XT8 which is replacing a Nighthawk since I’m having trouble with signal in the lower level office.
I need to setup this to work with my ATT Uverse gigabit service. Anything to do different or can I emulate my netgear setup so to speak.
Thoughts?
No difference, Jeff. You can manually replicate the old router’s settings (if need be), or set them up anew.
Nice review! Just to check, I am currently running a couple of AX92U with CAT6 wired backhaul, but still having some blind or weak spots. If I add a couple more XT8 as main, and the older 2 AX92U as satellites (both still running wired backhaul config), will I get WIFI6 @ 2.4Ghz?
No, Chris, only on the 5 GHz-2 band, more on that here. But that doesn’t really matter since the speed on the 2.4 GHz band has been the same (slow) on all new routers. The differences between Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 6 on this band seem to exist only on paper.
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Day 4 of zero lost connections and continued super fast speeds throughout the 4500 sft home of three levels. GT-AX11000 main in basement with two xt8 on each floor – WIRED backhaul, upnp disabled, WPS disabled, remote access disabled, no trend micro crap – all devices wired and wireless are reporting normal activity. One more thing – unlike my (now returned) Orbi AC which occasionally had trouble switching from node to node, the AIMesh is phenomenal. the switch from node to node for the clients (cell phones and stuff) is seamless.
As Dong mentioned in response to other post, I did not tinker with any advanced settings too much and I think wired backhaul is helping keep things stable and under control. My experience using asus app has been great.
I have a TPLink switch to which all wired ethernet connections are plugged in but the two xt8 ethernet WAN wires are plugged directly in to GT-AX11000. I know that Dong mentioned that we could plug them to third party switches for wired backhaul but I did not want to go that route at least for now.
Lastly, I have a scheduled reboot 4AM everyday FWIW.
Those of you that are having issues – consider upgrading firmware, resetting all devices, connecting to wired backhaul if possible and then seeing if the issues persist. The setup I have which Dong recommended as perhaps the best combination of zen devices is perhaps also adding to stability.
Rocky
Good stuff, Rocky. Thanks for sharing.
To add a bit to the recent good reports here, my issues with the WAN disconnecting have not happened in the last week. One change I did is to disable the OpenVPN in the router, because I noticed in the logs some strange “reset” signals being sent by foreign IPs before the disconnection. My suspicion is that there is a bug in OpenVPN being exploited remotely. But if course, this is quite a far speculation with my limited understanding of those entries in the logs. Question for the other commenters here is: has anyone enabled OpenVPN and noticed any problem with it?
The other suspicion I have is the ntp queries, someone else claimed there is an issue with ntp queries, and there is an announcement of a recently fixed bug in ntp.org. But the only thing I have done here was to switch to time.google.com for ntp queries, which was prior to the last WAN disconneciton.
The other change I have made is change the default t 8443 https port of the interface to another port, but I doubt this has any relationship with stability.
Lastly, I use FIOS/Verizon, and I googled if there is any issue of compatibility with their ONT. I even called the Verizon tech support and they did not have a clue (or logs) of why my router is disconnected to the ONT. I have, anyway, switched to DHCP Frequency = Normal (Default = Aggressive), but this last thing also was prior to the last WAN crash.
To sum up, my main suspicion is still a bug in the OpenVPN software. Today was my last day I could have returned the XT8 pair, but I am keeping it with the hope it will continue to be stable.
I think wired backhaul is definitely the way to go. I’m also finding 2 x XT8 with an AX88U very reliable.
Agreed. I am on Day 3 of GT-AX11000 and two Zen XT8 all wired backhaul. Stable connections and fast speeds.
I was one of the early adopters of this system. I got it from microcenter back in Feb. I had all kind of issues and several tickets and RMA was issued. I sent several logs to ASUS support. The last firmware 25524 resolved all issues and system is super stable now.
I used to get slow internet , signal drops , issues connecting to WiFi from several devices.
Back in February iPhones worked well with XT8 but when I add more devices that’s were it start to fail miserably. Also realized when my two kids play games the router slows down and fails to balance resources. Software like smartbyte caused serious connectivity issues with XT8.
Finally got a call from ASUS and it has been 30 days after the last firmware and it has been perfect so we cancelled the RMA.
So far I give it 10/10 after the last firmware… very stable. I have 25 devices and very happy with it.
Thanks for the input, Moe. Good to know.
Indeed. Between a volatile $450 XT8 that “might” work or “might” get rectified in the future and a $700 Orbi that you definitely won’t regret. I think the choice is quite clear.
Hi Dong:
I have two XT8s, which work as a router and a node with a 5g-2 backhaul connection. My concern is the link speed of the backhaul channel.
ASUS Router app shows that the link speed is just around 500-600mbps(900 at best). Understanding that 5g-2 has a 4×4 high speed connection with max. 4800mbps, the current link speed seems too slow.
I tried to put the node closer to the router within a foot; however, I get a slight amount of increase of the speed. In addition, changing the OFDMA option of 5g-2 from DL OFDMA ONLY to DL/UL OFDMA +MUMIMO does not help.
Is my situation normal? I would appreciate your help.
Best,
Kent
It would be best if you stopped using the app, Kent. What you see is not what you get. In my experience, if you mess around with the app, you’ll make changes that cause the system to stop working properly. Use the web user interface. If you use the interface via the hone’s mobile browser, you’ll get something similar to the app.
Dong is absolutely right. Asus offers so much more value for the money, but if they can’t stabilize the product it’s all in vain. A shame, because if they offered a premium mesh set, with faster throughput and better signal, I’d be the first to sign up. Cost is only an issue when things don’t work well. Apple kept selling a subpar router for years, but it worked well out of the box and without fail.
Thanks! I was really inclined to get the XT8 because of much better affordability against the RBK852. Speed is not a major concern as my ISP max out at 300Mbps, so signal strength and stability is the bigger concern for me. But looking at the comments, it seems like many people are facing issues with the XT8 (connection drop, non-comm between router and satelite etc). So I got worried there.
I hear you, Chia. I have some friends with the XT8, and they have been OK. I think if you don’t mess around too much, it’s okay. But Asus does need to really work on getting the firmware stabilized.
The Orbi may not crash, but it does have its funkiness too. I do get some weird slowdowns here and there.
I find the Orbi to be much better for overall coverage. I owned the ZenWiFi for over a month and one set didn’t cover nearly as well as a set of the Netgear Orbi does. It may be just me, but I have better wall to wall coverage.
Thanks for the input, Robert. And the Orbi is more stable, too.
Apart from speed, how would you rate the difference with Orbi Wifi 6 in actual range coverage especially through walls?
The two about the same, Chia. You can read more on the Wi-Fi range here.
The XT8 did not have firmware released on July 2nd. The CT8 did. Unless I am missing something?
I’ve had the XT8 one week and it has locked up on me twice. This is using the latest firmware too that I was released on 2nd July so they can’t say I didn’t keep the device updated. Worst part was after the manual reboot of the router, the node lost its security protection so was literally operating as an open access point. Yes, you can connect to it without a passcode (I tried with a new device that had never connected to the network before). As it stands the XT8’s are buggy and potentially security nightmare. Bear in mind I saw the node lose security last week when I had it auto reboot mid week; this is a real issue that should never, ever happen.
Thank you for answering my questiion. I am going to use it as wirless setup. I tried the AX11000 but i didn’t like the range of it because it was not long enough. so what is the best tri band routers to combine wirlessly to give me the best range and speed between the following (zenwifi ax, Ax92u, Arris Max Pro or any other combination in your point of view ?
If the GT-AX11000 is not good enough for you in terms of range, none is. The range is generally the same in same-tier routers. More on that here.
Can You please help me to choose. The long range coverage and high speed system is to buy 2 ax88u routers and connect them together via AImesh is that right? and that would be better than buying the zenwifi?
Generally, if you use a wireless setup, a tri-band set is always better, SL. That said, it’s better to get two GT-AX11000 units. But a pair of the RT-AX88U will work, too, and will work great if you have wired backhaul. More on that here.
Dong, I’ve got 2 x XT8 and a AX88U router. All are wired. Any idea why the list of wired clients connected to each of the XT8s is more than just the clients actually physically connected to those mesh devices? I’m seeing clients appear on the Asus web interface that are connected to the network ports on the router or other switches I have in my wired network.
If a switch connects to an XT8, it’s generally counted as part of that XT8, Jon.
I was replying to Ryan, who said he bought 2 XT8 to compliment his existing AC5300.
Why would you buy a wifi 6 mesh system to “compliment” your wifi 5 router?
Why would you, Korg?
Hi, I purchased the Asus Zenwifi AX for my new house for the mesh system since its a big multi-story home. I’m getting AT&T Fiber installed soon and understand that I will have to use their gateway. What’s the best way to set up the mesh Router/Node on top of the gateway? The house is prewired for ethernet. Thanks!
This post will help you with that, Viet.
I’ve read several good reviews for this XT8 Mesh setup – but surprised to read about all the problems.
As an alternative am I considering the Asus GT-AX11000 router and two ASUS Lyra Trio Mesh nodes – the price is nearley the same. The AiMesh should give me coverage(and ease) and the router a good connection/speed for my NAS.
Can anyone recommend anything better for the price?
Thanks….
I’ve been a staunch supporter of the ZenWiFi AX from the start, and as a developer, understood some of the challenges that ASUS was going through with the release of this system. However, after two months of trying my best to make it work, I jumped back to Netgear. As bad as NG’s customer service is, I actually think Asus is worse.
That said, I ended up with Netgear’s AX6000 solution because two nodes (router/satellite) accomplished what the Asus ZenWiFi couldn’t do with four nodes – good coverage and high speed in all locations.
I miss the configurability and features on the ZenWiFi, but in this work from home time, with four kids pulling at bandwidth, I couldn’t deal with the types of drops I’ve experienced this past two months. So, no parental controls, no free protection through TrendMicro, no elegant router set. Just plain ugly but functional.
For you guys’ sake, I hope all of this gets resolved. Personally, I just don’t have the time or patience to wait that long.
Hello,
I install the router last week and my WAN internet was also disconnecting … ik works and later disconnect.
What I found was the following solution.
GO to the WAN option.
DHCP query frequency > I changed it in normal mode .
Default was it Aggressive mode … but after changed it in normal mode. the Internet WAN is stable.
Hi Dong,
Well I am not happy!!!! After a good a start I began to run into trouble with slow internet speed at less then 30% of I should be getting. All was good until I need to update my firmware. Well a very no descript error message keep coming up…” internet cant connect to server, try later after you connect to the internet..??”
After 12 hours and a few tries I started to get the feeling something was wrong…duh! They said I needed to manually update my firmware. I followed the directions including restoring to factory defaults!!! NOT want I wanted to get into. That is when the problems started.
After 6 days of only one communication per day (by email) and with no call backs the final determined that I needed to to send in the RT- AX88U for repair!
Need something that works with good customer service!!
Carl
Sorry to hear, Carl. I don’t test customer service. But things have been hard for all companies with folks working from home or laid off, etc.
Hi Dong, yes I used the web interface. Kept the default setting for the first two weeks, and then turned off Smart Connect for the last two weeks. No other settings were changed.
I bought the XT8 and month ago and have been frustrated ever since! Handoff from one router to the other is inconsistent as you mover around the house.
Disabled Smart Connect and setup two different SSID’s and now my connection keeps dropping. Very disappointed.
Do you have any guide with “recommended” settings? Using the latest firmware (3.0.0.4.386_25524)
Sorry to hear, Al. I’d recommend two things:
1. Do not use the mobile app. I’ve never used it myself. You can use the web interface on the phone’s mobile browser instead.
2. Do not change the settings for the hell of it. Set the Wi-Fi network up and then leave as much as the default as possible.
You can reset your router and try those and see.
Any word by chance from Asus re 160 mhz front haul
No, Chris. They’ve been very slow to respond since the virus took over the world. 🙁
Any new news about this imrovement firmware?
I think the latest firmware works very well now, Cirrus. It’s been like that for a while.
I was refering to the 160Mhz front haul or 5GHz-1 improvements.
I use this device in repeater mode. 5GHz-2 does not want to connect at all (if you try the “manual settigs” from wizard. Automatic scanning mode uses always 5GHz-1 as repeater)
5GHz-1 works quite nicely with low delay etc. But it still only connects 80MHz and speed is quite poor. I definitely would use 5GHz-2 as the reapeater connection. But IMO there is still problems in that. It won’t work.
You’re not using it as the intended use, so it’s hard to know if there’s any improvement for not, Cirrus. Also, note the limitations of the 160MHz. https://dongknows.com/wi-fi-6-explained/
Thanks for replies! But you lost me there now. I am not using as intended?
Asus offers repeater mode straight out of box selectable even from quick start wizard. How is that not intended use? It is very much where this device can be used and is intended. Asus advertises repeater mode in every spec page they have for this device.
As for repeater implementation details: Also 5GHz-2 is selectable for repeater in the menus. But it does not work. As it is selectable it is intended that you can use it -> Thus firmware has bug. It has also other bugs related to repeater use case.
I would only needs little more speed to get everything out of my internet connection. I have been waiting for either 5Ghz-2 become available for repeater use or the improvements on the 5GHz-1 you mentioned in review update in 2020 to see if any more speed could be achieved with my current devices.
Thus the question that have you heard any news about the 5GHz-1 front haul improvements…But it comes if it comes. I can operate these now decent enough already.
Which firmware do you use? I have some Problems with the newer ones. Firmware 3.0.0.4.386.42095 was the last stable with 5ghz-2 to be available for clients in my configuration as nodes.
I am using latest at the moment…Maybe I’ll try your version at some point. Thanks for the tip!
It’s not intended because I said so, Cirrus. And I’m not here for a debate. Take it or leave it. 🙂
I tried 2 times to send a failure report and I am not sure it is taking it, Dong. Please let me know how I can post some logs here. My router collapsed again last night, second time since the purchase 2 weeks ago. I wanted to send some logs maybe someone has an idea what is going on.
Looks like it worked in your previous post. But if there’s more, you can send it to me via a message in the About menu at top of the site, and I’ll update that post for you.
Dong, a network collapse occured again with ZenWifi (latest firmware 25524). Same symptoms as before. No internet from any device, Wan seems down, link with node is yellow. Rebooting fixes the issue. I have a hard time thinking why you are not having any of the many issues people have reported here. I have another 1-2 weeks to return the product. But I like the connection outside the totally failed status. These are the logs, if you understand what is going on (interruption occurred around 1.50am, I was using internet, and did not fix itself until my reboot in the morning):
Jun 24 01:24:52 roamast: determine candidate node (D4:5D:64:A1:CA:10)(rssi: -41dbm) for client (C4:9D:ED:04:56:AE)(rssi: -71dbm) to roam
(repeated 2 times)
Jun 24 01:25:03 nat: apply redirect rules
Jun 24 01:25:09 WAN Connection: Ethernet link down.
Jun 24 01:26:02 roamast: determine candidate node (D4:5D:64:A1:CA:10)(rssi: -41dbm) for client (C4:9D:ED:04:56:AE)(rssi: -71dbm) to roam
(repeated 10 times with different rssi)
Jun 24 01:45:59 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(461): eth5: Deauth_ind C4:9D:ED:04:56:AE, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3)
Jun 24 02:06:05 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(461): eth5: Deauth_ind 46:32:9F:FD:6E:AC, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3)
Jun 24 02:06:05 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(461): eth5: Deauth_ind 46:32:9F:FD:6E:AC, status: 0, reason: Class 3 frame received from nonassociated station (7)
Jun 24 02:29:55 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(461): eth5: Deauth_ind 48:D6:D5:0C:0C:20, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3)
Jun 24 02:30:24 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(497): eth5: Auth 48:D6:D5:0C:0C:20, status: Successful (0)
Jun 24 02:30:24 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(526): eth5: Assoc 48:D6:D5:0C:0C:20, status: Successful (0)
Jun 24 04:29:07 WATCHDOG: (FAUPGRADE)(auto_firmware_check:(6627))retrieve firmware information
Jun 24 04:29:07 WATCHDOG: (FAUPGRADE)(auto_firmware_check:(6644))no need to upgrade firmware
Jun 24 04:29:37 WATCHDOG: (FAUPGRADE)(auto_firmware_check:(6627))retrieve firmware information
I have had the XT8 for 3 weeks and no matter what i have tried, i have not been able to connect to my work’s server through VPN PPTP (PPTP passthrough is on). If I have both my internet provider’s modem/router in router mode (it’s on different subnet so no clashes there), they both crash completely whereas if i change that to modem mode only then the connection cannot be made… I have spoken to ASUS support (they are very slow to respond) and they have not been able to determine the problem…
Also, the NAS functionality seems to be slightly unreliable, with file transfers often crashing, the time machine function being slow and i have had to reconnect the drive in the time machine preferences 3-4 times so far as it keeps dropping the connection.
Other than the above, when my modem/router is also working as a router (double nat) i constantly have reconnections and reboots.
I really wanted to like this and it is really fast when it works, but i don’t think it is reliable enough.
Have you had any similar experiences while testing? If i were to simply use it as an access point with my internet providers modem/router (fairly bad modem/router) as the only network router would I be slowing down my network? If so, I will be sending it back and maybe going to Ubiquity path.
Hi Dong, I’ve got a couple of questions on this, if you wouldn’t mind. Firstly, I cannot seem to find the two pack for sale anywhere at the moment but I could buy two single devices (for a similar price). I would want to use them as mesh devices (hard wired) to an RT-AX88U router. I presume the only difference I’ll have with buying 2 x single devices is that I would have to manually add each to the mesh network as they won’t be ‘factory linked’ and I also assume they are identical in the two pack? Secondly, I also have an old RT-AC68U router, which I’m currently using as a mesh device linked to the RT-AX88U (but I still get wifi dead spots – hence the want for 2 x XT8s). My question is whether one XT8 will provide a better coverage than the RT-AC68U I currently have in place. Thanks in advance. Great website!
That’s a good thing, Jon, you have more flexibility. In your case though, I’d recommend getting a dual-band router instead, like the RT-AX3000. As for coverage, I’d say it’s similar. More on that here.
HI Dong, as it turns out not so odd. I have had a stable setup for over a month but just today my ethernet ports just quit working. I noticed a speed decrease to my wired devices (1 gig service which usually comes in at ~700Mbps) to around 250 about 3 days ago but now just quit working. I tried reinstalling the latest firmware since a reboot didn’t work. I haven’t reset the modems yet but that’s net. Steve if you are still out there did you resolve things?
What could cause this problem?
Carmine
That’s odd, CJ. Try backing up the settings, resetting the routers, and setting it up again. Also, restart your modem.
Hi Dong,
I continue to have the problem with my wired ethernet ports disconnecting (going down) randomly. Everything else works fine with wifi signal strength and coverage. I tested all my Cat 6 connections and connected a line directly to the modem and a laptop when it is down and I get no signal. I finally contacted Asus and after several back and forths they want me to RMA the units. Fine right? But I don’t think they reviewed the cfg and log files since each time they responded they asked for the same thing as if they were not sent. This happened 3 times. Can you think of anything else that would cause this problem. Sending the 2 unts back for repair will be a pain since I need the wifi coverage for work.
thanks,
Carmine
It’s unclear what you were trying to say, Carmine. In any case, it seems you might have not set the system up properly. Try resetting it and then follow this post.
Thanks for the review. I am currently using my Asus AC88u as my main router with the AX pair in AP Operating mode because it has the AC88u has more ports and is placed near my patch panel to the rest of my home network. What is the most optimal configuration to get better network performance and Wifi throughput. Should I change from an AP Operating mode to recreate a 3 node Aimesh.
I think you should it the current setup, Jimmy. It allows you to use all bands of the AX. Using the AX in AiMesh with the 88u will turn them into dual-band broadcasters.
After a long two months with the ZenWiFi AX, I’ve decided to go back to Netgear. Believe it or not, the system was quite stable in the house, but the drop in throughput from my gigabit connection was way too much. I had Comcast here running tests and while I was getting 950Mbps at the source, the highest I could get on any client was 450 (with just one client on the network).
There’s so much I’m going to miss from the Asus setup, but speed is necessary. We have three people working from home and three others streaming and gaming. The Zenwifi just wasn’t performing well enough for that type of demand.
The search continues.
Hi Dong,
AIprotection used to catch malicious websites on my AX58U. There was a frequent attempt from one of the phones to contact a site which was blocked by the router. Now that I have the ZenWiFi, there is no catching of that same website (the offending phone is still around). Thus, I am not sure malicious site protection is working at all. Can you give me a website that is supposed to be malicious and caught by the protetction system?
The blocked host by AX58U was something like “link.safessldirect.company”.
Hello Dong, my Aimesh setup is:
Main Router GT-AX11000 + 4 units XT8 (total of 5 hardware)
Questions:
1) How many more tri-band unit (XT8 or AX92U) can I add ?
I assumed you have just one question, Cy. The answer is none. Five is the recommended amount. However, I’ve tried more and that worked, but don’t use that as the official recommendation. Generally, if you use them in a wireless setup, three is the recommended number.
Dong, I upgraded to 25524 the night it came out. The crash I experienced is with the newest firmware.
Dorian,
I observed similar behaviour with May 5 log entries.
Since I upgraded to Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.386_25524, router is stable for last 5 days.
Dong,
After testing and using the ZenWifi for about a week now, the router just had a wierd crash. I lost WiFi but also wired connectivity. Led was still white on the router, while the node flashed blue like it was trying to reconnect. Restarting the router fixed the problem, but I wanted to dig a little more on this. I looked at the logs, and there is not much I can find, but I see that at the time of the crash the system log switched from June 16 to May 5, not sure if this is before I restarted or after I restarted the router. I am pasting below the log when the date switches. I can send you the the entire log privately if you want to have a look.
P.s. Wordpress is not letting me post the log, please let me know if I can send privately.
Upgrade to the latest firmware, Dorian.
Thank you Dong. Appreciate your help. I read the link that you shared. So, the issue with Option A GT-AX11000 main router with two XT8 nodes hard-wired to the router (creating a wired backhaul) – is that I will not get a WPA3 in this mesh setup. So future proofing with latest cutting edge technology is not a possibility correct?
I have read the pages you linked to and have succeeded in finding a DMZ setting in the gateway (isp supplied modem router),I do not believe the plusnet 2704n router has bridge mode. I have turned that on and linked it to the mac address of the xt8.
The ASUS gui ( web configuration page) now shows WAN IP 192.168.1.1 but lan ip is still 192.168.50.1
and will not allow 192.168.1.25 (gateway dhcp server is configured with end ip address of 24 and start ip address of 192.168.1.1) the gateways address is 192.168.1.254.
so despite reading over and over i am clearly a bit stupid.
should I just give up or am i close.?
To be honest I had hoped it was all going to be a lot easier than this, i have wired security devices on my network and dont want to reset them to a new ip range and also have to buy a switch as i would be one ethernet port short.
What you see is how it’s supposed to be, P. The LAN IP HAS to be in a different subnet from the WAN’s. That’s the point. Seriously, you need to read and try to understand how things work and NOT just to find proof of how you WANT things to work. The only problem I can see in your situation is, no offense, YOU. Everything works exactly how it’s supposed to do, from how you describe it. Take a break, read stuff again. Don’t assume that you already know. You’re VERY close.
Hi Dong. thanks to your review I have purchased a set of these.
Run into an issue that i do not know how to solve though.
Both ot the xt8 ‘s have an ip address in the range 192.168.50. xx
where as the modem has an ip address in this range 192.168.1.xx
as a consequence of course all wired devices connected to the router (not xt8) are inaccessible .
I have managed to get into the router setup / wan
and have turned off auto assign and enetered 192.168.1.25 – normal subnet and the gateway ip address
i have used the google dns server addresses
then authentication? left blank
applying these settings seems to work but can you confirm this is correct please?
thank you for your time.
The 192.168.x.1 is where it matters. So you’re fine in terms of IPs. But you need to setup the XT8s as a system, meaning only ONE of the two connects to the ISP gateway (yours is not a “modem”). More on that here. https://dongknows.com/double-nat-vs-single-nat/. Read the whole thing like you loved it. 🙂
good grief you had answered my first comment before i had chance to type the second. thank you!
to be clear, when i say modem i am not referring to either of the xt8 units but the broadband modem supplied by my isp.
That’s what I meant, P. You need to actually read. 🙂
update.. i noticed that the lan address was still 192,168.50.1
so i reset wan to “auto” and tried changing LAN ip address to 192.168.1.25 but that resulted in a message saying “WAN and LAN should have different IP addresses and subnet.”
I am clearly out of my depth. help please
See my previous reply, P.
I’m not finding any MAC address restrictions, etc…
All the ethernet ports worked before the update and none of them work after it.
I hate to go back to a previous firmware, because it’s much more stable, but for working from home, I need access to wired ethernet to do imaging and other items from my home office where the node is placed.
Try backing up your router’s setting, resetting it and see if the ports work, the restoring from the backup. Good luck, Steve. You got a very odd problem there.
I upgraded a few days ago and I am getting similar results. I used to have to reboot the node a couple times a day and the router automatically rebooted once a night. I haven’t had a problem since I did the upgrade. It’s been staying connected without issue and I haven’t had to reboot either device. The problem I am having is that the couple devices that I have wired to the Ethernet ports on the node and the router are no longer working. It’s like they completely disabled them. Is there a setting in the new firmware to turn them back on? Is anyone else having this issue?
Thanks much
That doesn’t sound right at all, Steve. Make sure you don’t have some software MAC address restriction or something like that.
Hi Dong
Can I ask how you were able to enable WAN Link Aggregation? I can’t seem to find the setting anywhere 🙁
I looked for it in the same place as the AX88U (https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039053/) but nowhere to be found.
Running the latest firmware (25524)
Cheers
Honga
I guess it’s no longer there, Honga. Asus might have decided to remove it.
I am running Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.386_25524 for more than 3 days now and Wi-Fi is stable. On previous firmwares routers restarted at least once a day.
What is your experience?
Found another hiccup. When TimeSync failed.. the entire thing basically shut down or just became unstable which happens daily. Since changing FROM pool.ntp.org TO time.nist.gov – I’ve had zero errors and issues. This thing can actually run for multiple days without issues. Hallelujah!!
That actually makes sense. Thanks, Wil.
Hi Dong. SteveC here. Somehow I accidentally updated the firmware on only one of my nodes (not router). Is there a way to downgrade just that node? It is on the latest version and the rest of my system is on an older version that has been functioning well. I am hesitant to update the whole system with all of the issues others have had. Or should I just take a chance and update everything? Thanks!
Just download the previous version and upload it to the unit, Steve. Most of the time the latest firmware works better though, so you can try updating the router, too.
Dong, thanks much! Very helpful advice.
Dong, thanks for your detailed guidance on XT8 operation. I had read advice that it was best to place all IOT devices on the Guest network. On the slight chance that they might get hacked, and leave your computers exposed. I now have IOT devices on both 2.4 GHz networks; Guest and primary. I am not able to figure out from the XT8 menus how to tell which 2.4 GHz network a device is connected to. I’ve traded email with ASUS support, but have gotten no answer. A crude approach would be to turn off the Guest 2.4 GHz signal, then see which devices continue to operate. Also, from comments I’ve seen that ZenWiFi does not support Guest network on nodes, I’m questioning the value of shifting IOT devices to Guest.
Hi Art. I don’t know who started that rumor and why, probably just so that they could call themselves “experts”. It’s just not true. For one, even if your IoT device is hacked, there’s not much it can do — it’s not a true computer — other than acting as a bot that can send a simple command to another device on the Internet. So yes when the bad guy gets a whole of like hundreds of them they can create a botnet to attack an entity outside of your home. Also, the easiest way to “hack” a device of this type is to use its default user name and password (like admin/admin etc.) Most new IoT devices require you to create a new password before it works, so that’s no longer an issue. On top of that, your Asus router has Network protection that would stop bad signals coming out of, say, your oven.
Using a separate and isolated Wi-Fi network for your IoTs might create other problems like you can’t connect to it. I’d say just forget about using the Guest network for it. There’s no value in it.
Thanks Dong, I will leave it as it is now as everything seems very stable.
Also, something that puzzles me is that the second 5Ghz is not hidden.
1) Does that mean with this wireless setup there is no Wireless Backhaul ?
2) Should I hide that second 5Ghz SSID ?
3) Are there any specific steps I need to do to activate a Backhaul ?
Thank for your help
Dong, you are completely right to suggest the user should not beat the head to get good speed numbers. But understanding the problems in real life use would take weeks, with scenarios of streaming, WhatsApp calls, file transfers, etc. I was hoping to shoot a good solution once and for all, and learn more in the process to prepare myself for future needs. But looks like it is not easy. I don’t even understand how does a client device get the signal to switch bands and which device obeys that “protocol” and which doesn’t. Is there a standard for all this?
Many thanks.
At the early time of dual-band, Smart Connect worked pretty well with Wi-Fi 4, Dorian. My take is there was a built-in threadhold of speed in Mbps where a client should consider switching. As Wi-Fi gets faster, that threshold is easily achieved,and now clients just connect to whichever band with stronger signals, which is almost always the 2.4 GHz. Of course this varies from one client to another, but if you wanna make sure, separate the two bands by not using Smart Connect.
Good morning Dong: I’ve just installed GT-AX11000 as the main router. The setup was smooth and given my whole house is networked to Cat6a, about 50% of my devices are hard-wired. So in my about 4000 sft home with router in my basement media closet, I am getting great to good network range even in previously known trouble areas of the house. While I can make do with this router for a while, there is a need for mesh addition.
Option A: GT-AX11000 main router with two XT8 nodes hard-wired to the router (creating a wired backhaul).
Option B: GT-AX11000 main router with two RT-AX92U nodes hard-wired to the router (creating a wired backhaul).
However, there is no Wifi 6 on 92U for 2.4 ghz band. Do you recommend Option A then?
Also, I did not see the “wired backhaul” option in GT-AX11000 and I am guessing that it will show up once I change it to AiMesh mode along with adding the nodes and removing Smart Connect. Is my understanding correct?
A is better, Rocky. And yes, wired backhaul is automatic but you can change that when you click on a particular node. More here:https://dongknows.com/asus-aimesh-overview/
Dong, thanks again for your advice. Got the XT8 two days ago, and did two firmware upgrades that day (I was perhaps the first to note that 25524 firmware in th emiddle of the night, and thought it was a virus as it wasn’t posted on the website). Now I am playing around with various configurations, the speeds seem better than AX58U, so returned the little one today.
I noticed some weird inconsistencies, but so far even having both nodes in the same room does not cause a problem; the switch from one node to the other has worked so far. But the switch from between bands (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) is a new thing to me and does not seem to flip consistently. Sometimes I think my phone is stuck in 2.4Ghz despite being few feet away from the router and having excellent 5Ghz signal. So, I am now playing around with the Smart Connect rules to see if something can be done. I am also thinking that the issues people describe here (lack of speed, disconnections) could come from improper rules for band switching. Is there a guide or help you can point the community for tweaking the smart connect rules based on custom home configurations (i.e., putting new thresholds based on how the signal is distributed in the various rooms and frontyards)?
Smart Connect is not all that smart, Dorian. I’ve had lots of convos with Asus and they couldn’t provide any real instruction on how to configure it. I’ve tried myself many times without being able to come to a concert conclusion. It’s a game of trial and error. I think if you’re really bothered by which band to use, just use them as two separate Wi-Fi networks. My take is that, as long as the speed is fast enough for you need, why bother about the actual number?
I need to setup a new wireless network in a large house and had a quick question on future proofing. Would it be fair to say this system will work for casual users for the next decade? My other thought is purchasing a budget unit now, like an Eeros, then upgrading in 2-3 years when the technology is more widespread.
Yes, it’s fair, Jamie. You should stay away from the Eero and its type.
Thanks for the heads up. Installed it just before sleep. It hasn’t fixed my backhaul drops of the node down to the 2.4GHz band, but so far it’s been way more reliably reconnecting to the dedicated backhaul… unfortunately this means it can drop to the 2.4GHz band again sooner too 😉 since I Haven’t actually timed an average time to backhaul loss I can’t say wether it’s actually improved or not… it feels similar over such a short test time… and I still only get about 3/5 of my download speed even when the dedicated backhaul is up… so it will still go back to the store tomorrow. Such a shame 🙁
for anyone who hasn’t got the notification: https://dlsvr04.asus.com.cn/pub/ASUS/wireless/ZenWiFi_XT8/FW_ZENWIFI_XT8_300438625524.zip
Only at ASUS China website
https://www.asus.com.cn/Networking/ZenWiFi-AX6600/HelpDesk_BIOS/
Version 3.0.0.4.386.25524
2020/06/1172.28 MBytes
ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.25524
– Improved node connection stability
– Optimized CPU utilization.
Please unzip the firmware file first then check the MD5 code.
You can get the firmware here https://www.asus.com/my/Networking/ZenWiFi-AX-XT8/HelpDesk_BIOS/
if you are running 25513 you won’t get the notification until you downgrade to 25509.
thanks Steve, i was looking for the actual file, it doesn’t show on the US Asus website. It does update to that new version 25524 if you use the app or web interface but I prefer to upload the file. Told somewhere along the way that you should never use the auto upgrade?? used it anyway and it worked fine after resetting my cable modem.
thanks
go into the administrative settings –> Firmware Update Tab, and at the top of the screen (it may be visible from other screens as well) there is a yellow exclamation point icon. Click that and then the Firmware Update screen will show either a button saying firmware update or a link. I forget which.
Mark, I can send you the link to the 25513 beta. I can’t seem to find the latest 25524 firmware on any of the Asus sites.
@Mark, the new firmware is 25524, not 25224. I am still using 25224 myself (either what it shipped with or may one update since) because I haven’t been having the reported issues and have been hesitant to update. You may also be running that older firmware.
If people report good results after a couple of days with 25524, then I’ll try the upgrade.
you need to go through the router’s web GUI ->administration -> firmware upgrade
Steve, did you try the 25513 beta? That one is working very well for me.
To Dong and All,
So I’ve been using the ZenWiFi AX system for a bit now. I had reset the system per Dongs suggestion. While I’m not getting the random disconnects now on a couple of devices the system would just go down completely wireless most of the time and sometimes both wired and wifi which is odd. I’ve not used the App at all as suggested by Dong. Also I have not used the App at all for the settings.
Today while my wife, mother in law and I are working from home and kids watching streaming service the network completely went out for about 20 mins before I finally went up and rebooted the system. I originally updated the firmware when I first hooked up the system at the end of may. After this issue and then coming here I saw some people mentioning about a new frmware version out today v ending 25224 which oddly enough I know have and I guess would explain why the network went down if it took this update which I don’t know how it would have as I didn’t do it and I don’t see any auto update feature. In any case I’m hoping this fixes my issues.
I do really like this system and if I can get the disconnects to stop it would be great. The speeds I get are great with it and the coverage is amazing in our house.
Thanks Steve, where do you find it? Not on the US site
Latest firmware (25524) still messes up the topology graphics. I can only see the main router, no nodes.
25509 was a dumpster fire, but the beta 25513 has been stable. So hopefully this new one incorporates the best of 25513 and some other goodies. Still don’t understand who posts new firmware with no notes.
I upgraded to the new firmware, and can confirm that there are no release notes as of yet and the update is not posted on the Asus site, it just came available on the router. Hopefully they will post release notes soon.
Did you download the firmware? I am unable to hit the server right now, so would like a link to download it.
There is new firmware out today (25524) for those of you interested. it may solve some of the issues you are having. Currently no release notes to go along with it so cannot provide much more info than that.
Hi Dong!
Thanks for your recommendation.
I’ve been using this product for a week.
This mesh solved all wifi problems in my place.
Hello Dong, I have a 7000 square feet house on one single floor but with metal in walls (house built in the early 50’s). Here is my brand new Setup: Asus AX11000 with latest firmware upgrade (3.0.0.4.386_25509) as Main Router with 4 wireless units of XT8 (with latest firmware upgrade also) as Aimesh nodes. Here is my Q: When installing AX, I created 3 différents WIFI names for each of the 3 bands. Obviously this did not establish a Dedicated wireless backhaul. As per ASUS, I should enable SmartConnect on the AX and the 5GHz-2 will establish the hidden SSID Dedicated wireless backhaul. However since reading all the comments here, I am literally afraid to change anything as I only created those 3 SSID at setup with no other changes.
1) Should I go ahead and enable SmartConnect ?
2) Is the Dedicated Backhaul essential since I have about 35 clients at all times including 20 of them as Smart cameras and other devices ?
Thanks for your help
That’s a huge house, Cyril. You should consider running network cables.
1. Either way is fine.
2. Not really unless you want to get the best performance. In most cases, you’re fine having the current setup.
yep whaleman – when my tech does not work after messing around with it for a while, it goes back to the vendor. Along with Amplifi Alien, also consider Orbi RBK852 and its little brother RBK752. I’ve used Orbi in the past and they are relatively stable but as Dong confirmed in one of the posts, they tend to have a lag in handing off your client from one node to the other . Other options might be Velop. GT-AX11000 is perhaps a decent choice and adding nodes later once the firmware becomes more stable. If you remember, Dong mentioned that GT-AX11000 also had a glitchy firmware which they eventually fixed and made it ready for prime time. As always Dong knows the Best 🙂
Thanks. Yeah seriously considering returning it again, thankfully I bought it from a very considerate store. Seriously considering waiting for the AmpliFi Alien to be released in Europe, even if it offers less for more money it also seems to offer a lot of peace of mind 🙂 And I can buy one first and get a second as a node later in case it won’t reach our concrete basement on its own. One of the reasons I got the ZenWifi to start with.
You are missing the big point here – a glitchy router. ASUS return policy is not favorable. 15% restocking with customer paying return shipping. To get to the point that the unit is non functional for a free return, we need tech support which is hard to get a hold of. Then, there is all that wasted time for some of us who are trying to work from home and fixing routers and figuring out network administration is not a full time job for some of us. They do charge premium for these products. So, why not offer products after fully testing them rather than shoving beta prototypes on to the market. I am not writing to seek your opinion on my viewpoint but explaining my stance as to the agony of going through buying these prototypes.
Ram it down your throat? Did they tie you down and force you to use it? LOL. You can return it if you don’t like it. I’m not an Asus fanboy so I have no stake in this. No one is forcing you to keep the router if you don’t like it.
Thank you. A quick follow up. Suppose I get the AX11000:
1. Will it have much better long range connectivity than AX58U?
2. Will Aimesh be impaired when coupling AX11000 with AX58U since the latter does not have a dedicated backhaul band?
Sure, Dorian.
1. Better but not much better. That’s the nature of 5 GHz range. More on that here.
2. Yes, that will work, but the Wi-Fi speeds of the AX58U will suffer from the signal loss.
Dong, thank you for generously replying to people. I spent the an evening and a morning trying to make a decision, and I am still lost, need your help. I am on a relatively small home, planning to move to a larger one in a few months. Got the Asus AX58U last month and rather happy with it so far (although sometimes WiFi signal is lost for a few minutes). In the backyard I don’t get as good WiFi as I wish, so I thought to get another router to AiMesh. Read your other post about combining two AX58U, but I am still confused what is the better way to future proof the decision (looks like the AX58U wasn’t enough). I have no cable connections at home, so need to rely on WiFi backhauls.
Here is where I am confused. Looks like a pair of XT8 is better than a pair of AX58U, right? What about WPA3, which is one of the reasons I went for AX58U (although I am still stuck on WPA2 as some of my devices can’t connect if I enable WPA3). And what about the 160hz channel in AX58U which from your review the XT8 does not seem to have? And finally, would the XT8 be overall a better router, more long-range and close-range speed, more stable connection, better for Aimesh, than the pair of XT8. The current cost of two AX58U is 180*2=$360, while two XT8 is $450, not a huge difference if the network is more reliable and ready for future devices.
Any thoughts?
You’re not confused, Dorian. That’s good news. The bad news is yes if you truly want to be “future-proof” you have to two with two Asus GT-AX11000. I’d recommend getting what serves you NOW, you’ll never be truly future-proof considering we have Wi-Fi 6E on the way. As to which to get, check out this post (and the related ones). It will take some time to read them all, but you’ll have a much better idea.
Thanks Dong!
I want to love the ZenWifi AX8, I really do…. and I almost do too. No other wifi 6 mesh system offers nearly the same capability and configurability as it at the same price point and it looks good enough to have visible in the living room and all.
I just can’t get it to work properly. For some reason it refuses to keep a stable backhaul on the dedicated 5GHz band and regularly reverts to the 2.4GHz band shared with everything else for a backhaul. It’s not the placement, because this happens even when I put the node in the same room as the main unit, about 20cm apart, and it’s unlikely to be the units, since I’ve already replaced them once, assuming a hardware issue…. it doesn’t even seem to the 5GHz band itself, since if I unlock it for other units, they can keep a stable connection to it. I’ve even disconnected as many electronics in the area around the two units that I can still maintain a working household with, but it still refuses to keep the backhaul stable…. At times it can keep up for almost a full day with a “great” signal detected (if I look at the mobile app, it reports about -60dBm at the most remote spot I’d even consider having it at, which beats the computer just 2m from the main unit with its -70ish dBm), so it doesn’t make any sense why it regularly drops down to the 2.4GHz band and claims a “poor” signal (sill about the same actual strength though). For some reason I also only get about 150MBit/s internet on the node, even when using a computer hooked via ethernet to the node that usually easily gets my full 250MBit from the main unit at the same location.
I can’t even think of more things to try now. I’ve switched units, I’ve switched sets, I’ve disabled wifi 6 and 160MHz and no matter what I do, the node sooner or later starts taunting me with the yellow light and reports that it’s using the 2.4GHz backhaul in the web interface. I’ve performed more factory resets on them that any hardware I’ve ever owned, and I’ve tried three different firmware versions, I even tried to set up the replacement units using only the web interface after readin some of the comments here. ASUS support couldn’t help me besides trying older firmware and eventually suggesting replacing it… but I find it highly unlikely that two sets from completely different batches have the exact same behaviour due to a faulty unit.
I’d appreciate any suggestions (besides a wired backhaul, it’s just not possible and I got the units in large part because of the really good wireless backhaul speeds reported because of this… but I don’t even get that by the looks of it). I really want to keep them, but the switch to 2.4GHz is not graceful when it happens, so it interrupts music streaming in the house regularly, and should a gaming machine be connected to the node when it happens, I doubt the outcome would be good. I pushed my financials to get it since I want a unit that could keep me over a whole wifi generation instead of buying an wifi 5 unit now and a 6 in a few years… so I’m quite at a loss now.
Sorry to hear your pain. If you have exhausted all options, perhaps consider returning them and trying to get something else – may be same brand different model or some other brand. Dong has covered it all so read through his articles and see what other options you could potentially consider. Hang in there and this will be behind you soon
I actually don’t think that the Zenwifi AX can deliver your highest speeds. In my house, at three feet from the router, my max speed has been in the 500s. I could get around 900 with my Orbi. Honestly, I think it’s related to the antenna configuration and the bandwidth on each band. The 5.1 band is supposed to give maximum speed. I understand only getting 250-300 in the back rooms after connecting through a node, but not when I am connected right at the source.
Dong, what do you mean WPA not being recommended. How do you expect to secure your network from other devices joining? All MAC filtering?
Why was my post removed?
Your previous post wasn’t removed, Steve. It was just not yet approved, which it has been now. To avoid spams and keep the site clean, all first posts and posts with certain content are withheld for approval.
Hello. Very nice review. I originally purchased a pair of XT8s to replace Orbi’s who’s firmware continuously had problems and reboot times of 10-15m per router/node (had 3). The connection between the router and node (2-pack) kept dropping every day or two. I scheduled reboots which reduced the number. Then I saw minimal coverage on some outdoor cameras which are farthest away from router or node so I Purchased a 2nd 2-pack (last one in MD) and setup a 2nd Node (4th unit is still in box). Coverage expanded. I also went to the Xfinity store and replaced the XB6 Gateway with an XB7 Gateway and upped our data bandwidth to 1Gb. I see 200-500mb coverage throughout the house now and on the back patio, garage and driveway. I would expect better consistently (600-800Mb). I just upgraded to v25509. So far no connection drops on XT router/nodes. I am on wireless backhaul at the moment. My house has Cat 5 (18years old) and when I try wired backhaul, speeds drop to 50-80Mb. Not sure why this is the case other than it goes through a Gb switch between node and router. Also, why don’t we have fronthaul 160Mhz yet? Why does WPA3 hiccup had to revert to WPA2+. The units are nice, but these things need addressed.
I think Asus is better equipped to address your questions, Steve. But generally, WPA is not recommended for AiMesh, not yet at least. As for the speed issue, you should check out this post and related ones.
Question on: My house has Cat 5 (18years old) and when I try wired backhaul, speeds drop to 50-80Mb. I’ve read the other article. Can’t find direction/instruction regarding the cabling requirements. All I know is when I plug in an ethernet cable on the Node to the 2.5gb port that connects through a gigabit switch which is also connected back to the primary Router, speeds drop to 50-80Mb. When I return to wireless backhaul, speeds go back up to good
Thoughts?
Yeah exactly. 3 or 4 month without air would be very tough 😉 And a serious note: Thanks to your in-depth and honest review, I knew exactly what I can expect and what kind of product I would buy. Other than the guest network (not) roaming, I got lightning fast and stable WiFi (1 week and counting). And imho the units are aesthetically pleasing (as far as that is possible for a router). So thank you again for the good work!
Sure, David. 🙂
I just got off the phone with the (Dutch) Asus support. Yes, guest network on nodes is enabled in the ZenWifi line, but NO! it is not yet integrated in the Firmware of the Zenwifi AX (3.0.0.4.386_25509 as of today). It is on their roadmap right now, to be released Q2/Q3 2020.
That’s about right, David. Thanks for sharing. I’d not hold my breath, though. Asus told me about this one a while ago. The deal is Guest network will eventually be supported.
Hi Abu S, I have similar experienced as Jacky. No more node disconnected issue since Friday. I didnt play with the setting though just leave it as default for now. I think its fixed. I do scheduled reboot daily and dont feel any problem as well. All devices reconnected including my security camera and robot vacuum. Love it so far!
Count me in as another person that is having frequent connection drops for the ethernet wired backhaul node. If anything, it seems to have gotten worse on firmware 3.0.0.4.386_25509. I would not recommend anyone to upgrade to the 25509 version at this time.
Rocky, I am not having any critical problems and am loving my XT8 pair. It would be nice if the guest network worked and if I didn’t have to worry, based on all the reports, that if I did try changing a setting or upgrading firmware that I’d unleash a whole set of problems. It sounds like the current beta software will stabilize things somewhat, so I’ll probably upgrade to that when it’s released. Maybe then I’ll start experimenting with some settings, but for now I’m happy with what I’ve got.
Folks – The writing is on the wall – I am not sure why we are not seeing it – so many issues with the ZEN XT8 that people are having – I request Mr. Dong Ngo to reconsider the review and put it as “Not Recommended” – my two cents.
$450 for two pieces of hardware that’s barely functional, loaded with glitches and connection drops and I know one guy who restarts the router every night scheduled. Asus rammed this “not ready for prime time, prototype of a router and a almost Orbi lookalike” down our throats and expects us to use. And the worst of all – non-existent tech support. This is what I glean through the 375 comments on this XT8 of a disaster. Anyone disagrees?
Honestly, the routers that work well on Wifi 6 are not affordable by 99% of the population at this time ($699 for Orbi and no 10G port? – Is Apple advising Netgear on Pricing?), the ones that are affordable -the companies use all of us as lab rats or guinea pigs – (whatever you prefer). Perhaps time to wait for few more months or an year?
Mr. Dong Ngo- Please shine the light for all of us to see the uninterrupted gigabit path. Please consider to take a moment to write a wonderful article on Wifi 6 Recommended vs Not Recommended products. You are the best – you guide us!
I would be interested as well. I’m in week 6 of spinning my wheels with ASUS support and no one I’m speaking to has made any progress or helpful suggestions.
Hi. Could someone send me that beta version 25513 or tell me where can I download it from?
Thank you very much in advance
Has anyone ran into the issue of a wifi 5 client, in my case an older toshiba laptop that i changed to a newer wifi 5 card, showing as unidentified network/public. The only fix seems to be to restart the zenwifi ax units then it connects normally? I tried everything on the windows 10 machine to fix this without the reboot, but it needs rebooted at least once a day to get around this issue (i have another wifi 6 card and adapter for m2 to pcie coming to test as well)
Hi Abu S, Yes it is stable now.. i tried the same beta version for last 4 days and the Development team nailed the connection issue.
Leonard, is the connection still stable? I am having the same issue and tech support has me creating separate SSIDs for each of the bands (that did not help); change WAN to static IP (did not help); and a few other QoS changes and none have helped. If the beta version 25513 is still stable I will ask them for that today.
I’m having some problems getting even half of my service, which is gigabit / 40Mbps. I’d like to at least see 600 or so when close to the main router. I’ve never been able to see close to my max.
Many thanks Dong — So I decided to pick up the GT-AX11000 (actually found one) and now I’m using it as the main router, with the two AT8s as nodes. So far so good.
I have a question though about your comment above: Are you saying that the WAN IP Connection Type (http://10.0.8.1/Advanced_WAN_Content.asp) should be “automatic”? When I set up the AX11000, I put that setting to Static IP and entered in the IP Addresses, DNS, etc that my Gateway uses. Similarly, on my Gateway I assigned the AX11000 a static IP. Appreciate your thoughts.
Side question: Should I enable WIFI Agile Multiband? It’s disabled by default and just wondering if it’s necessary on these routers. I should add that most of my clients at home are on WIFI 5 (not WIFI 6 compatible).
Cheers,
Dan
Sure, Dan. Nice setup!
1. You should use a static value only when you have static IP from the IPS. In your case, it seems you’re using a double NAT setup, setting the static IP, in this case, doesn’t make any difference. 99% of the time you can just use the Auto setting.
2. It doesn’t really matter, it has very little effect on anything really. It’s a nifty idea that has little effect in real-life.
My maximum throughput is close to what ISP is providing me (500/100 Mbs). Even when I am few meters away from the node. Without any walls or obstacles of course.
I am on firmware 3.0.0.4.386_25509.
BTW: I had some node disconnection problems recently. It looks I solved them by adjusting channels for each band.
I was wondering what everyone’s maximum and average throughput speeds have been. We’ve been struggling mightily as of recent so I want to make sure it’s the isp and not the router/mesh that is causing the reduced speed.
Yeah Leonard, i have received the same beta version 25513 firmware, i have been suffering with this disconnect issue since day 1.. It’s been 2 days using this and i have reset to factory setting and configure from the scratch.. So far no issues.. Day 3 i’m going to configure schedule reboot to see if that gives any negative impact or not.
I received a beta version 25513 which supposed to help in node disconnected intermittently. I volunteered to test this beta version and so far after more than 24 hours I believe the dev nailed it. I havent seen any disconnect issue of the node as well as all my devices connected without any issue. Finally. I believe this will help many. I’ll continue to let computer with Intel modem runs a few days connected to the node. usually when this notebook connected to the node it will cause probelms within hours. I have a feeling this new beta version firmware fixed it. let me test it for a few more days.
Dong, thank you for all this great information. I purchased the AX-XT8 two pack and a third standalone XT8 to ensure ample coverage throughout our 5 bedroom home. The entire home is wired with cat5e terminating in a central wiring panel that has my tp-link 16 port switch. I’d like to set up a star topology and run wired backhaul from both nodes back to the main router which is in my home office. So the config would basically be… Modem -> Router -> Switch -> Node 1, Node 2. Is this possible? When I have both nodes connected to the switch, they disappear from the Topology on the Asus admin UI (but I still see them as clients). When I disconnect, say, Node 2 from the switch, they immediately show back up with Node 1 as wired backhaul and Node 2 as wireless backhaul. Is this to be expected? Just hoping to get the best possible performance out of this system. Also I don’t think daisy chaining them together is an option due to our wiring layout.
You don’t need to worry about the topology when you have wired backhaul, Jeff. (More on that here.) What you experienced is strange. Make sure the switch is an unmanaged one. Also, make sure you set up the AiMesh properly. Since you have 3 units, just set them up the way you do any AiMesh router.
The 3.0.0.4.386.25509 was made available in the US this morning as well. Haven’t had a chance to test it out yet. Please post any results!
Received a firmware update today in Malaysia
Version 3.0.0.4.386.25509
2020/06/0472.27 MBytes
ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.25509
– Improved connection stability.
– Fixed node 2.5G port connection issues.
– Adaptive QoS supported more apps
Work-From-Home: WeChat Work®, RescueAssist, Tencent/VooV Meeting® Learn-From-Home: LinkedIn Learning®, Binkist®, Skillshare®, edX®
Media Streaming: SiriusXM®, Bilibili®
Indoor training: The Sufferfest®, Bkool Fitness®, TrainerRoad®, Rouvy®
Please unzip the firmware file first then check the MD5 code.
MD5: 6cb90af0ea97cfaa9461f0ae8961042f
I’m not very techie so I apologize in advance if my lingo is off:
I’ve also had some connection issues with my XT8s (one router one node). Everything is working great and then suddenly none of my clients are able to connect to the WIFI. The only fix is to reboot the routers. This would happen at least once every day or two. Note that I also set the system to reboot by itself at 3am but I’d still have this issue at least once a day or two days.
After reading some of the comments below, I did the following and so far I haven’t had any issues (four days now — fingers crossed):
1. Factory reset
2. Set up via Web interface (first time I tried this. Before I used the phone app)
3. Kept all default settings — except I changed the local LAN IP and I still use the 5ghz-2 for some clients.
I also looked at my Gateway (I have the XT8 router plugged into my Gateway). My Gateway’s WIFI is disabled but has its own local IP network, with only two clients connected to it: A TV box and my XT8 router (my XT8 network uses a slightly different LAN IP address to avoid conflicts). Anyway, I noticed the XT8 was assigned a DHCP address, so I switched it to a Static address.
So far so good (hope I haven’t jinxed it).
Would be curious if this works for other people too.
Cheers,
Dan
Thanks for sharing, Dan. And your lingo is perfect. Looks like you have a double NAT, check out this post for more. Make sure you change the WAN IP setting of the router to dynamic before you make any further changes relating to the ISP-provided gateway, though.
Hi Dong,
Thank you so much for this review. Amazing site and plethora of great information. Much appreciated sir.
I have recently moved to a new house (3000 sqft) from a small apartment. I have a RT-AX88U as the main router. I need to expand my wifi signal to far corners of the house. The whole house is wired with Cat6 cable. I’ve connected router to a 16 port switch so the rest of the house can get wired internet. I was thinking of going with two of AX-92U as wired backhaul nodes as these are $100 cheaper than two pairs of ZenWifi Ax-XT8s. I will pay extral $100 for improved and stable wifi signal.
What are you thoughts on this as on June 2020? I apologize if you already have answered this question. I read through the comment section but didn’t see anything specific to my question.
Thank you again for your excellent work.
That will work, Denish. Wired backhaul is the way to go. You can also go with a Wi-Fi 5 solution, too.
Thank you, that related post and some of your other posts helped very much, I appreciate it. Let me ask in a different way, taking specific model numbers out of the discussion: Do you think the faster wireless speed and other efficiency gains of AX provide a suitable replacement for gigabit wired connections, or would it still be worthwhile to hardwire clients when possible? I’ve read that Wifi 6 handles latency much better, but is it on par with a traditional hardwired connection? Lastly, do you think link aggregation and 2.5Gbps ports will have real value anytime soon, or will we see new standards come up before that happens?
There’s no wireless connection that can beat a wired connection, Mikey. That’s because a wired connection is stable and reliable, while a wireless one is always fluctuating — more on this here. Eventually, 10Gbps wired network will be the new norm. I’d give it a few years or maybe a decade. That’s mostly because 1Gbps is faster than most of us would need, for now.
Remove the RT-AC68U for now and dont connect that until a week or two of ensuring the Zen system stability.
Stefano – Do you have a modem separate from router? I mean like comcast or verizon modem (or modem router combo) and this zenxt8? If so, try doing this – “forget wifi” on all devices, reset xt8 to factory and dont connect to modem. Power cycle modem first, connect a laptop to that and see if your internet is stable for 10, 15 or 20 mins. If so, connect the router now and try giving a different local IP (google search “private ip range”) and you get a few options – go with one that is not common like 172 etc. Dont connect all wifi devices at once. Start with one at a time every few hours – notice stability and continue to add more. I had the exact same issue – In my case its not zen router but something else – but the culprit was comcast tv box with internet was connected to Modem directly (not through router) had the same IP address as the router and there was a conflict. Result was a nightmare few days trying to figure it out. Also, if you have any landline boxes like Vonage, OOma etc, see if their IP has any conflict with your router. Also, consider trying wireless backhaul for a few days and once you notice its stable, then convert to wired BH. All the best and hang in there. You will be able to pinpoint the issue. My two cents.
Hi Stefano. I just wanted to share that I’m having the exact issues as you describe. I’ve been working (unsuccessfully) with ASUS for a month to try to resolve it and have made no progress. I changed the default subnet as well, so I’m wondering if there is some sort of firmware bug that is messing things up? That’s a total guess, but we’ve put in an order for an Orbi from Costco (our local warehouse has one of the AX models now). Please post any solutions you find – I’ll do the same. Good luck!
Hi Dong,
Did exactly what you advised… still problems all over. I’m clueless what to do.
The main problem is that devices are constantly disconnecting, sometimes refusing to reconnect. These devices are a mix of Windows laptops, Chromebooks, iPhones, Android phones, Google Nest Hub’s… it’s basically everything in my house which is unstable. Very very frustrating after spending a lot of money on a fancy Zenwifi mesh system coming from a rock solid RT-AC68U (router) + RT-AC56U (access point) setup.
I now have latest firmware, clean setup after factory reset, wired backhaul, everything default but the subnet changed from 192.168.50.x to 192.168.1.x.
Can you advise on options I could try?
I’m thinking of taking the (huge) loss on selling the Zenwifi and going back to the old situation or try something else… Orbi? Other Asus non-zenwifi router? I’m very reluctant to what could be a more stable setup.
Speed is all fine, I don’t care if speed is not best-in-class. I need stability and signal strength.
Not sure what to tell you Stefano. It’s super-odd considering you have wired backhaul. I’ve used the GT-AX11000 with a mix of a couple of routers, including one XT8 and one CT8 for months now with no issue at all. (At one point, I even tried the XT8 as the main router).
By the way, since the default IP changed, it seemed you might have had another router *before* the first XT8, if so, that could be part of the issue. Make sure your XT8 connects to the Internet directly (via a modem). If not, check out this post on double NAT vs single NAT.
Dong,
I am considering getting a single XT8, but wondering if I should hold out for the upcoming AX86U or instead go for a pair of AX3000 mesh based on my setup, would appreciate your insight. My network is a little weird, so bear with me:
I have a just under 2000 square foot house, two stories. The primary router is an older Linksys AC 3×3 running DD-WRT and is centrally located on the first floor where we spend the most time. I get a full signal throughout most of the first and second floors except for the master bedroom where it drops off considerably, like 25% signal strength (likely due to obstructions from walls, stairs, and bedroom furniture) and the family room below the master where I get probably 75% signal (again due to walls). It’s worth noting that I do however have the ability to run Ethernet cable and an AP to the master bedroom, but have not yet done so and not sure I would need to if I had better equipment. In one spare bedroom directly above the primary router I have another Linksys AC 3×3 DD-WRT in wireless bridge mode serving as the “wired” connection to my home office equipment and gaming PC in that room, so essentially the backhaul between the two routers is a 1.3Gbps wireless connection, as I don’t have an easy way to run Ethernet cable to this room, but very stable.
Finally, my internet connection speed is currently 100Mbps, however our neighborhood is getting fiber in the coming months, so my connection speed will be jumping up to at least 500Mbps, with the option to go 750 or gigabit or even two-gigabit, depending on what I want to pay for.
Option 1: I am considering going with a single XT8 because I could use the 4×4 band on the XT8 as a backhaul band. I can continue to use the office wireless bridge router and then use the old primary router in bridge mode on the family room entertainment center as a “wired” connection without having to run any cables or lose any bandwidth, and the two bridges would not interfere with any other wireless clients on the other 5Ghz band. My hope is that the XT8 has enough power to punch through obstructions and serve the master bedroom with no issue. This option allows me to use all my existing equipment and not have to buy/run Ethernet cable.
Option 2: Do the same as above, but get the AX86U instead when it comes out (any idea when this might be or when you’ll review it?). The added benefit there is perhaps more future-proofing, as this one has LAN link aggregation (I could go full two-gigabit end to end from my ISP! I won’t, but I could.) and some other bells and whistles (are gaming features worth it?). The drawback here is combining the bridged connections into the fronthaul band (perhaps negligible performance hit?). By the way, I know it doesn’t have it today, but is the XT8 capable of getting link aggregation with a firmware update?.
Option 3: I could get a pair of AX3000/AX58U, or combine one of the above options with one of these, and form a mesh. I would put the primary centrally located on the first floor and the secondary in the master bedroom, hardwired backhaul, and still potentially have the old AC bridges in place. My concern with this option is having the router and node end up being too close together, causing the clients to hop back and forth. Moving the nodes further apart would involve putting one in the basement or another location on the first floor, which could create other issues and additional wiring. These are also 2×2, so I’d lose some bandwidth on the wireless bridge backhaul connections (perhaps negligible?).
What are your thoughts? Single XT8? Wait for AX86U? Some form of mesh? Am I overthinking this?
Thanks!
I have no comment, Mikey, since the RT-AX86U is not out and I have no experience with it. In the meantime, read this post on AiMesh (and related ones) and reviews and I think you can come to your own conclusion.
@Dong Ngo
Hello,
I have one small question.. I order ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G70) that one is cheaper than 90IG0590-MO3G40) but now I see one strange thing:
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G70) – has Tri-band (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz / 60 GHz)
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G40) – has Tri-band (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz / 5 GHz)
The 90IG0590-MO3G70 says on the site that have 60 GHz is that a problem when I place one router ground floor and the second one somewhere on the 3th floor with out a cable?
And what does the 60 GHz ?
Regards,
Michel
As far as I know, there’s no such an XT8, one with a 6 GHz band that is, Michel. Make sure you are at a legitimate site. The 6 GHz, not commercially available yet, is the new channel for Wi-Fi 6E.
Thank you, Dong. Very insightful, and it now makes sense!
I don’t have the chance to physically connect the routers without being through the gateway. It seems like the ZenWiFi would be a good alternative, but I believe that having a wired RT-AX88U connecting by Wi-Fi to the RT-AX3000 would also be a viable option. The house is big, but I believe this could work.
Thank you for the reply and for the link, Dong! If I understand your reply correctly, having a wired RT-AX88U being the router, and a wired RT-AX3000 being a satellite, both operating on the same mesh network, is fine? I don’t have the capability to link those two physically together with an ethernet cable, without both being directly connected through the ISP gateway. Is this acceptable?
The article you linked to says “On the other hand, all dual-band Wi-Fi broadcasters’ 5 GHz band uses the same set of channels. As a result, putting two together is like putting one freeway right on top of another.” + “So having multiple Wi-Fi broadcasters clumped up at a spot is something we want to avoid”. Does this mean that I shouldn’t have the set up with the Asus’ systems done? They’ll be half house apart, so they wouldn’t be clumped.
I’m sorry for the additional questions, but I want to make sure that I make a sound investment what works without any hiccups. Thank you again for your insights!
No, you need to link the RT-AX3000 to the RT-AX88U. Like this: Internet source (i.e. ISP gateway or router) -> (WAN) RT-AX88U (LAN preferably, or via Wi-Fi)-> RT-AX3000. Having them both linked to the IPS gateway will NOT make a system. More on that here. And no, when they are put far apart then that’s not clumped.
Thanks Dong. But XT8 does not have 160 mhz support and 92u does; 92U has a faster 2.4 ghz (theoretical) speed so in that sense – 92U should be superior to xt8 is what I am guessing. BH Photo is the only one that carries dual zen pack at $450 and 92U is retailing at $380 on amazon. So 92U is $70 cheaper.
Hey Dong — You answered some questions under another review but thought I’d ask here since it really has to do with the XT8s.
Long story short, I have an XT8 router and node. I cannot connect the two with wires because I can’t get wiring to that node’s location at the moment. SO far the network works well, with my power clients (and most used clients) using 5ghz-2 and the more passive (smarthome clients) using 5ghz-1 or 2ghz.
I feel like I need a third node in the basement. That node could be wired to the router because I happen to have ethernet outlets there.
So: What Asus router would be a good option to use as the main router (plugged into the modem), which would then feed the two XT8s as nodes (one wired backhaul and one wireless backhaul). I’ve looked at the GT-AX11000 (which you suggested previously), but it’s unavailable everywhere (I’m in Canada). Any other options?
Much appreciated!
Dan
The GT is a great choice for that, Dan, but any AiMesh router will work. You want a tri-band router, there though, so, maybe the RT-AX92U. You can also use it a as node, too, and keep the XT8 as the main router. Or get another XT8 unit.
Hi Dong,
Thanks after reading the post, you stated “…..Lastly, QoS is generally not necessary when you have a high-speed broadband connection that has enough bandwidth for all of your applications at once. But even then, if you know that nobody in your home regularly downloads stuff, like using a BitTorrent client, then it’s still a good idea to turn it on….”
So the speed is 300mbs. No BitTorent client, just streaming x3 movies, work/school from home as of now and getting into games. Based on that I should consider setting up the QoS, correct?
Consider it if you have connection issue with any of the applications, Carl. Else, you can just ignore it.
Hi Dong,
I decided on the AX88U. Using it for a few days now. Please with it and working great. Easy setup even for me. I have a few technical questions and as state previous I am not that technical and now looking at all the capabilities not sure what to enable to keep it simple and also use some of its capabilities. So, should I –
Enable the smart connect between the 2.4 and 5gzh, which I set up separately?
Enable the firewall which is set as NO now? The DOS is enabled. Should I just leave it this way?
Should the QoS be enabled? Should I just leave it this way?
Gaming will come later.
Thanks,
Carl
The AX88U has a gaming section, and that works fine, Carl. Leave the DOS alone, check out this post for more on the QoS.
Hi Dong! I only discovered your page 2 days ago, and boy, have I been missing out! I’ve read some 20+ of your reviews in just two days!
I live on a single floor flat with some 250 m2 (2700 sqft), and a rectangular shape. For the sake of it, let’s say that my ISP router is on the lower left corner of the rectangle, and that I have a repeater in the exact centre of the rectangle (run of the mill TP-LINK). I have our home office on the upper right corner, and the computer sitting there is served by a wired connection (Wi-Fi barely gets there). My ISP speed is 500/100 wired (MEO Portugal), and the fibre cable enters directly into my flat and into the ISP gateway.
We’re talking about 10 Wi-Fi devices (not simultaneously), 10 wired devices (not simultaneously), 4K Netflix (wired TV), and internet usage going on frequently.
I’ll be receiving a new DELL XPS 13 9300 with Wi-Fi 6 capabilities, and I want to upgrade and future proof the whole house, e.g. replace actual Cat 5e cabling by Cat 6a.
I also want to turn my ISP gateway into a modem only (poor performance Wi-Fi). I plan to do this by buying a new router capable of Wi-Fi 6, creating a bridge mode, and disabling Wi-Fi connections on the ISP gateway.
I’ve been looking – as per your reviews – to the TP-LINK Archer AX6000 (wife would most likely hate its design), the Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8), and the Asus AX6000 (RT-AX88U).
I was looking at putting together the Archer AX6000 and a TP-LINK AX1500 (RE505X) to serve as a repeater where the actual one sits, and have a mesh system. The issue is that this repeater doesn’t support Wi-Fi 6 on 2.4 GHz.
I loved your ZenWiFi AX review, but the fact that it doesn’t yet provide 160 MHz bandwidth on the 2.4 GHz and the main 5 GHz channels, is a no-go for me, but you explain that Asus told you they’d be providing firmware update to make this possible?
I then saw your Asus RT-AX3000 and RT-AX58U review, and would like to know if having an RT-AX88U serving as the main router (wired and broadcasting Wi-Fi), and having either the Asus RT-AX3000 or RT-AX58U on a wired connection in my office, would be a good a good setup. I’d want the RT-AX3000 or RT-AX58U wired, and providing Wi-Fi to that side of the house, while creating a seamless mesh network. Can a setup like this coexist? From your article it seems that one can select which is the router and which is the satellite, right? They’d both be wired.
Looking at these three setups, which one would you go for? Thanks!
Glad you’re here, Nuno. The RT-AX88U will work fine with any other AiMesh routers (and vice versa.) Generally, it’s best to use wires to link the hardware units together, so your setup will be great! You can find more information in this post.
Thank you Dong for the response. I was also reading your reviews and user comments from you for ax92U, XT8, and AX11000 routers. Going with your advice of matching triband with triband -Not sure which one is the better Combo –
1. AX11000 with two ax92U nodes (downside is there is no 2.4 ghz WiFi 6 on the nodes & WiFi 6 on 5 ghz-2 is the only WiFi 6 spectrum available and unless we go with wired backhaul, the wireless backhaul on the nodes appears to use same 5ghz-2 wifi 6 band- crazy)- costs $450 + $400
2. AX11000 with two XT8 nodes (downside is the 2.4 ghz for Wifi6 is capped at 574 mbps -sluggish for $450) – $450 + $450
3. or to just get RBK852 – $625 if we use netgear 10% coupon for first time users
My Scenario: 4000 sft home with three floors; entire home networked to cat 6a so possible to go wired or wireless; a lot of laptops (2 out of 3 on wifi 6) and phones (all wifi 6) will have a combination of wifi 6 and wifi 5; Streaming devices, printers, TV and NAS all have wired network interface. Not much of gaming happening here.
The first two are basically the same, Rocky. Don’t get too hungry up on the WiFi speeds, chance are you’ll get even slower than that. You shouldn’t expect concrete speed numbers from Wi-Fi the way you do wired connections.
If you just care about coverage and speeds, any of them will work fine, and similaly. An Asus will give you more features.
@Dong Ngo
Do you know the differents between :
These are the black ones:
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G50) – cheeper price
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G20) – higher price
These are the white ones:
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G70) – cheeper price
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G40) – higher price
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Wireless router (90IG0590-MO3G80) – higher price
They are all the same, Michel.
Just wanted to let everyone know that Amazon now has a 1 pack of the ZenWiFi ax available for $249 for those who need to buy a 3rd node. Unlike some on here, I have had no trouble with mine. I am getting my full 300 Mbps speed everywhere in my house despite old plaster walls. I am using wireless backhaul and have had no disconnect issues. This system has been great for me. Been using it about 6 weeks now. I just ordered a 3rd node to try and cover my outdoor patio. I hope this doesn’t cause problems or cause the system to become unstable. The two piece has been rock solid.
Hi Dong, Read your reviews on ASUS line of routers specifically Zen, GT-AX11000 etc. In your comment above, you say that “Using the GT-AX11000 as the main router and the RT-AX92U as node(s) is a great setup, Sandeep. Much better than the XT8.” – why do you say that ? Because just like Sandeep, I am also at a point deciding on Zen setup vs the one mentioned above i.e. GT-AX11000 + RT-AX92U. Is it because the latter has the faster AX 2.5 data rate of 1148 mpbs as opposed to Zen XT8’s 574 mbps and a slightly faster processor? I have the option to have a wired backhaul or wireless since my entire home is networked to Cat6a..
Sandeep was asking about games, Rocky, and in that case, the GT-AX11000, as the main router, is better. For you case, the speeds are going to be quite similar if you use wired backhaul. I talk a bit about gaming routers in the review of the TP-Link Archer AX11000.
I had the same issue and setup from scratch again several times with the latest firmware but the problem never resolved. If I keep the Router and Mesh Node just 3-meter distance and this is not happening but once I move the Mesh Node to upstairs then “Flashing Blue” on Mesh Node starts again. Not sure if hardware issue or firmware issue till date.
Thanks Dong! I’m finally getting a the ASUS ZenWifi AX system but wonder, can I extend the system by adding on my old Mac AirPort Extreme (last generation) or Mac Airport express?
A. Will the system work with the addition?
B. If it works (technically), how badly would it slow things down?
Basically, my question is: in my WAY too big house with dead spots everywhere, should I add my old routers on, or get an extra pair of the ZenWi-Fi hubs?
That depends on how you add it to the system and what your expectations are. However, even if that works, chances are your network will be fragmented. Apple stuff is very thin on customization. I’d go with an extra ZenWiFi set.
Nice review. I am in dilemma, I have 2 options:
A: Asus RT-AX88U AX6000 + ASUS RT-AX3000 in AiMesh (if signal from one router will not be enough)
B: ZenWiFi AX XT8 take it straight away.
The price will be roughly the same. What do think guys?
I’d hesitantly recommend the ZenWiFi XT8. It’s been great for me personally but some folks have had issues with it as you can see in the comments below. If you have wired backhaul, the A option is the way to go.
I keep having wifi connection issues with devices on my Zenwifi AX XT8 based mesh system. Zenwifi AX main router (1st floor) + 1 Zenwifi AX node (2nd floor), RT-AC68U as extra node on the attic (3rd floor). RT-AC68U has been boosted however, so the RT has very strong signal, sometimes the RT has stronger signal on 1st floor (from the attic!) than the ZenWifi’s at 1st and 2nd floor.
Signal strength is not an issue, signal is good, it’s just seems that some devices are not handshaking properly or something.
First it were some older Windows machines which could not connect at all, after updating wifi drivers they were able to connect, but sometimes connection is dropped. Google Nest hubs often lose the connection and don’t automatically reconnect. Then there’s an iPhone 11 which has frequent connection drops. And a Samsung Galaxy A5 which is more often disconnected than connected.
In short: I’m getting fed up with it.
So far I’ve tried:
* disabling QOS – can’t say this helps
* locking wifi channels – can’t say this helps
* router reboots every other day – can’t say this helps
* 802.11ax / Wi-Fi 6 modus : disabled – this seems to be the magic setting… but hey, I didn’t get a wifi6 system to be able to disable Wifi6 🙁
Any ideas, tips? I’m in Europe so no Amplifi Alien offered here, but grass on the Orbi side is starting to look very green 🙁
Try this, Stefano:
Do not use the mobile app. Use the web interface only.
1. Upgrade everything to the latest firmware.
2. Reset the whole system (you can remove one node at a time, that will reset them, then reset the router.)
3. Set them up again.
4. Keep the default settings (only change your Wi-Fi name’s name and password to your liking).
That should make sure there is not a weird setting somewhere that causes the issue.
Hi Dong, Thanks for the great work.
I am currently using the Asus RT-AC5300 and Asus RT-AC68U in an AiMesh setup (1Gbps broadband). Wifi performance is ok but not great. Currently, the signal on the 3rd level of my home is very weak and I will like to improve it. Btw, I live in Asia and the homes here use lots of concrete and not wood.
Option 1: Buy another AC68U to add to the existing AiMesh.
Option 2: Buy the Asus XT-8
Which do you think will be a better option from a coverage (and performance) perspective?
If your walls are concrete (and they are where you are as far as I know), Tony, the best you should do is to run a network cable. If that’s not possible, you need to use tri-band routers and place the node near the main router. How near, that depends, more on that here. So the XT8 is a better choice for sure. You can keep the AC5300 as your main router.
Thanks, that makes sense. Gain a little coverage but lose a lot of speed.
Hi Dong, the direct connection worked fine to set up the AC5300 as a 2nd node but when I set it up it decreased my wifi download speed by over 100 Mbps in almost all parts of the house reached by the reached by the Zen units. When I unplugged it that speed was restored.Why would that be?
The RT-AC53000 is a Wi-Fi 5 router, Carmine. So when you used it, that might have caused the ZenWiFi AX to work in a compatible mode which is slower.
My 2nd wired node won’t stop flashing green. Any ideas? And I deal with consistent drops. All day. Everyday. Beyond annoying and my hard wired Apple TV’s drop connection completely. I can’t come up with a solution. I’ve rebooted. Any suggestions? My provider said they will check my lines, but I didn’t have these drops with my LUMA wifi mesh system. But the speeds sucked so I upgraded. I’m getting amazing speeds when they are working. But they won’t stay working 🙁 Main unit hardwired from cable modem. From there I’m running Ethernet to first floor node (like I was with LUMA), but continuously flashing green lights and in and out dropped internet all day long. Please help.
A couple of things you should try, Steve:
1. Reset the system (both units)
2. Set it up again (you just need to do the router) using the web interface. Do not use the mobile app at all.
3. Do no use QoS. Other than customizing your Wi-Fi network’s name and password. Leave everything else at default. Basically make as few changes as possible.
4. Schedule a restart a couple of times a week. (It’s in the Administration -> System area).
Hi Dong,
I’ve read lots of reviews and finally got the AX. I haven’t had any of the disconnection issues that others have had and coverage is great, though it may be resulting from initial set up by phone, then changing settings using the web interface on my desktop.
I live in a 3 bedroom condo where the rooms are next to each other in a line. I’ve set it up where I have the main router in the living room on one side, and the satellite in the middle room, about 4-5m away. I have gigabit internet.
My main computer is connected via wire to the satellite, and I’m only able to get about 300-400mbps on speedtest and fast.com. Meanwhile I’m about to get around 400mbps max with my iphone X and oneplus 6 right next to the main router. Weirdly, the upload speed is 600-800mbps both with the desktop connected by wire to satellite, and on my phones…
I’ve read many people able to get 700-800mbps with their phones next to the router and so expect my devices to be able to do the same. I’ve tried messing around with the settings, almost tried all of the channels, but unable to get my devices any faster. Thinking it might be the internet provider, I also tried connecting a computer directly via wire and I’m able to get 900-1000gb as expected.
Not sure whether there’s something wrong with the routers, or just some of the settings aren’t quite right. Any advice would be great! Thanks in advance.
Don’t use the Internet to test your Wi-Fi, J! More on that here.
Hello Dong,
The Zen WiFi XT8 is not available anywhere, I I need the Mesh but am no gamer, could i just get the Asus GT-AX11000 and Asus RT-AX92U AX6100 ( 1 or 2 pack ) and have a mesh setup?
Both are Tri-band ( I will have a wireless backhaul ) .
Are they comparable? Do I lose anything? Or would you rather advice to wait for the Zen ( 1-2 weeks not much )
Also thanks a lot for your quick answers, you are really helpful. Do you have links from where if I buy you get some benefits?
Regards
Sandeep
Using the GT-AX11000 as the main router and the RT-AX92U as node(s) is a great setup, Sandeep. Much better than the XT8. You can just follow the Amazon links on the site. Thanks. 🙂
Dong,
Have you enabled IPv6 on your XT8? If show how’s that worked for you? I’m only considering it because I’ve run into issues in the past though not as of yet with this router. What I’ve run into is one device will stop working because another ended up getting it’s IP address. Usually this happens mostly with my wifi printer. I have had it with other devices in most cases it’s easy enough to fix the printer and a couple of wifi bluray players not so much. We have 6 windows laptops, 5 chrome books, 9 amazon kids fire tablets, wifi printer, 4 wifi led lights, Ring System with various things connected and just a bunch of other devices.
I haven’t a clue if some of the devices would work with it or not, I know our phones will and the windows laptops I’m sure, but the other stuff I haven’t a clue. But I just wonder if they did if it would be something to consider as well as for added security etc.
HAHAHA wow so tiny no wonder I missed it… on my laptop very small to see… thanks now I’m got it but for the time setting it doesn’t say or offer a option, is it 24hr or 12hr time?
We only see what we want to see, Mark. 🙂 I believe, if there’s no AM/PM value then it’s always the 24-hour format. But generally, it won’t take a value out of range, so you can figure that way.
Ok thanks, and that brings me to another question. Where do I find the option to schedule restarts for the routers? I’ve been looking in the web interface and I just am not seeing it…
You’ll find it here, Mark: Administration (menu)-> System (tab)-> Enable Reboot Scheduler.
I am familiar with networking and such, not my strong point, I’m more of hardware guy but I plan on playing with it more but as 3 of us working from home and then 10 kids E-Leaning throughout the day, it seems like any changes to the router regardless of how minor they seen disconnect the network for a time. So I can’t do it during the day and then at night is streaming time. As with last night I had to wait till after 11pm.
I appreciate the assistance.
Set it up using the most default settings as possible, Mark. Don’t use QoS for now. And then leave it alone. Also, you can schedule it to restart by itself a couple of times a week. Oh, one last thing: Use the web interface, not the mobile app.
Dong,
Ok so I reset my routers to default and set it all back up again. What a pain as I had the router/node “in place”.lol
I will see how the disconnect issues on those devices goes if at all…I am hoping for no more issues on that front.
Once the reset was done I had attempted to get the external drive to work again. I had enabled sharing and such before but went ahead and did it again. I can now see the drive in windows explorer however I’m getting an error in windows that windows can’t access it. When I tried to figure it out far as I can tell it SMB or Samba or whatever it’s called is no longer supported in windows? So I’m at a loss here and if you have any suggestions here would be great.
As far as the backhaul channel I got that working now as well. Thanks for the help so far and hoping the only issue left is the external drive.
Mark
To access the shared folder, Mark, you need to sign in using the router’s login username and password. Or set up user accounts for the share. Play with it! You’re getting close. Generally, you need to know a bit about data sharing etc via a network. The XT8 worked fine with the latest SMB version in my tests. By the way, if you want something just plug and play, don’t go with an Asus router. Get a Linksys or Netgear instead.
Klemen,
Not that I could find anywhere. Which led me reaching out to Asus about. I had moved my external drive to the main node at my own decision for trouble shooting when I could then see if in the software of the router. Then the next day I think it was Asus person told me to do the same thing and that it can’t be used on the slave node and has to be on the main node.
Mark
Like other people here, I am finding that these devices are unstable. I bought 5 of them to replace my former Lyra mesh. The Lyra wifi mesh was not bad, but the performance was mediocre and sometimes the nodes lost their connection to each other. I planned to upgrade to wifi 6 with the XT8 and also to implement an ethernet backhaul for all nodes (via a 10 gbps switch and MOCA 2.5 adapters for four coax lines through the house).
While the central XT8 router which sits directly behind the modem (of a 1 gbps internet connection) is stable, the four XT8 access point are not stable at all. Unfortunately, this does not depend on whether they are connected via wifi or ethernet backhaul. The access points lose their connection, at least a few of them (by the way, the nodes concerned are different each time I set up the whole mesh anew). They lose their connection around once a day, and then more frequently, until they drop connection about 5-10 min. after boot-up. The blue light will flash and they will not come up again unless I switch them off and on again. Strange enough, their internal ethernet switch will continue to work, i.e. any hard-wired devices will still see the network and they can be seen, but all wireless connections are dropped. As I said, this also happens with nodes that have ethernet backhaul (currently 3 of 4).
I have replaced all XT8 access points by my old Lyras. The mesh now consists of the XT8 as central router and the Lyra nodes as access points. The mesh is perfectly stable but a Lyra mesh was not my intention…
Maybe the XT8 works perfectly as pair of 2. As for me, I am waiting for a new firmware update.
Hi Mark,
is information that external drive have to be connected to the main node somewhere documented? I have exactly the same experience and would like to be sure that this does not work. If that’s the case, I need to adjust wired connection in my house.
I have good experience with 5-2 for fronthaul. I am seeing higher throughputs on 5-2 vs 5-1. It’s logical, as it used additional channels and theoretical top speed is faster.
Klemen
The ASUS XT8 seems to be sold out everywhere. Where can this be bought right now? I’m in California.
You just thave to wait, Gaurav. Sorry.
WoW ! Thanks Dong, You are amazing. Great write up and reviews ! Many thumbs up 🙂
Sure, Cy. Glad you’re here! 🙂
What kind of Moca adapters are you using?
I think, if I remember well, that to disable QoS you have to do it on the web interface and disable it at the top level. On the Adaptive QoS tab, click on QoS and then click disable and and apply. That’s all I needed to do.
On a different note, I have added ethernet backhaul using MoCa adapters and it has solidified my network in the areas that I had the most trouble in my house. For a $120, it’s a great solution for those who don’t have ethernet run to their rooms. I’m super excited about that.
Progress Report!
I’ve been running my XT8 system now for about 2 weeks, and when it works, it works great. Great speeds, great coverage, great range. And the web interface and the iPhone app is terrific. It works great right out of the box.
But, it’s got one big issue that just might make me return it. Every 2 or 3 it just stops working. Completely loses the plot. I’ve got to cycle both nodes and the modem a few times before it all comes back. It usually happens about the same time too, just before midnight. I’ve looked for commonalities, such as the same loads, same users on at that same time and I can’t find it.
Among the things I’ve tried is to disable QoS, but I can’t. The web interface won’t remember the setting and I simply can’t disable it. Is there a dependency with another setting? Has anyone else run into this problem? As a last resort I’ll return everything to factory settings and create a new setup but I’d like to figure out why I can’t disable this one setting. Thoughts?
Thanks in advance!
I just purchased XT8. In general is working fine. Coverage is OK, but not stellar. I have 3 storey house with thick walls. That’s why ethernet backhaul is key for me.
Good feature is that you can switch off 2.4GHz wifi. I am using 5GHz only at the moment to get speedier internet.
I had two issues.
1. Ethernet backhaul only works when secondary node is connected to primary in a daisy chain (internet in on WAN port of primary, UTP cable from LAN port on primary to WAN port on secondary). I tried to connect both units directly to ISP modem/router via WAN port , but didn’t work. I sorted out this different way by adding switches.
2. NAS works only on primary node, which is a problem for me, because of how my UTP cables runs in my house.
Is there a way to tun NAS on secondary node?
3. Can 160Mhz channel be used for frontend wifi, as I am using ethernet backhaul? If yes, how?
Regards,
Klemen
I have mostly WiFi 5 clients, with exception of iPhone 11.
I am thinking maybe simpler/cheaper mesh would be good alternative, as I can utilize Ethernet backhaul. Or two Asus routers which support AImesh.
Thoughts?
That’s a good assessment, Klemen.
Bravo on running network cables, Klemen.
1. That’s to be expected, you can’t just plug hardware unit willy billy and expect them to work the way you want :). You might want to check out this post.
2. In my testing, NAS worked fine when I connected the portable drive to the node unit.
3. Yes, just unhide the 5GHz-2 band and give it a meaningful network name and password. More on that here.
Dong,
I got this router about a week ago. For the most part it has been great other than a few annoyances I have which is why I’m writing you here. I’ve been emailing Asus all week and their responses are not much help and every email is a different person and in most cases not reading my emails correctly and just copy and pasting stuff from them knowledge base.
I’ve read a bunch of the comments on this page but I didn’t really see one that would help me. Is possible I missed it. Anyhow I’m a father of 11, 1 bio and 10 foster adopted kids and I work full time and so I don’t have a lot of time to sit around trouble shooting for hours on end which make things more difficult. I am currently working from home as is my wife and mother in law who lives with us. We all need/use the network during the day so again this tosses a wrench into trouble shooting during the day.
So hopefully I can get to the bottom of things. I agree with a comment made by someone else that the documentation and instructions for this system are very basic.
My questions/issues are:
1) I have an external hard drive I’ve been trying to get going on the network for sharing, storage and backup for my wife, mother in law and kids. For saving of homework, work etc. I originally had it connected to the slave node at my desk area where that node is. I could never get it to be seen. Finally figured out and later got conformation from Asus that it would have to be connected to the main node. Now Asus software sees the drive but I can’t access it from any other computers or laptops on the network.
2) I am also having some random connection drops from a chrome book and a laptop on the network. As far as I’m aware these are the only 2 with this issue. There was a random sort lives connection issue with one of the kids Amazon Kids Fire Tablets but when it got brought to me it was working and connected. I can’t seem to figure this out. I’ve connected and reconnect the devices and eventually the end up discounting again. I updated the wifi drives on the windows laptop. I’m not as family with chrome books at the moment they are something new to me and now we have a bunch of them because of E-Learning. I have updated the firmware on the XT8 system 1st thing once connected.
3) I’ve also been trying to figure out how to get the 5-2 backhaul band to be a useable band for a few of our devices but am having no luck figuring that out. Asus apparently has no idea what I’m wanting to do when asking them the same thing and/or asking for more detailed documentation on how to set all the features of the system.
Thanks for any assistance you can provide and sorry for the novel…
Mark
Hi Mark,
I assume you know about the basics of a router, especially using the web interface. If not, check out this post first.
1. You need to enable the data share function. Login to the router’s interface: USB Application -> Server Center -> Network Place (Samba) -> Enable Share. After that, on a Windows computer, you can access the router via \\ShareName (whatever that is) or \\192.168.50.1 (which is the router’s default IP address). (On a Mac, you can check out these tips on how to access a network server). If it asks for credentials, use the same one that you use to log into the router’s interface. Also, it’s a good idea to use USB 3.0 mode and turn on USB drive hibernation. Administration -> System -> USB setting.
2. Try resetting the system and set it up again, then leave the Wi-Fi settings as default (don’t change anything other than the Wi-Fi name and password.)
3. You just need to unhide the SSID of this band, give it a meaningful name, and an easy-to-use password. More on that in this post on AiMesh (in the tri-band section.)
I’ve had nothing but trouble with this mesh router, and I’m going to give the Orbi AX4200 a try next. With the Asus we are seeing a number of connection drops daily. Some devices are able to reconnect, while others get stuck in some kind of limbo and are unable to reconnect. Nightly scheduled reboots might be helping a bit, but it’s hard to trust that the system is going to be reliable when nightly reboots are a necessity. It also can’t maintain the 160Hz channel width between base station and satellite, so that feature isn’t delivering.
Asus support hasn’t been responsive or helpful. Every email response asks me if I’ve updated my firmware, and if I could turn off Wifi 6, set all the channel widths to their minimums, and turn off beam forming, which result in a very slow system.
I’d love for Asus to deliver a firmware update that would resolve this, or find some kind of workaround that doesn’t compromise performance, because when it works it is SO fast. I know the similarly priced Orbi AX4200 will live slightly lower specs, but I can’t get myself to spend $699 for the AX6000 version. Fingers crossed!
Returned the set and got a new one. Tried it at the cabin last weekend and it worked perfect. But at my house it was the same problems. Signal dropping and the blinking blue led.
I gave up. Bought one new and one used ax11000. Been using this for 24 hours now and there has not been a single issue or signal drop.
Hi Song, did that updated the driver and the same result. I believe Asus dev is on to something. I think they found the bug and working on it. I hope to see new firmware soon. Thanks Dong. I followed you in FB as well to make it easy.
Something that I’ve experienced so far and I saw in other forum with something similar experience. Does any of you using a dual band WiFi card by intel? I notice my notebook kills the 2nd note and required a restart. Somehow it could cause that problem. The model number that I manage to collect around the internet for user may have cause these are ac7265, ac8265 and ac9560. Im using 8265 and notice when I have this notebook boot up, it will cause problem with the node. I’ve been helping an Asus dev last weekend by installing a test firmware only for the node which I believe capture data when I sent the feedback via the system setting. It does shows this is a firmware issue and looks like the AC version of intel card is causing the node disconnected. Funny thing is, my son intel ax200 WiFi card has no issue. Some forum I read where other has issue connecting the node via cable as well. I have an extra killer dual band ac card and installed it in my all in one desktop and have no issue with it as well. So as of now, I’ll make sure my notebook connected to the router and not the node.
Btw if I’m not wrong, Intel supply modem to iPhones…
That’s interesting, Leonard. Try updating the card to the latest software driver. That might help.
I specified iPhone in my case as the Android may not be an issue but I have no way to verify. The way it typically works is the mobile apps directly apply the configuration commands stored within the app, so maybe the mobiles are sending incompatible commands. The GUI only sends commands pre-programmed into the router itself. The people who write the command line interface (CLI) for the routers are not the same ones that create the mobile applications so they are likely out of sync with the latest compatible commands. I would highly suggest just deleting the Android application also and do everything strictly from the web interface. For me, there has been zero issues with that method but every time I merely log in with my mobile device everything goes south.
Hi Wil, I have an android phone and connects to ZenWifi al least 1 time every day and nothing goes wrong.
The only thing I can not activate is QoS. If I do, node falls and i have to reset whole system.
I am in the lastest firmware release
Final update – I got everything working, even all QoS features. Been running rock solid for about a day now. As a final test, I tried to use my iPhone (not sure about Android) just to see what would happen. Once again.. the second node dropped and would not stay connected even though I didn’t make a single configuration change. So.. it was another reset and restore. Been good since.
Lesson learned.. ONLY use the web interface (GUI) and never, ever use the mobile application, not even for the initial setup or to monitor the system after. If you only use the web interface from the second you take it out of the box, you should be good.
I gave up. Asus support suggest i try to get the set exchanged. And i did get them exchanged. Set them up with the web interface. Crossing fingers.
I think I figured it out…
I tried everything doing the normal process and reset the system at least 30x then I decided to change how I set it up since that was the constant. Instead of using the phone app, instead I did a full reset and did the configuration via the web page (GUI). All of my configurations are in place – IPv6, Port Forwarding, Custom DNS with Reservations, WPA2/3, DDNS, Enable DoS protection, Reboot Scheduler, Guest networks, Traffic Analyzer, VPN (PPTP, OpenVpen), Remote Management, and a few other minor things. All of these things I did previously except I initially set up the system via the phone app.
It ran fine for a day without issue. I just didn’t enable anything in the QoS tab (Bandwidth Monitor, QoS, Web History). And now I’m on day 2 without any issues..running nice and strong.
Just a minute ago I opened my phone app and logged into the system to just verify. Within seconds, the second node dropped and will not stay connected. So it seems (at least for me) the iPhone app killed the second node. During installation I have to accept something then it said it was “configuring”. Luckily, I saved the config so I can re-apply post reset.
Interesting… all the more reason to love the web interface. 🙂 Thanks for sharing, Wil.
I’ve tried literally everything… I’m a network and systems engineer so I design and implement data center networks and systems..so this is child’s play to me. Still.. without the ability to peer under the covers, I cannot figure out what is going on. Doesn’t matter what I do.. that second node constantly drops. This thing is going back.
Same issues here. Satellite drops out all the time. Blazing speed, but extremely unreliable. Dropped out of 3 meeting today.
I put in all my customizations sans QoS and still have the same issues where the secondary node keeps disconnecting. I am not using a wired backhaul so that may be it but overall.. I’m finding this extremely fast, but also extremely unreliable and unstable. I have to reboot the second node at least every hour to keep it online. Is there something I’m missing?
I’d recommend these Wil.
1. Upgrade all of them to the latest firmware.
2. Reset and set up the system from scratch, meaning you just need to set up the router unit.
3. Do not use QoS.
@Wil I kept everything on, including family scheduling, but I had to turn off QoS to get it to stay stable. Everything else is still on and working.
Based upon this review… I went right out and bought these routers. Setup was quick and easy and in no time I was ready to go. I placed them in their final homes, and did a few tests which turned out extremely impressive. Then I started customizing them. IP configurations and reservations, QoS, Traffic Manager, Forwarders, Triggers, VPN, DMZ, etc… then all of a sudden.. the second node would NOT stay connected. Now I read the comments and see why.
So here is my question… Recognizing this is now a user support forum… I bought these because I’ve been a long time ASUS fan due to it’s heavy customization abilities until the Lyra. Regardless… why would I give up my stable (but basic) Orbi for this when the very justification to fork out the $$$ is moot? Any idea when this will be stable?
Hi Dong,
Good review, can you please tell me how many nodes of XT8 can be placed together to one mesh network? I’am asking because we need to cover a very large home – about 30000 sq ft, so the question is – is it possible to bond 6 of XT8 in to one mesh and use ethernet as a backhaul between them?
If you use wired backhaul, Nurlan, I’d say that will work. I’ve tried up to 5 before I ran out of places to place the routers. More on AiMesh here.
I successfully installed my Asus XT8 last night and it took all of 15 minutes. Rarely do you see something in the tech world so straightforward.
Money well spent.
Thank you Dong, for your very informative work. I confirmed with Asus that no User Manual exists, but your articles are all one nees to understand and implement this elegant solution.
I found one glitch, though. In my house the router is downstairs with the cable modem. The remote node is upstairs in my office where my HP Laser printer was wired to the node. But, it wouldn’t stay on the network – it keep being dropped. I tried adjusting various parameters and gave it a permanent IP, but nothing worked. So I wired it to the router downstairs and it works just fine. It doesn’t get dropped anymore. What could be going on? I’m on the latest firmware and I use wireless backhaul.
Try reserving the IP address of the printer, Charles. It’s highly likely that happens because it IP changes and giving it a permanent IP manually doesn’t help. About IP reservation, check out this post.
Hi Dong,
1. A theoretical question about AiMesh. If I buy 2 pack (4 routers) of the ZenWiFi AX I can only connect 3 of them via ethernet backbone in my home; does the 4th unit connect via wireless to the AImesh or should I leave it out as a spare ? In summary does AIMesh work with a mixed connection as the one I described. In my home that 4th unit could become a good internet provider to the TV and set top boxes etc.
2. Would 2 AX89X AiMeshed via ethernet be better than the above scenarios (be it 3 or 4) ?? I am attracted to the AX89X because of the number of ports available.
1. Either way is fine, Mario.
2. Yes.
Hi Dong Ngo, I tried your advice and disabled and re-enabled Guest Network. Still no Guest Network broadcast from the satellite node. I bought a new pair of XT8 and tried again with the current firmware 3.0.0.4.386_25224. I am disappointed to report that after testing 2 completely different pairs of XT8 there are no settings I can find (neither can ASUS support) to enable Guest Network broadcast from the satellite node.
Sorry to hear, SB. I’m not sure why. Asus told me that it has enabled that already on the ZenWiFi line. I personally don’t use the Guest network.
GREAT REVIEW! Pointed out alot of the features I was interested in, and helped me make the decision in buying the XT8 for my home. BUT…never leaving a good thing alone, I came back and was looking at the different settings, then I noticed in my WAN settings; it would seem WAN Aggregation is not an available option anymore??? I’m not sure if mine ever had it, or if it was removed. But it’s not available to me as of right now. Were you running a different firmware version during review?
*It came factory with 3.0.0.4.386_24926, and then I updated to the latest version 3.0.0.4.386_25224.
Interesting. I always use the latest firm date at the time of review, Alvin. You can see the version in the screenshots.
Thanks will try both.
Great article Dong. I purchased and installed the Asus WiFi AX and it works great. I replaced a cobbled together system of an AC5300 as the main and AC 66U and AC 1900 as MoCa wired APs. Coverage and speed are fantastic, but am having two issues, one is a bit strange. When the power goes down or I have to reboot my cable modem and the ZenWiFi my Liftmaster garage doors wifi will not reconnect. I tried everything but the only way to get them to reconnect is to change the password. Once I do that they are up and connected. Liftmaster tech support blames the router of course, but I can’t see how that could be. Any ideas? The other is more a tinkering issue. I can’t get my Asus AC 5300 to AiMesh node. I’ve tried to set it up right beside the mad unit and again next to the node. Follow your setup directions but it will not complete. Any Ideas?
Carmine.
Try this, Carmine:
1. Reserve the IP for the garage door. You can click on the device on the network map and choose to bind the IP to its MAC. More on that here.
2. Update your AC5300 to the latest firmware. Reset your it to default. Connect its WAN port to the main router using a network cable. Now add it as a node. That should work. After that, you can remove the cable and use it as a wireless node.
AX11000 because it is Tri-Band and better match with the ZenWifi AX8 ??
Yes, Mario.
Hi Dong,
After reading a lot of your reviews and advice I decide my best bang for buck was to install an ethernet cat 6 backbone which has been money very well spent without changing my routers etc. This is already yielding benefits and I should have done this ages ago.
To upgrade Apple Extreme routers (X 3) I am now leaning more to an AX89X and 1 pack of ZenWifi AX (as opposed to 2 packs) using the ethernet backbone. The purpose of my query is basically that , 2 packs of Zen Wifi or 1 AX89X and 1 Zen Wifi given I now have access to ethernet ?.
I think either ASUS options are better options than 3 Ubiquiity Aliens (though I believe this will be a safer option in terms of setup) ??
I think if you replace the RT-AX89X with a GT-AX11000, that’s a great setup, Mario.
It’s in the setup section of the XT8 Quick Start Guide, Don. I didn’t know what it meant so I just ignored it.
Probably a typo. I hardly read the instructions. 🙂
Thank you so much for the quick reply! What I’m trying to figure out is why Asus calls specifically for an “optical modem” and what exactly is that? I currently use a Motorola surfboard SB6141.
I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, Charles. But tech can be unpredictable. Follow the post I sent earlier to see if you get a different result.
Hello Dong
I’m hoping you can answer a stupid question. I purchased the Asus Zenwifi based on the strength of this and other reviews. When I start putting it all together the instructions state that it must be connected to an OPTICAL modem, which I don’t have. My Xfinity service comes into the house via coax. The requirement for an optical modem wasn’t on the box, or the Asus website, or anywhere else, for that matter. Did I buy the wrong variant? Can I get a new modem that provides an optical connection?
I’m not a newtworking noob, but this really took me by surprise! So, I called Xfinity and they said they were shipping one out, but I have no faith they understood what I needed.
Thanks!
Something is seriously wrong there, Charles. You can just pick one unit (either) and set it up as a standard router. Generally, pick the WAN connection as “Auto”, and that is. I’d recommend you read this post in its entirety.
This is extremely helpful! One last question: the nodes and router will have a wired backhaul; is there any benefit in the XT8 for future planning (i.e. eventually replacing the GT), or do you think that by the time that happens, the XT8 would be relatively obsolete anyways?
Thanks again!
Mark
Way to go! If you have wired backhaul, all the more you should get the CT8. In this case, though, there’s no need to reset the GT, just leave it as is, then connect the CT8’s WAN port, one at a time, to the network and start a normal AiMesh setup. You might want to create a separate 5GHz-2 network for high-end clients, and using the other two for mixed clients.
You won’t need to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6 for a long time, Mark. Like years.
Hello Dong,
Thank you for all the of very helpful information in your reviews; I have an GT-AC5300 as my main router, and am looking to create an AiMesh network by adding 2 nodes. I am trying to decide between the ZenWifi AC CT8 and the newer ZenWifi AX. Would the newer XT8 work well with my router? Or should I stick with the CT8? Any suggestions to get things running smoothly?
Thanks for your insights!
Sincerely,
Mark
For your case, get the CT8, Mark. The XT8 will work but it won’t do anything more other than making you slightly poorer. Btw, you might want to reset the GT and set it up as the main router then add the CT8 one at a time.
Dear Dong, good morning.
I’m choosing between set of 2 of AX92U and set of ZenWiFi XT8 for my two year contract. In my layout they all will be connected by cat.6 wires directly from the modem thorough the appartment fixed wiring.
Understood that if it’s wireless connection – ZenWiFi xt8 is better, but if it’s wired connected (my case) 2 of ax92u would be more preffered. Am I right? what would you choose?
thanks.
In your case, either will work fine, Aleks. Both will give you the option to have a separate 5GHz network for fast clients.
Great, thanks for your confirmation as I was inclining to do the same. My house has Cat5 in all rooms so should be a problem to connect the backhaul by cable. One last question – in the future when I’ll get more Wifi6 client devices, would that be an issue that only the single AX88 can service them? Can that potentially create a network bottleneck that will undermine the AiMesh between Wifi6+Wifi5 routers?
No, but clearly the devices connected to the RT-AC68U will have slower speed than when they connect to the RT-AX88U, Yaron.
Hi Dong, excellent review and I really enjoy reading your articles now that I discovered your website. I’m debating between upgrading my RT-AC68U AiMesh router to 1) ZenWifi AX or 2) RT-AX88U+my current RT-AC68U. It looks like the AX88 is much faster than the zenwifi… my house is midsize, 2800sq so I believe both system will work just fine. I’m more trying to understand which configuration will provide me with the better results and functionally. Thanks for your POV and advice!
Get the rt-Ax88u and use a cable to connect it to your ac68u. That’s the best, Yaron.
Does the AX use older SMB1 like it’s AC predecessor?
Good thing you asked, Mark. All Asus routers have that wording in their interface, but all AX routers, including the RT-AX89X, I’ve tested, with the latest firmware, worked fine with SMBv1 turned off. So that’s not a concern anymore.
Dong – Thank you so much for all of the great insight! We purchased the XT8 mesh system for our new home. I am adding the AX11000 this weekend and will make it the main router. We have gig internet with a Motorola MB8600 modem. We do have CAT5 ports in four rooms in the house. Would you recommend that all three of the routers be placed in those rooms and hardwired? Or should the AX11000 be connected to the MB8600 (OnQ panel in utility room) and then the two XT8s be connected through their gig ports?
Right now I have the room cables connected to the four ports on the MB8600 in the OnQ box, one of the XT8s connected through CAT5 in the office, and the other is in the kitchen not hardwired. It seems to be a little “off”, but maybe I am overthinking it – and of course this is why I ordered the AX11000 to add some umph.
Just want to make sure we get the best setup possible. Hope you enjoy your coffee or two. 🙂 Thank you again!
Yes, wired backhaul is the way to go, Cameron! ALWAYS. Thanks for the coffees! 🙂
I had the exact same issue with my zen Wi-Fi. After a lot of testing and enabling and disabling options for me I found that under QoS the first screen that allows you to enable app analysis I had to disable that tab. Also qos is currently disabled on the second tab but web history is still enabled. My next step is to re enable the second tab of qos to see if the units stay online. All this to say that I had the exact same issue and by disabling the app analysis it fixed my issue. No more flashing blue LED which means trying to sync with router and when you look at the AiMesh menue it says it’s offline. Hope this helps.
As Leonard said before
QoS cannot be activated (not even to test it). Once activated, it is like the Covid-19, it corrupts the system and no longer works well, even if you deactivate it.
Once corrupt. You can only hard-reset everything and reconfigure everything from 0.
If after configuring everything, you load a previous configuration file that you recorded having previously activated QoS, even if you deactivated it later, the configuration file is corrupted, everything becomes “infected” again.
Until a firmware comes out that fixes it, QoS does not exist. You can’t even prove.
Cheers
Got a pair of XT8s to compliment my AC5300 and they have been absolute garbage. Won’t stay online. Factory reset everything. Still no dice. Stays online for a minute. And then dies. Have tried different firmware versions. Flashing BLUE lights? meaningless. Found out here that it means it can’t connect to the router? WHY? Complete nonsense. Do not buy this stuff. Complete waste of time and money.
@Joe I’m starting to feel the same way. Dong, Asus really needs to get out in front of this, lest they lose a good number of customers. QoS is more important than ever now. That and the other quibbles should have been addressed by now. Heck, even Netgear at least puts out beta firmware.
Also, I’ve emailed support multiple times and have only received some boiler template email reply that has nothing to do with the ZenWiFi AX. That’s just ridiculous.
Totally agreed, Robert.
4wk ago I started with Google wifi network that worked perfectly on my 950/35 internet. How ever as everyone started WFH, my ISP got unstable on the upload. I had to keep shutting off my 8 cameras around the house that upload all the time. So I thought I’d get a better router that allows me to control things. Orbit AX Mesh worked the best, blazing fast and stable. But no real QoS to keep the cameras in line. Tried Asus AX Mesh. Worked fine for 1 minute after setup. Once I started using the QoS and other features, it was a nightmare. Major lag, 2-6Mbps on my wifi, outages, etc. It’s the worst router I’ve ever used. The UI has all the features I want. But if you use any of them you speed and stability go out the window. Boxing it back up for return. I think I’ll either stick with Google, or switch everything over to Unifi Dream Machine. Note: I had the UDM as the main router and Asus AX Mesh in AP mode and as AP’s they worked fine.
Thanks Dong I saw those reviews also. I will look further at those you suggested which the Asus was one of them,
I was looking anywhere for a compare between Asus RT-AX88U or RT-AX98X and the ZenWifi AX (XT8) – Where should I spend my $400-$450 on a dedicated router o the Zen Mesh system. I currently have the older RT-AC68U so potentially can use in AiMesh configuration. Thanks for your advice
Look a bit harder, Yaron. Sometimes, a thorough read helps. 🙂
1. You’ll see the performance of the RT-AX88U as a mesh node in this review’s performance charts.
2. All information about AiMesh is in this post.
3. All Wi-Fi 6 routers’ performances are in this post.
Hi Dong,
I am not that technical and with so much out there I get confused. I currently have the Airport Extreme, it has been great for many years and love it simplicity and with no problems. Got it when it first came out due to the Apple products we have, MAC Pro, iPhone. iPads. Three years ago with got rid of cable and have the Amazon fire stick (2) and (1) for 4K as we upgrade. Kids are beginning to play games on line as the stay at home continues and as we do more via the internet and adding security cameras, etc. We now need to replace the Airport Extreme. We have about a 4000 sqft home. After being so pleased with the Extreme and reading several reviews of the products you shared opinions on I am even more confused then when I started…:)
I am looking for a very good, STABLE (not always restoring to factory defaults) mesh system that has security, multi-ports that can handle the growing needs over the next 5-7 years. Willing to spend for simplicity but do not need the best, but a good overall performer.
Thank you for any insight you might be able to share.
If the single unit of the Airport has worked for your case, Carl, you won’t go wrong with any of these or these. But if you want simplicity, get the Alien. If you want ports, get the Asus RT-AX88U. Both allow you to expand your network via extra units at a later time.
Great review! I have the AX XT8 for several weeks now. I have question about the statement in this review that the guest network will broadcast throughout the mesh for both Zenwifi units. My satellite node has never broadcast the guest network. Even on the latest firmware ver 3.0.0.4.386_25224 I cannot detect guest network broadcasting from the satellite node (using Wifi Analyser app). Is anyone able to confirm that guest network is broadcasting from the satellite node? Maybe I have a defective unit? But the regular wifi broadcast is OK from both units.
Try disabling the Guest network and enabling it again, Smack. Per Asus, the set should support it. 🙂
Hi Dong,
Would like to share with the rest of the folks here what I experienced so far: I’m currently with the latest firmware version 3.0.0.4.386_25224.
1. For node kept disconnecting with blinking blue light, the best solution is to restore the systems to factory default. I think the firmware is very sensitive. Very stable so far.
2. Setting up my Lyra as additional node is a bad idea. Perhaps it confused the whole system. when I remove them, my node can only be connected at 2.4Ghz band not matter how I reset the node it will not work. Reset to factory default fixed the problem.
3. I found out and hope Asus wont remove this feature. If I chose United States in the professional tab, I can see 160Mhz channel bandwidth. YES! And it work even though I’m staying in Malaysia. LoL!
4. If you can’t add a node, the best is again… u guess it right. Restore factory default.
Based on what I experienced so far:
1. Never set the QoS etc etc. I did that and experience node disconnecting. Turning it off wont help. Restore factory default best solution.
2. If I faced any problem, restore factory default is the best solution. 🙂
2. So what did I do after restore factory default?
– Change region to United States and get the 160Mhz setting for 5G-2 band.
– Turn on AIProtection
– At professional page, for both 5G band, OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO I set to DL/UL OFDMA +MU-MIMO.
For 2.4Ghz band I disabled it.
So question:
1. Should I enable DL/UL OFDMA +MU-MIMO for the 2.4Ghz band too?
Thanks for the input, Leo! And you’re right, Asus routers have way too many options! 🙂
Thanks… sorry yes i meant AP Mode. Great news, the other post you pointed me to made me think. Are Powerlines better to a wifi connection between the AX6000 nodes ? I have the Tp Link 2000 Mbps which I have been using for tv stuff effectively. Never thought of using it to connect the mesh that way.
Naw, Mario, PLA is likely no good if you want Wi-Fi 6 performance.
Thanks for that, sounds like I will stop waiting for Amplifi to deliver the Alien down under (if ever) ! Should have asked this earlier… I assume the ZenWiFi AX XT8 AX6600 has a BRIDGE MODE ? I am stuck with using my main router with my ISP.
I assume you mean AP mode, if so, yes it does — it can do bridge mode, too, but only a single unit which is irrelevant. You might want to check out this post, by the way, considering your situation.
Hi Dong, this is SteveC, I am the one that has about 100 devices in a large home and was on an eero set. I purchased the XT8, bagged the eero and never looked back. I must be one of the lucky ones! I have five XT8 units running the latest firmware, have QoS enabled and I have had no problems. So nice to be able to have a Web interface again and be in control of my own settings. Didn’t realize how much I missed it. All of my devices are humming along nicely. Had a drop or two, but nothing compared to the eero. Couldn’t be happier. Keep up the good work and reviews and articles. I am learning a lot.
Good to know, Steve! And thanks for sharing your XP.
Can anyone locate/confirm a place url to purchase a separate (third) unit to improve my coverage (in a 7000 sq foot house with some stone and metal beams) ?
You can get another set, John, and use one of the units for another household — like your friend’s — who needs a single router.
Hi Dong,
Can you mesh 4 of these Zen units together (ie 2 X 2 packs) or do you need to buy an AI Mesh compatible router to extend the network ?? I have a 3 story unit and would prefer an AP on each floor as I do now with the Apple Extremes.
Would an AI Mesh router and 1 X 2 pack be a better outcome ??
You totally can, Mario. You will have to add the 2nd set like any other AiMesh routers.
Hey Martin, good luck. I’m patiently waiting to see if Asus addresses any of this stuff via firmware. I have a few more days before I have to return mine. They are lucky that I don’t have the ability to get the Alien quickly or I would have at least given that a go. My ZenWiFi has been fairly stable, but I do occasionally get a drop which requires a wifi reset (on the device, not the router). My issue is that Asus support is currently on par with Netgear’s which means nonexistent.
Thank you for the quick reply. I tried all the suggestions and woke up this morning and on the second ax unit (not the router) it was flashing blue again which means (syncing with the router). At least I now know what it means but unsure why it’s happening daily. Unless the unit is powered off from the back and back on it stays locked in this mode. Any other suggestions? Thank you
ZenWiFi AX is definitely not ready for prime time! I returned mine, and have purchased a UDM Pro and a NanoHD as a starting point. Having had Ubiquiti stuff before though, I’m fully aware that it will end up with me investing more and more into their eco system!
Thanks for the reply, Dong!
Between the Zen Wifi and the Alien which would you recommend, given my situation?
I also know that, if using a wired backhaul, the zenwifi lets you use 5ghz-2 for clients, and that this will be a separate network without band steering, but would the 5ghz-2 network still have router steering? Or would it be a separate network for each unit? I’ve also been trying to find some performance tests of the 5ghz-2 network with both AC and AX clients, I don’t suppose you have that hidden around anywhere?
Thanks again and hope you are staying safe too!
Ben
If you want something that you can set up and forget then go with the Alien. The Asus will need some tweaking. And yes, the 5GHz-2 band will have seamless hand-off. The router scores in the review are those of the 5GHz-2 band, Ben. My way of testing, it’s limited by the router’s Gigabit port.
I currently have the zenwifi ax setup where one unit is the router and the other is on my second floor about 25ft total distance. the main router is connected to my modem in the basement. Backhull is via a cat 6 cable. The issue I am encountering is that at least twice a day either the second unit (not the router) starts to flash a blue LED and is no longer accessible which and fixing this issue is only done by going in the basement and powering off the router. When this happens I can no longer access the wireless network. I assume the issue is also on the router as it is also flashing the blue LED. I tried setting up the unit to do a reboot every day at 3am but this doesn’t seem to help. If anyone has any ideas why i have to power off these units and back on twice a day please let me know. nothing done to the units with exception of the standard config which was fairly easy to do. Also in the firewall Dos is off as was suggested to another individual.
There are some suggestions below, David. But you can try updating the system to the latest firmware. Reset it default and set it up from scratch. And do not use QoS for now.
Hey Dong,
Love your site – it’s been super helpful so far.
I’m trying to revamp my home wifi and figure I may as well go for Wifi 6. I have gigabit symmetric internet and everyone in the house has a macbook pro (so 3×3 AC) and wifi 6 iphone/ipad. Our house is ~2500 square feet over 3 floors (including basement), and there is an office in the basement.
I live in Canada and so my options are limited. I can either get the ZenWiFi AX, the alien (found it for retail amazingly), or the tplink archer ax11000. I’m pretty tech savvy but also like the idea of having a system that I can just plug in and forget about, which is why the Alien sounds nice.
My house is wired with a mix of cat6 and cat5e and so I can use a wired backhaul.
If I get the Alien, I would start with one and then add another one later on if needed, and would wire the backhaul.
If I get the ZenWiFi, I would also use the wired backhaul and use 5ghz-2 .
If I get the archer ax11000, I wouldn’t be able to do a mesh, of course.
I’d appreciate any guidance from you – thanks so much!
Ben
Glad you’re here, Ben. Since you have wired backhaul, other than the TP-Link (it has no mesh capability), you can get any of the ones you mentioned. You can also get a dual-band set like the TP-Link Deco X60. Or a couple of RT-AC86U units. Good luck and stay safe!
Dear Dong Ngo, Guest WiFi is important to me as I put all my home automation devices in my 2.4GHz guest network. You mentioned in the Cons that Guest Network is not available at the nod, does that means only the main Mesh XT8 is broadcasting the Guest network it will be like having a normal non-mesh wifi router? Thats no good. Will they fix this is a firmware update? Thank you so much and hope you are doing well and staying safe
Thanks, Idoblu! Hope you and your fam are staying safe, too. If you use the ZenWiFi hardware, without any other non-ZenWiFi router, then the Guest Network is supported throughout the entire mesh (with firmware newer than the launch version).
So, my ZenWifi AX has been stable for 2 days now. The only issue I have is that my Ring Doorbell Pro & my Ring Cam both have poor video quality – presumably due to poor wifi connection.
Does anyone know anywere that lists the best settings for Asus AX routers? There are shed fulls of settings, and knowing what best to set everything to would be good!
Maybe would be a good new article for the Blog Dong!
Noted, Martin.
It sounds to me like you’ve put the node somewhere right on the edge of being in range. Blinking blue means it has lost its connection to the main router I think.
I just bought the system and set it up as per the very sparse instructions. I am using a cable modem for the internet connection. I am replacing an Asus AC68U which has been a rock solid performer for years. I am going to mesh because I need signal in the far corners of my house due to security cameras and finishing the basement.
Anyway, the system set up as per the instructions and then I wired the router directly to my PC, opened the interface and updated the firmware because it was not the latest iteration.
The system connected and I unplugged the node which was close to the router during setup, then moved it to the first floor. It connected and all seemed fine until I tried reconnecting the cameras and other devices. Then the main router kept going from a steady white light to blinking blue and losing the connection to the internet. I am not sure why this might happen as it is wired directly to the cable modem. It does not stay on for more than 30 seconds before blinking blue again. To say the connection is unstable is a understatement. Finally after losing my mind for hours, I put the old AC68U back in place and the signal is steady again. I really was hoping after reading all the positive reviews, that Asus would be solid again. Now I am ready to return it and buy an Eero Pro! Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated because Asus has nothing for support on their website, you cant’ get them on the phone and the instruction “manual” is just a quick start guide with no other information available on their website! HELP! 🙂
Try resetting it to factory default and set it up again, Big.
Hi Martin.
I tried the previous firm before and the same thing happened. With QoS enabled, the node was also unlinked very often
Bit of an update. I reset both of mine. This time I left everything as default – didn’t enable ipv6 this time either. I only turned on traffic analyzer, and AI Protection. I left QoS off, and left the 5Ghz-2 alone despite them being wired via ethernet. Previously I was using that for my iPhone and my desktop PC, both of which are AX devices.
To be honest, there didn’t appear to be any increase in wifi speeds when doing a speedtest between 5Ghz-2 and 5Ghz-1 – the max I seem to be able to hit is 560Mbps.
Everything has been rock solid for over 24 hours now, and wired throughput on my server is maxing my 910Mbps connection.
Previously the router would drop couple of times a day – resulting in devices dropping, and when looking at the router it would be flashing green as though it was rebooting – but there would be no signs of a reboot or cause in the log file.
Just frustrating I can’t use all the features without the router becoming completely unstable.
Oh.. this is all on 3.0.0.4.386_25217 firmware.
I confirm that the system does not give any problem with QoS disabled. The node has remained solid and stable for more than two days without rebooting. All the problems seem to come from a poor implementation of QoS.
I confirm that the system does not give any problem with QoS disabled. The node has remained solid and stable for more than two days without rebooting. All the problems seem to come from a poor implementation of QoS.
My system was rock steady on the last firmware (v3.0.0.4.386.25217) until I enabled QoS – then I had all sorts of lockups or WiFi instability. Shutting it off also helped me. I also noted I couldn’t log onto the web interface via a wired ethernet Mac when the WiFi was acting up. So far it’s back to running normally.
I had the issue that i could not turn off QoS from the web interface. I had success turning off the QoS from the phone app and did not have to resort going through Telnet or SSH.
Hi, as Martin suggested a reset on both units magically worked for me too, having had the mysterious yellow light that isn’t in the instructions. Since the factory reset the latest firmware is perfectly fine for me.
Yeah, had that same issue a few times when trying to troubleshoot. Try another reset – it did eventually work for me. It needs to end up solid blue. Other option is to reset both and have them in the same room.
Since the latest update my node has been going crazy disconnecting periodically. I tried to reset but can’t seem to get that to work. Anyone else having problems? I tried putting a paper clip in the reset and holding for 5 seconds. I had it flash yellow. Now it’s flashing blue not sure how to get it to work or maybe it’s bad or something
You can’t disable from the normal place in the interface, but you can disable from the green QoS icon right at the top of the interface. The whole thing is buggy as anything.
I had this same issue on my RT-N66U. Had to disable using telnet.
Was imposible from web interface Dong. I had to use telnet. There has to be something wrong in firmware. I had to unable via telnet commands
Interesting…
Hi Dong
I have had a lot of problems with random disconnects from the node.
Disconnections with this latest firmware and with the previous ones.
Now I have tried to disconnect QoS (I could only disconnect it via telnet because it did not allow me to deactivate it from the web interface) and I also deactivated the data analyzer.
Now everything works perfectly. For if it helps someone.
Good to know. Thanks for the input, Rodrigo. You can turn off QoS via the web interface, though.
Dong, thanks. I’m debating whether to try wireless backhaul from this ASUS which seems to have very good real world speeds in your review, or to go for it and do wired backhaul to get the ultimate speed and future proof. So you have external cables?
I’ve looked at a couple of options. Is it best to do external Cat 7 or Cat 8 cables and then drill in to the relevant rooms where your nodes will be? Or would POF (fibre) cables be better to do the wired backhaul?
Assuming you had a wired backhaul, what would you go for out of the ASUS Zen Wifi above and the Amplifi Alien (I think I will need about 4-5 nodes for our house depending on each one’s range)? And what about wireless backhaul, which one?
A question from a wise man came my way. Is there a radiation risk with all these Wifi things around the house? It never crossed my mind before!
Thanks
Wired backhaul is always the way to go if possible, Charles. ALWAYS. CAT5e is fine, too, but a higher CAT doesn’t hurt. The Asus has a lot more features than the Alien, but it’s also more buggy. As for radiation, it’s too late for me, so I’d say no, but I’m no scientist. Seriously, if radiation issues were real, considering the ubiquitousness of Wi-Fi, the world would have had a huge fertility problem in the past decade, among other things. I wouldn’t worry about it.
I’m having no end of problems with this mesh setup. First off, I need to disable QoS or I can’t get my full internet speed (900Mbps). Secondly, the wifi will drop and when I look at the router, the LED is flashing green. It comes back on within about 30 seconds. Couldn’t see anything obvious in the logs.
I had them connected via ethernet backhaul, with the 5Ghz-2 available and with only my PC & iPhone connected to it.
I’ve tried going back to the early March firmware and still the same issues.
I’m back on my Amplifi HD setup at the moment, but throughput ain’t great on those so would love to get the Zenwifi AX sorted so that I don’t have to return them.
Anyone else with issues? Was thinking of maybe going to an RT-AX88U and something else for a mesh point, but this has kind of put me off Asus at the moment.
Other option was Unifi Dream Machine, but I don’t think that will manage 900Mbps throughput with IDS & DPI.
Sorry to hear, Martin. Thanks for the input. Asus is following these comments so hopefully, they will do something about that soon.
Hi Dong,
If you set up a wired backhaul, what’s the max speed you can get wirelessly from each node in the case of this ASUS, or the Amplifi Alien or Asus Lyra Trio?
And in the case of a pre-existing old house, can one set up an external set of cables around the property (drilling back in to provide sockets) to link the router end of the house to other rooms? Wondering what’s the best way to achieve Gigabit warp speed.
The speed with be that of the node itself, Charles. So if the node is a 3×3 Wi-Fi 5 (1300 Mbps) then you can expect that which means about 900 Mbps of sustained real-world rate, assuming you’re using a client of the same or faster tier. And yes, you can and should run cables outside your home like that. I did! 🙂 You might want to use outdoor network cables if you live in an area wit rough weather. Here in CA, I’ve used regular cable for years without any problems. And running cable is the only want to get real Gigabit (or faster) speeds that you can count on. By the way, you might want to check out this post for more info.
Great review, Ive just bought a pair of AX8s so looking forward to using them. we’re moving to a 4 story house (including basement which will have wifi devices in) and i know wifi coverage is going to be an issue…
One question… I wanted to use the AX8s in wifi 6 mode with AiMesh, and connect an older Wifi 5 dual band asus router via wired connection to also use as a node in the AiMesh network… Do you know if this Is this possible considering i want to use the AX8s in WIFI 6 for both backhaul and for clients… or would i have to “downgrade” the backhaul (and therefore client wifi on AX8 as well?) to WIFI 5 in order to get all nodes and router in a synchronised WIFI technology?
Hope you can help!
Yes, that will totally work, Ian. Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 5 works interchangeably. You don’t need to downgrade anything. But wired backhaul is always the best. Have fun with your new project! 🙂
Dong,
Nice review, with lots of great information!
One thing I am interested in, which I don’t see mentioned, is how much throughput this system has, when acting as an OpenVPN host. I’d like to know if logging in remotely to my network via an OpenVPN connection hosted by the ASUS ZenWiFi, what kind of connection speeds I could expect. Obviously there are multiple limiting factors, but assuming my Uplink and Downlink speeds from the router to the internet are not the limiting factor (because of fiber 1Gbit internet), what speed could I reasonably expect?
Thanks, Brian. Glad you’re here!
This is a home router so it offers limited control on what you can do with the network ports. That said, I haven’t tested out the VPN function on this particular model. With others, like the GT-AX11000, or the RT-AC86U, the VPN bandwidth is that the Gigabit network port, hence, the speed of your Internet connection at one end of the VPN connection, whichever slower. By the way, I’ve never used more than two VPN clients at a time. Hope this helps.
Interesting article. Yes so the ASUS sounds better for multiple clients and across a house as a Mesh with dedicated backhaul. Some of the dual band mesh systems you’ve reviewed seem to have sometimes a higher 5Ghz channel (Wifi 5), but lack the backhaul, and the Triband systems seem to have a great backhaul and a lower Wifi 5 client channel speed.
Is there anyway to get Wi-Fi 5 clients to get near Gigabit speeds via a Mesh system then? I’m just confused as to why there is a 867 Mbps limit on the ASUS. If the 5Ghz band had for instance a theoretical maximum of 1200Mbps, it would kinda be perfect at that point right?
First, your Wi-Fi 5 client has to support that speeds, so they have to be 3×3 or 4×4 clients (not 2×2). Now, just use a tri-band 3×3 system or a system that uses wired backhaul. You can learn more about mesh systems here.
Thanks Dong. I was referring to the Alien with the Mesh point (the 2 pack you reviewed). I notice comparing the specs tables that the 5Ghz speed seems higher on the Amplifi Mesh product. But the speed on your tests shows the Asus outperforming?
Is there a Wifi 6 Mesh system where the speed for Wifi 5 can reach a full Gigabit? (E.g. if you need at least 3 nodes)
Got it, Varda. Yes, the Alien kit has no dedicated backhaul. It’s a dual-band kit, whereas the Asus is a tri-band kit. The numbers I got are real-world. But they are all relative and might change depending on your situation. Almost all Wi-Fi 6 system can deliver full Gigabit sustained (real-world) wireless speed WHEN faster clients are available. Currently Wi-Fi 6 caps at 2×2 on the client side so you’re stuck with that speed. For more, check out this post.
Hey Dong,
Can this ASUS Zen AX beat the Amplifi Alien on Wifi 5 performance? Because the specs for the latter show it can hit speeds of 1100Mbps whereas you mention the ASUS goes to 867Mbps?
And I’m confused because it sounds like the ASUS does better in a “real world” setup with walls, at distance and seems simple.
On the front haul, Varda, the Asus caps at 867 Mbps. So in terms of speed for a single client, it will not be faster. But when you have many clients, it might be better. Also, the ZenWiFi AX is a mesh system, the Alien is a single router.
thanks for the reply Dong. I actually don’t want to use my old ASUS routers, managing two routers is my limit :). also, one of my friends has debs on them.
Would you recommend if I get the ASUS AX6100 instead? I know they are not truly a WiFi6 system, But with these big external antennas I would assume it will deliver longer and more stable coverage, which is my main reason to upgrade.
Hi,
I had a similar issue with the second node not connecting after a factory reset using the software. What I did was reset them both again using they reset button on the back of both xt8’s. the light should flash yellow to confirm they have reset.
Then with the ASUS router app I begun set up again. Initially both devices appeared separate, however if you wait they will eventually show as a pair. It’s just a very slow process and you may need to refresh the app a few times.
I have to admit that I have not had any problems with connecting to any nodes. My system is on latest firmware and has been so for the past eight days. I did reset my modem on Wednesday as I tried to add in a MoCa network (that was a failure), but the router and mesh nodes never went down. I’m wondering, for those who are having issues, what is different from my setup that allows me to not have the same problems you all exhibit.
That said, Dong, it would likely be good if you pushed Asus to look into these issues sooner rather than later, as it will impact sales for sure on a product that is that close to being very very good.
I already contacted them, Robert. But that’s typical Asus. They push out an upgrade firmware with some new features and mess things up. You can go back to the previous version and wait for the fix firmware that fixes the upgrade firmware. 🙂
I’ve been running the XT8 mesh set up for about a month and a half with no issues. I’ve done two software updates without issue. Now a few days after the last update not only can i not connect to any of my wireless devices, I can’t even connect to the 2nd XT8 node. I’ve restored the routers back to their default out of the box state and tried to set up via the mobile app as I did when I first purchased the set. The 2nd node never connects no matter how many times I try. All my LAN devices work just fine. Not sure if this is firmware related or the mesh set up just went bad. I was hoping to go back to the previous version of firmware, but that doesn’t seem possible.
You can download the previous version from Asus’s website, Shawn. It’s the latest firmware that messes things up.
I’ve been using the ASUS ZenWifi AX for about a week, and am suffering from significant reliability issues. The WiFi keeps disconnecting about 1/3 of the devices on a regular basis, and nothing short of a system reboot will help. The problem was worse with the latest firmware, so I rolled back to the early-March version as suggested here, and that helped somewhat. I find that the default settings work the best, but I’m still suffering about 3-5 of these disconnects per day. I initially thought the disconnects were for devices in the “overlap zone” between the signals of both units, but this is not the case. Memory load on the system is about 50%, and CPU load is negligible. I’ve stepped through disabling every single advanced function, eventually getting to running 2 separate networks (5ghz, 2.4ghz), and using wired backhaul, and nothing seems to fix the issue. All I can surmise is that it has something to do with the “mesh”, as the problem doesn’t seem to happen if only one unit is operating.
When it works, the system is fantastic – great throughput, excellent coverage, good management tools. However, I can’t seem to keep the system stable, and that is completely unforgivable in such an expensive option. To me, it feels like they rolled out good hardware, with the software/firmware half-baked. If I can’t stabilize in the next few days, it’s being returned and I’ll go with a less performant option such as an Orbi or Google Wifi. 😦
Hi Dong, Have an Ax11000 and xt8 nodes. Have been having problems with the nodes going offline overnight and having to manually restart them each morning, but the signal to each is strong (have latest firmware and tried factory resetting everything) Would adjusting any settings help? also, what is the difference between Wi-Fi Agile Multiband and Roaming assistant? Same concept, different implementations? Also, if you have 2nd 5Ghz band as backhaul for AiMesh, would it help to make this exclusively 160 MHz for better performance/reliability? Do you leave your control channel on auto, or do you set specific ones far apart from each other for less interference? Also, what the heck does optimized for xbox do? messing around with airtime fairness and all those other settings is kind of overwhelming, but googling each of these items just seems to lead to dead ends a lot of the time! Anyway, too many questions I know, sorry and thanks
I think the latest firmware might have been the cause. Downgrade the node to the previous version, unntil there’s a new on. Also, you can try scheduling a dayly auto restart.
Dong,
It is really great to run across your new website today. I have been using you as an example of a significant influencer in my web analytics courses at the university. The example will now have an important update!
I have read through your reviews and have narrowed down a scenario for our property. I have been looking at mesh systems with 3 nodes to get high speed coverage spaced across the property. The main router is presently in the center of the property. The home is wired with CAT6 in each room, making wired backhaul easy to connect. We currently have a 300 Mbps coaxial service connection with charter. We may upgrade to a 1G connection sometime in the next year or two using the wireless network that we build today. Like most people, the majority of our clients are 5, with no 6 clients yet.
I like the speed and forward capabilities of the Zen WiFi XT8. If there was a 3 node version this would be ideal. Given the expense I do not want to buy the 4th unit.
I enjoyed reading your recommendation on the Asus Lyra Trio because it has 3 nodes.
I also read your review on using the asus rt-ac86u units in a mesh configuration.
What would be the best price performance given the wired backbone and 3 nodes?
Congratulations on the new gig, will send all the web traffic possible your way.
Judging from the amount of views I’ve gotten, it looks like you forgot to mention in your courses how handsome I was… Keep at it though! Thanks, Judd. 🙂
For your situation, I’d recommend getting an RT-AC86U as the main router and then getting the Lyra Trio (not Lyra) as nodes. The latter will need some work since out of the box, chances are the hardware doesn’t have AiMesh support — you’ll need to set it up independently and update the firmware first. But that’d give you the best performance for the cost.
I’m trying to decide between the CT8 and XT8. My ISP only delivers 100MB to my house but my house is 4200 sq ft new construction 2 story with wired cat6 throughout and coverage has been an issue. Would the XT8 provide better coverage and speed in my situation, or should I save the money and get the CT8? Thanks!
If you have wires throughout, Jim. I’d recommend the Lyra Trio, or a combo of dual-band AiMesh routers. The CT8 or XT8 are tri-band routers. In fact, you should get an RT-AC86U as the main router and a set of Lyra Trio as nodes. Use a network cable to link them together and you’ll have a great network. But you can start out with the Lyra Trio alone.
Great review! I’m considering buying the Asus ZenWiFi AX Wi-Fi 6 pair, but can’t find any recommendations on how I should set it up in my environment. I currently have Spectrum 1G service, which comes through a Cable Modem and separate Spectrum Router (Arris RAC2V1A Wave 2 Router) which are both in a bedroom closet wiring box. From there, it attaches to an OpenMesh Switch (OMs8) and through Ethernet Cat5 cables to two OpenMesh A60 access points. If I use the default SSID directly from the Spectrum Router, I can get high download speeds (>700Mbps), but going through the A60’s slows down to around 200Mbps. I diagnosed the speed drop to be the A60’s (its still >700Mbps at the ethernet socket where it plugs in).
If I get the Asus pair, do I just plug them into the same Ethernet ports as the current A60’s and keep the Spectrum Router (but turn off its SSID) OR do I need to actually replace the Spectrum router with one of the Asus units? The first option is obviously easiest in my set up. If I do need to replace the Spectrum router, should I keep the switch and connect the Cable Modem to the switch and then to the Asus router on the other side, or should I just remove the switch?
It’s best that you replace the Spectrum router, Ron. If you want to keep it, check out this post. And this post about your speed issues.
For your situation, since you have wired backhaul, I’d recommend the Lyra Trio. Or any combo of dual-band AiMesh routers.
Can I use each XT8 node as a standalone access point? I have wired ports throughout my house and don’t mind managing them separately. In this configuration, does that also mean I could use the 2.5G ports on each node for uplink? Last question – does the current firmware support VLANs and/or multiple SSID’s?
Thanks in advance!
Yes, you can, Brandon. You just have to set each up as a standalone router at the location you want, then log in to the interface and change the operation mode into AP individually (Administration -> Operation Mode). No VLANs or multiple SSIDs, but you have one SSID plus a Guest network for each band which can be configured to work as a regular SSID.
Hey Rob,
That’s great to hear so the Asus ZenWifi is working out for you! So 4 sounds like a decent number. It also seems to be user friendly and easy to set up.
I think I will go for the ASUS. I just have to wait out the COVID situation as all new Fibre installs have been postponed for us until it’s over.
Thanks.
Does the new firmware version released on Mach 26th allow for 4×4 160MHz when using wired backhaul?
I haven’t tested that one, Chris. But if you have wired backhaul, you can use the 5GHz -2 band for clients and that’s for sure is 4×4 160 MHz.
Hey James,
So my house isn’t that big, only 1800 or so square feet. However due to the nature of the location of my internet drop and the walls between all the other rooms, I’ve never been able to cover the entire house well with a single router. That said, I do get signal from one router even in the furthest rooms, it’s just not good enough for my needs.
I originally bought a single pack of Asus Zenwifi. The main node could reach my bedroom through a firewall and multiple major appliances. However, in there I was being steered to the 2.4ghz band. For that reason I decided to add two additional nodes. Those allowed me to build a much stronger mesh. Now I don’t have a single signal worse that -64db.
The Orbi was a great device. Specs were great and speed was outstanding at the main node. However it lacked configurability for me. I love the parental controls and the built in security. At the end nodes, my speed dropped depending on what took of the house I was in.
Thank you Dong! Yes, looking through your reviews the Asus seems like the best one. Oh fascinating, so do you use the GT router too? Some of the routers look like something out of Star Wars! I do like the look of the Alien, but the Asus Zen has a very sleek brushed steel aesthetic too and yes I’d say it seems to be the more magnificent Mesh overall! I throughly enjoy reading your website. Keep up the excellent work. I watch and read it all with great interest!
Sure, James. I have all of them. 🙂
Hey Rob,
That’s good to hear. Sounds like the Asus is most impressive as a Mesh system.
2. Interesting. So what’s the range like for each node? Having 4 though must work pretty well and blanket the property in glorious wifi no?
3. Yes that’s one thing I noted about the Orbi and it seems a little less “user friendly” than other systems. For a house where the internet comes in at one end, and you need to get internet to the other end, I think other systems which actually mesh like a lattice would perform better.
4. Yes naturally it all depends on the base speed of the internet feed. Some ISPs may differ in whether they constantly deliver 1 gigabit. I know that of those available to us, there’s a guarantee of about 60% of the speed for each package. Highest package offers 910Mbps download. Just trying to see how to get the most out of it via Wifi across the house as I don’t think a Powerline model (which I had used for the 1Mbps internet on copper all these years) can deliver more than 100Mbps of backhaul and I can’t start cabling ethernet cables all over the place. Been using 30Mbps 4G mobile internet thus far, so looking forward to the future, but trying to acquaint myself with all this spangled new Wifi mesh stuff!
It feels like the Asus might not give the fastest speed right next to the “main router”, but at distance from the router and whether close, or far from each satellite, it outperforms the other competitors?
Overall, I get the impression at least that the Asus Zen seems to be the best bet at the moment
Thanks Dong. Great article you share earlier on Wifi btw. Looking at this review article and speed results you got, does the Asus Zen AX outperform the Amplifi Alien and Orbi then overall as a Mesh wifi system, even for Gigabit internet?
I wonder because some of the specs stated seem to suggest the Alien to have more Mimo connections, but the dedicated backhaul of the Asus seems to result in the satellites performing better right? The only real area where it wasn’t faster was at close range to the main router. But otherwise, the Asus system appears fastest overall?
Which would Dong Ngo go for of all the Mesh systems out there?
I’d go with the Asus, James. Personally, I use a few Asus routers in a mixed AiMesh system. 🙂
Hey Jim,
I am very impressed by the system. I’ve been stable on it for the past four days, with no hiccups whatsoever.
2. My nodes are all working well together. I am still surprised by some clients attaching to the 2.4ghz signal when the house is well covered by the four nodes.
3. You are correct about the Orbi. The two satellites both connect back to the main router, which isn’t true mesh. Therefore, in the furthest room, the number of walls to get back to the router made it tough for the back rooms to get a strong enough throughout. The Asus creates a strong mesh and each room is getting around 300 MBps even though I don’t seem to max out as high right next to the main router.
4. I expect that you will never be able to get close to 900 at any node other than the one connected to the router. Even then, I haven’t seen higher than 550Mbps, but I find that I’m looking for that number just to say I get it. Comcast doesn’t really deliver the full 1gigabit to households anyway.
Mr. Ngo:
I was thinking that was the case, but wanted an expert to confirm. Thanks for the quick reply.
I apologize in advance if this has already been asked, but could you use each one of the Asus ZenWiFi AX units as a stand alone router in a separate home? Meaning 1 unit in my primary residence and the other at another location? I am not asking about mesh capabilities here. I do not care about that. I do not need mesh as my centralized location for my current router meets my needs. But was thinking this would be a cheaper way to upgrade both places with the same equipment. Let me know. Thanks.
Yes, you totally can Lee. So you if you have a friend, share a set with them. Great idea!
Hey Robert,
Thanks and interesting. You’ve got gigabit broadband, very lucky! So,
1. Are you overall impressed with the ASUS Zen system?
2. Yes unsure about number of nodes, though I guess given they connect on Wifi 6 with each other, more shouldn’t be a hindrance
3. From what I understand the Netgear Orbi can’t mesh, but connects to the main router, thus in different property shapes, if you can’t place it in the middle, it wouldn’t be as optimal? Also the ASUS seems more user friendly?
4. Those are definitely fast speeds. Is a speed closer to 900Mbps possible within a short distance from each node?
Thanks Dong. Please keep up the excellent site. Honestly, it’s brilliant.
The Asus seems superior to the Alien (which itself looks good, but lacks backhaul)?
So can you actually not get up to 1000Mbps on Wifi for a Wifi 5 client and what about say if you place one “node” at the other end of the house where the nodes connect on Wifi 6, and you have a Wifi 5 client (e.g. Mac, laptop, television) at that end of the property?
Thanks
No, Jim, you won’t get 1Gbps out of the Asus on any device (it caps at 867 Mbps). The idea here is if you have multiple devices, it’ll have more bandwidth. Wi-Fi 6 is backward compatible with Wi-Fi 5 so you don’t need to take them apart. But the connection speed between a pair is always that of the slower party.
Sorry Dong – I must have misinterpreted your article. In it you said, “Since the XT8 has no multi-gig LAN port”.
The scenario I was imagining was having the the main node in AP mode, connected to my Synology NAS via a 2.5g LAN connection. The main office is all wired in a 10Gbe netword.
I would like to get 3x XT8 clients with a wireless backhaul in other parts of the house. Each of those XT8 clients would be connected with ethernet to a 2.5G card in a desktop.
Would the XT8 have a powerful enough wireless backhaul to saturate the 2.5G wired connections? Each of those clients are often syncing and streaming large files in different parts of the house from the central Synology NAS.
Thanks!
I hear you, SKA. I haven’t tried that particular scenario. I’d rather get two RT-AX89X units and/or a 10Gpbs switch. My take is don’t count on a wireless connection to deliver the theoretical standard speeds. But I’m sure what you want to do with the XT8 doesn’t hurt.
Hi Dong – in the downloadable manual, it says that the multi gig WAN port can be used as a 2.5g LAN port if using a wireless backhaul.
“When you’re using a wireless backhaul to connect your router and AiMesh node, the WAN port on your AiMesh node can be used as a LAN port providing up to 2.5G transmission speed.”
It would be interesting to test the backhaul speed when connected to 2.5g devices on either end (with the routers in AP mode).
I mentioned that in my review, too SKA. I don’t see any points in testing that. It’s not the backhaul speed that matters but the speeds at the clients.
Thanks for getting back I’ll try that but I seem to be having problems with the XT8. The connection light on the node goes yellow if I power it down and move it. If I try resending it with the main router at 1m away it still remains yellow. Rebooting doesn’t help and the only way I can make the light white again (strong connection) is by factory resetting the XT8. I’ve discovered this problem will always happen if I switch off or reboot either the node or router. Did you encounter this during testing? Firmware is up to date on both.
I don’t recall running into that, Darren. But if the connection is fine, I wouldn’t worry about the light’s color.
Thank you Dong! Phenomenal content on this site. I have a question similar to one above. I have a 5,000 sq ft home and am currently using 6 eeros. I want to upgrade to AiMesh and stability is very important to me. My question is should I buy 2-3 2 packs of the XT8 (total of 4-6 nodes including the router) or get the AX11000 with 1-2 sets of XT8?
Thanks, Scott. I’d recommend the latter. The GT-AX11000 has a lot of features so use it as the main router. Since you move from the Eeros, note that the setup process of the Asus will be a bit harder. I also recommend using its web interface first and the Asus Router app as a supplement.
Great review Dong. I’m really considering changing my old AiMesh based on 2 Asus RT68u with the zenWifi AX, but my biggest concern is range coverage. I live in a 3 storry house with concrete walls and I’m afraid the the ZenWifi AX will deliver poor coverage with it’s inside antennas compared to my 2 RT-68u AiMesh setup which covers the house well.
Thank, Majed. The XT8 will be better than your current RT-AX68U set for sure. So get it. Also, you can use the one or both of the old router with the new one, jus tin case you need to extend the coverage.
@Ryan actually don’t UPGRADE the firmware: DOWNGRADE it to the previous version 3.0.0.4.38625217 2020/03/12 -> it fixed my similar problem
Thanks for the suggestion Dong! I’ll try to do a hard reset first, I did a cold reboot of the router, but the issue persist, hence i’m not sure if a schedule auto restart will work. Or maybe I’m unlucky to receive a faulty unit.
Sure, Ryan. Make sure you upgrade the firmware, by the way.
I have the same system and noticed WiFi clients stopped connecting to WAN each day as well – even with full bars – and needed a restart of the base unit. Another symptom was the web interface would not load even on a wired desktop.
This seemed to come on after upgrading to the current firmware (3.0.0.4.386.25224 date 2020/03/26), so I downgraded to the previous firmware (Version 3.0.0.4.386.25217 dated 2020/03/12). My system is once again solid with no need to reboot.
Get the firmware at https://www.asus.com/Networking/ZenWiFi-AX-XT8/HelpDesk_BIOS/
Funny how Dong’s site is becoming a mini forum for this router! Thanks, Dong!
Thanks for the input, Steven. Yes, updating the firmware should have been my first suggestion.
Hi Dong, I bought the xt8 and have this set up correctly. I seem to have an issue with PS4 remote play and steam link where they both stutter and lag, even with the node next to them. I’ve even tried connecting the node to to the two devices by an Ethernet cable but this makes no difference. Also QOS doesn’t seem to help and changing the WiFi channel doesn’t work.
I have an RAX120 that can stream everything perfectly so the problem seems isolated to the xt8.
Any thoughts?
Also can the xt8’s function as a repeater for the RAX120?
You need to connect the game console directly to the main router unit, Darren, and wired is always better than wireless. Connecting to a wireless mesh node is *never* good for gaming. The XT8 can work as an access point, as a single unit or a mesh, so if you want to use it with another router, you first need to connect the main unit of the XT8 to that router using a cable.
Hey James,
Just chiming in. I have four nodes using the Zenwifi system ( probably one more than I need). I do not reach those gigabit speeds even when standing next to the router. However, the speeds that I get in every location are more than fast enough for any purpose. I’ve maxed out at 550 or so closest to the router. The same client, on the most difficult location in my house gets 350Mbps. Mind you, all of my clients are currently WiFi 5. So, wirelessly I think you hit a ceiling that’ might be limited by the client more so than the network.
The wireless backhaul works very well. I came from a Netgear Orbi which worked well, but didn’t have the same protection and filters that the Zenwifi gives me.
I can’t speak to the Amplifi as I have never tried one.
Hi Dong, great website. The ASUS ZenWifi AX seems great, can you clarify some things?
1. If one can get Gigabit internet into the house, would this ASUS let you effectively reach those sorts of speeds (assuming you place enough around the house, like say 4) wirelessly given the seemingly excellent “Backhaul” band at 4,800Mbps?
2. For Wifi 5 devices, will the ASUS mesh system actually be able to broadcast at each node close to 1,000Mbps then? Or is it restricted even after a Firmware update to 500-800Mbps?
3. Would be great to hear your thoughts, or see a review on the Amplifi Alien (without backhaul) versus this ASUS ZenWifi AX when you have say 3 nodes in a property?
4. If the Netgear Orbi is more of a hub and spoke model, I am guessing that anything beyond 2 nodes, where the “main” Orbi is at one end of a house would be inferior to using a different brand’s mesh system?
Thanks, James. Glad you’re here.
1. You should read this post on the matter.
2. It caps at 867 Mbps for Wi-Fi 5 clients.
3. The Asus will do better in my opinion, and cheaper, too.
4. The Orbi is great if you don’t want a lot of features or spend time to configure. But it has a lot of lag.
Hope this helps.
-Dong
Hi Dong, I was researching on this router and stumbled on your review, convinced me to go ahead with the purchase. As your rightly point out, setup was a breeze, connection is extremely strong. However, after a 5 days, the main node started to drop WAN connection from my fibre modem at a fix interval. I spent a few hours troubleshooting with my ISP and concluded that the fibre modem and cables are working fine. After switching back to my old router, there was no drop in connection.
Likely the issue is with the XT8, any known issues that you may be aware?
I also made a firmware update during the initial setup, so firmware on both the main and secondary nodes are up to date.
Not that in aware of, Ryan. However, I can suggest a fix. Try scheduling an auto restart for your XT8 every few days or so, at the time you know you don’t need the Internet. You can do that by doing to Administrator -> System in the web interface. When you’re there, make sure you have the right information about your time zone and locales etc.
Hi Dong, quick question about the wired backhaul, is it possible to set up the wired backhaul with a switch. the setup would go as follows:
Bridged Modem ->Zen Router -> Switch -> Zen Node
thanks,
Yes, Terrence. More details on this post.
Dong, Glad I stumbled across your site. It’s exactly what I was looking for and I’ve read about 20 of your reviews. Here’s my question:
I have a large 2 story house with lots of walls. Previously had lots of dead zones. I moved to Google wifi, then google nest wifi with 3 points, and it improved somewhat. Problem mainly driven by my router is in the front corner of the house and it’s difficult getting great speeds to the opposite corner.
Last month I was able to get fiber and gigabit internet. Works great in my computer room and maybe every connected room. The opposite side of my house still only gets 20-30MPS, many rooms 100-200.
I’ve debated upgrading my google points, to google nest routers for a slight increase (2 pack $239 at Amazon), upgrading to a ASUS GT-AX11000 ($299 Costco) + maybe AiMesh, Alien mesh, or this system here the Zenwifi.
Any insights or recommendations? Unfortunately my house is not hardwired for CAT 5 or 6 (yet).
Eric
Glad you’re here, Eric. I’d stay away from Google/Amazon mesh systems. They turn you into a product. That said, for your home, you can get the GT-AX11000 and a 2-pack XT8. Or you can start out with the XT8 first to see if that’s enough. You can also consider other systems, just make sure you get a tri-band one. Good luck!
Dong, I really appreciate your site and detailed reviews. Regarding the ZenWiFi mesh systems, I haven’t been able to find any official documentation about whether they support the 802.11k/v/r standards for seamless roaming. I found just one unofficial reference online to the ZenWiFi systems supporting 802.11k and 802.11v but not 802.11r. Do you know if this is accurate, and if so, how big of a detriment is the lack of 802.11r support in the ability for clients to seamlessly roam? Also, is 802.11r support something that could be added via a firmware update? Thank you!
That’s probably the case, Brian. 802.11r is popular in enterprise products and clients. Any of those standards will help roaming which also depends on the support on the client side to work. And no, 802.11x can’t be added via firmware.
I was all giddy when I saw the firmware update thinking *maybe* it would have the 160 Mhz front haul but it doesn’t appear to have. Would have made my day being stuck inside the house 🙁
I hear you. Things are uncertain now considering Asus folks are stuck in the house, too.
Hi Dong,
Asus just released new firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.25224 earlier today (March 26th) for the XT8. According to the release notes, this update supports adaptive QOS categories to help users prioritize mission-critical applications. Users who work-from-home & learn-from-home will greatly benefit from this new feature with optimized streaming experiences. This firmware includes new supported categories and apps. Hoping that this new firmware includes support for front-haul 4×4 160 MHz with improved wireless performance. Looking forward to your performance retest and updated review. Thanks again for your insightful reviews!
Dong: I see you consistently recommend to get a pair of RT-AC86U instead of the XT8s if you are going to have a wired connection/backbone. Given the prices I am seeing, that is not cheaper than just getting the XT8s. Does the RT-AC86U actually perform better?
Yes, T, in most cases, but only when you use wired backhaul. The reason is both are top 4×4 Wi-Fi 5 routers, while the ZenWiFis are 2×2 routers on the front-haul. So if you don’t have Wi-Fi 6 clients, the formers are much better.
Dong,
Thanks for the super quick reply! We just upgraded our Comcast cable ISP from 200/5 to 600/15. Would you still recommend upgrading to a pair of the RT-AC68U or go with something Wifi 6 compatible like the ZenWifi AX XT8 or a pair of RT-AX88U’s? Or even getting the AX88U/AX89U as the router and the ZenWifi AX XT8 as mesh nodes (placing one in garage without wired backhaul)
Cheers,
Terra
Sure, Terra. I think the RT-AC86U, not RT-AC68U, (or Blue Cave) will do. The Wi-Fi 6 routers will not necessarily deliver faster speed to your existing clients, but consider them when you do NOT use wired backhaul.
Dong, first I KNEW you would go solo eventually! Way to go! I’ve not been looking for tech for a bit but pumped for you! Question, the bulk of my tech is Wifi5 for now, I have a tall OLD (130yr old house) with THICK, THICK walls. I’m looking for max coverage and max throughput for my tight FIOS Gig connection. I do have direct network connectivity to the Xbox/PS4 & a Linksys WRT3200 AC Router-Wifi with upgraded antennae upstairs to cover the Attic Guest Room, bedrooms & smart TV’s there. Ground floor is weak no matter the Linksys is upstairs. I’m looking for Mesh so I can get basement, ground floor and patio coverage.
Thoughts? I like all that I read about this but there are other high throughput performers I’m stumped.
You’re a psychic, Joe! If you have wired backhaul, I think it’s better to go with a mesh that supports that. I’d say a couple of units of the Asus RT-AC86U and/or Blue Cave will work out nicely!
By the way, I love that WRT300AC. It was an excellent Wi-Fi 5 router when it came out, and still is today. So another option is to keep that router and get an access point (not extender) to use with it. You won’t have an exact mesh system but it’ll be a lot less expensive and still deliver great coverage.
Hi Dong,
This is a great review of the Asus ZenWifi XT8. I currently am in a 1300 sqft long rectangular apartment with two Asus RT-N66U routers with wired backhaul. I have around 25 total clients with three wired at the main router and two at the access point. I have been running this design since September 2012 with pretty good results. I have the roaming assistance set to -65 dbm for both the 2.4 and 5.0 Ghz wifi. I have been waiting for a good replacement since my Comcast ISP speed has increased from 100mbit to 200mbit and I am getting around 120mbit wired or wireless. When I connect directly to my cable modem I get around 240mbit.
If my plan is to continue to use wired backhaul would you still recommend the ZenWifi XT8 or another two devices?
If I decide to remove the wired backhaul I think ZenWifi XT8 is the best choice.
I am leaning towards doing the ZenWifi XT8 and then purchasing an Asus AX88U or AX89X in the future for my main router and moving one of the ZenWifi’s down to the garage for better coverage.
The XT8 will work for you, Terra, and you’ll get the option to have a separate 5GHz network for high-speed devices. But if you have wired backhaul, using a couple units of the RT-AC86U or Blue Cave is a better deal.
Dong, I am coming from an Orbi RBR50. Most of my clients are wifi5, if not all. However, NG has pretty much discontinued support on the original Orbi model, so I am looking to improve the performance of the network at home. Will I be happier with the newer Orbi or with this Asus setup? My house isn’t that big (1800sq ft), but it is wifi challenged due to shape and walls stopping easy connections.
I think the XT8 is definitely more exciting than the new Orbi RBK852, Robert. It has more to offer and the fact it’s much less expensive doesn’t hurt.
it looks like there are some additions to the modulation scheme and the OFDMA and MU-MIMO. is there any benefits or performance improvement from these changes?
Yes, when applicable. Very minor in most cases.
Also can the XT8’s be used as bridges to take advantage of a full 1GB fiber connection. For example since my 2019 Imac doesn’t have a wifi6 client adapter built in and there are no usb adapters yet I was thinking of using an XT8 as hopefully a 4×4 client to connect my imac via gigabit hardwired to the XT8 which would wirelessly bridge to an GT-AX1100 or the new RT-AX89X I have gig fiber coming into my house and hoping not to try to retrofit hardwired.
In a wireless setup, you can use all AiMesh nodes’ network port as LAN port so, technically, that’s the same as (if not better) than using them as a bridge. More on that here. So, the short answer is yes.
Hi All Dong mentioned “Asus told me on February 11, 2020, that it would release new firmware “in weeks” that opens up the front-haul to support 4×4 160MHz specs, effectively doubling the XT8’s Wi-Fi speed for clients. ” has this been released by chance yet?
Not yet. Asus has some beta firmware that is not available to the public and that’s a good thing since it’s buggy as hell. So, it seems they are working on it but the process might have been affected by the virus… I’ll update the review when/if that’s available.
Hi Dong.
I’m a little disappointed (not with you) as I expected this recent update, 3.0.0.4.386.25217, to extend the fronthaul to 160Mhz but it didn’t. We will have to keep waiting since the 6 wifi cards that I have are 160Mhz and the truth, for the fronthaul, I have not noticed any difference
A problem that if I see with this new firmware, is that using a free spectrum analyzer called “WinFi”. I have been able to verify that by activating 160MHz for the backhaul (as it did with the previous firmware), both the router and the node use 160Mhz without problem, but after a while, the node drops to 80Mhz, while the router remains at 160Mhz. If I reboot, everything goes back to normal, but after a while the node always goes back to 80Mhz. This never happened to me with the previous firmware, 3.0.0.4.386.24926, so I have gone back to it waiting for something to come out to fix it. I also don’t care too much until the fronthaul reaches 160Mhz.
On the other hand, and if it is for a previous comment, I have a Synology NAS, and although the router does not have support for “Link Aggregation”, my Synology can use another protocol called “Adaptive Balance Loading” and that works just as well than the “Link Aggregation” and with this router or any other. I tried both on an RT-AX92U that I had before this one.
Greetings and thanks for your dedication
So was I, Rodrigo. I had to set it up again thinking there’d be something to re-test… Great input on the Link Aggregation. Thanks!
I returned the AX11000 and ZenWifi XT8 package and got the Netgear Orbi RBK853. I find it (in my environment) much better. The software may have fewer setting options (completely sufficient for the normal user) and 160MHz support is missing, the backhaul works with “only” 2400 instead of 4800 Mbit. Overall, the Orbi system works simply and does what it should. The coverage and transfer rates are excellent and for me better than the Asus system. The slightly higher price is okay due to the functionality and ease of use. The Asus system is great on paper, but not in practice for me.
is there any updates of significance for this firmware version?
Not really. Just bug fixes. By the way, if you use wired backhaul, you can use the 5GHz-2, which supports 160MHz for clients.
Hi Dong.
Asus just released new firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.25217 on March 12th for the AX XT8. Their release notes indicate that it includes enhanced connection stability and it fixes CVE-2019-15126 (Kr00k) vulnerability. Is this the new firmware that you have been waiting to retest which includes support for front-haul 4×4 160 MHz with improved wireless performance? It has now been just over one month since you posted on 2/11 about upcoming Asus firmware so I’m guessing that this is that new firmware with 4×4 client support. I’m very much looking forward to your performance retest and updated review. Thanks again for your great insight and web site!
Noted, T! 🙂
I am looking forward to this retest as well. I’m about 95% sure I’m going to go with the ZenWifi package for my home in the coming weeks dependant on availablility (in canada). Also in the documentation i’ve noticed there is some indication that the WAN/LAN port may be available for 2.5Gbe for LAN purposes….. wondering if this is the case or not.
Dong, are you aware (or able to find out) if link aggregation will be available for the ZenWifi XT8, or if that is possible to make it available with a firmware update. My setup will include be connected to a switch which will have a NAS and i would be very interested to know if this would be a possibility in the future.
This has been my go to page for this setup and i love your review. Keep up the good work and i look forward to the update with the new firmware!
No, Terrence, Link Aggregation is not available with this firmware version, and will likely never be with this model. Also, the latest firmware is not the one that opens up the higher speeds for clients.
Hi , I have been researching routers for a while and things are getting a bit confusing. Currently I have R8000 X6 nighthawk running three SSID the first SSIDTEST 2.4 MHZ, second SSIDTEST2 5 MHZ and the third SSIDTEST3 MHZ and looking for another router. I have 3200 SQFT house two story in Dallas TX , its 10 year old house. I have been hearing a lot about overkill and many people are buying routers more than what they really need. I understand if you are buying a new router you are better off getting WIFI6 and the new mesh has excellent coverage. My ISP download speed is 400 MBPS. I am looking at two ASUS products the ZENWIFI AX and “Asus AiMesh AX6100 RT-AX92U RT-AX92U 2 PACK” . I think both are WIFI 6 but one is triband and the other is dual band. The question is what s recommended ?? I would like to have at least two bands SSIDTEST1 2.4 and SSIDTEST2 5MHZ. If I use the ZENWIFI AX I have to loose the third band for WIFI6 and cannot have a third SSID. and if I use the AX6100 not sure how many SSID I will have… I appreciate it giving some insights about main differences between the AX6100 and ZENWIFI AX from number of SSID and WIFI6 .
Read the reviews and my related posts (linked from the reviews,) Moe. You’ll be less confused. Really read them, though. You won’t find more concise info anywhere else. If you need a quick answer, get the ZenWiFi XT8!
Thanks so much for your review, Dong! Based on it, I bought the ZenWifi AX to replace my Synology AC2600 + 3x MR2200AC mesh system. The Synology system was disappointingly slow in my home (3800 SF, 2 levels, > 55 devices, radiant in-floor heating systems and concrete floors likely make WiFi challenging) and I spent so much money on it, I held off until WiFi6 systems were available to ensure a strong backhaul.
I really like the geeky customizations of the ZenWifi system. 2 units seem to handle my place well so far – I decided to run separate 5GHz and 2.4 GHz systems to force iPhones, iPads, AppleTVs to hit the faster band and it’s been great.
One issue I’m having is that it seems randomly the satellite AiMesh unit drops down to 2.4 GHz backbone for no reason: no change in environment or devices that I can tell. Rebooting the main unit reconnects to the dedicated 5 GHz backhaul and it reports a “Great” signal strength, so no idea why it drops down.
Thanks again for your reviews! Yours was the first and still is one of the only comprehensive reviews of this system out there.
Thanks, Steve. That’s quite a big house you have there. I think the issue might have been because the two units were a bit too far from each other, but it could be just a bug. I know that Asus is about to release a major firmware for the XT8, so stay tuned. (It’s a secret, don’t tell anymore!) 🙂
Hi, I am strongly considering buying an Asus AX XT8 router. But what I want to know before I buy it, is if it is suitable to have in a living room. I do not want it to make any noise etc. Is it fan cooled?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
Lars HAnsson
Its not suitable in the sense that it’s just a box, Lars. There’s nothing to show off. But you don’t need to worry about noise, there’s none, or even the lights which can be turned off.
I set the 5GHz-2 band to “only” 160 MHz and restarted the AX11000. In the wireless protocol he still shows me 80MHz for the 5GHz-2 band. Interestingly, the 5GHz-1 band for the clients runs on 160MHz according to the protocol.
I’m not sure what to tell you, Timo, and can’t keep answering one question after another, especially when I don’t know your setup in detail. There must be a setting somewhere, or you need to update firmware, restarting the system etc. And you should contact Asus’s tech support. 🙂 By the way, as long as the speeds are OK, the channel bandwidth setting doesn’t matter much.
I select 160mhz, hard coded the control channel to 100 and in checked auto and it changed to 160mhz. Not suggesting this is a good idea but it did work.
That control channel is the base channel for the 160MHz, meaning the system will use lower and higher channels from that to form the width, Jez. It might work if you’re lucky, but it sure doesn’t apply to everyone. More on that in this post. Good tip, though!
Hello Dong,I am writing from Germany, so please excuse my English. I bought an Asus AX11000 and two ZenWifi AX XT8. I noticed that the two satellites in the backhaul are “only” connected to the AX11000 with 80MHz and not with 160MHz. When I set up the XT8 as the sole mesh system, the backhaul works at 160MHz. Can I influence this in the settings of the AX11000? Thanks for the help and best regards from Germany!
Hi Timo. You need to manually set the 5GHz-2 band of the GT-AX1000 to work in the 160MHz channel.
Hey Dong, you briefly mention timemachine compatibility in the review. I can’t find mention of this anywhere on Asus’ site or anywhere else. I just plug a USB device into the storage USB port do I?
Yes, Stefan, and use the web interface to configure it.
Hi Dong. Thanks for your very detailed and thorough reviews – very helpful and much appreciated. I saw that another major web site just reviewed the XT8 and stated that it now supports WPA3. However, WPA3 is not listed in the Asus product specifications and there is no recently released firmware update on the Asus support site. Can you please clarify if WPA3 will be supported in a new firmware update and is this the same firmware update that will support front-haul 4×4 160 MHz? Any update on when this new firmware will be released by Asus? Thanks again for your great reviews!
Hi TM. You can rest assured that most, if not all, routers will support WPA3. It’s just a matter of firmware updates. That said, yes, the XT8 supports WAP3, but you can’t use it. That’s because, for now, AiMesh will not work if you choose to use it. This will likely change in the future.
Very thankful for your reviews!!! They are very helpful along with reading the comments. I have a ax11000 and will use that as main router with xt8 as nodes. Looking from all the comments. Seems like xt8 as lead and ax11000 as node would only benefit if you wanted To use the new interface. Other than that. Speed wise. Either way should be anout the same?
You’re welcome, Erick. You should use the GT-AX11000 as the main router. It has more features (gaming etc.) But yes, using the XT8 will give you the extra AiMesh section in the web UI and the ability to use the USB port of the XT8 node.
Thanks Dong. Will get it when I get back home off vacation. Thanks again and again!
Hi Dong, Steve C here. Sorry to bother you again. I am the one with about 100 devices running the eero set. Thanks for your advice on the the IP addresses and running network cables. I have quite a few drops and need to take better advantage of them. As you can imagine with a lot of WiFi home automation devices I have a combination of 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz (WiFi 5) devices along with WiFi 6 devices. Will my network performance be appreciably better with the Orbi AX6000 over the Asus XT8 because of the XT8’s lower WiFi 5 performance numbers? Or will it not make much of a difference? Thanks again for your help and great reviews!
It’ll make no difference, Steve. Plus, Asus will release firmware that makes the XT8 faster. Get it! 🙂
Hi Dong, I congratulate you for your hard work.
Do you know if the update in the fronthaul is going to be only 4×4 or will also include 160MHz? If so, the pack would receive a speed increase much greater than 6600, right?
Thanks, Rodrigo. I believe that’s the case, (4×4 + 160MHz). That’s what I was told. But I don’t work for Asus so I can’t say for sure.
Hi Dong,
Quick question about setup when using xt8s as aimesh nodes: I simply added them to my existing AX11000 and now they seem to be working, usually picking up 3 or 4 clients each. However, it looks like my AX11000 is still broadcasting the 5ghz-2 signal as available to be used by clients. I thought it was supposed to become a dedicated backhaul and automatically hide itself? Do I need to reset everything from the beginning to get a “clean” (more efficient?) setup that will better dedicate or setup the backhaul?
Well I got the Zenwifi ax and setup was has easy has everyone has said. I have Xfinity 500 down and 15 up, going to my Netgear 1150V modem, I did use the 5GHZ-2 band with its own ssid and password (I have the node connected with a cat 6 cable) thanks for the tip by the way. My speeds are top notch, my computer is getting 600 down and 18 up (I did get that with my firsrt gen eero’s) but on wireless with my Note 9 and Ipad Pro 11 inch 590 and 595 down and 18 up in the same room as the router on the 5ghz-2 band, the best I ever got on the eero’s was around 490 down 18 up. I have a small house 1200 sq ft, having the mesh is overkill but I like it….LOL….I have 35 devices hooked up including 4 cameras, 4 echo’s, 2 cell phone and ipads, 2 computers, highly recommend the Zenwifi AX! Thanks again for the great review.
hello dong
I am renting and for me wiring is impossible
so I’m looking for a wifi mesh
I tried the deco m9 more in 3 point mesh but I had a flow of 180 mega to my shield tv I pulled a cable rj45 to see and I was at 550 mega I hesitate so between the asus zen wifi xt8 and the ct8 or the RT-AX92U I have nothing in wifi 6 and even if my apartment is not very large 100m2 all the walls are in brick covered with plaster
could you help me ? I saw that you were going to test the RT-AX92U soon?
knowing that the prices in France are xt8 557 € ct8 411 € and 92u 421 € for 2 pieces
sorry my my english but i’m using google translation i’m french
The brick walls are your enemies, Joan-Paul. For your case, ZenWiFi AC is probably the best investment. It will do better than the Deco for sure, or you can go with the XT8. Don’t get the AX92U.
Hi again, I have a stupid questions;), this weekend im getting my 4 new zenwifi xt8, which I will put together as aimesh with my ax-11000, then I wonder should I turn off Smart Connect? Do you have any tips on what i to switch off or settings?now im using ax-11000 and 2(two)ac68u and have smart connegt disable and people says to disable Airtime Fairness?and i have Wi-Fi Agile Multiband disable.iit,I will also share wifi with my good neighbor friends,its
becomes big system so I try to learn , then my system gonna be ax-11000 and 4pcs xt8 and 2pcs ac68u,i have fiber 500 mbps down and up.thanks all help regards Lars
Thank you for your very detailed reviews. I need some advice. I currently run a 9 node eero pro system and it is having trouble keeping up. I am wanting to move up to WiFi 6. I have a fairly large two story home (6800 sq ft) and have about 60 WiFi devices and 40 wired devices in my setup. They consist of home automation devices, mobile devices, computers and streaming devices. I am concerned about, speed, device capacity, as well as coverage for my home including reaching a detached garage that is about 50 ft from the main home. I have read all of your reviews on WiFi 6 mesh systems, but am still not sure what would be best. I have kind of settled on Asus XT 8, Orbi WiFi 6 or Arris Max Pro. Of course I would need additional nodes/satellites beyond the standard packages and I know there are limitations. Would appreciate your help. Thanks
Sure, Steven. For a kind of an extreme case like yours, I’d recommend running network cables, at least for certain parts of the property. The second thing is you need to manage your IP(v4) addresses. You have about 100 devices but they might use up double the amount of addresses at a given time for different reasons. Each router can give out up to 253 address and that runs out very fast if you don’t keep them in check. The easiest way is to keep the lease time short, less than 24 hours, or reserve an IP for each.
That said, the XT8 will work for you, so will the Orbi but it’ll be so much more expensive. Considering you’re using an Eero set, you probably only need about haft of the new hardware units if you place them well. But this depends. Good luck! 🙂
HI Dong, Just got my new XT8 set in. Install and set up was a breeze. I have CAT6 throughout my house so I renamed the 5G-2, set it to ethernet for the back haul and changed the password and set it to AX only. I have a iphone 11 and will only connect that device to the 5G-2. Upon testing the 5G-1 and the 5G-2 with the same iphone, my speeds are not any faster on one over the other. I have 1 GIG internet service and my speeds on my desktop over LAN are usually 600-800 mbps. Wifi speeds usually max out around 400-500 mbps on wifi. Does that seem normal or should I be seeing faster speeds over wifi? wondering if I need to tweek some settings? Coming from the RT AC5300 to the XT8, web pages are loading a lot faster with the XT8 on my desktop over LAN, Netflix buffering is shorted to about 2 seconds where it was about 4 seconds over LAN connection. In the summer I plan on adding the Blue Cave to my outdoor tv cabinet to have increased wifi around the pool. WIth the two XT8’s I have full signal everywhere in my 4200 sq ft house so I’m very pleased with the coverage. Thanks again for all your testing, help and knowledge with this set up.
That seems typical, Shawn. 500Mbps of internet speed over Wi-Fi is really fast because that’s about how fast your mobile device’s Wi-Fi generally is, after overheads etc. Cheers! 🙂
Thanks for the quick replay, I should get mine tomorrow and I can’t wait! Love your reviews by the way….one more thing I was looking at the Alien for awhile now also, but now where to be found, have any idea why?
Sure, Ken. The Aliens are sold out. They’re making more but that will take some time, considering how Covid-19 is raging in China.
Is there a way to make sure the XT8 node (connected with a cat 6 cable) use that connection instead of the wireless backhaul? I read a couple of reviews that the node will use the wireless connection instead of the wired one. Here’s a review from a guy on newegg about this problem…thanks
“Overall Review: I wanted to replace my RT-AC88U as I had a few dead spots in my house. My ISP plan is fiber / 1Gbt.
Unfortunately, the speed is fluctuating really bad and also the system is slower than my current router. I really do not like that the backhaul seems to be always on the 2nd 5G. Even if it shows that it is cable connected, on another part of the software it shows that it will be done via WIFI. This is bad as the 2nd is the only one capable to run 160mhz.
Overall it feels that the router is rushed and pr mature. Returned it..”
Yes, Ken, you can click on the node (in the AiMesh part) and change the backhaul to Wired. You can do that when using any routers in an AiMesh system.
Hi Dong … Great insightful reviews!
Do the Zen AX units incorporate the radio hardware needed to support WiFi 6E once the spec is finalized or will that require a new Zen model for 6E?
That’s a good question! I checked with Asus and you’ll hear more bout this in a couple of months. Not exactly helpful, I know, but that’s the best I could do. 🙂
I switch from 2 packs of AX92U to ZenWifi XT8. What I easily observe is that my phone (Samsung Note 10 Plus) can connect with Wifi 6 band even Smart Connect is enabled. For AX92U, I can only connect Wifi 6 once I enabled 2nd 5Ghz band and connect directly with this SSID.
I don’t feel any other different yet.
Nice review – how does this compare to the other Asus WiFi 6 mesh RT-AX92U 2 pack? They’re close in price and the RT-AX92U is more widely available. I see the RT-AX92U doesn’t have 2.5Gig WAN port but what other performance difference is there? Looking at the Asus comparison page, it’s also not really obvious which is better:
https://www.asus.com/Product-Compare/?products=F7VnJOFfPnwlvoux,lz1oss59xzvantj2&b=0
I’ll review the RT-AX92U at some point but I can tell you right away that the ZenWiFi AX is much better. You can take my word on it, Steve.
This looks like a good kit, especially the price compared to others, and that it doesn’t look like an upside down crab. But the Wi-Fi 5 client speed seems a little disappointing. I guess that would come down to if your wi-fi clients even support above 2×2.
If you have a dedicated line for back-haul, would you still recommend XT8 over other Wi-Fi 6 capable systems? I have a mix of Wi-Fi 5 and 6 clients. Speed between clients is more important to me than speed of Internet access.
Thanks for your great reviews!
As I noted in the review, Asus will enable fronthaul to 4×4 relatively soon for the XT8. If you have wired backhaul, you can use the 2nd 5GHz band as a separate 5GHz-only network. But you don’t need tri-band routers. More on this here.
I currently have ASUS ac5300 and blue cave routers in my home. Looking at the new XT8 set up. Compared to the Arris Pro Max and the Orbi RBK852, which set you is faster is faster and provides the most coverage. Thanks!
The XT8 will work best for your case, Shawn, not to mention it’s the least expensive. You can also re-use the AC5300 (and even the Blue Cave if you want). The second choice is the Orbi, the Arris is just a bit too thin on features, you’ll hate it coming from the RT-AC5300.
Not disabled entirely, Dong, but the FAQ article states: “Smart Connect is the feature which could automatically steer clients to the most appropriate band (2.4GHz, 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2). Select Tri-band smart connect option and automatically connect your devices in your network to the best band for optimal speed.” Are you saying that Tri-band smart connect is not available but instead reverts to Dual-band smart connect if AIMesh is enabled? Thanks.
That’s correct, Greg. If you use a tri-band AiMesh router as a SINGLE router, the SmartConnect will include all three bands into a single Wi-Fi network. When using a tri-band router as an AiMesh system (meaning there are AiMesh nodes), then the 5GHz-2 band is NOT part of the SmartConnect. This band works either as the dedicated backhaul band, or, in case you use wired backhaul, as a separate network of itself if you configure it manually.
Dong, I also appreciate your excellent and helpful reviews. I have a question about tri-band Smart Connect, which ASUS discusses in this FAQ (for RT-AC3200, RT-AC88U routers): https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1012132/
I do plan on running a wired backhaul for the XT8 pair when mine arrives, because the distance is about 60′ and from basement to second floor. So I’m less than happy to read in your review that the tri-band Smart Connect implemented for those products is not available for the XT8. Do you know why this feature would be disabled for this product, and do you think it might be implemented in the future?
SmartConnect is NOT disabled, Greg, as you can see in the screenshot of the web interface in the review. It just doesn’t include the 2nd 5GHz band (5Ghz-2), which you’ll need to create a separate network with it (or not use it). So using SmartConnect, you have two networks, one consisting of the 1st 5GHz band and the 2.4GHz band and the other of just the 5GHz-2 band. You can read more about AiMesh here.
Thanks for your reply Dong! I just happened upon this FAQ from asus: https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039646/
If I read this correctly, If I combine the zenwifi with ax88u as I described, then the DWB will establish and the 5 ghz on the AX88u will not be available. Is this correct?
Sorry for all the questions, but I am pretty new to this stuff! Thanks!
That’s correct, Brett. I also talked about that here.
Hi Dong! Great site! I am really enjoying your reviews. I have a few questions for you. I am considering buying the zenwifi ax to use in conjunction with an AX88u.
1. Would it be appropriate to use the AX88u as the main router for an AImesh setup?
If so, would I still have access to the 5 ghz band form the ax88u once setup in aimesh?
2. Would the zenwifi ax (as nodes) connect to main router through their dedicated backhaul?
Thanks!
Glad, you are, Brett.
1. Yes, that works. And no, the way AiMesh works now, the dedicated band is initiated and controlled by the router unit which is the RT-AX88U doesn’t have.
2. No. You need to use the GT-AX11000 in this case.
and now I’m confused. Regarding (2), why wouldn’t the Zen nodes use the wired backhaul to connect to the AX88U?
I’m in the same boat as Brett. I have the AX88U and I’m looking to add some additional nodes to create a mesh network. I was looking at the AX92U units but then I stumbled across these Zen XT8’s. It doesn’t seem like there is much advantage of going with the XT8’s since my router doesn’t support the 3rd band anyways, but can you help clarify why the wired backhaul wouldn’t work with the AX99U either?
It does, Dean. I was talking about the 5 GHz-2 band. Dedicated backhaul only applies to wireless. More on that here.
Right I kind of figured what the disconnect was there but couldn’t delete/edit the post. Can you comment on my particular setup with the AX88U as my router and whether you see any benefits in doing with the XT8 over the cheaper AX92U?
In your case, either will be the same, but the XT8 supports Wi-Fi 6 better. You should get a dual-band router, like the RT-AX3000, though, considering you have wired backhaul.
I’ll give ASUS a call tomorrow and see how this supports media bridging. I’m fairly certain I saw in another review the option was there in the firmware. I’m just curious if it uses the AX band to do it. If not I suppose I could set it up as a mesh network but my apartment is really a bit too small for that.
I assume you can set these up in a Media Bridge config? Does it use a dedicated backhaul for it?
I ask because I live in a relatively small apartment which can’t be wired, and I’m using a mish-mash of routers set up in a wireless-media bridge config. It used to be an old school so unfortunately I need to set it up this way.
I haven’t done that, Eric, but Asus routers in generally support WDS, where you use one of the Wi-Fi band as the source of the internet by connecting to another Wi-Fi network. It’s a pretty rare setup so I don’t make it part of my generally testing.
Piggybacking on Lars comment: I assume you use the GT-AX11000 as the “main” or “head” unit (the one you see/log into and see the GUI and administration, etc) and the XT8s as the nodes? Would the usage proposition be the same if the XT8 were the main/head unit? Does it display a different screen and options for the Aimesh setup from that which is displayed when using the AX11000 as the main unit? Also, is there a problem updating the firmware in such a setup? Do you have to somehow manually update all the nodes, etc because you are mixing different Asus models, or is it just a pushbutton update for all the units/models?
Yes, the XT8 (as well as CT8) has a new AiMesh section in its web interface which makes things a bit more intuitive. Function-wise (including firmware updates), though, there’s no difference no matter which you use as the main router unit. However, if you intend to use the USB port on an XT8 working as a node, you must use another XT8 (or CT8) as the main router.
There’s no push-button update for any node unit, using the web interface, no matter which one you use as the main router. You always have to manually update the node(s). Using the Asus mobile app, however, you can update both routers and nodes via a few taps.
Oh, now I noticed I was using another screen name, sorry.
Of course I read the reviews 😉 You didn’t publish a review for the RT-AX92u, that’s why I was asking. From the specifications, I didn’t see a difference except the higher speed of the 2,4G band; so may be you have used the AX92U and can share your practical observations.
Thanks
Where did you get beta?
Hi Azim,
in Firmware 3.0.0.4.386_25790 there is an option to chose Connection Priority between Ethernet and Auto. I think it was there in previous versions as well, as I am using Ethernet backhaul for a few months.
Is there something new in the latest beta?
Klemen,
Yes, I know about that setting in the stable release.
This is different. On the beta, in the web interface if you select AiMesh on the left panel, then “system settings”, there’s a force Ethernet backhaul toggle. In the stable firmware, there is no “system settings” in the AiMesh section. When the force Ethernet backhaul toggle is off, I only get dual band smart connect. When the toggle is on, Tri-Band smart connect becomes available.
Thanks Azim. Is the system stable in your experience?
Exactly which file did you downloaded for XT8? I do not see XT8 nor AX6600 in the Google drive folder.
Klemen,
The exact model number of the XT8 is RT-AX95Q.
So far it’s been pretty stable. I had one random reboot. Which is better than normal. Usually the system would die and I would have to manually reboot.
Can you please elaborate in which way better except the increased 2.4G speed?
Thanks
Read the reviews, EB! 🙂 But among other things, the Asus has free protection for life and other useful features.
Gah…no sign of it in the uk yet 🙁 I watched a review on YT and the WiFi 6 backbone seemed very good.
Thanks for the excellent review. How does the xt8 Mesh compare to a rt-AX92U mesh pair?
The XT8 is much better, EB.
Thanks for the answer,im getting the zenwifi ax xt8 about two weeks,Then the setup gonna be one GT-AX11000 and four(4)xt8,i hope its not to many xt8(4)dont know how many we can use?one router and four mesh nodes:)now i just have GT-AX11000 AND TWO AC68U ;)Thanks for info and help 🙂
Sure, Lars. I don’t think you’ll have any problems with four. I don’t think there’s a hard limit in terms of how many you can use. I’ve tried like a similar setup myself, just for fun. You must have a VERY large home! 🙂
Hello nice Reviews,do you know if ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 is working great together with ZenWiFi AX XT8?i have big place i Norway and i have ordered 2pack(xt8) 4 pcs white.
Yes, Lars. I actually using exactly that setup. 🙂
Thanks for the review Dong and the great site. I was wondering if you recommend using as a standalone router for smaller houses? (1500 sq ft) Or if there is another that I should consider?
It depends on what you want, David. But you can get one of these Wi-Fi 5 routers or one of these Wi-Fi 6 ones.
How does this compare to the Deco X68?
I’m curious about this too – could Dong tell us more? Alternatively it’d be interesting to also know how it compares to the X5700 he reviewed.
They are different in features and hardware specs, Wenhan. If you read the reviews, you’d know the differences. Or use the site’s search.
By the way, questions like “how do they compare” are kinda lazy and deserve no answer. 🙂