ASUS - ZenWiFi BT10

I've been using Google Nest WiFi Pro (6E) for several weeks now and found it having zero issues. Paid $220 for Open Box deal with three units. A coworker, who has been heavily using Nest WiFi for four years, recommended the system, My house is a two-storey one, with an attached garage and several Ring cameras outside. Once I've installed the three Nest WiFi Pros -- all connectivity issues are gone. My Rings are up and running, with streaming starting right after opening a live view. It takes a couple of seconds to see up-to-date snapshot in Ring app's dashboard -- I've never had that kind of performance with any of below mentioned setups. I'd had TP-Link AX5400 Pro (wifi 6) with three extenders and briefly Asus BE92u (wifi 7) with BE8s as mesh nodes. I'd tried Asus BE8 (wifi 7) mesh (of three) as a sole system too -- second and distant second to the Google's. I'd tried Asus BE10 (wifi 7) mesh (of three) -- complete mess with Verizon's Fios. Unreliable and super-slow upload speeds. No fix. The Nest WiFi Pro is better in every respect, expect it has very basic feature set. Tried Verizon Fios (wifi 6E) router. They do not even offer wireless backhaul for their extenders! As a separate router it is exceptional, with the best coverage area, but won't cover all I need without extenders -- a no-go for me. IMO the best option is Google Nest WiFi Pro (6E). Do not pay more than $250 for three units. Last but not least -- Netflix 4K (and others) streaming is instantaneous, WFH is stellar too.

I bought 3 for a mesh system in a 3100 SF trac home. Only unboxed and setup two of three. With two just downstairs the coverage was really weak and the speeds were low. After tinkering with them for a week I sent all 3 back. They couldn't out perform the TP Link XE75 Pros, or TP Link BE63's. Tested Eero 6 and finally settled on a two pack of the Asus BT10's. Two BT10's both downstairs cover our entire home, garage and large backyard. Wasn't impressed.

I just test out the Be63’s last week for 3100 SF home and large backyard. It worked well but I’m more of a prosumer and the app was pretty dumbed down. Bought the more expensive Asus BT10, 2 pack and they just smoke the BE63s. Faster and a lot better range.

Just in case someone else sees this, I went with the ASUS Zenwifi 2 pack BT10 routers. The child protection features not behind a subscription or paywall was a major deciding factor. The coverage is more than enough for my house and it gives me the ability to plug in my personal PC with an Ethernet cable. Thank you everyone for all of your help!!!! I truly appreciate it.

I bought one with the Amazon sale for 699. Had been rolling with older Ubiquity equipment, but wanted to take advantage of new multi-gig fiber speeds in my area. So frustrated with the AsusZenBT10 I'm returning it already. The IoT and the 2.4 channels dropped constantly all night. The MLO connection for the 2nd node also dropped/reconnected frequently interrupting anything that was connected to that node.

Hi Asus crowd, Been running multiple mesh wifi systems over the years (Apple, then Google Wifi) but I decided recently to upgrade to wifi 7 and got convinced by the marketing and pull the trigger to get 2 packs of 2 BT10s (got a big area to cover over multiple levels in the mountain). I was expecting this to be an easy replacement of my 4 google wifi (1 main + 3 nodes) APs, ohhhh how wrong was I, it's been nightmarish, a week in, and I have essentially made no progress. So I am here to see if somehow I am missing something or if the newly released BT10 is somehow all buggy. 1. Issues connecting to the modem * Opened one pack (pair of BT10), plugged in the "main": 10G Wan to the modem (Hitron CODA56 on Xfinity 2Gbps) and 10G Lan to my 10G switch (NICGIGA 10Gbsp unmanaged switch - 8 ports) * Went through setup (via the iPhone app) and configured "everything" (Main Wifi network and IoT network), but "main" stayed RED (Led status) meaning that it could not get connected to Internet * Tested my modem by plugging back to the still running Google Wifi network - everything work, solid internet connection * Figured something might have gone wrong during setup - perform a hard reset, and setup everything again (like 3 times) - still no dice, RED * I open up the 2nd pack, and setups the "other main" following the same procedure, and here surprisingly LED turned white and the Internet connection was established (a quick SpeedTest via 10G Lan ethernet revealed very good speed: \~2350 Mbps down and \~340 Mbps up) * Ok, I figure it was a defective unit and I would continue to setup everything with 3 APs for now 2. Super unstable wifi * Having a work main, I started adding nodes. Every single one of them through 10G ethernet backhaul (main 10G Lan => 10G switch => \[node 10G Wan\] x 2) * This is when all hell broke loose, wifi became mostly inaccessible, main wifi or IoT would randomly drop out (disappearing SSIDs), iPhone would mostly say cannot join wifi or wrong password, laptops had a bit better luck connecting, but connection horribly faulty (dropped packets, etc) * Tried rebooting, tried resetting (MULTIPLE TIMES) always the same behavior: basically anytime there is a single node connected, wifi would turn to crap 3. Hiccups with firmware upgrades * When the AP started to come online, they would request firmware upgrade, fine, let's go through that * Through some of the upgrades (but not all?!) all settings got wiped from main and I had to re-configure everything (again!) * One of the AP was stubborn that it refused to detect that it required a firmware upgrade, it finally upgraded itself at some point in the future after being connected for a few days (!?!?!) * At some point throughout those firmware upgrades the main lost connection to the modem - back to RED. Had to go back to #1, reset the whole network and pick another AP to become the main that would allow connection to the modem (!?!?) * After multiple attempts, all APs now have the latest firmware: 3.0.0.6.102\_35430 and modem is connected again 4. Impossible to get backhaul to use Ethernet 10G * Throughout the many tests and configuration tweaks I have not been able to see consistency in the backhaul configuration * Without changing the hardware connections (cat 7 eth cables all going to the 10g switch and cabling all APs together) I have seen the links to the nodes go from MLO to Ethernet, but seemingly changing randomly * When going through each node and trying to change the "Backhaul Connection Priority", and I only see the following: Auto / 6Ghz Wifi first / 5GHz Wifi first / 1G Wan first but never did I see a 10G Wan first !?! Where is that option ? * Also going through the options on the app I get more often than not "Setting failed" (or something along those lines) * But ultimately most of the time the link type between the nodes and the main switches to MLP when the node is not randomly blinking blue (LED) Current status: * Basically right now I have the main connected and a single node (which should be backhaul via LAN 10g but will stay in MLO) * I got my Google wifi and all the rest of my network working as a double nat off the main (1G Lan) so I can keep things running while I figure this out * I contacted Asus support over the phone, and basically they said, of you reseted the APs, that's basically how to fix stuff, if it still doesn't work you'll need to send them for physical review and send them back to where you bought them (Amazon) * So right now I am stuck I just can't imagine that all my BT10s hardware is defective... what would be the odd with 4 APs... Any ideas on what is going on ?!

Ah ! Same ! I haven’t reverted back the firmware yet… was trying to find a stable point. Spend hours with Asus on chat and phone today - the only thing they can suggest is send the unit for repairs… so frustrating !! Really tired of being a Guinea pig here….

Not really… still experiencing issues.. opened up a thread on snbforum to see if I can finally sort things out..

I also can confirm several issues, running on the latest software: [3.0.0.6.102\_35462](http://www.asusrouter.com/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp) 1. The ui is very unstable, even the user manual have different screenshots. 2. no ability to changes security type, wpa2 for example. only wpa3. 3. under 'professional' mode, in 6 ghz (or any other band) - there's no 4kQAM, only 1024 (mcs11) or mcs 9 - its clearly advertised to support this! - the consequence - getting approx - 4.3gb on 6ghz -320w channel (at max 4kQAM@320MHZ = 5750mbit) 4. under pro' mode, clicking enable and disable radio - only then it shows "enable scheduler" 5. enable disbale radio from web gui doesnt reflect on mobile gui 6. just like number 5, but vise-versa (changing in app doesnt reflect in ui) 7. wifi issues! closing 2,4, and 5 bands, the 6 ghz band cannot connect! 8 long reboot times!

latest version [3.0.0.6.102\_36758](http://www.asusrouter.com/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp) did solve me lots of issues . now i can turn on/off the bands independently, and the switch is really fast (few seconds) - as its should. still cannot do remote connection though.

I recently installed (2) BT10 in my house. It has been reliable so far, and I get good 5ghz coverage through out my 2800 sq/ft split level home. It looks like I can get 720-900mbps wireless download speed from anywhere in the house. 6ghz coverage is less of course, but if Asus updates the firmware on the BT10's to enable AFC, the 6ghz coverage should extend to almost the distance of 5ghz (so they say). If I really decide that I need 6ghz full coverage (and get 1+ gbps, I may have to buy 1 more BT10). 3 will cover my 2800 sq/ft setup pretty easily, but I don't need 1+ gbps yet. Maybe in a few years...

I have been 100% happy with the BT10’s. I have a 2 pack and the coverage, speed, and stability have been excellent. I’m pleasantly surprised.

I have a single BT10 - and its perfectly stable with the latest firmware you noted - all 3 bands. Using without MLO

The latest Nov 6 FW update has complete stability for all bands for me. Including IoT devices on the 2.4 GHz.

I've had 2 Asus ZenWiFi meshes, the XT8 and now the BT10, used with wireless backhaul. Both have been great, but we have sheetrock walls and hollow doors :-). About the only good thing with the flimsy construction in our house. The current ZenWiFi BT10 works exceptionally well, with MLO backhaul "channel". Very fast. However, if you have walls that are thick or have metal in them, you're going to need to wire your backhaul or use MoCA if you happen to have coaxial cable in your walls from having cable TV installed. That's just physics, wifi signals are attenuated by thick walls, or walls made of lath and plaster, etc. And if you're going to wired backhaul for a mesh, you might consider using wired AP's instead of a mesh. Just a thought :-).

There were stability issues with the BT10 before the last 2 or 3 firmware releases. The current (latest) firmware release that I'm using now has been up for over 2 weeks here, with no problems. As I said, best wireless coverage and speed ever here.

Asus BQ16 Pro is a beastly mesh system. The BT10 is a close second.

Hi, I have bt10 with 2 units and works well,good coverage and good performance,one disadvantage is 3 lan port is nor enough,bq16 lots of lan ports,ı think it is better than bt10

Hardwired is best. If you have extra phone lines or coax cable you can use that. If not you'll have to Go wireless. Ubiquiti is great. But, it's beyond most homeowners without really doing their homework. Therefore, I would recommend an Asus system. All of their stuff works. Just buy two, three, four of their routers in the AI mesh system will work perfectly.(Buy the exact same router for everywhere). You just need to make sure they are tri-band or quad-band routers (one band will be used exclusively for wireless backhaul). For example, et12, ET 8, et9, bt-10 are all recommended. Check out Dong knows--his website is great.

Backhaul is how the routers talk to each other. It's best to do it wired. But, if you can't they will use one of the channels on the router that becomes a dedicated circuit (band) where they talk to each other. That's why you need at least three bands. If you want Wi-Fi, 7 I would recommend the bt-10 or the expensive BE98 pro. If you just want Wi-Fi 6e, any of the routers I mentioned before would work.. et8, et9,xt9,xt12,et12. Additionally, avoid the BQ 16 and the be96u, the firmware on the routers is buggy and has not been updated. I have personally used the et8, xt9 and the be98 pro. They have all been fantastic.

I bought these when the sale hit on Amazon. I set them up tonight. So far they've been working flawlessly. It applied the most current firmware update immediately. I'm not really well versed on networks, but there's a lot of settings in here that I've been playing around with. One weird thing is the node that's in my family room. Every device that connects to it gets great speeds except I have a Google tablet. For whatever reason it's super slow when it's connected to this node. There is a setting, I think it's called AP Binding and I connected it to the basement main router and the speeds took off. I have no idea why this tablet won't work properly with this node but there's a solution for it so I guess it's okay. Okay, long-winded aside, speeds are fantastic. Keeping my fingers crossed that this thing stays stable considering I've read so many horror stories about this. So I have a lot of settings to play around with and learn about on this device.

Yes. Have asus bt10 x2 mesh system with hardwire backhaul via MoCA and I get full internet speed all over my house now. Had it for about a month now and works great so far.

old reply here but the Asus ZenWifi BT10 was and still is a buggy mess. Horrible system

Take a look at the Asus RT-BE88u (https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-gaming-routers/rt-be88u/) and the Asus ZenWifi BT10 (https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/whole-home-mesh-wifi-system/zenwifi-wifi-systems/asus-zenwifi-bt10/). Both are better than the eero and TP-Link routers, and are in your budget. Better firmware updates and security too.

EERO is popular because of cost - that is it. I tested them out and they are HORRIBLE in a highly dense area (ie Lots of neighbors with Wifi). UniFi is the best mesh- its what businesses use, but more complex to setup and maintain; not friendly for the consumer market. Depends on your requirements Out of the others I have tested: Orbi - easy to get started; great mesh; CON: Subscription for parental or added security; Not the best speeds (but generally good). Netgear - Same as orbi ASUS ZEN - Fantastic speed; Unbelievable configurability/features; No subscriptions for parental or added security; CON: Milage varies because of quality. Asus notoriously has issues with their firmware and new products. ASUS ROG - Same as ZEN; has more Gimmicks I ended up with the ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 - replaced the Orby Mesh. Very happy . I needed parental and added security; Needed VPN; Needed 10gig / 2.5gig WAN

EERO is popular because of cost - that is it. I tested them out and they are HORRIBLE in a highly dense area (ie Lots of neighbors with Wifi). UniFi is the best mesh- its what businesses use, but more complex to setup and maintain; not friendly for the consumer market. Depends on your requirements Out of the others I have tested: Orbi - easy to get started; great mesh; CON: Subscription for parental or added security; Not the best speeds (but generally good). Netgear - Same as orbi ASUS ZEN - Fantastic speed; Unbelievable configurability/features; No subscriptions for parental or added security; CON: Milage varies because of quality. Asus notoriously has issues with their firmware and new products. ASUS ROG - Same as ZEN; has more Gimmicks I ended up with the ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 - replaced the Orby Mesh. Very happy . I needed parental and added security; Needed VPN; Needed 10gig / 2.5gig WAN

Help!!! I can’t even get the damn routers to connect to my modem. Tried both routers and I keep getting no internet connection. (BT10). Tried rebooting modem/ routers and updating software on both models.

I’ve tried at this for 2 hours resetting and restarting modem. Can confirm that Ethernet to Apple TV works just fine but both routers don’t seem to pick up connection…. Anything else I can try?

3 hours of “troubleshooting” mostly factory resetting each router and unplugging multiple times. Finally just unplugged both routers and the modem. Set a timer to stick the 5 minutes….and voila….it worked. Easily the worst electronic set up I’ve had but I’m hoping it’s smooth sailing from here. Thank you again!!!

If you’re heavy on Apple devices then WiFi 7 won’t be coming for a while and you should be okay with a WiFi 6E router for the next 5 years. However, if you want to go forward with you can look at Ubiquiti CG Fibre and U7 or UX7 AP. The router should be future proof and allow you upgrade your AP nodes based on which band you want. If you want a different mesh brand then you can look between Deco (best on budget), Asus Zenwifi BT10 (tri-band) / BQ16 (quad-band) or Orbi 770 / 870 / 970. This are the top 3 brands with top mesh systems and best coverage. Nevertheless, your bandwidth and devices should decide your choice (added with budget) Honorable mention will be Eero Max 7 but it’s barely customizable and you have to do things the Eero way

I do t know which is the best bit I sure know that Asus AI Mesh is terrible. The backhaul will start great and then about 20 minutes later drop to 50% or less. It's quite common, Google it

I can't tell you which to buy but I can tell you that I would not buy Asus! Google Asus wireless backhaul speeds and You'll see others have issues that I'm also fighting with where their wireless backhaul is unstable. Mine can establish at around 900Mbps and then randomly drop to 300 and stay there until I disconnect (remove from config!) the Node and re-add it which is time consuming. I have posted this all over the internet with photos and config print screens and until now it continues. Googling this and you'll see others also have this issue. Mine isn't low end gear either. I have a BT10 with backhaul to an XT12.

Get a good mesh system. For a 2500 square foot house you don’t want a single router, unless it is maybe a completely open floor plan. Even then, probably not. I have a 2 pack of the Asus BT10 and it is superb. I have a wired back haul which is the best way to go with a mesh system. I ran some cat 6 Ethernet throughout my home. If you do this it doesn’t affect latency. I would highly recommend you check out https://dongknows.com This guy breaks down everything and I trust him a lot. (FYI latency for a mesh router increases when you don’t have a wired backhaul and or it is not setup properly. It is best practice to always do a wired backhaul. It is a great investment for your home.)

Got the 3 pack yesterday (on sales for £700) to replace my xt8 3 pack. So far: 1. The UI is still buggy, when I navigate to "Wireless", sometime it will go to a “hidden” page of "Smart connect". 2. As you said , "IOT network" isn't working well. It is a new guest network feature. I tried single SSID for main network (2.4+5+6 GHZ with MLO Fronthaul enabled) and a guest 2.4GHz IOT network SSID for IP Cam & EV charger. But the IOT network is highly unstable. In order to make it more stable , I have to remove the IOT network and split the main network into 2 SSID. 3. Even after the Roaming assistant is disabled in 2.4GHz and devices was binded to specified node, aimesh still decide to route some devices to other node with weaker signal. I just don't understand why. 4. Without AFC, the signal strength of 6GHz is noticably weaker than 5Ghz. So if your main reason for upgrading is 6Ghz, you should probably wait. (And it seems that only US and Canada could benefit from it due to the current law? I am not sure about that) I will say it is not unusable, but there is still many bugs in the latest firmware. I will give it a try for 1-2 week and decide to keep it or not.

I hated the WiFi 6 Orbi system I bought. It was lacking so many fairly basic features, such as QoS, firmware updates breaking basic functionality, and a very lackluster app-focused experience.  I replaced it with an ASUS WiFi 7 system comprised of a RoG router with two Zen nodes and it’s been a lot more solid with far more configuration options than I’ve ever seen on a residential router.  Maybe the Orbi WiFi 7 line has solved their earlier issues, but I’ll never buy one again based on my prior experience. 

Not troubleshooting, but there’s a lot of configuration options that might require playing with things if you’re not a pro. Do I want MIMO? Should I configure an IoT network? There’s a lot of things it suggests to do but doesn’t really hold your hand in explaining why you should set them up.  In my case, I’ve done a lot of testing to try to reduce latency to portable gaming devices, but it can still be kind of opaque what’s going on. But generally, the basics work find out of the box. 

my asus tri-band does really well. i get hardwired speeds on 5G using the dedicated 6G backhaul but the 6G band does not penetrate well, so it's important to not put too much distance or material between the main router and the mesh units

Asus Zen wifi is trash. I've tried everything and can't get the node to maintain a connection. I'm not the only one, plenty of people report the same issue.

I've had success with Asus Zen Wifi and Amplifi; but I think Asus is a better product personally. I have Ubiquiti in my home right now and don't particularly like it.

Avoid tp-link and any other CCP networking equipment. Don't intentionally put stuff with backdoors in them just to save a few bucks. Unifi is great but it's expensive and you really should use it wired. If you're just looking for plug and play mesh Asus has good offerings. Their AI mesh system works well

Since you have cable Internet and it runs into the basement, you hopefully have coaxial cables available to you throughout the house, and usually in key locations. Just look at the area where all the coax ends should meet, likely in the basement where your modem/router is at and plugged into. If you do find this bunch of coax, you can use it with MoCA Adapters to build a wired Ethernet network inside your home. If you can achieve that, then getting good WiFi everywhere will be easy, as well as providing wired capabilities for other devices in needed locations. MoCA Adapters can be a bit expensive, but worth the cost. If you can build this MoCA network, then whatever you choose as the router and Access Points will work very well, including a 3 pack of a reputable mesh brand. For mesh, I use and can recommend eero. But ASUS Zen mesh is also praised a lot, and has more configurability. If you want to go higher end, you can get an Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway router, a Ubiquiti PoE switch, and some Ubiquiti Access Points. It's more expensive, but very capable of advanced setups, and is very stable. I use Ubiquiti at another home and in my office location, and I can recommend them personally as well.

Bingo. So many of us are essentially engineers either by profession or by hobby, so a general list on popularity or even satisfaction is going to be worthless. I love my ZenWifi, but I also chose my particular model based on the availability and features of open source firmware (Merlin). I considered Eero with the thought that I'll give up the tinkering, but found the feature set too limiting.

You must have gotten a dud. Deco BE95 system. Simply amazing. Had it for 12 weeks now. Zero drops. 5800 sq ft home. ISP 6 Gig up and Down. Wired backhaul. 121 connected devices. Wired devices that can handle multi gig speeds - 6 GIG WiFi 7 - 2.5-4.3 GIG WiFi 6E - 1.8-2.4 GIG WiFi 6 - 1.1-1.6 GIG WiFi 5 - 600 mbps - 900 mbps WiFi 2.4 - 200-500 mbps The consistency, reliability and speed blow every simple competitor out of the water in my experience! Amazing system and have tried them all! Eero Max 7, Orbi 970s, Asus ZenWifi

Yeah I like the ASUS approach as well. Mine just works, and it is so easy to add another node anytime I want since their stuff is all interoperable with the AiMesh setup.

The folks suggesting Omada and Unifi aren't wrong. Those are *great* systems, but they're pretty "pro". If you don't need advanced networking features (e.g., VLANs beyond isolated guest networks, traffic rules)/want something that's more plug-and-play, a mesh system that supports wired backhaul might be a better fit. Asus ZenWiFi performs well, supports wired backhaul, and offers some useful advanced settings. It's not as configurable as Omada or Unifi or MikroTik, but it's simpler to manage and "good enough" (multiple isolated guest networks, band-specific networks, QoS) for lots of home users. Eero also performs well but doesn't support as many advanced features as Asus.

Eero (Amazon), tp link Deco, and Asus ZenWifi are all well-reviewed and perform well. If you've got to go mesh, look for a tri-band system with a dedicated backhaul channel (Eero, Deco, and ZenWifi all have models). Eero and Deco are a little more "plug and play". ZenWifi is also easy to set up, and some models give a few more config options/control than Eero or deco. The tricky part is that you don't know how well mesh will perform until you set it up in your place. Two nodes might be enough, but you might need three (or four). A 6 ghz backhaul channel might work, but, if the walls and floors in your place cause a lot of interference, you might see better perf with a 5 ghz backhaul. So buy from a place you can return it, maybe start with three nodes, test how coverage and speeds look, go from there. All three have 2.5 Gbps ports. 3 gig is a *lot* of bandwidth for a residential setup. Unless you're regularly downloading gigantic files (video, game updates), you probably won't exceed ~300-500 Mbps, and WiFi will de facto limit the perf on any device to ~200-600 Mbps. For most homes, 200 Mbps is plenty. If the 3 gig price isn't much different than ~300 Mbps (if you're in the US, it's hard to find service under ~300 Mbps), go for it, but if you're paying a premium for 3 gig, you can save some coin and you almost certainly won't notice a difference in performance. If you're in Europe, you rule!, fiber away because you're prob only paying like €40 for 3 gig.

I had a lot of issues with the google nest wifi- for the past year or so I have used an Asus ZenWifi which works better for me, and I do have usable network access from my shed which is about 100 Ft away from the house. My biggest issue is getting a signal past the walls/siding in our house- there is 'double' siding because the house originally had asbestos siding, and a former owner put vynil over it. I get by this with a small enclosure holding one node just out side the walls of the house.

To echo what plenty of others are saying, but also provide links to specific items to Do-It-Yourself and save money but still get good finished product. Assuming you have roof/attic access above the rooms and can run power to the attic: * buy bulk CAT6 cable, shielded twisted pair, not CCA (CCA stands for copper coated aluminum). [Get good shielded copper wire, like this](https://a.co/d/ijNWYa0). * buy a [crimper toolkit like this](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7GRX9DW) * watch a few youtubes on terminating Cat6 cable. * buy a mesh wifi system like Amazon Eero, tp-Link Deco, Asus Zen Wi-Fi, etc. [Here's a good article / review of mesh systems and what to look for](https://www.cnet.com/home/internet/best-mesh-wifi-routers/) **NOTE:** mesh wifi is the consumer grade solution. If you can afford it, you're better off getting Wifi Access Points (APs) - the business grade solution - Ubiquiti is the best known of the AP options. Connection works similarly, with one key difference -- APs require power over ethernet (POE) instead of an electrical outlet / power supply. There are pros and cons of installing either Mesh or APs. * buy at least one [Unmanaged Ethernet Switch like this](https://a.co/d/88WLwNn) - this one is 8 port (1 connection in, 7 out). * You'll run an ethernet cable from your Comcast box to your wifi mesh router. Then you'll run a **long** ethernet cable down toward your L-corner dead zone. You'll plug that long ethernet cable to the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch. Then you'll run another ethernet cable from the Unmanaged Ethernet Switch to one of your mesh wifi satellites. BAM! Good internet within reach of that mesh satellite. You'll need to estimate/experiment with how many satellites the system needs (get multiple people to watch netflix on iPads, and spread them along rooms close to the mesh satellite -- see how many people / how many rooms you can cover before you need to add another mesh wifi satellite). I did a low-key simplified version of this at my house. Reply here if you have questions / need help. # You can do this yourself.

I have had nothing but problems with 2 generations of this mesh system. No devices connect to any nodes, only the primary access point. One of my nodes constantly disconnects from the main access point despite being 40 ft away with 2 walls between. It's driving me insane.

I installed 3 of these at my parent's lake place. We had one room opposite of the router that would not get any signal because it was a renovated screen porch (exterior wall and door to get into the room). I essentially made a path from just outside the room with the router, to the room with the signal issues. Every repeater had a minimally restricted line of sight to the next. Worked amazing. At my house I have an Asus ZenWifi Mesh system that I set up as a wired backhaul to the main router. That's the best option, but my house was already wired for ethernet so it made sense and was easy to do.

Rog gt6 here. Don't allow the iPhone devices (which have mac randomization) to join the wifi at all. It would flood the wifi with bunch of crap, causing all sorts of diaconnects, even with other devices. and indeed, logs aren't verbose enough. Never ever asus again

Never ever asus for me anymore. What a piece of junk. 1200 dollar down the drain here..

I'd avoid TP-Link out of security concerns, Asus ZenWifi or Alta Labs AP's with the Route10 is the way I'd go.

Hello! I have an asus zen WiFi mesh net with two of the three nodes set up. I have Ethernet over coax and have the downstairs node connected via Ethernet. I should (based on the range of these routers) have excellent coverage in the house. I have noticed however my devices sometimes get confused which node it should connect to, resulting in sub par speeds. The nodes are very far apart. When I did add the third node I felt I was getting crazy interference. Any suggestions?

If you want an easy setup, nice user interface and ability to tweak options/configurations down the road, ASUS ZenWiFi is a good option. Another bonus with ASUS is you can use a mobile phone app \*or\* a web interface on a laptop/computer to manage the system. Many other mesh systems from TP-Link, Netgear, Eero only let you manage them with a mobile phone app. That is fine if you have basic needs but if you want to get more control over settings, often not an option. For example TP-Link may not let you select WiFi channels for its wireless networks. With ASUS you have control over a multitude of settings. Or just leave it on the defaults and if you ever wish to dive into the config, it will be ready and waiting for you. I asked Google Gemini for some thoughts too (another poster used Ai so I gave it a try too). I see ASUS ZenWiFi is in the list along with others. Since your needs don't seem very complex any of these should work pretty well. Unfamiliar with Eero, but you stated they are "difficult" to move into AP mode, no idea why but if you know that to be true then I suppose you could remove Eero from your consideration list. Have fun! Click below image to make it larger... https://preview.redd.it/q9mu50skxxrf1.png?width=925&format=png&auto=webp&s=1fb6721ce7d5fb1ded5fee09f45ed12ce365b752

I don't think any of the products out there have an upper bound limit you would run into. The only one I saw was ASUS ZenWiFi with a limit of 9+router, and that's still plenty for your setup. What made you think there were low maximum node limits?

Upgraded our RT-AC68U router to a Wifi 6 capable RT-AX86U Pro.  Ran an ethernet cable for wired backhaul, put the AC68U as a mesh node.  The Asus mesh system works really well. 

Hey OP. I've been living with wireless backhaul mesh for the last few months in our new place and with a few tweaks, it's been fine. I'm using Asus AiMesh with two remote nodes, plus a couple of old OpenWRT routers purely as bridges for wired devices. I'm in the process of running cable just now just to make the most of my FTTP connection but some generic tips that seemed to help me, if you do go down the wireless route. - Choose a system with multiple radios in each node, so you can dedicate a channel to the backhaul. - Look for mesh nodes that allow you to plug devices into them and position them accordingly. The "wired" devices will obviously still be using wireless via the mesh, but keeping their own radios quiet keeps the spectrum free for the mesh nodes and wireless-only devices to talk. The mesh nodes will almost certainly have better antennae and radios than the client devices. - Try to position the nodes so they are all talking with the main router rather than hopping via each other. On consumer gear this can be more of an art than a science but it boils down to finding different locations with the same signal strength to the main router so they link directly. - Although not acting as mesh nodes, I've repurposed a couple of old routers running OpenWRT + Relayd in the office and games room, so my PCs and old consoles without wireless can get internet. - Some mesh systems allow you to lock clients to a particular node. Play around with this - you can steer dumb devices to their nearest node rather than them trying to pick up a faint signal from a further one and shouting over everything else. Smart speakers and displays are particularly bad for this. In my office, about 25 metres and 1.5 floors (it's a L-shaped split level house) away from the main AP, my main PC wired into a mesh node can pull around 400Mbps down on a 990Mbps fibre connection. Previously with the PC and laptop using their own radios, I'd be lucky to see over 150 on either. Good luck!

Netgear isn’t who I’d recommend. Not only are they expensive but they need a specific base station router rather than all the satellites being capable of running the whole thing. ASUS with AImesh is the most versatile as it will work with any of their own products even older ones and you can mix and match freely. I don’t think you can mix and match TP link but at least they don’t require a specific base station so you can use the routers in any location/configuration and extend/replace as needed without a worry that it’s not compatible because it’s only a satellite/base station. TP-Link/Netgear software and features are worse than ASUS and far more basic/limited. Eero requires a subscription for stuff you get for free/default on ASUS, also MerlinWRT is a god send.

Unifi is not the way for WiFI mesh and even if you don’t need mesh it’s not for the average joe either. They are expensive but the easiest setup and most feature rich for the average consumer is ASUS.

I've been using AiMesh since the beginning, and it was rocky at first, but now I'm currently quite happy with it. One solid main router and two APs outside. What unifi did you get to replace your setup and do you think it was worth the cost?

Older ASUS AiMesh user here, and similar story. Portal plays shockingly well, and my PS5 isn't even hardwired.

Most mesh systems will support as many nodes as you wish. But not all nodes are created equal. You’ll obviously need fewer nodes with a high powered node vs a cheap node with little range. I would HIGHLY suggest wired backhaul if possible, no matter the hw you ultimately decide upon. Ubiquity has a good solution for your use case at attractive price points. Asus’ AIMesh setup also works well, allowing you to easily tailor the hw for your home’s needs

ASUS aimesh is the best option besides true ap based systems.

I've been using Asus Aimesh for years. 3 nodes and seamless switching when walking around. There does seem to be a client limit at about 75-80 wifi devices whiche forced me to move iot devices to a separate wifi network. Asus is great to start with but unifi likely my next system

Asus AiMesh can be configured without an app and uses local credentials for management.

100%. Just make sure you reboot the doorbell once your mesh is set up. It will then hop on to the WiFi node with the strongest signal. You should be able to configure your mesh so that the doorbell remains connected to that node, probably by assigning its MAC address to that node. I have two regular ASUS routers that have their own proprietary mesh called AiMesh. I’ve connected them to each other via an Ethernet cable that runs up through the attic (single story home). It also supports a dedicated WiFi connection between nodes, but hard wired is the way to go if at all possible.

It can be great. I assume there isn't interference from your neighbours. I love Asus's AImesh system, as you can choose from many different options. Also, you could pick some used devices for cheap, maybe to test them out. Is there COAX in the house?

For gaming use cable, for wifi coverage of this size, you can do well with asus aimesh, you can pick two routers of your choice, cheaper than ismesh system and many settings available.

I went from DD-WRT for years to ASUS AiMesh and have been on Unifi equipment for a good four years now. I never have any issues with roaming (3600+ home) and I can fine tune whenever necessary (rare). I love the Unifi and don't plan on moving away any time soon. If you want peace of mind, I definitely also recommend Unifi.

Asus' AiMesh works with both wired and wireless backhaul. I will always recommend wired backhaul, but if you have a good signal from one to the other, you can setup wireless. Have done so for a work shed not attached to the main house. I have also used both powerline and MoCA adapters as wired backhauls with success. Powerline may not be fast, but when it works it can be very reliable.