ASUS - ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro

I have one of these, use it as a repeater for my BE98Pro. Works great, use the 6e channel as a backhaul and it’s been really solid. I do prefer the Merlin firmware for it, and all of my other ASUS routers, with the main reason being how it displays the wireless log (so much clearer, with device names).

I have an Asus GT-BE98Pro connected to two ONTs from ais and true. I got the BOYD/COYD packages from ais and true where they bring an ONT placed into bridge mode that adapts the optical fiber into ethernet and then the ethernet plugs into my asus WAN ports. Even if you didn't throw away AIS router and replace it with an ONT, I imagine you would be able to put it into bridge mode. Just make sure you get the ppoe creds out of the router or from AIS beforehand so you can plug that into your own router. Maybe someone could correct me if I'm wrong, but that would be the equivalent to using an ONT without having to order a new tech out to replace your equipment. As someone else suggested here, the ucg-fiber or equivalent cloud gateway would also be nice if you want better traffic monitoring. Thinking about getting one as well to bridge between my router and core switches. For AIS I was able to use the app on the phone to order a public IP package and it activated immediately. I don't have a public IP with True but they give IPv6 for free which is almost as handy for me.

I’d see if they would upgrade you to the XB8. Tri-band, supports MoCA 2.5, if not, put it in bridge mode and buy your own router like I just did. Their ports won’t open up all the way for me for my brothers PS5. I just went and got a ASUS ROG Rapture GT-98 pro WiFi 7 router. Best move I ever did. The XB8 also has a 2.5g port. Allowing you to get multi-gig speeds if you ever upgrade speed.

I have the ROG GT-BE98 Pro (WiFi 7 Quad-Band) and I’m about to do a wired mesh backhaul with the ROG STRIX GS-BE18000 (WiFi 7 Tri-Band). With that being said, I love the GT-98 Pro, but I don’t need another one for upstairs. I’m going to try the latter out and see how it does.

It may be a little bit of overkill, but I just bought another GT-BE98 Pro secondhand but got it for the same price as the BE18000. I couldn’t pass up having 2 6Ghz bands for the same price I’d have paid to have only 1 6Ghz band. I’m going to be ready for these new handhelds which I’m pretty sure will have WiFi 7 chips JUST for MLO. Runs off of 2 bands simultaneously. Better for gaming. All of my consoles and PC are hardwired. But when I game on a handheld I want a very smooth connection, so I think it’s a no-brainer. I will still let you know how the backhaul goes. 🍻

I would choose BT10. I just bought a BE92u yesterday noon and returned few hours later due to terrible 6G range. I was only able to get 100m-150m download speed from 1 floor above it (3-5M away). I also bought a BE800 and BE550 Pro to try out. Suprising BE550 Pro is pretty good overall for both mobile and desktop which makes me think both BE800 and BE550 Pro are very comparable. However, i still decided to return both becasue i didnt get any improvement compared to my old Asus Zen XD5 wifi 6 routers. At the end, I got the Asus BE98 Pro. I am able to max out the max out the ISP speed of 1.5Gbs from 1 floor above the router. Connection from mobiles is also fast and reliable. So i beieve a triband mesh should be as good.

Asus BE-88U or 98U, an SPF+ to RJ45 adapter and a couple of TP-Link SX1008 switches.

I bought last month the asus rapture gt be98. It is running beautifully. So smooth. Network latency about 3ms wireless over 6ghz wifi 7. Before this, i had always the warning, slow speed from host or something like this and often stutter.

I recommend changing your existing router to the ASUS GT BE98. I’m using only one router for my multi storey home. Router is installed on the ground floor. I’m getting speeds of up to 600 Mbps on the higher floors, without any wifi mesh. I’m also getting signals from my outside garden. You can refer to this video for the router review. It describes the same experience I am getting from my router. https://youtu.be/XrOYtdEI-KQ

I was previously using Linksys products before they were sold to Belkin, and then switched to ASUS routers, I have had two main routers by them, both ROG. Plus many others I’ve used as AiMesh Nodes. I haven’t had any trouble them. Their tech support was helpful the few times I’ve reached out to them. They even replaced there router free of charge with a NEW one (not refurbished) of the same model when I had an issue not related to the quality of product. A few ports on the routers switch went bad after a near Lightning strike caused EMP damage to it (a lot of networking gear from different companies got damaged) I have no qualms about ASUS and their products have never given me problems.

FYI , all of our current routers and mesh product all have extensive on router functionality including Open, Wireguard and much more. As such you could pick BT6, 8, 10, 16 our any of the routers. Also all of the units have our Gaming QoS option for prioritizing game packets and or specific systems, if you want a more streamlined experience our gaming models ( ROG, ROG STRIX, TUF GAMING ) also have dedicated Gaming Ports which are pre configured should you connect your device to that port. You can also do this manually through our firmware/app. Also note unless you need the coverage specific to a kit ( which can be done via AiMesh ) on the router side you have the benefit of no backhual use maximizing throughput if you are within the coverage area of a router.

With current routers the ping issue really comes down to what servers they play on, the routers you use won’t see much of an impact as long as they’re functioning as expected But having said that, I do like knowing that my tech can handle the traffic IF we ever get home internet speeds above 10gbps So here’s a link to my fav biases https://www.asus.com/us/site/gaming/rog/gaming-routers/rapture.html

ASUS ROG products are a complete joke. If they spent the same amount on building a better router that they do on marketing they'd be much better off. You can search ASUS under my username for all my grievances. But they abandon all their ROG products after 1 year. After you buy that $699 router if you need warranty or it has a bug (like mine) where it'll stop dropping macs onto ethernet after a few weeks you just get to deal with it. $699 would be better spent literally anywhere else but ASUS. If you are spending that much you won't be happy with consumer devices anymore. You may want to look into ubiquti or rukus wifi and a custom router.

Was doing research on deco mesh systems and one thing i noticed is that there’s a lot of complaints about hardware revisions and firmware. I was interested in the ability to select preferred connection between decos and device preferred connection. That way i could set the mesh topology as i wanted while steering non mobile devices to specific decos where signals are strong from multiple decos to the correct one. Simple right? Nope. The updated firmware for this feature only applied to specific versions of hw. So a v1 xe75 got it but not a v2 at the time. Then an xe200 didnt have it at all and it some older popular models never got it at all. It just seemed like a mess and the model i ordered didnt have it but amazon lost the pkg so i got an asus instead that feature is just naturally in their firmware… Their wifi7 models all support it but it’s like they just stop supporting previous popular hardware and move on so quickly

Asus zenwifi is worth considering. Just got 2 nodes of the 6E one from 2023 for $200 @ microcenter. After some issues with a new fully updated asus wifi7 router constantly rebooting & some similar claims across a few of their wifi7 devices i fear they've got a bug. The 6E has been running fantastic for ~4days now