ASUS - ZenWiFi Pro ET12

I have an Asus XT12 mesh system with two points. I recently had to factory reset them due to a borked FW update and since I was messing with it I took the time to separate my 2.4 and 5ghz bands. Everything is much happier now.

I went from Airports to Asus Zenwifi ET12’s and they have been rock solid. Faster speeds and better coverage too.

We have several Asus Zenwifi ET12’s at our house and are getting great speeds with only a wireless backhaul. Even to our guest house which is 30’ away from our main house with its own ET12 connected in.

I tried ET12 and I was comparable performance to my old TP link route which was also WiFi 6E. My recommendation is to just try both and see which one works best for you. There are so many variables at play with wired back haul, walls etc.

I have an ET12 system with the same experience. A few useful tidbits: - The Ethernet backhaul on these rocks. They have 2.5GB uplinks and they can trunk two of them. Two lines means more speed and more reliability. - They work with other ASUS routers that support AiMesh. We have one 800’ up a mountain with a fiber backhaul and it works flawlessly. So you can expand flexibly and cheaply. - They allow flexible settings for guest networks and Quality-of-Service management. So you can even limit guests or problem devices. I don’t care if YouTube buffers for two seconds first, but I do care if my work call or video game cuts out when someone starts a new video. - They also let you easily bind certain devices to certain access points. That prevents your TV from connecting to an AP halfway across the house after a power outage because it saw it before the one sitting right next to it. There are probably more reasons to love it, but that’s what I can think of now. I vastly prefer it to the Eero and a custom-built WAP I tried before it.

I was using an ASUS AXE11000 6e router with all of its 2.4, 5, and 6GHz bands in use. I replaced it with the ASUS BE98U. Picked up 30% better WiFi coverage on 2.4 and 5 GHz. Improvement on the 6GHz band was about 10% better with connections on 6GHz no longer needing to be in the same room as the router or a Mesh unit. The new WiFi 7 protocols also provide more stable connections between the router and clients - sidestepping interference. The only downside is LOT (legacy) devices can have trouble connecting to WiFi 7 - but the BE98U creates a "friendly" WiFi 6 LOT device channel in its multiple band streams. The improvement was enough to eliminate interference problems from all other WiFi interference outside my home coming from as far away as 600 feet. This doesn't even take into account the huge improvement in available download and upload speeds.    One of my LOT devices is 200 feet from my home at a gate and it's connection is now rock solid. So, yes there are good reason to upgrade to WiFi 7. Ignore the naysayers.

Please update us in a few days if gets better or worse. I just went to Deco be65 3 pack and its been awesome. Coming from Eero Pro 6 then I had the Asus Et 12 Pro

Get a refurb Asus ET12 on eBay.

Yeah you can. Their support is terrible and they don't implement everything they promise. I have a ZenPro ET12 system. Paid $600 on sale for 2 nodes and the thing is fussier than hell. I'm replacing them with Ubiquiti's Wifi 7 system. It's cheaper, better, and a lot more capable You can get a Dream Router 7 and a UniFi Express 7 for under $500.

I've got Asus XT8 mesh with two APs one in the garage one upstairs. Large set up with around 50 devices on it. The main issue has been because the hub would jump from apple tv to homepod or our flakey internet which has finay been upgraded to fibre after a year of waiting which has improved the reliability. There's a wifi 7 version out now too - still expensive but not as bad as Ubiquity gear unless you go for XT12 which has two 2.5g ports and looks like an art piece.

is it the speeds or connectivity, most tasks need much less than 100mbs to work properly. most gaming uses very little bandwidth as well. 17 devices shouldnt be an issue for wifi 6-7 devices. When i did some residential tech support, i remember that google/nest mesh had lots of issues. A wired back haul between floors with decent access points/mesh system placed smartly should fix your issues. ive never had issues with asus routers. I use a my old and newer routers (a 6&6E Aimesh) in my 1200 sq ft home with plaster walls with wire mesh in them. my lady works from home and i do from time to time, i play games while she streams tv. We get \~300mbs.

you have plenty of bandwidth, any issues you have are connectivity. Id just buy a Asus wifi 6E Ai Mesh capable router and move your current router to the second floor and use a wired backhaul. Installing an Ethernet connection between floors would allow you to improve your connectivity upstairs more than anything else.

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

I got pretty good service from the Spectrum-provided routers for a long time, but I finally broke down and bought an Asus 6E router last Fall. It was so good that, a couple of months ago, I bought a second Asus router and made a mesh network. I spent a good bit of money, but I'm now happy with my WLAN. I'm on 1 GB asymmetrical service.

I would pick a WIFI 6E router from ASUS. Great company, great software support,frequent firmware updates,excellent products.

Its some software problem, the pcvr connection is often broken with updates (i have some quest for 3 years) after some of the updates the 6ghz suddenly ran smooth just to revert with the next one. But 99% of the last 14months 5ghz 160mhz DFS ran better(but not always perfect). 6Ghz is usable but has a lot of microstutters/lost frames for me while 5ghz runs perfect like a cable lately (knocks on wood). I tried the ASUS 6E router, Acer predator W6, Tenda 6E router. All the same, with the exception of tenda, it sucked over 200mbits. I also had several Q3 as I was trying to get one with no mura, Quest Pro ran identically on 5 or 6Ghz. Maybe its something specific to my place, but there are no other 6Ghz networks and it was working perfect at several occasions. Like dont stretch your budget getting the 6E if youre tight on money, it might not by worth.

Asus ZenWiFi mesh system (2pk)... Thread closed... 😉

I bought an Asus zenwifi system but eventually hardwired the satellites to a switch plugged into the main unit. Works great.

Yeah, extenders don't work in big houses. For 3500 sq ft, get a mesh system like TP-Link Deco or ASUS ZenWiFi.Covers everything, no dead zones, no 5G or 2.4GHz.

I'm no expert at all in networks. I use Asus tri band routera running Merlin firmware. I have one router at the far end of the house on the 1at floor and the second router at the opposite end on the second floor. The signal extends to the yard and fully covers the house with Wi-Fi 6. House is close to 3k square feet. I have the routers hardwired since that provided the best connection. If you go the Merlin website you'll see what routers are supported.

I've had zero problems with M1 for many years. Only went down once, and that was for scheduled maintenance in the middle of the night. Also, it's not just your internet plan that could be the cause of any issues. If your router isn't good enough, or is in a terrible position, or is overheating, or the bomb shelter is between your laptop and the router, you are gonna have issues no matter what plan you have. I have a standard 1Gbps plan but an Asus gaming router with ethernet cables going to the 3 heaviest users in the home – PS5, living TV and bedroom TV. I also set up a second router using Asus AImesh to provide wifi signal to one of the further corners of the house.

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?

Asus AiMesh - Yea TP-Link Deco - Yes TP-Link Easy Mesh - Not sure

I use Asus routers in my Ai mesh network and it gives me complete control over everything and I've loved it. I use that coupled with family link from Google and I feel like I've done my job as a parent blocking as much bullshit as I can for my kids.  But don't worry, their friends who's parents don't care about a single thing they consume will come along and ruin your hard work. Or your kids will be kids and find loop holes, which they always do. But you still tried. 

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

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.

As has been said, plug in everything you can. For a basic option, the Asus routers with AiMesh are a pretty simple solution. Start with one on the second floor centrally located and see if you need more. Use inSSIDer to see how your signal strength is as what kind of interference you have and set settings accordingly. If you’re not reaching all corners, add another compatible Asus and put them on floors 1 and 3 (both wired connection to WAN jack)

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