ASUS Zenwifi mini CD6 AC1500 Whole-Home Mesh WiFi System
ASUS Zenwifi mini CD6 AC1500 Whole-Home Mesh WiFi System – Coverage up to 5,000 Sq. ft. / 5+ rooms, life-time free network security & parental controls, 3 steps easy setup, 3 SSIDs 2 pack, white
Smart Looks for Smart Homes
ZenWiFi AC Mini works perfectly with smart-home services — including Alexa skills.
| Dimensions: | 24 x 69 x 2.5 cm; 257 Grams |
| Model: | 90IG05S0-BU2410 |
| Manufacture: | Asus |
| Dimensions: | 24 x 69 x 2.5 cm; 257 Grams |
I needed to set up a guest network as my BT network wouldn’t support this – I had an ASUS router so I turned it into an access point and added these as the extenders, took a bit of time setting up but the network is really stable. For years I have argued with netgear products, I’ll never return to them.
For those not primarily concerned about speed this is a good option with various deployment scenarios supported and a straightforward setup. Interface gives plenty of advanced config options to suit most setups. This was a good value option with room to expand as needed. Wifi has been stable and reliable and working well with my Virgin router in modem mode. Vastly superior to the Tenda router it replaced.
A very good mesh solution for an already existing asus router. Once setup it works great, however getting it prepared really wasn’t easy.
I had to add it to the network through a hardwire setup as it just wouldn’t connect by wifi, kept saying there was a problem. Also the firmware needed an update which was a bit of a pig to do (think this is why it wouldn’t set up on wifi).
It wouldn’t auto update through the ASUS app, so had to download the firmware manually from the ASUS website and upload it myself while hardwired to router, then had to do a whole system reset and set up the AI mesh again through hardwire, then disconnected and it worked over wifi. Wonder if everyone else’s experience is slightly different, but wasn’t plug and play.
This lot are in a mesh with an existing Asus router. The items were an Amazon Warehouse deal, so wasn’t expecting perfection. Just as well, as it appears that the router box had been messed with ans was stuck in recovery mode (flashing purple LED) Had to install a Windows-only Asus util and use an ethernet cable to flash latest firmware to get it working. Otherwise works as well as the other setup I installed at a different location. Ethernet backhaul on router and nodes is handy.
Bought the 2 pack set. I have been using ASUS RT68u for few years with no issue. We moved house and found the signal dropping off in the office and upstairs. Tried a Linksys repeater but had to switch WiFi networks every time we walked from the living room to the office area. This mesh system was half the price of others and having used ASUS before couldn’t resist. Connected pretty straight forward and set up as mesh system. Now we have good WiFi throughout the property. The only issue was the power adapter that swivel adapter that clicks in position is loose on 1 node and loses power. Amazon did refund some cost back to buy an alternate adapter.
Like a few other reviewers I found the initial setup to be a bit …fiddly. No matter what order I tried things in I simply could not get it to connect wirelessly out of the box. I ended up downloading the full manual from the Asus website (a QuickStart guide comes in the box) and following the “Wired Setup” instructions. Once I’d got through this initial hiccup it has been absolutely great. I live in a smallish house and get full-speed (i.e. the rate I pay my ISP for) in every room including the garage on 5.0Ghz and about 70% of that speed on 2.4Ghz, which is plenty for the smart devices on that channel. It really underlines how poor the ISP provided router is (mine’s a Vodafone) and have found this to be a really good-value upgrade.
Purchased these as they were 100 on an offer..
I cant fault them, unboxed them.. connected to my router.. and they just worked… updated to the latest firmware and have had no problems with them (well except DCHP settings (my router was handling this but these come with DCHP turned on..) easy fix… just told them my Router was issuing IP addresses.. and rebooted the Zen Wifi .. took a few mins to re-establish connection with the 2 nodes.. but all worked well
Best thing is each node has 2 1GBIT sockets in it.. so you can have 1 as the backhaul connection (hard wire to the Zen base Router, which suits me perfectly ) you can also connect another rj45 ethernet to the other socket so the Zen Node is a mini ethernet 2 port switch! really useful.. you can also disable the ethernet port and have it as a normal 2 port switch that uses the wifi as the backhaul.
The Main Zen Wifi has 4 ethernet ports.. (one for the internet and 3 for anything else you want to hard wire connect)
I have a 74mbit internet connection.. this mesh handles that with ease.. providing 74mbit on the wifi
The web interface for setup/configuration is excellent and very comprehensive..
You can even connect to Alexa (so you can turn the internet off or disconnect individual devices !!! VERY USEFUL – so many voice commands .. I love this feature..
Pros
* Good Price Point
* 1Gbit ports
* Easy to set up
* Comprehensive setup options
* Alexa Compatible
Cons
* None so far..
Review Update:
Having used this mesh for several months now I can find no real fault with them. They have worked non stop since I purchased them, without any re-boots, just the occasional software update… (which was successful and the nodes all retained their settings.
I have a strong signal all over my house now (45db is the lowest connection!)
Speeds are well within the design specs.. and although this is not WiFi 6 it is sufficient for all my wifi devices (Amazon alexa devices, WiFi Smart home devices – I have over 30 different devices connected, several tablets, 4 laptops, and All work fine.
Very pleased with the product and will be purchasing an additional node to cover my garden area.
Asus support did not appear to have a video showing how to set up the system and nothing on You tube for this model I had to pay a computer expert to install the system and it took him 2 hours to get right. There was no warning about keeping my PC switched off until the new system
This costs about the same as the Deco S4 and is significantly better in speeds(both connection and transfer – for instance I’m connecting at 866Mb under the Asus in my front room, only managed 150-200Mb with the Deco S4 – using same mesh layout – one node at back of house, one central in loft, one at front of house), it also has a built in web interface(looks similar to the standard web interface ASUS uses on its routers) so you don’t have to boot your phone up and run an app to manage things(the Deco is app only). ASUS has faster WiFi than the Deco S4/M4(AC1500 vs Deco’s AC1200) and better management options, it’s definitely better than the Deco S4/M4 and deserves to outsell it(assuming the price stays similar). In both cases my mesh was run in access point mode, not router.
EDIT:
Someone has stated the web interface is “slow”, total rubbish.
Bought these to supplement my AX86U router in a AIMesh setup – very good value for money. With a wired backhaul they are covering my large property including a garden room very nicely. Much better than Huawei AX3 they were replacing despite these not being Wifi6.
The AC connection is plenty fast. The AIMesh feature is a breeze to setup. Whilst I am using wired backhaul I trialled with a wireless mesh and they were giving me 400mbps across my LAN. I do like that the Guest network is broadcast from all the AiMesh.
Only negative is that there are only 2 ports on two of the devices (the main one has 4 ports – if you were using this as a standalone Mesh set then this would be the one that plugs into your broadband).
Far more easier on the eye than some other routers. Not a bad size, and yet still packs a punch.
We live in a 3 storey town house and our new VM hub 3 wasn’t coping with the ground floor and the 30 odd devices we have on network.
This router and its MESH device on ground floor is managing the lot with ease so far.
The app enables easy install, just pop your VM Hub3 into modem mode, plug your ASUS router into Hub 3 and then let the app do the rest, I was set up and running within about 15-20 minutes allowing for Hub reboot and ASUS firmware update.
My only negative is that the router is quite lightweight, having 4 RJ45 cables hanging out of it makes the front of the router lift off the base. See photos, it’s not too bad, but noticeable to me.
This was purchased for a 3 bed home in a rural area. We rely on 4G broadband, via a Huawei B525 router, but getting a decent signal on this heavily restricts its position in the house meaning wifi was only covering half the rooms.
We have tried various combinations of external antennas and wifi extenders, each of which comes with their own complexities and limitations, and most of which I would not recommend the bother.
Having tried the bigger brother version of this (the CT8) elsewhere, it seemed worth trying the zenwifi mini for our needs and we are really pleased with it.
Setup was easy – done with plugging in one cable from the router to the first asus unit, scanning a QR code on my phone and then using the asus app, which I recommend.
The only tiny gremlin was that the app showed one of the three units had out of date firmware, but selecting ‘update’ just kept resulting in an ‘update failed’ message. This was resolved by first selecting ‘check for update’ and then ‘update’ and then it changed straight away. Apart from that this basically just works – a breath of fresh air after some other optikns we tried.
We now get stable mesh throughout the house, with no discernible issues even when moving between rooms. A plus is the small size of the units – very discrete in any room, though each one needs a plug point.
Although we bought the 3 pack, we found two would have been enough, but having the extra one allows excellent signal strength everywhere.
Recommended.
This system gives me 300Mb wifi through my entire house and just sits quietly on the shelf and does that thing without any fuss. No resets, no dropouts, it just does it’s job.
The glue holding the foil trim on top of the units has softened from the heat they make, and the trim started to roll up, which is a bit rubbish and makes them look shabby. I’m a bit disappointed by that.
Brilliant technology that I highly recommend.
Have tried Mesh networks before (Netgear) and found them problematic in terms of stability and speed. Also persisted with several powerline (tplink) and extender units (Netgear 3700) – all of which required constant care and troubleshooting – “Dad, the WiFi has gone again”.
I now have the perfect set-and-forget solution for an affordable price.
Simple to replace my Netgear Nighthawk 8000, enter the ISP login and password, wait for connection and then add the nodes (which should be placed close to the router during setup) and then move the nodes to a suitable location thereafter (whilst monitoring the quality with your phone) and that’s it.
Can now walk around the house, switching from node to node without care of breaks in connection. Even video calls continue without interruption. Very pleased.
Generally I agree with other 5 star reviews of the ASUS Zenwifi mini CD6 AC1500, in that it is a capable piece of equipment, but I’ve knocked off a star for the following reasons.
Since the 5Ghz band is becoming increasingly crowded around my house, I wanted to use the DFS channels 52 – 140. The factory default 5Ghz channel is set to 100 with Auto selection. Since the DFS channels can also be used by radar, if radar is detected then by regulation the router is programmed to find a clear channel. However, within about 30 minutes of starting the router, even if I manually selected a channel, it would quickly change the channel several times until it selected one in the 36-48 range. The range used by my neighbours’ routers. The log reported radar had been detected. Not convinced this was the issue, I reported my observations to Asus UK Support.
Finally, 5 months later, the Asus developers almost fixed the problem with firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.42002. It still fails if the channel selector is set to Auto, but if manually selected seems to stay put. Be aware that after updating the firmware, Asus recommend a factory reset and then a manual change to any settings rather than reinstall from a config file.
The other issue was when the barrel of the male connector on one of the power adaptors fell off, 8 months after purchase. Unrepairable unless you can figure which wire is positive, I contacted Asus UK Support, who were of no assistance. They do not carry spares, and could not tell me the diameter of the barrel connector. For anyone in the same predicament it is 5.5*2.1mm.
Oh – and a few obvious bugs in the browser UI!
My original estimate was one set of 3. However, I had to buy 2 sets to cover the area properly. It fell off ones, but no major problem. Probably it is better than my previous single powerful unit as I can get around screening areas in my house. However, it is not going well through external walls, so I still have patches in my small gardens in front and behind the house
Bought this to provide consistent, stable WiFi coverage in my parents’ home. Previously they had experienced poor performance on FaceTime, and limits on the number of devices that could connect. I bought three units to provide consistent coverage around the property.
It works perfectly – Wifi is now fast and stable. Plus, browsing the web or streaming just feels quicker despite no change to the speed of the upstream connection.
I was also able to hard-wire a number of devices into the Ethernet ports in the back of the device, allowing older printers and TVs to be connected to the network as well.
So whilst I agree with other reviews that getting it set up with an existing broadband router requires a bit of experimentation to get right, having disabled all Wifi on my NowTV router and using these for the wifi instead, I now have lovely uniform, seamless coverage throughout my house. Additionally, all my home automation kit exceeded the wifi connection limits of my previous kit. This system is handling it all as well as streaming UHD TV content and coping with my work VPN traffic
2022-06-12: My partner started to suffer similar headaches to me with his supplied broadband router (Virgin Hub 4) unable to support all the devices he now has (homepods, smart plugs, Apple TV etc), so I bought him the AC1500 model as he has much less area to cover with no dead spots. It was an absolute doddle to switch the hub to Modem Mode and then make this his router and wifi access point. He’s gone from tearing his hair out to zero issues. It’s worked like a dream for a few weeks now.
Setup was easy. One thing to note if you’re swapping over routers and you’re using the ISP router as a modem, you will need to restart the ISP router after you connect this one to it so that you get your internet connection.
The supplied plugs are not UK plugs – I had to buy adapters from the supermarket.
The phone app is also good, much nicer than the Nighthawk one I had before it.
Reasonable price but obviously not the latest and greatest, but I wasn’t looking for the latest tech. Overall I am happy with this purchase.
I’d been wondering for a while what the fuss was all about with mesh networks, and I decided to take the plunge on prime day.
It’s quite simple really: my virgin media wifi would barely pass the walls of the room it’s in, and with those I literally have no black spots in my whole 4 bed house – and almost no reduction in speed (200Mbps in most places, the same as with an ethernet cable).
I wanted them mounted on a wall (like a speaker, which they can’t be, it seems) but for that level of performance I’m happy to have them lying on the floor! As long as I don’t kick them, I love them too much…
With an ever-increasing number of devices to connect and a larger area to cover my old Wi-Fi setup was struggling to cope, so I did a lot of research before deciding to buy these as a replacement. The Asus brand is one I’m very familiar with, and I have a lot of faith in their networking products so they were a comfortable choice for me. With prices of the very best units out of my range I wasn’t able to get a set with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard (these are Wi-Fi 5) but to be fair that doesn’t really matter to me as I don’t have any devices which are capable of using it anyway, so at this stage it would have been a waste.
I like that this pair of units are fairly discreet in appearance, and not too big either. The aerials are all internal so that makes them appear less intrusive, and I chose the black version so that they easily blend in to my home. To maximise performance I’m using a wired ethernet connection between the devices for backhaul which frees up one of the Wi-Fi bands, and have one unit near to the master socket and modem. The other one is placed upstairs at the opposite side of the house so that I can cover as large an area as possible with my wireless network.
Setting up was easy with both units placed close together, before separating to their permanent locations. In a surprisingly short time I had everything up and running with great results. I now have a wide area covered and because it is a mesh system there isn’t dropping out either. I’ve very pleased with my choice of purchase and can certainly recommend it.
It’s a lot to spend if you just want a continuous network around the house without having to re-log in to extenders and despite the big numbers advertised it doesn’t provide full signal strength throughout my house (internal walls are only dry-lined).
Having said that it’s very stable, seamless (which is what I wanted) and the management software is powerful and easy to use.
If you’re wondering why only 4 stars; ver subjective, but the power cable could have had a right angle DC jack to make placing this close to a wall much easier, and there are no wall mounting options – like I said, very subjective.
In terms of performance, setting up, daily use I have had no issues at all. During the set up process there was a firmware update required and was applied automatically once I’d chose to in the app – I’m from a generation where flashing firmware was very manual and quite high risk, so this was refreshing.
Everything can be managed with the app and I have no complaints here – which is saying something as I can be quite fussy when it comes to UI and UX. Overall I can’t fault these, however I may not have purchased them if I wasn’t able to spead the cost with Amazon installments – I may have bought something cheaper like a range extender or two, but as I has an AiMesh compatible router this made sense.
This is a very decent option for someone looking to setup a quick WiFi mesh network in their home. It is simple to setup and use, and doesn’t look horrendous in the house.
It’s worthwhile being aware of it’s limitations though. These devices are dual band which is potentially a big issue! WiFi typically runs across 2 separate frequencies, 2.5gz and 5gz. 2.5 is much slower but has a greater range, whereas 5 is faster with shorter range. These device have one antennae for each frequency and will try to communicate with each other at 5gz. This is the same signal as that used by your phone / tablet / pc so will increase the traffic on that network.
The more expensive AC3000 device are classed as Tri band. This means they have a separate antennae running at 5gz which they will typically use as a separate backbone network dedicated to communicating with each other.
If you have network cables running around your house, there’s almost no benefit to a Tri band device so these will be perfect!
IF YOU ARE BUYING THESE TO EXTEND YOUR NETWORK!
This is my personal experience, however these were a nightmare to setup as additional nodes to my tri-band network. Despite the marketing hype showing how easy this was, the only way to add these to my network was to reset my current network to factory settings. A total pain! Once this was done, it was simple to setup but all my settings were lost which wasn’t fun!
The other annoying thing with these is you cannot specify which network you want the dual bands to use. Personally I wanted to have these run the 5gz band on the backbone network but unfortunately this isn’t possible.
For most people this is a great network. But if you’re getting these to do something out of the ordinary, beware of its limitations
If you don’t have experience, I still recommend as it is easy to setup if you want a mesh network.
This is my second pair. One unit from the first pair was faulty and I’m going to describe this for others that may have the same issue.
TLDR; It was replaced by Amazon and now works great. The wifi performance and coverage is excellent. The app is very good. Loses a star for ASUS being difficult/impossible to contact (in the UK).
After setting everything up and positioning my units, everything worked as expected with maximum speed (google speed test reaching maximum from my ISP) everywhere including an outbuilding and at the end of the garden. A few days later, I noticed that I had no connection in the outbuilding and discovered through the app that the node was disconnected. No red LED as it should display though. Rebooted it and it was back up and running. This then started happening frequently and sometimes wouldn’t connect after a reboot and both needed rebooting. Having looked around for solutions, I saw that someone had swapped the units around so that the ‘naughty’ one was the main unit. With them swapped, it became apparent that the problem unit was randomly rebooting as I was able to witness it happening via the LED this time. Unlike when set as a node, it was recovering and going back to normal. It wasn’t obvious from the logs how often this was happening but my security and heating had a perfect log of when connection was lost and it turned out to be happening several times a day. After a chat with Amazon, attempts were made to contact ASUS but their telephone support was useless. Despite multiple attempts, their phone tree simply wouldn’t put me through to anyone. Amazon agreed to send a replacement. This all took place within 24hrs from first contact an I cannot fault the service from Amazon.
Odd quirk that might be a fault symptom but the app would not display the LED guide on the faulty unit’s detail page. I’ve mentioned this incase anyone else has the same behaviour.
The replacement pair are working as expected.
There are no dead zones in the house or indeed anywhere within my property boundary. I can even stay connected (in AC) from 20m down the street!
I recommend separating the 2.4 and 5ghz so that you can guarantee that devices always go on the 5ghz. The slower 2.4 always pops up first as it has greater range and many devices will pick that one and stick with it. The dedicated 5ghz backhaul between the two units is essential for me to get the speeds I required in an outbuilding. My previous wifi extender just didn’t cut it. This reason along with not having to manually switch between access points were the main reasons for getting the ZenWifi.
The configuration and monitoring app is superb. You can easily see all connected devices and rename and label them with suitable icons if they don’t broadcast exactly what they are. Easy access to loads of settings and the web GUI is great for even more detailed setup. Free security protection and parental controls is a nice bonus. You can also setup remote access via a permanent custom URL with SSL if you don’t have a static IP; you can securely check on the system from anywhere in the world!
If you know your way around a router, this is one of the easiest and quickest domestic systems I have worked with. Very happy.
Extra detail. I am connecting it to a Virgin Superhub2 in modem mode. I live in a standard brick house with both units on the ground floor; one at the front and one at the rear. There is a wall between the two units and they are ~12m apart and I get an RSSI of -45dBm which is reported as ‘great’.
I live in a large bungalow and I was already using an ASUS ROG GT-AX11000.
Even though it covered most of the house there was a not spot close to the router but behind the bathroom and boiler.
It also didn’t reach the end of the house due to thick brick walls.
So I bought the 3 pack of mini’s, ASUS Ai-mesh 2.0 on the main router made adding these to the network a doddle and now not only has the whole house covered but the whole of the back garden as well.
The Tri-band router uses the 2nd 5Ghz channel as backhaul and so I get full wi-fi5 speeds from all devices.
Not one drop or hint of instability.
It became more apparent during the lockdown, with two people working from home and 2 kids on devices, MS teams wouldn’t connect, zoom meetings would constantly drop, Netflix always buffering, youtube getting watched at a potato inducing 240hp.
Our apple phones could connect to the wifi, but not receive any data, hence 4g getting rinsed on a regular basis. Virgin claiming that there is nothing wrong with our router, which was manufactured in 12BC. They refused to send anything newer out.
Ordered 2 or 3 different wifi boosters, none of them either worked or would even connect to the router.
Was tearing my hair out with the situation, and then stumbled across the ASUS AC300. Was a bit pricey in my opinion, but I was at my wits end so took the plunge.
Took 5 minutes to setup. I downloaded the ap which I must admit is brilliant and made the setup very easy.
Reasons to buy:
1) We get 200mbps direct from the router into a pc via ethernet. Previously download speeds at the furthest point of the house would be 1 or 2mbps via wifi, sometimes zero. I’m now getting over 100mbps in the same place.
2) We have a medium sized house (2 floors, 4 bedrooms). There are zero dead spots now
3) The ap is amazing, you can view all the devices connected to the network, and you can stop internet access at any time for individual devices or owners of the device. Great if the kids have been naughty or need to do their schoolwork
4) The ap also allows you to restrict bandwidth on devices, or set up times of the day when devices can or can’t access the wifi.
5) I no longer need a 30m ethernet cable dangling down the side of the house when I want to do some online pc gaming
It’s only been in place for less than a day, so I hope I don’t get issues and live to regret such a glowing review, phones connect to it and download data no problems, MS teams and zoom calls are working perfectly.
I should point out, that the router I bought (AC3000 one pack) has to be connected to the router/modem that virgin provide. I thought I could relocate this downstairs to boost wifi but it isn’t that sort of device. I believe you can add more devices to create a mesh, if there are dead spots. So far we don’t have any.
It’s basically a router on steroids.
EDIT – I wrote this review after owning the router for a day or so, after 2 months I can say that it’s delivered everything above consistently.
Finally, I don’t know if I was unlucky and this is an isolated example, so bear that in mind – but the first pair of mesh nodes I got was faulty. One of the nodes would randomly crash within a few hours. It would drop connection and then never reconnect until restarted. When used as the primary, my whole internet connection would be lost. When I set it up as the secondary, it would drop the backhaul connection and never reconnect. I think an internal fault was causing it to crash or freeze.
I got a replacement after a long-ish chat with Amazon customer support but they eventually conceded to sending a replacement, which is working perfectly so far (about 5 days). Hopefully it will continue to do so but there is a 3 year warranty included so that does offer some peace of mind.
These units are tiny (when compared to other mesh units on the market) and blend well into the background with a simple small colour changing status led on their front (which can always be toggled off if needed).
Setup was simple enough, plug the main node into a modem and run through the web interface quick setup. The main router then uses WPS (to send config to the extra nodes) and that’s it working. WPS should be switched off once completed – as WPS isn’t a secure function anymore. It can always be switched back on when adding any future nodes.
These also run AiProtection (from Trend Micro), this can be setup to monitor specific usage, block sites and can even checks the router options are configured correctly. It also has some great monitoring tools including parental controls, infected device isolation, malicious site blocking and wifi timed scheduling to name just a few.
Placing the nodes is made easy as the main routers interface shows a simple schematic displaying the wifi backhaul connection strength (shown by connected coloured lines) on the Aimesh menu – this should help guide where to place them.
One small gripe (which is why this isn’t a 5 star review) is this routers resource don’t seem enough (specifically for memory) which seems maxed out all the time. This may bite me long term however presently it seems stable and no issues have occurred since setup. Cpu however is barely touched when running.
*I did try a TP-Link S4 mesh prior to this however sent them back as can only be administered via the TP-Link deco app (which uses a non 2fa capable TP-Link web account). These ASUS units are different and can be administered either by cloud or a local web interface – personally I always switch off cloud functions.
Overall I think these units are great, yes – its not the wifi 6 or tri-band model but, I don’t have any wifi 6 devices simple wanted a wider wifi coverage than previous – which units these provide in spades. Well done again ASUS.
–edit–
One small annoyance found, is one of the child nodes (which is placed in a bedroom) seems to randomly turn its LED light on when you are stood nearby (I kid you not – its when you stand near it), this is even when the LED light setting to switched off. I’ve contacted ASUS who stated the unit may be faulty so must return however the same things occurs on its replacement – so assume there is another reason for it?
ASUS provide no documentation as to why this occurs however it doesn’t seem to be affecting this nodes operation – so will live is simply with it.
— edit — 3 months on..
I’ve recently updated my configuration to make these nodes run in AP mode – so still use my old Asus router as a primary gateway / DHCP. I did this as the main mesh router unit struggled occasionally with performing both routing and running its mesh function (I have 30+ devices always connected) – so things did slow occasionally and especially when trying to administer / make changes or when looking at the monitoring tools. This was no biggie for me as my old router was gruntier anyway (dual core with twice the memory than the single core mesh system). My old router now handles the main heavy lifting and the mesh deals with wifi and mesh actions only. Using the Zens in AP mode does mean some of the in-built fancy functionality is now disabled however I have these missing functions on my main router (which is also an ASUS) so again no biggie.
Overall these are great and are working well, I’ve even just added two more nodes – to cover those harder to reach garden areas (now making 5 nodes in total). The new coverage means wifi is everywhere and at 5ghz too. The two new nodes were bought for 85 (via amazon warehouse) so nabbed a real bargain as well. For those who don’t know, adding two nodes is a simple case of buying another one or in my case a two pack (1 x router and 1 x node in the box) – both are then simply setup as extra nodes using the Asus router app.. Super easy.
Most of time it is reliable for ~20 devices sharing internet in my house, some of devices are not co-working well with it’s “Smart Connect” function, like my LG Smart TV usually like to connect to 2.4GHz channel rather than 5GHz one, which will cause speed drop, disabling “Smart Connect” resolved most of these issues. By default it may select DFS channels for 5GHz broadcasting, it usually work well until it decide to swap back to Non-DFS channels occasionally, during this moment it may use 2.4GHz channel for WiFi backhaul, then the internet speed will drop a lot, I need to restart all satellite nodes then it will back to 5GHz WiFi backhaul again. There are no specific options to specify WiFi backhaul preference, hopefully ASUS can improve it in their next firmware update.
In the main this is good but far from perfect. I have found that communication slows down between the nodes very badly over time. Due to this I have set the system to reboot every night at 4am. The issues I have I reported to Asus tech support, after diagnosis by the they asked me to return for a refund!! I have decided to keep the system as when it works it is very good but when it fails it is unusable. I decided to keep as it is cheap and I am not prepared to try another supplier as this technology is relatively new so I am willing to carry on using this system as it does in the main do what I wanted
A week in and my three node ZenWifi mesh is working faultlessly. As well as the better coverage, the connection reliability and speed has been better than I expected. I chose these based on tech reviews and the need for more configurability – I returned a Google Nest Wifi because of its myriad of technical restrictions. The Asus kit provides all the functions of their high-end routers i.e. a lot, perhaps too much for some people. But I have one node on wireless backhaul, one on wired with an upstream switch and powerline connection, DDNS, VPN etc. and it all is fully configurable from the (quite complex) web interface. Only issue were a couple of glitches on installation – web tool saying node was not added when in fact it has properly synched. Would definitely recommend if you need a powerful flexible solution and provided you are reasonably tech savvy.
UPDATE: after 7 months of usage. Been totally reliable to the extent that we aren’t even conscious of “coverage” anymore – it’s just everywhere and as fast as our connection provides. Definitely the best WiFi purchase I have ever made.
I loved the look of these as they just blend in with the household furniture. More importantly they cover the whole home with wifi signal once it was settled down and a firmware update done. I would also recommend (if you can) wiring the back haul channel for greater stability. I have mine connected through an ethernet port from the lounge to the upstairs office.
Setup of the Asus routers was straight forward, getting the VM Hub 3 to play nicely in modem mode was the only pain (NOT an Asus issue). Once the VM hub finally decided it would operate in modem mode, the Asus router and hub synced easily, I just needed to follow the onscreen prompts from the app. Using the same SSID and password also meant I did not need to go around all the devices for them to reconnect.
It’s been up and running about 12hrs now, and speeds have been great. Wherever I am in the house now, I can connect and pretty much get the maximum download speeds 200Mbps, up from what was an average download speeds of 50-70Mbps, unless I was sat on top of the VM hub.
After having returned a set of Netgear Orbi units because they were unreliable, it was with some scepticism that I bought these. But I’m pleased to say they work perfectly, even in my house which has thick solid walls throughout the ground floor, and aren’t placed particularly close to each other. I now have a strong wifi signal in parts of my house that were previously dark.
Setup was quick and made easy through a surprisingly uncomplicated app – there’s always a web console if you want to get into lower levels of config – and performance and stability have been bullet proof since day one. The only trouble I’ve had has been with the Virgin Superhub running in modem mode which was resolved by reseating the coax cable (fibre broadband my arse).
I don’t know why I was surprised these work – they’re made by Asus and pretty much every component in my self-built PC that could be an Asus product is an Asus product because they do what they’re designed to do.
We now have lots of devices (2 phones, 2 laptops, 1 desktop, 1 tablet and 1 smart TV), I’ve tried numerous ISP routers and powerline repeaters, all would suffer from intermittent drop outs.
Then I read up about the new Wifi 6 standard, but unfortunately I haven’t seen any ISP’s offer a router which supports this. The setup is fairly automated but not idiot proof (it’s not clear what the steps/options are).
I have kept my ISP router (but have disabled Wifi) and have connected one of these boxes with it with a CAT5 cable. As a parent, I’m much happier with the Parental controls and Content controls that come with this solution.
Pro:
– Ease of setup (once you plug the cables correctly)
– Speed/Reliability
– Control (I considered Netgear, but Parental controls come at an additional subscription cost)
Cons:
– Expensive
– Easy to get setup wrong
– No documentation to perform a factory reset (if you get your initial setup wrong)
Having tried almost all of the mesh WiFi products on a,Avon and finding them all wanting I finally tried the ASUS Zen. It’s easy to say I wish I tried it earlier, but I do.
Most of the systems I tried couldn’t even connect with each other without being wired, notable exceptions to this were the amazon echo (great system and one to choose if plug and play is needed – say for virgin media) and the link says velo which is a great system.
I ended up keeping the Zen as it offers a number of advanced features that I find useful, not least the ability to load balance 2 internet connections. Whilst I accept that this is not for everyone, this is a critical piece of functionality for me and keeps it nice and simple for the family.
The interface is more technical than the eero for instance, but it is not mind blowingly complicated and sits in the hobby tech space I would suggest.
Wireless backhaul has been flawless, as has the product itself, and a lot of its competitors couldn’t handle the 8m between units that I have in my house.
Great product good price, veryhappy
One firmware update and just works after that. No issues to report. No tech support required. Four nodes absolutely seamless excellent broadband bandwidth load balancing between devices.
Essential that nodes are within range of the router as indicated by white LED and the excellent App.
I really could not recommend this product more. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with other manufacturers and I’m very happy ASUS have completely solved my Wi-fi network problem.
If you have a house full of devices and want an excellent stable system that manages itself look no further.
Update: have had system working with no issues since 9th May 2020. It is set to automatically restart each week and we have excellent Wi-fi everywhere – this system is so brilliantly stable you never have to think about it. The peace of mind that it just works makes this Wi-fi solution excellent value for money.
The setup was generally stable but not very fast and working from home exposed the weakness of the setup – I was having more and more issues with the wifi.
I had been thinking of replacing the setup before the covid thing kicked off but now I had no excuse. After some research I decided to go for the ZenWiFi AC CT8. One of my criteria for purchase was that the device had to have a web based interface – more on that later.
Delivery was faster than expected. Setup took a while – I wasn’t in a rush – but the quick start guide made no mention of the web interface for the setup, just the phone app. When I had the hardware set up (not forgetting to disable the wifi on the Virgin router) I could see the IP for the mesh box but couldn’t access it. So I went ahead and installed the phone app and turned on bluetooth. The connection process was quick and painless, and at that point I realised that the mesh router sets up a subnetwork and NATs into the Virgin box – the web interface connects to the mesh routers subnet IP address which I couldn’t initially access. Silly me.
After that, I just needed to update the firmware and optimise the physical location of the two mesh boxes. One is in my attic, about a meter from the existing modem. The other is on the ground floor, a fair distance away, and I’m getting wifi speeds I’ve never been able to achieve, plus 100% coverage. And I’ve connected my laser printer to the mesh modem so now I’ve got network printing, which is nice.
1) Login to Hub 3 and set to to modem mode
2) Unbox the 2 units and set about 2 meters apart
3) Plug in AC power (do not switch on)
4) Plug ethernet cable from port 1 in your Hub 3 into the WAN (blue port) on one of the routers
5) Switch on the 2 routers
6) Download the ASUS router app and follow the instructions on screen (takes about 5 min)
7) Login to your router (probably 192.168.50.1) you will see both units
This is where you need to wait, as originally i had no internet access (no external IP showing). I believe there is an intial process of behind the scenes registering your Hub 3 and new router setup with Virgin Media, this took about 10 minutes. If this doesnt work power all units down for a few minutes then turn them back on
At present the 2 routers are joined by the 2nd 5Ghz channel as the backhaul, i intend to hard wire this to free up the more powerful channel.
Internet speeds at my PC which is hardwired to the node, then wireless back to the router (10 meters away upstairs through 1920’s solid brick house) are maxed out at 370mb, the same as if i was hardwired directly into the old Hub 3!
Although the coverage is better than my Hub 3, its not as far reaching as i hoped it might be, however it does give me a very strong 5Ghz upstairs. The 2.4Ghz extends even further (as expected) and now has a strong singnal that extends far outside the house
I choose to seperate my 2.4 & 5Ghz with seperate SSIDs
This is only a usable Dual Band router unless you hard wire the 2 units to free up the 2nd 5Ghz channel, making it Tri Band.