ASUS ZenWiFi XT9 WiFi 6 Mesh System – 2 Pack – Black
ASUS ZenWiFi XT9 WiFi 6 Mesh System – 2 Pack – Black – AX7800 Whole-Home Tri-band Mesh WiFi 6 System
LIFETIME FREE NETWORK SECURITY
Home network security is more important than ever, as many households now have multiple connected devices while lacking appropriate security measures to protect them and their users. Alongside the latest WPA3 security protocol, the ASUS ZenWiFi XT9 also features AiProtection Pro powered by Trend Micro and advanced parental controls, providing everything you need in one device.
Advanced Parental Controls
Alongside the latest WPA3 security protocol, the ASUS ZenWiFi XT9 also features AiProtection Pro powered by Trend Micro and advanced parental controls, providing everything you need in one device.
MORE PRIVACY, ANYWHERE
ASUS Instant Guard gives you one-click secure internet access via the ZenWiFi XT9 mesh router from anywhere in the world, thanks to its encrypted VPN tunneling technology. You can essentially take your home network with you wherever you go — while saying goodbye to third-party VPN subscription fees!
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|---|---|---|---|
| Wireless Communication Standard | IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax | IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax | IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax |
| I/O ports | 2.5G WAN x 1, RJ45 10/100/1000Mbps LAN x 3, USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 | 2.5G WAN x 1, RJ45 10/100/1000Mbps LAN x 3, USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 | RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for WAN x 1 , RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for LAN x 3 |
| Frequency Band Class | Tri-Band | Tri-Band | Dual-Band |
| Antenna | Internal antenna x6 | Internal antenna x6 | Internal antenna x6 |
| Memory | 256 MB Flash, 512 MB RAM | 256 MB Flash, 512 MB RAM | 256 MB Flash, 512 MB RAM |
| Control Method | ASUS Web GUI, App | ASUS Web GUI, App | ASUS Web GUI, App |
| size | 16 x 7.5 x 16.15 cm | 16 x 7.5 x 16.15 cm | 5.9 x12.6x 12.9 cm |
| Dimensions: | 16 x 7.5 x 16.15 cm; 1.9 Kilograms |
| Model: | 90IG0740-MO3B30 |
| Manufacture: | ASUS |
| Dimensions: | 16 x 7.5 x 16.15 cm; 1.9 Kilograms |
| Origin: | China |
Bought to replace poor kit supplied by new fibre ISP. Performance is very good though signal strength not as good as claimed in my property due to it being from built in the 1880’s. Once an additional AP (XD5) was added to cover the weak spot, can’t really fault the speed and coverage. Taking time to set up correctly and make use of all three wifi bands in one single wifi network is worth the effort. Get full speed of broadband connection throughout the house.
When I upgraded to full fibre broadband at 500Mbps from a 70 Mbps broadband service, I found the speeds I was getting in my garden office no better than before – around 30Mbps – using a TP-Link Deco S4 mesh wifi setup. So I decided to upgrade my mesh wifi so I could get the most out of my new speedy internet service. It was much more difficult than I expected – I tried a couple of supposedly faster TP-Link Deco systems but they were no better, even a Wifi 6 model. And then I tried the ASUS ZenWifi XT9 and suddenly everything got faster – it was a night and day difference. I can now get around 200Mbps in the garden office, and speeds around the house are better too. It’s a brilliant mesh wifi setup and I recommend it. The app gives you good control and the option to change all sorts of settings but it is mostly plug-and-play.
I have struggled for years with WiFi not covering our home. Dead spots throughout.
I have tried extenders and repeaters.
But this mesh set up was easy. And seems to work with good coverage.
Used as an upgrade from Virgin Hub/Wifi Pods. Much better coverage and stability across the house, speed greatly improved. Subtle aesthetic compared to a lot of other options. User-friendly and straightforward app. Worth the premium.
Excellent piece of kit but needs to updated and maintained. Occasionally loses high speed wifi backhaul that a power cycle fixes. Software excellent but remote access poorly implemented. I bought a 2 pack and a single, I needed more cover and supplemented with another 2 pack – they offer excellent cover in an old victorian house.
Great product with lots of added features in the web GUI. No dropouts to date, rock solid signal. will definitely buy another if expanding the mesh system.
Got these to replace my existing single router. I wish I had done it sooner. This mesh system is very impressive. Really happy with it. Lightning fast and fantastic coverage. Well worth the price. The setup was so simple. No messing about. Download the app and follow the instructions. Overall fantastic product.
..Asus is really good bit of kit. Nice and easy to set up. Easily attached my 11 pieces of kit. They all work better. Even my temperamental Ring door bell is working well.
This replaces 5 old google Wi-Fi devices, coverage in the house is astonishing for this old Victorian 4 bed with only two units. I thought I would need 3 devices, and possible a wired back haul but no, with just two and not wired back haul these are blazingly fast in every room. My gym, for example, used to get 5mbps (I have 700mbps broadband), with this I get 250Mbps! Every room is 10 times faster than google or better. I tried a TP-link competitor device set, that was just as fast as these bit fiddly to set up and glitches a lot. This ASUs set is solid as a rock, I am truest astonished at how good they are, 100% recommend.
This seemed like a quality product as soon as I opened the box these pair of XT8’s looked very modern with the gold logo and a nice LED indication light, Very happy.
As the title states These XT8’s provide great Wi-Fi coverage for my home/front/rear garden and exceptional speed when paired with my Asus RT-AX89X for complete home Wi-Fi and backhaul solution.
These is built in Security/IDS/lots of extra features and settings.
These can also work on a separate 5Ghz channel if you do not have the physical ethernet cable runs from the XT8 point to XT8 point to enable backhaul you can still use its Wifi reception to connect up the mesh wifi for very good coverage.
In total we have around 50 devices connected up and running quite happily on this network
ASUS do release firmware when feature updates or security releases are required. Also (Im not 100% sure) you can run Merlin’s FW on this XT8’s which is pretty cool as Merlin makes some very useful features available to those who want that extra kind of thing.
Very happy Its a shame its not WIFI 6E but all in all Very good product/Support/Information/ Fairly reasonable price/Solid products from ASUS as always!
Bought a pair of these in white, they blend in with my IKEA white units and I now have coverage around the house.
House is a 1930’s internal brick walls and manages to send a signal through the walls. I’ve placed one of them upstairs at the front of the house.
Not yet played around with all the settings but there’s a lot you can change in the router settings. Or just plug it in.. update the firmware then link them together.. all very straight forward and can then be left alone. Once updated and linked I have not needed to reboot/touch them.
Access via pc or app is easy. Full security with lots of options This knocks my old netgear nighthawk out the park.
Only down side is it only has 4 Ethernet ports on the rear and you need to use one of them to connect my virgin router.
Wireless speeds in same room are around 450-500mb. Upstairs at the back of the house I’m getting around 340mb. That’s with virgin m500. With my PC downstairs plugged into it in am getting 540mb. Lots of units connected to it no problem what so ever. Very happy with my purchase and it’s above and beyond what I need.. but at least it’s future proofed and has all settings I could think I’ll ever need.
Very happy.
I found the instructions a bit feeble and struggled initially to set it up (especially as I wanted to keep the IP range I used on my old routers to avoid re-configuring every device). A couple of hours later though and it was setup beautifully and has worked flawlessly now for 2 months.
I have 2 units, both downstairs in opposite corners of my 4 bed house and the WiFi signal is strong in all rooms on both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. I use Ethernet back haul and therefore can use the 3rd band for WiFi – oddly the 3rd band gives faster performance than the other 5 Ghz band – so I save that for my favourite devices.
My Virgin Hub 4 is in modem mode and I get 924 Mbps (D) / 50 Mbps (U) speeds directly from the routers and typically get between 250-600 Mbps (D) / 50 Mbps (U) from connected clients (laptops and phones).
The router web portal is well designed and has lots of features. I have successfully configured port forwarding, parental controls, etc. I’m yet to use the Alexa and IFTTT features. Easy to backup router settings.
In summary – I’m very happy with the Asus ZenWiFi AX. Very good coverage – no more black spots in my typical UK 4 bed house. Reliable and plenty of standard features. Would buy again.
I have Sky FTTP via the usual Openreach ONT, and the Sky router was excellent on ethernet (1.2Gbps) but not so hot on Wi-Fi (150-250Mbps).
So I plumped for the ASUS XT8 following the reading of several reviews. I set it up in router mode connected directly to the ONT, rather than as an access point from the Sky router. I set the DHCP option 61 for Sky, and bingo – job done. 1.2Gbps on Ethernet and 770Mbps+ on Wi-Fi. Ensure the Tri-band setting is used for maximum Wi-Fi speed.
Easily covers my three bed house, would probably do a much larger house too. The DHCP 61 key is as follows (accessible within the WAN section of the GUI via the router’s IP address on any browser)….
anything@skydsl|anything
As long as you use that key (importantly with the ‘pipe’ symbol after ‘skydsl’) it’ll work perfectly. You can use that precise key if you wish.
Anyhoo, a cracking router. I also purchased the matching wall mount which allowed me to position the router in the dead centre of the house.
The accompanying app is a little shaky in that it can quit for seemingly no reason, but it does the job for a quick overview. Far better to use the IP GUI via Ethernet for any settings changes.
Worth every penny of the price. Nice and compact, looks pretty too.
I was struggling to get a decent internet connection while I worked and provided all you can eat Candy Crush, Minecraft, Orange County House Wives and gawd knows what else being streamed, downloaded or switched on and forgotten about in this house until I found my precious!
Now it takes a little journey to setup but what you want to do is Broadcast two different WIFI signals from this box of magic. You put the orcs, trolls and Nazgul all on one of the WIFIs and then you just put yourself on the other. You basically want to set it up so that you’re never on the same channel or band. A quick Google will show you how to do this.
Then you just sit on the other WIFI all to your self never having to worry about competition for bandwidth.
The software that ships with this piece of kit is no joke either. You’re free to take your evil to the next level by throttling individual devices, dropping them off the network ( not that you care as you have your own ) or even what content the devices can access. It’s amazing what leverage you have when in control of the bandwidth folks!
1 ping to rule them all! Buy it folks, you’re not just buying bandwidth – your buying power!
Big Popa P ou
Right, onto the main review. This router and node kit is fantastic! Powerful, fast and full of useful features from an easy to use App (Android and iOS both available FOC) or the web GUI. Features include advanced IPS and gateway antivirus (provided by Trend Micro), full VPN server, excellent QoS and a host of other features for the advanced user.
Setup was a breeze via the iOS app and from unboxing to fully configured mesh WiFi took less than 10 minutes. Please note however that the WAN port is presented as upto 2.5Gb Ethernet so you will need a Modem if you use VDSL/FTTC. I have a DrayTek Vigor 130 in my setup but the white OpenReach modems will be just as good for 99% of users.
So far it has been rock solid and not missed a beat. There are some really cool features built in including a Speedtest.net plugin to test directly on the router (so you don’t have the drop between router and client) l, also a real-time traffic monitor lets you see how much bandwidth each device on your network is using in real time (great for fault finding) the VPN server works flawlessly as does the endpoint for Site-to-Site VPN.
This is a great router system for both standard and advanced home users and would definitely recommend!
Bought this product to extend an existing Asus zen WiFi to the garden office.
Conected as an additional node with out any difficulty.
It is now placed in the office and working as expected
WiFi connects and I can now use a wired connection
Before the additional node
Poor and unstable WiFi connection and a 50 mb home plug connection
Now a strong stable WiFi connection and a 280 mb wired connection
My set up is not unique and really wanted a strong wired connection
To those who say that this product is rubbish and does not work :
To set it up you need to follow the Asus instructions
The connection is stable but needs carefully placing of the nodes
If you are experiencing a weak connection you may need to reposition a node or as in my case due to distance and a solid brick wall needed an additional node
You Also need to be careful if changing settings
For example I changed the dpch server to192. 168.0.1
This apparently conflicted with the original virgin media dhcp setting on some work from home devices causing a no Internet connection error
Switched it to a different ip address and no probs sence
So the routers work
Be careful with the initial set up
Be careful if you change settings
Was uncertain if the Asus mesh router would bring a significant improvement to my previous ageing high-end Asus AC router. Lots of mixed reviews seem to be posted for all the main router brands, but luckily for me so far I’ve had no issues yet. The WiFi coverage has been a significant improvement over my old router and after a few weeks running I’ve had no stability issues. I’ve not really tested for speed improvement on the local LAN and since I dropped my internet speed to 100Mbps to save money on greater bandwidth not needed by me very often, the WiFi and Ethernet speeds to the router exceed my internet connection speed easily.
A few months in now and have had no issues with speed or connection. Has been very stable and no reboots required.
Waited a few weeks to write this review and have to say I’m really pleased with the purchase.
It was really easy to set up, no major issues and I have a moderately sophisticated set up, multiple SSIDs, guest network, VLANS, etc.
Miles easier for setting fixed IP addresses to devices than my previous single router Netgear.
I set one up in the living room and one in the loft with a straight line of around 15m I’d say through 4 walls / ceilings and the whole house is now getting 400-500 Mb/s off a BT 500 service plan. Approx. 50 smart devices and at any one time 1-3 4k or HD streams and downloading going on with barely a noticeable dip in performance.
Best point for me though, I am getting 30Mb/s in the non-connected garage where I got nothing before.
So have managed to replace a four node powerline system, 1 in the garage and two in bedrooms that had brick walls surrounding them that were very poor for wifi before.
The app IMHO is miles better than the Netgear with more functionality and I really only had to switch to the web interface 2-3 times for the more advanced features I needed. For a typical home that just wants to setup and go I think the app is probably all you’d need.
Very pleased no hesitation in recommending this even at this high price.
I live in a fairly large house with thick walls and heavy concrete slab between the floors
(>4,000 SQ.ft.). Previously had a draytek firewall with 4 access points, patchy, not completely satisfactory. APs stopped receiving firmware update so needed to replace. Suitable replacement draytek system with wifi6 would have cost in excess of 1,500 ( house wired with CAT6, i installed previous system and found the process not user friendly. I was not eager to repeat).
Replaced with 3 of these. Setup very easy through app. Straightforward to modify setting through app or web GUI. My skills in this regard are overall very modest, general knowledge only. I can follow instructions, that’s about it.
Setup<30 minutes, more from me taking my time than anything else. Slight delay in installing initial firmware update, but not a big deal. "Router" in main living room, connected to ISP router via switch in garage (previous cabling installed by prior owner, not a good place for useful wifi coverage). I expected to need to use an Ethernet backhaul, but was delighted to find that it was not in any way required. Wireless 5-GHz-2 backhaul more than adequate. You might need to use wired connection if you have>500Mbps connection and connection speed is absolutely crucial in all parts of your house, otherwise it’s unlikely. 1 node in study at front of house, second in central position upstairs. The house is bathed in stable wifi with nearly no speed difference compared to direct Ethernet connection to ISP router. In addition, the garden has a stable wifi connection throughout. Good quality connection to approx 30 metres from any node through walls.
Included security software more than adequate for the vast majority of home users.
Some of the difficulties mentioned by other users could be due to prior firmware versions, which according to problems mentioned ASUS users forums may have introduced some issues. Current version (3.0.0.4.386_45934) seems stable without major issues.
I would recommend without hesitation, especially if you have a house with internal architectural “complexities”. Much easier than using a standard firewall with wired access points, also much cheaper. Expensive by compared to other available mesh systems for sure, but worth it.
I have recently moved from Virgin Media to BT FTTP 900mbps package so I understand the limitations that the ISP supplied routers can face. This has been the best router I have ever used.
Getting some of the key figures out of the way –
Speeds on Wi-Fi 6 using an IPhone 13 Pro Max within 10m of the router normally range between 880mbps & 720mbps.
At the furthest point away from my router within the house (Average 4 bed detached new build) I will still see speeds of 350mpbs and that doesn’t seem to changed throughout the day at all. Ping is around 7/12ms & upload stable between 100mbps – 130mbps.
Over Ethernet using a cat 6/7 cable I see speeds between 1.1gbps & 900mbps (This can vary but normally sits within this range) ping tends to be lower between (3/7ms) upload speeds the same as Wi-Fi.
This is a Tri-band router but I have left the router on auto and it seems to manage the traffic well – I have many smart home products that use 2.4ghz & the connection has been solid even on my Nest Hello doorbell which I had multiple connection issue when it was connected to the Virgin SH3 (I didn’t have any connection issues on the BT SH2 I must say)
Setup with the FTTP couldn’t be easier. You simple plug the router into the BT ONT and login to the ASUS router using the App & enter the below details –
[email protected] with a password either blank or “BT”.
Once In, you can leave the router to its own devices like I did or change the settings as you require.
30m away from the house I can still get signal with just the one router. I personally don’t think many people would need to take advantage of the Mesh capabilities & get the second router but this will also vary on the size of your house & wall thickness etc.
Living in an older house with all brick walls the Virgin Hub 3’s wifi I was using before was pretty terrible. I could get close to 200 mbs over WiFi if stood next to the hub which is in the middle of the house. The kitchen and lounge frequently had no connection or was very slow, maybe 1 mbs. The back rooms and upstairs had no connection at all. Coupled with this, the virgin hub’s WiFi would just drop out for no reason, sometimes multiple times a day. Virgin is the only ISP providing fast broadband in the rural area where I live so I had to find a way to make it work.
I was kind of getting by with some power line extenders, but they were pretty flakey, and could not be trusted for work etc.
I bought a 2 pack of these, and crikey they are unbelievable. 10 mins to set up and I now have 220 Mbps in every room in the house and have had zero drop outs since I got them. Moving around the house works seemlessly, and I’ve had no issues when going from one router to the other. Bandwidth is amazing with many devices connecting simultaneously.
I don’t know how they do it, but it’s like magic. It’s a bit of a cost outlay, but already proving to be so worth it.
Virgin will try and sell you their own mesh wifi devices, and will charge you a monthly fee for the privilege, but I can’t imagine they will come close to these, plus I’ll have these ready to go if I switch ISP in the future.
From my experience, if you are struggling with WiFi coverage / reliability, these will change everything and having super fast WiFi everywhere just becomes the norm.
We have a virgin hub 3.0 500mbps package and use 20+ wifi/smart devices around the house. We were experiencing constant cut outs in internet and our wifi wouldn’t reach the far ends of the house (3 bed house), and also we wouldn’t get anywhere near the broadband speed we paid for. We had virgin engineers out two times, they gave us wifi extenders for free but nothing seemed to help and we just suffered through the wifi cut outs and poor performance on simple things like wifi video calls.
I did a bit of research and came to realise that the virgin provided router is too simple to deal with the number of devices we relied on for wifi and that could be the reason for the cut outs in internet and slow network, let alone the poor wifi range, so i decided to look into buying a good router. After a lot of research i came decided on the Asus ZenWifi TX8 as it was amongst the top in all reviews with free parental control and no need for subscriptions and a more “reasonable” albeit still expensive price, and I am glad I did!
Setup was very simple, logged on to my virgin hub and switched it to modem mode, disconnected all the ethernet wires from the virgin hub, connected the asus routers as advised and using the asus app (which by the way is very easy to use and i like that you can see the number of devices connected the signal and which node they are connected to and use parental control etc, very nice and easy) and it was all set up and ready to use in no time and im not a techy person or some sort of expert on these things, but had no trouble at all. The handy thing is i named the ssid and pass same as my virgin hub and that helped avoid reconnecting my 20+ devices .
It ticks the boxes on all accounts wifi range (now reaches all far corners of the house including back garden), the speed we are getting is closer to the 500mbps we are paying for (although this is device dependent I believe – on my iphone i get 500mbps but my old laptop only about 200mbps but still better than before) and most importantly we have not experienced any cut outs in internet so far (using for 1 week now), before we’d get a cut out 2-3 times a day!
Overall ecstatic about this purchase, kicking myself for not having done it earlier! Suffered through poor zoom calls and slow/poor connections throughout the whole of lockdown. I can now have video calls with great picture quality and reliable connection. I would definitely recommend.
Firstly, this is a premium price for a good product. The plastic feels a bit cheap but this is compensated with the less intrusive design.
Pros:
Easy set up with Virgin Media in modem mode. One is in the front room, one in the sun room. I don’t experience much loss and approx 210mb across my 4 bed detached.
I also use it with NordVPN through OpenVPN protocol and this was easy to set up for novice like me.
Cons
I tried to do the split set up with 2.4ghz and 5ghz signals as recommended in other review. However this kept dropping the signal on my phone or laptop. I had to turn on/off the WiFi on device to get back on. Having a one signal with combined frequency has resolved this.
Parental controls are good which is main reason why I purchased it. Its easy to switch off all devices for bedtime or restrict certain devices. You can also prioritise devices for when you work from home.
I would have liked another router for upstairs although it doesn’t appear to be an issue.
Fianlly, documentation (or lack thereof) could have been better.
I would buy again.
Purchased to replace a basic (cheap!) dual-band mesh system I’ve been running with for a couple of years which was starting to throw up some issues, particularly regarding slow device handover and Apple HomeKit disconnections and automation failures.
Installation of the ZenWifi with my existing modem/router should have been easy once I connected the supplied ethernet cable to my existing modem/router. However after almost 4 hours of multiple resets, retries with iPhone app, connecting with laptop, trying different setup configurations, the ZenWifi units would just not connect to the internet. At this point I had the packaging all ready for a return when I thought ‘one more try’ but, this time, I disconnected the SUPPLIED ethernet cable connecting the master unit to my TP-Link modem router and used an old one of my own – bingo! – had the units setup and connected in a couple of minutes. Moral of this story is to never fully trust a connecting cable supplied with the product!
The difference compared to my old setup is phenomenal. Full internet speed via wifi with all iOS and MacOS devices everywhere in the house, including the back garden, despite the fact that the house is 18th Century with 2 foot thick walls. All IoT devices work flawlessly. Wireless file transfer to my NAS is 4 to 5 times faster that with the old mesh system. Stability seems as solid as a rock. Haven’t even bothered to ‘tweak’ any settings as the default out of the box configuration seems to work just fine – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!. In saying that the configuration options are plentiful, either accessed via the phone app or the web interface.
In summary, although relatively expensive, this system is worth every penny if you have a need to bolster your WiFi and have a multitude of devices to connect, including some with WiFi 6. Just be wary of using the supplied ethernet cable if you have setup problems! Highly recommended.
Firstly these are so much better than the XT8s that i tried around 18 months back. On paper there is not much difference between the two but in real life this couldn’t be further from the truth. The XT9s were a breeze to setup and I was up and running in 15 mins. I live in a 950
Sq ft apartment in London with brick walls and found the range and speed to be consistent. There were no black spots. I have a Virgin 500 mbps plans and I got speeds around 250 – 400 depending on my location. No drop outs, however I did find the satellite using the 2.4ghz randomly for wireless backhaul connection. This impacted the overall speed and this was despite me setting 5ghz-2 as a dedicated wireless backhaul band. This happened a number of times and was sorted by scheduling an auto reboot every 24 hours on the app. The app is good you can do loads of tweaking if you want to. The XT9s are a far better choice than the Eero Pros, Deco X90 and X95. Better/consistent performance for lesser money. I got a great deal on these on prime day.
I have given it 4 stars and not 5 as I could not achieve full speed even seated next to the router.
After much research, I decided to spend a bit more to get the latest WiFi 6 mesh technology.
The XT8 set seemed to be a good option for me, as it included 2 mesh points, latest standards, and subscription free parental controls.
My setup is a virgin media SuperHub 3 in modem mode, 500mb connection, and the ASUS routers connected to each other via wireless backhaul.
When connected to the mesh point with an iPhone 12 (so I assume using WiFi 6), I am able to see 520mb+ in speed test apps.
My devices all seem to get really good speeds regardless of where in the property I am, and it has around 30 devices in total connected.
I also use some of the port forwarding etc, which all works great.
The downside to this great kit though is that it can be unstable.
I’ve tried various configurations, but every once in a while it just crashes and disconnects every device. This is not ideal when everyone is so reliant at the moment.
A simple hard reboot solves the issue quickly, but my previous Ubiquity kit just worked consistently without issue.
On balance, the kit is really good, so the stability may be tolerable. But I’m hoping a new firmware will be made available to resolve the root cause.
Was a simple installation and setup process, took max 10 minutes. It’s easier if you have a bit more technical knowledge, but can be done as a complete novice. Once you’ve used the mobile app to get the nodes paired, definitely go to the web app as it’s 1000x better and you’ve got a lot more options and gubbins that you can change to enhance performance.
Started out using the 5ghz band 2 as the backhaul link between satellites, and it worked for the most part, but my walls are made from concrete, so decided to go whole hog and put in an ethernet backhaul, which has improved performance from the satellites considerably.
They’re incredibly reliable, just remember to turn off the WiFi on your modem and not plug any other devices into it if you’re using the XT8 in router mode, otherwise you’ll run into IP assigning issues. The XT8 does not work well with DHCP turned off, and i lost all access to them when i tried to use the modem as DHCP server. Involved a factory reset of the whole system.
Performance is amazing, getting an extra 50mbps down when compared to my previous mesh system. These things really can handle anything you can throw at them. Receiving well over 850mbps down when using ethernet from one of the satellites as well, which is pretty decent. WiFi i get just over 600 mbps down, but i do not have a WiFi 6 network card in the laptop, so can be forgiven there.
If you’re looking for a top performance mesh system, this is definitely the answer!
Expected more of a faff after reading the reviews, but found the setup reasonably straightforward. These were purchased to replace an old home LAN setup that was increasingly unstable, with intermittent dropouts.
Used the quick start guide – downloaded the phone app, plugged in the APs and updated the firmware in 10 to 15 minutes. I use double NAT, with the home LAN the only connection into the ISP modem. And with a few home devices set for 10.x IP range, needed to change the factory DHCP settings. Found it much easier to use the browser based manager, rather than the phone app, to do this. Still took a few goes to figure out (you have to reset the host / gateway IP on one page first, and then the DHCP range on another page second), but other than that it’s quite a nice and clear set of features, controls and monitors.
Am not currently using the Trend micro provided monitoring feature; if you would like to use the features must agree and consent to their data collection policy:
“Please note that your information will be collected by Trend Micro through AiProtection, Traffic analyzer, Apps analyzer, Adaptive QoS and web history. ”
Not all of those features should require Trend Micro to have access to your home LAN activity, so it loses a star for that.
Otherwise, solid and fast enough connection, with good coverage through several Victorian brick walls.
I have used a few routers in my time….BT home hub, Sky, and I am now on the Virgin Media 1Gbps with their super hub 4.
That is a very good router but failed to deliver signal – I live in a large Victorian House with extension and loft conversion and including a Garden Room leading to the medium sized garden….
I could not get WiFi in the 2nd reception room….or the loft or the Garden… I used power lines (due to our electrics would only connect downstairs and not to the upstairs sockets)
Boosters always needed restarting and were unstable…. then I found Mesh networks and ASUS ZENWiFI ….it just works !
I have put the VM router into modem mode…. using a primary ASUS node as the router, then connected the other 2 nodes within a couple of metres of the main node. (Once they set up unplug and find a suitable area for them further afield). It is important to actually put VM /BT /Sky router into modem mode then once it has restarted I turned everything off …then connected and turned everything back on and set up was then seamless.
One is placed on the first floor gaming room, and one is placed in the Kitchen…I am now getting maximum throughput to the point of 750Mbps in every downstairs room of the house. About 600Mbps on the first floor.
The Garden and Loft I get about 100Mbps (they are quite a distance from the node) so I then purchased a further 2 nodes (one for the Loft itself and one for the Garden Room) – so now I get 650Mbps in the Garden (right to the bottom of the Garden where we have another seating area) and the same speeds in the loft.
Very happy that we can finally connect everywhere and with all our devices (total of 60 devices within the household)
I also Game and I downloaded a 80GB game in about 15min !! (Connected to the node via 2.5Gb Wan port)
Very happy that these have enabled us to actually utilise the service we paid for from VM.
And obviously we can take them with us if ever we move.
One last thing : i think its always good to reboot once every 3-4 days so I have set up a timed reboot to occur Mon & Fri at 04:00am
The only minus point is lack of documentation for expert options.
Easy to set up
Stable
Look good out on the side or shelf as very stylish
Excellent speeds only bested by Orbi I am told)
Highly recommend 9/10
I have a fairly large 5 bedroom house and have always struggled to get decent wifi in some areas. I had been using a Netgear tri- band router with powerline extensions, but coverage was still not ideal. following the COVID 19 situation, I found myself competing for bandwidth with my wife and 2 children. With all the MS teams, Zoom meetings, streaming and gaming going on, my broadband was struggling.
My initial plan was to get an Asus GT-AX11000 as the main router with the ZenWiifi XT8 as nodes in a mesh system. I was however unable to get hold of that router (at a decent price anyway). so I thought I would give the XT8 a go on their own.
Set up using the mobile app was simple, basically it guides you through setting up one unit (doesn’t matter which) as the router and then set up the other as a node nearby. Then move the node to another location. To my surprise the first unit alone was sending out a strong enough single to cover over 80% of the house. I put the node upstairs and got a good strong connection to the router. Coverage now spread to the rest of the house and also was able to get decent speeds outside in the garden and in front of the house. I was able to wire in a few devices by ethernet cable into the node. There was no difference in speed to the than anything wired into the node vs the router.
This is a tri-band router, with a 2.4ghz and two 5ghz bands, the units connect to each other wirelessly via the 2nd 5ghz band which is dedicated for that purpose, unfortunately I didn’t have the ability to connect them by ethernet which would free that band up. However you can combine the 2 bands into a single one using a feature known as smart connect. Coverage and speed are both great and Iwas also able to move around the whole house and garden without losing connection. There are lots of features, many are of course in common with other Asus routers.
Pros
Great coverage
Stable, have not lost any coverage or connection to the node so far
Aesthetically pleasing, ie doesn’t look like an alien spider
Great parental control features, can turn off any device connected and can even limit what can be done ie stop streaming/ gaming, but allow surfing etc
Dual Wan, was able to plug in a 4G USB dongle with a data sim. If the primary connection goes down, The router can be set to automatically switch to a 4G network, tried this by unplugging my modem and it works very well
Has other built in feature like Aiprotection and Aicloud
App is easy to use
Straightforward setup
Expandable, you can add further nodes/ Asus routers
Future proof, has wifi 6 and can be used with other newer Asus Routers later on as nodes in a mesh
Cons
Expensive, you may be better off considering the wifi 5 version, CT8 which is similar in features but significantly cheaper
Complex, although the app is simple, web configuration is more complex and the is a bewildering array of options
Firmware issues, I have not had problems, but many have, sometimes a firmware release may cause problems, but it is possible to rollback to previous, I would advise waiting a little while before updating to the latest firmware