Asus BQ16 Pro (BE30000 Best Buy) WiFi 7 vs ET12 vs ET8 Speeds/Connectivity

[DalTxJim]

Relative novice needs some advice, please! I currently have two ET12's at my 2,000 s/f single-story brick/sticks home. They are placed line of site 25ft apart, North & South facing. No wired backhaul. The ET12 Router is wired to 1GB cable modem. I routinely receive 900-1050 speeds at the modem. I have several 2.4GHz outdoor wifi cameras that seem to need better wifi connections, as there are dropouts and connectivity issues, from time to time. I added in two ET8's (East & West facing) which helped some, but issues remain. I was considering purchasing the new BQ16 Pros (2 or 3-piece set), hoping the upgraded mesh system would help with the 2.4GHz cameras, as well as giving me WiFi 7 for the two devices I have that will support WiFi 7. From what I can tell, it appears the 2.4GHz speeds will be better than the ET12/ET8 and it's my understanding the BQ16 Pro has a longer range, but perhaps that is only for WiFi 7. I could always use the ET12's as nodes, much like I currently use the ET8's, but I was hoping to only use the BQ16 Pros if possible. Can someone comment on the connectivity issues and let me know your thoughts on whether the BQ16 Pro will help? I'm not technical enough to be able to decipher the details of the specs on the BQ16 Pro. Thank you!

 

[Jadehsn]

I bought a set from Best Buy, and ended up returning. I wasn’t getting any better speeds—actually worse.

I know a firmware update was released today, so that may help, and I’m confident they will get better with time, but, for now, I’d not recommend it.

 

[jzchen]

It sounds like you have some signal weakness issues on some devices. Since you have WiFi 7 clients it may be reasonable to try them out. As I understand the AiMesh Topology page shows the connection strength among the nodes. Definitely consider purchasing from a reseller that doesn't charge a restocking fee...

 

[ronan_zj]

I just hope Asus would release WIFI7 devices with 2.4G, 5G-1, 5G-2 and 6G radios in the U.S Market, 6G in wireless backhual is not a good idea.

 

[theoak]

I just hope Asus would release WIFI7 devices with 2.4G, 5G-1, 5G-2 and 6G radios in the U.S Market, 6G in wireless backhual is not a good idea.

It is supposed to have "AFC" and hence 6G is "supposed" to have ranges similar to 5G, with the benefit of faster speeds that 6G implies.

 

[Jadehsn]

Yeah. That is a big reason why I wanted to try them. I don’t think the GT-BE98 Pro has AFC that can be enabled.

 

[ronan_zj]

It is supposed to have "AFC" and hence 6G is "supposed" to have ranges similar to 5G, with the benefit of faster speeds that 6G implies.

does Asus enable AFC and MLO on BQ16 pro?

 

[Plak]

Pretty sure AFC will get enabled via firmware update soon anyway on the GT-BE98 pro but knowing asus it will take another 20 years. They enabled MLO like a year later still pretty buggy and terrible. About the BE16 pro, i know dongknows.com did a positive review on it stating the AFC works pretty good. I actually was pretty impressed by it's wired performance being same if not faster than other powerful switches.

Well probably the only asus router anyway that has AFC and fully working MLO enabled out of the box. Others should follow with updates. I kind of wanted to get it to try out too but not in the mood to do more beta testing for new released stuff. I think AFC increased range for 6ghz applies to wifi 7 devices but i could totally be wrong on this. Plus it would make no difference for you for your camera with the 2.4 ghz anyway. I would just stick to what you have. 6ghz wireless backhaul as said above is not a good idea. Even with AFC it most likely still doesnt have the same range as 5ghz. But I've not tested this so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[ScriptK1d]

I went from ET12 to BQ16's and I had to incrementally configure things until I'm on a stable config now. Wireless backhaul using MLO just for the backhaul. Turned off DFS and 160Mhz on the 5ghz. Found a way to get the primary node off the floor. Turned on QoS even though I don't want to agree to the marketing data sharing. I will probably try turning off QOS and test it soon, see if any impact actually occurs. Our Apple TV is the only conect drop we had in the last couple days, and it may be an Apple issue. Trying Agile Wifi now and we will see.