Asus BT10 (given discount)

[wrink]

I just found that Amazon US has a small $ 25 price-drop on the Asus BT10 single pack, and went for it. I have a single-level home less than 2000 sq. ft, and could use the 6 GHz band with my laptops primarily, as the 5 GHz bands are very crowded by the neighbors. What I don't know yet is whether the 6 GHz will penetrate the wooden walls to serve the farthest rooms - which is the risk, but as an adventurous early adopter - its worth the try.

I was initially considering the BQ16 Pro, but figured it would be overkill for my needs. If the BT10 doesn't cut it for my needs, the BQ16 Pro likely won't either. Finally, what convinced me was this review from Dong Knows, where it compared the BQ16 Pro with the BT10: Especially that the BT10's Nov 6 FW has resolved most of the issues. I still intend to have the 6 GHz band on a different SSID if needed for stability and maximum benefit, without MLO.

If there are others here who are similar early adopters, please feel free to chime in. I will post my experience after I receive it and set it up.

Asus ZenWiFi BT10 Review: A Solid Wi-Fi 7 System | Dong Knows Tech

The Asus ZenWiFi BT10 strikes an excellent balance of cost, features and performance. Get yours today!

dongknows.com

 

[CraigBee]

I just found that Amazon US has a small $ 25 price-drop on the Asus BT10 single pack, and went for it. I have a single-level home less than 2000 sq. ft, and could use the 6 GHz band with my laptops primarily, as the 5 GHz bands are very crowded by the neighbors. What I don't know yet is whether the 6 GHz will penetrate the wooden walls to serve the farthest rooms - which is the risk, but as an adventurous early adopter - its worth the try.

I was initially considering the BQ16 Pro, but figured it would be overkill for my needs. If the BT10 doesn't cut it for my needs, the BQ16 Pro likely won't either. Finally, what convinced me was this review from Dong Knows, where it compared the BQ16 Pro with the BT10: Especially that the BT10's Nov 6 FW has resolved most of the issues. I still intend to have the 6 GHz band on a different SSID if needed for stability and maximum benefit, without MLO.

If there are others here who are similar early adopters, please feel free to chime in. I will post my experience after I receive it and set it up.

Asus ZenWiFi BT10 Review: A Solid Wi-Fi 7 System | Dong Knows Tech

The Asus ZenWiFi BT10 strikes an excellent balance of cost, features and performance. Get yours today!

dongknows.com

6Ghz on the BT10 has extremely limited use until AFC is implemented by Asus in early 2025. See: https://dongknows.com/asus-zenwifi-bt10-review/

 

[wrink]

Yes, but even without AFC in BT10, while AFC is already present in BQ16 Pro - the range/throughputs are roughly the same in the comparison datasets, for AX and AXE clients - same review as you linked to.

Maybe AFC in BQ16 Pro doesn't really matter in the real world ?

 

[Plak]

I am actually curious to know if afc on the bq16 pro does make a difference. Funny how asus never mentioned anything about afc available for that mesh system.

Now with their newest gaming router release are they mentioning it actually. Reminds me of sony with their mirrorless cameras. Want nicer buttons? Buy new $6k camera.

 

[CraigBee]

My (possibly limited and wrong?) understanding of AFC is that WITHOUT the device is limited to 1 watt (30 dBm). WITH AFC the device is allowed 4 watts (36 dBm). 5Ghz generally uses 4 watts (36 dBm). My experience with the two bands is consistent with these power levels, i.e. 6Ghz is very poor without AFC.

 

[wrink]

Received it and running as router for a day, primarily as a wireless router with 2 laptops. No dropouts and disconnections - so DongKnows 3-day torture test results were right.

Finally able to get both 6 GHz and 5 GHz channels going, both with 160 MHz, including the completely free DFS channels that my older AX58u always seemed to have trouble with - and is totally left free by neighbors. The wireless has been very stable at least for 1 day of use with couple laptops. With and without MLO switched on. (I don't have a MLO STA/client at home, but switching on "MLO Fronthaul for Clients" seem to give slightly better latency experience).

However, I'm already missing merlin's VPN Director. Asus' implementation leaves a lot to be desired. Really hoping that merlin adopts the BT10 into his stable. Or at least Gnuton does. The Wireguard VPN engine is seems to be going to "sleep" when not used for a while - requiring a couple refreshes from the browser to actually wake it up.

Still waiting for my cheapo gigabit 5 port ethernet switch to arrive, so that I'm able to use all the ethernet connections, and thus the BT10 as my main router with AImesh. The only-3 ethernet port is serious drawback and marketing move, but one that can be managed using an unmanaged switch - to connect the TV, etc - which do not really need more than gigabit ethernet.