Asus Zenwifi BT10

[Brookie55]

So I picked up this router from Amazon because there was a price drop of 200 dollars. I am coming from a Google Nest Pro Mesh unit that was pretty much plug and play I know very little about networks as well( willing.to learn though).

I have the router set up with the main unit in the basement and the satellite set up on the 1st level. One thing I don't understand is why all the devices are connecting to the basement unit, both on the first floor and the second floor. The devices in the same room as a satellite are still connecting to the basement unit. The satellite unit according to the app has a great signal as well.

I've already had to reset the router once because of some settings I tinkered with caused lots of problems so I'm trying to do this very slowly and deliberately.

Any help would be appreciated. I have 30 days to return this thing so I want to find out if it's going to be workable for me. I do have the newest firmware update. As far as speeds go, all devices are working well and have been staying connected so far.

 

[Tech9]

I am coming from a Google Nest Pro Mesh

Which is an excellent Plug-and-Play mesh system, by the way. I wouldn't replace it with any ZenWiFi model.

 

[bbunge]

So I picked up this router from Amazon because there was a price drop of 200 dollars. I am coming from a Google Nest Pro Mesh unit that was pretty much plug and play I know very little about networks as well( willing.to learn though).

I have the router set up with the main unit in the basement and the satellite set up on the 1st level. One thing I don't understand is why all the devices are connecting to the basement unit, both on the first floor and the second floor. The devices in the same room as a satellite are still connecting to the basement unit. The satellite unit according to the app has a great signal as well.

I've already had to reset the router once because of some settings I tinkered with caused lots of problems so I'm trying to do this very slowly and deliberately.

Any help would be appreciated. I have 30 days to return this thing so I want to find out if it's going to be workable for me. I do have the newest firmware update. As far as speeds go, all devices are working well and have been staying connected so far.

You may want to start by disabling MLO. There have been some reports that this caused issues. Future firmware updates may fix it...
Some here consider WIFI 7 still in the testing mode and not ready for production.

 

[Brookie55]

Which is an excellent Plug-and-Play mesh system, by the way. I wouldn't replace it with any ZenWiFi model.

Thanks, my Internet speeds have doubled since I set up the Asus. Want to make this work, which it seems to be except for the weird issue of devices not connecting to the Satellite despite the node having a great signal.

Software seems buggy though...

 

[Brookie55]

You may want to start by disabling MLO. There have been some reports that this caused issues. Future firmware updates may fix it...
Some here consider WIFI 7 still in the testing mode and not ready for production.

I tried that last night and devices still wouldn't connect to the satellite. My question is maybe I only need one unit in my house?

 

[Tech9]

Software seems buggy though...

I have 30 days to return this thing

Make sure you don't miss the deadline or accept Wi-Fi 7 beta testing membership. Your choice.

 

[Brookie55]

I get that. Sounds like you have had bad experiences with it. I did read an article that the bt10 has been stable since the November firmware update.

 

[Tech9]

My question is maybe I only need one unit in my house?

If you had single Google Wifi Pro unit and it was covering your place with good enough signal - you most likely don't need 2x mesh units. Test with single BT10 and see if it works better in your environment. Most ZenWiFi issues are AiMesh related.

 

[Brookie55]

I will do that. What if I did a factory reset on the satellite and then added it again seeing if it worked like it was supposed to. Then if the behavior is the same, remove it and test everything for proper speeds?

 

[Tech9]

Experiment with it and see what works for you. If it doesn't work as advertised and up to your expectations right now - 30 days. You won't be the first one returning Wi-Fi 7 product and issues are not limited to Asus products in particular. Some manufacturers are on few hardware revisions already. If you decide to keep it and continue beta testing - don't be surprised to see BT10 V2 after some time. Good luck!

 

[Brookie55]

Experiment with it and see what works for you. If it doesn't work as advertised and up to your expectations right now - 30 days. You won't be the first one returning Wi-Fi 7 product and issues are not limited to Asus products in particular. Some manufacturers are on few hardware revisions already. If you decide to keep it and continue beta testing - don't be surprised to see BT10 V2 after some time. Good luck!

 

[Brookie55]

Thanks...

 

[bbunge]

One thing I encourage new users of AiMesh to do is to use the default settings. That includes using SmartConnect. Set up the AiMesh node and let the system select how it operates. Ethernet backhaul is best but do not be hasty in enabling the Ethernet Backhaul Mode. Let the system run as is. It may take some time for the clients to choose which WIFI to connect to.

 

[Tech9]

That includes using SmartConnect.

This product may not have Smart Connect in settings or it will be removed with next firmware updates. The new way of setting Networks and broadcasting on Radios in 3006 firmware is different than what you see on your AX-class Pro router. Smart Connect and Guest Network Pro are both already removed in 37xxx firmware for most BE-class devices.

 

[Brookie55]

One thing I encourage new users of AiMesh to do is to use the default settings. That includes using SmartConnect. Set up the AiMesh node and let the system select how it operates. Ethernet backhaul is best but do not be hasty in enabling the Ethernet Backhaul Mode. Let the system run as is. It may take some time for the clients to choose which WIFI to connect to.

I will try that. Thank you

 

[wrink]

Yo

So I picked up this router from Amazon because there was a price drop of 200 dollars. I am coming from a Google Nest Pro Mesh unit that was pretty much plug and play I know very little about networks as well( willing.to learn though).

I have the router set up with the main unit in the basement and the satellite set up on the 1st level. One thing I don't understand is why all the devices are connecting to the basement unit, both on the first floor and the second floor. The devices in the same room as a satellite are still connecting to the basement unit. The satellite unit according to the app has a great signal as well.

I've already had to reset the router once because of some settings I tinkered with caused lots of problems so I'm trying to do this very slowly and deliberately.

Any help would be appreciated. I have 30 days to return this thing so I want to find out if it's going to be workable for me. I do have the newest firmware update. As far as speeds go, all devices are working well and have been staying connected so far.

I'm not using a BT10 as a Zenwifi mesh - simply using it as a main router with an AX58 as the AiMesh node - and the clients are connecting and hopping fine between the two mesh nodes fine for me, on the 5 GHz network - as one might expect based on their locations. Yes, I bought it only after DongKnows' review cited firmware stability and usability improvements after the Nov. 6 update. With my specific setup, I am having no issues whatsoever - and I consider Zenwifi as just a marketing gimmick - as Asus sells one-pack of the BT10, not just two or more. So a good question you ask is whether you indeed need more than 2 nodes.

I have kept MLO off, since my clients don't support it anyways - so that'd be something worth trying. It may not be mature in the firmware yet, and I can wait for it.

One thing I've learned the hard way in this forum is: Certain specific posters have significant biases and agendas across their profilic posts in this forum - while not even owning/using Asus products, they try to sell other makes of routers instead of Asus. Not at all constructive. While there are certainly members who genuinely try to help - snbforums today can be very different from the data-driven Smallnetworkbuilder.com by Tim Higgins. So you might have better troubleshooting luck also asking quesitons to DongKnows posted BT10 review - where several users have chimed in, apart from DongKnows.

 

[Brookie55]

I will look into that. Thank you.

 

[Brookie55]

Okay, I seem to have solved the problem of devices not connecting to the satellite unit. Contrary to what I've been told, and I consider myself pretty clueless, I saw that the MLO Fronthaul Hall for clients was turned off. I turned it back on (not sure if this actually did it, but it seems to be working). Shortly thereafter, clients started connecting to the satellite unit. Right now, I literally only have one Wi-Fi seven capable device, and that's my Pixel 9 Pro XL. Everything else in the house is Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 5.







The speeds are fantastic. I had to go into Device Manager and change the network adapter settings to "Preferred 5 GHz" because for some reason 2 of my laptops were using the 2.4 GHz band, which was causing slow speeds. So clueless me got things working for now. I'm not sure how long it's going to last. I'm going to stop tinkering with it and hopefully things stay pretty stable.



Thanks for all the replies

 

[wrink]

Glad its working out for you.

Its working out well for me too - stable, reliable with 160 MHz bandwidths across both 6 GHz and 5 GHz channels so far - with uptime exceeding 7 days or more. Yes, the key for me was not to get unnecessarily adventurous with the current firmware as well too - I kept MLO off, while still keeping Wifi7 mode on and the same SSID for 6 GHz and 5 GHz (+ 2.4 GHz) and an additional, different 2.4 GHz SSID for IoT devices works well for me across all 27 or so devices on my home network.

There are always early adopter challenges with new technology, and will let Asus stabilize and mature the firmware, and I will get on-board with Wifi7 more, especially the 6 GHz band that my Apple laptops currently support. I plan to get a second unit of the BT10 for making the most of the 6 GHz band, using mesh eventually (as the hardware price starts dropping perhaps). I was initially considering the BQ16 - but decided that dual 6 GHz bands was overkill for my needs - but I still wanted 4x4 Tri-band capability, including 6 GHz. Also will be nice to see if Asus enables AFC on the BT10, as they seem to have told DongKnows.

 

[Brookie55]

Did you get this firmware update? ZenWiFi_BT10 : 3.0.0.6.102_36808-g0393d96_1036-g1e6e7_BB0B.