Asus Zenwifi ET8 slow WiFi Speeds

[mkhan0104]

Hey Everyone,

First time in this forum and posting.

I just got the Asus Zenwifi ET8 router and I am getting fairly slow wifi throughput.
I have Verizon FiOS Gigabit service and plugged straight into the Asus router.

Wired I am getting proper speeds around 900/900 average but over wifi 5 or 6 or 6E it is averaging 350mbps down/150mbps up which fairly slow and slower then my older Orbi mesh router which I am replacing due to reliability issues. The Orbi wifi usually averages 500 down and 650 up.

I also have a few tplink iot bulbs that have been acting up and have delayed responsiveness using the Asus router vs the Orbi.

I have turned off smart connect.

On a side note I also tried the Zenwifi XT8 last week and it was doing the same thing so I returned and figured try the latest version as I generally like Asus products and there app/interface is pretty nice.

Any suggestions or assistance will be appreciated.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hey Everyone,

First time in this forum and posting.

I just got the Asus Zenwifi ET8 router and I am getting fairly slow wifi throughput.
I have Verizon FiOS Gigabit service and plugged straight into the Asus router.

Wired I am getting proper speeds around 900/900 average but over wifi 5 or 6 or 6E it is averaging 350mbps down/150mbps up which fairly slow and slower then my older Orbi mesh router which I am replacing due to reliability issues. The Orbi wifi usually averages 500 down and 650 up.

I also have a few tplink iot bulbs that have been acting up and have delayed responsiveness using the Asus router vs the Orbi.

I have turned off smart connect.

On a side note I also tried the Zenwifi XT8 last week and it was doing the same thing so I returned and figured try the latest version as I generally like Asus products and there app/interface is pretty nice.

Any suggestions or assistance will be appreciated.

At what link rate Mbps does your wireless speed test client connect to the WLAN? You'll have to inspect its wireless connection properties to find this.

OE

 

[mkhan0104]

At what link rate Mbps does your wireless speed test client connect to the WLAN? You'll have to inspect its wireless connection properties to find this.

OE

It's between 750 to 1200 on the 5ghz band and 2.3gpbs on 6E.

 

[OzarkEdge]

It's between 750 to 1200 on the 5ghz band and 2.3gpbs on 6E.

With WiFi being half-duplex, plus overhead, plus any sharing of WiFi with a wireless backhaul and any other clients (including your neighbors) operating on the same frequencies... I'd expect speeds less than half of the link rate, subject to your bandwidth setting and any slow down due to channel interference.

Are you using the 6.0 band as a dedicated wireless backhaul?

Have you set the 5.0 bandwidth to 80 MHz and tried different non-DFS channels?

I'm not familiar with the 6.0 band settings yet.

There is only the initial 6/21/2021 firmware... that's always a concern.

OE

 

[mkhan0104]

With WiFi being half-duplex, plus overhead, plus any sharing of WiFi with a wireless backhaul and any other clients (including your neighbors) operating on the same frequencies... I'd expect speeds less than half of the link rate, subject to your bandwidth setting and any slow down due to channel interference.

Are you using the 6.0 band as a dedicated wireless backhaul?

Have you set the 5.0 bandwidth to 80 MHz and tried different non-DFS channels?

I'm not familiar with the 6.0 band settings yet.

There is only the initial 6/21/2021 firmware... that's always a concern.

OE

Yeah I get the interference and the sharing but I was getting around 500 down and 600 up on my older mesh router so I expect this to at least be in the same range but should be giving me better performance.
I tested this by itself first and then added the mesh point which didn't really make any difference in terms of speed degradation. I have the 2.4ghz set 40mhz and 5.0 is set to 80 right now.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Yeah I get the interference and the sharing but I was getting around 500 down and 600 up on my older mesh router so I expect this to at least be in the same range but should be giving me better performance.
I tested this by itself first and then added the mesh point which didn't really make any difference in terms of speed degradation. I have the 2.4ghz set 40mhz and 5.0 is set to 80 right now.

One difference could be that the Orbi may have used a dedicated wireless backhaul on the third band.

Sidebar... 2.4 travels far, so if you have neighboring 2.4 WLANs, you should consider using 20 MHz bandwidth (less speed/throughput) and the least congested 2.4 channel, typically 1,6,11 or 1,5,9,13, to minimize interference (slow down).

OE

 

[Piel]

The XT8 has a similar issue with FiOS - WiFi upload speeds are crap. Some people have had success putting a wired router in between the ASUS and the Verizon ONT, but I haven't tried it personally.

 

[mkhan0104]

The XT8 has a similar issue with FiOS - upload speeds are crap. Some people have had success putting a wired router in between the ASUS and the Verizon ONT, but I haven't tried it personally.

Ah interesting and may explain why when I tried XT8 and the Rapture GT-AX11000 I experienced the same issue as the ET8. But what I find confusing is that wired speeds are fine and its just the wifi that is impacted. I am thinking of grabbing the Eero Pro 6 later today to test that out to see if that works better. I know Verizon also sells those so maybe they have some compatibility on there network I don't know.

I really don't want to go back to the Orbi as I tried the Orbi 852 and even though it gave me double the speeds of the Asus over Wifi it also kept restarting every few hours.

Maybe I should re-route it using the FiOS router that is used for the channel guides as I currently have that connected to Asus router as a client? I really want to use the Asus as the router and not have to setup it up as just a AP.

 

[Poseidon]

$650 Asus mesh router with crappy wireless speeds and performance. Not surprised. All Asus mesh systems have underperformed. I’d get a refund and look elsewhere. Preferably Netgear Orbi or TP Link.

 

[mkhan0104]

One difference could be that the Orbi may have used a dedicated wireless backhaul on the third band.

Sidebar... 2.4 travels far, so if you have neighboring 2.4 WLANs, you should consider using 20 MHz bandwidth (less speed/throughput) and the least congested 2.4 channel, typically 1,6,11 or 1,5,9,13, to minimize interference (slow down).

OE

I think this has the same option for the backhaul. The backhaul is currently working over 6ghz and I can play around with 2.4ghz to see if that does anything. Have it currently running on channel 11 and just switched it to 20mhz.

 

[mkhan0104]

$650 Asus mesh router with crappy wireless speeds and performance. Not surprised. All Asus mesh systems have underperformed. I’d get a refund and look elsewhere. Preferably Netgear Orbi or TP Link.

I haven't tried TP-Link yet either maybe I will give it a go as well. Netgear has been screwing up there firmware updates so I rather stay away. My older router is a Netgear Orbi 750 which is also been restarting every so often and sometimes needs a power cycle to start working again which is horrible for a router that is barely a year old and Netgear support just told me I am going to have to buy a new one...

 

[Piel]

Ah interesting and may explain why when I tried XT8 and the Rapture GT-AX11000 I experienced the same issue as the ET8. But what I find confusing is that wired speeds are fine and its just the wifi that is impacted. I am thinking of grabbing the Eero Pro 6 later today to test that out to see if that works better. I know Verizon also sells those so maybe they have some compatibility on there network I don't know.

I really don't want to go back to the Orbi as I tried the Orbi 852 and even though it gave me double the speeds of the Asus over Wifi it also kept restarting every few hours.

Maybe I should re-route it using the FiOS router that is used for the channel guides as I currently have that connected to Asus router as a client? I really want to use the Asus as the router and not have to setup it up as just a AP.

Ya, it's a head-scratcher. My wired speeds are as expected: 500/500. WiFi speeds on any device in my home, including WiFi 6 clients, are never better than 500/200. I've given up trying to fix it, but I'm not going to go buy a new set-up given that I spent a large sum of money on my 4 node system. Not buying ASUS again.

 

[mkhan0104]

Ya, it's a head-scratcher. My wired speeds are as expected: 500/500. WiFi speeds on any device in my home, including WiFi 6 clients, are never better than 500/200. I've given up trying to fix it, but I'm not going to go buy a new set-up given that I spent a large sum of money on my 4 node system. Not buying ASUS again.

Yeah I realize that the Asus Mesh systems have mixed real world reviews. I am still in the return window so will most likely swap it out with something else if it doesn't pan out but yeah if you have already gone ahead with the investment then might as well keep it for now.

 

[Piel]

If you're in the window, I'd switch out. Wish I had done so, but I purchased it at the height of the pandemic.

 

[mrwabam]

FWIW- I just purchased the XT8 as well and getting horrible wifi speeds as well. I have done both a wired and wireless backhaul- no impact on speed.

My old RB50 was getting 2x the wifi speeds.

Verizon Fios 1gb direct to router, and wired backhaul plugged directly into the main. The main is slightly faster than the node, but only marginally.

Returning tomorrow.

 

[mkhan0104]

Wanted to give an update on this. After I rerouted the connection via the Verizon router my wifi speeds got a big boost. Tested the Asus ET8, Asus Rapture GT11000 and they both were providing much better throughput but now I have a double nat issue that I gotta figure out as I don't want to run the router as just an AP as I also have FiOS tv service.
I am choosing to stay with the Asus Rapture as it seems to be giving decent speeds without the need of a mesh System.
Getting about 850mbps now.
Freaking Verizon ended up being the issue.

 

[Mikejd1]

Wanted to give an update on this. After I rerouted the connection via the Verizon router my wifi speeds got a big boost. Tested the Asus ET8, Asus Rapture GT11000 and they both were providing much better throughput but now I have a double nat issue that I gotta figure out as I don't want to run the router as just an AP as I also have FiOS tv service.
I am choosing to stay with the Asus Rapture as it seems to be giving decent speeds without the need of a mesh System.
Getting about 850mbps now.
Freaking Verizon ended up being the issue.

hey there , i know this thread is old, but i have the asus ET8 and im getting terrible WIFI speeds as well, all my wireless devices on a 1Gig FIOs plan are all under 200mbs, i can never get any higher than that, and i have issues with thread supported devices as well, usually delays with turning lights on, etc..this shouldnt be happening. May i ask, what you ended up changing with the ET8 that gave you the boost? you said this was a verizon issue, so what exactly changed?

 

[Devang Patel]

hey there , i know this thread is old, but i have the asus ET8 and im getting terrible WIFI speeds as well, all my wireless devices on a 1Gig FIOs plan are all under 200mbs, i can never get any higher than that, and i have issues with thread supported devices as well, usually delays with turning lights on, etc..this shouldnt be happening. May i ask, what you ended up changing with the ET8 that gave you the boost? you said this was a verizon issue, so what exactly changed?

try the firmware from GNUton. its a fork from Merlin.

asuswrt-merlin.ng

Extends the support of Asus Merlin firmware to more routers

gnuton.github.io

Release 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 · gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

GNUton's Asus Merlin changelog Date: August 04, 2024 Release: 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 UPDATED: backported all upstream changes up to 3004.388.8_2 FIXED: fixed cake support to 5.04axhnd 6750 and 6756 ...

github.com

i had issues with my ET8 (slow wifi uploads). flashed this firmware and it fixed it. for the ET8 you need the RT-AXE95Q firmware. flash it from the web interface the same way you would an asus firmware.

now that this firmware is available maybe asus will release one too.

 

[Devang Patel]

Hey Everyone,

First time in this forum and posting.

I just got the Asus Zenwifi ET8 router and I am getting fairly slow wifi throughput.
I have Verizon FiOS Gigabit service and plugged straight into the Asus router.

Wired I am getting proper speeds around 900/900 average but over wifi 5 or 6 or 6E it is averaging 350mbps down/150mbps up which fairly slow and slower then my older Orbi mesh router which I am replacing due to reliability issues. The Orbi wifi usually averages 500 down and 650 up.

I also have a few tplink iot bulbs that have been acting up and have delayed responsiveness using the Asus router vs the Orbi.

I have turned off smart connect.

On a side note I also tried the Zenwifi XT8 last week and it was doing the same thing so I returned and figured try the latest version as I generally like Asus products and there app/interface is pretty nice.

Any suggestions or assistance will be appreciated.

try the firmware from GNUton. its a fork from Merlin.

asuswrt-merlin.ng

Extends the support of Asus Merlin firmware to more routers

gnuton.github.io

Release 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 · gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

GNUton's Asus Merlin changelog Date: August 04, 2024 Release: 3004.388.8_2-gnuton1 UPDATED: backported all upstream changes up to 3004.388.8_2 FIXED: fixed cake support to 5.04axhnd 6750 and 6756 ...

github.com

i had issues with my ET8 (slow wifi uploads). flashed this firmware and it fixed it. for the ET8 you need the RT-AXE95Q firmware. flash it from the web interface the same way you would an asus firmware.

now that this firmware is available maybe asus will release one too.