ASUS ZenWiFi XT12 or ET12

[vw-tx]

I bought the ET12 and sitting sealed in a box and may return it for the XT12. I heard and saw an article from some dog site that said the et12 is not good for penetration of walls. And I’d have worse speeds. I have eero pro 6 - 3 puck. I get around 200 or less at my third hop. I wanted to improve that and see i can at least get my internet speed all over. 400-500 down. Where the internet comes in is at the back of the house and the office is in front. Around 60 or so feet through 3 walls which includes the kitchen. No wiring in house. Wireless Backhaul a Must.

would this system be the wrong one or should I return it?

 

[Bhoot®]

I've had XT8, ET12, AX11000 and AXE16000. Once you understand the bands you will get why XT12 is better:
XT8 has bands 2.4+5-1 and 5-2.
ET12 has bans 2.4+5-1 and 6 (no 5-2).
6 = really crappy range + same speed as 5.
If you want the best wireless band router linking setup, I'd go for XT8/XT12 - tri-band with 5-1 and 5-2 bands not WiFi 6e = 6 band.

Even something like the AXE1600 can only give you the same performance as the XT8/XT12 setup as the WiFI 6e 6 band is next to useless. Just spent the week failing to get the AXE16000 (crappy firmware for aimesh) aimesh working to XT8 nodes, had to set them to repeater mode.

If you want the aimesh thing then stick to XT range or specifically 2.4+5-1+5-2Ghz WiFi bands.

 

[Dodge DeBoulet]

I bought the ET12 and sitting sealed in a box and may return it for the XT12. I heard and saw an article from some dog site that said the et12 is not good for penetration of walls. And I’d have worse speeds. I have eero pro 6 - 3 puck. I get around 200 or less at my third hop. I wanted to improve that and see i can at least get my internet speed all over. 400-500 down. Where the internet comes in is at the back of the house and the office is in front. Around 60 or so feet through 3 walls which includes the kitchen. No wiring in house. Wireless Backhaul a Must.

would this system be the wrong one or should I return it?

From personal experience I can say that the 6GHz radio on the ET12 doesn't have much of an issue with the sort of walls found in the US (stick-built house in my case). My parent and child nodes have 3 walls between them and I'm currently using the wireless backhaul. I get the same performance on the child as I do on the parent node.

I also get outstanding range outside, with download speeds dropping to the double-digit realm at more than 300ft from the house (to be fair, not on 6GHz ... but the transition is seamless to 5 and 2.4GHz).

The ET12 is very fast and stable, and I'm quite satisfied with my decision to dump the Orbi quad-band RBKE936 for it.

 

[mstar]

From personal experience I can say that the 6GHz radio on the ET12 doesn't have much of an issue with the sort of walls found in the US (stick-built house in my case). My parent and child nodes have 3 walls between them and I'm currently using the wireless backhaul. I get the same performance on the child as I do on the parent node.

I also get outstanding range outside, with download speeds dropping to the double-digit realm at more than 300ft from the house (to be fair, not on 6GHz ... but the transition is seamless to 5 and 2.4GHz).

The ET12 is very fast and stable, and I'm quite satisfied with my decision to dump the Orbi quad-band RBKE936 for it.

Just out of interest have you set smart connect on or off? i heard on here it can cause issues?

 

[Bhoot®]

From personal experience I can say that the 6GHz radio on the ET12 doesn't have much of an issue with the sort of walls found in the US (stick-built house in my case). My parent and child nodes have 3 walls between them and I'm currently using the wireless backhaul. I get the same performance on the child as I do on the parent node.

I also get outstanding range outside, with download speeds dropping to the double-digit realm at more than 300ft from the house (to be fair, not on 6GHz ... but the transition is seamless to 5 and 2.4GHz).

The ET12 is very fast and stable, and I'm quite satisfied with my decision to dump the Orbi quad-band RBKE936 for it.

If works great, did not mean offend, people have different use cases. For some its WIFI signal everywhere. For me, its a very strong stable signal, most of my comms is internal, Internet wise only wired devices can pull more than gig. In my example, ET12 for wireless backhaul uses either the 6Ghz band or 5Ghz most, one of them most of the time. If its using that band, then the speed availabel to clients is reduced. 6Ghz signal range is a joke in my opinion, the drop off distance wise is crazy low. This is after testing ET12 myself, switched of the XT8s. Also the the fact it switched between 5/6 bands make unhappy. These devices are not cheap. Ordered some XT12, will give the 3x XT8s to family as its due an upgrade + AX11000 as main router.

 

[Dodge DeBoulet]

Just out of interest have you set smart connect on or off? i heard on here it can cause issues?

Smart Connect can be set to off, dual-band or tri-band.

(apologies, hit send too soon). I have it set to dual-band.

 

[Dodge DeBoulet]

If works great, did not mean offend, people have different use cases. For some its WIFI signal everywhere. For me, its a very strong stable signal, most of my comms is internal, Internet wise only wired devices can pull more than gig. In my example, ET12 for wireless backhaul uses either the 6Ghz band or 5Ghz most, one of them most of the time. If its using that band, then the speed availabel to clients is reduced. 6Ghz signal range is a joke in my opinion, the drop off distance wise is crazy low. This is after testing ET12 myself, switched of the XT8s. Also the the fact it switched between 5/6 bands make unhappy. These devices are not cheap. Ordered some XT12, will give the 3x XT8s to family as its due an upgrade + AX11000 as main router.

If you have 6GHz devices (I have 3), I don't see the downside to the ET-12. It's not that different from the frequency range provided by 5-1, and its channels are clear in most areas ... at least until 6E becomes more prevalent. 6GHz is not a problem in most of my 4000sf house, and although it's true that it won't provide much in the way of a performance benefit for me, someone who lives in an area with a crowded 2.4 and/or 5GHz spectrum might appreciate it.

I think it's also important to note that the 5-1 and 5-2 bands are all available for use on the ET12s. The distinction is that the XT12 has separate radios for 5-1 and 5-2, while the ET12 has only one for the entire range. It uses a separate radio for 6GHz.

 

[Bhoot®]

If you have 6GHz devices (I have 3), I don't see the downside to the ET-12. It's not that different from the frequency range provided by 5-1, and its channels are clear in most areas ... at least until 6E becomes more prevalent. 6GHz is not a problem in most of my 4000sf house, and although it's true that it won't provide much in the way of a performance benefit for me, someone who lives in an area with a crowded 2.4 and/or 5GHz spectrum might appreciate it.

I think it's also important to note that the 5-1 and 5-2 bands are all available for use on the ET12s. The distinction is that the XT12 has separate radios for 5-1 and 5-2, while the ET12 has only one for the entire range. It uses a separate radio for 6GHz.

The key issue for me is that 6Ghz range is my eyes, same speed as 5-2Ghz band and much lower range. For busy WIFI areas, I see the benefit of 6Ghz, but I want the best speed at the most distance, that way I get better overall speeds. ET12 does not support the 5-2Ghz band with no dedicated backhaul, does not support UNII-4 support. ET12 does support 2.4+5+6 vs XT12 2.4+5-1+52. If I was doing wired backhaul then ET12, wireless backhaul then XT12.

 

[mstar]

Smart Connect can be set to off, dual-band or tri-band.

(apologies, hit send too soon). I have it set to dual-band.

cool i am just using the x12 as a single router i am hoping just like the ISP router i have good enough coverage! i have a few 2.4hz devices i read some seem to throw a wobbly with this and the Xt8

 

[Dodge DeBoulet]

I have a bunch of 2.4GHz IoT devices that absolutely could not tolerate the NetGear Orbi RBKE963. They'd drop off after a week or two but would start to get flakey before they disconnected. I could tell I was headed for an Orbi reboot when I would tell Alexa to turn on the office lights and only one (of the two, not always the same one) would light up.

I've had absolutely no issues with them since I switched to the ET12s. They just work and I don't have to think about them.

 

[mstar]

I have a bunch of 2.4GHz IoT devices that absolutely could not tolerate the NetGear Orbi RBKE963. They'd drop off after a week or two but would start to get flakey before they disconnected. I could tell I was headed for an Orbi reboot when I would tell Alexa to turn on the office lights and only one (of the two, not always the same one) would light up.

I've had absolutely no issues with them since I switched to the ET12s. They just work and I don't have to think about them.

nice to know i have the same, BTW on the E21 is smartconnect on or off for you? did it make any difference with your IoT devices?
I have the xt12 and was wondering if i should split the 2.5/5ghz bands or not.

 

[Dodge DeBoulet]

nice to know i have the same, BTW on the E21 is smartconnect on or off for you? did it make any difference with your IoT devices?
I have the xt12 and was wondering if i should split the 2.5/5ghz bands or not.

Dual-band SmartConnect is enabled, but I have the IoT devices on a guest network that is restricted to the 2.4GHz radio.

 

[mstar]

Dual-band SmartConnect is enabled, but I have the IoT devices on a guest network that is restricted to the 2.4GHz radio.

Good idea that could be a option! cheers

 

[Dodge DeBoulet]

The fact that you could have up to 3 guest networks on each radio was a real surprise to me. So much more configurability than the wifi hardware I've had in the past ...

 

[vw-tx]

I’m returning my et12 kit for now till I decide. I think Ces may show us some new stuff and I can decide then. I should have got the xt12 honestly. So no biggie. Our eero WiFi 6 pros are working for now just not the best performance. And monthly fees.

 

[Yngvai]

I've got the ET12's with the backhaul set to auto but it's been using the 6 ghz for backhaul. The 6 ghz has worked surprisingly well for me for wireless backhaul. I thought the distance would be too far for it to work effectively.

I've got a 2100 sq foot house. Main ET12 is in loft office upstairs at one end of the house. ET12 satellite is in downstairs family room at the other end of the house. RSSI for the satellite hovers around 70 dbm.

I've got a "up to 1.2 gbps" Xfinity package. Wired speeds range from 1.1 to 1.4. Tests from my Wifi-6 capable laptop hover around 800 mbps when in the same room as the satellite.

I don't have any devices using the 6 ghz band. I've got the 6 ghz band set to a separate SSID (with single SSID/smart connect for 2.4/5...basically the default when you first get it). Only device I have right now that's even capable of using 6 ghz is my Samsung phone anyway.

I'll say it's the first time since being in this house (since 2012) that I've been 100% happy with my network coverage and speed. Had a Nest mesh before that, and a RT-N66U with TP-Link extender before that.

Of course everybody's house layout is different. The fact that my office is in an open loft and I can put the ET12 main router up high (I have it on a shelf up in the loft) likely helps (rather than being in a completely enclosed room).

Now as years go by and more 6 ghz capable devices come out, and if I ever want to start using that 6 ghz channel for something other than backhaul, then I'd probably work on getting an ethernet connection in that family room for wired backhaul (tried MOCA there but discovered my cabling is bad and MOCA wouldn't work). But for now I'm really loving the ET12 and the 6 ghz backhaul is working well despite the distance.

 

[rmariboe]

I went for the XT8s back when ETs weren't released yet.
In my area, the upper channels of 5-2 are constantly blocked by radar so wireless backhaul is pretty much useless for me, and I've resorted to wiring two of the XT8s in AIMesh Router/Node mode and configuring the third in Media Bridge mode connected via very congested 5-1. The design of the *T12 is too intrusive for me so I'm looking into the ET8s for that clean 4x4 6 GHz band...

 

[glens]

You shouldn't have radar problems using 5-2 for (even 160) backhaul if you enable UNII-4.

 

[mstar]

I thought the same to, as its only for the nodes?

 

[glens]

My most-current clients are AX200-equipped and they don't do UNII-4. And my backhaul is wired so I've not toyed with it, but I see no reason it shouldn't work wireless up high on 5-2.