Asus Zenwifi Xt8 issues.

[gemini38]

Hi

I'm new on this site and wanted to check if anyone is having similar issue as mine. I have two ZenWiFI XT8 where one is set as the main router and the other as the node.

The main router is located in the living room (ground floor) and the node is in my room. The current ISP package in the flat is 800Mbps, now when I do a speed test in the living room close to the router I get the full ISP package 800Mpbs download and uploads. But a different history is when I do a speed test in my room (first floor) where the other node is, on this location I am getting around 420 Mbps download and 450 Mbps uploads. I've seen a few posts here asking similar questions about this one and I can confirm that on my case the 5GHz-2 band is being used as the dedicated wireless backhaul.

So is this normal that I should be getting half the speed of the ISP package on the second node, where I should be getting the full speed?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

[digits n bits]

I don't have my XT8's anymore but my node worked at full isp speed using the wifi backhaul. A lot depends on your environment, how far are the nodes from the router, etc. I got tired of being a tech babysitter to a wifi system so its gone to the great wifi in the sky. You might try the RC 7 firmware from Asus it works pretty well.

 

[3s1k]

I returned mine back to Amazon. I couldn't get more that 60% speeds anywhere even inches from the main router. Then the Node would constantly shut off and won't power on. I really wanted to like the mesh router. Support wasn't much help just sending the generic try this and that.

I now have a single Asus RT-AX86u and I get way better performance from a single router than the XT8. I have Gig internet and I can get 850 down in the living room and 500+ in my bedroom which is almost 35ft away through a few walls.

 

[gemini38]

I don't have my XT8's anymore but my node worked at full isp speed using the wifi backhaul. A lot depends on your environment, how far are the nodes from the router, etc. I got tired of being a tech babysitter to a wifi system so its gone to the great wifi in the sky. You might try the RC 7 firmware from Asus it works pretty well.

The node which is the room (first floor) is about 60 - 70 feet apart from the router. I recently upgraded to the RC 7 firmware and is working quite well, however the issue is with the speed difference on the node not broadcasting the full ISP speed. I'm starting to think that there is a setting that need to be adjust so the node can broadcast the full speed.

Also, I tnoced with other users who has this same mesh system that being a tri-band kit when I enable smart connect I can only see or set it up to a dula-band, why is that, am I missing somethinhg here?

 

[3s1k]

The node which is the room (first floor) is about 60 - 70 feet apart from the router. I recently upgraded to the RC 7 firmware and is working quite well, however the issue is with the speed difference on the node not broadcasting the full ISP speed. I'm starting to think that there is a setting that need to be adjust so the node can broadcast the full speed.

Also, I tnoced with other users who has this same mesh system that being a tri-band kit when I enable smart connect I can only see or set it up to a dula-band, why is that, am I missing somethinhg here?

That is correct on Smart Connect. It will set a single SSID for the 2.4 and 5ghz-1 band and it's up to your devices to choose the correct band. The 5ghz-2 band is still for dedicated backhaul.

On my setup, the mesh was about 40ft apart going from first floor office to 2nd floor bedroom. Speeds still sucked even standing next to either the node or the router. I could never get good speeds anywhere.

 

[gemini38]

That is correct on Smart Connect. It will set a single SSID for the 2.4 and 5ghz-1 band and it's up to your devices to choose the correct band. The 5ghz-2 band is still for dedicated backhaul.

On my setup, the mesh was about 40ft apart going from first floor office to 2nd floor bedroom. Speeds still sucked even standing next to either the node or the router. I could never get good speeds anywhere.

Asus need to tweak the ZenWiFi more with futures firmware, these units have a powerful cpu and six internal antenna which should provide good speeds at long range.

The fact that you can only get half speed on the second node is disappointing. Asus should unlock the full potential this mesh system has.

 

[3s1k]

@gemini38 I agree. I was so pumped to get the XT8 especially since it was sold out everywhere. All the reviews checked out and was excellent. But it was terrible when I got my hands on it. Only thing to get full speeds was my PC that was hardwired to it. Anything else was just sub-par. For the price I was expecting so much more out of it.

So far I'm very happy with my AX86u. If I could centralize it more in my house I'd be happier but I don't have any outlets in the middle of the house. I have a long house so it's either to far forward, or to far back.

 

[gemini38]

I though should update on my latest findings. Yesterday I was this close to buy around 25 meters of Cat7 Ethernet flat cable so I can run the cable all the way from the living room main mesh router to my room where is the second node located on the first floor. Then all of the sudden I decide to place the node in my room on different locations (inside the room) to see if the speed could improve above 400Mpbs.


Before I used to have the node on a top shelve around 1.60 meters from the floor, then I moved the node down a bit lower to 1.37 meters and after running a few speed tests the speed improved dramatically, I was starting to get around 500 and 600Mbps. Then I decided to place the node a bit lower closer to the floor, basically I put it at 72cm from the floor on top of my desk which is where currently is now and, now I am getting around 650 to almost 750 or even 770Mbps downloads and uploads.

Because the fact that the main node- router is on top of a shelve in the living room on the ground floor and the other node is on the first floor 72cm above the floor, this drastically improved the speeds and now I am getting almost the full ISP package. This have saved me some money because as I said at the beginning, I was thinking to wire the main node to the second one in order to get the full speed of the ISP.

So with this personal experience, even if the router you have has powerful hardware and capabilities it is also very important the position or place you put it in order to get the best performance of it.

 

[3s1k]

Glad you got it worked out. I had mine on a nightstand in my office and the node on a shelf about 5ft high off the ground. I never tried it any lower because the Node was reboot on its own or shutoff for hours without coming back on so I just returned it.