GT-BE98 WIFI 7

[Spartanjet]

I just set up my BE98 Pro it works perfectly. I also got prompted to update the firmware which did not give me any issues.

 

[Jadehsn]

I might try resetting it one more time, and see if I get any different result. I've been playing with T-mobile Home Internet as a backup WAN, and I do wonder if it's throwing things off somehow.

 

[Plak]

My BE-98 Pro updated easily upon setting it up without any issues. Running it pretty much in stock setting. The AI mesh area is definitely not working correctly as it's not showing the 6ghz via ethernet backhaul and also it will mess up the names of the bands and overwrite them causing headaches. So I'll wait for further firmware releases before I attempt to add any other router. For now using it standalone works really great! Most likely will get another one to pair it with and sell my AXE-16000 routers.

So far very happy with it's performance as standalone. Will be great to run two of them in my home once firmware matures. I think pairing it with the axe-16000 is a bit odd too as the 16000 has a 2nd 5ghz. So far it isn't a great pairing mixing these two as they have different bands. I tried it and it was a mixed bag. Some of my devices would not connect but I believe that was due to the capable PMF setting which I learned some devices just don't like and cause issues. But I guess that's to be expected with a brand new router that needs a lot of firmware maturity. It was the same experience I had when I just got the axe-16000; the AI mesh simply would not work correctly until asus fixed it. Also strange that it doesn't see the axe-16000 via wired backhaul initially, only see's it as wifi.

Here is the wired backhaul being enabled and 6ghz not being available. And it keeps changing the SSID names and passwords. I would think it just uses the existing SSID name and password without having a mind of its own and changing it. Maybe it's simply not enabled in the current stat of firmware. Not expecting a flawless experience from beginning anyway. Oh well brand new router fun days

 

[Jadehsn]

Tried doing another hard reset on mine. Had it hooked directly into my bridged comcast modem and bypassing anything with t-mobile. Same results. No changes save unless I physically turn on/off the router.

 

[MDK]

My idea for this router is its more powerfull to control my 10gb/10gb conection (more stable) i dont really care about the wifi stuff, i only need 800 to 1000mb over wifi for ipads, iphones etc, hope its a litle more powerfull then my GTAXE16000

 

[Chris313AllNight]

My idea for this router is its more powerfull to control my 10gb/10gb conection (more stable) i dont really care about the wifi stuff, i only need 800 to 1000mb over wifi for ipads, iphones etc, hope its a litle more powerfull then my GTAXE16000

If memory serves, I think I read on Dong Knows review of the BE96, that it's capable of 6.5 Gigs, while the AXE16000 taps out at about 6. So better, but only slightly. It was also suggested that ASUS was working on something to improve speeds to more than 6, but dunno what became of that. With that said, I'd think the BE98 Pro, would do about 6.5 too. Not 10 Gigs, but close enough that it'd take AT&T Fiber's 5 Gig package and a little more. Not bad for a consumer unit.

 

[Plak]

I submitted feedback from my issue I am experiencing with the aimesh so we'll see. I really want this router to be my main replacement for many years to come to move over to wifi 7 but also as said have better WAN/LAN performance overall. So far It's performance is impressive and I can only imagine firmware improvements making it even better as they did with the AXE-16000. I'd love to have ATT fiber but I know spectrum high splits are coming near end of next year possibly to give much faster upload and download speeds. But knowing how cable companies do things I wouldn't hold my breath on this. I am curious to see dong's review of it next year too once some firmware updates become available. He usually waits for that first.

 

[MDK]

If memory serves, I think I read on Dong Knows review of the BE96, that it's capable of 6.5 Gigs, while the AXE16000 taps out at about 6. So better, but only slightly. It was also suggested that ASUS was working on something to improve speeds to more than 6, but dunno what became of that. With that said, I'd think the BE98 Pro, would do about 6.5 too. Not 10 Gigs, but close enough that it'd take AT&T Fiber's 5 Gig package and a little more. Not bad for a consumer unit.

My 16000 does the 10gb on downloads and 100% on uploads, there is more variation on downloads, iam o xgspon so its 8gb/8gb becouse of overhead, iam trying to get rid of that variation on downloads with the gtbe98,

Thanks for the reply

 

[Itsjustmd15]

Wait for more users to actually try the current generation of Wifi 7 devices to see what their experience is like. Wifi 7 hardware relies heavily on Wifi 6e`s 6 GHz band, so that part has been tried and tested for a few years already. MLO would be the big Wifi 7 change that might prove tricky, or be MIA on some devices (I believe in Asus' case, they stated it would be added to their device at the end of 2023 or in Q1 2024).

Right now, there is no reported reason to avoid getting Wifi 7 router. But more feedback would be helpful before making a purchase decision, so waiting a few weeks or a few months just to see more reviews and user experiences might be a good idea, considering how expensive these routers are.

IEEE finalization of the standard is a non-issue. At this stage it`s largely a marketing/political issue, not a technical one. Just like Wifi 6, the last year or so is wasted debating on minor details such as "should we rephrase this sentence in the specifications document to clarify this or that", with the voters only meeting every 2-3 months to take new votes. The technical portions of the standard have been finalized long ago. Otherwise, companies like Qualcomm and Broadcom wouldn`t have invested millions in selling products to ODMs. The industry learned since the K56Flex days.

This makes a lot of sense and was the reason I went ahead and bought a set of routers. I currently have the BE96U, well 4 of them actually. They replaced my AXE-11000s. I utilize them as a mesh. However, seeing that BE98 Pro is only $100 more, it seems that maybe I should return them and go with it instead. I use a wireless backhaul currently and basically get full gigabit speeds at each of the nodes now that my units are WiFi 7. Do you have any thoughts about if it makes more sense to get the BE98 Pro since the price is not much different? Seems like port wise it's more future proof for if I decide to do any upgrades in the future.

 

[tenmaPhD]

This makes a lot of sense and was the reason I went ahead and bought a set of routers. I currently have the BE96U, well 4 of them actually. They replaced my AXE-11000s. I utilize them as a mesh. However, seeing that BE98 Pro is only $100 more, it seems that maybe I should return them and go with it instead. I use a wireless backhaul currently and basically get full gigabit speeds at each of the nodes now that my units are WiFi 7. Do you have any thoughts about if it makes more sense to get the BE98 Pro since the price is not much different? Seems like port wise it's more future proof for if I decide to do any upgrades in the future.

The 96U has two 10G ports, so you can always buy an external switch if you need it.

A 6-port 2.5G fanless switch costs about $50. If you want to go for a 10G switch, you can do it without replacing the router, and you might get better speeds between the wired connections on the external switch.

There are some advantages to going with the internal switch, like less clutter, but I wouldn't describe it as futureproofing.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

The 96U has two 10G ports, so you can always buy an external switch if you need it.

A 6-port 2.5G fanless switch costs about $50. If you want to go for a 10G switch, you can do it without replacing the router, and you might get better speeds between the wired connections on the external switch.

There are some advantages to going with the internal switch, like less clutter, but I wouldn't describe it as futureproofing.

I guess I was also thinking about the fact that there's an extra 6ghz band which will probably get more use in the future. I use it for my backhaul and get full gigabit speeds at each node right now. However, as more 6ghz devices come out, I'd have to share that backhaul bandwidth on the BE96U whereas with the BE98 Pro I could use one for backhaul and the other for devices to connect to. Had I built my house I'd have just had ethernet installed in every room. The geniuses who built it did not do so though. Seems like in 2016 that'd be a no brainer. Small town and the people here who do the installs say my house is too complex to install ethernet now because of the firewalls so I'm stuck with a wireless backhaul.

 

[RTWZ80]

I guess I was also thinking about the fact that there's an extra 6ghz band which will probably get more use in the future. I use it for my backhaul and get full gigabit speeds at each node right now. However, as more 6ghz devices come out, I'd have to share that backhaul bandwidth on the BE96U whereas with the BE98 Pro I could use one for backhaul and the other for devices to connect to. Had I built my house I'd have just had ethernet installed in every room. The geniuses who built it did not do so though. Seems like in 2016 that'd be a no brainer. Small town and the people here who do the installs say my house is too complex to install ethernet now because of the firewalls so I'm stuck with a wireless backhaul.

A quad-band router like the GT-BE98 Pro would make a lot of sense if you're doing full wireless backhaul but using the one of the 6Ghz bands for that purpose may not be a good idea given the short range it has. But I guess if you get four GT-BE98 Pros like in your current configuration, that should resolve the range issue. The ROG units also come with the RangeBoost feature which helps increase wireless coverage. I've experienced that on the ROG GT-AXE16000 so it works pretty well apparently.

What's stopped me from getting the GT-BE98/Pro is that they replaced the initially planned third 10Gbe port with four 2.5Gbe ones. I'm on 10G wired ethernet backhaul and was hoping to retire my 10Gbe switch and rely entirely on the GT-BE98/Pro for switching operations.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

A quad-band router like the GT-BE98 Pro would make a lot of sense if you're doing full wireless backhaul but using the one of the 6Ghz bands for that purpose may not be a good idea given the short range it has. But I guess if you get four GT-BE98 Pros like in your current configuration, that should resolve the range issue. The ROG units also come with the RangeBoost feature which helps increase wireless coverage. I've experienced that on the ROG GT-AXE16000 so it works pretty well apparently.

What's stopped me from getting the GT-BE98/Pro is that they replaced the initially planned third 10Gbe port with four 2.5Gbe ones. I'm on 10G wired ethernet backhaul and was hoping to retire my 10Gbe switch and rely entirely on the GT-BE98/Pro for switching operations.

Yeah I worried about the short range when I first got my AXE-11000s because I kept reading it in reviews, but honestly it's been just as good as 5ghz was when I had my AX-11000s. It took 4 of those to cover my house too just because of how it's built. I gradually worked my way up from 2 units and had to keep adding more because of dead spots. Cell service at the time sucked so I couldn't make phone calls without wifi calling. Needed full coverage since I'm on call for work a lot.

Biggest problem with using 5ghz was, I live right by an airport. Kept getting kicked off DFS channels and the other channels were slow AF partially due to interference cause I have two surround sound systems with wireless subs. It would never go back to DFS after the airplanes or radar went through though so it just stayed slow. When it switched, the subs didn't work well and sounded crappy AF with clicking and such. The internet also didn't work well. Turned the subs off and it was still a lot slower than the DFS channels. Aimesh won't let you use 5ghz-1 for backhaul to use the lower channels so I was stuck with my family pissed off all the time. So I took the chance with 6ghz. It's faster than 5ghz for me, and no real issues with range or interference either. I have one daisy chained though.

Now with Wi-Fi 7 my backhaul is basically perfect so I figure maybe I should have 2 6ghz bands since it's only an extra 400 bucks to have 4 BE98 Pros vs 4 be96Us. I have until end of Jan to return these. Bought em just before the BE98 Pros were released. Thought they'd have cost more which is why I didn't wait. Rangeboost would be great since I'm about to add a pool and would like Wi-Fi out there as well.

 

[RogerSC]

Yes, I was also expecting shorter range with 6GHz than 5GHz. But both 5GHz and 6GHz. go across my house from one end to the other, and deliver my full ISP download speed via wireless on internet speed tests. I don't have a version of Wi-Fi Analyzer that has 6GHz. yet, but no speed at range problem with 6GHz. I'm using a wifi-7 phone, the Pixel 8, for the 6GHz. test, the only wifi-7 client that I have at this point.

 

[AndyD]

Available again on Amazon.de

 

[L&LD]

The spread from 5GHz to 6GHz isn't important in RF except theoretically.

I would expect both to cover almost identical areas in a given location.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

The spread from 5GHz to 6GHz isn't important in RF except theoretically.

I would expect both to cover almost identical areas in a given location.

That makes sense. I sure can't tell any difference between the two. I feel like 6ghz is superior because it's covering the same but I'm not dealing with interference.

 

[sfx2000]

The spread from 5GHz to 6GHz isn't important in RF except theoretically.

I would expect both to cover almost identical areas in a given location.

Likely not - there's a couple of issues, and this is more about expectations...

Looking at 80MHz channels vs 160 and 320 - each time you double the bandwidth, you cut power in half....

Much like 20MHz down in 2.4...

There is a thing called the Shannon Limit - and it's noise limited...

 

[ZNP_83]

Apologies if I missed the post, but is there any indication of Wireguard VPN performance on this router yet? I know it's relatively early and this isn't widely available, but the few reviews I've found haven't included much if any VPN testing at all unfortunately.

 

[AndyD]

I can confirm that with the GT-BE98 current firmware and a GT-AX6000 acting as an AiMesh node there is an issue.
If the system is set to use ethernet backhaul mode or the 5GHZ-2 is set to anything other than a dedicated backhaul, no clients can connect wirelessly to the GT-AX6000 node.
Functionality is restored by using the default AiMesh settings
I have sent feedback to Asus regarding this