Issues upgrading to the GT-BE98 Pro

[srkbear]

Hello all, I was hoping someone might be able to assist me with this process—any guidance is much appreciated! Please pardon the lengthy setup…

I currently have a GT-AX11000 Pro mesh network with five Zenwifi XT9s set up as nodes around my house, using the 5Ghz-2 band as a wireless backhaul. I have a single SSID called WKHOME that is bound via Smart Connect, and all of my clients (67 of them) are programmed to connect to that SSID, either on the 2.4ghz or 5.2ghz band.

The 5ghz-2 backhaul band is set on the UNII-4 channel 177 with a 160mhz bandwidth, while the 2.4/5ghz bands are set on auto with 80mhz bandwidth selected but 160 capable. I have the roaming assistant turned on for the client channels but disabled for the backhaul. Everything is very stable and I have little issues with speed.

I decided to try to figure-proof my system by purchasing the GT-BE98 Pro, which I was led to believe would work with my Zenwifi XT9s, and I was also told that I should be able to flash the BE98 pro with my saved GT-AX11000 pro settings. I had hoped to use the BE’s 5ghz band for my wireless backhaul to the mesh nodes, and have my clients bind to the same SSID I was using previously. I thought that the 2.4ghz bands on the BE96 pro and my XT9s would be active, along with the two 6ghz bands, and that my existing clients could still bind to the free 5ghz band on my XT9 nodes as well.

However, when I ran the setup on the BE98 Pro, it wouldn’t let me choose a single SSID for all bands, nor would it let me restore my settings from my AX11000 pro. I can’t figure out how to assign the 5ghz band on the BE as a wireless backhaul, nor can I figure out how to take advantage of the mesh nodes’ second 5ghz band at all. I have the latest firmware installed for everything.

Was I misled on this or am I missing something? I’d hate to have to incur the expense of upgrading all these nodes to WiFi 7 right now, and I still want to take advantage of the mesh while keeping my clients on 5ghz if necessary. Is there no way to use Smart Connect with a single SSID on the BE and bind my Zenwifis on the 5ghz band, and still have access to the 5ghz bands on the nodes? I am still within the return window so any help would be much, much appreciated, thank you!

 

[bennor]

.... and I was also told that I should be able to flash the BE98 pro with my saved GT-AX11000 pro settings.

Out of curiosity, who told you that?

More than a few will suggest NOT importing a saved router.cfg file from a different model Asus router. Could cause issues. Others do it and don't have a problem. If I remember right there was a discussion somewhere in this forum recently about importing the settings from one router model to another.

As a troubleshooting step, perform a hard factory reset on the router you imported the other router settings into, then manually reconfigure it without importing a router.cfg file. That way you can eliminate any possible issues importing a router.cfg file may have caused. Yes a manual configuration can take some time depending on the use case but in some cases it ends up being what solved the issue a person was having after they exhausted time and effort doing other things.

 

[Tech9]

Everything is very stable and I have little issues with speed.

I decided to try to figure-proof my system by purchasing the GT-BE98 Pro

Send this GT-BE98 Pro back! You are not futureproofing anything. Just spending money for a new early Wi-Fi 7 product you can't really use and with close to zero benefits in combination with your existing XT9 nodes. Why disturbing a well working system for no reason and paying premium price on top?

 

[srkbear]

Out of curiosity, who told you that?

More than a few will suggest NOT importing a saved router.cfg file from a different model Asus router. Could cause issues. Others do it and don't have a problem. If I remember right there was a discussion somewhere in this forum recently about importing the settings from one router model to another.

As a troubleshooting step, perform a hard factory reset on the router you imported the other router settings into, then manually reconfigure it without importing a router.cfg file. That way you can eliminate any possible issues importing a router.cfg file may have caused. Yes a manual configuration can take some time depending on the use case but in some cases it ends up being what solved the issue a person was having after they exhausted time and effort doing other things.

I was never able to flash the router config file to the new router. I did start it up from scratch but got stalled when it forced me to setup the BE98 with separate SSIDs for each band. For the AX11000 it used Smart Connect to set up all bands with the same SSID, with the 5 GHz-2 band as a wireless backhaul.

 

[srkbear]

Send this GT-BE98 Pro back! You are not futureproofing anything. Just spending money for a new early Wi-Fi 7 product you can't really use and with close to zero benefits in combination with your existing XT9 nodes. Why disturbing a well working system for no reason and paying premium price on top?

I know this is meant to be helpful, but I only pursued this because I was led to believe that the Zenwifis would work with the BE98 Pro and I work from home as a physician practicing telemedicine. I’m purchasing new iPhones and iPads next year that will support WiFi 6 and my existing Apple TVs, which I use for teleconferencing, already support WiFi 6. If I can’t make this work I will send it back; in the meantime I was asking for assistance with setup to see if this configuration is viable.

I’m not looking to geek out as a gamer, this wasn’t a flighty pursuit. If you have information that can help me, I’d greatly appreciate it—otherwise please reserve the value judgment and condescension, thank you.

 

[Tech9]

I was led to believe that the Zenwifis would work with the BE98 Pro

Your existing GT-AX11000 Pro router with 2x 5GHz radios is the better fit for your TX9 nodes also with 2x 5GHz radios.

I’m purchasing new iPhones and iPads next year that will support WiFi 6 and my existing Apple TVs, which I use for teleconferencing, already support WiFi 6.

Wi-Fi 6 is AX - your current system. Nothing phone, tablet, streaming, video/voice, etc. will take advantage of your new BE router. It's $800 wasted at the moment plus the configuration issues you are experiencing on top, plus nodes mismatch (they can't have dedicated backhaul radio anymore).

 

[Crimliar]

I think experience in these forums suggests that mixing and matching AiMesh devices where subordinate devices have substantially differing (though just lesser can be good) capabilities is a recipe for problems. It's a problem that affects other brands mesh devices too!
As for future-proofing, I only have my GT-AX6000 because I managed to get it for a stupendously low price about a week after launch. I had planned to have a wired router with APs or Mesh devices attached, and unless next time I come to upgrade I get a similarly stupendous offer it's probably the path I'll take!

 

[Tech9]

otherwise please reserve the value judgment and condescension, thank you.

Nothing even close, apologies if it sounds this way to you. You asked for technical advice, let me explain better what you've got with this upgrade:

TX9 - 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 5GHz
BE98 Pro - 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz, 6GHz

With your wireless backhaul the only option is the single 5GHz radio on BE98U Pro and it has to be shared with the clients, can't be dedicated. This upgrade will in fact degrade your network because of routers with radios mismatch. Your existing system is better balanced option, with firmware mismatch limitations - you can't have Asuswrt 5.0 features expanded to nodes running Asuswrt 4.0. Trying to help you. Your choice what you are going to do.

 

[jzchen]

Sorry this option wasn't made aware to you. If possible wire the nodes with a non-managed network switch, or more than one...