ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 Tri-Band WiFi 7 Mesh, 14 Gbps, 8850 sq.ft. (3pk), Dual 2.5G Ports, Security and Parental Controls Included, Smart Home Master SSIDs, 4G & 5G Mobile Tethering

I was unable to register my Amazon-purchased Asus ZenWiFi BT8 router on the Asus web site or app using the S/N on the back of the main unit. The other two units could also not be registered. The error message was that the S/N was invalid - in all three cases. This raises concerns on what is happening. I contacted Asus support and was eventually sent an email with an alternative serial number. This finally worked, but they issued the same alternative S/N for all three units! So I do not have the three units individually registered if there is a hardware problem with one of them. I will note that a similar problem (no CN number) occurred when I tried to register two Asus TUF gaming monitors - they were not able to provide an alternative number in this case so no registration at all in that case. I think we all deserve an explanation from Asus on what is going on.

The firmware for the BT8 is not ready for primetime yet. You will either get a brilliant connection to your ISP router or you will get garbage. I have a gigabit internet connection. I previously ran an ASUS RT-AX1800S Dual Band WiFi 6 router and got the around 950 Mbps up an down when connected by wired ethernet and far less when connected wirelessly. I had a ASUS RP-AX58 AX3000 Dual Band WiFi 6 (802.11ax) Range Extender to extend wireless coverage over the far side of my long house. When the extender stopped working (no good reason), I purchased the ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 (3-Pack) Tri-Band WiFi 7 Mesh to get more reliable coverage. After I ran through the setup process including firmware upgrades, I found I got around 950 Mbps download speeds but only 2 Mbps upload. That's a pretty big gap. I'm an IT Professional, so I did all the things you're supposed to do to troubleshoot something like that. Then I got on with Asus support and did it all again, plus some other things that were so ridiculous I would have been angry if they worked. They didn't. Support said they would escalate with their support team and get back to me later if they found anything. I went through the process of reverting back to my old ASUS router with the connection provided by my ISP and found I still had gigabit speeds. Then I had the idea to plug the wan port of the BT8 router into the Lan port of the old ASUS router. Now I got 100 Mbps up and down on the BT8 system. That told me the WAN port hardware was capable but the firmware was incapable of correctly matching the port speed. I also had an old Netgear 5 port unmanaged gigbit switch lying around. I swapped out the ASUS RT-AX1800S and put that between the ISP gateway and the BT8. Now I had gigabit speeds up and down on the BT8. This confirms that the hardware is capable but the firmware is faulty. You shouldn't have to put 8 year old equipment between the BT8 and the ISP Gateway to get advertised speed. This is all to say that depending on the equipment provided by your ISP you may get a perfect connection or you may get garbage. The fact that the BT8 couldn't even reach 10% of the full speed when connected to another ASUS device should tell you everything you need to know about the quality assurance and testing they do with their products. I am going to give them a week or so to put out a firmware upgrade that fixes the problem but then I am returning it as defective before the exchange period ends. I am not eager to buy a Chinese router or a router that requires a subscription, so I hope they can get it together before then. This is supposed to be a plug and play consumer product, you shouldn't need to be an IT Professional with surplus network equipment lying around the house to get it to work properly.

Is it fast? Sure. Unfortunately, I don't care about having a bit more speed if the connections aren't stable. I upgraded from an older wifi 6 2-piece system to this, and the dropouts for my cameras and PS5 increased at least 10 fold. I went from every few days of a camera losing signal for no more than 30 minutes to daily dropouts lasting over 6 hours. I'd recommending waiting a few more years for these wifi 7 systems to mature.

I upgraded from a TP-Link Deco AX3000 WiFi 6 Mesh System that I got in 2022. Setup was super easy. Range is superior - I went from 4 units with TP-Link to 3 units with the ASUS and I have better coverage. Speed is absolutely stunning. I didn't upgrade any of my devices WiFi adapters but my speed on download is about 5x faster (40 to 200 MBPS). Upload is limited heavily by my ISP so I cannot compare there (5 MBPS). I have no complaints at all... have not used any of the more advanced features but there is a ton of stuff in there.

I purchased this system to replace my 3 node Eero system. When its working, the WiFi is much faster than my previous Eero system. However, it drops connection frequently and videos playing on remote devices buffer frequently when they didn't before. I contacted support via their app and got no response. Then I contacted support thru their chat and was suggested to make some adjustments. Some of the adjustments weren't even options I had with my system. And as part of the adjustments, I was going to lose the connection with the representative. They said that was correct, and to just contact them back if needed; no way to restart my conversation with the same representative. No information was requested about the number of nodes or locations, it seems very scripted, as if they have this issue frequently. I haven't contacted Asus back yet, as I expect I'll get some boiler plate script rather than specific advice. Not sure yet if I will return the product or keep looking for assistance. I also had to set up a new subnet, it wouldn't work with my existing router's IP's as the previous system did. So, I had to manually reconnect several devices... still doing that. When plugging one of my IP cameras into one of the nodes with a wireless connection, it didn't work like it did with the previous setup. I had to adjust settings in the router and the camera to finally get it to work. Bottom line, I would not buy this system. The Eero system was much easier for setup. I just plugged it in and it worked. The reason I replaced was for additional speed and Asus's additional control for my children's devices, which doesn't require a subscription thru Asus like their competitors do. That is the only reason I haven’t returned it yet.. I’m really hoping I can get it dialed in.