Amazon.com: Customer reviews: ASUS ZenWiFi Whole-Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6E System (ET8 2PK), Coverage up to 5,500 sq.ft & 6+Rooms, 6600Mbps, New 6GHz Band, AiMesh,Instant Guard

Terribly performing routers delightfully overpriced!

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2021

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

Included in the box are a quick start guide and the associated hardware. The guide lists three different LED colors and related meanings. The LEDs glow all sorts of colors, but what do they mean? Well, it turns out that green means the router is "optimizing." Whatever that means... The trouble is, it optimizes about every 3 minutes. When it is "optimizing" it takes down Wifi and LAN, so that there is no internet access! EVERY THREE MINS! FOR OVER THREE HOURS! How did I find out what "green" means? I had to use my phone.

it took an hour to get the firmware updates to start - apparently, if you start them just after the last optimizing episode, the firmware update will interrupt this "optimizing." Firmware made no difference... constant bounces... The 35 smart light switches and security system, and smart TVs all reminding me via incessant messages to my phone that they could not find their mothers. How sad.

So we took the node offline to force a single router, and yet, with no related note, the router kept optimizing. What was it optimizing? No one knows. Let's get the manual! Surely there must be a manual online! NO THERE ISN'T!! No manual! Asus spent time making a really trick box, but there's no manual. Hmmm.. Search on the Asus page for "LED colors" and "optimizing" and nothing. Have to use Google.

This review/rant is related to the ZenWifi ET8, and NOT the older model. For some reason, Amazon is mixing the reviews together for these two router models.

This is so delightfully overpriced, yet so sadly poorly performing, there is nothing ZEN about this. It one wonder if Asus were intending a practical joke here? The guides, and the web interface pages and menus are so poorly written; they test the lengths of this English professor's generous patience....

Dear Asus, please accept this return with a plea that you release at least half-baked products? This router set isn't even remotely ready for use.

43 people found this helpful

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Dan

Solid performer (with some minor bugs)

Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2021

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

I’ve had a 2-pk set for a few weeks now. I configured it and updated firmware and adding devices was simple. The management GUI is nice and modern but it is where some of the bugs are. It reports 6E WiFi devices as 5. I also had initial difficulty joining 6E WiFi cards and contacted ASUS support several times. The resolution was to update Win10 to the 21H1 optional update. Prior to that I made a registry update just to see the 6E band from one of my PCs but it still couldn’t join, until I updated Windows. I discovered this resolution from my own research, without the aide of ASUS support. As to their support, I can’t recommended their e-mail support. They mostly come across as techs I’ve encountered in my career that just want to update/work their tickets vs truly helping the customer—it’s all too common and not unique to ASUS. Also, I still have one ticket open…the ET8 product is not even listed in their product registration pull down menu on their own product registration page. So far I’ve sent a copy of my invoice and provided both serial numbers. Next I’m going to try to just mail them the registration card that came in the unit and see what happens. As for device performance on this mesh network…it’s outstanding. I upgraded to this mesh network from a high end single unit with two repeaters—my device performance is now incredible. I have 49 IPs throughout my property in use. I suspect the management app bugs will get ironed out in time, especially as this product becomes more popular and ASUS gets more end user feedback.

6 people found this helpful

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jskproduction

If you are looking for a quality Wi-Fi 6E mesh router system, look no further!

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2021

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

As for Wi-Fi 6 routers, I've tried Asus's sub $300 gaming one, TPLink's sub $400 one. This one blows both of them out of the water.

On TPLink's triband router, I was getting around 500/450 on my AT&T 1Gbps network. I thought it couldn't get any better, but boy, I was wrong.

Using 1 out of the 2 mesh router already gives me better peformance at 650/500, but using the 2nd router as node for AI mesh, I can get close to 800/700 on wireless connection. If I connect the node to my computer directly via Ethernet cable, I'm getting close to the maximum theoretical speed of my network.

Considering that my desktop is in a different room from the AT&T modem & the host router, this is pretty insane.

With Wi-Fi 6E, this model is also future proof for years to come. Highly recommended!

UPDATE (0730):
I've used this router (WiFi 6E 2PK version) for almost a week now. The speed is still blazingly fast. HOWEVER, there are frequent jittering (would drop me out of games, videos would stop to buffer, etc.) The stability issue that people in other reviews have mentioned are starting to happen. I'll give it another week to change the settings around and see if this issue could be resolved. If the issue persists, I'll probably return it for a cheaper (slower) but more reliable option.

Another thing worth mentioning is that Asus's Smart Connect feature (both on 2.4 + 5ghz AND the tri-band) needs major work. I would get either 1mbps or 100mbps on my phone with these options, whereas disabling it and connecting to 5G signal directly gave me 500mb+.

09/02 update:

Working well in general. Connecting my pc through the 2nd node's (not the one connected to the AT&T modem) ethernet port gives me close to 1Gbps speed, but when gaming, there jitters from time to time. Connecting to 2.4Ghz network doesn't cause any jitter, so I just switch to the 2.4Ghz channel when playing online competitive titles.

23 people found this helpful

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Carwizard

I've installed 4 different ones & this is the Best

Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2022

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

This one, ET8, was recommended by PC Magazine, CNET and others. Before using this one, I tried the Links one and Orbi. They worked good as well but errored on installing. I had to call tech support to get working. This Assus ET8 model installed itself beautifully. Works well and its fast. My only complaint is I wish it came in a 3 pack instead of a 2 pack. No big deal, you just have to find someone selling a single instead of a double pack. My house is 5400 ft and the 2 cover it almost perfectly. Perfection would be achieved with a 3rd one. For awhile I was fighting the internet disconnecting on me a lot and thought it was my router when in fact it was discovered to be my Suddenlink fiber service. The TAP team is being sent out to find the intermittent break in the fiber connection. It turns out my whole neighborhood has this problem. Its a new installed service, so I will give them time to figure our where the break in connection is coming from.

2 people found this helpful

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Chris O'Rorke

Best 6E Mesh System, Although Pricey

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2022

Style: WiFi 6E | 11000Mbps | 2PKsVerified Purchase

I switched from Netgear to this mesh system for the 6E upgrade. Ended up buying two sets so I could have 4 stations as my house is rather large plus needed wireless to detached garage. These things are not only a work of art but they have great speed and coverage. I don't use half of the plethora of options available in the app. It just "works" and all of my devices seem to connect and work well with it. No complaints here except for price which could be a little more consumer friendly. But I guess when you buy high-end, you pay a high-end premium.

4 people found this helpful

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Newton

Horrible Intermittent Connectivity problems with ET8

Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2021

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

This is truly dumbfounding that an organization that touts excellence at all levels with their flagship offerings but do not as much as have the courtesy to get back to a customer that has had nothing but intermittent connectivity drops from day 1.
Ticket after ticket gets summarily closed and a new one opened even though there’s never really a resolution to the problem. Not sure whether metrics and KPI’s overall lull causal observers into thinking all is great in the neighborhood when as a customer I’m deferring to using my iPhone to moderate zoom calls because I am consistently being dropped by my Zenwifi ET8 backhauled off a Gigabit fiber connection.

ASUS Service No=N2112011712-0004 Opened 12/11/21
ASUS Service No=N2112011712-0005 Opened 12/14/21
ASUS Service No=N2112011712-0006 Opened 12/15/21
ASUS Service No=N2112011712-0008 Opened 12/20/21 STILL OPEN 12/26/21
In spite of being told multiple times whenever I checked for status that they were escalating and doing everything in their control to get this resolved within 24/48 hours

At this point, I’m regretting gifting my Ubiquiti access Points and may return this $500 + AP that could for all I care be an expensive doorstop.
I was really wanting to love this product I truly was, User Interface and comprehensive features are a nerds dream but alas, no cigar.
It wasn’t for lack of trying.

26 people found this helpful

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Deej

A Perfect upgrade from Apple Time Capsule

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2022

Style: WiFi 6E | 11000Mbps | 2PKsVerified Purchase

I have been hesitant upgrading my time capsule and AirPort Extreme pseudo mesh set up, I was only getting 350Mbps.

I am glad I bit the bullet, I even bought the ET12 used to save some money and it was like new.

I immediately upgraded the firmware and set up the second 2.5gig port to a switch, that goes to my pc and the second node. My pc maxes out my Comcast 1400Mbps plan, real world download speeds of 175MB/s, downloads are unreal, nearly doubling my wired throughput.

On my laptop the wireless connects at 1200Mbps, and my iPhone 13 Pro Max I get a speed test of roughly 650-700mbps.

Coverage wise I couldn’t be happier, I live in an apartment with a lot of interference, I set the freqs to the least busiest channels and I haven’t had a single issue. Initially Asus auto channels to channel 8 for 2.4ghz, odd because it overlaps with so many other channels. So I manually set it to 11 to be safe.

The mobile app is nice, but it takes some getting used to finding what your looking for. The web log in is full of everything you could need and works well on mobile. But the app is nice for quick changes or rebooting.

It’s also nice that you can bind specific devices to either node, so you don’t have smart devices connecting to a node that’s far away.

Real-time speed in the app is nice, and built in ad block set per device is great.

You can also turn off the LED in app which is nice for the node in the bedroom.

I haven’t turned on any Ai-Protect stuff as it sends your data to trend micro, granted that’s by design for “protection” but it’s not private.

It would be nice if you could select some of the Ai-Protect options that don’t seem like a privacy violation.

I haven’t tried setting it up with ai-mesh, instead I used a moca 2.5 adapter to have It hardwired, and set one SSID for all 3 wifi standards, 2.4ghz 5ghz and 6ghz.

A definite upgrade from my 10 year old time capsule set up. If your hesitant or don’t need mesh you can also buy one node or use an older Asus router for Ai mesh.

One person found this helpful

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JC

So far, very pleased!

Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2021

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

I have a rather complicated and large home network and after much research I decided to buy this router. I had a few bumps along the way when I first migrated my devices over, and had a hiccup or two getting the mesh running at first. BUT, since then, smooth sailing and fantastic reliable speed. After much testing I found that I really didn't need a second AP with coverage from my main router. But I added the second because, well, why not? We have a 1300sf 2 story town house with a massive amount of nearby networks. And just the one router covers the home, back yard and garage great! But, I still added the second router so I could cover an even bigger area, and while completely unnecessary, it's impressive! I had read numerous reports of bad experiences, but I found that by setting up the router, and mitigating many different bad devices, cables, and converters in my LAN, I'm getting stable fast internet everywhere.

One person found this helpful

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Gary B.

Works like a breeze

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2021

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

This was easy to setup. It just worked from the beginning. I had one question about setup and called the tech number on the Eazysetup folio included. Got a human right off the bat. Just gave them my serial number and they gave me the right suggestion. One node is upstairs the other downstairs about 55 ft away. I’m getting 180mbs on 2.4hz and 800mbs on 5 hz while using 6E on backhaul. I have a one gig service. The app works fine too.

2 people found this helpful

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Dean Smith

Infinite improvement over Goodle's Mess(h)

Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2022

Style: WiFi 6E | 6600MbpsVerified Purchase

After trying to cope with a Google Nest system, we coughed up a little more money for this system.

I was skeptical about 2 units covering the entire house (~5000 sq. ft.), but it functions perfectly!

The router is on our middle level, and the node is downstairs. There are no dead spots in the house. Even Zoom calls in the bedroom furthest from either unit worked flawlessly with no glitching or buffering.

I would absolutely recommend this.

One person found this helpful

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5 star		59%
4 star		12%
3 star		6%
2 star		9%
1 star		14%

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