Asus WiFi 7 and WiFi 6E routers

[guangzong]

ROG GT-BE98 should have built-in OOkla SpeedTest utility, you may want to check again.

If the speed is slower, make sure you disable anything related to QoS and Traffic Analyzer.

Previous reports for your reference.
https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/...the-average-speed-you-getting.7059103/page-14

I spoke too soon.
I flashed back ASUS official firmware latest version. Out of the box it was an outdated one.
It is there under Game Acceleration > Internet Speed.
Now i can get around 5Gbps speeds for both download and upload using the router's built in SpeedTest.

I have never enabled or used QoS or Traffic Analyzer

But i will be flashing the GNUton fork, as i need the temperature monitoring.

 

[guangzong]

For users of GT-BE98 who have the intention of using the GNUton fork, please do not flash the latest or newer firmware from ASUS, i.e. 3.0.0.6.102_xxxxx or you will not be able to flash the GNUton anymore. It seems to be based on a lower branch, and ASUS does not allow a firmware downgrade to a lower branch.

This is the disclaimer on ASUS's site:
*Please be advised that due to an architecture upgrade in AiMesh, we highly discourage downgrading to earlier firmware versions as it may result in connectivity problems. If you experience any difficulties, we suggest resetting the AiMesh router to its default settings and re-establishing the mesh connection.

This also applies if your GT-BE98 is hardware revision 2. If you purchased it recently, it should be v2. You can check the sticker on the box as well. It will say "HW Ver: 2.0".

More information can be found here:
https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng/issues/697

You would be stuck with the ASUS official firmware, until GNUton releases a new version to address this.

If you do not know what is GNUton fork or Merlin, you are best leaving this alone.

There is a workaround to use the ASUS Firmware Restoration Utility, put the router into recovery mode, and then flash the original old firmware from ASUS (assuming you can still find them on the internet, as ASUS removed the old ones), but you do this at your own risk.

 

[Uramasa]

Surprisingly, the ASUS GT-BE98 does not come with Speedtest built into the router. When my friend told me this, i didn't believe him. For such a pricey router, this is quite weird, but not a showstopper.

I flashed the GNUton fork non-ROG version, and it has Speedtest built in. However, when connecting to SingTel's SpeedTest, i could only get around 3 Gbps download and upload. But on a PC, i can get 5 Gbps down and up. Using other ISPs like M1 or NewMedia Express, i could get around 4Gbps down/3Gbps up. Again, not a showstopper, more like a quality of life thing.

Have, under game acceleration menu then Internet speed tab.
Need to use the web UI.

Sometimes this Internet test feature abit buggy i.e. result from my PC is higher than from the inbuilt router speed test.
Not sure if the latest firmware has addressed it.

 

[xLioNx]

Hi hi, hope to seek some help here. I have a BE88U router and connected it to StarHub fibre broadband ONT.

WAN settings is ‘automatic’ and all config checked by StarHub on site engineer to be correct.

However, I got this problem. Every time I turn on the ONT and router, the router cannot ‘connect’ to the internet (red light indicator on router). I have to turn off and on the router a few times and it will eventually ‘connect’ to internet and the light indicator will then turn white. Any idea why can’t the router auto detect the internet the first time? Am I doing something wrong or some config I need to do? I updated router firmware to the latest already.

Any suggestions I can try to resolve? Thanks in advance!

 

[xiaofan]

Hi hi, hope to seek some help here. I have a BE88U router and connected it to StarHub fibre broadband ONT.

WAN settings is ‘automatic’ and all config checked by StarHub on site engineer to be correct.

However, I got this problem. Every time I turn on the ONT and router, the router cannot ‘connect’ to the internet (red light indicator on router). I have to turn off and on the router a few times and it will eventually ‘connect’ to internet and the light indicator will then turn white. Any idea why can’t the router auto detect the internet the first time? Am I doing something wrong or some config I need to do? I updated router firmware to the latest already.

Any suggestions I can try to resolve? Thanks in advance!

Sounds a bit strange. WAN setting should be DHCP.

Anyway, try to follow the following two things to see if it helps. It is reported by Xiaomi China router users that the following two may help.
1) set up the DNS server to use Cloudflare like 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1
2) enable native IPv6

 

[xonix]

Hi hi, hope to seek some help here. I have a BE88U router and connected it to StarHub fibre broadband ONT.

WAN settings is ‘automatic’ and all config checked by StarHub on site engineer to be correct.

However, I got this problem. Every time I turn on the ONT and router, the router cannot ‘connect’ to the internet (red light indicator on router). I have to turn off and on the router a few times and it will eventually ‘connect’ to internet and the light indicator will then turn white. Any idea why can’t the router auto detect the internet the first time? Am I doing something wrong or some config I need to do? I updated router firmware to the latest already.

Any suggestions I can try to resolve? Thanks in advance!

Try this, go to WAN menu and change from Auto Detect to the specific port you are connecting to Starhub ONT

 

[xLioNx]

Alright, will try your suggestions and see what happens. Will let you guys know what worked. Thank you so much!

 

[guangzong]

The GT-BE98's wireless coverage is quite impressive. I dare say it covers the entire flat.

Context:
I stay in a 4 room HDB flat.
GT-BE98 is in the living room.
In the past, using my ASUS GT-AX6000 or TP-Link HB810, they could not cover the entire flat by themselves - i.e no wireless signal in the toilets with the door closed.
Disclaimer: it is not healthy to use your mobile phone in the toilet, nor am i encouraging you to do so.
I do not have any WiFi-7 devices yet, so it is just WiFi-6 (not even 6E) on the 5Ghz band with my test.
I use a Sony Xperia 1 V that supports WiFi-6 only. I didn't bother using my Dell laptop with WiFi-6 only.

On the GT-BE98:
- For the 5Ghz band, if i enable 160 Mhz, the signal in the toilet is weak, or non-existent. - This is expected.
- If i use 80 Mhz, it works, but may drop at times. Still usable though. - This is also expected.
- For 2.4 Ghz, if i follow the tweaks recommended on snbforums, i get almost full or close to maximum signal strength. As a test, using the Awedio mobile application, i am able to stream 96.3 FM with no interruption. Note: this is purely a test for me to gauge the signal strength as far away from the router as possible. On the TP-Link, the 2.4 Ghz is as weak as the 5Ghz band.
- I use the 2.4 Ghz purely for legacy devices like the Samsung smart TV and Brother printer. For the printer, i have since switched to wired LAN, as the GT-98 has quite a abundance of ports. On the TP-Link, i get a latency of 100-200ms when i do an ICMP ping to the printer, though it does not affect printer functionality.

Conclusion: i no longer need to use the GT-AX6000 in AiMesh mode. Just the one GT-BE98.

Sidenote: ASUS routers run hot. This is normal, as it does not have active cooling. The simple solution: get those cheap USB fans from AliExpress and place it underneath.

 

[keith]

The GT-BE98's wireless coverage is quite impressive. I dare say it covers the entire flat.

Context:

I do not have any WiFi-7 devices yet, so it is just WiFi-6 (not even 6E) on the 5Ghz band with my test.
I use a Sony Xperia 1 V that supports WiFi-6 only. I didn't bother using my Dell laptop with WiFi-6 only.

using BE98 + WIFI7 + S24U. it can go about 2.8K DL and 2.5K UL.
just for the fun of it.

while using WIFI6 same combo, can do 1.3K DL/UL.

 

[xiaofan]

Basically Asus ROG GT-BE98 is really a top notch quad-band WiFi 7 router if you are willing to pay for it.

And it is at least future proof to year 2028 or beyond.

GT-AX6000 is already a very good WiFi 6 router (flagship type, only after ROG GT-AX11000 Pro and RT-AX89X), still ROG GT-BE98 will be better as a flagship WiFi 7 router from Asus.

On the other hand, it is a pity that Asus has not brought in RT-BE96U to Singapore who want a triband WiFi 7 router with dual 10G ports, lower cost than ROG GT-BE98.

Dongknows Top 5 WiFi 7 router, as of 12-Dec-2024
https://dongknows.com/best-five-wi-fi-7-routers/

Asus ROG GT-BE98 Pro (only non-Pro model is available in Singapore)
Assu RT-BE96U (not available in Singapore)
TP-Link Archer GE800
TP-Link Archer BE550
Netgear NightHawk RS700S

 

[guangzong]

using BE98 + WIFI7 + S24U. it can go about 2.8K DL and 2.5K UL.
just for the fun of it.

while using WIFI6 same combo, can do 1.3K DL/UL.

Yeah i get similar speeds on WiFi-6 after some tweaking.

 

[xiaofan]

Dongknows has updated his article about AImesh combo recommendations.
https://dongknows.com/tips-and-rules-on-picking-the-best-asus-aimesh-combo/

How to pick the best AiMesh Combos: The three rules​

1. AiMesh combo rules #1: Wired backhauling is the best​

2. AiMesh combo rules #2: Wi-Fi 7 or traditional tri-band Wi-Fi 6 hardware is best (only) for a fully wireless setup​

AiMesh wireless combo: Avoid mixing Wi-Fi standards
AiMesh wireless combo: Don’t count on the 6GHz band
Wireless AiMesh combo: Use Wi-Fi 7 of the same number of bands consistently

3. AiMesh combo rules #3: Be smart about mixing hardware​

Tips for mixing AiMesh hardware.

1. Use wired backhauling when possible​

AiMesh combo with wired backhauling: Consider the AP mode

2. Pick the right primary node and appropriate settings​

3. Pick the proper hardware for the satellite nodes​

 

[xiaofan]

Interesting comparison of RT-AC86U vs RT-AX86U vs RT-BE86U from Dongknows.
https://dongknows.com/asus-rt-ac86u-to-asus-rt-be86u-upgrade

 

[Yongkit]

some reviews on the BE92U

This is to use subtitle to english to understand, very details and good reference of pro and con how it perform

 

[Yongkit]

new firmware for BE92U just released today

 

[stupidog]

experienced a number of issues when using BQ16 x 2 for Aimesh

i sold one of the BQ16, changed to a local set BE88U,
now on Aimesh...never encounter any issues at the moment

 

[xiaofan]

some reviews on the BE92U

This is to use subtitle to english to understand, very details and good reference of pro and con how it perform

Nice one. This German reviewer has done more testing compared to other western reviewers, for example he will test NAS and Wireguard VPN performance.

I tend to believe the following data are for Wireguard VPN Client. The author mentions that Asus Wireguard VPN implementation only uses two core of the CPU and not 4-core. So the performance will be slower than TP-Link even if using similar CPU.

Asus ROG GT-BE19000 -- 889 Mbps download, 748 Mbps upload (BCM 4916 CPU)
Asus ROG GT-BE98 -- 1058 Mbps download, 735 Mbps upload (BCM 4916 CPU)
Asus RT-BE88U -- 1134 Mbps download, 677 Mbps upload (BCM 4916 CPU)
Asus RT-BE92U -- 752 Mbps download, 503 Mbps upload (BCM6755/6754 CPU)

TP-Link Archer GE800 -- 2113 Mbps download, 1057 Mbps upload (IPQ9574 CPU)
TP-Link Archer BE800 -- 2114 Mbps download, 1979 Mbps upload (IPQ9574 CPU)
TP-Link Archer BE550 -- 1682 Mbps download, 1232 Mbps upload (IPQ9554 CPU)
TP-Link Archer BE230 -- 865 Mbps download, 814 Mbps upload (BCM6755/6754 CPU)

 

[jheff21]

my BQ16 is also hot, but after i bought a twin cpu fan and let BQ16 sit on top of it...it's much better now.

Do you mind posting a pic of it? Also it runs 24/7?

 

[stupidog]

Do you mind posting a pic of it? Also it runs 24/7?

yes on 24/7 , I’m using the usb port on my BQ16.

my BE88U also have one but black in color.

 

[jheff21]

yes on 24/7 , I’m using the usb port on my BQ16.

my BE88U also have one but black in color.

Okay thanks for the idea. 240mm sounds a good one. With that in mind, does router temperature affect the speeds though?