WiFi 7 routers (including WiFi 7 routers without 6GHz band support)

[wlun228]

You have to post the floor plan. It seems to me your router placement position is quite bad and single router may not be able to cover the flat.

And yes the higher cost ones have better coverage.

I would not even use Xiaomi BE3600 or TP-Link BE3600/BE5100 as the main router myself, they are more suitable as an AP or mesh node.

Thank you for your advise
will go with xiaomi latest be3600 first.

Thanks mate, appreciated it.

 

[ugene]

I'd better update my post about China WiFI 7 router.

...

Thanks for taking the time to compile this, at a glance, its really useful and accurate~

 

[MrClubbie]

You have to post the floor plan with details of the location of the ONR and the . It seems to me your router placement position is quite bad and single router may not be able to cover the flat. And you may need to add one or two mesh nodes. Do you have LAN ports in the room?

And yes the higher cost ones have better coverage.

I would not even use Xiaomi BE3600 or TP-Link BE3600/BE5100 as the main router myself, they are more suitable as an AP or mesh node.

Edit to add:
Since you are using WC 2.5G plan which is using the WC ONR as the main router, so yes you can get Xiaomi BE3600 as an AP. However, you may need to add more nodes if single router is not good enough. If you have LAN ports in the rooms, then you can just add one or two more BE3600 in the bedroom(s) with poor WiFi.

N/LAN口

when do you think prices will fall to a reasonable price for international versions?

 

[xiaofan]

when do you think prices will fall to a reasonable price for international versions?

It will depend on your definition of `reasonable`.

I consider S$500 to S$600 to be the reasonable price of 10G capable triband WiFi 7 router (global version with 6GHz and 320MHz channel width support). Then I consider S$300 to S$400 to be reasonable price for 2.5G capable triband WiFi 7 routers (global version with 6GHz and 320MHz channel width support). I think we can get down to such level next year (say second half of 2025).

There will be exceptions. For example, the Carousell price at S$450 to S$500 for the 10G capable BNIB TP-Link EB810v and Archer BE805 are already very reasonable to me as they are dumped by Starhub and MR 10Gbps users.

If we do not consider these ISP bundled routers, then the price of 10G capable triband WiFi 7 router will be higher than S$600 this year and will only drop to S$500+ level next year, unless China approves 6GHz band for WiFi use late this year. In that case, we may see Xiaomi coming out 10G capable triband WiFi 7 router at S$400 level next year.

On the other hand, there may be lower end WiFi 7 router (eg: similar to TP-Link Archer BE550 or Deco BE65) with only 2.5G ports to fall to S$400 level this year and S$300 next year.

Example --- Archer BE550 is at S$499 now with S$20 cashback, Deco BE65 dual pack is at S$909.
https://www.challenger.sg/tp-link-wifi7

Take note Asus is said to only bring in ROG GT-BE98, RT-BE96U and ZenWiFi BQ16 into Singapore market and the price will not be below S$800 any time soon.

Disclaim -- I am not good at finding lobangs and the above will be typical retail price with some normal promotions. And the above is just my personal opinion and could be totally wrong.

+++++++++++++++++++
Edit to add:

Take note that I do not recommend other ISP users to buy these three models of ISP bundled TP-Link 10G capable WiFi 7 router as the main router, due to the fact that you will likely not get firmware updates out of the specific ISP which bundles the router.

I am not sure if the user can flash Archer BE800 firmware to Archer BE805.

If using as AP, then probably of less concerns, but there will still be some security concerns.
++++++++++++++++++

 

[xiaofan]

It is interesting that TP-Link Singapre now lists one Dual Band WiFi 7 router as "Coming Soon". This is pretty much in line with China WiFi 7 routers -- NO 6GHz band and NO 320MHz channel width support, but with MLO and 4096QAM support.
https://www.tp-link.com/sg/home-networking/wifi-router/archer-be230/

3.6 Gbps Dual-Band WiFi 7: Enables your devices to run at full speed. Enjoy fluent 4K/8K streaming, immersive AR/VR gaming, and blazing-fast downloads.†
5× 2.5G Ports: 1× 2.5 Gbps WAN port, 1× 2.5 Gbps LAN port and 3× 1 Gbps LAN ports offer high-speed data transmissions.‡

 

[xiaofan]

WiFi 7 chipsets info

Broadcomm:
https://www.broadcom.com/products/wireless/wireless-lan-infrastructure

Qualcomm:
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/technology/wi-fi/wi-fi-7#product-list

MediaTek:
https://www.mediatek.com/technology/wi-fi-7

 

[alex22]

when do you think prices will fall to a reasonable price for international versions?

It depends.

 

[Trans-Am]

WiFi 7 chipsets info
Broadcomm:
https://www.broadcom.com/products/wireless/wireless-lan-infrastructure
Qualcomm:
https://www.qualcomm.com/products/technology/wi-fi/wi-fi-7#product-list
MediaTek:
https://www.mediatek.com/technology/wi-fi-7

how to know which chip is supported by asus-merlin?

scare later buy wrong model and not supported by Asus-merlin, GG



Sent from A universe Where pink PWNED everything

 

[xiaofan]

how to know which chip is supported by asus-merlin?

scare later buy wrong model and not supported by Asus-merlin, GG

1. Go with the Broadcomm BCM49xx chipset on the flagship models (BCM4908 for older WiFi 6/6E flagship, BCM4912 for currnet WiFi 6/6E flagship, BCM4916 for WiFi 7.

2. Likely to be supported by Asus Merlin in the future.
ROG GT-BE98 Pro, GT-BE98 and RT-BE96 -- Broadcomm BCM4916

3. Low-Mid or Mid-range BCM6750/6755/6756 (32bit ARM Cortex A7 CPU) may be supported but I do not recommend them as the support may be dropped along the way. Support of RT-AX56U has been dropped. RT-AX58U V2 are not supported. The CPUs in this group are weak anyway. Take note those using BCM6756 CPUs are not supported by either the official Asus Merlin or gnuton fork yet (eg: TUF-AX3000 V2). Low end 256MB RAM version will also not be supported, like RT-AX55 (BCM6755), RT-AX57 (BCM6756) and RT-AX3000P (BCM6756).

4. For mid-range, I will recommend TUF-AX4200 and TUF-AX6000 (MediaTek Filogic 820 CPU), which are not supported by Asus Merlin, but supported by OpenWRT. TUF-AX4200 is already supported by the official 23.05 release. TUF-AX6000 is now with only snapshot release but will likely to be officially supported in the next release. RT-AX53U is also using MTK CPU but a lower end ones. It should be avoided as well with just 256MB RAM.
https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi

References:
1) https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

RT-AX58U 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM6750
RT-AX86U 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4908
RT-AX88U 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM49408
GT-AX11000 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4908
RT-AX68U 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4906
GT-AXE11000 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912
ZenWiFi Pro XT12 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912
GT-AX6000 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912
GT-AXE16000 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912
GT-AX11000_PRO 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912
RT-AX86U_PRO 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912
RT-AX88U_PRO 3004.388.6_2 -- BCM4912

2) https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

DSL-AX82U/DSL-AX5400 -- BCM6750
RT-AX82U v1 -- BCM6750
RT-AX82U v2 -- BCM6750
RT-AX92U -- BCM4906
TUF-AX5400 v1 -- BCM6750
TUF-AX3000 v1 -- BCM6750
ZenWiFi XT8 / RT-AX95Q v1 -- BCM6755
ZenWifi ET8 / RT-AXE95Q -- BCM6755

 

[MrClubbie]

It will depend on your definition of `reasonable`.

I consider S$500 to S$600 to be the reasonable price of 10G capable triband WiFi 7 router (global version with 6GHz and 320MHz channel width support). Then I consider S$300 to S$400 to be reasonable price for 2.5G capable triband WiFi 7 routers (global version with 6GHz and 320MHz channel width support). I think we can get down to such level next year (say second half of 2025).

There will be exceptions. For example, the Carousell price at S$450 to S$500 for the 10G capable BNIB TP-Link EB810v and Archer BE805 are already very reasonable to me as they are dumped by Starhub and MR 10Gbps users.

If we do not consider these ISP bundled routers, then the price of 10G capable triband WiFi 7 router will be higher than S$600 this year and will only drop to S$500+ level next year, unless China approves 6GHz band for WiFi use late this year. In that case, we may see Xiaomi coming out 10G capable triband WiFi 7 router at S$400 level next year.

On the other hand, there may be lower end WiFi 7 router (eg: similar to TP-Link Archer BE550 or Deco BE65) with only 2.5G ports to fall to S$400 level this year and S$300 next year.

Example --- Archer BE550 is at S$499 now with S$20 cashback, Deco BE65 dual pack is at S$909

Take note Asus is said to only bring in ROG GT-BE98, RT-BE96U and ZenWiFi BQ16 into Singapore market and the price will not be below S$800 any time soon.

Disclaim -- I am not good at finding lobangs and the above will be typical retail price with some normal promotions. And the above is just my personal opinion and could be totally wrong.

hi between TP-Link EB810v and Archer BE805 which would you recommend?

 

[xiaofan]

hi between TP-Link EB810v and Archer BE805 which would you recommend?

Are you planning to buy from Carousell?

Why do you want to buy them? Take note if you subscribe to Starhub 10Gbps plan, you will get free EB810v (second unit at S$15x24 months = S$360. If you subscribe or MR 10Gbps plans (normal plan or gamer plan), then you can top up Archer BE805 at S$50.

 

[MrClubbie]

Are you planning to buy from Carousell?

Why do you want to buy them? Take note if you subscribe to Starhub 10Gbps plan, you will get free EB810v (second unit at S$15x24 months = S$360. If you subscribe or MR 10Gbps plans (normal plan or gamer plan), then you can top up Archer BE805 at S$50.

yeah, planning to buy from carousell to upgrade from my current wifi 6 router. I have mobile phone that can use wifi 7

 

[xiaofan]

yeah, planning to buy from carousell to upgrade from my current wifi 6 router. I have mobile phone that can use wifi 7

Sorry but I do not recommend other ISP users to buy these three models of ISP bundled TP-Link 10G capable WiFi 7 router as the main router, due to the fact that you will likely not get firmware updates out of the specific ISP which bundles the router.

I am not sure if the user can flash Archer BE800 firmware to Archer BE805.

If using as AP, then probably of less concerns, but there will still be some security concerns.

If you still want to go ahead and buy, between the two, wireless performance should be very much similar. EB810v has one HW advantage since it has 2.5G ports whereas Archer BE805 does not. I tend to believe Archer BE805 has less customization so potentially has a bit of advantages in terms of firmware features. But this point is just my guess and not confirmed by the real users here.

Sorry I forget to mention the firmware updates issues in previous replies.

BTW, (not toward you), this is the main reason I do not want to answer technical questions using pm. I am not a professional in the home networking area. My answer can be biased (eg: biased towards Asus and against TP-Link, biases towards OpenWRT/pfSense and against Ubiquiti routers -- not their Unifi switches or wireless APs though) or incomplete or even totally wrong. If I answer in the forum, at least it could get chances to be corrected by others. Even if my answer is not wrong, there may be better answers as well.

 

[xiaofan]

ZTE BE7200 Pro+ Ookla SpeedTest, SingTel 1Gbps plan, OpenWRT virtual router with Intel N100 mini PC running Proxmox PVE 8.0 (just set it up today).

Wireless client: Xiaomi Poco X4 GT, MTK Dimensity 8100 CPU, 2*2 80MHz WiFi 6 client.

Close range at 1m distance.

4m distance

4m distance, Acer Windows 11 laptop (2021 model) with Intel AX201 WiFi 6 adapter

 

[xiaofan]

ZTE BE7200 Pro+ Ookla SpeedTest, SingTel 1Gbps plan, OpenWRT virtual router with Intel N100 mini PC running Proxmox PVE 8.0 (just set it up today).

4m distance, Acer Windows 11 laptop (2021 model) with Intel AX201 WiFi 6 adapter

The test results are not that consistent for the Windows 11 laptop, which is kind of as expected for wireless Internet Speedtest. Wired Internet Speedtest is rather consistent (at about 944-947 Mbps for both download and upload).

Here is the good one, still at 4m distance.

Here is the not so good results (still pretty good though).

 

[xiaofan]

ZTE BE7200 Pro+ Ookla SpeedTest, SingTel 1Gbps plan, OpenWRT virtual router with Intel N100 mini PC running Proxmox PVE 8.0.

WiFi 5 client test results (Windows 10 year 2020 laptop with Intel AC9260 2x2 AC 160MHz), 4m away.

Somehow download speed is quite a bit slower than upload.

 

[xiaofan]

Chinese WiFi 7 router options (no 6GHz band, no 320MHz channel bandwidth, got MLO, 4096QAM, MRU, etc)

TP-Link:
https://www.tp-link.com.cn/product_cat_wifi7.html
TP-Link TL-7DR3610 BE3600, RMB 229, not recommended as no 2.5G port
TP-Link TL-7DR3630 BE3600, RMB 249 (single 2.5G port). not recommended as main router, okay as AP
TP-Link TL-7DR5130 BE5100, RMB 279 (single 2.5G port), not recommended as main router, okay as AP
TP-Link TL-7DR6560 BE6500 (quad 2.5G ports, good match for 2.5G plans), RMB 559
TP-Link TL-7DR7280 BE7200 (quad 2.5G ports, good match for 2.5G plans), RMB 1699
TP-Link TL-7TR13090 BE13000 triband (dual 10G ports, maybe good for 10G plans), RMB 2199

TP-Link BE6500 dual band WiFi 7 router (no 6GHz band) review by Chinese reviewer 知电晓春哥.
Qualcomm IPQ5322 CPU (Quad Core ARM Cortex A53, 1.5GHz), 1GB RAM, 128MB Flash, quad 2.5G ports
As per the review, for WiFi 7 clients, MLO helps on both speed and latency. MLO even helps roaming in the tests.

The reviewer says that Xiaomi BE6500 Pro (RMB699) and ZTE BE7200 Pro+ (RMB599) are better than this TP-Link 7DR6560 BE6500 (RMB 559).

 

[xiaofan]

Chinese WiFi 7 router options (no 6GHz band, no 320MHz channel bandwidth, got MLO, 4096QAM, MRU, etc)

Xiaomi
Xiaomi BE3600 (2.5G port): RMB 299 (just announced) -- not recommended as main router since it has only 256MBRAM, okay as an AP
Xiaomi BE6500 Pro (quad 2.5G ports, good for 2.5G plans): RMB699
Xiaomi BE7000 (quad 2.5G ports, good match for 2.5G plans): RMB799
Xiaomi 10000 triband (dual 10G ports, maybe good for 10G plans): RMB1499

Xiaomi BE3600 -- more suitable as a mesh node with Xiaomi BE6500 Pro or Xiaomi BE7000 as the main router.
Xiaomi BE3600:
Qualcomm IPQ5312 Quad Core A53 1.1GHz, 256MB RAM, 128MB Flash, Single 2.5G port

Youtube review by Chinese reviewer 知电晓春哥

 

[xiaofan]

TP-Link BE6500 dual band WiFi 7 router (no 6GHz band) review by Chinese reviewer 知电晓春哥.
Qualcomm IPQ5322 CPU (Quad Core ARM Cortex A53, 1.5GHz), 1GB RAM, 128MB Flash, quad 2.5G ports
As per the review, for WiFi 7 clients, MLO helps on both speed and latency. MLO even helps roaming in the tests.

The reviewer says that Xiaomi BE6500 Pro (RMB699) and ZTE BE7200 Pro+ (RMB599) are better than this TP-Link 7DR6560 BE6500 (RMB 559).

How do you choose between Xiaomi BE6500 Pro vs ZTE BE7200 Pro+?
Both are good buy in the end.

 

[xiaofan]

Asus GT-BE98 Setup and SpeedTest Review