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

Used to run asus routers, loved them then jumped to another brand for mesh as asus's offerings weren't strong yet. That router went end of life so back to alot of researching. My gripe with how the router market has developed is that they have either dumbed down all the admin features so you don't have many choices (or only make available in their business models for another $1,000), or make you pay subscription for basic firewall capability, or are made by a Chinese company where you may get some features you don't want (backdoors). Well, after researching Asus's offerings for mesh have matured a lot, and their philosophy to let you admin stuff the way you want hasn't (good thing) while not charging you for firewall and security protection built in. Yeah, it may be a more expensive product than others but do the match on that subscription or having to buy a firewall to put in front of it and its a deal. Anyhow, setup was super smooth. Performance is delightful. Speed is super fast and very stable. Note, I have two levels, basement, storage, and 2 foot thick brick walls that my last mesh router hlcould barely give me a signal through (getting 200 maps in my "bad spots now). The freedom only admin controls also means I can create segments, manually prioritize, create white lists, and not only have an iot network but choose which satellite and band they connect to (others force this and created so many headaches and security issues). I stretched my budget on this but given i rely on this and generally keep my routers until end of life, this wifi 7 router is pretty cheap after I do the math per year compared to competing models with a cheaper up front cost but more expensive size in long run that limit function. Anyhow, super happy. Happy to be back at Asus.

Update as of 9/24/25. I lost my cell phone and had to download the Asus app again. Could not remember my password, and the only option is to factory reset my password. That's just not acceptable, why use an app at all? Updating this review on 9/21/2025. After using the router for 2 months, this router does not work for me. I have taken the time to update drivers on my laptop and I have a brand-new Android S24. The internet connection is still sketchy with some apps timing out because connection is slow or stops. TV's frequently are unable to connect with Netflix. I have also not been able to get my Arlo Door-cam to connect to the router. ITs an expensive router, and not very good. I am going back to Netgear products. They have always been bulletproof. I have a ~1800 square foot ranch house. Everything is on one level. The house has a basement, and I mounted A Netgear R6400 router just about dead center of the house, it was mounted to the floor joists. This setup worked very well. Solid signal throughout the house and even out on the patio in the backyard. I finished the basement and had to move the netgear router maybe 2 feet off center, but those 2 feet caused it to sit on the wrong side of a wood beam and my signal out on the patio tanked. I bought this Asus ZenWifi BT8 figuring it might perform better than the old router which was 5+ years old. It does not. Not only does it not cover the space any better, but all of my device's experience glitches using the internet. Pages will just stall to load. The installation directions state clearly that you may need to update your device drivers to something that supports WIFI 7. I did not update the drivers, because I saw no benefit to the solution. So I am going back to the old router and adding a netgear extender to cover the patio. Even when the devices are not glitching out, the throughput is nothing better than I had with the netgear. My message here... Unless you are prepared to take a chance updating the device drivers to something that supports WIFI 7, this device is not worth the price. There was no performance gain experienced, and I have yet to be successful connecting my Ring Camera to the network since the move to Asus.

ASUS ZenWiFi – A Seamless Upgrade for Better Coverage and Speed!!! After experiencing persistent dead zones throughout my home with a single router, I decided to upgrade to the ASUS ZenWiFi system. With a growing number of smart devices, my previous setup simply couldn’t keep up. From the moment I installed this system, the difference was clear.... Effortless Setup The installation process was simple and intuitive. I powered on both units in the same room, connected the main unit to my AT&T fiber modem, and completed the setup through the mobile app. Within minutes, everything was fully operational—no technical headaches. Strong Signal, Sleek Design Despite my home being a modest 1,500 sq ft, I now have strong, reliable WiFi in every room. The system’s sleek, compact design fits discreetly into any space without being intrusive. Fast and Stable Performance Speeds consistently range from 800 to 900 Mbps, depending on the room. More importantly, the connection is stable—I no longer deal with frustrating resets or dropouts. Subtle, Yet Significant Impact This upgrade quietly transformed my daily experience with WiFi. There’s no fanfare—just consistent performance, broad coverage, and a smoother online experience across all our devices.

I've had these routers for about two weeks and they're now running fine. I noticed some poor reviews and feel those customers suggered from the sale of earlier models that didn't have the bugs worked out. As others mention, initial setup takes some time but worked out fine. Just be careful to follow the included written guide exactly. I think Asus has tried to address the initial complaints and has released several updates to the product firmware. I've seen two updated firmwares downloaded aince purchase. All in all wifi is strong and fast throughout my home. No random disconnects or draggy speed. The Asus app is required for initial setup but otherwise limited in functionality. A computer and web interface is needed to delve into the more complex aspects of router configuration.

Great system, moving from an Orbi RBK852 system that we've had for a while, but struggled with reliable hand-off of my iPhone as well as some dead zones. System was a bit laggy and unreliable in the beginning as in some of the other reviews. That said, once we got the ethernet backhaul connected (home is wired with cat5E) in a start topology (series would probably be fine as well), turned on ethernet backhaul mode on, and QoS for gaming or work from home, the system has been great, reliable, with good speeds, connection, and reasonable range. We have a total of 4 of these units to cover our home. App is easy to use, and web interface has oodles of configuration options for pro users. Strongly recommend, specially for those comfortable with network tech (or has a friend who is)

Poor connection between units. Signal drops between units all the time. Devices on wifi randomly slow to a crawl. No joke, I have better more reliable coverage with my Orbi RBK20 setup from 2018! I need a mesh system with 2.5g ports minimum and USB C for a media server so I was super excited for this but it is either not ready software wise or the hardware has faults that they can't program around. You can see people with the same struggles on forums so it's not a case of me just getting a lemon. Asus used to be one of the best in the business but over the past five or so years their quality has taken a noticeable turn for the worse. I've build custom PCs for two decades now and Asus was my go to motherboard and router brand but now it looks like I have to find a brand to replace them with. TL;DR bad hardware and software - don't buy. Also, way too expensive for what you get - 1 gigabit ports shouldn't exist at this price point.

Just use it as a dumb access point and it's fine, use it for anything else and it will fail and need rebooting.

Performance looks great on paper but that is about it. It is often too slow to be usable. When I first set this up, and intermittently, I get decent speeds. My ISP is 1Gbp and I'll be getting up to 800-900Mbps using speedtest.net over WiFi. However, often it gets unbearably slow and not even restarting will fix the issue. So slow that I can't even watch a Netflix show without it having to stop to buffer periodically. When I test this with a WIRED connection (you read that correctly, nothing over the air), I am getting consistently around 8Mbps. The performance is 100 times slower than my 10 year old WiFi 5 router that I have switched back to. There are a lot of negative reviews (which I should have listened to). I wonder if the positive reflect long term use? If you are just doing some light web surfing you may not notice, but you can do that with a much cheaper router. I had the same issues with the ZenWiFi BD4 and "upgraded" to the BT8 thinking it was because the BD4 was just underpowered. This is almost certainly a firmware problem. I'm using the latest BT8_300610258273. Forums and Asus support itself recommends doing a factory reset after updating (which I've done) but this is extremely tedious, and it hasn't fixed the slow speed issue. Hopefully it will be fixed at some point but it has almost been a year since release and it's clearly still in Beta. Support: Asus support has been terrible. One day I got kicked off five times because of a problem on their end and had to start the entire process over again with a different agent. I may have gotten unlucky but I've read elsewhere people who have had the same problem.

Excellent system. I have been running this system for about 2 weeks and haven't experienced any software/firmware issues that apparently plagued asus bt series routers when they were first released a year and a half ago or so. This system has eliminated all dead spots in the house and the speeds are incredibly fast using wireless backhaul. I highly recommend.