ASUSZenWiFi AX Whole-Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System(XT8), Coverage Up to 5500 sq ft or 510 m or 6+ Rooms, 6.6 Gbps WiFi, 3 SSIDs, 2.5G Port, White

TL;DRIf you have a lot of WiFi devices and need speed, stability and range - just get it, you won't regret.I've had a lot of routers and mesh networks, pretty much from every brand, and this is by the the most stable, fastest and seamless network.I'll cut to the chase now - in order to get most of it you need you tweak settings a bit. It'll work plug & play, but it really shines once it is fully setup.1) For initial setup, it needs to be close together, connected via wireless backhaul - easiest to do with the mobile app. Once done, I would recommend wired backhaul between nodes, however 4x4 160MHz 4800Mbps backhaul is fast enough, even at a distance.2) Setup 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2 networks as 3 separate SSID and don't use smart connect.Use 2.4GHz for all IoT smart devices, 5GHz-1 for TVs and non-WiFi 6 gear, and 5GHz-2 for WiFi 6 gear only (set network as AX only)3) From then on, I recommend using web browser console, you have more settings there and it's easier to use.4) For those working from home on VPN and having issues with MS Teams calls and Outlook desktop client - use your broadband provided kit as router with wi-fi off, and switch ZenWifi to AP mode.5) Turn off smart connect, don't turn on any QoS or AI protect stuff6) Tweak roaming mode to your own needs. I've included sample settings for 5GHz-2 network which gives full 1.2Gbps, I also get 1.2Gbps on 5GHz-1, this maxes out our 910Mbps fibre optic broadband anyway.With all above, our 2 x Galaxy S20s and laptops with Killer 1650 M.2 Wifi 6 AX are a lot more responsive - not to mention much faster max speeds - that's thanks to improved latency on WiFi 6, regardless whether it's 5GHz-1 or 5GHz-2, but separation gives better overall performance kids with their TVs and tablets are not impacting our work.Note 1 - currently it is not possible to use 5GHz-2 network in 4x4 mode, so max you can get is 1.2Gbps rather than 4.8Gbps, but this is irrelevant since you would need multi WAN internet connection to go over 1Gbps anyway, and gigabit is plenty fast.Note 2- NAS functions (whether FTP or Samba) maxes out at ~67MBps (536Mbps) even with Samsung T5 which gives me over 500MBps (4Gbps) when connected directly to PC - that's not great, but fast enough for a NAS.Note 3 - I'm currently on firmware 25524, it is stable, no issues, everything gets signal across 3 floors and in both front and back garden - and I have rather large network:2 x XT8 in AP mode3 x network switches4 x 4K smart TVs (2 wired, 2 wireless)5 PCs (2 wired, 1 on VPN all the time)5 tablets4 x TV streaming devices (1 wired)4 x phones7 x Ring devices14 smart plugs9 smart speakers13 other smart wifi devicesTo finish off I'm going to add that the actual hardware is a lot smaller and lighter than I thought it is, less obstructive, looks very good in any room, it shows quality and it's very well designed and built.Highly recommended, especially considering it is actually cheaper than WiFi 6 mesh from other brands.UPDATE:Attached 2 more screenshots with speedtest over wire and wireless. Can't get much better than that!

Ok, let me address some repeating comments here first. This system can transmit at upto 6GBps if you link the two nodes by a cable. This is standard practice and shouldn’t be seen as false advertising. If you use the Wireless meshing system you utilise one of the two 5Ghz radios as a dedicated mesh backhaul. That still gives you a great WiFi AX network. Also if your looking at true 6Gbps requirement you will need 10Gbps wired infrastructure to everything else anyway so it really isn’t a problem. I have about 70 WiFi devices in my home and there is no bottle neck across the network and I am using the WiFi mesh.Right, onto the main review. This router and node kit is fantastic! Powerful, fast and full of useful features from an easy to use App (Android and iOS both available FOC) or the web GUI. Features include advanced IPS and gateway antivirus (provided by Trend Micro), full VPN server, excellent QoS and a host of other features for the advanced user.Setup was a breeze via the iOS app and from unboxing to fully configured mesh WiFi took less than 10 minutes. Please note however that the WAN port is presented as upto 2.5Gb Ethernet so you will need a Modem if you use VDSL/FTTC. I have a DrayTek Vigor 130 in my setup but the white OpenReach modems will be just as good for 99% of users.So far it has been rock solid and not missed a beat. There are some really cool features built in including a Speedtest.net plugin to test directly on the router (so you don’t have the drop between router and client) l, also a real-time traffic monitor lets you see how much bandwidth each device on your network is using in real time (great for fault finding) the VPN server works flawlessly as does the endpoint for Site-to-Site VPN.This is a great router system for both standard and advanced home users and would definitely recommend!

Expected more of a faff after reading the reviews, but found the setup reasonably straightforward. These were purchased to replace an old home LAN setup that was increasingly unstable, with intermittent dropouts.Used the quick start guide - downloaded the phone app, plugged in the APs and updated the firmware in 10 to 15 minutes. I use double NAT, with the home LAN the only connection into the ISP modem. And with a few home devices set for 10.x IP range, needed to change the factory DHCP settings. Found it much easier to use the browser based manager, rather than the phone app, to do this. Still took a few goes to figure out (you have to reset the host / gateway IP on one page first, and then the DHCP range on another page second), but other than that it's quite a nice and clear set of features, controls and monitors.Am not currently using the Trend micro provided monitoring feature; if you would like to use the features must agree and consent to their data collection policy:"Please note that your information will be collected by Trend Micro through AiProtection, Traffic analyzer, Apps analyzer, Adaptive QoS and web history. "Not all of those features should require Trend Micro to have access to your home LAN activity, so it loses a star for that.Otherwise, solid and fast enough connection, with good coverage through several Victorian brick walls.