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In recent months, we’ve examined several Asus Wi-Fi 7 mesh routers, which offer a wealth of features and blazing-fast performance. the Zenwifi BQ16 Pro It delivered the highest performance we’ve seen from a wireless router, while the ZenWiFi BT10 offers slightly lower performance and a reduced price.
The ZenWiFi BT8 is another step down the performance ladder for Asus’ family of routers, sitting below the ZenWiFi BT10 and above the ZenWiFi BT6. It’s a tri-band router that offers six streams and costs $899 for a three-node system, compared to $1,299 for the ZenWiFi BT10. Some trade-offs were made between performance and features to achieve a $400 lower price, so read on to see how the ZenWiFi BT8 compares to the competition and… Best wifi routers In the market.
Design of the Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh router
The ZenWiFi BT8 shares its design language with the more expensive ZenWiFi BT10. In fact, the two mesh routing systems share the same external dimensions. The exterior is finished in matte white, and the minimalist aesthetic should allow the wireless nodes to fade into the background wherever you place them in your home.
The lower front of each node features a silver Asus logo, while an LED is located directly below it. The LED can flash in different colors to alert you of certain events. For example, it flashes blue when satellites are paired with the router, and a red light means your satellite is having trouble connecting to the network. If the LED is solid white, the network status is nominal.
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At least when looking at the contract, the main difference between the ZenWiFi BT8 and ZenWiFi BT10 is the arrangement of the ports on the back. The ZenWiFi BT8 offers one 2.5G port for WAN/LAN and another 2.5G port for LAN – the ZenWiFi BT10 offers 10G for both ports. The ZenWiFi BT8 also offers two 1G LAN ports, while the ZenWiFi BT10 only has one port per node. Both feature a single USB 3.2 port for connectivity External storageOr a printer or smartphone to share the Internet.
Specifications of the Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh router
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| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) |
| Wi-Fi bands | 2.4GHz: 2×2 (Tx/Rx), up to 688Mbps |
| 5GHz: 3×3 (Tx/Rx), up to 4,323Mbps | |
| 6 GHz: 3.3 (Tx/Rx), up to 8,643 Mbps | |
| CPU | Not disclosed |
| memory | 1 GB RAM, 128 GB Flash |
| Coverage | 8,850 square feet |
| Ports | 1 x 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN, 1 x 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN, 2 x 1Gbps LAN, 1x USB 3.2 (per node) |
Setting up the Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh router
Although there’s a sticker on one of the three nodes that identifies it as the router and should be installed first, all three ZenWiFi BT8 nodes are identical — it doesn’t matter which node you set up first. In my rush to get the three nodes out of the box, I just grabbed one, plugged a cable from the 2.5G WAN port into my modem, and plugged a cable from the 2.5G LAN port into my server in my home office. I didn’t notice this sticker until I pulled the last node later during setup.
Setup was straightforward, as is usually the case with Asus routers. Once the actual wired connections were made, I pointed my web browser to asusrouter.com. After clicking through a few pages filled with walls of text citing privacy terms, I was allowed to create separate SSIDs for each wireless band (which I did) and separate IoT network (which I declined). I was then asked to create a new admin login and password.
Next, the setup told me to connect the two satellites at least 1 meter away from the router in the same room. It responded, and it took a few minutes for the flashing blue LEDs on the satellites to turn solid white. Once both satellites gave me solid white status lights, I separated them and installed them in their final locations (upstairs bedroom and downstairs living room).
Like the ZenWiFi BT10, the ZenWiFi BT8 supports both wired and wireless connectivity. If your home is already wired, you can take advantage of wired connectivity using the 2.5G LAN port located on the back of each node. If you go the wireless route, the ZenWiFi BT8 uses MLO to link the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands into a single link between the router and satellites. I used an all-wireless setup, so both satellites were connected to the router using an MLO link.
Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh router software
The Asus ZenWiFi BT8 runs the excellent AsusWRT 5.0 software platform, which provides a wealth of configuration options and features for the end user to explore. Our ZenWiFi BT8 review unit was updated to firmware 3.0.0.6.102_56236, which we used in performance testing.
The network map serves as the home page for your ZenWiFi BT8, providing a broad overview of your network, including internet connection status, and WPA protection Level, core CPU usage, RAM usage, active Ethernet ports, USB port status, and AiMesh status.
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The left menu bar is divided into two sections: General and Advanced Settings. For most consumers, you’ll probably want to stick with the General section. Here, you can monitor the status of your AiMesh (i.e., each satellite’s connection status and how each link links to the router) and enable AiProtection, Asus’ free security suite to secure your network. You can also set up parental controls, enable guest networking and IoT, and take advantage of various USB-related functions (for example, using your smartphone to share its internet connection with your ZenWiFi BT8 if your primary ISP is down).
Advanced settings, as you might expect, give you more fine-grained network control for power users. Here, you can further adjust your WAN, LAN, and wireless settings. You can even enable Amazon Alexa integration to perform specific router tasks using your voice (for example, reboot the router).
I will say that it’s nice to see that Asus isn’t charging for these extra features when companies like Netgear, Eero, and TP-Link try to nickel and dime their subscription services to unlock certain features or security suites.
Performance of the Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh router
Given its position in Asus’ range of Wi-Fi 7 mesh routers, the ZenWiFi BT8 is expected to be a step behind the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro and ZenWiFi BT10 in performance. For example, the ZenWiFi BT10 features a 4×4 5GHz band (5762Mbps), a 4×4 6GHz band (11525Mbps), and 10 total streams.
The ZenWiFi BT8, on the other hand, uses a 3×3 setup for both the 5GHz (4323Mbps) and 6GHz (8643Mbps) bands, for a total of 8 streams. Both mesh systems use a 2×2 2.4GHz (688Mbps) band. However, these are all theoretical limitations and will not be achieved in real-world conditions.
We use a Windows 11 Desktop with MSI Pro B650M-A Wi-Fi motherboard, AMD Ryzen 5 7600 processor, 32GB DDR5 memory, 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD, and MSI Herald-B The Wi-Fi 7 PCIe adapter is our client system, which is moved from room to room for wireless testing (thanks Stylish built-in case handle).
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iPerf3 throughput tests are conducted using our Windows 11 server equipped with an integrated 10G LAN card and connected to the 2.5G LAN port on the ZenWiFi BT8. Wireless tests are performed at distances of 6 feet and 25 feet.
Wireless tests are first performed with the network free of additional traffic from other connected clients. Then, the same tests are performed with simulated traffic from additional users accessing the network (for our testing, we use six clients streaming 4K video from YouTube).
In 6GHz iPerf3 tests at a distance of six feet, the ZenWiFi BT8 exceeded 2,000Mbps. It couldn’t keep up with the ZenWiFi BT10, which beat all competitors at 2,667Mbps. The TP-Link Deco BE65 Pro wasn’t far behind the ZenWiFi BT8 at 1846Mbps. Moving down to 25 feet, the ZenWiFi BT8 dropped to 809Mbps, putting it in third place.
Things were a little closer between the two Asus brothers in the 5GHz iPerf3 test. Performance at six feet was nearly identical, with the ZenWiFi BT8 hitting 1,297Mbps and the ZenWiFi BT10 hitting 1,293Mbps. The Deco BE65 Pro ranked top at six feet with 1,530Mbps. The ZenWiFi BT8 once again found itself in third place at 25 feet with 503Mbps compared to 659Mbps and 652Mbps for the ZenWiFi BT10 and Deco BE65 Pro, respectively.
The ZenWiFi BT8 had a very strong showing on the 2.4GHz band, achieving 121Mbps at six feet and 88Mbps at 25 feet. While performance at six feet was 7Mbps lower than the Deco BE65 Pro, its performance at 25 feet was 17Mbps better.
Turning to our crowded test system, the ZenWiFi BT8 fell to second place at distances of six feet (1,950 Mbps) and 25 feet (718 Mbps). It was a mixed bag on the 5GHz band, falling to last place at six feet, but barely finishing second at 25 feet. The ZenWiFi BT8 had another strong showing on the 2.4GHz band with busy traffic, taking first place at six feet (99Mbps) and 25 feet (60Mbps).
Ping times were always in the 3ms to 5ms range for the ZenWiFi BT8 on the 6GHz and 5GHz bands in our crowded and uncrowded tests. However, tests on the 2.4GHz band saw ping times range between 7ms and 13ms.
Bottom line
The Asus ZenWiFi BT8 is a great value for anyone looking to upgrade their legacy Wi-Fi 5 or older network to the performance and reliability offered by Wi-Fi 7. Unlike the ZenWiFi BT10, which carries an MSRP of $1,499 for a three-pack, the ZenWiFi has The BT8 has an MSRP of just $899. Better yet, the street price is much lower $729 at Best Buy As of this writing.
This is a great value for a mesh Wi-Fi 7 router that breaks the 2,000Mbps mark on the 6GHz band. The closest competition to the ZenWiFi BT8 in this price range is TP-Link Deco BE65 Pro. It carries an MSRP of $799 for a triple pack and is currently available for as low as $463 at Amazon. However, not many companies can compete with TP-Link on price, which probably explains why The company’s share is 65 percent Home and small business routers market in the US market.
However, the ZenWiFi BT8 is still a solid offering from Asus, and we can’t rule out the AiProtection suite offered for free to handle security threats to your network. Additionally, AsusWRT 5.0 remains one of the most comprehensive and customizable software platforms available on the home router market. As an all-in-one package, the ZenWiFi BT8 should be on your shortlist for upgrading your home router and easily insert among… Best wifi routers.
