Customer Ratings & Reviews

I really like this mesh system now that I got it up and running. I did drop it from 5 to 4 stars as the firmware has some minor bugs still (They have come a long way in the last year though). Specifically, the router has issues obtaining the WAN IP address from the ISP modem. I had to power cycle both the modem and the router (left router off for several minutes after modem rebooted) and then it finally got the IP. But if you don't wait 5 minutes before powering up the router it will just sit there and say its "obtaining..." the IP address and never do it. Speed on wifi off these is insane! By the way, the white flat surface of the routers are just begging to have something on them...I personalized mine with some favorite characters by ordering vinyl stickers (see pics).

Pros: Extremely fast speeds! Truly WiFi 7 Very wide coverage Simple setup process Plenty of customization options Cons: On the expensive side After reading many WiFi 7 router reviews, I have been wanting to experience the speed of WiFi 7! Although TP-Link released its WiFi 7 Mesh last year, I decided to wait for the ASUS one since I have been using ASUS routers for years with satisfying experiences. I finally got my hands on the BE30000 after waiting for over a year. It turns out the wait was worth it. I used the WebGUI for setup, and everything was as usual – I took the three BE30000 units out of the box, placed them at least one meter apart as instructed, and powered them on. I connected the unit labeled "main router" to the modem. Then I logged into the web interface and followed the on-screen instructions to complete the setup. The nodes' LEDs flashed blue during the process. Although it took a while, they eventually connected successfully, with all three BE30000 units showing solid white LEDs. After the basic setup, I moved the two nodes to the bedroom and near the kitchen, and the backhaul connection remained in MLO mode. By the way, the MLO feature in WiFi 7 was the most anticipated for me, so seeing "MLO" connected on the screen was incredibly exciting! One reason I really like ASUS is the wide range of customization options it provides. With the BE30000, ASUS has updated the Guest Network settings, allowing for easy network segmentation. I can set up different SSIDs for different purposes and manage devices separately. I found the VPN network most helpful for me. I no longer need to frequently switch VPN connections; I just connect to the VPN Network SSID. Additionally, the subscription-free security features are fantastic. The AiProtection Pro provides real-time network monitoring, automatic security updates, and protection against malicious websites and intrusions—all at no extra cost. It’s incredible that these comprehensive security features are offered for free. I was really impressed with how the ZenWiFi BE30000 covers every corner of my house. In the past, some areas only had one or two bars of WiFi signal, which was barely usable, but now I get three bars everywhere. Being able to use the internet smoothly everywhere is fantastic! I can now watch videos anywhere without being limited to areas with good signal because the signal is great everywhere. In conclusion, if you want to experience the speed boost brought by WiFi 7, the ZenWiFi BE30000 is definitely a great choice. Its sleek design, stable and high-speed network, and rich customization features make it highly recommended.

Considering my work-from-home needs, I often need to transfer large files and hold video conferences. I also have many devices at home that require internet connectivity. The WiFi system I was using seemed outdated and overloaded: File transfers were slow, and video conferences were often lagging, so I decided to find a replacement, hoping it would improve network stability and provide faster speeds to meet my home office needs. On the recommendation of a friend familiar with router products, I purchased the BE30000. Initially, I was worried that the setup would be time-consuming after reading some reviews, but following the app's instructions, the setup was very easy. The app interface is very intuitive, with clear and simple steps. From connecting the main router to adding nodes and setting up the Wi-Fi name and password, the entire process was seamless. After completing the setup, I noticed there was a firmware available for update, so I immediately updated to the latest version. The process was very simple; just press "update," and the system automatically completes everything. The advanced settings in the app let me adjust network configurations as needed, such as setting up a kid’s network and IoT network. It's very convenient for device management. Now I can change the settings of the main network without the trouble of reconnecting my home devices. I've been using it for a few days now, and everything is working great. I'm very satisfied. The Wi-Fi signal is very stable and has wide coverage. The speed tests met my expectations, and there were no lags during conference calls. Additionally, file transfer speeds have increased significantly, saving me a lot of time, and improving my mood!

I was reading all other reviews mentioning connection issues, but after completing the setup and updating the firmware to the latest version, the connections have been very stable, and speeds have improved compared to my previous router TP wifi 6 router. The ZenWiFi BE30000 has excellent signal coverage, with strong signals throughout the house. Speed tests showed very good results, with stable signals on all 3 floors. Especially during streaming and online gaming, the system maintained speeds with no lag or delay, very important to me, my roommate is a heavy gamer, can't sacrifice any minute with no internet. The Asus Router app is also very convenient and intuitive, allowing easy network management and monitoring of connected devices. The app provides a wealth of management tools and configuration options, such as setting up guest networks, parental controls, and QoS settings, allowing flexible network adjustments according to needs. I definitely will recommend this model to all my friends and families.

I live in a large two-story house packed with wireless devices like outdoor cameras, TVs, gaming consoles, and cell phones. My family and I also often stream media or play online games. My old mesh system constantly disconnected our devices which is annoying to say the least. I decided to buy the ASUS ZenWIFI BE30000, hoping for stable connections and better coverage. Below is my experience and review since buying the product. Setup BE30000 comes with three units that are a bit heavy but feel well-made (I like the silver triangular symbol on the side). One unit is marked with "Main Unit" sticker, so I knew to start with that one. I used the router app, which gives the option to connect WIFI manually OR scan QR code to start the process. I didn't have any problems during setup like some of the other reviews mentioned. By following the app's instruction, I finished everything in ten minutes. The instructions are step by step; from connecting the main router and nodes to setting up the WIFI name and password. The whole process was smooth and easy, even for a non-tech user like me. Coverage BE30000 offers excellent signal coverage. Placing the 3 units in my living room, bedroom, and basement ensured stable connections throughout my entire house (both on 1st and 2nd floor). All devices connect easily without drops or weak signals, even from my yard! App The ASUS router app is straightforward to use. It allows me to manage the network, monitor connected devices, and even block devices. I particularly appreciate being able to check the usage of ports directly from the app. This feature allows me to monitor each port's usage without needing to physically check the nodes. Conclusion The BE30000 is easy to set up, offers stable performance, and has wide signal coverage, making it for me a highly recommended mesh system. Whether for the home office, entertainment, or everyday use, it provides a stable and high-speed connection. If you're looking for a reliable network solution, this product is an excellent choice!

I've been using the ASUS BE30000 Quad Band Mesh system for the last few weeks. This is a 3-pack system that boasts WiFi 7 support, huge range, and multi-gig LAN ports. My home sits below the square footage support as a 1700sqft residence, but I do have outdoor devices that are helped by the extended range support. I have had both positive (blazing performance, feature loaded, wide coverage) and negative experiences (device compatibility, disconnects) with this router setup. The ASUS BE30000 WiFi 7 Quad Band Mesh System The BE30000 is a 3-unit quad band mesh router system. Each unit is identical so this isn’t a main + satellite AP system. The supported bands are: 2 bands of 11,529Mbps @ 6GHz, 1 band of 5,764Mbps @ 5Ghz, 1 band of 1,376Mbps @ 2.4Ghz. The routers support simultaneous quad-band radios, 20/40/80/160/320MHz channel bandwidths, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, MLO, and 4K QAM. There are also 12 internal antennas. The router has 2 ports that can be used for WAN or connections – 1 is a 10gigabit port while the other is 1 gigabit. There are 3 additional LAN ports – 1 is a 10 gigabit port while the other 2 are 1 gigabit ports. There is also a USB 3.0 port for a networked printer or a storage solution. A single CAT6 ethernet cable is included. Performance My overall thoughts on the router performance - it is FAST. Blazing fast on wired and wireless connections. I was getting similar wireless speeds from the street in front of my house that I was getting from the previous router system inside my house. WiFi 7 does make a difference, but 6E compatible devices still see a good bump in speed. Wired throughput is excellent and is really a game changer if you have PC’s or clients with 2.5/5/10Gbps NICs. I tested the performance of the BE30000 like I have tested my previous networks. I have a mix of wired and wireless (WiFi 6 & 6E) devices to test. I only have 1 WiFi 7 device at my disposal, which is my partner’s Pixel 9 Pro phone. I used my Pixel 7 Pro (6E) and her 9 Pro to compare the the 2 WiFi generations, but stuck with the 6E PC’s for network transfer tests. I have fiber internet with 600Mbps up/down. I headed on over to SpeedTest and checked my network speeds. On my wired PC I am getting 595/598 up/down, which is on par with my other router system and right at my advertised speed. Walking around my house with the phones I didn’t have a spot drop below 550(7)/500(6E), and it took walking outside of my house and into the street before the speeds were cut in half. Testing between the phones saw about 10% improvement on WiFi 7. The speeds were a bit faster than I have seen on any other system I have used. The signal reached down to the bottom of my property (200ft from nearest node) without any issue. I could easily put a remote camera down there and still have plenty of signal/bandwidth to carry the video. I tested out inter-network traffic with LAN Speed test from Totusoft. I use this to simulate network throughput, and is a good way to gauge cross-network speeds in a real world scenario. To reduce variables the machines all have Gen 4 NVME drives with similar R/W speeds, and WiFi 6E support. 1 machine has a 2.5Gb port while the others are just gigabit. The software sends dummy file transfers between machines – I set the file transfer sizes to 5MB, 300MB, and 1GB. The small file transfer size simulates bursts of network traffic while the larger sizes would represent network streaming or large file transfers. Here’s all the ways I configured the transfers – 1. Both wired to the main node (10gb, 1gb port) – 550/630Mbps (5MB); 582/770 (300MB); 620/785 (1GB) 2. 1 wired to the main and 1 wireless to the main – 240/385; 244/600; 250/630 3. 1 wired to the main and 1 wireless to a mesh node – 166/293, 145/535; 145/425 4. 1 wired to the main and 1 wired to a node – 300/610; 334/822; 326/822 5. both wireless to the main – 220/350; 200/750; 215/680 6. both wireless to a node – 85/314; 180/506; 172/502 Setup and Reliability Setup of the router system is easy - pull them out of the box and plug them in. 1 router has a sticker that says it’s the main node and should be plugged into the modem. Otherwise, all 3 nodes are identical to each other. For setup you can do it 2 ways – fully wireless system or with wired backhauls. I have my home setup with CAT6a cabling so I could do wired, but I opted to do wireless for now. You do need to download the ASUS router app to do the setup. Plugging the nodes in and powering them on is the first step, and then from there the app takes over. It was a pretty easy setup all things considered – all nodes were discovered and I was able to assign the SSID. I did run into an issue right after setup where the router would not access the internet. It showed I had the cables connected and the lights on my modem indicated they were connected but the router was not getting an IP address. I power cycled the router and modem several times and even fully reset the router to no avail. I plugged my old router to confirm I had internet, and it worked right away. I ended up plugging things back in, and went outside to do yardwork. After an hour or 2 I noticed I was getting camera notifications again, which meant the router finally made a connection to the internet. I have no idea why it behaved like this, and its not something I have experienced before. I have used Mesh routers in the past and they are not without their quirks. Whenever I swap out a router I keep the same SSID and password so I don’t have to reconnect everything. I have eschewed setting up an IOT network in the past to avoid resetting all my devices’ WiFi settings - never caused an issue. This held true with the last 6 or 7 router systems, which included WiFi 6E and 7 systems. When I booted up this system for the first time my Lockly smart lock, Ecobee thermostat, Kasa switches, and wireless printers (Brother and HP) did not reconnect. I had to go in and reset their WiFi info to get them onto the network. Unfortunately my Kasa switches would not reconnect. Even creating a 2.4GHz IOT network couldn’t get them online. I don’t have a ton of time to sit and dig through settings these days, so it took me awhile to find a solution. I eventually did get them working after adjusting a setting in the web interface. The web interface is on 192.168.50.1 and the setting is under Advanced>Wireless>Professional (tab)>2.4GHz (drop down)>Modulation Scheme, which needs to be changed to “Up to MCS 7 (802.11n).” How is your average user supposed to find this, and why does this router system stumble here when others don’t? For this mesh system it has been somewhat iffy on reliability. I have read that people have dropped down to 1 router and things immediately stabilized, so it could be an issue with the mesh interface itself. I have several Google Home devices including Nest home mini speakers, a Nest display hub, and Nest cameras. I also have devices from Lockly, Kasa, Ecobee, and Wyze. The only devices to not experience any issues have been my Wyze cameras (Gen 2,3, & 4). The Ecobee and Lockly only had the initial connection issue. The Kasa devices have seen good uptime once I implemented the fix. The holdout has been the Google devices, which disconnect daily, and sometimes require power cycling to correct. I use my Google home speakers to control my devices, and I rely on my Nest cameras to monitor my home while I am at work. To have these devices drop out for no reason is frustrating. I have them split up between the IOT network and the main network – no real difference in the frequency of drops. These are some of the most widely used devices in any smart home, so why are they the only ones with consistent issues? Interface There are 2 ways to access the router – through an app (ASUS Router) or through a browser page (192.168.50.1). I downloaded the app to do the initial setup, which worked just fine. The app works well and I have not come across any issues with it. The only thing to keep in mind is if you make changes to the router settings the WiFi will disconnect and take a minute before it comes back up. The web interface doesn’t have this limitation as long as you are on a wired connection. The app has a lot of control over the router operations, but several of the controls are buried down different function paths. It is hard to describe, but I seem to find a new control toggle every time I go into the app. The interface allows you to create rules, group devices, limit access through family controls, pause access to a device, and more. 1 setting I found useful was the ability to bind devices to a specific node, which helped when doing my speed testing. I can see this being useful if you have a device that sort of straddles coverage zones. Aside from the drilling down for settings I still feel the interface is well laid out. I think it’s a toss up between “settings overload” if they were all in one place, and how it is currently organized. For the most part novice users will be able to navigate the app and get the router system going. The struggles I had with getting legacy devices up and running is not well explained, and there should be some sort of guide/walkthrough for configuring the router to play nice with them. Overall my time with the BE30000 system has been good, but frustrating. When the system is stable everything works well, speeds are topnotch, and range is crazy good. The disconnects and drops make for a less than ideal experience. I am still going to tweak some settings, and I will likely switch over to a wired backhaul to see if that helps things any. I do hold out hope that these issues will be ironed out with firmware tweaks and improved documentation. The 6E router I had been using started out this way as well, but eventually became very reliable. I don’t think I would recommend this to your average consumer, but rather to someone with a good tech background and a willingness to put the time in to fiddle with things.

Thetes a lot to love and hate. Ultimately ill be returnibed these today after this review. Was oroginally goinf to purchase bt16 pro got excited that best uy had a 3 pack b30000. For the first 12 hours everything seem fine but then i saw the issues. 90 devices connected to main, 2 connected to one dat, 0 connected to other. Ipad woild get 900mbos doenloads then woikd gey into a crawl of 10mbps. Login into web portal is easy unstable. It will hang and skmetimes ask you to login miltiple times. I made sure inhad latest firmware but at the end these ate not ready fron primetime. Theres no ai mesh in my mind. My atlas 6E units peformandes better. Was looking to get something that had higher throughout ports as i do have wired backhaul but these are not it. Night try tplink and see if have better success.

First, let’s get the obvious out of the way. This router is EXPENSIVE. Most people should avoid this just because of the cost. This is intended for a very select group of people. If you are not sure if this is right for you, then it probably isn’t. This is for people who want more than 1 Gb/s mesh networking, who know something about configuring networks, and who are willing to pay for this insane speed. *** The Good *** The units are completely FANLESS! Yes, they are silent, and no fan bearings to eventually wear out, and it will not suck dust into its innards. There are a total of FIVE RJ45 jacks on the back, and two of them are 10 Gb/s, and the remaining three are gigabit. Some other companies have gone to “app only” configurations where you NEED a smartphone in order to set it up. However, this unit is easily configurable just by going to the main unit’s web page. I absolutely love that “feature,” as I can configure it on any device, and not just a tiny screen without a keyboard. The final thing to love is that every feature is available. No subscriptions to buy for any feature or service that this router supports. Parental control, VPN, AI security? All included forever. The speed is amazing. I needed this because I upgraded my home service to 2 Gb/s fiber, and didn’t want to run CAT 7 under my floorboards. I can happily report that the mesh system easily keeps up. I have the main router going into the ONT, and my main computer is plugged into one of the satellite units. I can get over 2 Gb/s on my computer, which is seriously impressive. The router claims that it has a 5 Gb/s link between this satellite and the main unit, and the other satellite claims 4 Gb/s. I can only test to 2 Gb/s as that is the fastest connection that I have, but even that speed is impressive for wireless. Note that turning on any type of QOS reduces my maximum speed, so I leave that off. In theory, it should not have affected my speed, since the network was otherwise being unused. Still, I have bandwidth to spare, so leaving it off was a no-brainer. This router also runs a version of OpenWRT, and it has almost every feature that you can think of. The only minor disadvantage is that I could not find a way to add the usual OpenWRT plugins, but this already includes every feature that the vast majority of people could possibly need, so this is not much of a drawback. First, the wireless performance is great. Even WiFi 6 clients can get the maximum speed that they are capable of. Multiple WiFi networks, each on its own VLAN is also easily supported, and each separate WiFi network can have its own settings as far as which bands are allowed. This is great, for example, for setting up an IOT network where the older 2.4GHz devices might be confused by newer standards. Multiple VPN clients and servers are included. I performed the easiest setup of a WireGuard server that I have ever done, and it only took a couple of minutes. It even shows a QR code for reading by mobile devices, or allows a download of the configuration file. It also supports PPTP, IPSed, and OpenVPN servers, but I didn’t test these. It can also function as a VPN client, and can serve this connection over a separate WiFi connection, which allows the usage of VPNs with smart TV’s and streaming devices. Very impressive. Each unit also has a USB port, and this supports NAS functionality if you add a storage device! It can run a Samba server, which works well, even if somewhat slower than I expected. I was only getting around 40 MB/s when connected to a portable hard drive, which I know can transfer data faster than that. But I consider the NAS server to be a bonus, and am happy that it is there. An FTP server, an iTunes server, and a UPnP media server are also present, but I did not test those features. Of note is that there is also an optional download manager that allows the background downloading of data. I can confirm that it handles Torrent files easily, and even if it takes three days to download an obscure torrent with few peers, it gets the job done without leaving your main computer on. There is also the Asus proprietary AiDisk that allows access to your files while away from home, but that can also be accomplished via Samba and WireGuard without installing extra software. The USB port also has other functionality, as it can be used as a print server, or for tethering to a cell network through your phone or other 3G or 4G modem. It even claims to support Apple Time Machine functionality, but I can’t test this as I have no Apple computers. Of note is that all three units have a USB port, but the usual web GUI only easily allows the setup of the USB port on the main unit connected to your modem. But the USB ports on the other two units ARE still accessible, but unfortunately hard to find. In order to use the other USB ports, from the web GUI, select “AiMesh” on the left. Then click on the satellite unit in the middle pane, and finally click on the “Management” button on the right. Looking below you will find a “USB Application” button that will let you log into the satellite unit to configure the USB port, after you re-enter your username and password. I wish that this were easier to get to, but at least it is there, so I am happy. Among the other features is dual WAN functionality, for load balancing or failover, but while the main port is 10 Gb/s, the secondary port is only 1 Gb/s. Still, having failover at all is a very nice feature for those who have two connections, so this is a nice touch. One final bonus is that you can have a DHCP reservation OUTSIDE of the DHCP address pool. This means that you can (in my example), have random devices get an IP address starting at 100, and then have DHCP reservations saved for IP addresses below 100. This is wonderful, and a lot of routers don’t support this. I like to have separate address ranges for my servers and the other devices, but not have to bother with static addresses on the servers. *** The Bad *** Everything is not all sunshine and roses, however. Despite the amazing performance and features, this has been one of the most frustrating experiences that I have had with a router. First, the documentation. Except that it doesn’t officially exist. You CANNOT get a manual for this model. However, this is apparently the same as the “BQ16 Pro,” except that this model comes in a box of three, while the BQ16 Pro only has two in the package. So, you can find the BQ16 Pro manual. It is helpful, but it never lists the meaning of the LED indicator on the bottom. To know what the various colors mean, you can only get that information from the phone app. Plus, when looking up how to work the NAS, I wanted to know what file system were supported. The link in the manual goes to a web page that simply does not exist. So clearly some work needs to be done on the manual, but this is not a deal-breaker, as you can generally figure things out. The WiFi turned out to be VERY problematic out-of-the-box. I have several Roku Streaming Sticks in my house that have remote controls that connect via Bluetooth. Well, these units completely clobbered Bluetooth, causing MUCH frustration among my family who only want to watch TV. Well, there is a “Bluetooth Coexistence” mode hidden in the “Wireless” - “Professional” - “2.4 GHz” menu setting, but it defaults to “Disable.” Really? Asus thought that disrupting Bluetooth in the house is a good idea? At least I was able to fix the problem, but it is a problem that never should have happened in the first place. But now for the biggest problem of them all: mesh networking. This is the reason that this box exists, and it is amazing when it works, but frustrating when it doesn’t. While my network is stable now, it took a lot of pain to get to this point. When I first configured my network, everything seemed to be working. But then I noticed that the satellite unit that I put in the basement wouldn’t connect. The LED would flash blue, which apparently means that it was trying to connect. I eventually moved it into the SAME ROOM as the master unit, and it would still not connect. I tried resetting the satellite, removing it from the configuration, and then re-adding it. Nothing would work. OK, pull all the units, factory reset all of them, and try again. Well, this time another satellite that I have on my work desk would connect (white LED), then go back to trying to connect (flashing blue LED), and then connect again after 30 seconds or so, say connected for a minute or two, and then back to flashing blue. When it WAS connected, the web GUI reported the signal strength as “great.” So, let’s try ANOTHER factory reset and reconfigure. Finally everything seems to be working great, and I am happy now. Another thing to mention is that configuring everything takes an extreme amount of patience. I mentioned DHCP flexibility as a bonus. But changing the DHCP address range? Everything disconnects and it takes several minutes to reconnect. I *STRONGLY* recommend waiting for both satellite units to be connected before making config changes, and this takes a while Adding a DHCP reservation? Yup, a disconnect and waiting. Turning on the “Bluetooth Coexistence” feature? Another disconnect. Creating a new WiFi network? You guessed it. And I have four separate WiFi networks configured. And due to the mesh networking problems, I had to go through this pain THREE TIMES! Another note is that, while a wired backhaul is supported, it is an all-or-nothing situation. Either EVERY unit is wired together or none of them are. You apparently can’t wire two together and have the third be wireless. This is probably not an issue for most people, as if you had a wireless backhaul, then you could use this and just get cheaper WiFi 6 access points. But I thought that I should point it out. *** The Summary *** So, overall, if you

The ASUS - ZenWiFi BE30000 WiFi 7 Quad-band Mesh Router is a high tech piece of technology that will bring the speeds you are looking for. I was excited to test this out because my home needs would greatly benefit from the speeds and technology ASUS says this mesh system will deliver. Why is a mesh system good? It covers more area and allows for devices to have the ability to seamlessly transition for devices. This worked really well for my laptop when moving around the house and didn't notice any impact on speeds and connectivity. Setup: I have a 2900 sq ft house that's made of stucco and has large open areas along withe walled rooms. My main station has to be placed on one side of the house due to where the internet comes in at. While this isn't ideal, the mesh system affords me the opportunity to have best internet throughout the house. The rating on this system goes up to an absurd 11K sq ft, but in my real world testing with my house walls and layout I can get solid coverage of at least 25% signal strength at the edge of my 1/2 acre lot. Setting up the system was rather easy as I was able to follow the intuitive app and had it set up and running in 5 minutes. I used the same network name I had before and password in the app and all my devices reconnected automatically. The "Ultimate AiMesh" that ASUS coined actually works rather well scales the system when under load and you can see in the app how the device load is being balanced. Note: Once all 3 stations were in place the firmware updated the devices and was back in business and had very stable and fast speeds. Testing: I have Ring Devices outside the home, 6 TVs, 5 game consoles and 4 desktops all connected via the Wi-Fi system. Toss in the tablets and phones and my speeds on laptop were blazing fast with everything going and online gaming happening. I achieved 850+ Mbps Down and 37.8 Mbps down on ( 1GiG up and 40 Mbps down). Playing online games I never lost connection or when we were streaming Netflix in 4K had any buffering. Sunday Ticket was crystal clear and streamed perfectly. My Ring devices outside no longer lose connection and have great signal strength and even the backyard pool camera is crystal clear streaming mode now. Overall, This system has been very stable and pushes the speeds consistently and hasn't had any drops or down time. The wide coverage this system affords users is astonishing and it still delivers peak speeds. The options to optimize the system based on its usage is a nice addition, especially if you need to prioritize your gaming session bandwidth or streaming. I only have two desktops and two phones that are Wifi & compatible and they run flawless on the system. My Gaming Desktop has zero issues with the Wifi-7 aspect and makes this system a top contender for me and my family.

I've been using the ASUS ZenWiFi BE30000 mesh router for about two weeks now, connecting over 40 different devices to it, and so far, I've had no issues with drops or connectivity interruptions. Here’s my experience: Setup and Design Setting up the ZenWiFi BE30000 was surprisingly easy, thanks to the ASUS app and web interface options, which made connecting the nodes straightforward. I’ve used other mesh networks before, and setup was often long and frustrating, with nodes frequently disconnecting. This router, though, offers smooth node connections and lets you set up dual SSIDs, which I love. Having two separate networks is perfect—one for work and entertainment devices, and another just for smart home gadgets. The nodes are sleek and unobtrusive, so they blend right in when placed on each floor. Coverage and Range In my two-story house, other routers have struggled to maintain a connection between nodes, but the ZenWiFi BE30000’s mesh setup has solved that. Now I get a strong, stable signal in every room, even in former dead zones. Moving between floors doesn’t affect connectivity, and I haven’t experienced any of the annoying drop-offs I used to get. For streaming and video calls, this reliable coverage has been a huge plus—no buffering or connection dips to worry about. Performance with Multiple Devices With 40 devices connected (phones, laptops, smart lights, cameras, and more), I was worried the network might get overloaded. But the ZenWiFi BE30000 handles it all smoothly. Even when the whole household is streaming 4K content, gaming, or using smart gadgets, there’s rarely any noticeable lag or buffering. I do have a couple of laptops that support Wi-Fi 7, and while it’s hard to tell the difference from Wi-Fi 6 yet, the connection feels faster and more consistent overall. Daily Experience This router has no trouble meeting my household’s heavy demands. Streaming, gaming, and video calls all run smoothly. The dual SSID setup keeps smart home devices from interfering with high-priority activities, and setup was very straightforward. Another feature I appreciate is the ability to assign specific devices to particular nodes—details like these make network management so much easier. Network Management and Security The ASUS app and web interface offer plenty of features for adjusting settings. Parental controls are easy to use, and the traffic analyzer helps me keep track of network activity. Plus, each node has LAN ports and a USB port, which has been helpful. For example, I connected my Epson printer via Ethernet since its Wi-Fi card failed, and it works perfectly alongside the rest of the network. Cons The only downside is the price. It’s a big investment, and for smaller homes or setups with fewer devices, it might be more than necessary. Also, the benefits of Wi-Fi 7 are limited to compatible devices, so if most of your devices are Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6, you may not yet fully realize the router’s potential. However, if future-proofing is your goal, this is an excellent choice. Conclusion The ASUS ZenWiFi BE30000 is ideal for households with heavy internet demands and many connected devices. It’s handled 40 devices across two floors effortlessly, and having dual SSIDs has made managing traffic much simpler. With strong coverage, high performance, and Wi-Fi 7 compatibility, this router can handle all my connected home needs. For anyone with a smart home setup, large household, or high internet usage, the ZenWiFi BE30000 is absolutely worth the investment.

The Asus WiFi BE3000 Mesh router is feature packed Wi-Fi router with prioritizing software, VPN, MLO, WiFi 7, backhaul on 6 GHz. You can see all these features in the description, what I want to discuss is how all of these features work in the real world. The set up was a breeze and I had no issues at all, all the three devices connected to each other and the walk through creating a WiFi network was a breeze. I have a house which is 3,400 square feet and there were no dead spots anywhere, all locations had perfect WiFi signal. I currently have twenty devices connected to my WiFi and that includes two NAS devices which are accessed by others for photo editing and music request for DJ’ing, the NAS devices are connected via ethernet port (1 Gig). The Asus handled all devices on my network with ease ( I stress tested it by using 5 laptops and two 4K TVs and streaming/gaming across them) and there was no noticeable slowdown, I evenly distributed the devices across all 3 nodes. I was impressed with how FAST this router was, accessing videos from my NAS devices was 5 times faster than my previous router when at home. Asus has also included Ai protection through the router, which scans traffic to make sure no device is infected and if one device is it will not infect all devices on your network. This is great since certain devices do not get security updates and your network is only as safe as your weakest device. This feature is also great if you have kids or people that aren’t as tech inclined. The router has 4 different bands along with dedicated bands for guest users, this is great as the router automatically distributes the clients online to make sure there is no congestion. I work from home and there was never a time that my VPN disconnected or anyone complained that they couldn’t hear/see me during my meetings. The guest account does not use the 6 Ghz band so its also great for IOT devices. Asus has done a great job with the app and you can see and adjust anything you want. The app shows you how many devices are connected and to what node, real time traffic data to show how much data is being used, previous devices that were connected and so much more. Any changes you make through the browser you can do on the app which is great. Overall I have not had any issues with the router, the speeds are consistently good and the coverage is excellent. This router is future proof and the 10 Gig ports WiFi 7 and so much more , although overkill for most everyone, all of these features are great even if they are extra. Asus has given this router the best of everything for a casual consumer/small business. If you get this you can rest assured that you wont have to worry about your WiFi at least for the next 5 years and it is hands down better than what you have from your internet provider currently.

I have had the BE30000 for a week or so now, and it has been one of the most frustrating and challenging networking components I have had to deal with. I’m including my experience here and what ultimately worked for me, although I didn’t really care for the solution I had to come up with. As an introduction, I have a 3,000 square foot, 2-story home. I have a large amount of electronic wireless devices, including cameras mounted outside the home in several spots, multiple TVs and gaming consoles, and laptops/cell phones. The previous mesh system I owned, made by another manufacturer, was quite expensive (compared to what I had owned before) and required constant reboots. I hoped that picking up a top-of-the-line mesh system such as the BE30000 would solved my issues. About the BE30000: Connectivity - Wow, connectivity is amazing! Multiple LAN ports on both the router and the nodes make for great flexibility. I have a network drive with Ethernet, an Ethernet pool controller, and a couple of other wired devices located in a separate room. The BE30000 node allowed me to keep those in the other room and connect them and control them just like they had been connected to the router. The BE30000 has standard 2.4 and 5 GHZ WiFi connection, as well as two 6 GHZ bands (one is intended for backhaul). The user can choose to use an Ethernet connection for backhaul instead of wireless, I’ll have more on the later. Ergonomics - The BE30000 is a nice looking bit of kit. The router and nodes are identical and have a nice, small foot print. They do get warm in use, but most electronics do. App - I liked the app. Easy to use, on both the Android and on the OS device I was using. I really liked the Web access though, accessed by typing in www.asusrouter.com. That really lets you delve into some of the advanced settings. Set up - Initial set up was rather simple. Connect the main router to the modem. Have the nodes in the same room. Power it all up, follow the instructions on the app. I ended up factory resetting the BE30000 multiple times during my time with it (more on that below), and found that the OS device I had on hand (an old iPad) was easier to use than my Android phone. Unfortunately, it was at the end of the setup process that I started running into problems. After the initial setup, the AIMesh nodes struggled to stay connected to the main router, which then led to issues with connectivity among my wireless devices. The main router would end up with 30+ devices connected to it, with nothing connected to the two nodes. Wireless devices on the other side of the house dropped off or had poor connectivity. The AIMesh nodes have LED lights in the base that inform you about the state they are in. A blue flashing light means that the node is trying to connect to the main router, a yellow light means that the connection between the main router and the nodes is poor, and a white light means that the connection is perfect. For the last week, those LED lights frustratingly switched from yellow to flashing blue. Every once in a while I would get a brief white light, but it only lasted for seconds before turning yellow. This would happen over and over again, resulting in the loss of connectivity I described above. It didn’t matter what settings I tried to change, how many web searches and solutions I tried to follow, how many times I power cycled everything, how many hours I waited to see if the flashing blue light would finally stop blinking, nor the 10 factory resets of the whole mesh system to start over; nothing fixed the poor connectivity between the nodes and the router. It didn’t matter if the nodes were 6 feet away from each other in the same room, all I could get after start up was a yellow LED that turned into a never-ending blinking blue. I almost gave up, put the BE30000 in a box, and sent it back. I even reached out to ASUS technical support to ask them what they could tell me about the issues I was having. No response from them. I stumbled across an old web post from someone who had an older ASUS mesh system. They said that what finally fixed their connectivity issues was to tie in Ethernet cables between the main router and the nodes. I had avoided doing this because I didn’t want to have to run extra wires to get a mesh system to work. But I gave in and did so. With all three components in the same room, I connected two Ethernet cables from the LAN outputs of the main router and into the WAN inputs of each node (both had blinking blue lights at the time). I waited a few minutes. Both nodes showed a flashing green light for a moment, then a yellow light, then flashing blue. I was about to throw my hands in the air and say never mind, I’m done, but then the LED lights went white. And stayed white! I checked the AIMesh map in the app, and sure enough, wireless devices throughout the house were disconnecting from the router and were now connecting to the nodes. Problem solved, right? Yes, but, unfortunately, it was only solved after a hardwired connection between the nodes and the main router. This wasn’t optimal for me because I don’t have an Ethernet wired house, and there is no way I can run (or want to run) Ethernet through the house. Fortunately, I had three Ethernet over power line adapters. I moved the router and the three nodes to their spots in the house, connected the Ethernet cables to the power line adaptors, and turned everything on. After booting up, I got good connection LEDs (white) around the house. Everything works perfectly now. Connections are super solid around the house. Outdoor cameras stream without an issue. No buffering on any of the streaming devices I have. Time will tell if there is a need to constantly reboot the system or not. I was hoping for so much more when I received the BE30000. But a nightmare setup, no response from the manufacturer when I asked for assistance, a very high price tag, and the inability to connect the main router successfully to the nodes without having to use Ethernet makes the BE30000 a poor choice in a mesh network for me.

WiFi 7 is here, and Asus’s entry into a WiFi 7 mesh system is ready to go. The BE30000 is a quad band, WiFi 7 system with 320MHz superwide channels, 10Gb multigig wired WAN/LAN and MLO. These units cover up to 11000 sq ft, but realistically will give you WiFi 6 line of sight in more places in your home. So is this cutting edge piece of kit ready for your home? Or is it pushing the boundaries a bit too far? The BE30000 is a high end set of 3 routers. Yes, each of them could operate entirely on their own, but they configure automatically on a wired backhaul very easily. I skipped the quickstart guide found in the box and simply started plugging them in. The initial network setup done by app was sufficient to get started, but I was happy to see the tried and true Asus web client still underpinning this experience. The BE30000 can hold your hand, or give you the reins to tweak your setup to a great extent. The other nodes detected their fate of being secondary nodes and stepped in line without any further interaction. Overall setup was a breeze. During setup, the device prompts you to create a separate IoT network. This network supposedly gives you separation enough to allow IoT devices to function without any issues, while leaving the WiFi 7 network to use the biggest and baddest feature set. In practice I found immediate issues. About a third or more of my IoT devices would not link up, in fact they wouldn’t even see the SSID of the network. These aren’t esoteric devices either, but rather Ring doorbells and stick up cameras, smart thermostats from major manufacturers, WiFi connected smart outlets from Amazon. I did quite a bit of diagnosis, but I finally found a thread discussing the problem. Do the following: Log into the web interface on a desktop computer. Select under advanced settings ‘Wireless’. Go to the ‘Professional’ tab, and choose the ‘2.4 GHz’ from the band. Go down to the Modulation Scheme (WiFi 5) and select ‘Up to MCS 7 (802.11n). This allowed all my devices to connect without issue. In my diagnosis, I ended up splitting my WiFi SSIDs so that the WiFi 7 network was marked as such, and I don’t regret this. I can ensure that my high speed clients are on the best possible network, while Alexa devices, older devices, and such are on my old network. This set is a nice setup for upgrading your home network. In my use case I kept each WiFi node on a wired backhaul, keeping an interlink of at least 2.5Gb (simply due to not having a 10Gb switch). Luckily when using other nodes, you can simply uplink them using the WAN port. This leaves the other 10Gb port at your disposal to link to a multigig switch or 10Gb client. Unfortunately the other ports are only gigabit, as I would have preferred to see 2.5Gb or 5Gb ports. Still, I am able to uplink on a Cat 6 wired network in my house at 10Gb no problem, and have transferred at incredible speeds between my NAS and a 2.5Gb client. Seeing 250-300 megabytes per second over wired, and over 120 megabytes per second on WiFi is something I couldn’t accomplish on my old mesh. 802.11be, or colloquially known as WiFi 7 offers some huge improvements. It’s still early yet, but seeing multiple gigabits from certain clients, even 2x2 antenna configs, is possible. Now, theoretical speeds WiFi speeds with MLO are up to 30000 Mbps using quad band capabilities.Of course that’s a pipe dream, but this sort of overstatement means there is plenty of bandwidth on tap. Each 6GHz network is technically rated at 11529 Mbps, and the 5Ghz 5764 Mbps. While your clients won’t see these rates exactly, it’s still possible to get speeds that push the boundaries of what’s possible with your internet, and even 10Gbps wired clients. 12 internal antennas that support beam forming ensure solid connections. Unfortunately I personally didn’t have any WiFi 7 clients, but I do have multiple WiFi 6E clients, and chances are you do too. These clients benefit from the 6GHz frequency these routers support, and give you superior bandwidth in those cases. My iPhone was able to easily hit gigabit speeds on these fairly uncrowded bands, and my MacBook Pro matched or exceeded those speeds, hitting spikes over 1500 Mbps transfer rates to my NAS. The key is you want the router in line of sight for these devices to really fly. If you can put one of these nodes in major traffic areas, or places you sit, you’ll see incredible speeds, even from last generation hardware. Now imagine your WiFi adapter and use the MLO features, and effectively double that 1500Mbps to 3000Mbps. This isn’t even a ‘reported’ speed, but rather actual transfer to a wired 10Gb client. These routers are very fast. Even on the 5Ghz band I was able to sustain 600 Mbps actual transfer speed at fairly decent distances. The 2.4Ghz at 20Mhz width was about as you’d expect - 50Mbps, but let’s be real, this is for IoT devices and older non-bandwidth sensitive applications. Hiding behind the plastic box are some pretty powerful CPUs. Clocking in at 2.6Ghz with 4 cores, it barely breaks a sweat when routing large amounts of traffic. 2GB of RAM isn’t a ton these days, but sufficient for the router's main job. Speaking of, I have fiber internet, and pay for 1.2Gbps. I consistent am able to maintain (from the router’s speed test, found under the QoS tab), 1250 Mbps up and down through the fiber ONT (which runs it’s wired network connection at 10Gbps). Now that I’ve waxed on about bandwidth and capabilities hardware wise, let’s dive a bit into the software. This is where Asus shines. Choosing either the app or the web interface, Asus does a good job showing you the overall network setup, port speed, network names, AiMesh node status, and clients connected. I love that it would confirm if the 10Gb port was running at 10, 2.5 or 1Gb. Each port’s status and speed is listed under the AIMesh (mouse over to see link speed or switch to list view in the app), CPU and memory utilization are listed, and backhaul link speed. You can enable SSH, and use remote access to the linux command line if you so desire. It’s running aarch_64 4.19 based kernel. If you’re a nerd, you’ll be quite pleased with the access these tools give you. Besides the nerd tools, network tools, and general network settings, you get great parental controls. You can setup times to disable internet access for all, or selected devices. Another great implementation here is with Trend Micro’s content filtering, which uses managed DNS to create filters for content. This allows you to block certain categories of content for clients. Overall the parental controls are simple, but effective. There is also direct integration with malware/phishing scam protection with Trend Micro here as well. While there isn’t a cost to this, there is more processing cost. That said, you may want to enable it and see how it does. I noticed no slow down. The traffic analyzer gives you some really interesting statistics and can monitor top users. I was able to pinpoint downloading Fortnight’s client on a graph. It was quite informative. Another wonderful feature is VPN. Not only do you get the ability to run your own VPN server, so you can do the traditional VPN home and access secure clients from anywhere. But you also get the ability to use VPN Fusion to create profiles for traffic and route them through a VPN provider of your choice (Nord, Surfshark, etc, but also PPTP and L2TP generic clients). There are other things, like Alexa integration (‘Alexa ask my router to upgrade the firmware’... ok asus…), IPv6 support, detailed Firewall settings, download master, ftp server, itunes server, samba server, printer server, 3G/4G USB network support (for a backup 4G access point) and remote syslog. This is a feature packed router and I can’t imagine exercising all it’s capabilities, it’s somewhat dizzying. Overall I found the tools, capabilities and strength of the BE30000 kit to be amazing and fairly intuitive to a fairly advanced user. Despite all the power, the basic experience through the app brings a lot of it to the masses. Overall I’d probably skip these if you’re an average home user, but if you’re a prosumer or router hacker from the DD-WRT days, you’ll feel right at home. Despite some quirks around the 2.4Ghz legacy support, and bad out of the box settings, this mesh setup blew me away with its features, capabilities, and ease of setup. In my use case, where I can use these devices to strengthen and bring multigig wired and wireless to my home, I found them to excel in every way. They’re an investment, but so are multigig switches, and WiFi 6E clients. Overall I believe these mesh nodes will power my network for years to come.

Mesh routers are probably the most unpredictable consumer electronic product in existence because its performance depends on so many variables like a home’s layout, construction, and placement. That’s very different from a TV that works pretty much performs the same whether you set it up in my house or yours. In short, no matter what mesh router you buy, YMMV, despite any marketing claims. The Asus ZenWiFi BE30000 is a top-notch mesh router but not immune to this reality. It boasts a rich, desirable feature set that in turn garners high expectations that it’s a fix for everything missing from, and frustrating about mesh routers. In my personal use, so far, I’ve found, yes, the feature set is amazing, but also expected from the super-premium product it is. However, my experience setting up my system was not the advertised “piece of cake,” – and I’m neither a novice, nor intimidated by, setting up electronics. Yet once I conquered my vexing install I fell in “love” with this system. I think it’s “five stars” worthy, despite my painfully annoying setup ordeal. Setup is a one-time process; long term features and performance is my main consideration here. That said, there’s always installers like Geek Squad if you want to divorce yourself from potential setup hassles. To be clear, this is a cursory review and summary of my experience after a few days. I’ll start with the setup experience and then move into its performance in my home. I can’t say it enough, mesh routers are always YMMV since no two install locations are exactly the same. Also, because this is not your “basic” mesh router I’m neither competent at the point, nor have enough word count, to discuss everything this system offers. It’s a meaty system. SET UP EXPERIENCE This system consists of a router and two additional nodes that spread out the Wi-Fi signal. One unit has a sticker noting it’s the router though the permanent model information stamped on each unit is identical and from ASUS’s marketing material it looks like if you can expand the system using another “router” to set up as a node. Regardless all 3 units have identical ports – an upgrade from other systems which usually have fewer or even no Ethernet on the nodes. Huge feature right there if you are into gaming, or have A/V, smart devices, or a NAS that are easier to connect to your local network this way. The standout is the 10 gigabit WAN and LAN ports – more “future proofing.” If one 10GE port isn’t enough you can always buy a switch for expansion. There is also a USB 3.0 port to connect a hard drive or thumb drive – nice to have, but one area where the “future proofing” was missed. The “router” sticker has a QR code that when scanned with the Asus Router app (iOS or Android), theoretically will instantly connect your router to your Wi-Fi (iOS or Android). I tried twice with my iPhone 15 Pro Max with no luck. I then turned off the iCloud Private Relay in case that was interfering with the process, but nope. So I hit the manual set up button, entered my existing SSID and its password and that did work (or so I thought, keep reading). Next I linked the two nodes, which during setup must be in the same room as the router, preferably just a few feet away. At that point I had a solid Internet speed and relocated the nodes to where I place nodes in my house. My older, weaker mesh system enjoyed these locations, but Zen was not having it – and threw a fit a rage with its status light. After much time I eventually “discovered” Zen accepted locations and got the “white” light on the nodes indicating a good connection, verified by the app too. Sometime later the connection for both nodes went and ultimately I decided I needed a “do over.” This time I connected the router directly to my Mac via Ethernet. That seemed to do the trick, though the node furthest away from the router – about 40ft up does give me a yellow light occasionally indicating a poor connection. (I’m in a 4-level townhome so I measure in height rather than width since that is the weak point for Wi-Fi in my situation). I haven’t noticed any Internet dropouts when streaming, maybe thanks to buffering. I can’t say the situation would be the same for gaming, but there is an option to prioritize data for that activity. The quick guide packed with the system says to expect the system to take up to 10 minutes to optimize performance between the router and the nodes once they are “permanently” situated. In my experience this process – both times I did the setup – took considerably longer – like hours before I got a stable connection between router and both nodes. During this time Wi-Fi will be flaky and the nodes’ status lights will flash like rock concert. This isn’t a criticism, just a heads up. Another heads up - one huge difference I noticed between when I set up via the app and hardwired is how my smart devices connected. When I set up on the app all my devices – 40+ reconnected without any action on my part. But with the activation via hardwire, only about half reconnected. What I think I discovered is that, apparently when I set up via hardwire, the router was configured so that the main SSID used the newer WPA2/WPA3 password security standard and left WPA2 only access to the dedicated IoT SSID. Older smart devices don’t recognize WPA3 and also don’t yet have access to the “IoT” SSID. Newer devices with WPA3 support, on the other hand, can access the main SSID fine. The end result here is, if you experience this, expect to migrate your smart devices to the dedicated “IoT” SSID faster than maybe you planned. CONFIGURATION Setup and optional configuration are done either via the aforementioned Asus Router app or via a web browser. To do the initial set up via a web browser requires a hardwire connection via Ethernet cable to the router. The app, of course, is used over Wi-Fi. After setup you can use the browser configurator via Wi-Fi on any computer on your network, or out of network if you opt-in to remote control operation. Same goes for the app. The app is well thought out and offers an excellent graphical view of what is going on with each system component at any given time. It’s detailed down to specific cable ports being used and free. There’s lots of configuration choices, however, some options are only available in the web browser. One negative regarding the app in my short use, it lags “real time.” For example, I switched an Ethernet cable from one LAN port to another and it took a few minutes for this to be reflected in the app. Regardless, so many mesh routers are one-trick ponies. It’s great to have the detail and tools Asus offers here, even if you think you may not need them. PERFORMANCE EXPERIENCE My experience with the Zen WiFi BE3000’s reach easily beats what I’ve experienced from Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers when greater than 25ft or more away. When I get to the 3rd, and definitely 4th level of my home I see the major improvement over my Wi-Fi 6 router. The Zen, at its “worst” gives me 75% of paid speed. If I’m lucky I can get 50% paid speed with my Wi-Fi 6 router. One other area where the Zen offers improved performance is remote screen sharing with my other Mac. There is virtually no lag controlling the remote computer which is great. Previously there was always a second or two delay. It’s still early days for me with this system and it offers so many user-configurable options it will definitely take a while to fine tune it, but I like my starting point here. FEATURES The ZenWiFi BE30000 offers leading edge features including the recently finalized Wi-Fi 7 spec plus IPv6 support, so I think it should give me a solid decade of usefulness. Wi-Fi 7 compatible products are only just starting to drip out. Its powerful range means I won’t need to buy another router if I move to a bigger home. There are so many other “future proof” attributes packed inside, in fact, I’ve yet to test or fully test most of them. These include the option to prioritize data for different kinds of activities – gaming, streaming, file sharing, etc. –, built-in VPN capabilities, and also the option a discrete SSID for “IoT”, otherwise known as smart home devices and kid’s devices, as well as the more common guest SSID. And of course, its massive theoretical bandwidth of 30,000 Mbps. But of all of these, the Zen attracted me for 2.5 features - .5 because one isn’t technically a feature, but it is to me, and that is ASUS’s privacy policy is a bit better than many other router manufacturers. I think that has value, especially where some router companies don’t even allow consumers to opt-out – it’s “take it or leave it.” That’s not to say ASUS policy isn’t to its favor, but consumer-biased policies are non-existent or unenforced. But to my favorite actual features, also in the privacy and security realm, the dedicated SSID for smart devices AKA “IoT,” or Internet of Things, is something every router should have. No matter if you just have a couple of smart lightbulbs or smart home, it’s a must in 2024. It keeps your devices off your main SSID. This improves performance all-around, but also keeps any prying devices from collecting any meaningful data not relevant to supporting the device’s function. The SSID is a seamless overlay so while your devices are cordoned off, they still function, and you still control them the same as always. The other major highlight is the built-in VPN-ready capability. This allows you to plug in your VPN services information to give you “whole home” VPN, even for devices like TVs and streaming boxes. Without this it’s a pain and mess to configure this kind of ability for a router. Of course, you can control when the VPN is used and the country just as you would with the VPN provider’s app.

PROS • extreme speeds • future proof • excellent accompanying app • extreme range • built-in parental features • free VPN and network security • AiMesh CONS • price • settings may be overwhelming for novice users Let me begin by stating that I have been a Google Wi-Fi Pro user for several years since their original Wi-Fi products introduced mesh Wi-Fi. Before that, though, I had a traditional Asus router. Over the years, I have quickly upgraded to the latest version of Google's Wi-Fi products. I never had any issues with Google Wi-Fi, except it's capped at one gig when I pay for 1.2 gigs. It wasn't a massive deal for me, but I wanted to get as much out of my internet as possible - especially the Wi-Fi aspect. I say this because Google's Wi-Fi products hold your hand and lock down settings, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your user type. I'm a bit of a novice regarding Wi-Fi settings, so keep that in mind going forward in this review. Oh my, what a difference this ASUS ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro BE30000 makes to Wi-Fi. It can't be understated enough. I went from topping out at 800 Mbps (when I was close to my router) to getting as high as 1.9 gigs with the Asus (further away from the router)! That's more than twice what I was getting and more than my internet plan is. I have the three nodes placed triangularly across the house (2400 sq feet) and have had no issues with the signal. For those of you who can use ethernet, those speeds will be even higher! However, I'm not set up to use them other than to devices directly next to my router. However, it was easy to get to the steady speeds I sought. I have around 60 devices (including lights) hooked up to my internet, and many of those devices needed to be fixed after I set up the BE30000. It was a struggle to pinpoint what was happening, but after trial and error, it was two main things. The Wi-Fi 7 you get with this unit is revolutionary, but only if you have the support devices. Only a few of us do. That makes it super future-proof, but it could be more useful today. Therefore, I turned off Wi-Fi 7 and 6 because of the issues I was running into. My speeds with my devices connecting to Wi-Fi 6 were pretty low when I was further away from the router. Wi-Fi 7 requires WPA3. WPA3 isn't supported by many of my devices - specifically, my Sonos speakers. Once I toggled off Wi-Fi 7 and 6 channels, I got constant, consistent high speeds using the 5 and 2.4 channels. If you run into issues while you are setting up, try turning those off to see if it works like it did for me. Hopefully, devices upgrade their capabilities soon so that I can take advantage of Wi-Fi 7. But knowing I don't have to purchase another mesh system for the foreseeable future is very nice. Besides the speeds you get with this router, the app is one of the best aspects. The app is very well laid out and extremely easy to set up. Adding the nodes after setting up the main router was automatic. All you do is plug them in and allow them to connect to the main node automatically. I didn't realize that and struggled to "add a node." But you don't have to do that with this set (although you may if you purchase the nodes separately, I'm not sure). Regarding settings, you're free to make any changes you want! The one setting I'm so happy to see versus my Google Wi-Fi is the ability to use 2.4 specifically because many smart devices require 2.4 to set up. Being able to toggle everything off other than 2.4 and setting up a device is much better than crossing my fingers that it'd work with Google's router. AiMesh works fantastic as well. It connects multiple compatible ASUS routers to create a whole-home mesh WiFi network. The flexible and scalable technology lets you mix different AiMesh-compatible routers and add new ones anytime to improve coverage. All devices in an AiMesh network enjoy access to all the features of the main router, including gaming features, AiProtection commercial-grade security, and more. Most ASUS routers already support AiMesh, so if you have a previous ASUS router, you can use it to expand your network. You can cover up to 10,000 square feet! That's more than most of us need, but it's pretty cool anyway. Maybe when we get to that mansion in the hills, right? Other features, such as built-in VPN, parental controls, free network security, and many more settings, ensure your children's safety online. I can't speak on the 10G, as I don't have the devices to support it yet, but again, this device is future-proof, and you must think of that when considering the MSRP (tentatively $1600). I'm super happy with it now that I dialed in my speeds and can enjoy a worry-free experience. I wish I had upgraded to ASUS's mesh system long ago so I could have saved myself some headaches when working from home.

My last router died so I went back to my really old router to have something while searching for what router I wanted to get next. It's great how much they've advanced in a relatively short period of time. While we don't have the biggest home (about 1480 sq. ft.), it is anything but an open floor plan. We've always struggled with the far reaches of the house getting a good signal due to the router signal having to go through several walls. I previously had a mesh system before my last router (geared towards gaming), and it's great for our setup. This mesh router supports up to 200 devices. It sounds like a lot until you start to realize how much is connected to your router. I have a TV in the garage, 4 more in the house and a camera outside of the garage and this router easily covers everything. Even in slower times when not as much is being used, we have about 30 things connected to the router. During peak times, that number jumps significantly. For me, setup was quick and easy. You just connect the main router and then the nodes, then place them where you want them. Download the app and scan the QR code on the main router. For us, the main is in the living room, node 1 is in our bedroom and node 2 is in the dining room (closer to the garage). This gives us ample coverage throughout the house and yard. One great feature is the additional IoT network. I use this network separately running only 2.4G for devices that only support 2.4G. It's perfect for IoT devices like cameras, thermostats, smart plugs/lights, etc. Having this separate allows you to modify settings on the main network without affecting these devices. since their settings rarely change. On previous routers I would constantly have to keep changing these devices back to 2.4G because the routers would keep trying to put them on 5G, and they wouldn't work with it. The app has a lot of features, most people won't use the majority of them, but it's nice to have. You can see real-time traffic information, see which devices are connected to which node, use parental controls for kid's devices, a speed test, and a huge bonus is the ability to use the app to turn off the LED light. Of course, the light shows you the status, but for the one in our bedroom, I turned the light off as it was annoying shining in the dark. None of my previous routers had this feature. The best you could do was to cover the light. I can check the status in the app, I don't need a light to see the status. It has AiProtection which secures the network. The funny thing is, it has protected against 63 events and 62 of those (spam, phishing and malware) have been against my wife and daughter's iPhones. There's only been one attempt against my Samsung phone so far. It's nice that it is behind the scenes blocking things before they even get to the phone. It also has family member grouping so that you can group all of the smartphones/tablets of your kids and limited them all as one. Overall, I've had zero issues and it's been great. Our speeds are faster than they've ever been and it's worked flawlessly. Although pricey, it's definitely worth it if you have a lot of devices and/or a large coverage area.

I sincerely wish I could recommend the ASUS ZenWiFi BE30000, but I cannot. This is a fantastic mesh wifi system in all regards, but in the end, isn’t as compatible with home devices as it should be. And, to me, if your wireless system won't work with your wireless devices, you don't have a wireless system that functions. I will start off with everything I like about this first. I’ve never had a simpler set up for a WiFi device. Setup works roughly as follows: Your “main” unit is the one that gets the hard-wired connection from your modem. You plug that in and power it up and each of the mesh nodes you plug in and power up nearby. After power up, you use the (required) ASUS app to connect to the main router and set it up. The process is guided and completely seamless. I experienced zero errors as the units set themselves up and their firmware were updated. After set up is completed, you can then place the mesh units where you see fit. I do wish there was slightly more guidance on where ideal locations are, but once the devices are powered up, the app will show you their connection signal strength. In the box you have all your routers, their power connectors, one ethernet cable, and documentation. One is designated, via sticker, as the main unit, but I don’t think it really matters which is which. The size of the units are not small, but they’re not huge either. They’re about the size of a smaller hardback book and while not the most stylish things, blend in very well. The LED light is on the bottom and not very intrusive (and can be disabled, too!). A winning plus, in my opinion, is that each unit has ports in plenty. There’s 2 gigabit LAN, 10G LAN, and a gigiabit and a 10G WAN/LAN port, along with USB WAN if you’re planning on using 4/5G as a connection option. Having those added LAN ports on all units I find it super helpful with the various computers and components I have set up, particularly in my living room with multiple gaming consoles, a PC, Phillips Hue lights, and streaming box. The app itself is another major highlight. It’s quick, relatively intuitive, and easy to use and access the settings and features you may want. I will say that ASUS, compared to two other apps I’ve used for other brand routers, can feel overwhelming as there are a plethora of options at your disposal. However, compared to those other apps, they felt like they tried “simplifying” it for users but just not letting you access settings. I don’t want my settings locked away – I want to tinker if I need and if I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t touch it. Apart from general router maintenance settings, there’s a robust set of parental controls and even several optional internet security settings. Bonus: those security features are included without additional fees. The signal strength is fantastic. With these routers strategically placed, there is no corner of my home that doesn’t get at least a good signal. This includes my front and back yards, too! Obviously, this level of signal strength is highly dependent on things like your walls and their materials and other things that may interfere, but I’m very pleased with the signal strength from all the units. As for the speed, I’m satisfied with it. I don’t have any extreme internet speed from my ISP, so it’s hard to fully test, but I’m pleased with the speed tests I’ve run on several devices. However great all the above is, where the ASUS ZenWifi BE30000 fails, it really fails at. I was warned during the setup to create a separate IoT (Internet of Things) network for many smart home devices that may have trouble connecting to the main network. Personally, I already found that to be questionable design in a released product, knowing that “default” won’t work for all devices. I set up that second IoT account, but was pleased that I didn’t really need to for nearly all of my devices. Some devices weren’t thrilled about the router change, even with the same SSID, but reboots solved that. I had one device, an a/v receiver from Technics, that I had to factory reset to get to work but it worked flawlessly after that, and I don’t blame ASUS for that. You’re working with a lot of devices, components, and manufacturers. All in all, I have about 35-45 devices at any given time that seem to work fine. All that is pretty standard for swapping out any router. What isn’t standard and where the ASUS ZenWiFi BE 30000 loses my recommendation completely is that not all my devices connected. While most did, I had four devices that didn’t: Two smart plugs from TP-Link/KASA a Ring Indoor/Outdoor Camera, and a Ring Chime for the doorbell. None of those devices connected and far, far worse than that: I literally cannot connect them to either my main or IoT network because they simply do not see the network. They all connect the same way – connect your phone to the device, select the wifi network and go. None of these devices SEE the network. Manually entering the network doesn’t do anything either. The ASUS ZenWiFI BE30000 networks simply do not exist for these devices. I can confirm all of these devices are working properly, were factory reset, and in locations near other devices that worked fine. Additionally, I checked, and all these products are still being sold, so you cannot blame outdated technology or even cheap products – these are two well known big smart home brands. I bought the Ring chime device less than 3 months ago. It’s worth pointing out that two other Ring cameras and my Ring doorbell connected without issue – therefore eliminating any notion that Ring is to blame. Four devices may not sound like a lot compared to the over 40 that works, but as mentioned these are four essential devices from well known and trusted manufacturers. This instantly makes my confidence level go down as I purchase future smart home devices. 3/5 Ring devices work. Will the next? That’s not something you want on your head. There’s a lot of suggested fixes on forums about how to make devices connect, the one that I keep seeing repeatedly being, “turn off WiFi7.” I find that it is completely unacceptable to disable a main feature of the device to make other devices work. After much forum scouring and many episodes of trial and error, as changing one setting reboots all routers, then you first must go to your device and go through the whole setup to see if it can see and read your network, I found a solution. You have to go into the web setting (not just the phone app), Advanced Settings, Wireless, Professional tab, change to the 2.4GHz settings, scroll down to “Modulation Scheme (WiFi 5)” and change it to “Up to MCS 7 (802.11n)”. This was after I changed many settings, taking up hours over the course of days. While I don’t consider myself a networking expert, I do consider myself highly advanced in computing and technology. If I’m having such a hard time troubleshooting without having to turn to advanced help and deep settings changes, then I certainly would never suggest this to anyone less comfortable with technology. This SHOULD be a situation where you set it up and it works and it’s not. The hours searching the web, trial and error, and everything about trying to fix the problem is unacceptable. This is not something, say, I could walk someone through over the phone easily. Lastly, I have noticed several devices that seem to get booted from the network or lose their connection. Specifically, I have a tablet that says there’s a WiFi connection with no internet connection that seems to always go away after I start up a web browser. I’ve also had two Google Next Hubs tell me there’s no network connection. Those did not reconnect until a reboot. I’m hoping this doesn’t happen again after figuring out the WiFi settings alterations mentioned above. I desperately want to recommend the ASUS ZenWiFi BE30000, but I cannot. When it works, it works great, and I’m satisfied with it. However, the things that aren’t working aren’t things that can be overlooked. Not knowing if devices you’ve already spent money on will work or not with this is not a question you want looming over you, especially considering the cost. With this cost, this should be a flawless product, even if you need a separate IoT SSID to connect devices. Spending time doing internet forum research and tinkering I (hopefully) made these devices work. But that’s a solution to an unacceptable problem to begin with. I hope that ASUS can figure out the issue and send out a firmware update that fixes it. However, until I know someone can set these up, update them, and have everything work effectively out of the box, I simply cannot recommend you purchase this.

I currently use a WiFi 6 mesh system, but it hasn't been upgraded in a few years. With more and more WiFi 6e and 7 clients coming to market, I jumped at the opportunity to review the Asus BQ16 Pro WiFi 7 mesh system. The system itself guides you through the installation with a smartphone application, which makes the process very simple, even for people who aren’t technical. Once you’re up and running, you can dive into all the various features that the system provides you. Please make sure to update your main unit to the latest firmware as soon as possible to avoid any issues along your setup. The BQ16 Pro is definitely for the power user and is absolutely overkill for most users that don’t need a WiFi 7 system with multi-gigabit ports, or the availability of backup connectivity via 4G LTE. However, if you want to take advantage of the lightening quick internet your ISP provides you, this unit will certainly fit the bill. Along with all the advanced connectivity features, you’ll also get a ton of protection via Trend Micro’s AiProtection Pro security. This is a huge suite of tools that include malware protection, VPN, and even site-to-site VPN, which is incredible for a residential unit. With all that said, there are a lot of options that may be hard to understand for some users, but the smartphone app steers clear of a lot of advanced settings. Those that do want to dive into them can use the web GUI to access these features to tweak their settings even further. Pros: Blazing-fast speeds: The Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro delivers incredibly fast speeds, making it ideal for demanding applications such as 4K streaming, online gaming, and large file transfers. Wide coverage: With its tri-band design and powerful antennas, the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro provides excellent coverage, even in large homes with multiple floors. The 3 pack I received claims it can do more than 12,000 sq ft. Easy setup:: The Asus app makes it easy to set up and manage the mesh system, even for non-technical users. Advanced features: The ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro offers a range of advanced features, including parental controls, guest networking, and AiProtection Pro security. Cons: Expensive: The Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro is one of the more expensive mesh systems on the market. Most people do not need the power, features, and range that this system offers. The differences in the features and functions of this system vs. one half the price aren’t going to be many, so make sure you require what this system is offering. WiFi 7 is still quite new and not supported by many devices. The web GUI can be overwhelming for those that aren’t comfortable with wireless routers. Overall: The Asus ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro is absolutely a top-of-the-line mesh system that offers blazing-fast speeds, wide coverage, and a host of advanced features. It’s also absolutely overkill for about 75% of home users. With that said, if you want the best of the best in wireless mesh systems without going through the hassle of a business grade mesh network, this is the system for you. Recommended for: Demanding users who want the best possible Wi-Fi experience Homes with multiple floors or very large square footage Users who need advanced features such as parental controls, guest networking, VPN and want it all.

The ASUS ZenWiFI BE30000 is the first Wi-Fi mesh system I’ve ever used, and I have been very pleased with it. It has been my main Wi-Fi system for the past several months (I own a couple of other Wi-Fi devices). We live in an about 3000sqft two-story house, with big areas in the back and front yards, and having the convenience to be connected to a single network while moving around indoors and outdoors and still experiencing high speeds has been a buying point for me to even promote the ASUS mesh system (in particular this one) to friends and family who, for the most part, have also experienced it while visiting our house. With the three units, I can cover the whole house and moving away from one of the units towards another doesn’t seem to reduce the speed too much. Connecting outside, in the back and front yards, as expected, the signal gets weaker, and lower speeds and GHz come into play, but I am still pleased with the coverage. I should say that it is still very decent compared to other Wi-Fi routers I own, when staying about the same distance away of the devices (especially over longer distances). As I said earlier, I didn’t have experience with mesh systems prior to this one (I don’t own any other system to compare to) so perhaps I am a little biased towards this ASUS system, but I would recommend it to anyone that can foot the bill and get this set. - Pros: great coverage, easy setup. - Cons: none so far. >> Setup This system is easy to setup that “even a caveman can do it”, well not really, but you get the point. I decided to follow the Quick Setup Guide and went for the Phone App setup approach to bring the main router unit and the other two units online. It worked just fine: - connect the main unit (“I’m Main Unit”) to the ISP modem using a network cable, - install and open the Phone ASUS router phone app. - scan the QR code in the main unit and connect to it, - create the couple of suggested default networks, - update the firmware (if prompted) and voila. I always preferred connecting to and configuring the routers using a PC, but I decided to give the phone-based approach a try (well the start guide suggested doing so.) All worked fine, and later, I used the web version to more easily inspect the different settings, but I think using the phone for the first setup seems the easiest way to proceed. I must remind myself that lots of things can easily be done with your phone as opposed to a full-blown computer, and configuring this set of devices is one such thing. >> Coverage With three units, the mesh configuration easily covers the whole house, with no dead spots as I could verify. There were only a few instances when it seemed my cell phone briefly lost connectivity while moving from one area to another but not because there was a dead spot. While at home, we always have our cell phones connected to Wi-Fi and so do all our guests (or most of them), and it is nice to not lose connection while performing our favorite tasks, for example making a video call or playing some video game. I used to have (still have) a wireless router and extender to reach different areas of my house, including the front and back yards, but they required their own networks. With the ASUS mesh system, I rely on a single network, I can be inside or outside, without losing connectivity (or falling to the cell network). It is easy to add other networks, the suggested ones are for guests and for IoT devices, so that you can better control who is accessing the network. >> Reliability It is expected that there will be changes in speed, and potentially channels, the devices are connected to depending on how far those are from the nearest ASUS mesh unit and whether there are any walls blocking the direct path to it. For example, I noticed that going to one of our bathrooms in a secluded area, with several walls blocking the signal to the nearest ASUS mesh unit, the signal would even be downgraded to 2.4GHz, providing lower speeds similar to what we would get outside in the backyard. But even connected with 2.4Ghz, it is much better than getting the inconsistent cell-phone signal. In general, for the most part, I get consistent speeds throughout the whole house. There is one thing that I have yet to figure out. A couple of times my cell phone lost connectivity for some noticeable period of time, when going from one area of the house to another. There was a “no connection” message when trying to use the ASUS App, but it’s been hard to catch the exact conditions of when this happens, since it will regain connectivity soon after. Perhaps it is when the signal is to be downgraded to 2.4Ghz. I also don’t have a top-of-the-line cell phone, and perhaps that plays a role in this situation. My wife has one of those high-end fancy cellphones and so far, from what I’ve been told, she’s been able to do all her media consumption with no issues and has been praising my ASUS mesh system. Another strange thing that happened with a Roku device in the playroom, is that connecting it to one of the IoT networks, which runs at 5GHz and 2.4GHz, it kept connecting to the 2.4GHz channel, despite one of the ASUS mesh units to be a couple of feet away. I am not sure what the issue is here, so I’ll need to do some troubleshooting when I find the time. So far, I have yet to reset/unplug the device to fix any connectivity issues, it’s been performing great for the last couple of months. There was also one instance in which we lost power for a few minutes, and I didn’t need to do anything, when the power came back on, and the main ASUS mesh router caught the signal from the internet provider’s modem, we were all back again online with no hassle. Overall, I’d say I am highly satisfied with the ASUS Zen BE30000 mesh Wi-Fi system. >> Wi-Fi 6/7 I haven’t tried Wi-Fi 7 yet, but the latest devices I own, Windows Co-Pilot+ ones, connect just fine to the Wi-Fi 6GHz channel with overall improved speeds over the 5GHz one, not only network speeds (connecting to the router or between two computers) but internet speeds as well. My current internet plan provides a 1Gbps download, and I’ve been able to experience Internet speeds of over 900Mbps while on the 6GHz channel compared to speeds of over 700Mbps on the 5GHz channel. For my current setup, inspecting the network properties, the 6GHz brings about double of what 5GHz brings (about 2Gbps for one and 1Gbps for the other, see pictures.) >> Configuration options There are a myriad of configuration options and settings, but for the most part, the default ones are all you’d need. That being said, some interesting settings are: - Multi-Link operation (MLO): if you get to the point of using Wi-Fi 7 then enabling MLO would make sense. - Parental controls: can control some content or communication options to reach specific MAC addresses. - Access point: can be configured as an access point, even a repeater., The ASUS Zen BE30000 seems to be a very versatile system, ideal for the ones that like to tinker with Wi-Fi configurations to enable the best quality for their network. >> Software I’d say that for most of your Wi-Fi networking needs, the cell phone App is all you’d need. It is the easiest way to set up the mesh system. For more convoluted options and configuration, you’d need to rely on the ASUS ZenWiFi BE30000 web Interface as it feels easier to navigate, and that is what I’ve been doing to try one setting one day, and then try another the next day. Some of the analysis tools, like Traffic Statistics, look way better on the web version than in the App (I’m biased to use a computer for configuring the device anyways).

I’ve always been a fan of Asus routers.  In my experience, they’ve been consistent with their GUI over the years and try to provide all the modern features and customizations you’d expect from a company that also does gaming PCs and hardware.                      Most of the devices in my house use Wi-Fi 6e or something older, and I imagine this represents the majority of folks.  With new cellphones coming with Wi-Fi 7 along with the most recently released laptops, I imagine over the next few years, most newer devices will also be Wi-Fi 7.  With that said, my laptop does use the Wi-Fi 7 standard, and it’s fast!   <<Performance>>                     With the caveat out of the way, I’ll jump straight into performance and operation.  I’ve got two nodes downstairs and one upstairs.  All devices get a very strong connection inside the home, and switching between nodes is seamless.  You’ll see the Wi-Fi signal drop then go back up as it switches to a stronger connection without interruption.  I tested this by walking around my house, doing speed tests, and watching the speed fluctuate as I switch nodes.  My two nodes are connected wirelessly and using MLO for their connections, so most of my network is wireless.                   My Wi-Fi 7 laptop holds a steady link speed of 3.8Gbps to the router.  Considering most switches and routers connect at only 1Gbps, it’s wild to think my Wi-Fi is faster.  My Wi-Fi 6e devices have a link speed of 1.8-2.1Gbps.  As for actual internet speeds, I have a 1Gbps fiber connection.  My modem supports 5Gbps Ethernet, and it’s connected to the 10Gbps uplink port on the router.  It’s great to know if you have a 5Gbps internet speed, you’re not going to be limited by the ports on the router.                    Having one node in the front of the house and one in the back, I get great coverage in my yard and garage.  As expected, speeds do drop as you get further out, but I’m mostly concerned with streaming music when doing yard work, so no need for the full bandwidth.                     <<Security>>                     This Mesh system is loaded with features and protections.  Starting off with AiProtection, the router turns on protections and off some features that create an environment for security risk.  You can go into this menu and adjust as needed based on your usage. For most folks though, the default settings will provide a safer browsing experience.                    You can also set family profiles to control certain levels of access to the web.  You can assign devices to family members and control what types of sites that family member can access.  With several different levels of protection and access.                    If you pay for a VPN, you can integrate it into the router’s settings and use VPN Fusion, which is split tunneling or a VPN server to access your network remotely.    <<Connectivity>>                                     Each mesh node is equipped with a 10GB WAN and 10GB LAN Ethernet, which allows for high-speed wired backhaul or connection of a client that supports 10GB LAN.  I love to see more and more routers with these high-speed connections.  Not only does this make for super-fast wired backhaul, but also if you have a wired device nowhere near wired access, the router almost acts as a portable switch within your home.                    There’s also a USB 3 port on each of the nodes, so if you can connect a portable drive, you can quickly access network storage.  On the bottom of the unit, there’s a WPS button for quickly connecting devices.  I found that this feature was turned off by default, though, for security.  Along with these are all the built-in QoS, port forwarding, and IP reservation features.  The number of features can be a bit overwhelming if you’re not tech-savvy, and you don’t have to use them all, as the original setup is enough, but I enjoy having the option, even though it may take me a moment to find what I’m looking for.  I’d say the one caveat is the iPhone apps user interface is a bit different than the web UI.  The layout and where to find things can be a bit challenging.                    There were a few times during the first few days of use where I was having some issues with devices connecting to the internet.  I ended up going into the settings and manually setting the DNS server to Google servers.    <<Final Thoughts>>                     I love ASUS routers.  I had the ASUS ROG Rapture years ago, and it always felt like the engineers were making the kind of routers that they would want to use.  While I liked the design of the Rapture routers, the mesh routers blend in better with the modern home, shedding the gamer design.  The menus can be a bit much, but I’d rather have the option buried in some menus than not having the option at all.  I also like the UI for the web menu has been largely unchanged, so upgrading from one ASUS router to another years later remains largely unchanged.