Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8)

amazon Asus ZenWiFi AX (XT8) reviews

Asus’ latest Wi-Fi mesh system, the ZenWiFi AX XT8, is a tri-band system that will run you $449.99 in the set of two we tested. It combines Wi-Fi 6 and the latest mesh technology to eliminate wireless dead zones throughout your home. The system is easy to set up and sets it apart even further by including a free lifetime subscription to parental controls and the cybersecurity tools offered by Trend Micro. Most importantly, it delivered outstanding transfer speed scores in our performance tests.

Design and Features

The ZenWiFi AX XT8 dual-device system includes two identical nodes that will cover homes up to 5,500 square feet (Asus rates each node at 2,750 square feet). Available in black or white, the buttons have a flattened cylinder similar to the Netgear Orbi RBK850 buttons, but at 6.3 x 6.2 x 2.9 inches (HWD), they are a bit shorter and thinner than those of the Netgear Orbi RBK850 with 8.8 x 6.7 x -3.1-inch Orbi.

A small LED indicator on the front of the case glows blue during Setup, white when the satellite button has a strong wireless signal with the Router, yellow when there is a weak signal, and red when the signal is lost. Grilles on either side of the enclosure provide airflow for the internal components. Surrounding are three wired Gigabit Ethernet ports, a 2.5G LAN port, a USB 3.1 port, a power switch, and a power jack. The LAN ports can be used for Ethernet redundancy to keep the 5GHz Wi-Fi band open for customer use or reserve the second 5GHz band for rework.

The XT8 is a Wi-Fi 6 system using the latest 802.11ax technology. Therefore, it supports WPA3, 1024 QAM encryption, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) data transmission, 20/40/80/160 MHz bandwidth, MU-MIMO concurrent data transmission, and format the signal beam directly to the client. It’s a tri-band AX6600 system that can achieve maximum data rates of up to 574Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1201Mbps on one of the 5GHz bands 4804Mbps on the second 5GHz band. Each button is equipped with six internal antennas, a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 512MB of RAM, and 256MB of flash memory.

Security tools included

As mentioned above, unlike other Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems we’ve reviewed, including the Netgear Orbi and Linksys Velop AX MX10, the Asus XT8 comes with a lifetime subscription to AIProtection Pro’s AIProtection Pro. That is a parental control and anti-malware toolkit powered by Trend Micro. AIProtection’s IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) scans all incoming and outgoing data and blocks common internet attacks like denial of service and password attacks. It also blocks access to known malicious websites and provides infection detection and data interception for any client connected to your network. Since most users don’t access most of their Router’s security capabilities, the easy-to-use AIProtection suite adds an extra layer of protection to most home networks.

AIProtection’s parental controls are user-friendly enough and make it easy to protect family members from accessing inappropriate content. The interface provides an intuitive Internet Activity Dashboard to specify age-based presets that automatically block access to sites containing gambling, illegal and violent content, content adult, internet radio and TV, instant messaging, etc. The dashboard also allows you to view individual online usage statistics and recently used apps, generate internet blocking time and date for each customer and instantly block internet access with the touch of a button click.

You can manage the XT8 using the Asus Router mobile app (iOS and Android) or the web control panel. You will need the web control panel to access advanced options such as the RADIUS server and VPN settings. Professional Settings where you can configure things like RTS Threshold, Signaling Interval, and TX Bursting settings, and view detailed system logs, but almost everything you need can be found in the user-friendly mobile app. It opens the Home screen with a network map showing each mesh node and the number of clients connected to each node. Tap the button icon to see things like the node’s MAC and IP address, connection quality, firmware version, and repair method. When you tap the globe icon, you’ll see real-time LAN and WAN upload and download statistics, and tapping the Wi-Fi button will take you to a screen where you can configure settings Wi-Fi. Here you can change the encryption type (WPA2/WPA3, open), change the Wi-Fi name and password, disable 802.11ax mode, configure the network for a dedicated backhaul, and share Wi-Fi access -Fi with friends and family.

At the bottom of the screen are the Home, Devices, Insight, Family, and Settings buttons. The Devices button opens a screen where you will see a list of all your network clients. Tap any client to view upload/download statistics, block internet access, and limit bandwidth for that client. Use the Insights button to search for available AIMesh nodes, share your Wi-Fi credentials, enable the Remote Connect feature that lets you use the app while you’re away. View information security such as how many malicious websites have been blocked how many infected devices have been detected.

Click the Family button to create a member profile that allows you to apply the above parental controls to any device used by a particular member. Here you can also edit the device and parental controls for any member. The Settings button opens a screen with a long list of menu options for configuring QoS settings, parental controls; AIProtection; and Wi-Fi and LAN settings.

Settings and Performance

Installing and configuring the XT8 is easy. I started by plugging in one of the buttons and downloading the Asus Router mobile app. I hit Settings on the opening screen, selected Asus ZenWiFi Series from the list, and recognized the Router immediately via Bluetooth. I clicked on the Router tab and connected the Router to my modem using the included LAN cable. I powered on my modem and followed the instructions to place another button next to the Router button and power it on. I tap Next then Start, at which point I’m prompted to create a new network SSID and password.

Here you have the option to create separate SSIDs for the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands if you want more control over how each band is used, or you can let Smart Connect decide which bands deliver good performance most at any given time. Then I created an account Login (Router admin name and [password) and click on Setup. After 30 seconds, the network was created. After a quick network optimization process, I moved the satellite node to a room 30 feet away from the Router, updated the firmware, and completed the installation.

As we’ve seen with other Wi-Fi 6 mesh systems we’ve tested, ZenWiFi XT8 offers faster speeds than Wi-Fi 5 counterparts (802.11ac) and, in fact, outperforms them with competitors that support Wi-Fi 6 if only by a small margin. The Router XT8 node’s score of 862 Mbps on the close-range (same room) test is similar to the score we saw with the Netgear Orbi AX600 RBK852 and only 5 Mbps slower than the Linksys Velop AX MX10 Router. The XT8 shows a 57% increase in transfer rate performance compared to the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus Router, a top choice for 802.11ac mesh systems. On the 30-foot test, the XT8’s 347Mbps score was slightly faster than both the Orbi RBK852 and Velop MX10 Routers and 50% faster than the 802.11ac-based Deco M9 Plus Router.

The ZenWiFi XT8 satellite node shows very good short-range and long-range transfer rate performance. It clocked 675Mbps on the proximity test, beating the Linksys Velop MX10 node by just 8Mbps and beating the Netgear Orbi RBK852 node with 36Mbps. It is 74% faster than the TP-Link Deco M9 Plus node. In the 30-foot test, the XT8 node obtained 619Mbps, again beating the Velop MX10 node with 8Mbps. It outperforms the Orbi RBK852 node 69Mbps and is 108 percent faster than the Deco M9 Plus node.

Easy installation with cutting edge features

Asus ZenWiFi AX XT8 is the perfect choice for those who want the latest in their home. The platform ticks all the boxes:

• Easy and fast networking.
• Wi-Fi 6 support.
• Powerful security tools to keep your family and data safe online.

With the mobile app, you can even manage it from anywhere. That’s a lot under the hood.

All that power makes it an expensive system, but still not as expensive as some of the other six mesh Wi-Fi systems we’ve tested. It comes with something other systems lack, powerful parental control and network security toolkit. Those tools, and top-of-the-line Asus hardware components, win the ZenWiFi AX XT8 choice for six mesh Wi-Fi systems.

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ASUS ZenWiFi AX6600 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (XT8 2PK) – Whole Home Coverage up to 5500 sq.ft & 6+ rooms, AiMesh, Included Lifetime Internet Security, Easy Setup, 3 SSID, Parental Control, White: Buy it now

ASUS ZenWiFi AX6600 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System (XT8 1PK) – Whole Home Coverage up to 2750 sq.ft & 4+ rooms, AiMesh, Included Lifetime Internet Security, Easy Setup, 3 SSID, Parental Control, Charcoal: Buy it now