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Asus BT10 - still not stable at all even after latest firmware - been tinkering for months - high frustration

citizengris

Occasional Visitor
Hi there,
I had been posting my troubles on Reddit and someone suggested that I join this forum because you guys are the best at solving those type of issues :)
I have a lot to say, sorry if I sound frustrated, but I will try to keep it concise - somewhat !

Exec summary: I tried everything possible for months (latest firmware installed) to get to setup 4x BT10s with a 10Gbps ethernet backhaul and 2 Wifi Networks (Main + IoT), but unfortunately to this day the IoT Network is very unstable on the 2.4Ghz and to a lesser extent on the 5Ghz band wrecking havoc on my IoTs devices (HomeKit).

For the last few years I had been running Google mesh wifi (the old 2016 version), and progressively, by adding a ton of IoTs (smart switch, outlets, etc.) I had about reached the threshold of stability on the mesh (IoTs randomly dropping, bandwidth congestion, etc.).
So I embarked on a project to upgrade things around the house. I had almost cabled everything room with Cat 6 and I have a "central closet" where everything was interconnected with a 1Gbps switch, which also allowed me to backhaul the mesh network over ethernet.
So when I upgraded I looked for the latest standards (Wifi 7), the ability to have a separate network for my IoTs and my main devices and finally I decided to upgrade the ethernet network to 10 Gbps. This obviously lead me directly to the Asus BT10, which I pre-ordered on Amazon back in July 2024. I bought for Access Points (probably a bit overkill now that I see how much more powerful it is that my old Google Wifi APs) to cover the entire house as I had it before (Mountain Home - multiple floors, granite obstacles, etc.).

I am not going to go over all the issues that we've all experienced back in August/September due to poorly finished firmware (10G backhaul issues, etc.). I had diligently updated all the APs until the latest version - now running: 3.0.0.6.102_36808 - and to be honest it did fix a lot of issues (UI stuff, Backhaul, etc.).

But this is where I got mostly frustrated, because folks on Reddit started to say that it solved all their issues and became dismissive of my problems. Some pointed (apparently from conversations in this forum) that the very early adopters (pre-orders like me) may have received "beta hardware" and that could possibly explain the issues I am still experiencing. So I bite the bullet and order another 4 BT10s (exchanged the old ones with Amazon, etc.) just to make sure that this was not the issues that I was experiencing. My "old" BT10 all had the H/W: A1 and so did the 4 new ones... and all my issues continued... so that was a wasted attempt. Also, in parallel of this I have been trying to contact the AsusTek support, and basically after running their preliminary diagnosis, the only thing that they are suggesting that I do is to send the hardware for repair :( So unless I miraculously bought 8 APs that are defective... I don't think it's going to help.

So now, I am turning to this forum for help... because I am exhausted, I have been tinkering with the setups for months and I am getting absolutely nowhere :( My house's wifi is still vastly unstable, my IoTs home automation (HomeKit) are barely working, my security cameras are worthless right now and my Smart Vents for the HVAC are disconnected resulting in heat being very uneven in the house.

My setup:
- 4 BT10s all connected via a 10Gbps ethernet backhaul (single switch)
- Main AP connected (via 10Gbps Wan) to Hitron CODA56 Modem (Xfinity 2.4 Gbps down & 340 Mbps up)
- Some devices connected directly to the APs via 10 Gbps Lan (like a MacStudio)
- 2 Wifi network setup (target setup):
- Main (2.4Ghz, 5Ghz & 6Ghz band enabled), Wifi 7 mode, WPA2/WPA3-Personal Auth, MLO disabled, Mac Filter - Reject enable (to prevent some too-smart-for-their-own-good IoTs to connecting to the Main)
- IoT (2.4Ghz, 5Ghz band enabled), Wifi 7 Disabled, WPA2-Personal Auth, No Mac filtering

However currently - because of the instabilities, I have a single Wifi network unabled (Main with 2.4, 5 & 6Ghz band, Wifi-7 mode, WPA2/WPA3-Personal Auth and no mac filtering), which is what yield the most stable situation (even though it is far from perfect).
Essentially - as far as I can tell - the issues are centered around the 2.4 Ghz band. When I enable my "target" Wifi Network configuration, basically my ecosystem of IoTs are horribly unstable:
- hard time connecting to the Wifi Network
- dropping in and out all the time
- bandwidth horribly slow (very visible on the camera video feeds)
And to a lesser extent the 5Ghz seems to be impacted as well, I have been installing a wifi monitor (Wifi Signal: Strength Analyzer) that is continuously checking the strength of the connection, and it's showing random drops (bandwidth down to 0 Mbps semi-randomly) - see attachment for details. I have been monitoring for days over many different configurations, some a more stable than others (like for instance turning on Wifi-7 mode on a single network helps a LOT but it has a drawback because for some reason, my Flair Puck for the smart vent system cannot connect to the wifi on Wifi7 mode - I am assuming some Auth issue), nut none are perfect.

I have tried everything under the sun (that I could think of or that was suggested to me):
- Hard reset, restoring settings, re-setting up from scratch
- Deactivated MLO at the router level
- Disabled every other functionalities (QoS, Traffic Analysis, etc.)
- Enabling on the 2.4 Ghz band on the IoT network - it's the worse, I cannot even seem to connect with a Macbook air, iPhone or MacStudio to it)
- Disable some of the APs and running test only on the Main (this was a while ago, I am fuzzy on the details, but I had concluded that it didn't help, but honestly it may have been before the final firmware)
- Disabled the ethernet backhaul and go wireless (haven't tried that in a while - same as above)
- Etc.

Nothing seems to truly get to a stable state. And before on the Google Wifi Mesh (until I had added too many devices) everything was very stables, cameras and IoTs were working just fine, the devices are the same.

Also, there may be a question regarding the stability of the Ethernet backhaul, I can guarantee that it is working fine, I am running a NAS over the 10Gbps to the MacStudio and I experience no issues whatsoever.
Additionally, my main wireless devices (Macbook, iPhone, etc.) seem to be very stable on the 6Ghz band, the issues seem to really be focused mostly on 2.4Ghz and to a lesser extent the 5Ghz band.

Quite frankly the amount of hours that I spent to dig into this - especially on a flag ship commercial product from a reputable brand - feel outrageous to me... I really hope that this forum will be able to help, I have also heard that folks from Asus' team are also around.

Thx for the reading !

Alex
 

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flag ship commercial product from a reputable brand

I'm going to monitor the thread for now and let the other guys make suggestions first. If nothing works:

6f83abe4-3349-4037-8796-27ca46c21c14_text.gif
 
Okay, I have some ideas for you.

First WiFi 7 operates on WPA3 ONLY, so to be honest if you have WiFi 7 enabled but at the same time WPA2/WPA3, you are either disabling WPA2, or WiFi 7.

MLO does not appear to be backwards compatible, so once you turn it on it should ask for a separate Legacy/IoT SSID and password. You did not mention anything about it but...

WiFi 7 may require AES + GCMP 256. This does not appear to be compatible with older WiFi standards...

I only have a single Apple iPad Air 2 that needs WPA2, everything else (roughly 40) works perfectly fine if I choose WPA3 exclusively.

For the main network:

Smart Connect 2.4 and 5 GHz, separate 6 GHz, use the same SSID for both, WPA2/WPA3 for the combined 2.4 and 5, WPA3 only for 6 GHz but enable WiFi 7 only on the 6 GHz band. (Observe whether your 6 GHz capable devices connect to 6 GHz). WiFi 7 is not so friendly, even on my WiFi 7 OnePlus Open phone...

If you do use MLO then for the IoT network, (or if you want an IoT network without MLO), I do suggest WPA2/WPA3 if available...

If you feel that WiFi devices are dropping toggle Ethernet Backhaul Mode on.

Hope this helps!
 
Hi Jzchen,

Yep, currently I have Wifi7 mode enabled for the Main network - I do think because disabling it makes it worse.
But even tough it's wifi 7, it's still allowing me to select WAP2/WAP3-personal as the auth option - maybe that's a UI bug and it's really in WAP3 - which would explain why my Flair Pux are not connecting. WAP3-personal is also an option.

MLO: it's enabled at the router level (Advanced Settings > Wireless > MLO), but not at the Wifi network level (MLO Fronthaul for Clients) and since I am only using ethernet backhaul 10g, I don't even know why I have it enabled. I tried with in ON or OFF - no changes. I just left it on, because it's the default.

I have not tried with WAP3 exclusively, but maybe because I am only running on the Main network and Wifi7 mode is enabled it's actually forcing it - when I look at Wifi Signal: Strength Analyzer it shows that my MacStudio has authentication with WAP3.

I am confused at what you are suggesting I try:
"Smart Connect 2.4 and 5 GHz, separate 6 GHz, use the same SSID for both, WPA2/WPA3 for the combined 2.4 and 5, WPA3 only for 6 GHz but enable WiFi 7 only on the 6 GHz band. (Observe whether your 6 GHz capable devices connect to 6 GHz). WiFi 7 is not so friendly, even on my WiFi 7 OnePlus Open phone..."
Are you suggesting that I create 2 main networks ? I didn't that was possible ?
Currently I am running a single main network with all bands activated and wifi 7, single SSID.
When I tried to run 2 networks Main only on 6ghz and IoT on 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz it was super unstable.. so I am not so sure how it is different than what you are suggesting ? Happy to try though :)

Ethernet Backhaul Mode has been ON this whole time.

Alex
 
I have had quite a bit of trouble with my GT-BE98 and my two BQ16's.
There is a rather long thread with people having similar problems at

It can be a bit confusing because what may work for one person doesn't necessarily work for another but there are a number of suggestions in there.
The main suggestion that seems to be recommended quite often is disable MLO and WiFi 7 and while that goes against the grain because these are supposed to be WiFi 7 routers it looks like it might be a starting point.
There's also setting "Modulation Scheme (WiFi 5)" to "Up to MCS 7 (802.11n)" on the Wireless professional page for the 2.4Ghz band only that I hadn't seen before.
Setting the IoT network to not be in the same subnet as the main network seems like a good idea but didn't seem to work for me and stopped one of my devices from working so I changed back.

About the comment above, you can create multiple main network SSIDs but the wireless bands must be mutually exclusive, eg, SSID1, 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1, 5GHZ-2 and then SIDD2 6GHz (ok the bands are different because pro series devices aren't available in my region) .
I was tempted to do that too to allow me to specifically connect devices capable of 6Ghz to the 6GHz SSID haven't created it as a main network.
And, yes, WPA3 is required for 6GHz operation and can cause problems for older devices so for me it is not used on my main SSID and a 6GHz SSID has been created as custom network in the section below the main network.

I have just put these devices back in last night so not sure yet how my choices will go.
 
This is the setup on my GT-BE98 Pro. We have one 6E MacBook Pro and as mentioned OnePlus Open WiFi 7 phone.

Apple actually suggests splitting 5 GHz and 6 GHz, (making no mention about Smart Connecting 2.4 and 5 GHz, nor not to)...
 

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I guess the point here is that the pro and non-pro BE98, BT10, BQ16, etc. are the same family of devices, and I'm pretty sure the firmware is built from the same source code, and we are seeing similar problems with each.
So the comments here should be relevant but do also consider most of the comments so far aren't actually for the BT10.
 
I use these same settings for a long time now. My son received his 6E capable MacBook very early when I had to figure out how to make it connect to 6 GHz. See attached for AXE11000 router settings. 802.11ax OFDMA/MU-MIMO on 6E ASUS routers setting needs turning off...

All 6 GHz devices work on WPA3 exclusively. If you then Smart Connect 2.4 and 5 GHz with 6 GHz, what WPA do you select? You should select WPA3. BUT if you have devices that need WPA2 then I suggest Smart Connect 2.4 and 5 GHz, then choose WPA2/WPA3. 6GHz separate with WPA3...
 

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There is no smart connect in the latest WiFi 7 router firmware, there's only Multi Link Operation (MLO).
In the wireless page there are no smart connect options at all AFAICS, maybe I'm missing something ..., if the MLO implementation was working properly it wouldn't matter.

It's looking like the bulk of the problem is the MLO implementation.
This is the second maybe third time I've had a go at this but I seem to be making progress, possibly due to the recent firmware updates.
 
There is no smart connect in the latest WiFi 7 router firmware, there's only Multi Link Operation (MLO).
In the wireless page there are no smart connect options at all AFAICS, maybe I'm missing something ..., if the MLO implementation was working properly it wouldn't matter.

It's looking like the bulk of the problem is the MLO implementation.
This is the second maybe third time I've had a go at this but I seem to be making progress, possibly due to the recent firmware updates.

I must say I am annoyed at them rearranging it. There is no Smart Connect but it is there:

Left side under Advanced Settings -> Network.

When you add a network if you choose more than one channel they are Smart Connected.

Then go to Advanced Settings -> Network Tools -> Smart Connect Rule (4th tab on top for the GT-BE98 Pro)
 

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*** My little secret when I was struggling to get the 6E MacBook to work was to purchase a TP-Link RE815XE. I believe it either connected immediately right out of the box, or after updating the range extender firmware. Then all I needed to do was copy over any settings I noticed were different to the ASUS router.

Similar here, I have a Deco BE95 I can try to copy over settings for MLO. MLO on the Deco is two channels 5 GHz and 6 GHz. (Originally 6 GHz-2 was locked dedicated backhaul). So I suggest to only choose 2 channels for each MLO network... With TP-Link it is either ON or OFF, so I have it ON. It is not the same SSID as my primary network. Originally I tried the same SSID but devices would connect and then drop off because encription has that GCMP 256....
 
I must say I am annoyed at them rearranging it. There is no Smart Connect but it is there:

Left side under Advanced Settings -> Network.

When you add a network if you choose more than one channel they are Smart Connected.

Then go to Advanced Settings -> Network Tools -> Smart Connect Rule (4th tab on top for the GT-BE98 Pro)
Right, you're saying the WiFi interface selection is Smart Connect when I was thinking of the page with signal strength hand off etc.
That's sensible ...
 
*** My little secret when I was struggling to get the 6E MacBook to work was to purchase a TP-Link RE815XE. I believe it either connected immediately right out of the box, or after updating the range extender firmware. Then all I needed to do was copy over any settings I noticed were different to the ASUS router.

Similar here, I have a Deco BE95 I can try to copy over settings for MLO. MLO on the Deco is two channels 5 GHz and 6 GHz. (Originally 6 GHz-2 was locked dedicated backhaul). So I suggest to only choose 2 channels for each MLO network... With TP-Link it is either ON or OFF, so I have it ON. It is not the same SSID as my primary network. Originally I tried the same SSID but devices would connect and then drop off because encription has that GCMP 256....
Similar story for the BE95 I have ... but MLO on the ASUS causes problems for me, not sure yet if enabling WiFi 7 alone also causes problems but a WiFi 7 router that can't do WiFi 7 is kinda lame.
 
Right, you're saying the WiFi interface selection is Smart Connect when I was thinking of the page with signal strength hand off etc.
That's sensible ...

The Signal Strength handoff settings (aka Smart Connect Rule) are still accessible. Did you mean to say that they are not?

Smart Connect is no longer a line item where you check boxes to add channels to it. You "Add a Network" to create a Smart Connected Network. Where they placed the Smart Connect Rule tab leaves some (a lot) to be desired...
 
The Signal Strength handoff settings (aka Smart Connect Rule) are still accessible. Did you mean to say that they are not?

Smart Connect is no longer a line item where you check boxes to add channels to it. You "Add a Network" to create a Smart Connected Network. Where they placed the Smart Connect Rule tab leaves some (a lot) to be desired...
I meant to say I didn't see them?
It doesn't really matter anyway, changing them never did what I expected so they weren't useful for me.
 
Similar story for the BE95 I have ... but MLO on the ASUS causes problems for me, not sure yet if enabling WiFi 7 alone also causes problems but a WiFi 7 router that can't do WiFi 7 is kinda lame.

I enabled MLO a while back when I got a BQ16 Pro one pack, after someone PMd me asking for some iPerf performance metrics. (The first week or so when ASUS finally released a single unit I quickly grabbed one). It appeared to work back then, so I assume now it should work even better.

Rearranging ASUSwrt, did not help. In fact ghost settings pages of the old layout showed on my WiFi General page up until last month on the GT-BE98 Pro Ver 1 Sample I have...

I think the biggest issue right now as someone complained about (a long, long time ago), is lack of directions on how to set up MLO.

When MLO enabled firmware was initially released, I was encouraged to try it. So I did, and was given instructions that MLO should be a separate SSID that is exclusive to WiFi 7 devices. And that the 2nd SSID it asks for on the same page is for Legacy/IoT devices.

The progression should be enable WiFi 7, then enable MLO on top of WiFi 7. WiFi 7 enables 320 MHz bandwidth. MLO adds multi channel "aggregation" similar to LAN Link Aggregation...

WiFi 7 was designed to be more secure, aka AES + GCMP 256...

Drawing conclusions from all this that I tried to grasp:

The goal if you want to use MLO is to create that separate MLO SSID, it must be WiFi 7, and forget about trying to move to WPA2/WPA3-Personal, aka "Transitional". Separate another "network" for your WiFi 6 and WiFi 5 devices for WPA2/WPA3 (Transitional from WiFi 5 to WiFi 6).

For 2.4 and 5 GHz Smart Connect (aka band steering) is mature/stable, so long as you avoid mixing it with WiFi 7/MLO.
 
I enabled MLO a while back when I got a BQ16 Pro one pack, after someone PMd me asking for some iPerf performance metrics. (The first week or so when ASUS finally released a single unit I quickly grabbed one). It appeared to work back then, so I assume now it should work even better.

Rearranging ASUSwrt, did not help. In fact ghost settings pages of the old layout showed on my WiFi General page up until last month on the GT-98 Pro Ver 1 Sample I have...

I think the biggest issue right now as someone complained about (a long, long time ago), is lack of directions on how to set up MLO.

When MLO enabled firmware was initially released, I was encouraged to try it. So I did, and was given instructions that MLO should be a separate SSID that is exclusive to WiFi 7 devices. And that the 2nd SSID it asks for on the same page is for Legacy/IoT devices.

The progression should be enable WiFi 7, then enable MLO on top of WiFi 7. WiFi 7 enables 320 MHz bandwidth. MLO adds multi channel "aggregation" similar to LAN Link Aggregation...

WiFi 7 was designed to be more secure, aka AES + GCMP 256...

Drawing conclusions from all this that I tried to grasp:

The goal if you want to use MLO is to create that separate MLO SSID, it must be WiFi 7, and forget about trying to move to WPA2/WPA3-Personal, aka "Transitional". Separate another "network" for your WiFi 6 and WiFi 5 devices for WPA2/WPA3 (Transitional from WiFi 5 to WiFi 6).

For 2.4 and 5 GHz Smart Connect (aka band steering) is mature/stable, so long as you avoid mixing it with WiFi 7/MLO.
Interesting journey.

So far every time I have enabled MLO it has interfered with my IoT SSID devices a lot, so much so I gave up every time so far without even checking if any of my other devices were affected.
Most recent effort was to create a separate SSID and connect only my WiFi 7 device to that, more or less what you describe, perhaps ASUS/Broadcom have broken the MLO implementation somehow.
On the positive side I enabled WiFi 7 on the main SSID just now, rebooted and it seems ok, I'll see in the next day or so if it holds up.
It's interesting that you point out the interface will readily let you shot yourself in the foot ...
I wonder if the way I did things was broken ...
 
Interesting journey.

So far every time I have enabled MLO it has interfered with my IoT SSID devices a lot, so much so I gave up every time so far without even checking if any of my other devices were affected.
Most recent effort was to create a separate SSID and connect only my WiFi 7 device to that, more or less what you describe, perhaps ASUS/Broadcom have broken the MLO implementation somehow.
On the positive side I enabled WiFi 7 on the main SSID just now, rebooted and it seems ok, I'll see in the next day or so if it holds up.
It's interesting that you point out the interface will readily let you shot yourself in the foot ...
I wonder if the way I did things was broken ...
I should also add that just enabling MLO works fine, AiMesh node communication uses MLO and has not caused me problems. In fact the WiFi 7 MLO backhaul communication is mainly what I was after with these devices so I'm not particularly disappointed.
 
@raven-au Unfortunately I can't say I've had good experience with trying to create a IoT network. I found it difficult to impossible to get the couple of IoTs that I tried, to connect. I keep them connected to the main network. (As you can see from the screenshots I sent I have one for 2.4 and 5, 6-1, and last 6-2). Even though 6-1 is not WiFi 7 it also shows the 320 MHz on the list of available bandwidths...

So maybe two out of the three work at a time and not all the bugs are solved...
 

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