ASUS ROG Strix GS-BE18000, slow speeds

[4MKA]

Hi - I recently purchased the GS-BE18000. Nice little router. Looks sexy. Easy to setup. Has the regular intuitive Asus UI (this is my 6th Asus router). Love all the 2.5G ports on the back (I need these). So far so good.

Wifi connection is strong, smooth, constant. Feels very responsive. I like it.

So the bad. The wifi 7 speeds using 5G appear to be capped or something? I get around 500-600 mbps on multiple different devices that I've tried. The newest device I have is an iPhone 17, which uses a N1 chip up to 160 MHz channel bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7 (I think this should be able to get around ~1,400 mbps). I have a few latest model fire sticks, two newish laptops, older phone etc. They all seem to be getting around the same speeds. These speeds arent much of an improvement on my previous router, which is disappointing...

Any ideas for settings or changes I can make? Using the latest firmware (Sep 2025). QoS turned off. All other settings look fine to me but I must be missing something.

Dong Knows got ~1,800 mbps using this router. I cant even reach my 1gig internet speeds.

Also, range is so so. I was hoping wifi 7 would offer more range? 6G cant even penetrate a single wall (9 ft away through a wall and the signal crashes). 5G is nice close up, but drops off fast as you go upstairs. Any settings around this?

Thanks all.

 

[4MKA]

Can anyone please help me with this?

Do I need to return the router?

Thanks.

 

[Tech9]

this is my 6th Asus router

You perhaps already know settings, client capabilities, environment, distance, obstructions, number of active clients, etc. all affect the throughput to single client. You perhaps also know IoTs, phones, tablets, streaming devices, TVs, gaming consoles, etc. don't really require high throughput. What you may not know is 2.5GbE local network doesn't need a new All-in-One router, but a switch only. You perhaps also don't know mobile devices with built-in power saving features are not the best for speed testing.

If your 5th Asus router was a capable AX-class model - you've got an expensive switch for your wired devices with close to zero user experience improvement over wireless. The only clients with some potential advantage are the two laptops, in case they transfer data often to NAS and have Wi-Fi 6E/7 class wireless capabilities. Your 5th Asus router was perhaps running more mature and stable firmware. GS-series Asus routers are in budget gaming devices category and historically never had the best support.

I was hoping wifi 7 would offer more range?

No, just the opposite. Wi-Fi 6E/7 on 6GHz band is short range, Wi-Fi 7 on 5GHz band has little advantage over Wi-Fi 6.

 

[4MKA]

Appreciate the feedback.

Any idea what speeds I should be getting on the Iphone 17 with these specs on the 5Ghz network with line of sight to the router?

• Standard: Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
• Chip: Apple N1 wireless networking chip
• MIMO: 2x2 MIMO

Edit: I found this vid. The iphone 17 got to ~1,100 mbps in this test which means it's capable of more vs what I'm getting.

I should probably return the router and try a new one.

 

[fruitcornbread]

I saw a post on reddit iPhone 17 Pro Max was capable of 1.8Gbps, but it was based on their Ubiquiti setup.

You can try disabling MLO to see if you get better speeds.

 

[4MKA]

I saw a post on reddit iPhone 17 Pro Max was capable of 1.8Gbps, but it was based on their Ubiquiti setup.

You can try disabling MLO to see if you get better speeds.

It was disabled by default. I tried enabling it. No diffs.

This test was also the iphone 17 base model, not the Pro Max. The tester got ~1,100 mbps. Im getting ~600 mbps. Something is clearly off.

 

[4MKA]

Are there any other settings I can try? Or is this likely a hardware issue?

 

[Brookie55]

Are there any other settings I can try? Or is this likely a hardware issue?

Is this the Asus Zen Wi-Fi BT10 Mesh? I think it might be. There was a big security update that requires a factory reset. I just did this today.

 

[Brookie55]

Is this the Asus Zen Wi-Fi BT10 Mesh? I think it might be. There was a big security update that requires a factory reset. I just did this today.

ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 Firmware version 3.0.0.6.102_38991
Version 3.0.0.6.102_38991
57.27 MB
2025/09/16
SHA-256 ：EF9DDEE9F0D4662216ADD5F6AAA7E017E56E0ABE05BBAC12FE185576F9AE27E0
Important: After installing this firmware, we strongly recommend performing a factory-default reset to activate every new security adjustment.

 

[fruitcornbread]

ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 Firmware version 3.0.0.6.102_38991
Version 3.0.0.6.102_38991
57.27 MB
2025/09/16
SHA-256 ：EF9DDEE9F0D4662216ADD5F6AAA7E017E56E0ABE05BBAC12FE185576F9AE27E0
Important: After installing this firmware, we strongly recommend performing a factory-default reset to activate every new security adjustment.

He already installed the Sept 2025 latest security firmware update for his GS-BE18000 router here.

ROG STRIX GS-BE18000 | Networking｜ROG Global

ROG Strix GS-BE18000: Dominate gaming with ultra-fast 18,000Mbps tri-band WiFi 7, low-latency connections, and secure networking. Elevate your play!

rog.asus.com

@4MKA It's probably either software or hardware issue. If I were you, I would just return it. This router is too expensive for you to be jumping through hoops. The latest Sept firmware was supposed to fix the AFC feature anyways.

 

[Tech9]

I found this vid. The iphone 17 got to ~1,100 mbps in this test which means it's capable of more vs what I'm getting.

Since you are testing on 5GHz band - the same limitations apply as Wi-Fi 6. Maximum throughput only at ideal conditions, not present in most environments. This means nothing else using the same channel, including on neighbouring networks.

 

[4MKA]

Yeah look I ran simultaneous speedtests on 3 devices, and the total they all got in download speed is 650 mbps.

This router is clearly capped at that speed on the 5ghz network regardless of the client.

This is frustrating AF. I'm beyond the return window for it and will have to RMA wtf. Is there genuinely anything else I can try?

Thanks.