BE98 Pro vs ASUS WiFi Gaming Router (RT-AC5300) - Tri-Band Gigabit Wireless Internet Router

[OneFingeredFist]

ordered the BE98 yesterday and was wondering if I'll notice some big differences?

 

[Kingp1n]

Difference in WiFi speeds or? This will depend on alot of different things...what router do you currently own...also your ISP, your paid speeds and what devices you own.

Once setup, please come back & provide feedback on how everything is working.

Best of luck!

 

[Tech9]

A new beta tester. Good luck.

 

[L&LD]

You should see a big difference from any AC class router such as you're upgrading from.

But that will depend on many factors, including your expectations, client devices and capabilities, the way you use your network, and your paid-for ISP speeds, to start.

 

[OneFingeredFist]

I’m sure I have some WiFi 6 devices like iPad, iPhone and PC.

 

[Tech9]

What devices you have doesn't matter. This BE98 router is an overpriced pre-release Wi-Fi 7 product.

 

[Kingp1n]

I’m sure I have some WiFi 6 devices like iPad, iPhone and PC.

You might want to read thru this thread:

Thread 'GT-BE98 WIFI 7' https://www.snbforums.com/threads/gt-be98-wifi-7.82741/

Overall some good reviews but some folks are complaining about the WiFi6/7 range not being as strong as 2.4/5Ghz bands, but let us know how it's working out for you once you're all setup.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

What devices you have doesn't matter. This BE98 router is an overpriced pre-release Wi-Fi 7 product.

How much you think it should cost? Wi-Fi 6E devices are expensive too, and this one has 4 bands and is a new standard. Pretty sure I've seen both Merlin and Dong say there's nothing coming in wifi 7 that these devices don't already have. It's not like past situations where updated hardware will be needed.

For the OP, the BE 96U has made a huge difference in speeds for me. I have 4 of them in a mesh though so Wi-Fi 7 is actually being utilized with my backhaul. My backhaul is much faster than with the AXE11000 so the devices I have connected by ethernet to the nodes get full gigabit speeds now. Worth the money to me, but I'm willing to pay for what I want. Considering going to the BE98, but I'm not sure yet.

 

[Tech9]

How much you think it should cost?

How much of a value this router brings to someone with few Wi-Fi 6 devices including a tablet and a phone?

devices I have connected by ethernet to the nodes get full gigabit speeds now

The same with AiMesh with 2x RT-AC86U routers released in 2017. Link speed >2Gbps and full Gigabit on the node LAN ports.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

How much of a value this router brings to someone with few Wi-Fi 6 devices including a tablet and a phone?



The same with AiMesh with 2x RT-AC86U routers released in 2017. Link speed >2Gbps and full Gigabit on the node LAN ports.

I did not ask about the value for a specific person. You have to pay for what something can do, not what the value is to you. Now you can say it has no value to you or it's not worth the price to you. Overpriced would mean it cost more than it should for what it can do. A Corvette is 100k, but if someone just drives it back and forth to work only going the speed limit, it's now worth the same price as a Toyota Camry? No. Now it might not be worth it for someone to spend that much then, but that's a personal decision. It doesn't mean Corvettes are overpriced. Compare them to other high end vehicles and price per performance actually is probably better.

Definitely not the same as AC devices. Even my AXE11000s couldn't hit the speeds I'm getting now with the BE96Us. Those speeds you're quoting are only in best circumstances. I don't know about you, but I don't live in a test environment. You've got to factor in interference, walls, etc. At the nodes themselves, I'm getting 2-3x the speeds of the AXEs in some areas of my house and like 10-20x the speeds I was getting with my Wi-Fi 5 Orbi mesh system. This is just by measuring internet speeds. Might be more if we're talking data transfer but big downloads being slower than they should be is the biggest issue I had. I upgraded for a reason and I've not felt once that I bought something overpriced.

So if it's not worth it to you, that's fine. Doesn't mean it's overpriced though. Just sounds like you don't have a situation that requires it. I guarantee you there's some people that do.

 

[Tech9]

You have to pay for what something can do

I personally don't pay for specifications on paper. This router is useless with no clients. This router is also not compliant to all Wi-Fi 7 specifications. It's a draft product rushed to the consumer market with users as beta testers. I would also never purchase 4x beta Asus products to use in AiMesh with shorter range 6GHz wireless backhaul. I would invest in Ethernet infrastructure instead and use business class APs for Wi-Fi. This is exactly what I did for my home. The price is about the same to what you have paid, but with VLAN capable Netgate x86 hardware firewall, Netgear 16-port PoE switch and VLAN capable PoE Ruckus Wi-Fi 6 APs. This is what I find better value for the money.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

I personally don't pay for specifications on paper. This router is useless with no clients. This router is also not compliant to all Wi-Fi 7 specifications. It's a draft product rushed to the consumer market with users as beta testers. I would also never purchase 4x beta Asus products to use in AiMesh with shorter range 6GHz wireless backhaul. I would invest in Ethernet infrastructure instead and use business class APs for Wi-Fi. This is exactly what I did for my home. The price is about the same to what you have paid, but with VLAN capable Netgate x86 hardware firewall, Netgear 16-port PoE switch and VLAN capable PoE Ruckus Wi-Fi 6 APs. This is what I find better value for the money.

The range I get for my backhaul is about the same as the 5ghz. It's actually better performance for me on the 6 vs 5. I've tried both. I just can't do 5ghz backhaul because I live like 5 min from an airport and it was intermittently wreaking havoc for me.

I would prefer to have ethernet, and I tried to get it installed when I first moved to this town and my current house. Small town and only guy who does it couldn't do it because of the firewalls in my house apparently. I would've paid him whatever he wanted. He just couldn't do it. Electrician said same thing about adding outlets. He had no access cause of the way they built my house. One day maybe I'll look into seeing how much an out of town company would charge to come in and do it, if they can. I'm just several hours from any companies that might be able to do so. So I went with the option available to me. The nodes are the only wifi 7 clients I care about, and all my important stuff is hardwired to the nodes. There is a significant performance difference from what I previously ran so clearly the newer hardware is doing something right. It was worth it to me, and I saw a post somewhere saying there's nothing in the spec that these shouldn't be able to do. It sounds like you found better value in setting yours up the way you did. I wish I could, just can't. I also don't think the average consumer is going to be doing all that either.

 

[Tech9]

I just can't do 5ghz backhaul because I live like 5 min from an airport and it was intermittently wreaking havoc for me.

Me too. A bit further, but on the landing path. The reason I don't use DFS channels.

 

[OneFingeredFist]

I had a rog 16000axe that I felt the 5ghz channels actually provided higher speeds than the ac5300 did at the same distance. Is that just better hardware? I sent it back when ASUS announced the WiFi 7 early last year

 

[L&LD]

WiFi 7 has been certified.

Perhaps someday MLO will deliver the benefits you cite. But not in the first generation for sure. I would hate to be the engineers developing the AP schedulers. MLO adds another set of decisions to make about how and when to send a packet. I don't know about latency (MLO is supposed to be able...

www.snbforums.com

WiFi 7 has been certified.

https://www.wi-fi.org/news-events/newsroom/wi-fi-alliance-introduces-wi-fi-certified-7 For what? 🤔

www.snbforums.com

 

[Itsjustmd15]

I had a rog 16000axe that I felt the 5ghz channels actually provided higher speeds than the ac5300 did at the same distance. Is that just better hardware? I sent it back when ASUS announced the WiFi 7 early last year

That's what I would think. I know every time I've upgraded, I've gotten better performance. The first time that I don't, I'll just return the equipment.

 

[Tech9]

I know every time I've upgraded, I've gotten better performance.

This is because home routers have weak good enough for the application and release time CPUs and the newer routers come with a better one. I have an x86 hardware firewall with 4-core Intel CPU and 4GB RAM and my existing AC clients work exactly the same way with AC and AX class access points. In both cases I get the maximum from AC.

 

[Itsjustmd15]

This is because home routers have weak good enough for the application and release time CPUs and the newer routers come with a better one. I have an x86 hardware firewall with 4-core Intel CPU and 4GB RAM and my existing AC clients work exactly the same way with AC and AX class access points. In both cases I get the maximum from AC.

This makes sense. Well, I think I've finally reached the performance level I need so hopefully no more upgrades for me any time soon.

 

[jzchen]

AC is limited to WPA 2. How’s the security of WPA 2, compared to WPA 3?

 

[Tech9]

AC is limited to WPA 2.

No, it isn't in theory. Older AC routers are limited to WPA2 because no one is going to rewrite drivers and firmware. For WPA3 client support is needed and PMF. Older clients may have issues with PMF. WPA3 is more secure, but if you have a mixed clients network you have to run WPA2/WPA3 anyway. This is going to be the case for years.