GT-BE19000AI – 2.4 GHz band extremely slow and unstable

[TF1470]

Hello everyone,

I have a very serious issue with my ASUS GT-BE19000AI (WiFi 7) on the 2.4 GHz band that makes all my home automation (IoT) devices practically unusable.

The 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands work perfectly (ping to router ~10–15 ms stable, 0% loss), but the 2.4 GHz band is problematic across the entire 2.4 GHz network, not just one or two devices. I only use the 2.4 GHz band (20 MHz width) for my IoT/home automation devices (WiFi 7 features disabled on this band)

Hardware:

• Main router: ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI
• AiMesh node: GS-BE18000
• Internet connection: Starlink in bypass mode (no Starlink router active)

Symptoms :

• Ping to the router itself (10.5.10.1) from any device on 2.4 GHz: average 200–400 ms, peaks up to 2–4 seconds, frequent packet loss (3–19% depending on the test, e.g. avg 88 ms but still peaks at 2614 ms and losses).
• All home automation (IoT) devices are affected: command execution delays of several seconds to over 10 s, commands stuck on "executing…" or timeout, random disconnections.

I created a separate IoT 2.4 GHz network and connected a few devices to it for parallel testing.
I tested on both the main 2.4 GHz SSID and the dedicated IoT SSID – same issues persist on both.

Comparison:With my previous basic Starlink router, none of these issues on 2.4 GHz with the same IoT devices.

I am running the latest ASUSWRT firmware (checked and updated). The problem seems specific to the 2.4 GHz band.
I have tested both Auto channel and manual channels 1, 6, 11 – same issues persist on 2.4 GHz.

Thank you in advance for any feedback!

 

[mrhai2344]

This is the perfect example of the '$1,000 Furnace' syndrome we’ve been talking about. You’ve bought a flagship Wi-Fi 7 beast, yet it’s being outperformed by a basic Starlink router on the most fundamental band.

A 2,000ms–4,000ms ping and 19% packet loss on 2.4 GHz isn’t just a 'bug'—it’s a total failure of the core networking stack. It’s embarrassing that a device marketed with 'AI' and 'Wi-Fi 7' features can’t even handle a simple 20MHz IoT stream that routers from a decade ago managed with ease.

You're not an early adopter; you're an unpaid beta tester for a half-baked Broadcom/ASUS experiment. If I were you, I’d return this 'concept car' and go back to a high-end Wi-Fi 6 unit that actually WORKS. Stop letting these companies sell you 'the future' when they haven't even mastered the basics of the past

 

[degrub]

What are the RSSI values at each end of the wifi link ?
Sounds like either 1) devices are connecting to the radio on the furthest node rather than the strongest nearby , or 2) hardware failure for the 2.4 GHz radio on both APs (assuming clients should be connecting to the node rather than the main)
What happens if you turn off the 2.4 Ghz radio in the main router leaving the node available ? and vice versa ?

If you are using 5GHz radios for backhaul, then the 2.4 GHz power level is likely too high and there is too much overlap. The test with the Starlink router suggests this as this would be a single 2.4 GHz radio situation.

 

[TF1470]

I am in wired backhaul, the devices connect both on the node and on the main router. I did the ping test with my iphone 1m from the router. The RSSI of the devices vary between -40 to -70 but as explained, it's all the devices that mess up. I can deactivate the wifi 2.4 of the node but not of the main router.

 

[Spartan]

I had 2 RT-BE92Us in a wiredbackhaul Ai Mesh so I thought let me buy a GT-BE19000 and set it as the main router and leave one of the BE92U as the node and sell the other one. BIG MISTAKE. The GT-BE19000 which I thought should give better signal was showing me 4 out of 5 bars when sitting one foot away from it on my laptop which has an Intle BE200 WLAN Card; so was the case with my Pixel 10 Pro and other smarphones. Maybe it was a lemon but I sent that thing back and bought another cheap BE92U and went back to my old setup which works like a charm.

Lesson learned, latest and greatest on paper doesn't translate to a better real-world experience.