ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 AX6600 Tri-band WiFi 6 Mesh Router, Covearge up to 5500 sq ft, Subscription-free Network Security, Advanced Parental Controls, 4G & 5G Router Replacement, VPN, 2.5G port, 1 PK - Black

ASUS make great WiFi equipment and the XT8 has become better with time thanks to regular firmware updates (plus 3rd party support in the AsusWrt Merlin GNUton's builds) and a web admin interface that is highly configurable. Range and speed for me has been very good with 15+ devices connected but the best has been the reliability and fast startup/reconnect times of the router+node. The only negative, and it is quite a big one, is that the supported control channels for the hardware I received only reach to 140 (5700MHz) despite the UAE and UK (as a UK socket power plug adapter was provided) both allowing higher channels than this. This reduces the available non-DFS channels and so also reduces the channel bandwidth possible (reduced speed) on the higher channel range.

good for bigger apartment, although it took a while for me to position it correctly

Asus is my favorite. they are stable and solid with easy to install and manage App

I returned this device after using it for a week.I got this single unit ZenWiFi XT8 router to replace my aging Linksys router and cover about 1500sqft of living area and rooms. The online reviews were all stellar, but in practice this hardware is let down by the software which appears to have been designed in the 1990s.I manage couple of wireless network systems including a small business network on a UniFi AP setup and a home network for my parents using a Google Nest Wifi mesh system. Anyone who has experienced the management software from UniFi (UniFi Network) and Google (Google Home app) will know the level of organization and simplicity they bring to managing the hardware through their software.Asus continues to be a hardware focused company and it was evident that the software is an afterthought for them. My Linksys router from 2011 had a better responsive web based control panel! The Asus web control panel is slow, reloads or blinks after every setting change and is over all confusing. The theme continues with the Asus Router app which has never been visited by a UI/UX designer either, with features and settings just thrown around in different panes without any logical or hierarchical grouping. I just did not have the cognitive capacity to navigate and manage the router through that mess. Additonally, half the professional gradesettings can only be accessed from the web controller. And whether or not those settings work, I was left guessing mostly. Overall my experience was frustrating, though I would have figured it all out in another year perhaps!On the Hardware side, the build quality was decent but showed few rough edges.Biggest let down was poor signal strength and coverage for the 5GHz band (on Smart Connect), though it might have to do more with the peculiar layout of the cement brick walls of the place; I could only connect at around 50Mbps on the 2.4GHz connection (automatic connectivity), 20 feet away from the router (through the walls). I could manually select the 5GHz band and force the devices to stay on an unblended 5GHz SSID, but still connection speeds were like 100Mbps only. I wasn't sure if converting the setup to a mesh one would help, since the 5GHz-2 backhaul band also had poor connectivity across that distance (of course).Overall, a big letdown for me, mainly on the sofware side, and this does not get highlighted enough in any of the online and enthusiast reviews. I wanted a no nonsense high performance WiFi 6 router, and unfortunately Asus is not in a position to deliver that till they get their software chops in order.I am now deciding between a UniFi setup or might even consider the last gen Google Nest Wifi since I don't have the patience to deal with poor sofware nonsense anymore.

This is a great product when it works. But unfortunately all clients kept loosing connection constantly. Specially on video or audio calls this becomes a major issue. Asus support advised to reset to factory and setup again which didn't help. I sent it back.

Good signal and throughput

For me, the most important thing, was having a reliable connection throughout the apartment. With the ASUS XT8, I achieved that.

When it works it is great but the WiFi constantly drops out, even when the connected devices are next to the router with full signal it stops working and it can be intermittent for hours.