ASUS’s growing family Wireless network 7 With the launch of ZenWiFi BT10, the number of routers has grown again. In many ways, the ZenWiFi BT10 is ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro We’ve reviewed it before, but it was a step behind in terms of performance and features.
The ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro aims to deliver the absolute fastest wireless performance and gives you a second 6 GHz band, while the ZenWiFi BT10 is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router that gives you most of that performance for hundreds of dollars . Its output is stable but not among similar products The best Wi-Fi routers.
ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router Design
ZenWiFi BT10 shares its design language with BQ16 Pro. However, it’s shorter and narrower than its pricier sibling (the ZenWiFi BT10 measures 7.48 x 6.14 x 2.91 inches, while the BQ16 Pro measures 8.4 x 6.9 x 2.8 inches). Each node won’t look out of place on a bookshelf or coffee table. In other words, the design won’t clash with your typical home decor like one of the popular eight-antenna “Spider” gaming routers on the market.
There is an LED on the lower front of the ZenWiFi BT10, below the ASUS logo. The light flashes various colors to indicate connection status (for example, flashing red means there is a problem with your network connection). When the network status is normal, it will emit a steady white light. There are fewer ports on the back than on the BQ16 Pro. You get 1 10G port for WAN/LAN, 1 10G port for LAN, and 1 1G port for WAN/LAN.
1G LAN is a headache at this price point, but we had the same problem with the BQ16 Pro. There’s also a USB 3.2 port for connecting a storage device or printer for network access. I should point out that the main and satellite routers are hardware-wise identical and interchangeable. The node you set up first will become the router, and the second node will be the wireless satellite.
ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router Specifications
| wireless network standards | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) |
| Wi-Fi band | 2.4 GHz: 2×2 (Tx/Rx), up to 688 Mbps |
| 5 GHz: 4×4 (Tx/Rx), up to 5,764 Mbps | |
| 6 GHz: 4×4 (Tx/Rx), up to 11,529 Mbps | |
| CPU | 2.6 GHz quad-core processor |
| memory | 2GB RAM, 256GB Flash |
| Coverage | 6,000 sq. ft. |
| port | 1x 10 Gbps for WAN/LAN, 1x 10 Gbps for WAN/LAN, 1x 1 Gbps for LAN, 1 USB 3.2 (per node) |
Setting up ZenWiFi BT10 Wi-Fi 7 mesh router
Configuring the ZenWiFi BT10 out of the box is relatively simple. I unpacked the first node and plugged in the power supply, jumpers to the modem, and cables to the server. I then accessed asusrouter.com from my browser to invoke the setup process.
The installer provided easy-to-follow steps for creating an SSID for the network, gave me the option to enable a separate IoT SSID, and allowed me to create an administrator login and password. Once completed, the installer will look for the latest firmware from ASUS.
After the first node (router) was set up, I was asked to turn on the second node, which would become the wireless satellite. I plugged in the second node and it took about 5 minutes for it to sync with the router and complete the network.
My next step is to create separate SSIDs for the three wireless bands. I named them Asus_BT10_24, Asus_BT10_5 and Asus_BT10_6 to make it easier to test the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands in this review. However, after restarting the router after applying these changes, I ran into a problem – the satellites would no longer connect. After a lot of messing around and rebooting to fix the problem, I did a factory reset on the satellite. After performing a factory reset, the satellite re-paired with the router and I never had any other setup issues with my system.
As I mentioned before, there are no physical or hardware differences between routers and satellites. Therefore, you get the same limited number of ports on each node: 10G WAN/LAN, 10G LAN, and 1G WAN/LAN. The 10G LAN port can be used for wired backhaul between the router and satellite to maximize performance. Because the router and satellite use the same hardware, each router has two 10 GbE ports on the back.
If you don’t have the wiring in your home to take advantage of wired backhaul, the ZenWiFi BT10 (like the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro) has powerful wireless backhaul capabilities. ZenWiFi BT10 utilizes MLO (part of the Wi-Fi 7 specification) to bind the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency bands to a single link.
ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh Router Software
All ASUS routers use the AsusWRT 5.0 software platform, and ZenWiFi BT10 is no exception. We updated the grid system to ASUS’ latest firmware 3.0.0.6.102_36758 for testing. While the interface is familiar to me and anyone who has worked with an Asus router before, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of settings you can configure.
After entering your administrator login name and password, you’ll be taken to the router’s home page, or what Asus calls its “network map.” It provides network connection status, your current WPA Safety Level, CPU core usage percentage, RAM usage, active Ethernet ports, USB port status, and AiMesh status. If you just want to complete the initial setup of your ZenWiFi BT10 and not mess with it again, then you probably don’t need to risk leaving this homepage.
However, for those of you in the market for a mesh Wi-Fi 7 router that costs nearly $1,000, we know you’ll delve into the extensive menu system. While there’s too much to discuss in this review, some key pieces include AiMesh, which gives you an overview of connected wireless nodes and backhaul status (in my case, the nodes were connected via MLO wireless links). If you encounter problems, you can also choose to optimize AiMesh or add another wireless node.
In the Networks tab you can create a separate SSID for the main network, add a guest network, or create additional networks (Children, IoT, VPN, MLO, etc.). Our review unit came pre-configured with 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands, all under a single SSID (Smart Link). However, I decided to create an SSID for each band on the main network to keep things tidy.
AI Protection is Trend Micro’s comprehensive security suite for your router, and the USB app lets you control every possible feature from a single USB 3.2 port. For example, you can enable Time Machine backup using your Mac computer’s external HDD or SSD, set up a network printer server, and even connect your smartphone to use its cellular connection to access the Internet.
ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 Wi-Fi 7 Internet Router Performance
Our current Wi-Fi router test platform is Windows 11 Equipped with MSI Pro B650M-A Wi-Fi motherboard, AMD Ryzen 5 7600, 32GB DDR5, 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and MSI Herald-BE Wi-Fi 7 PCIe adapters, all of which use the latest software, BIOS, firmware, and drivers (where applicable).
iPerf3 throughput testing was conducted using our Windows 11 server equipped with an onboard 10 Gbps wired network card connected to the 10 Gbps LAN port on the ZenWiFi ZenWiFi BT10. Wireless testing covers 6-foot and 25-foot distances. Start by testing wirelessly on a network with no additional traffic from other connected clients. Next, run the same test using simulated traffic from other users accessing the network (in our tests, we used six clients to stream 4K videos from YouTube).
The BQ16 Pro is currently the speed king among our Wi-Fi 7 routers (mesh or otherwise). However, the ZenWiFi BT10 is no slouch, averaging 2,667 Mbps at a distance of 6 feet in our non-congested iPerf3 test on the 6GHz band. The BQ16 Pro leads the way with 3,523 Mbps; TP-Link Deco BE65 Pro That’s far behind 1,846 Mbps. The 25-foot test found performance dropped more than 50%, to 1,157 Mbps, vs. Net Mystery 770.
The ZenWiFi BT10 came in third on the 5GHz band, with speeds of 1,293 Mbps at 6 feet, behind the Deco BE65 Pro (1,530 Mbps) and BQ16 Pro (1,630 Mbps). The ZenWiFi BT10, which extends to 25 feet, narrowly took first place with 659 Mbps.
The Orbi 770 dominated our 2.4GHz iPerf3 test, while the ZenWiFi BT10 and BQ16 Pro performed at the bottom of the pack at both test distances.
Our crowding tests showed that the ZenWiFi BT10’s performance dropped 10 to 15 percent on all bands at distances of 6 feet and 25 feet. Likewise, the ZenWiFi BT10’s ping times mostly stayed under the 10ms range.
As we always warn, wireless performance can vary widely and may vary greatly depending on the architecture of your home, apartment, or office.
bottom line
If the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro is the pinnacle of Asus’ Wi-Fi 7 router portfolio, the ZenWiFi BT10 doesn’t quite hit the performance peak of its high-flying sibling, but it’s close enough. No matter how you slice it, performance on the short-range 6GHz band above 2,600 Mbps is good, and performance on the other two bands is competitive with the Netgear Orbi 770 and TP-Link Deco BE65 Pro.
I still like the ASUS WRT 5.0 interface and its rich features and configuration options to suit your specific needs. Additional USB 3.2 control is also welcome. My only real reservation about the ZenWiFi BT10 is its port settings. There are only two LAN ports, one is 1G and the other is 10G. I’d like to see the 1G ports increased to at least 2.5G. Of course, you can connect a 10G switch to expand the number of available ports, but that’s an additional cost on an already expensive router.
Speaking of pricing, The market price of ZenWiFi BT10 is approximately US$860about $300 cheaper than the BQ16 Pro. More than 300 yuan more expensive than ordinary ones Mystery 770 2-pack (It doesn’t have as much 6GHz band performance). this Deco BE65 Pro street price is $500but the 6GHz performance is also lacking. Also, considering the Deco BE65 Pro has three nodes (one router plus two satellites) at the $500 price point, you don’t get 10G connectivity at all.
If best-in-class 6GHz band performance and 10G wired connectivity are top considerations, then the ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 should be. However, TP-Link Deco BE65 Pro Represents better value for most home users.