3-Pack Asus ZenWiFi BD5 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh System (White) $199.99 + Free Shipping

oharag1

Jul 13, 2026 6:59 PM

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Joined Nov 2017

oharag1Jul 13, 2026 6:59 PM

1,397 Posts

I have the XT8 (QNTY 2) I believe it's Wifi 6 router. I did not know this version was a thing. Is this supposed to be better than the XT8? Looking at specs - the BD5 is a Wifi 7 - has two 2.5gbs ports (XT8 has 1-2.5gbs and 3-1gbe ports). It seems the XT8 has more internal antennas and I think has higher throughput.

palmoyas

Jul 13, 2026 8:02 PM

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palmoyasJul 13, 2026 8:02 PM

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Dual band, FYI.

3

PeteyTheStriker

Jul 13, 2026 8:51 PM

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PeteyTheStrikerJul 13, 2026 8:51 PM

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Quote from oharag1

:

I have the XT8 (QNTY 2) I believe it's Wifi 6 router. I did not know this version was a thing. Is this supposed to be better than the XT8? Looking at specs - the BD5 is a Wifi 7 - has two 2.5gbs ports (XT8 has 1-2.5gbs and 3-1gbe ports). It seems the XT8 has more internal antennas and I think has higher throughput.

While the XT8 was a great system for its time, if you have over 1Gbps internet you would want the BD5. It literally smokes the XT8 by double. Wifi 7 BD5 can deliver up to 1900Mbps in real world testing to a proper wifi 7 client (which XT8 is not wifi7), directly comparing it to wifi 6 AX (which XT8 is) around 1500Mbps... The XT8 to a proper wifi 6 AX client would max out around 850Mbps even with it being triband.

Quote from palmoyas

:

Dual band, FYI.

Dont matter it still smokes just about ever triband from the last generation.

1

TDookie

Jul 14, 2026 12:14 AM

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Joined May 2012

TDookieJul 14, 2026 12:14 AM

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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank TDookie

Quote from oharag1

:

I have the XT8 (QNTY 2) I believe it's Wifi 6 router. I did not know this version was a thing. Is this supposed to be better than the XT8? Looking at specs - the BD5 is a Wifi 7 - has two 2.5gbs ports (XT8 has 1-2.5gbs and 3-1gbe ports). It seems the XT8 has more internal antennas and I think has higher throughput.

XT8 tri band wifi 6 vs BD5 wifi 7 dual band. I have a pair of XT8 and they work great for our setup here when they were in wifi mesh mode in a small 2 story house, on opposite sides of the 2nd floor. I used them in both wireless mesh and now they're in a wired backhaul setup.

IF you're using wifi mesh, meaning you are using a wireless backhaul to connect the routers, then the XT8 is a better choice because it has the 3rd band that you can dedicate to be a wireless backhaul channel only while still having a separate 5ghz low band and 2.4ghz band to use. The BD8 would have to share the single 5ghz band for backhaul purposes and would add delay and reduce throughput.

IF you're using a wired backhaul, the BD5 would be better since wifi 7 brings better throughput, but dont use any MLO setting since nobody is doing good at all right now. You would also need wifi 7 devices to benefit from this too.

But if your XT8s are working fine, just keep it as is.

3

oharag1

Jul 14, 2026 12:26 AM

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oharag1Jul 14, 2026 12:26 AM

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Quote from TDookie

:

XT8 tri band wifi 6 vs BD5 wifi 7 dual band. I have a pair of XT8 and they work great for our setup here when they were in wifi mesh mode in a small 2 story house, on opposite sides of the 2nd floor. I used them in both wireless mesh and now they're in a wired backhaul setup.IF you're using wifi mesh, meaning you are using a wireless backhaul to connect the routers, then the XT8 is a better choice because it has the 3rd band that you can dedicate to be a wireless backhaul channel only while still having a separate 5ghz low band and 2.4ghz band to use. The BD8 would have to share the single 5ghz band for backhaul purposes and would add delay and reduce throughput. IF you're using a wired backhaul, the BD5 would be better since wifi 7 brings better throughput, but dont use any MLO setting since nobody is doing good at all right now. You would also need wifi 7 devices to benefit from this too.But if your XT8s are working fine, just keep it as is.

Thanks for excellent explanation. Yeah my XT8s are working using the wireless backhaul. I was hoping these were superior - especially at this price for three.

BabyTantrum

Jul 15, 2026 4:36 AM

979 Comments

Joined Jun 2017

BabyTantrumJul 15, 2026 4:36 AM

979 Posts

Quote from oharag1

:

Thanks for excellent explanation. Yeah my XT8s are working using the wireless backhaul. I was hoping these were superior - especially at this price for three.

Tdookie is on the dookie! He is correct. I recommend you hold out Until WiFi8 comes out, unless you need a better set up now, at which point, it's best to buy another pair of tri-band nodes(routers) not the dual band ones.

oharag1

Jul 15, 2026 11:20 AM

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Joined Nov 2017

oharag1Jul 15, 2026 11:20 AM

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Quote from BabyTantrum

:

Tdookie is on the dookie! He is correct. I recommend you hold out Until WiFi8 comes out, unless you need a better set up now, at which point, it's best to buy another pair of tri-band nodes(routers) not the dual band ones.

Thanks for the input. I just haven't kept up on what Asus has produced so far. Most of what I want (10gbe) and better WiFi is redundant for me at this time. My XT8's work just fine. It does seem that prices seem to be coming down some. I remember for the longest time the XT8's were not being discounted. I will wait.
BTW since this is an Asus post - has anyone experiences this issue:

If I have my Fios Router plugged into my Asus XT8 and then my Xbox plugged into that same Router - my upload speeds will drop from ~200 Mbps down to 20 Mbps (I have 300/300). My download speeds are fine. The issue was playing games like Destiny 2 and trying to matchmake - I would be flagged for lagging. It was so bad that I got banned twice from Xbox and disallowed to play MP for 1 week at a time.
I couldn't figure out why this was happening. I called Fios and asked if they were throttling - they said no. I then searched the nets and people were also having this same issue - Fios -> Asus -> Xbox lag. They found out that if you introduce a simple ethernet switch between Fios and Asus it solves this issue. And it works. My Upload speeds increased significantly. I believe my latency etc... also improved.
Has anyone experiences this? Was this an Asus thing? Hopefully fixed in FW - but I have always updated my FW hoping it would fix. I introduced the switch about a year plus so I haven't tested it since.

Sorry to make this a tech discussion. But I think this is a cool way to reach out to current and possible future Asus Mesh owners.

NhewFone

Jul 16, 2026 7:47 AM

252 Comments

Joined Jun 2013

NhewFoneJul 16, 2026 7:47 AM

252 Posts

Quote from oharag1

:

Thanks for the input. I just haven't kept up on what Asus has produced so far. Most of what I want (10gbe) and better WiFi is redundant for me at this time. My XT8's work just fine. It does seem that prices seem to be coming down some. I remember for the longest time the XT8's were not being discounted. I will wait.
BTW since this is an Asus post - has anyone experiences this issue:

If I have my Fios Router plugged into my Asus XT8 and then my Xbox plugged into that same Router - my upload speeds will drop from ~200 Mbps down to 20 Mbps (I have 300/300). My download speeds are fine. The issue was playing games like Destiny 2 and trying to matchmake - I would be flagged for lagging. It was so bad that I got banned twice from Xbox and disallowed to play MP for 1 week at a time.
I couldn't figure out why this was happening. I called Fios and asked if they were throttling - they said no. I then searched the nets and people were also having this same issue - Fios -> Asus -> Xbox lag. They found out that if you introduce a simple ethernet switch between Fios and Asus it solves this issue. And it works. My Upload speeds increased significantly. I believe my latency etc... also improved.
Has anyone experiences this? Was this an Asus thing? Hopefully fixed in FW - but I have always updated my FW hoping it would fix. I introduced the switch about a year plus so I haven't tested it since.

Sorry to make this a tech discussion. But I think this is a cool way to reach out to current and possible future Asus Mesh owners.

You could force the xbox to a specific band that has little interference and have it forget the other bands. Sometimes saving multiple wifi usernames

TrophyDadLA

Jul 16, 2026 12:54 PM

2 Comments

Joined Jul 2026

TrophyDadLAJul 16, 2026 12:54 PM

2 Posts

i had these for about 3 days. the wifi on my apple devices would just actuate throughout the day. i literally watched the wifi signal completely drop for a minute and then come back on for a minute. i had them on 2.5 gb wired backhaul so it wasn't a band consumption issue. just crappy firmware/hardware. replaced with refurbished Orbi 770s, which had reviews stating the same issue, but they are much better.

oharag1

Jul 16, 2026 2:42 PM

1.4K Comments

Joined Nov 2017

oharag1Jul 16, 2026 2:42 PM

1,397 Posts

Quote from NhewFone

:

You could force the xbox to a specific band that has little interference and have it forget the other bands. Sometimes saving multiple wifi usernames

I tried everything on Xbox and even my Asus router - nothing seemed to work. I found this solution on nets since others are having same issue. The inline switch did the trick.

3-Pack Asus ZenWiFi BD5 Wi-Fi 7 Mesh System (White) $199.99 + Free Shipping

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