cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

GT-AXE-16000 vs ZenWifi ET12 Pro

Micha-NRw
Level 8

Hallo,

We want to set up a mesh system with 6 nodes.

Is there a difference in the mesh functionality between the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 and the Zenwifi ET12 Pro?

The two are hardly different in terms of price, the ROG is described as a gaming router and the ET12 as a mesh system. So would the function be the same for both or are there other differences in the function regarding the mesh functionality, apart from the 4th WiFi radio?

Thanks for your answer,
Michael

286 Views
6 REPLIES 6

jzchen
Level 16

There's a distinction, as you noticed:  GT routers are labeled as gaming while ZenWiFi are geared towards simple mesh setup.  There will be a lot more configuration options on the AXE16000.  Here in the USA it would be cheaper to get ET12s vs the same number of AXE16000s.  The AXE16000 has dual 10 Gbps Ethernet ports while the ET12 has dual 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports.  The AXE16000 has two 5 GHz radios which facilitates wireless backhaul, improving bandwidth availability.  Given similar pricing I would suggest you get the AXE16000s over the ET12s.

ASUS distinguishes router (from node) as the main one connected to the ISP modem or ONT, so just to clarify you will be purchasing 6 routers in total or 7?

 

Hello and thank you for your quick reply.

For us, an ET12 costs €347 and an AXE16000 costs €367.

We need a total of 6 devices, i.e. a main router and 5 additional nodes. My main problem was initially deciding between the ZenWifi XT12 and the Zenwifi ET12.
We need to use a wireless backhaul.
With the XT12 I have 2 5 GHz bands, one in the lower channel range with less transmission power and one in the upper channel range with greater transmission power. The ET12, in turn, has the 6 GHz band as backhaul and then provides the stronger 5 GHz band in the upper channel range as fronthaul.

Conversely, with the XT12 I can also release the 5 GHz backhaul with the stronger transmission power as a second fronthaul, so that I have the same 5 GHz range as with the ET12, only the backhaul speed would be reduced.

We only have a 100 Mbit internet connection, so the speed of the backhaul is actually not important.

Since the price difference between ET12 and AXE16000 is very small, and the AXE16000 is better equipped, the question arises as to which system is best for us:

6 x XT12 or 6 x AXE16000?

Is a 6 GHz backhaul more stable than a 5 GHz backhaul? Would releasing the 5 GHz backhaul as a fronthaul severely limit the overall speed? Or is it still fast enough for a 100 Mbit internet connection?

I could also use the 5 GHz band as backhaul on the AXE16000 and use the 6 GHz band for our Apple devices, would that have any more advantages? I could also release all bands as fronthaul on the AXE16000.

I'm a bit confused. We need WiFi on several floors for our cell phones, tablets and smart TVs, but the maximum speed limits our internet connection to 100 Mbit, perhaps 1 Gbit in the future.

Thank you for your answer,

Michael

It may be a surprise to you but due to health safety the higher the frequency the lower the range.  This is due to exposure limits to the human body.  So actually 2.4 GHz has the longest range, 5 GHz is in the middle, and 6 GHz has the least range, but not much less than 5 GHz from my experience.

I still recommend the AXE16000 as it will use one 5 GHz as backhaul, and you can then use all three bands for devices.  By the way both 5 GHz and 6 GHz reach a maximum 4804 Mbps (if I remember correctly), they have the same bandwidth, and that extra 5 GHz will help as I understand your speed is 100 Mbps, but you have a lot of nodes to distribute.  Also will help if you do upgrade to 1 Gbps Internet later...

Per Apple you would want to set 5 GHz and 6 GHz to the same SSID and password, but not smart connect, and turn on Preferred Scanning Channels (PSC).

I realized something so let me clarify just in case, both XT12 and ET12 have 3 bands, while the AXE16000 has 4.  For the XT12 there is no 6 GHz, but the ET12 will likely use 6 GHz as backhaul.  The AXE16000 has 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz-1, 5 GHz-2, and 6 GHz.  So the 5 GHz-2 is used as backhaul but all three bands are available 2.4, 5-1, and 6.  Also the Ethernet ports can be used on any of the nodes, not only the router....

Thank you for your feedback. I had 2 ET12s with me to test a while ago. I could simply click that the 6 GHz radio should also be used for the fronthaul and I didn't have to assign an extra SSID. Doesn't that work automatically with the AXE16000? The Smart Connect actually does everything automatically, doesn't it?

Can I also set the AXE16000 to use the 5 GHz-1 radio as backhaul or is it only possible to use the 5 GHz-2 radio as backhaul?

Do you own the AXE16000 yourself?

Thank you for your answer!

The only way that I know you can choose "fronthaul and backhaul" is if you have connected the routers with Ethernet.  I do have a GT-AXE16000, but I only have one.  I use Ethernet Backhaul for all my connections among routers.  I do believe it uses 5 GHz-2 for backhaul, but I am not sure.  Both 5 GHz-1 and 5 GHz-2 should have the same bandwidth. It may be selectable but I don't know since I don't have two to test.

SmartConnect does work as you note, it's just Apple has specific settings that it suggests/recommends, and that is one of the unusual ones: NOT SmartConnect 5 GHz and 6 GHz.  I follow it since we only have one 6E MacBook Pro, and the other 6 GHz capable decide is the OnePlus Open...