GT-BE98 Pro - Great speeds, but inconsistent latency + occasional weird behavior

[muusicman]

I recently upgraded to the ASUS GT-BE98 Pro. Speeds are excellent on both wired and Wi-Fi, and overall performance is strong. But I'm chasing more consistent latency and I'm hoping someone with this router can point me in the right direction.

Here's what I'm seeing:

• Wired Apple TV (Ethernet): Usually 3-5 ms ping, but once saw jitter + packet loss during a Speedtest. Hasn't happened again, but it scared me. • Wi-Fi (iPhone 11 Pro Max): Great speeds, but loaded latency sometimes spikes (e.g., 300-400 ms) even with strong signal. Idle ping stays low. • Streaming test: On my old Orbi, running a Speedtest while watching 4K would cause video hiccups. On the BE98 Pro, the video stays smooth - only the Speedtest animation stutters. • Router settings: • 5 GHz is on channel 40 (non-DFS) • Channel width is set to Auto (20/40/80/160 MHz) • Smart Connect is ON • No custom QoS settings

What I want is simple: lowest possible latency + highest stability across all devices. I don't care about max Wi-Fi 7 speeds - I care about consistency.

If anyone has recommended settings for:

• channel width • Smart Connect • DFS on/off • Qos • anything else that improves stability

...l'd really appreciate it. I'm not trying to nitpick - I just want a smooth, reliable experience.

Thanks in advance.

[jzchen]

What type and speed is your Internet service?

DNS server?

Is there a reason you fixed the 5 GHz channel on 40?  I've always used Auto including DFS.

[muusicman]

My speed is 1 gbps fiber, I checked and found that Quad9 DNS is the fastest for where im located. I don’t think the channel is fixed. It’s on auto I believe, the router just picked it I guess. My phone is an iPhone 11 Pro Max. I don’t have any WiFi devices that are WiFi 7 at the moment. I read that DFS channels are bad for that fact. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I just want my speed fast across all devices and I want low latency, right now my phone spikes during speedtests between 100-400 I never had that happen with my previous router which was a Netgear Orbi RBR 850.  I just don’t know what to do. I only have like 11 devices total on my network.  I just don’t know anything about all this stuff. The new router was a Christmas gift. I’m disabled and in poor health. The internet is of the most importance to me. I need it to be the absolute best it can be. 😀

[jzchen]

Sorry about your health issues.  I watch my two parents full time and it's difficult...

DFS has been around a long time.  I think it is worth a try in your case.  What you describe sounds like it is possibly noise affecting the speed on your iPhone.

QoS off.  Unless turning it on improves performance.  At 1 Gbps fiber speeds I don't think it does anything but slow down any device to save bandwidth for a 2nd/3rd.

USB 3.0 devices are noisy.  UPS non-pure sine wave (especially one CyberPower model I got from a local Sam's Club) can be noisy.

There should be an Optimize option under AiMesh on the WebGUI Topology (tab).  I believe it scans and adjusts channels....

[muusicman]

Would it be OK if I send you a PM? I’m real stupid about all this stuff. I just really want to get the lowest possible pain and the highest possible speed that I can. I just really need all those stuff to work the best it can because the Internet is my window to the world.  Perhaps you could step me through this process. I’ve never owned a router this complicated before. Too many settings and I get real confused very easily

i’m sorry for any inconvenience I may be causing you. 

[jzchen]

Yes no problem send me a PM.  I hope I can help you that's why I come here to this forum...

[Saltgrass]

There is another recent thread here, where the user was seeing spikes about every 6 minutes.  There may be good reasons why you see spikes.  I watched my system once and saw some large spikes.

If they happen on some interval, it may be the router taking care of business.  Something like that should not bother your streaming.  I have an AppleTV 4K and it usually only needs about 20-40 Mbps to provide a good stream. 

The ISP may be involved, and if so, you may be able to see it on the traffic analyzer WAN input or wired or wireless outputs.

I am not sure if doing a speed test while streaming is a good idea.  The router may prioritize the test or the stream.

[jzchen]

Unfortuanately, as I've been trying to help through PM, we have not been able to resolve his concern.  I tried to get the details of what has been tried and how he found the concern, and hope that someone may be able to help:

I did a factory reset with a paper clip. Pushed it for about 13 seconds. Set it all up again.

The firmware my router is using right now is 3.0.0.6.102_39112. I have iOS 26.

When I first got my fiber installed I had a ping of 3 on my desktop. Now I have 4. On my phone originally it was 5-6 now. As time went on it crept up to 7 and then 8 and occasionally 9. Now with the new router it’s 9-10.

Restarting the iPhone didn't help.

I’ve talked to my ISP so many times.

 I went into my desktop PC and did ping test from command prompt. I pinged a lot of different things. My ONT, my router itself, my wired Apple TV, etc. Nothing spiked anywhere! There were occasions where the Ping did go up some but nothing alarming for sure. I also pinged my iPhone and that’s when it went haywire!