ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 Whole Home Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 7 System – Official Thread

[UK Sentinel]

That is unfortunate and yes Smart Home Master is supported only on ASUS Wi‑Fi 7 ZenWiFi and other select Wi‑Fi 7 routers.

It does sound like your set-up is rather large and AiMesh doesn’t scale too well, maybe worth looking more long term at other Mesh systems such as Ubiquiti, MikroTik or even Cisco.

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[Nick Holland]

Finally, I now have an AIMesh network with 10 x BT8. After some initial issues, I have found these settings give a reliable and fast mesh network:

Main network:
– One SSID with 5GHz and 6GHz (stops Apple devices complaining)
– WiFi 7 Mode OFF
– MLO OFF
– Authentication WPA2/WPA3-Personal (do not select WPA3 as some older 5GHz devices won’t connect)
-WPA Encryption AES (do not use AES+GCMP256 as it makes 5GHz devices run slower than 2.4GHz devices)

Add IOT Network for 2.4GHz devices:
– WiFi 7 Mode OFF
– Authentication WPA2-Personal (do not select WPA3 as some older 2.4GHz devices won’t connect)
– WPA Encryption AES
– In Wireless – General: select 20 MHz Channel Bandwidth (Apple recommendation)

As all my nodes are connected by Ethernet, in System Settings, I found that these give the correct results:

– AiMesh node Ethernet autop setup ON
– Hide Backhaul SSID ON (hides all the secret system backhaul SSIDs)
– Ethernet Backhaul Mode ON

In Adaptive QoS I have selected Adaptive QoS with Media Live Streaming

I just have some Assoc and Disassoc issues in the System Log, which require further understanding (this is just a small selection from today):

Jul 19 00:00:35 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(347): ra1: Assoc 04:17:b6:7d:49:ea
Jul 19 01:05:09 hostapd: rai1: STA a4:d9:31:2c:6e:ce WPA: PMKID found from PMKSA cache eap_type=0 vlan=0
Jul 19 01:05:09 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(347): rai1: Assoc a4:d9:31:2c:6e:ce
Jul 19 01:09:01 hostapd: rai1: STA a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38 WPA: PMKID found from PMKSA cache eap_type=0 vlan=0
Jul 19 01:09:01 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(347): rai1: Assoc a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38
Jul 19 01:09:20 roamast: [EXAP]Deauth old sta in 1 1: A8:AB:B5:E2:D6:38
Jul 19 01:09:20 roamast: rai1: disconnect weak signal strength station [a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38]
Jul 19 01:09:20 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(381): rai1: Disassoc a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38
Jul 19 01:09:20 roamast: rai1: remove client [a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38] from monitor list
Jul 19 01:09:28 roamast: [EXAP]Deauth old sta in 1 1: A4:D9:31:2C:6E:CE
Jul 19 01:09:28 roamast: rai1: disconnect weak signal strength station [a4:d9:31:2c:6e:ce]
Jul 19 01:09:28 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(381): rai1: Disassoc a4:d9:31:2c:6e:ce
Jul 19 01:09:28 roamast: rai1: remove client [a4:d9:31:2c:6e:ce] from monitor list
Jul 19 01:12:39 hostapd: rai1: STA a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38 WPA: PMKID found from PMKSA cache eap_type=0 vlan=0
Jul 19 01:12:39 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(347): rai1: Assoc a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38
Jul 19 01:21:15 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(381): rai1: Disassoc a8:ab:b5:e2:d6:38
Jul 19 02:01:46 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(381): ra1: Disassoc 04:17:b6:7d:49:ea
Jul 19 02:02:32 hapdevent: hapdevent_proc_event(347): ra1: Assoc 04:17:b6:7d:49:ea

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[UK Sentinel]

That is great news that you have your AIMesh network with 10 x BT8 working and thanks for sharing the set-up procedure you used

I’ll have a look at your logs in the morning and see if I can help

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[UK Sentinel]

I does look like you are hitting limits with the ASUS Roaming assistant feature, which helps steer wifi clients towards nodes with stronger signals by kicking them off when their RSSI drops below a set threshold.

You might be able to adjust the Roaming assistant value slightly from -70 dBm to ensure wifi clients (guests) do not get disconnected due to poor wifi signal strength.

Could also just be the owner of a mobile device walking around using their wifi device and being disconnected from one Aimesh node, before joining the next node.

Also worth checking as it could be Apple’s Private Wi-Fi Address as this can cause frequent disconnections, so worth checking if any of these mac addresses relate to Apple (iOS) devices.

 

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[Nick Holland]

Thanks, I will track down the devices with these MAC addresses and identify the issue. If appropriate I will also bind the devices to the best AiMesh node which should prevent them from disconnecting.  I have set the Roaming assistant values for all bands to -59dBm, which is the setting I had on the old setup and it worked well.

I have also already disabled Apple’s Private Wi-Fi Addresses for all our Apple devices.  Does ‘Limit IP Address Tracking’ make any difference?

Also, is it worthwhile to enable ‘WiFi7 Mode’ in the BT8?

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[UK Sentinel]

Depends if stability is more important than future-proofing and if any of the clients are WiFi 7 enabled.

Where you are located, you follow EU wireless spectrum regulations so you will have limitations around availability of 320 MHz channels and DFS will be a factor, but Wifi 7 is worth using if you also utilise Multi-Link Operation (MLO) as this improves throughput and responsiveness, especially in congested environments and where you have lots of wifi clients, they will/may seem to have better connectivity.

Wifi 7 will require tweaking but well worth the effort from a end user perspective if you can get it to work

 

 

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[UK Sentinel]

ASUS ZenWiFi BT8 Firmware version 3.0.0.6.102_58234

version 3.0.0.6.102_58234

2025/09/18

 

Important: After installing this firmware, we strongly recommend performing a factory-default reset to activate every new security adjustment.

Security Enhancements:
– Password Policy Upgrade – Minimum of 10 characters, including at least one letter, one digit, and one special character; disallows consecutive identical characters; hardens defense against brute-force attacks.
– HTTPS on 8443 – Management interface now served over TLS by default.
– UPnP Disabled – Universal Plug and Play starts in the off state for reduced surface exposure.
– AiCloud Authentication Hardening (CWE-287) – Added layered verification.
– Authentication Logic Refactor – Removed redundant code paths for a lean sign-in flow.
– Memory Safety Guard (CWE-476) – Introduced null-reference protections across critical services.
– Enhanced IPsec Parameter Validation – The existing input checks have been hardened.
– Data Exposure Mitigation (CWE-200) – Reinforced controls on sensitive pathways.
– Detailed Audit Trails – Expanded logging within the authentication module.

System Improvements:
– Connection Stability – Core algorithms refined for steadier links.
– Scheduling Accuracy – Timed tasks execute reliably under PPPoE, PPTP and L2TP WAN modes.
– Client List Maintenance – Resolved an issue that prevented offline devices from being removed from the client list

https://www.asus.com/uk/networking-iot-servers/whole-home-mesh-wifi-system/zenwifi-wifi-systems/asus-zenwifi-bt8/helpdesk_bios?model2Name=ASUS-ZenWiFi-BT8

 

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