Asus ZenWifi BQ16 on EE full fibre 1.6Gbps ?

[MultiDoc]

Hello,

I am expecting to switch (finally) from BT to EE’s full fibre 1.6Gbps in the next couple of weeks and looking to get the best possible router. I’d be grateful if anyone can help me in regards to using the Asus ZenWifi BQ16 for this or possibly a good alternative. 
Will the Asus be working on EEs line/plan fine? There’s quite a few devices at home all of which will be using WiFi since Ethernet is not possible the way things are.

Any input, advice and suggestions will be appreciated.

[MultiDoc]

Thanks, so correct me if I'm wrong, what you suggest is let the engineer set everything up with the EE harware when the line is live and THEN replace it with the BT8 I ordered.

I already have an ASUS account since I have been using Asus products for many years but never networking stuff. And use the Asus app (which I already downloaded on my phone to setup the ZenWifi.

I hope I understood you right.

In any case I'll eagerly wait for OpenRerach to setup the line and EE to activate it and report back asap. I'm really gratefull for your input.

[JimM11]

@MultiDoc Yes you have to do so, the installer will only help with the EE ISP equipment, the Asus will be way out of there league. ISP is supplied as Plug and Pray. EE can only support there own hardware, so with any issues the Pro wi-fi needs to be reconnected so EE can run any functional test's. Your Asus will be way out side the scope for the ISP.

Having experience with Asus Zen WiFi this is going to be a walk in the park for you!

[MultiDoc]

Update: I received the EE hardware yesterday and ahve already bought and received a set of 2 ASUS ZenWifi BT8's. I've also upgraded my desktop PC with a WiFi 7 capable card.

Problem is OpenReach haven't even come by for the survey they usually do on the outside of the premises and no appointment given yet for the engineer either. Checking through myEE app it gives an expected date for  the engineer and the service to go live on the 9th... (order was placed on the 13th December by the way).

Anyway I'll post back again as soon as the service is up and @JimM11 I'll most probably ask for your input on how is best to switch over/replace the EE hardware with my own Asus.

P.S: does it really take that long to get FFTP switch over from the time of order to the service going live ?

[JimM11]

@MultiDoc Does seem so, i ordered Sept 18th with the install set by EE Oct15th, failed at that point, then on the 16th Oct was reset for Nov5th. All about availability to get the work done...

[Happytoon]

The ZenWifi BQ 16 is excellent...
Currently I don't have broadband other than a 5G Data sim via a 5G router.
The Fiber (not event the "superfast" one from the cabinet) doesn't reach us, the very long copper last mile kills it for us!.
Looking for broadband deal online, the "guaranteed speed" is 9 mbps down and 1 mbps uplink (try to work from home, game and 4k streaming on this !!!). I am stuck on 5G with about 150/170 mbps max speed.
The BQ16 is overkill (currently) for speed, BUT my issue was the coverage.
I live in an old house with over 3 floors and thick walls. My biggest issue was that I couldn't distribute the signal from my topfloor window (line of sight with the EE mast) across the house. I tried Ethernet over Power plug (but I have an ancient electrical system) and I could only get about 20/40 mbps max in my son's bedroom.
I had an old Wifi6 Mesh system before and also had bad network (about 30/50 on a good day but very unstable, losing wifi backhaul all the time).
Sooo ...this Christmas, I invested in a BQ16 2 pack ( ie to stop my teenage son complaining that he was kicked out of his multipalyer game because we lost connection again!). This is an Excellent system. Internally, on wireless backhaul, I now have 1 to 1.5Gbps with excellent coverage (with 2 nodes, my old mesh had 3), hence my son now receives the max speed my 5G router can currently provide (150/170 mbps speed) direct to his room! 
If one day "Openreach" reach us, I will jump on the full fibre and plug the Zenwifi behind the fibre router and that should be epic!
The WAN part of the BQ16 can be Static IP / DHCP (IP assigned by the WAN router), PPPoE.

[JimM11]

@Happytoon Hope you get a fibre with at least 5Gb/s symmetrical, those two Asus routers won't even break sweat! If OR do hit you with FF 500Mb/s really is the sweet spot unless you do need real high speed Down/Up limit's! Nice!👍👍

[XRaySpeX]

@Happytoon : Where are you getting getting your BB from to be able to get 1 - 1.5 Gig speeds? From your opening paras I thought you could only get 9 Meg ADSL BB or 170 Meg mobile BB.

[Happytoon]

@XRaySpeX  The 1 to 1.5 gbps is internally between my main BQ16 Router (connected to my 5G BB) and the Mesh Node in my son's bedroom. My issue was internal broadcast of WiFi signal due to large wall, many floors etc in an old house... Before BQ16, I only got about 30/50 mbps max in my son's bedroom). I chose the BQ16, not for it's max speed (as I am currently limited by my BB) but for it's 15 internal MIMO antennas, Wifi7 over quad band etc. 
From a whole BB point of view, the bottleneck is now at BB source, the EE 5G router, that gives me max 170 mbps.
If one day I can replace the 5G BB with Full Fibre, the BQ16 Mesh will be able to distribute the FF speed inside the house (on wireless backhaul!). 

[MultiDoc]

Apologies for the (very) late update to my intial post. After an extremely frustarting start having to fight with Openreach and EE, eventually had the full fibre up and running 3 months later. 

So it has been setup from day one using a 2 pack BQ16 instead of the oem EE hardware and I must say I couldn't have been happier. The BQ16 are rock solid, haven't had any drops or disconnects (although nowadays I have setup a scheduled restart of both router and node weekly just to keep things "fresh"). Speed wise I get the full 1.6 (clsoer to 1.7 really) and all devices are getting the full nominal speed everywhere in the house. 

I know it's a bit overkill and probably the BT10 or even the BT8 would have been fine, but planning to keep these long term and thought better to future proof and go overkill upfront. The configurability the BQ16 offers is unmatched, couple that with a very good web UI and you appreciate it very quickly. Highly recommend it overall.