Previously few vendors applied the new wifi 6e technology to wifi routers; today you can find Asus and Linksys release mesh wifi product by adopting this wifi 6e technology. Asus introduces Asus Zenwifi et8 so does Linksys with Velop Atlas axe8400 mesh wifi 6e products. Which of these two mesh wifi 6e products provides the best value for your home wifi network?
Mesh wifi 6e routers
Unlike the wifi 6e routers such as Asus gt-axe11000 and Netgear raxe500 that I discussed earlier where you only need one router to cover the entire room of your household with solid three distich radio bands. If there is a dead zone you need to add wireless range extender. However, so far there is still no available wifi range extender product based on wifi 6e technology. It is possible to add a wifi 6 extender product such as netgear eax80, but it cannot forward the 6GHz signal.
That’s why you need a mesh wifi system that can cover all corners of your home from the basement to the attic with a mesh router and one or more satellite nodes.That way the signal rate and all the benefits of the mesh wifi are evenly distributed throughout the rooms with solid mesh wifi signal.
Asus and Linksys have released mesh 6e wifi products to the market, how do these two mesh 6e products compete in the market?

Asus ET8 vs Asus XT8
After previously asus was quite successful with mesh wifi 6 product on its asus xt8 ax6600, now asus releases asus et8 with wifi 6e technology. Is there any difference other than the addition of 6GHz radio band?
Same specs
Based on datasheet specifications between these two different series, you can refer to the following spec comparison table 1 below. See that there is no spec difference but only the available 6Ghz radio band on this new wifi 6e model of Asus et8.
Probably asus uses the same prototype as asus xt8 with a slight change in hardware design to change one of the two @5GHz radio bands to @6GHz radio band. And of course also need to modify the firmware to be able to support wifi 6e technology.
Table 2 Asus Zenwifi xt8 vs Asus ET8
Model | Asus ET8 | Asus XT8 Zenwifi (2pk) |
Wifi technology | Simultaneous tri-band axe6600 with 8 streams with AiMesh technology | Tri-band mesh wifi 6 ax6600 Mbps with 8 streams |
Wifi speeds | 574Mbps @2.4GHz 2×2 1201Mbps @5GHz 2×2 4804Mbps @6GHz 4×4 | 574 Mbps @2.4GHz 2×2 1201 Mbps @ 5GHZ-1 2×2 4804 Mbps @ 5GHZ-2 4×4 |
Backhaul link | Auto backhaul selection or you may select which band to use either @5GHz or 6GHz | You can configure which 5GHz band is used as backhaul link, or wired Ethernet backhaul |
Antennas | 6x internal antennas | 6x internal antennas |
Ethernet Ports | 1x 2.5Gbps WAN port; 3x 1.0Gbps LAN ports; | 1x RJ45 2.5G BaseT for WAN x 1, 3x RJ45 Gigabits BaseT for LAN x 3 |
USB Port | 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 | 1x USB 3.1 gen 1 |
Processor | 1.5GHz quad core processor with 256MB Flash and 512 MB RAM | 1.5GHz quad core processor with 256MB Flash And 512 MB RAM |
Price | $529.99 (2-pack) | $448.00 (2-pack) |
Now, let see what Linksys introduces in its new Atlas axe8400 mesh wifi 6e system.
Linksys Atlas Series
So far Linksys introduces two models of Atlas series, the Atlas Pro 6 and Atlas Max 6e after previously Linksys introduced Velop series including Velop mx10 and Velop ax4200. What is the difference between these two series? Both hardware and firmware are totally different, let’s have a look at the following hardware specs between the two Atlas series.
Wifi and Hardware differences
Technologically the wifi designed between the two series is different, the Atlas Pro is based on wifi 6 dual band while the Atlas Max 6e is based on tri-band wifi 6e with the addition of 6GHz so that the three radio bands are distinct. Of course it makes differences in the hardware design of these two products, you can see from the table below from the processor embedded to the machine board to the interface ports.
Table 3 Linksys Atlas Max 6e vs Pro 6
Atlas series | Linksys Atlas Pro 6 | Linksys Atlas Max 6e |
Wifi technology | Simultaneous dual band ax5400 | Simultaneous tri-band axe8400 |
Signal rates | 600Mbps @2.4GHz 2×2 4800Mbps @5GHz 4×4 | 1147Mbps @2.4GHz 4×4; 2402Mbps @5GHz 4×4; 4804Mbps @6GH 4×4 |
Ethernet Ports | 1x Gigabit WAN port; 3x Gigabit LAN ports | 1x 5.0Gbps WAN port; 4x 1.0Gbps LAN ports |
USB port | N/A | 1x USB 3.0 |
Processor | 1.0GHz dual core processor with 256MB Flash and 512MB RAM | 2.2GHz Quad core processor with 512MB Flash and 1GB RAM |
Wifi chipset | Qualcomm Immersive Home 216 | Qualcomm networking pro 1210 |
Linksys atlas max 6e is equipped with powerful specs from internet capabilities with high bandwidth up to 5Gbps to a processor embedded on the board to provide maximum performance on the mesh wifi 6e product.
Now, let’s compare Asus et8 and Linksys Atlas Max 6e series.
Asus ET8 vs Linksys Atlas Max 6e
At a glance you will think that Asus et8 is not a balanced rival against Linksys Atlas Max 6e series, the price of Atlas Max 6e 3-pack is almost double that of Asus et8 3pack. Of course, the high price is not a guarantee that the product can provide performance comparable to the price you have to spend for the product.

Wifi design
Each of the series come with different wifi technology and design. See that asus et8 comes with tri-band axe6600 with 8 streams, while Linksys atlas e6 comes with tri-band axe8400 with 12-streams. With 12 streams each band delivers 4×4 mu-mimo, the ultimate data streams the wifi band can deliver simultaneously to multiple connected devices.
Currently, there are few models of adapters with wifi 6e technology, however they are limited to desktop computers that have PCI-e slots. For example is the wifi 6e pci-e adapter released by OKN and Fency that support 2×2 mu-mimo. So if there two desktop computers with these wifi 6e adapters, your mesh wifi 6e routers can send two streams of data to two desktop computers simultaneously in a time. Thus reduces network latency and the network performs optimally. Check out here various models of wifi 6e adapters.
Backhaul
Mostly connected devices at home use @2.4 or @5GHz radio band connections, so @6GHz band can be used as dedicated backhaul if you have option to choose. Asus et8 provides options for auto backhaul selection (@5GHz and @6GHz) or manual backhaul configuration. Unlike the Linksys atlas max 6e which provides dedicated @6GHz backhaul option which is also shared with other 6e wifi clients or you can use wired backhaul.
Both models support wired Ethernet backhaul using UTP network cable in connecting Ethernet port each of the router and the satellite nodes. You can either connecting Ethernet backhaul using daisy chain or star topology.
With star topology you can connect each satellite nodes direct to the router. Asus et8 with 3x LAN ports can connect up to 3 satellite nodes. While Linksys with 4x LAN ports allows you to connect up to four satellite nodes in star topology.
Port interfaces
Both mesh wifi 6e routers can support high speed internet up to 2Gbps, even Linksys comes with 5Gbps WAN port for super blast internet plan. So far you can find docsis 3.1 cable modems that support 2.5Gbps Ethernet port. See also high speed docsis 3.1 cable modem Motorola vs Arris cable modems.
Security protection
Asus et8 provides a network protection with free AiProtection Pro software against any networking threats for your network including intrusion prevention system (IPS), malicious site blocking, etc. Besides that, Asus ET8 also provides VPN protection with instant guard to ensure your VPN connection is safe from internet threats.
On the other hand, Linksys atlas max 6e doesn’t provide such a free security protection like Asus.
Hardware gear
Linksys atlas with 12 streams requires powerful gears to handle all processing tasks faster, it makes sense that the embedded processor is a quad core 2.2GHz processor with abundant memory. In contrast to asus which is also embedded with a quad core processor but with a lower processor clock rate; while the memory capacity is also half of atlas.
Comparison table Asus et8 vs Atlas Max 6e
Take a look at the following table 3 below that shows you spec comparison between Asus et8 and Linksys Atlas max 6e.
Table 3 Asus et8 vs Atlas max 6e
Mesh Wifi 6e Model | Asus ET8 (3-pack) | Linksys Atlas Axe8400 (3-pack) |
Wifi technology | Simultaneous tri-band axe6600 with 8 streams with AiMesh technology | Simultaneous tri-band axe8400 with 12 streams 4×4 MU-MIMO |
Signal rates | 574Mbps @2.4GHz 2×2 1201Mbps @5GHz 2×2 4804Mbps @6GHz 4×4 | 1147Mbps @2.4GHz 4×4 2402Mbps @5GHz 4×4 4804Mbps @6GHz 4×4 (dedicated backhaul and wifi 6e compliant devices connection) |
Backhaul | Auto backhaul selection or you can select manually @5GHz, @6GHz or wired backhaul | 4,800Mbps @6GHz |
Coverage | Up to 8,000 sq ft (3-pack) | 9,000 sq ft (3-pack) |
Network name | Single name or separate name each band | Single network name |
Antennas | 6x internal antennas | 12 internal antennas |
Ethernet Ports | 1x 2.5Gbps WAN port; 3x 1.0Gbps LAN ports; | 1x 5Gbps WAN port; 4x Gigabit LAN ports |
USB Ports | 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 | 1x USB 3.0 |
Security | WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise , WPA2-Enterprise; | WPA2/WPA3 Mixed Personal (2.4GHz & 5GHz) WPA2 Personal (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz only) WPA3 Personal (all bands) |
Others | Free life Asus AiProtection Pro; Instant Guard free VPN | Auto firmware update; guest network; |
Processor | 1.5GHz quad core processor with 256MB Flash and 512 MB RAM | 2.2 Quad core processor with 512 MB flash and 1GB RAM |
Dimension | 160 mm x 75 mm x 161.5 mm (6,3 in x 2,9 in x 6.4 in) | 113.0 mm x 113.0 mm x 243.0 mm (4.45 in x 4.45 in x 9.57 in) |
Price | $625.00 | $1,199.99 (3-pack) |
If you have a large number of connected devices with high demand bandwidth applications, super-fast Internet requirement, you may consider Linksys atlas max 6e. However, Atlas with a fairly expensive price, you may consider asus et8 with free aiprotection network protection and easy guard secure vpn. Click the link below to see current price and read more details in Amazon (#asd).
- Click here to SHOP Asus et8 wifi 6e system
- Or you may like to Click here to SHOP Linksys Atlas axe8400
Related products
For lower bandwidth requirement for small sized homes, you may consider Netgear MK83 ax3600 vs Deco x68. Or higher bandwidth requirement you may consider D-link ax6000 vs Archer vs Linksys.