Xiaomi BE7000 WiFi 7 Router Teardown: Wait up, where's the 6GHz radio band?

I bought the Xiaomi BE7000 and I had to open it up to see what's inside. Be aware that this "WiFi 7" router does not have the 6GHz radio enabled.
#xiaomi #router #wifi7 #teardown
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[@shaawin]

I think we are going to be waiting a while before devices implement WiFi 7 properly. And they probably won't be cheap. Anyway keep up the good work! Hopeful one day you can do a "best of" round up of the devices you review.

[@dukisha016]

Wifi7 devices from Ubiquti, Zyxel are already available for sale

[@SamBondor]

Sure, I am currently working on a best of WiFi 6 APs video, but I will definitely make a best wifi routers video as well in the near future.

[@BCMikuFan]

6Ghz isn't legal for civilian use in China yet, due to the delay in rezoning. I'd wait for the international version.

[@a892728]

China's authorities allocated spectrum in the 6GHz frequency band for 5G and 6G services

[@rockraphlegal]

@@a892728 Yeah. Bit difficult for makers to launch 6ghz routers given that the spectrum is now reserved for mobile use, for consumers inside China, that is.

[@bFix]

Looks okay to me. Literally an upgrade to the Xiaomi AX3600 and it comes with 1GB RAM (probably required for these qualcomm radios) and supports 4x4 MIMO on 2.4GHz. The only downgrade: 128mb flash instead of 256mb. Yes, it's a tri-band due to the IOT radio (the center antenna with the LED is running a 1x1 MIMO on the third radio) and doesn't support 6GHz

[@SamBondor]

That's interesting. I somehow missed the extra radio, so thank you for pointing it out.

[@la7dfa]

The tri band is due to "two band segments" on 5GHz. So it can do a 160 + 80MHz band plus 40 on 2.4GHz afaik. I am not sure if these chipsets and the Wifi 7 protocol can merge the two 5GHz bands, but I suspect so since they claim bigger combined transfer speed. I have the AX6000with the same 5GHz bands and it works very well for the wireless even with just a single band segment. It has no problem at all with my 500Mbit internet download speed, but upload via wifi is limited to 300Mbit or so.

[@bFix]

@@la7dfa you might be onto something. I didn't expect that but they actually say so on the website. notable details: this device will only support MLO for both 5GHz bands, but never for the 2.4GHz band which is still using ath11k (wifi6/802.11ax) instead of ath12k (wifi7/802.11be with MLO support) I'm wondering whether we will ever see useful amounts of clients that support being able to connect to two 5GHz bands at the same time. probably not. it requires more antennas.

[@rockraphlegal]

Given the hardware requirements of Open WRT you think this router might have a chance of getting supported?? Asking because if it does, it might be possible to enable the 6ghz radio.

[@Motolav]

OpenWRT could support it 'easily', just that SOC doesn't have support in OpenWRT yet. It's likely not too different software wise from the Qualcomm AX platform

[@SamBondor]

I would give it a go myself, but I lack the expertise right now. I know that there are some guides online, I just hope I won't burn the house down.

[@Motolav]

@@SamBondor the Qualcomm AX target on OpenWRT is a bit of a mess due to it being a mix of Qualcomm SDKs and backported patches, I'd wait on either of the two people that mostly work on Qualcomm chips for OpenWRT to add support for it (one of the two people also has NDA access to Qualcomm documentation). Getting a new SOC running on OpenWRT is a bit more work than getting a new device added to OpenWRT.

[@finaltidus1984]

I am confused. So there is absolutely no 6ghz band at all in terms of hardware wise?

[@la7dfa]

It really does not matter if the chipset support it or not. The "secret" firmware is made in China for the Chinese market. They will notallow 6GHz for WIFI in the lifespan of this router.

[@Mazza666]

Why is there No Xiaomi modem? Any recommendations for a good modem and a decent price?

[@SamBondor]

It depends on what type of modem you need (DOCSIS, DSL, VDSL and so on).

[@a892728]

modem supply by ISP

[@deher9110]

Can be replaced​@@a892728

[@la7dfa]

I do not think you understand your own question. In 2024 modems are always supplied by the ISP. If you want to use your own router (like I do), you ask your ISP to set their modemrouter in bridge mode (aka modem mode).

[@rockraphlegal]

​@@la7dfaI think the first question is interesting though. Why are there no Xiaomi modems supplied by ISPs??

[@joejoe6887]

Sir, I am looking for a router which can support openWRT. My plan is to use this openWRT router for multiple internet source load balancing. Can you please suggest which will be a good router?

[@SamBondor]

The TUF-AX6000 should be a fairly reliable OpenWRT router.

[@joejoe6887]

is this a openwrt router? capable to to load balancing for multiwan internet port?

[@SamBondor]

OpenWRT is not supported, but hopefully will soon. As for load balancing, from what I could gather, it's only for LAN (NAS).

[@civicfcPk]

Is it compatible if I mesh it with the AX6000 one?

[@SamBondor]

I don't really have a communication channel with Xiaomi, so I didn't get their official response, but I did find this on their website: "* Mesh networking requires the terminal device to support the 802.11k/v protocol, and the actual experience is related to the terminal capability and the actual home environment * Xiaomi/Redmi routers need to support Xiaomi Mesh networking technology, and carrier customized versions do not support mixing with retail products" So the BE7000 should work alongside the AX6000 and form a mesh network.

[@civicfcPk]

@@SamBondor Much appreciated keep up the good work.

[@la7dfa]

It will be interesting to see if it does. The AX6000 supports one more device for mesh (AX6000 or AX3600 or other?) The 7000 supports up to three more 7000 in a mesh. So perhaps you can use a 7000 base with a mix of up to three more Xiaomi mesh devices. But I would not go crazy with wireless backhaul, as it might slow things down for the highest speeds.

[@linearburn8838]

I wonder if it could be flashed with 3rd party firmware

[@SamBondor]

So far, there doesn't seem to be support for any third-party software. Hopefully OpenWRT will crack it soon.

[@jurislapins1712]

Can You , Please , make a video which antenna is 2,4 GHz and which is 5 / 6 GHz ! Thank You in advance . It is very important when you got two floors home !

[@SamBondor]

You can see in the video that the four connectors on the left are for the 2.4GHz radio band and the four on the right are for the 5GHz band. There is no 6GHz support.

[@ইরতিজাআহসান]

Nice device

[@Phil-D83]

I have used a bunch of their wifi6 routers. If this gets 6ghz, maybe get one or two

[@la7dfa]

This model will not get 6GHz as it is made for the Chinese home market with Chinese GUI.

[@MrFluke039]

only reason i hate it is it don't have white model since my house was painted as white room =.=

[@oj2416]

😯

[@katotiger]

อยากได้ wifi7 ที่รองรับ 6GHz ตอนนี้ผมซื้อ xiaomi 7000 มา 5,000 กว่าบาท ไม่มีคลื่น 6GHz

[@SamBondor]

You should be able to return it and get a router that does support 6GHz. Right?

[@la7dfa]

It is still a fast router and a good buy for the price, unless you need Gbit speeds or live in a crowded place with lots of 5GHz interference.

[@bobbastian760]

Gotta love these "WiFi 7" routers with no 6Ghz. It's basically a legal scam.

[@SamBondor]

There is a lot of flexibility on what gets the WiFi 7 certification, but know that this was the case with the WiFi 6 routers as well. Nothing new under the sun...

[@mimileni2407]

so its fake

[@bFix]

What is fake? Xiaomi never said it would support 6GHz anywhere

[@SamBondor]

Apparently, not having support for 6GHz can still qualify the BE7000 as a WiFi 7 router, so not a fake.

[@bFix]

You could even build a wifi7 device with only 2.4ghz, or only 5ghz 🤷 😊 There are no requirements, yes

[@la7dfa]

@@bFix Xiaomis WIFI 6e was a way to trick people, and the WIFI 7 without 6GHz is not much better. But since these routers are for the Chinese market with Chinese GUI, people need to know what they are buying. If you do not want to study the details, then buy a more expensive router locally.