20.3.2018

Incase anyone is confused the RT-AC86U router is just that a router, it does not have a modem built in, you will be required to connect the RT-AC86U to a separate modem. This review is for the RT-AC86U router which i own, i connect my RT-AC86U router to my Vigor 130 modem.Before buying the RT-AC86U i did consider the RT-AC5300 which is much more expensive but the RT-AC86U has a better and newer CPU and double the flash memory than the much more expensive RT-AC5300.Before buying this i owned a RT-AC68U router which i have left an extensive review on some time ago here on amazon. The RT-AC86U is basically a beefier and much better upgrade from the RT-AC68U router.For example my old rt-ac68u had 128MB nand flash and 256MB of RAM and my new rt-ac86u has 256MB of nand flash and 512MB of RAM which is the minimum i would go for now with my setup and certainly see the difference when adding the beefier newer cpu with hardware accelerated crypto which helps when using vpn with encryption and now gives me full line speeds over my vpn client. My old rt-ac68u has a 800MHz 32bit dual core cpu and my newer rt-ac86u has a 1800MHz 64bit(1.8GHz) dual core cpu and certainly makes a difference across the entire router. Both routers have Gigabit WAN and Gigabit LAN ports, 1 x USB 2.0 and 1 x USB 3.0 port.------------The first thing i did was to install the asuswrt-merlin firmware. This firmware is a fork of the orginal asus firmware but with additional features and improvements maintained by merlin. Anyone who take's networking seriously or like tinkering will likely already know and probably be using the merlin firmware. The asus web-gui is the best out there not only it looks apart and appealing i find it less cluttered and easier to use than other branded routers. If you not got a clue what i mean by the above just ignore it, it's meant for those who know about asuswrt-merlin firmware.------------I own a macbook pro mid 2014. My router is approx 15 feet away from my laptop, When connected to my router, the speed of the connection from my macbook to my router averages around 878Mbps to 1300Mbps (max). Note this is the speed between my laptop and router connecting to the 5GHz band using wireless-ac, this is not the speed of my internet connection which is different. I've never tested file transfer rates between router and laptop as it copies quickly enough so have never needed to bother. Previously i had a portable HDD and USB stick in both the USB 2 and 3 ports on my router. The HDD contains my videos, music etc, I have DLNA enabled so i can wirelessly play content on my DLNA enabled device like my TV, phones etc from the HDD connected into the router. This has always worked seamlessly for me and never have had issues with it. Although my setup is now changing somewhat. Now my HDD is connected to my media box and the usb stick is still in router used as a swap drive and to install custom scripts from the merlin firmware community.My router really does get pushed to it's paces everyday, multiple devices connected wirelessly and via ethernet, sometimes with streaming going on, along with running two OpenVPN servers and 3 OpenVPN Clients so i can get secure access to my network when on the go; VPN routing to route only specific devices to to my external VPN connection, SSH (i only enable for lan and not wan). I use the SAMBA service and FTP service which is great so i can acess my usb drive that's connected to the router to copy, edit, delete data etc. What really makes this router do it for me is the hardware accelerated crypto built in directly to the cpu, i get full line speed now over my vpn.Now i've given a glance into what i use my router for let's talk about some of the standard built in features.- Guest NetworkGreat when you don't want family, friends etc accessing your main network, stick them on a guest network to block access to your network, they can connect to the internet, just not see any devices on your network, great to ensure they aren't snooping on your network, it's like someone going through your knicker draw, not acceptable so block them. You can also limit their time as well. There is an option to allow people on guest networks see all your other devices on the network so be ensure to disable it when enabling the guest network if you have guests around.- AiProtectionOnce your router is setup i recommend you head straight to the AiProtection tab immediately, once there choose 'Network Protection' then hit that big button 'Scan'. Why you may ask? well as daft and stupid this may sound most routers by default when setup aren't secure at all, yes wireless connections are secured generally by default nowadays but they are still some insecure settings enabled that means anyone with some knowhow could easily hack your network without much effort. It basically does a router security assessment and with a press of a button will secure your router further, Asus gets extra kudos for this in my opinion as it allows novices to further secure there router and network with a simple press of a button without having to understand the technical aspects of the settings.Under the AiProtecting tab there is also Parental Controls and DNS Filtering. I'm not going into full details but Parental Controls as the name implies allows to to schedule times your children can have access to the internet and allows blocking of websites etc. DNS Filtering takes this a step further by protecting LAN devices from harmful online content. The main popular one used by novices and families is OpenDNS or OpenDNS Family. Again check google and OpenDNS website for further explanation. If you have children then you will likely want to take advantage of Parental Controls and DNS Filtering.- Adaptive, Traditional QoS & Bandwidth Limiterah QoS well what can i say. Asus take note if you reading. Fix It! when running a vpn client on router the download and upload bandwidth meters are wrong way around, the QoS statistics, well i am not sure if i trust and believe what i see sometimes, it's so messed up and always have been and nothing to do with merlin firmware as it's closed source so merlin can't change it either.I never really used it on my rt-ac68u (old router) as i always found it to be buggy and more times than not found it made things worse. It allows you to prioritise devices, tasks and applications. I here conflicting information regarding QoS, some people swear by it others hate it. It's great if you want to prioritise certain traffic over others, an example such as give high priority to streaming and low priority to web surfing or something similar. In this tab there is other settings related to QoS such as bandwidth monitoring, Web History, QoS statistics etc.I am currently testing QoS out again on my rt-ac86u (new router) as it's been a while but not good so far. In my opinion it needs entirely rewriting from the ground up. Asus boasts about this feature so fixing the issues out should be a priority. Bandwidth limiter allows you to setup limits on download and upload speed per each device.- Traffic MonitorAllows you to monitor the incoming or outgoing packets. Useful for real time monitoring of traffic on network. Traffic Analyzer part of Traffic Monitor alllow's you to view graphs and filter by device etc. Can be really useful and a nice thing to have.- USB Application* AiDisk - Share files in the USB disk through the Internet.I've never used AiDisk, i only connect to my network when out via OpenVPN server setup on router, i do not trust any other method, therefore cannot comment on AiDisk.* Media Services and ServersAllows setting up of UPnP, iTunes, FTP and Network Place (Samba).* Network Printer Server - The network printer server supports two methods: (1) ASUS EZ printer sharing (2) LPR to share printer.Again i've never used this, i have a all-in-one printer connected to my router wirelessly and have never needed to use this feature.* 3G/4GNever used this either, i know people use it without issue though, great if your internet connection goes down, by plugging in a 3G/4G dongle you can for example have the router switch to the 3G/4G dongle if your main internet goes down so you can still continue doing whatever you was doing without interruption.* Time MachineAs i own a macbook pro i did use this feature and loved it, it meant i could have my macbook pro backup wirelessly to the HDD plugged into router. Unfortunately every few weeks time machine on my mac complains it cannot verify the backup and needs to do a fresh one all over again, to unreliable so i just plug in HDD when needing to backup.- AiCloudThis had major security bugs back few years ago, i would never and have never used this feature, again i just connect to my home network when out via OpenVPN client on router. OpenVPN requires setting up and knowledge but certainly the way to go. I don't trust using any third parties to connect to my network, i like to have full control without the major security issues that AiCloud has had. I cannot comment on this simply as stated above, never have and never will use this feature.There are a multitude of other settings but there's so much i covered all the main ones and features. The rest is more about configuration settings, for VPN, LAN, WAN, DHCP, Firewall, Port Forwarding, Administration etc, to many to mention. If you are a novice or basic user majority of this stuff you will likely never bother with but it's there for the more advanced user.- Asus android/ios appOnly used about twice myself as i prefer to access router web-gui via computer and browser but for novices or anyone who want a simpler, more user friendly way of accessing settings, ie. parental controls then the app will be a welcome bonus. Many settings can be changed and viewed via the app, not used for quite some time but imagine it's improved further since. More manufacturers are now developing apps to be used to access router in a more user friendly and convenient way. I imagine many people will like the app.------------Some key pointers that keeping coming to mind i want to share:- Disable WPS if you value your security.- Usually disabled by default: 'enable Web Access from WAN'. Never ever turn this setting on, you are basically allowing anyone access to your router via the open internet, bad idea, use OpenVPN server on router instead for gaining access to you're home network from outside of the home.If you have custom merlin firmware then you have a ton of extra features and per device policy routing via vpn tunnels etc, asus stock firmware users you get it to just not as advanced and don't believe there's per device policy routing with asus stock firmware but not used asus stock firmware in 2 years so don't know.- SSH Daemon, i enable this on LAN side only, I've never opened it on WAN side, to many security concerns in my opinion. If you want to SSH into your router, do it when connected to router at home (LAN), if you want to SSH into router when out and about etc again setup OpenVPN and connect to your router/home network via OpenVPN and SSH in that way ie from a phone, tablet etc. I create my own SSH keys, using a SSH key generated by yourself to login and not a password is more secure.- Telnet, again can be another security concern, if you don't know what it is then you don't need it, just ensure it's disabled. Merlin users will find telnet removed as it's just so old and outdate now, should have gone out with the archives.- Firewall, should be enabled by default but still worth checking to ensure it's enabled. Do not disable the firewall it's there to protect your network from hackers, malicious users etc. DoS protection is disabled by default i recommend enabling it, it will slightly increase router workload, personally i don't see any difference so i enable it. You also have a url, keyword and network services filter in this menu to. Never used them as personally think they are much better options like DNS Filtering in the AiProtection tab, and if using merlin firmware well you even more options.- When configuring wireless settings, ensure authentication method is set to WPA2 and not WPA, WPA2 is more secure than WPA. Choose a long WPA Pre-Shared Key (if you don't know what i mean, basically those cheap routers/modems you get given free from your ISP? well as you probably know they have a sticker on them on bottom or back usually with a password key, well this allows you to connect to your router securely using a WPA key wirelessly. There's nothing to configure except to change it from WPA to WPA2 if not already done. Most routers use WPA2 by default but always worth checking.I use the maximum length of 63 characters, this may sound extreme and a nightmare when having to type it into every device that connects to your network but security is a number one priority for me. Hence why it's good to use Guest Network, you choose separate keys for the guest network, so when friends, family come over for example, they can connect to the guest network with a different key which you choose such as 10 character in length (anything up to 63 characters), one it means you are not sharing your main network key and two guests will not be able to view any devices on your network and it's easy to change the guest network keys ie. when you're guests leave.Don't use the same key all the time or keep guest network on, i mean let say your're friend comes over, you have guest network enabled, you give them the key to connect to your're guest network (wi-fi), well if you do not turn off guest network or change the key when they leave when you not about or home or whatever they could easily just sit outside your home and connect to your're guest network as signal will likely penetrate to outside enough signal for them to connect and yeah you guessed it you never turned off guest network or changed the key! just something to remember or easier still you can set a time limit via the web-gui.- Remember when i said in my very long review above about going to AiProtection > Network Protection > Hit the SCAN button then Hit the Secure Your Router button. Well doing this will alone make your router more secure and will disable the likes of WPS, UPnP, Web Access from WAN and many others. Some settings are disabled by default but i know from experience when updating router firmware, some settings due to for example a bug, enable themselves, only happened once but nonetheless, so i also manually check my router settings regularly and monitor my router logs.I want to point out i'm no security or networking expert but hope this review helps you in some way or another.This is one very long review but hope it gives you an sight on what this router is capable of doing and is able to achieve when setup correctly. I will never buy any other brand router now well for now, i'm just so accustomed to this brand of router and the merlin firmware. I've never had issues with this router, all issues are usually bugs, wrong settings, poor setup/configuration. If you have major issues then a full reset is usually the way to go, if you don't upgrade to latest firmware as and when available and miss a few firmware updates for example you can find settings can conflict and cause undesirable results, nothing a reset cannot solve however. I could go on forever as there's so many settings and options but would mean this review would quadruple in size to be fair.If there is one thing i could wish for and that is Asus implement Advanced VLAN and Inter-LAN routing. Please Asus if your are reading send it to suggestions department. It's the only thing i want, millions of insecure, bad IoT devices being mass sold to public means network segregation is becoming even more important. Even other brands are including it now so please implement it Asus, if it wasn't for the merlin firmware i would have gone with Draytek as they have this feature, i already own a Draytek modem to.I would highly recommend this router, i have only owned this new router for a week but as i had the rt-ac68u prior to this rt-ac86u i knew what i was ordering. My old trusty rt-ac68u router is packed up ready to be used as a media bridge or AP in the future, it's a few years old now and still as good and reliable today.If you gotten this far well thanks for reading this very long review and i hope this review has helped you.

8.11.2018

ASUS RT-AC88UHaving bought an Netgear XR500, I have to say that I was really disappointed with it. The interface is lovely, even superior to the AC88U, but it has tons of nasty bugs. I sent it back and got an AC88U instead.Of course the AC88U has more features, but whether they interest you or not just depends on you. Personally I found the additional ports in the back very useful, but other than that there wasn’t much else that really stood the AC88U apart for me.WTFast is something that may be of interest because I often play on distant servers, but I have to say that I am not sure it's a good idea to actually run WTFast on the router. Identifying game traffic on the router is a lot more difficult than on the PC,so why bother doing that on the router when you can download a WTFast utility to do it on the PC? WTFast on a router really seems like a console option to me.Anyway the first thing you notice about the Asus is that the packaging is much nicer than the NEtgear.The first power up and just like the Netgear it goes through a setup, but the Asus Wizard is simpler and it actually got it wrong. Luckily a quick check in WAN settings and even I could see it hadn’t guessed that I might need an internet username and password.The first thing I did was a hardwired speed test and I was truly surprised to see that the Asus was faster than the XR500. The ping to my speed test server was 1~2ms less than the Netgear. That really surprised me. It may not sound much but the XR500 is supposed to be a gaming router so it really should be optimised for low ping and it's not.One very negative point is that Asus don’t warn you before you buy the product that the really nice features of the router – AiProtection, Adaptive QOS, Traffic analyser, they are all driven by Trend Micro, there is a warning when you enable any of these that Trend Micro may collect your data. You aren’t forced to enable them, though, and in the case of QOS you can always use the traditional approach which doesn't involve Trend.The Asus router is definitely the more advanced router. It has more features than the Netgear. The thing with the Netgear is that it’s interface is much more oriented towards giving the gamer information rather than packing tons of features. The Asus’ QOS for example is much more advanced, but it’s not very informative. The Netgear on the other hand the QOS is simplistic but is more informative. I would prefer the simple approach by Netgear except there is a very limited number of games it recognises and the manual configuration currently doesn't work. I guess they may fix the manual configuration soon, but really do you want to have to configure the router to recognise every game you play? I don't.You may have heard that Merlin is a a better version of the firmware for the Asus .. google it to find it. When I bought the router, Merlin didn't contain all of the functions of the Asus software but recently it's been updated to include everything and more so Merlin is recommended for everyone now.The help and documentation for the Netgear is better. The Asus is just too brief and you have to resort to experimentation to resolve. To my mind there is simply no point in having features if they are not completely explained. So from a beginners point of view I think the Netgear is the better choice. In particular, buffer-bloat is really just not explained at all with the Asus. You are very much left alone to sort that out.All in all, so far, I am very impressed with the Asus. The XR500 has a better UI, but the simple fact is that the Asus is superior when it comes to function. Especially QOS, which is important to gamers, albeit not as well explained or simple to configure as the XR500's QOS. The only really positive thing I would say about the XR500 is that Geo Location is fantastic for consoles, but to my mind the Asus is the better choice for PC owners, albeit it is not quite as friendly as gamer friendly as the Netgear. The Asus is expensive for what it is, but then so is the XR500. In terms of value, neither are great, but right now the Asus maybe has the lead.Incidentally, don't bother with the promotion. They are just after all your info.So really I think both are worthy routers. Both are great but the XR500 is definitely the more friendly. I think it would win apart from the problems it has right now ~ mainly the bugs in the very thing it's supposed to be good at! The Asus can do everything the XR500 can do, and more, just it takes a little more effort. Until Netgear sort out the bugs with the XR500 the Asus remains the better buy .. as of today, Nov 2018.One minor complaint is that it runs pretty hot, with the CPU core temp over 67 degrees C all the time. I discovered, though, by just resting a 12cm 1300rpm Noctua NF-P12 fan on the top of the Asus, so that it covered the triangular vent on the top, it lowered the core temp to 46 degrees C. So the fan is staying there. The top of the Asus is not flat but it's flat enough to reset a fan on. Snip the end connector off the fan, which is a three pin, then connect the red and black ( positive and negative ) to a "5.5mm x 2.1mm DC Power Cable Female Connector Plug" ( you can buy those on amazon ) so that it then just plugs right in to a 12v supply you can buy anywhere. Ignore the yellow. Hey presto, 21 degrees of cooling for £20 and ten minutes fiddling.

23.7.2016

Main Specifications:* Data Rates:------ 802.11n: up to 450 Mbps or with TurboQAM : up to 600 Mbps------ 802.11ac: up to 1300 Mbps (x2 cause there are 2x 5GHz bands)* Antenna: External antenna x6* Transmit/Receive (supports MIMO tech):------ 2.4 GHz 3x3------ 5 GHz-1 3x3------ 5 GHz-2 3x3* Memory: 128 MB Flash and 256 MB RAM* CPU: Broadcom BCM4709A Dual-Core 1GHz* Wi-Fi Technology:------ Beamforming：standard-based and universal------ 256QAM high data rate------ 20/40/80 MHz bandwidth* Ports:------ RJ45 for 10/100/1000/Gigabits BaseT for WAN x 1, RJ45 for 10/100/1000/Gigabits BaseT for LAN x 4------ USB 2.0 x 1------ USB 3.0 x 1Previously my main router was an ASUS RT-AC56U AC1200 class routerhowever for some time I was looking for something with external antennas as the AC56U was lacking a bit for me as range was kind of short for use in my home. This is where the RT-AC3200 comes - I got it from Amazon France where it was in offer that I just couldn't miss.The ASUS RT-AC3200 router:When I have opened the router for the first time I was amazed of it's massive look and especially when you put all of the 6 antennas it comes with. Build quality is excellent with no complaints. It's nice that plastic is matte and not shiny one, however it still attracts some dust which is easily cleaned without making scratches on the body - something that often happens on the shiny routers (TP-Links for example).The router offers a massive feature set - fast dual core 1GHz Broadcom CPU, 128MB flash and 256MB RAM, a USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, 4x gigabit ports. Actually everything you can expect from a router from this class.One thing you might wonder is how actually they make it to AC3200? In reality it is just marketing. This is a combination of an 2.4GHz 802.11n band with speeds up to 600Mbs and 2 AC bands with speeds of up to 1300Mbps. So 600+1300+1300 makes the 3200Mbs combined. For home users 2 5GHz bands are useless. There is just no point in having them at all, especially running at the same time. So what do I do? As I have traditionally bad signal in the last room my appartment I have just left the higher performing 5GHz band and disabled the other one (difference might be due to the way antennas are used and placed inside my appartment, but difference is not huge).Software/Firmware:All ASUS routers come with a firmware called ASUS-WRT. It is a full featured firmware with a lot of options and I find it quite easy to work with it. It is just made very user friendly to use. Unfortunately for some DD-WRT and OpenWRT are both not officially support at this point, but I don't find this as a minus as I have not will to install an alternative firmware considering what ASUS-WRT offers. There is one custom firmware project for ASUS routers called Asuswrt-Merlin so you still have choice if you wish to install an after market firmware.In use:I am using the 2.4GHz for my Foscam IP cam and 5GHz for my mobile devices (Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy Tab S and Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro). All of them have been very stable in use. Signal strength is definitely better than the RT-AC56U so I see some point in replacing that router with the AC3200. I am also using 2 lan ports to connect my TV and PC to the network. Everything has been flawless in use so far, didn't need to reset the router even once for months. One nice feature I like is the ability to turn on the activity LEDs in front of the router.My Internet connection at home is 100Mbps and I have been able to reach every single Kbit using this router.Conclusion:There is no doubt this is an excellent router in every way. However a very important question considering the price is - do you need an AC3200 router for home use? My opinion is definitely not unless you find it at half price or money are not an important factor. Having 2x5GHz bands is a marketing trick to market the router as AC3200, but that's the way this industry is going so it is not specifically an ASUS issue. Performance-wise the router performs very well with good AC range, is very stable in use and at least in my opinion ASUS-WRT firmware is a great touch. So if the price is right - it's definitely a worthwhile buy.

28.5.2016

This review is for the ASUS RRT-AC88U Router.I hesitated before writing this review. There is no doubt that the AC88U is a true ASUS stable mate. From the extreme easy setup, which now has an option for expert mode, which in one step allows you to upload a previous ASUS router configuration file without any hassle, to the plethora of options and features, simply too many to mention.My main reason for getting this router was to get the 8 (eight) GB LAN ports which this unit has. A good choice to get it ? I'm dubious. The RT-AC68U, which this 88U replaces ,was and remains AN ABSOLUTELY BRILLANT ROUTER and one that gives absolutely sterling service. In my case and note that things might be different for you,the area coverage of the 68U beats the 88U, hands down.Now, that might be because of the way it is mounted, as the 88U is NOT designed to be wall mounted and neither was the 68U but due to my setup, I wall mounted both units. Why the coverage of the 68U was better, I just do not know, but running my Android WiFi analyser app shows it to be true. The 68U beats the 88U. No doubt in my case, but NOTE: as our American cousins are fond of saying... " Your mileage may vary".There is very little not to like about the Asus RT-AC88 router. One particular nice feature is the traffic monitoring display. I mean the fact that this router keeps meticulously track of what Apps are using the router to go onto the internet and will show you the amount of data each and every Application is consuming. It can display that data is various ways, just pick what suits you and there it is.I had two young teenage guests staying today and by God... did it show their use of the SNAPCHAT app, using data like a burst tap !.The router effortlessly handles whatever data needs you can throw against it and it never remotely breaks out in a sweat. It features TRI-Band connect, if that takes your fancy and allows your guests to access the internet, but they are not able to access your own LAN devices. I really like that feature. Another nice thing is that it allows your clients to be defined by you, for instance, instead of saying IP camera, on address 192.aaa.bbb.ccc you can give a far more descriptive definition, like OUTDOOR AMCREST CAM ON DRIVE WAY.I could go on all night long about the many many features the unit has, but for now, I like to explain why I gave this excellent router only 4 stars.Two reasons, it should have been designed to be wall mounted, as well as flat desk mounted.The second reason, just short of 300 UK Pounds sterling it is (too) expensive, but that is my own opinion.Let me sum it up as I see it, but note that this is my own private opinion:Unless you absolutely need some of its more exclusive features, my advice would be: Buy the ASUS RT-AC68U and get a 8 GB unmanaged LAN switch. Your performance will be virtually as good, you now have 12 GB LAN PORTS to play with, and you saved yourself a fair bit of money in the process. Happy "Routering".AlbertPS: Apologies for the photo being sideways on, bloody Amazon seems to want to do that to all my photo uploads.ADDENDUM TO MY REVIEW AS ABOVE.This router has one serious problem. The traffic monitor is completely INACCURATE. I supplied proof of this to ASUS UK tech. support and they have escalated it back to their development team. It under reads the network traffic by a HUGE amount, as proven by the Windows Task mngr graphs I supplied to them. Where the task mngr reports a data flow of around 10MB/Sec the ASUS traffic monitor says it handles 800 KB/Sec.As the traffic monitor is a nice to have feature, i have left my review at 4 stars, but for a unit costing just short of 300 pnds, this should be fixed by ASUS. FYI, I have often 12 wireless clients on the 2.4 band and 4 on the 5GHz band and the router barely notices that load, as per it's CPU and RAM graphs. A good product and i hope that the next firmware release will fix the traffic monitor problem. Albert

13.1.2016

ASUS RT-AC3200 Tri-Band Gigabit Wireless Router, Access Point/Repeater/Media Bridge Mode, USB 3.0, Time Machine, 3G/4G Dongle SupportI have had it working for a day now and no issues (ASUS RT-AC3200). Just had a baptism of fire with the Linksys WRT1900ACS (don't buy). I got this one to replace the dreadful Linksys that I had from launch on 1st November 2015. Basically being a Virgin Media cable customer for x many years I have the cable router in modem mode rather than use the unreliable Superhub 2. As Virgin increased the speed they got to the point where my old external router was too basic (100 base), you need a gigabyte router when you get to speeds of 200 Mb/s since the Ethernet handshaking will cut you down to units of 10,100 and 1000 if you have equipment that can handle wired 1 gigabyte Ethernet. Hence why you don't want to use power plugs not rated for 1 gigabyte.I followed the hint covered in one of the reviews here. Check for the latest software online, download it. Do an update after going through the menus and do a factory reset, that clears out any extraneous parameters that might be still hanging about from the previous software. Also switch all wifi and wired equipment off. This drops all the existing IP addresses so when the router is powered up, all equipment gets new IP addresses.I was doing all of this frigging about his the Linksys router for the last 2.5 months less one months holidays. To my surprise I found that my new Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 on wifi on the 5 GHz band gave a speed check of 200 Mb/s i.e. there was no degradation in the cable speed since it was using the 801.11ac standard. The dreadful Linksys WRT1900ACS capped the speed at circa 50 mb/s.I am running the built in Trend virus checking website filtering. I haven't found any issues. It's useful as I'm sure you know to have Speedtest and Insidder apps loaded up. Insidder can be used to check what wifi bands are being used locally so you can select your own if you wish. 2.4GHz band they should only be positioned on 1, 6 and 11. Wired speedtest is used to cross check against the wifi speed.The only thing I would say at the minute is that the unit runs hot, so I hope the components can handle it. Like most electronic stuff if it survives the first few days it will go on and on.Update: day 4 and it's still going strong, no reboots, hiccups or anything (for winter you could probably dry your gloves on it although not recommended). There is an eco - energy save mode but generally I like routers to run 24/7 at full power. Using the ASUS Router app you can turn off any of the three SSIDS. Since I didn't want my neighbours getting close to my favourite top band 5 GHz SSID, I turned off the lower band 5 GHz channel since I wasn't using it and it would just cause other peoples routers to move channels getting closer to a channel I have to myself. Top band I have on auto, the more crowded 2.4 GHz band I always choose myself. The software has got some useful nag stuff in it to get you to change the routers password, length, security on etc.

26.4.2018

I am not a gamer but I needed a fast and powerful router with excellent coverage. I have on average about 25 devices connected + guests and my previous router (ASUS87U) was struggling a bit. The AC5300 is amazing: the range is better than using two routers with one configured as an access point! It is easy to set up and has a very large number of options. Yes, it is very expensive but it genuinely is faster, so it is worth the price. The more powerful chip inside in particular speeds things up even when the measured speed of traffic remains about the same.UPDATE:Our house is very long (it is two semi-detached houses put together), so the router was struggling to cover the whole area + conservatory.I tried replacing it with an GT AX 11000 and it was a disaster. The speed dropped, even on my two ax clients (the rest are all ac), and coverage was the same. I tried to set it up as an aimesh node and it kept disconnecting, even with one of the two 5Ghz bands dedicated as backhaul. I also tried that with an AX6000, same results.Looking up Smallnetbuilders showed that AX is just not ready for Aimesh yet (nor for that much, it seems!). It is also my experience, AC is much more stable.So, I got one AC2900 (= AC 86U, newer that AC 88U contrary to what the digits suggest), made sure all firmware was upgraded and set it up as a wireless node: very easy to do (remember to connect a LAN port from the parent to the WAN of the node for easy set up). At last I had very good coverage on that side of the house (I had tried extenders before but the speed was too low), but the overall speed dropped by about 15%. Not so good!I got a second AC 86U and set it up as a wired node on the other side of the house (flat ethernet cables are really useful for that!). Excellent coverage on that side too, and the speed returned to its original figures. BUT: one or the other node would disconnect overnight and I had to reboot them to get them back on the system. Not so good either!More investigations, and I changed the following under 'Wireless' - 'Professional':Airtime fairness: disabled on all three bandsUniversal beamforming: disabled on all three bandsExplicit beamforming: disabled on all three bandsAC beamforming: enabled on 5ghz.I always had Smart Connect and Smart Roaming off as I need certain portable devices to stay on the same network as the printers, scanners etc.Since then, no disconnections, the network is rock-solid and the speed has improved again. The distribution of the devices has also improved, with about 7 on the parent router, 6 on one side and 7 on the other. Contrary to ready made mesh systems like Google, Orbi or Lyra, this system is much more customisable and offers all the advantages of the complex interface of the RT 5300.It took me a while to find all the relevant information and to optimise the settings, so I hope that this will help someone! Do let me know if it does.

31.5.2020

I bought this as a VPN router and after the two first weeks I had to reboot it on a weekly basis and often clients lost their connection, similar to other people's negative comments. The Asus support was a joke, after a few emails they came back asking very detailed info, which I provided but never received a response to this, and that happened well over a month ago.Why then it is 4*? Because of its simple user interface, which provides Open VPN client (and server but I have no use for the latter) and I (finally) found a way to configure it so that it is overall stable. This is what worked for me: I disabled all the "fancy" features. You can enable an option for additional protection via a company Trendmicro.

20.1.2018

Previously, we had a Virgin SH3 providing wireless coverage in the house. It's coverage wasn't that great and as for maintaining a stable signal - both TIVO boxes could not maintain a stable connection. I had read that other Virgin Media subscribers had experienced plenty of problems. When my missus finally snapped, I knew we had to do something.A friend recommended this ASUS router as they had used it to provide wireless coverage around their house and for their TIVO set-up - no disconnection issues (except when the VM signal went down). I was a bit miffed that the price had gone up by £30 in the space of a month - probably because other VM users were having the same issue.The RT-AC3200 is a light unit but quite big so you need to make some room for it.

21.7.2017

The RouterIt sounds expensive, but it's worth every penny. I wanted a fast efficient router, which I could connect to my VM hub and run a VPN off of it. Its Wi-Fi range is also more reliable than the VM hub 3. The router itself is fairly large at around 30 cm long and around 22cm wide with the antennas, which there are 4 of, so you'll need some space for it. It also has a 1.4 GHz-dual-core processor which gives it quite some power for a router. There are 8 Gigabit LAN ports on the back, I'm connecting 2 Nas servers and various other devices to it with no problems.I live in a fairly large house and the walls are quite thick, which the VM hub could not cope with. This however does a much better job.

4.11.2018

I've recently moved to a a new home where the router I had would not reach one of the rooms. After a lot of experimentation and research, I've settled on the ASUS AC86U as it claims great coverage, future proof with the Asus Mesh and the functions provided via Trend Micro such as AiProtection, Traffic analysis and Wi-Fi scheduler.After 6 months or so, I'm no in a position to review this router and give some feedback.+ Great coverage;+ ASUS firmware (excluding Trend Micro functionality) is very stable;+ Easy configuration;+ Smart Connect technology (switches between 5GHz and 2.4GHz automatically, according to rules);+ Wifi scheduler.The only gripe I have with this router is that,

12.4.2017

Signal strength is great - even the 5Ghz now reaches parts of my house that my previous DLink DIR 655 would not reach on 2.4GHz.The web interface is snappy, and intuitive. It seems very stable indeed and doesn't run hot.In short, I'm very pleased with it, although it does have some rather annoying downsides:This router is as big as a dinner plate. Even with all that space it only offers 4 ports. There are no lights per port either - so if you have a problem with one device not connecting, you'll not be able to easily tell. This is basic stuff - get a grip Asus !You cannot block ip addresses inbound. This is unbelievable - I have never had a router that won't do that.

23.6.2016

The ASUS RT-AC88U in everyday use, well you don’t actually notice it. Previously I was shouting at my WiFi devices because the signal was terrible, distancing my device beyond arm's length putting my shoulder out. WiFi strength is more than enough, I can actually go to the shop across the road and still use my own WiFi. Watching videos, looking at pictures and backing up via phone and computer couldn’t be easier. The lack of Google Cloud Print support is a big gripe for me. I don’t have that much space to set up my printer permanently, but I’d make room for Cloud Print. It does have its own way of enabling printer support, just it’s not Google’s way, which would make it much easier to use.

16.12.2017

I was a little hesitant at first to buy this router. I typically love an Asus UI, especially with a Merlin firmware.As my primary need was for a VPN client this newly launched router seemed to have everything needed to make it a super fast capable router when being used with a AES 256bit CBC encrypted data signal. Well it turns out that this router with its super fast optimised dual core CPU is certainly up to the task.With its ease of setup, using the Merlin firmware, as a VPN client, it is very simple to apply policy based routing. Having devices running through the WAN or the tunnel of the VPN connection, wit ha kill switch, is very easy. As is port forwarding.Using a smart connection for the excellent Wi-Fi,

15.1.2018

Really good Router..First of all I am a Online-Gamer so FPS Shooters like CoD WWII and Guild Wars 2 Etc..I look for potential in getting a lag free experience as possible!.Now with the review-I have been using the (ASUS RT-AC86U) since the 24th of December 2017 and it has been running really well..Coming from a ASUS RT-AC3200 it seems it does the job It is suppose to.Having 13 devices connected to it all the time,And not a single dropout, which is great as it would be like annoying.Has decent Firmware At the moment!Stock Firmware ASUS and RMerlins Firmware (currently using RMerlins) you get a little Edge and Full Cone NAT is great for Gaming.No more Strict NAT or Moderate.Which is fine to have Moderate but Strict is a No No.

13.7.2017

Simply WOW. I finally have WiFi at home at my maximum ISP speed. I can't recommend this router to anyone enough, the difference between this and the standard modem/router your ISP gives you is night and day. These are the numbers..... Speed test with my sky modem/router Download 13-18Mbps / Upload 9Mbps. With this Asus RT-AC3200 Download 37.7Mbps / Upload 9.6Mbps. As far as distance this router is based on the ground floor in the bottom left corner of our house and my PC is on the second floor in the far right corner, so couldn't test the distance anymore if I tried :)As far as setup goes it couldn't be simpler either. Although the instructions say you need 2 network cables for setup you actually don't.

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