ASUS RT-AX86U Pro (AX5700) Dual Band WiFi 6 Extendable
ASUS RT-AX86U Pro (AX5700) Dual Band WiFi 6 Extendable Gaming Router, 2.5G Port, Gaming Port, Mobile Game Mode, Port Forwarding, Subscription-free Network Security, VPN, AiMesh Compatible
Your Winning Choice for Mobile Gaming!
Enjoy the fastest, smoothest WiFi gaming connections ever with the ASUS RT-AX86U dual-band WiFi 6 router. It delivers ultrafast WiFi speeds up to 5700 Mbps, and is packed with advanced technology, including Mobile Game Mode for a lag-free, low-latency mobile gaming experience.
Ultrapowerful WiFi 6
RT-AX86U brings you all the benefits of WiFi 6 (802.11ax), and works perfectly with all your existing WiFi devices!
Gaming Without Limits
The dedicated gaming port on RT-AX86U automatically prioritises any wired device connected to it.
GeForce NOW
GeForce NOW is NVIDIA’s cloud-based gaming service that delivers real-time GeForce-powered gameplay straight from the cloud to all your devices.
Lightning-Fast 2 Gbps Internet
RT-AX86U is designed to break down all the barriers that can slow down your gaming. It supports up to a 2 Gbps internet connection, so you can unlock the full potential of high-speed networking.
Remove Network Bottlenecks
Adaptive QoS (Quality of Service) lets you keep your network running smoothly by prioritising network traffic. You can prioritise applications such as streaming videos, web surfing, as well as gaming.
Whole-Home Gaming
RT-AX86U supports ASUS AiMesh, a unique mesh-networking technology that creates a whole-home network using multiple ASUS routers.
| Dimensions: | 39 x 26.6 x 11.3 cm; 1.77 Kilograms |
| Model: | RT-AX86U PRO |
| Manufacture: | ASUS |
| Dimensions: | 39 x 26.6 x 11.3 cm; 1.77 Kilograms |
I have used my RTAX86U with BT for 2 years and SKY.
I have fibre to premises and set up is different for each but very basic to do once know.
Sadly my RTAX86U died on me but despite being old ASUS gave me full refund so I have purchased the PRO version.
Top tip ! Use MERLIN software … asus own software is buggy. It’s as simple as downloading it from merlins website, unzip it then go to manually install it and that’s it.
I have split my SSID when I was with BT so My 2.4 units connected better and so I could decide what was on 5 frequency.
You can also change name of SSID. Example Is I moved to SKY. Quickly seen the range of their router. Plugged in the asus one and amended the ssids to what my BT ones were. And now every device auto connected. My security cameras firesticks , everything.
I have set limits on kids ipads where much to their annoyance it cuts them off!
Range is amazing and so is speed
stability wifi range good brought in December 2022 not had any issues with it .just buy it and forget about it just works. there as been two firmware updates so there is support from asus . this review is for
ASUS RT-AX86U 5700 Dual Band on Vodafone 500 fiber uk .plus three warranty
I have had many wifi routers in my life and I have been an ASUS convert for a while now. I am happy to say that this model was exactly what I was expecting and had hoped based on my previous experiences with ASUS routers, that is to say:
1. rock solid stability, you can run it for years and you will literally never need to reboot this (can’t say the same about my Netgear, Linksys, Virgin and BT routers that would slow down over time and require a monthly reboot to work properly).
2. absolute killer signal range compared to anything else out there
3. good UI with quite a lot of options (though many other routers have that too)
By the way, I use Merlin versions of the router firmware (just search for Asus Merlin forum to learn more) and have always been very happy with the community support and enhanced security features.
For most people this will be absolutely fine to replace the standard router supplied by the ISP.
Context – Gigabit FTTP with a hardwire connection to a Giagbit enabled motherboard. Multiple wireless connection on a WiFi 6 basis, with a smattering of 5 devices.
Split bands for 5/2.4 with 2.4 used for IOT.
Honestly it’s a brilliant router that does not break the bank.
Full gigabit working across a wired connection and speeds topping out at 900mbps in the same room when connected over 5ghz, but for that I do need to use DFS channels.
Only downside is that if you choose to use their network monitoring software or network priority then your speeds may slow. For most people with a less than 500mbps internet this won’t be a problem.
If you want to have the highest performance you will need to spend upwards of 300.
We have about 50 devices all in all connecting over cable, wi-fi, etc. over two floors. and this thing has been absolutely solid.
It balances load incredibly well, so downloading/streaming at the same time works a treat.
coverage and speed is amazing, and I’m unsure what/how it does it, but response times to devices such as printers is quicker, so I’m unsure whether it’s prioritising traffic automatically, but honestly I don’t care, it works very well, and better than I had hoped to be honest.
On the AX86U: It’s an expensive router but will set you back a fair bit. The WiFi 6 standard offers blazing speed with some good additional tech to really put connectivity and performance above other routers. The interface is excellent, no-frills, but maximum control. Other routers like the NETGEAR XR series have DumaOS which feels clunky, is very slow to respond and can crash frequently, whereas Asus’ OS is as steady as a rock. You can also easily install Merlin custom firmware if you need more power or customisation. There is an option to connect via the app which works well, and can do neat things like flip your VPN off and on, and it will offer remote connection (e.g., outside your home network) but I would never recommend that as it’s just a needless security risk to take.
You’ll hear a lot of gaming routers offer ‘low ping’ but this is just a marketing technique and sometimes some geolocation to a very limited amount of game servers, this won’t add a lot of value and your day to day ping won’t improve.
With robust but configurable firmware, great WiFi speed and backed by the Asus brand, this is definitely a router to consider if you’ve got the funds.
Fairly simple to set up, no major issues, and works incredibly well. Wifi speeds are much better, more stable and ping is much lower with less jitter than my Sky router. My PC is i nthe opposite corner of the house and u paq flight of stairs, so my speeds would vary from 18-26mb download / 12-22mb upload and ping was usually around 20-60ms with a lot of jitter and packetloss. Now it’s a consistent 40mb down, 24mb up and 8-16ms ping on speed test websites (usually around 20-40ms in online games).
Only slight issue is that the 5Ghz band keeps disappearing from my main PC, so I have to connect it to the 2.4Ghz band. Other devices can see the 5Ghz band all the time, so it may be an issue with my PC, but on googling it appears to be a common issue with this router.
This router has better range, better speed in all rooms compared with the BT router.
Bear in mind you need to change some settings in router interface to use it at its full capacity and get the results advertised , watch some tutorials on youtube like I did.
Now i am getting in living room which is downstairs oposite side of the house from router and getting 500-600 Mpbs speed on wifi 5G and 150-200Mbps on2.4G
BT wifi sometimes would drop connection
Asus wifi never let me down so far.
I had 13 devices connected at same time on 4k video streaming and no buffering at all,playing games on pc at same time (wired not on wi fi)
I recommend this router ONLY if you have a lot of devices connected at same time and your house is really big.
Gaming wise, I felt no different between Asus and Bt routers on wired connection.
Sorry if I made some spelling mistakes, English is not my main language.
As with all ASUS routers it comes with their excellent interface which I have been using on older routers for a number of year’s. Faultless and secure at no added cost, unlike other makes which charge subscription services.
The AX wifi is why I bought this router and it did not disappoint attaining high rates in the far reaches off my property and through solid walls. For this I recommend it highly.
Cost on the other hand (between 259 and 300) I find a bit steep especially as it is only dual band.
The aerials aren’t as imposing as some models but it does make it difficult to locate as this sits flat with no option for a wall mount.
Waiting for tri-band in a subtle presentation.
When it comes to any networking equipment, I usually wait a year or two before purchasing. This is mainly because of firmware bugs etc which are more or less inevitable – the AX88 was no exception.
As soon as it arrived the first thing I did was update to the latest firmware release. I would usually go for rMerlin based firmware but opted to keep it on the ASUSwrt for now.
On setting the router up, everything appeared to be great until it came to performing a speed test from my cabled device. I’ve just had BT fibre 500 installed, but for some reason I was getting shockingly slow and erratic ethernet results – circa 100mb. It should be noted that I was getting 510+ when running the speed test to the same server directly from the router itself. I spent hours troubleshooting the issue but could find no obvious cause. Having checked everything from router config, cat6 cabling, device network adapter etc, I was at a total loss. What confused me even more was after I re-attached the BT homehub and restarted my device – I was finding I got 512mb download without any issue.
Checking Google I could see asus, bt and snb forums filled with people reporting similar issues. I was seeing answers that ranged from faulty switches to enablement of jumbo packets. At this point I was giving up all hope and was in the process of returning the router. Shortly after I started the return process I had a bit of time to re-think what I’d tested and decided to perform another test now that my BT router was back in play. To my surprise I noticed that the BT router was also now playing up and giving me erratic results.
This led to me rechecking the nic settings, but everything seemed normal.
Having exhausted all the usual troubleshooting steps, I took one last shot and decided to kill all unnecessary app processes on both laptops I had used to run the speed tests from. To my surprise I found that I was getting the full 500mb without any issue! Starting each process again one by one I quickly discovered that Microsoft Teams (of all things) absolutely kills my speed! Checking the network monitor etc I could see no obvious reason for this as it was all ‘normal’ looking. The link wasn’t saturated and no heavy communication was taking place.
The reason everything initially looked fine when I used the BT homehub, was quite simply because every time I ran the speed test I had just rebooted the device (so the likes of teams had not yet started in the background), and because both devices are the same model, with the same software, the issue was also the same.
In summary, for anyone who is encountering speed issues – avoid making a rookie mistake like me and make sure the device you are testing from has all apps, especially collab apps like teams, zoom, Google meet etc turned off with the processes killed. As I have found out, it’s not always the router that’s the bottleneck or issue.
We purchased this router primarily as a replacement for the Virgin Hub, which is notoriously poor for signal strength. Many areas of our house had a poor signal or slow speeds. After installing this router the signal now reaches even the areas of the house that would lose connection. Added to that, speed in all locations is dramatically improved. Even the PC connected via ethernet is much faster, which is strange as it was plugged into ethernet on the Virgin Hub before – but a nice bonus!
There was some faffing around to get this to work with the Virgin Hub. There are a few settings to look out for if you’re in the same situation. From the Asus router’s settings page, under WAN, then ‘special requirements from the ISP’ changing the DHCP query frequency to ‘Continuous Mode’ and also clicking ‘MAC Clone’ let me finally get this working with Virgin Media.
Overall this router is pretty costly, but you get what you pay for here. It’s made our entire households connection dramatically better.
Having just been bumped up to 350mbps from 200mbps with Virgin/O2 Volt. I thought it was time to make sure I was getting the most out of these speeds.
Many threads have said how bad the virgin hubs are. Now I’ve seen the light. When I went from a hub3 to a hub4 I was hoping for change. There was a slight improvement, but slight.
I had TPlink power line adapters in my house. One in the office (almost a dead spot) and one in the bedroom. They were only transmitting 2.4ghz as that’s all they could do. My iMac in the office had an Ethernet into it and a speed test would get to 100mbs.
With the ASUS RT AX86U I have been blown away at how good it is. Currently I’m getting over 100mbps in the office on Wi-Fi. No need for my Mac to have the Ethernet cable anymore. My entire house has a very strong Wi-Fi signal throughout. I am so impressed with this, well worth the money if you can spend the cash. Setup took a while but that was because turning my hub into modem mode was as simple as virgin made out. Once I was up and running all is good. Would recommend to anyone
Pros……… Recently had gigabit fttp installed and the ISP supplied router was a bare bones WiFi 5 50 one that had limited range and kept disconnecting with the two tv’s in the house. Upgraded to the Asus RT-AX86U and the difference is night and day. Getting great coverage and speeds (especially with WiFi 6 capable devices) and rock solid stability.
Cons…….. The other reason I got this was for the lifetime aiprotection/parental controls in order to filter out adult content and it generally does a good job of that, however it’s not bullet proof and there is some adult content that it doesn’t block so while it’s a good stop gap, if you want fool proof content filtering then you’ll have to pay for one of the circle add on devices and around 100 yearly subscription unless you are with one of the four big ISP’s (Sky, Virgin, Talk Talk, BT) who provide free parental controls to all their customers that work better……… this is really disappointing as the router is advertised as having strong parental controls but they are merely okay and not as robust as I had with my previous ISP (Sky).
CONCLUSION: Whilst the router is brilliant at providing a strong signal, rock solid stability and low latency for gamers, the promised web content filtering is merely okay. I’m not going to knock off a star for this as all routers will have the same problem with web content filtering due to how some web pages are developed/compressed………. so the Asus RT-AX86U is a fantastic router that gets superb reviews online which I can endorse after using it but just beware that all routers have limitations if web content filtering to protect your kids from inappropriate content is important to you and you’re NOT with one of the four major ISP’s.
I’ve had ASUS routers for many years. For a residential router, this one packs a bit of a punch. The WiFi 6 can handle virtual desktop for my quest 2 to pc with no stutter and a solid 1200 Mbit link, with my other half using WiFi for other things and the router about 4 meters away from the headset in another room. The stock firmware has handy features like custom routing, QOS profiles for certain devices (you can tag devices with certain primary uses, then set the mode to prioritize these services in QOS). It has a handy mobile app that you can use to tweak settings as you go. I am using a 3rd party VPN gateway for my office, and creating custom routes and setting the gateway to a static IP was a breeze. In ax mode I have only had 1 device so far refuse to connect, which is a 10 year old budget laptop. Other than that its working fine with all our tech. It’s a bit on the expensive side, but then there are other much more expensive routers out there. If you have the budget, I highly recommend this router.
You can monitor the router via an app, change many settings via the app, but for advance settings, I would suggest using the web browser and log into the router..
Wi-fi
I found that not all the features of Wi-fi 6 are turned on automatically, so you may want to go into the advance settings and adjust them to your environment to get the best out of the router and it’s Wi-fi features.
After tweaking I found an improvement over there original settings in speed across networks.. and an improvement over the router it replaced (synology)
Also there is a built in speed checker and have tested the BB speed.. I have gained a couple of MEG over the previous router.. maxing the line speed to 72meg download and 18.9 meg upload.
Pings are very low which is good.. and great for gaming. 5.6ms (internet)
You can set up different profile Modes to suit the usage of the router and what connected devices are using the internet for. Eg GAMING, streaming etc..
The router comes with internet protect built in and it’s free, unlike some other manufacturers..
It has many features, to many to talk about..
FINAL THOUGHTS
With all the inbuilt features and there is many, I am pleased with the router, it can be easily setup for all your needs, has future proof high speed lan port, new Wi-fi 6 ,wpa3, and reliable Wi-fi speed, offers great coverage and can connect to other ASUs routers to offer further coverage and expansion of Wi-fi network through a AImesh setup..
I have have received no drop outs and it work great in a gaming network.. several different consoles are connected with ease.. it has many adjustable features and gaming modes and dedicated gaming lan port
I would seriously recommend this as an option for anyone thinking of an upgrade to there current router and want to have good connection and also gaming options.
The unit also has fast usb 3 ports, so you can store files etc on a separate storage device..
I am still to play around with this..
Overall 9/10
Pls note for a more dedicated gaming router, you would be paying a significantly more, than what you are paying here for a good gaming router that’s future proof. Only thing missing is Wi-fi 6E, but these type of routers with the new 6GHz bands aren’t out yet and you could easily be paying several hundreds more for the extra Wi-fi band..
Currently there isn’t a lot of devices that support 6GHz band, so best save your money and consider buying this router..
Finally it feels like I have the ultimate experience and getting the most out of my fibre.
The BT smart hub 2 was used for all of 20 mins and then I plugged this router in. My speeds were so much better and much more consistent. I can finally game on my ps5 and have other people on the network streaming 4k.
I can game in confidence that my experience will be prioritised as you have a ethernet game port and then also in the router settings add the bandwidth to the top of the list.
WiFi signal is good. I have a WiFi 6 gaming pc the other side of the house and it is working great over WiFi.
It is expensive. But to be honest I think it is worth every penny. If you spend quite a bit a month on a top fibre package and you want to really get the best it can offer. I would suggest getting one of these routers. It manages the bandwidth and devices extremely well. No regrets.
I am looking forward to downloading and playing games more rather than dreading the patches that games have and asking everyone to download their TV shows so I can play for a couple of hours.
I have had the ASUS RT AX86U for a few days now and I thought I’d wait before i write the review.
AMAZING in a word.
I’m not the most techie guy which was holding me back but frustration with Virgin Hub 3.0 pushed me to finally make the plunge.
I pay for the M350 package as there are 5 users in this house all with multiple gadgets after adding the TV firesticK sky printer Ring and other items it gets to quite a lot.
The set up took less then 10 minutes after in was wired up. The app is quite simply flawless for the normal user but has more to offer if you’re more inclined to delve in to the dark space.
The reception in the down part of the house is 100% in the same room, 70-80% anywhere in the downstairs part of the house, similarly upstairs in the same part of the house as the router but fall to about 10% in the opposite upstairs end of the house.
I connected the DeVolo dLan 1200+ WiFi(which I was using with the virgin hub with minor success) and everything is absolutely brilliant.
I’m at 60-70% anywhere in the house.
My advice to anyone thinking about this unit, don’t think, just do it, you’ll have bigger regrets if you don’t!!!
I have replaced an RT-AC86U with this model.
I currently with virgin media and have a super hub 3 in modem mode.
This router is easy to setup/config.
The range on the wifi has improved.
The speed of the connections have improved.
I have around 30 devices connected.
–
My first unit i recived had a problem with the 5ghz wifi band – it would not stay stable it was on and off no matter what channel or settings i used, that was after a reset to factory settings.
I have an xbox series x in each room for the kids upstairs and I needed that 5ghz band.
I get strong signal all around the house with 5ghz so i wasnt prepared to disable it and use 2.4.
I contacted amazon and they replaced the unit and the replacement unit is working as expected.
no disconnects no 5 ghz wifi band drops no speed loss on service
I was previously using a tp-link vr 400 ( combined modem, router and wifi). It was ok but I noticed that as we added more and more wifi devices it became very unstable and would require constant rebooting to get a decent signal. I was facing a lot of issues whilst working from home and when multiple people were using the internet the speed was very variable. I’ve got approximately 30 devices connected and normally 20 are active.
The ASUS RT-AX86U has solved all of my issues. The setup was very easy. I switched the vr 400 into bridge mode so I could use the modem only and then I plugged in the ASUS RT-AX86U and followed the setup wizard. I kept the same wifi names and passwords so all my devices automatically reconnected.
The new router is very fast and extremely stable. We don’t have any lags anymore and multiple people can be using the internet from surfing to streaming and there are no problems. The speed is also better even when in rooms away from the router.
The features that show who is connected, the traffic and all the other stats are great. The ios app is pretty neat and the web interface is very feature rich.
Extremely happy with this router and wish I had upgraded to something like this ages ago.
So I got this Router and plug it into one of the output ports of Hub3. At the same time, I follow the set-up wizard in the Web browser. The setup page is quite intuitive and within 15 minutes everything is set up. I saw a slight increase in the Internet and WiFi speed but it is not really impressive.
Later on, I found that I need to disable the DHCP server setting in Hub3 and let the Asus Router truly take care of everything. Basically, I have to go to the browser and type192.168.0.1 into the address bar, enter the passcode which is written underneath the Hub3. Then go to Router mode/setting on the left menu, click onEnable Modem Mode. After pressing Apply changes the Hub3 should restart and now the DHCP server on Hub3 should be disabled.
After having this setting I got significant improvement in the Internet and WiFi speed. Basically I can almost reach the bandwidth limit of my M50. The latency also drops because the loading time of my smart devices such as IP cameras are a lot shorter. Really happy with this purchase and Asus seems to make very good quality Router. One minor complaint is that it is quite big so it does take up lots of space.
I have been using three meshed RT-AC86U units for the last 3 years and in general, they have really worked well for what I’ve wanted to do.
Unfortunately, one of them just stopped working. The strange thing is that it was the one that was used sparingly. The others that are on 24/7 are fine. TBH, A life time of three years is fine by me.
Anyways, there I am needing a replacement, so I bought an RT-AX86U (the upgraded version of RT-AC86U) .
I use this RT-AX86U as my main router, with the two remaining RT-AC86U units as mesh slaves – one with a backhaul ethernet cable and the other over wifi.
Its taken a bit more time than I thought to rejig everything, but that is because of the somewhat complicated set up I have.
Overall , I’m pleased. I’m glad I just didn’t replace the RT-AC86U with the same model.
The performance of the replacement router is better than the RT-AC86U it replaced, and meshing still works fine.
The only thing I’m annoyed about is that Amz are now selling it for 50 less !!
N.B. Make sure you use a good cable between the router and the fibre box – don’t skimp here
I used this to upgrade a Wi-Fi network from a Plusnet Hub One and the range is vastly improved.
Paired with an AX-55U AI mesh node, the property and surrounding land boundaries over 20m away through multiple walls can get Wi-Fi now, where it was previously only available inside the main house building. Without the AX-55U turned on, the range is still improved in all directions, but the 55U is used to boost the signal at a far side 12m away through 3 walls. Your mileage will vary based on the number of walls etc, but for this location the setup works perfectly as a mesh router. On top of the range, the responsiveness of the internet connection seems to have improved.
The setup is easy and connecting to the internet through an Openreach HG612 was instantaneous.
AI Mesh is similar to traditional range extenders however it is a much more streamlined feature as there’s no disconnecting and connecting to the new source. It acts like a single big Wi-Fi area as opposed to a number of smaller connected ones.
The signal encompasses the whole house and garden flawlessly. Recommended for any Virgin Media customer.
I upgraded this from a 4 year old Asus router that worked very well. I like the fact you can have guest networks with WPA2 personal security on Asus routers. Main reason for upgrade is son had a gaming pc for Christmas that has wifi 6. Our internet speeds are not great, being in a rural area – only about 8gbs. Whilst the router will not increase that, I am hoping it will be a more stable connection (as advertised) for gaming and has the qis setting to prioritise gaming packets.
Good bits:
Since setting it up I have found things generally a bit quicker – websites opening quicker etc.
There are 6 guest networks available (3 for 2,4 ghz and 3 for 5ghz). I have one guest network set up for all our smart devices. Another for someone’s phone who doesn’t live here so comes and goes. And a 5ghz guest network just for the pc.
If anyone has more knowledge of these things perhaps they can let me know if that is the best way to use 5ghz just for the gaming pc or whether I should have set a separate ssid for the 5ghz and left it solely for the PC.
Installation was smooth and I am already familiar with the Asus web page for the router so used all the same logins – that bit was quick and easy except for one gremlin (below under not so goods) but nothing major. I haven’t tried the app.
My very old laptop works fine with it although I did update the wifi driver on that laptop. All our other gadgets worked fine without needing an upgrade.
I will update further after feedback from son using his gaming pc but we’re hoping his speeds won’t keep dropping mid game and his ping will improve.
Not so goods: A very weird thing when initially logging into the router page was that my keyboard was very sticky trying to type and kept missing letters and needing the keys bashed very hard. That was just on entering the password etc and setting up the ssid. Once into the web page keyboard was fine again. But I did use the very old laptop so may have been something to do with drivers.
An annoying thing was while setting up guest networks, the web page software would sometimes crash and I’d have to start all over again. I learned from that to do things in a certain order.
1) Set up password initially and get into web page.
2) Change login name
3) Turn off WPS
4) Turn of UPNP
5) THEN – set up guest networks.
That worked ok – but when I decided to change the SSID of one of the guest networks the whole thing crashed again and I had to start again once more. Moral of that is – once set up – leave it alone and its fine!
like many others that have left reviews I have bought this Ax86U to replace the shockingly bad super hub 3 which may work well in a home with a low number of devices but in the modern home with everything connected the superhub is under powered.
Step in AX86U this device has made everything just work better on my home network
the range is far better my router is situated at the front of my 60s house and I now get 5ghz wifi connection 100ft down the end of my garden! speeds at range consistently high also! I get 200Mbps internet to my router and get 110Mbps at 130ft away (on a new wifi 6 device this would probably be faster!)
the main reason I bought this router was due to terrible latency issues I was suffering with with the superhub 3, the Ax86U has resolved this issue completely its a far more powerful router which is able to handle higher number of connected devices
if your into your gaming the router has a selection of popular games profiles which you can apply to the router to open the ports for a specified device on your network meaning you get the best connection while gaming
to get the very best from this router it does require some technical knowledge in configuration but theres lots of help out there to help you configure it, personally installing merlin firmware on the router improved the performance and configuration tremendously
200 may sound a lot for a router a device internet providers give you free but with everything connected to the internet now days its worth the investment you need the power of these higher spec routers and it will last you years. like everything you get what you pay for would you expect a 60 PC to perform as well as a 600 one?
We have a large old tenement flat with thick walls. We had been putting up with the standard issue Virgin Super Hub 3 router for some years. This provided wifi for one end of the flat, with a TP Link Powerline wifi extender serving the other end of the flat. This arrangement sort of worked, but was annoying in the extreme because the connection would drop when calling over the internet and wandering around, or moving a device from one room to the other.
I set the Virgin box to modem mode and plumbed it into the ASUS RT-AX86U which I built a wee shelf for in our hallway, more or less centrally in the flat. After configuring it I was pretty blown away by how good the wifi coverage was. As an example, I was previously getting 50MB/S connected to the internet via the Powerline Adaptor (despite its 1GB/S rating) and I now get 200+MB/S – the full speed of my Virgin broadband – in what was previously the slowest corner of the flat. The router has meant I can get rid of all Powerline adaptors / wifi extenders, reducing clutter and freeing up power sockets. The router doesn’t break a sweat with 12 or more devices connected and I’m sure it’s overkill for my needs (not that I’m complaining).
Cons:
– I wish it was wall mountable, but I built a small shelf and it sits unobtrusively above a door now.
– The config wizard sent me round in a loop at one point – I exited and completed my config in advanced settings – but this wasn’t a big deal for me.
– Device is not secure by default – but the wizard has you set that up right away .
– Device does not enable channel 160 by default – you need to remember to do this – worthwhile for speed apparently.
Pros:
– Brilliant coverage and bandwidth.
– Decent, comprehensive web app and mobile app for configuration and monitor.
– Bundled, free, internet security filter
– Smart channel switching works well
– Mesh ready should you ever need to extend the network
– Flashy indicator lights can be turned off
The router works fine with the hub 3 still in router mode until you are happy to put the hub into modem mode. Makes sure the router reports a DHCP and IP address of 192.168.XX. on your phone or laptop, either wireless or wired connected works. Then when you are happy that everything connects fine, then go to you virgin hub router settings and switch to modem mode and you are ready to go. If you don’t do the firmware updates first and you have a Samsung or Apple phone, you might get slow internet problems reported, but the updates sort that out.
I would recommend this router.
(EDIT) I thought I could get away with the 160mhz 5G higher frequency channels but, either Virgin is playing up or the router needs a little bit of work, but I lost connection for a few times and even after a reboot I had to go back to the standard 5G 20-80Mhz channels. Maybe someone has an answer for this.
Review for the RT-AX88U
Absolute doddle to install – I noted down all the existing setting on the Virgin Superhub, put it in modem modem mode and powered it down. Plugged the new router into laptop via cable and configured with the old settings. Less than 5 minutes and all was fine. I was hoping the WiFi range would be better x it’s certainly not worse and seems faster in WiFi.
There are some great features in the router – however I have had issues with my smart TV and Netflix, Prime and iPlayer, the TV is connected via cable and the apps all seem slow and buffering which never happened before. It could be my ISP but I never saw that ever. I turned AI security off and QoS to see if it improves.
One odd thing – there are no connection / activity lights on each of the network ports. Not sure why but it’s an easy sign of connection etc.
If the TV issues persist I will try ASUS support but can’t imagine it will be easy to solve.
Quick update. 13-1-21 I turned DLNA server in the router OFF and the Smart TV seems stable again.
I liked the router and the UI. The set-up was very easy using the iPad app, although the AX-88U wouldn’t talk to my Sonos Beam initially. I solved that problem very quickly by searching the web (I had to turn off the “airtime fairness” setting).
However, in the end I returned this router and bought an alternative one (still an ASUS) because my main use case was the mesh system, and I had bought a pair of RT-AX92U AX6100s to act as repeaters. Wifi kept dropping off and I needed to restart all the time, which it turns out was because the AX-88U is dual band and the AX92Us are tri-band.
ASUS support was useless in helping me work this out – it’s all generic, menu-driven FAQ-style support which to be honest is very disappointing and never helped me solve the problem one iota. In the end I got the answer from a very helpful expert blogger (search for “Dong Knows Tech” if you need help!)
The ASUS AIMesh system is very good, but if that is what you are after then I suggest you go for the tri-band router variants which will dedicate one of the 3 bands as the router-to-router back-channel. At the very least don’t mix dual and tri-band routers.
I ended up exchanging this one for the ASUS GT-AX11000 ROG Rapture (and paying a fair bit more!) and I have been very happy with that one.
Purchased on prime day for a great price to replace an AC68 as I had upgraded my broadband to a 1 gig circuit.
Fast, COVID safe and friendly delivery as always via Amazon Prime. Arrived well packaged and factory sealed. Looking at previous reviews one of the first things I did was update the firmware. As per a previous review this needed a hard reset otherwise the device just kept rebooting. Once this was done its been rock solid since.
I’ve used and recommended to friends several ASUS routers before and love the user interface (UI) as it flows well and I find it only takes a short time to set up. The Trend security features are a really useful bonus and deep a fair level of packet inspection and visibility plus QOS if needed.
The performance benefits from the quad-core processor was very noticeable and even with all packet inspection features switched on and six guest wifi virtual APs enabled runs effortless with my 1gbit circuit.
Had one Over the air update since and that went without a hitch. Recommend talking a config backup just as good practice.
Rock solid and reliable. Highly recommended!
Outstanding router by most standards.
Don’t know why I’ve waited so long to upgrade from the virgin superhub. The standard hub was okay until you start gaming and the WiFi speed over longer distances deteriorates badly. I started by doing a speed test in every room with my phone on 2g and 5g using the standard router and logged the results. I put the superhub in modem mode and then installed the Asus which was easy. The interface is great. I done the same results with the new router and 2g showed a a good 10-40mbps gain. 5g is where the upgrades showed. The 180mbps result pictured was from our problem room which was 50mbps before. I have had no complaints about the xbox lagging and I have thoroughly tested this router and there’s just no lag and the qos is obviously working. See my results of some of the connections at the same time. Our Android phone peaks out at almost 900 which will mean my 300mbps Internet has scope to upgrade. The interface also shows some very interesting stats as well. Overall great upgrade and is probably the best router I’ve used
I don’t bother with stock Asus firmware. Asus oversee an open source developer known as “Merlin” who basically fixes Asus bugs, adds useful stuff like SMBv2 for more secure SMB file transfers and a bunch of other refinements and features.
Currently, he has only just started to support this model of router, so I am using alpha4 firmware but this will go into beta soon followed by a production release. He works with Asus and gets the source code from Asus.
This router has 1GB memory, and you can shared USB disks out like a mini file server, have FTP access, support for Dynamic DNS including providers like NO-IP and DNS-O-MATIC. It has QOS support which can be automatic detection of available download and upload speeds, GEFORCE NOW QOS for gaming acceleration (one LAN port is dedicated for assured fastest response), and you can set prioirty at a device level or traffic type. There is also traffic analysis so you can see in realtime which device is using the most bandwidth, bandwdith limitation, for both upload and download speeds. You can set Guest wifi access points (up to three on 2.4 and three on 5GHZ as well as your main 2.4 and 5ghz WIFI SSID).
You can also turn on web logging, so you can see every URL each of the connected LAN and WIFI devices go to, on Merlin’s firmware, you can set DNS over TLS and DNSSEC for secure DNS that your ISP can’t snoop on, and even have adult content filtering, no filtering or just malware/phising filtering. The router using Merlin’s firmware can act as a time server (NTP) and intercept clients to force using the router as a time source instead of the client’s NTP configuration. You can see what WIFI device is connected to each SSID and the signal quality.
The failover supports USB device such as 4G/5G, or you can have two WAN ports for failover or load balancing. One of the ports can be used as a 2.5GB WAN port or you can aggregate two LAN ports for bonded 1GB connections.
Lastly, there is built in IPS/Botnet detection using Trend Micro although you have to agree to privacy terms to make use of this and some other functions. Trend Micro state any data is anonymised.
Performance is excellent on this router – fast SMB transfers and future proof if my connection goes above 1GB in the future. I use it currently with Virgin Media 350 service to a Virgin Media HUB 3.0 in modem mode.
I bought this product to replace a BT Smart hub 1 because I was experiencing increasing latency with an increase in smart devices, phones, tablets, laptops etc. connected to it which was rendering my Ring doorbell useless. I am using this router with a Draytek Vigor 130 VDSL modem (For BT Superfast broadband) and found the setup simple and fast. Although, when it came to updating the firmware it wouldn’t update automatically so I had to manually install the new firmware, which isn’t particularly difficult just less convenient. I am not receiving faster speeds using this modem and router combination than the BT Smart hub but I am receiving a more consistent broadband with less lag, and my ring doorbell live view loads consistently and faster. The Wi-Fi coverage is better than the Smart hub but not so good that I can remove my BT Wholehome mesh.
Overall I am pleased with this rather imposing router, and hope that it continues to perform for many years.
After years of struggle with the inbuilt Wifi supplied by various internet providers along with their modems I decided to buy a Wifi router. Initially I could not justify spending extra money for something that is already included in my internet contract, but I struggled to get a strong reception on the corners of my house (4 bed, detached) with the provided modems. To start with I was in the market for a budget router and was doing my research to find the best bang for my buck. During that I learned about the new WIFI 6 standard and benefits linked to it. As I wanted to future proof myself and didn’t want to spend money again anytime soon on routers I decided to go for a router that supports Wifi6.
I struggled to find a good router in my budget range that supported Wifi6. The common name that came up during comparison reviews by various websites was the Asus RT-AX88U, but the price was nowhere close to what I was willing to spend, and I couldn’t rationalise it. The more I read the reviews the more I got interested in this particular router. There were some other routers which were even better in Wifi performance but was more expensive and aimed mainly for gamers. I also had the option of buying a mesh system that could create better Wifi coverage which would meet my requirements but didn’t want to clutter my home with multiple devices.
I picked mine up during the Prime Day deals and I am extremely satisfied with my purchase. Setting this up was straightforward, just follow the instructions. Love the Asus app that shows all the devices connected, monitor activity and control them. Very easy to enable guest network and assign password. This could be shared using a QR code. One can also prioritise what activity (Streaming, gaming, office work etc) should have the most bandwidth during a certain period and it can be controlled using the app. App is user-friendly and gives you total control. Another advantage was the 8 ethernet ports which allowed me to hook more devices (TV, Play Station, Hue, Amplifier, TV Box etc) directly and free up Wifi network for portable devices. Firmware update for the router is also easy and I did one soon after I plugged it in.
Is it better than a mesh system?
I don’t know because I never used one at home, but I don’t have the Wifi issues I had previously.
Does it look like an Alien spaceship?
Yes it does, but I like it.
Is it cheap?
No it is not a cheap router and there are plenty of cheap ones in the market but its worth the spend.
Highly recommended if you can afford it, I was able to justify the spend with the outcome I had.
It has done so when buying this Asus router.
This AX 88U is a very capable router with full support for AES-NI instructions needed for running a VPN client with little CPU usage.
We live in a big property, three floors, and I needed options to extend the Wi-Fi as well as give me some more LAN ports.
The AX88U seemed to fit the bill perfectly, it has 8 LAN ports.
Firstly I have included four photos. The first, with a rule next to it, shows the large footprint that the router takes. No longer upright like me previous router that might be an issue for some. For us that was fine. I have used the switch to turn off the LED lights, I find them distracting.
The second phot gives you an example of the UI, the choice of the functions is amazing. The manual does help to explain those.
The third photo shows the mobile App screen indicating the AX88U, lots of useful functions with that App.
The fourth photo shows the LAN speed being maximised when copying a single large file via the router to a media server in the loft. CAT5E cables used.
This review would get way too long to go into the absolute detail of the wealth of utilities that the software supports, it is staggering. The mobile App enjoys so many functions also. So this will be an overview of what has impressed me the most, so far.
Setting up the router was simple. My biggest issue, my problem, is that I had set the LAN adapter on my PC to 192.168.1.50 for the IP and then 192.168.1.1 for the gateway. The new routers default IP (and thus gateway for the PC) was set to 192.168.0.50. For those who realise what that means you can then appreciate my initial problem. That was an easy fix tho.
You can set it up from a PC, wired, or wirelessly using the Asus App.
The Internet setup wizard, or you can go manual, was very easy to follow with using my ISP details. The single SSID again setup was simple.
Under the WAN settings port forwarding was easy to setup for my CCTV NVR, to allow remote access for the cameras.
Adaptive QOS and traffic management is work in progress. I am enjoying giving priority on traffic to media streaming over that of file downloads, no stuttering of watching videos whilst other download files.
Guest access for the Wi-Fi for Internet usage is also useful.
I do not have any Wi-Fi 6 devices but all of our AC devices connect and work at their expected speeds and the range is superb, helped of course with the AI Mesh mode.
I have used their technical support services, that has been both prompt and informative. Again in my experience no faults there.
The 88U has a quad core CPU and 1GB of RAM. The specification is most impressive.
It would be difficult for me to find meaningful faults with this setup.
Overall I continue to be impressed with Asus and their routers, they fit our needs well and seem intuitive to setup and enjoy a useful mobile App and good UK technical support.
The router can be registered with Asus and enjoys a three years warranty.
Overall very much recommended.
I do not just give a five star review without careful consideration, I simply could not fault the router, nor what it offers. The UI, tech support and lots of useful tips and information, many YouTube videos, is just great. Having several other brands of routers in the past, using various flavours of custom firmware I am now very content with the professionalism of what Asus offer.
I do hope that this review has helped you in making your choice.
All the bes
I had two teenagers constanly moaning that their ‘ping’ was too high, their games ‘laggy’ and that they were getting killed because of it. I have previously tried homeplugs bit they werent the perfect solution. My set up was a virgin hub which was being used as a modem and hub, on the 350mbps package. After a bit of research, and with the help of the amazon prime day deals, I went for an Asus router rather than a mesh system, because I found out I can add anothre router if I need to increase coverage later. I purchased the RT-AX88U as I hoped this would improve the wifi speeds in the house which it has done. I read up on the internet about the order to connect them and seemed to get lots of conflicting advice. Set up was not particularly easy as there is no manual and you do need to know about static/dynamic Ip and a few other acronyms, that I sorted out, again with the help of a mobile phone and google. Anyway, eventually I managed to get connected and can confirm that it definitely has made a difference to the wireless speeds, especially at the opposite side of the house to where the router is located. Our wireless is now a lot more stable and the wireless speeds are now comparable if not better than using homeplugs. I am not particularly techie so cant provide loads of numbers and stats but I do know that I now have a happier household.
Recently I bought a few extra Ring devices from Amazon (couple of cameras, Ring alarm system etc) to go with the doorbell we’ve had for a few years (that was a pain in the backside to get working with Virgin router). Since adding additional devices (we already had quite a large number of wireless devices) I was having a number of issues with devices disconnecting and not being able to reconnect – I suspect this is something to do with the Virgin router and DHCP as its never been great but with an increased number of devices it seemed to fall over more and more (I was still under the listed “maximum number” of wireless devices for the router even with the Ring devices).
I’d been looking at mesh WiFi as our house has some thick walls (BT home hub was passable, but the virgin router was terrible towards the back of the house, with hardly any signal) but few things put me off such as people reporting that they were getting drop outs switching between satellites etc. Also they tend to have very few network sockets, and I like to run my PC and games consoles hardwired. I’d looked at expensive routers in the past and decided to hold but there is no point having security cameras if they are dropping connection all the time.
I did a bit of research into recommended routers (I wanted Wifi 6 as I have a few devices that support that and if I’m going to spend over 150 I want to make sure its future proof) and have always found ASUS to be a really good brand (laptops, peripherals etc). As Amazon have an excellent return policy I decided to go for it and try out the AX86U. I honestly couldn’t be happier with it. There were a few niggly issues when setting it up but that was partly due to me using the same SSID and password as the Virgin hub to save me having to reconfigure every single device. The additional 5gz bands (DFS) are fantastic – really improved the WiFi speed all over the house (e.g. channel 120).
This is by NO means a scientific test however sitting in front of the TV in the lounge on my iPhone 11 using speedtest used to produce around 50-80mb/sec consistently. Now, I have the M350 virgin package so that’s quite a big drop off. With the new router I get around 330-380mb/sec without an issue. I did have to play around with the 5gz channel to achieve that, but this is the same for the Virgin hub (yes the Virgin hub isn’t Wifi 6/DFS etc).
I’ve had absolutely no drops from connected devices since setting it up and my RSSI signal strengths for my Ring devices is substantially improved. For example the kitchen in door camera which is the furthest device from the router used to sit around 75-80 (yellow/red) RSSI. Now its around 40-45 and I get no streaming breaks like I did before. Like I say, none of these are scientific tests, but the router is in the same place as the Virgin hub was.
It is an expensive device and I’m not even using all of the features (the phone app is useful though as you can control most aspects of the router via that) but it does exactly what I needed it to do and more. I don’t know if I’ll stay with Virgin after my initial contract expires, but I’ll definitely be keeping this router and using it with which ever ISP I go with.
Five stars, superb piece of hardware.
/edit – 3+ months in and still incredibly happy with this router, had absolutely no drop outs, no DHCP issues – all my Ring devices have had 100% up time on my network. Brilliant piece of kit.
anyway. straight away the build quality feels much better. the TP link was a plastic dust magnet but the Asus looks really smart and futuristic. it was such an easy set up process. basically plug it in, download the app, and go through the quick start guide. doing this will be more than enough for most people but if you want to get into the nitty gritty and fine tune the router then you can do it through an internet browser and let me tell you….the amount of features this thing has is crazy.
things i’m most impressed with is how it has a gaming mode and you pick the games you play and it will optimise the settings for that game. also you can get real time view of what devices are connected and how much bandwidth they are using. …i could be here all day listing the features.
just trust me this router is really impressive and it’s not even the highest end router from asus. i did a lot of research before buying and it’s highly reviewed. it’s only been out a few months so will get better with software updates i’m sure.
if you have the money to spend then go for it. i never gave much thought to routers but this thing is serious business….if that’s what the thing you want. don’t let this put you off though because if you don’t know much about tech and want something that “Just works” then this will work easily. most effortless set up i’ve done.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 😀
3 days of messing about with out trying to change the router to vigor 130 modem and I’ve got a result. Maybe not using to full potential but it’s working.
My set up was 3 x Apple airport base stations and 3 x airport expresses. I live in an old 4 bed house and have an out building 30m away from the house. The airport base station started giving temp WiFi so was time to change. Reluctantly as I have sky q in the house and that in it self is an issue!
I initially set this up by disabling the ssid on the sky router and plugging the 88u into the modem (wan port) and set it up as a router. This caused double NAT, an issue I could live with. However only the main sky q box would work, non of the minis (I have 4, 2 hard wired and 2 wireless)
I had to rest both ASUS routers a few times as they kept freezing the ax58 router was connected as a node in the out building via a cat6 cable and speeds in the router mode were amazing. I was getting what I should with allot less equipment and also in the house receiving signals in all the dead spots I had to place the airport expresses in. The furthest room in the house is the loft and I get 50mb there. The extension where I was getting 5mb even with the express in the old set up I’m getting 45mb.
However the WiFi was fixed but the sky q was still down. I ended up reconfiguring to turning the 88u into an access point (with mesh mode) and everything just worked. Speeds are still as above.
You will have to create the standard ssid on the sky router, if you want create a new ssid in the ASUS router and your good to go. I left the sky equipment attached to the sky ssid and everything else on the new ssid the ASUs was broadcasting.
I have 2, 8port switches on each of the ASUS routers and they are both handling the hard wired equipment with no issues so far.
It was an expensive was to replace the Apple gear but wanted to future proof the house after 10years of old equipment. When I change isp I will most likely get the ASUs router to be a proper full on one but with sky it seems near impossible with out the vigor 130.
I’m no network expert however this was the fix for me. I went with it to future proof and ASUs seemed to be the most reliable gear out there whilst researching.
The app works great however is limited, great to see the IP address I case router.asus.com doesn’t work. You can also see the”traffic” and connected devices. My other worry was the Phillips hue lighting, that worked perfectly fine through the change and is still working with no issues so far.
I was able to also set a guest network on the ASUs routers (ax88u with ax58 as a node) which was great and you can set time limits for access and if like me you have nas servers attached they won’t be accessible in guest mode. Please note however the guest mode will only work with one router, it will not be broadcast to the node. Not an issue for most set ups.
I did notice a few drops in connection over WiFi for a few hours, no issues on the 2 day and will keep this updated. Hoping it stays stable. May consider virgin going forward in a few months.
In summery, works with sky fibre and sky q in access point / mesh mode. No issues with Phillips hue and supports multipul ports to be attached.
Mesh mode is easy to set up and use too, really like this feature.
Am sure there will be more flexibility in the coming months as I experiment with it. If I get it wrong factory reset and use the modes that work!
Hope this helped, I couldn’t find easy ways to fix my issue anywhere and as good as ASUs products are their support ain’t great and technical support is email only.
One last thing, I placed the ax88u in a more central position of the house on the ground floor for better coverage rather then in the living room. I tested this against the standard sky router in the same position and it still out preformed by 10 fold compared to the sky equipment. I’m using cat 7 cabling on everything apart from the cable that goes to the out building (cat6)
As anyone who has ever owned an ASUS router will know, there is so much additional functionality that you can add to the router by flashing it with the alternative version of the stock firmware by Merlin. There is so much support on the Smallnetbuilder forum for this router and so many clever people on there have worked and are continuing to work hard to deliver feature enhancements and rectify any bugs discovered in the firmware. As an example of what you can do with Merlin firmware, see the screenshot I have uploaded showing the automatic speed tests graphs (the speed tests default to running every thirty minutes, but can be tailored to suit individual needs). This is not available using the stock firmware but can be installed by means of a script when using Merlin’s version of the ASUS firmware. Another great thing is that it is usually easy to flip between the two versions of the firmware without needing to reconfigure the router.
The router itself is well built and feels like a quality product. It can sit on a flat surface like in my photographs or it can be mounted on a wall if preferred. The leds are quite bright but can be toggled on and off with a button on the front of the router. There are two USB 3 ports, one on the front and the other on the rear, plus eight LAN ports. The Wi-FI, whilst not being anything exceptional, does seem to be pretty stable, although I don’t have any Wi-Fi 6 ax devices, so I can’t comment on how good or badly that would perform.
There is an option to set up various VPNs. I have only tried the OpenVPN, but I found it relatively easy to set up and stable in use, which is in stark contrast to the relative complexity of setting up OpenVPN on my previous (Synology) router and even after working out how to do it, it was very flaky.
Overall, I would say that this is a good router, albeit expensive, but I would say that it is worth considering if you are in the market for a new router.