ASUS DSL-AC88U AC3100 Wi-Fi Gigabit Modem Router, Upto 18x
ASUS DSL-AC88U AC3100 Wi-Fi Gigabit Modem Router, Upto 18x Speed than VDSL2, USB 3.0 for LTE/3G Connection, Media Server for (BT Infinity, YouView, TalkTalk, EE and Plusnet Fibre) – Black
Total flexibility with DSL, Ethernet or 3G/4G LTE Internet connections
DSL-AC88U has multiple ways to connect to the internet, with a choice of DSL, Ethernet or 3G/4G LTE*. You can use DSL-AC88U as a DSL modem Wi-Fi router or a stand-alone Wi-Fi router according to your needs. And with the ability to switch instantly between connections if one fails (and switch back again when it’s fixed), it’s perfect for reliable, always-on internet connectivity. *Requires compatible USB dongle
Unbeatable Wi-Fi coverage
With a four-transmit, four-receive (4T4R) antenna design, both Wi-Fi range and signal stability improve dramatically. AiRadar beam forming further focuses Wi-Fi signal on your devices, making your Wi-Fi faster, clearer and stronger.
ASUSWRT –Easily Control Your Network
DSL-AC88U features the enhanced, intuitive ASUSWRT user interface, which gives you easy access to both the 3-step web-based instalation process and a wealth of robust advanced options.
| Weight: | 795 g |
| Dimensions: | 29.2 x 18 x 6.1 cm; 795 Grams |
| Brand: | Asus |
| Model: | 114563 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | ASUS |
| Dimensions: | 29.2 x 18 x 6.1 cm; 795 Grams |
good piece of kit,
brought to replace BT Hub,
faster WiFi speeds with a more stable connection
brilliant tech support for helping to set-up the Router to your ISP settings
Super nice UI. User interface is super friendly.i think people buy Asus router just because of the software.
Super stable. Good speed
The bad
Not working with apps on iOS or Android.
I got the app on the phone. I see the router in the list. But when i try to manage it from the app they saying that the router is not supported
Thank you Amazon
Good produc
Once working the product has proved great for my needs i.e. larger than average house, gaming teenagers, streaming TV etc. I am no technophobe but I had to call the Asus Helpdesk to get it working. The Quick Setup didn’t work for me and it proved impossible to get online without the helpful guys at Asus. And Asus only operate their Helpdesk in business hours. A little frustrating but once I was talking to Asus they had me live in about 10 mins.
I wanted an all-in-one replacement solution for EE’s BrightBox2 modem/router. Not that their router is bad (it’s not) but EE occasionally push unannounced firmware updates to the box, and the last time this happened it bricked the modem completely on the same day that O2’s mobile data network went down. We were stuck in a prehistoric world completely lacking internet access.
Although I promptly received a free replacement from EE, I decided that a 3rd party modem/router combo would probably suit me better in the long term, and this Asus DSL-AC88U seemed to fit the bill. Here’s what I’ve noticed over the last week or so (as quickly as possible):
* Before swapping your current modem/router out – find your ISP login details (not the admin login for your current router). You can usually find this on initial “welcome to your ISP” emails/documentation, in the router itself, from the ISP directly, or sometimes from Google!
* Complete the initial setup using a browser window on a PC, not from your phone. Phones generally see the setup window (on a router without internet access) as a public WiFi login, and will force close the window before completing the entire setup procedure.
* If you make it through the setup with internet access, congrats! The first thing you should do is navigate to the firmware update section, update the firmware automatically (if available) and then factory reset the router to avoid any software/configuration issues. Once this is done run through the ISP/initial setup again.
* Set a new router login/password immediately, as well as 5GHZ and 2.4GHz SSIDs and passwords.
* For the sake of stability and compatibility with some streaming/android devices I’d recommend changing the Network Key Rotation Interval to 604800, and the DCHP lease time to 604800, then setting the router to automatically reboot at a convenient weekly time (4am on a Sunday or something). This will somewhat reduce security on your network (as a new key is usually generated every hour by default rather than weekly) but does improve stability – if you’re on a home network with a decent SSID password then it’s a risk worth taking in my opinion.
* Being able to see all the connected devices from the router’s homepage, see the connection type/strength, and rename the devices (along with an appropriate icon) is a fantastic bonus on a home network.
* WiFi strength is about as good as can be expected, it sits in the middle of a 3 bedroom, 2 story house (on the ground floor) and both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks cover the entirety of the house (with the 2.4GHz network spanning the back garden as well).
Put simply, it’s a good modem/router combo. It does require some networking knowledge to get the best out of it (and using some sort of channel scanning tool like InSSIDer to find/set the least cluttered 2.4GHz or 5GHz channels is also advised with any router, although “auto” should still work fine) but once it’s set up it seems stable and has a decent signal range.
There are more advanced options like the built in firewall, malicious website blocker, device logging tools, inbuilt DLNA server via attached USB storage, Guest Network setup (with no access to your intranet devices etc) and more – but if all you’re after is a stable modem/router combo for DSL/Fibre then you can do far worse than this.
Installation is straightforward as I already have the UID and PW from my ISP provider (Post Office Broadband). I have medium range (upto 38 MB) fibre subscription. With DSL-AC88U the speed test shows 37.8 MB and upload speed of 10 MB. The older modem was dropping connection few times a week and the wireless was unpredictable. I have installed this few days ago. So far there is no connection loss and gives solid WIFI connection both with 2.5 and 5.0 GHz bands. The outdoor signal (in the garden) is also acceptable. I am satisfied with this purchase.
Not exactly cheap – but noticeably faster and more reliable than the Plusnet Hub-one router we had before this. Signal coverage for both the 2.4 and 5 Ghz bands is impressive, and the installation was a doddle on my iMac. The control panel is well laid out and very intuitive. All in all – a great piece of kit, but it’s only been running for a few days! One last thing – it’s not small and will take up a fair block of desk space – I’ve stood mine on the front panel with the base against a wall – works for me! There’s a lot of flexibility in the options panel, including setting a Guest WiFi connection for limited or specified times and a Parental Control which allows you to restrict internet access to specific times for a given user (e.g. a teenager who won’t come down for dinner!) I’d have given 5 stars if the price had been 30 less.
So far, after a week, the DSL AC88U has worked perfectly providing a strong signal and much improved speeds everywhere in the house.
I have been having problems with wi-fi on a TalkTalk super router, Hg633, which dropped out and lost signal on a regular basis. As we could have four computers, four phones, TV downloads and other devices connected, and our property is old with solid brick walls and lathe and plaster ceilings, we needed something with more oomph and bandwidth to provide a more reliable distribution and this Asus unit does just that.
Set up was not trouble free, however with a couple of small niggles.
First the set-up screen would not open automatically, despite reboots, checking proxy settings, internet searches and scouring the manual on the supplied CD. Typing in 192.162.1.1 on a hunch though solved the problem and the screen opened immediately.
Once logged in, there is a long list of ISPs, including TalkTalk, and from that TalkTalk TV, which can be selected and the Asus wizard fill in the required settings automatically. If you set the name and passwords of the networks to the same as you had with your previous router, in my case the TalkTalk set up, then everything logs in as if nothing has happened and you don’t have to fill in new log-in details on every device.
The second niggle is wi-fi. Speed connected by cable was close to the advertised 76 Mb of fast fibre so connection was excellent but there was no wi-fi. There are two push buttons on the front, one to switch LEDs on and off, one to switch wi-fi on and off.
The wi-fi LED stubbornly remained off and the button did not seem to do anything, no matter how often it was pressed . . . until it was pressed for about five seconds whereupon the LED lit up like a Christmas tree and wi-fi was operating.
Since the two set-up problems were solved the, connection and wi-fi have been rock solid and downloads over wi-fi, with several computers, phones and devices connected, is about a third faster than the HG633.
There are tons of settings to play for people who like that sort of thing, but my needs were for a solid, reliable connection and that has been achieved.
The guest networks are a good idea, by the way, as guests usually just want to access the internet so a simple, shortish password is ideal.
The AC88U is not a cheap item but it appears well built and does what it promises on the box and is in a different class to ISP supplied routers
Cause I know Amazon jumbles the reviews up.
Upgraded to this from bt smart hub (hh6)
First hour: set up easy as anything, auto detects everythi
ng (needs BT deets for connecting but these are easily found By googling.
Lots of settings for power users and those who roughly know what they are doing.
Connected a dream and got my full 52mb speed straight away.
Ping dropped by at least 4ms.
5ghz range beats the BT smarthub easily,
Set up takes 15mins tops
I’ll end up giving this 5 stars once I’ve had more time with it
Bear in mind this router is a much bigger than a smart hub
Menu now in English out of the box but firmware was very first release.
Updated to latest version as advised by router.
Connetion to BT Infinity was straight forward but no noticable improvement over Home Hub on wifi or VDSL connection.
However my reason for this purchase was for embedded openvpn which has been configured but I am unable to route my connected devices to my LAN subnet. Help call raised via a very poor Asus web portal and awaiting response. Unfortunately if the router cannot meet my VPN needs it will have to be returned.
In the meantime if Asus technical repond and identify the openvpn routing issue, I will update my review in due course
Update 4/7/2017
Asus customer support have managed to find the issue that my OpenVPN service would not work and resolved my issue so I have raised my rating now to 4 star. The reason for loosing one star is that the 2.4Ghz wifi struggles to connect sometimes and has a little bug where you need to reset the password again on the router. Thats no big issue for me as the 5Ghz frequency works very good in my property.
PS….. The OpenVPN server issue was with the firewall setting. Dont set to AUTO as in the Asus instructions but set to EXTERNAL to get access to your LAN from remote location. Hopefully this will be ammended on the Asus web site set up instructions.
Edit: After many hours of trying to get it to work when even ASUS didn’t know what to do, it is finally running. Comments below show what was done to get around the problem. Trying to work with ASUS just now to give them a better understanding of what is wrong. I have taken the rating up to 4 stars as it is still does not work “out of the box”