ASUS RT-AC86U Dual Band AC2900 Wireless Router Reviewed

[Padinn]

Hi,
New here and just purchased this router. A bit anxious since a lot of customer reviews online indicate the 2.4cuz band dies. Saw in the review an issue with 20/40 causing connection drops, so I'm wondering if that is the cause for most people.

any tips for first time setup?

 

[maxbraketorque]

I have an AC86U that has been running the 2.4 GHz radio since January 2018 with no issues. I've been running it in 40 MHz mode, so I can't say anything about 20/40 Mhz mode connection drops. I just picked up another AC86U for my cabin, and its set to 20/40 MHz. Its been running for a few days using only the 2.4 GHz band, and so far I have not noticed any disconnects.

I've got three of these routers now, and I think they are the best combination of value and performance in the entire ASUS lineup. It definitely beats its nearest competitor, the AC3100, in performance irrespective of price. The only other router I would consider at this point is the AX88U.

 

[andyman]

Hi,
New here and just purchased this router. A bit anxious since a lot of customer reviews online indicate the 2.4cuz band dies. Saw in the review an issue with 20/40 causing connection drops, so I'm wondering if that is the cause for most people.

any tips for first time setup?

I have just changed from the 68U to the 86U and I found two problems almost immediately.
1) In Wireless settings with 20/40 enabled on 2.4GHz wireless I found that a number of my Android devices and my Amazon Alexa wouldn't stay connected, some didn't mind at all..oddly enough the very old ones. I had to lock it down to 20MHz only to get them all to stay connected.
2) In WAN settings don't enable Spoof or Extend TTL value. It too stopped most of my Android devices from working, they would connect but not pass data.

That's all so far and other than those two things I haven't had any other problems and this router absolutely smokes doing Nord VPN 256 AES Encryption on VPNs, it's about 4-5 times as fast as the old 68U. AIMesh works brilliantly and both 5 and 2.4GHz range is way better than the old 68U I was using.

Oh, I have used Merlin Firmware for years but as I needed AIMesh and it's closed source and Merlin naturally doesn't support it I'm using the very latest Asus stock firmware.

Hope that helps.

 

[Hagar]

I got this router thinking it could help me connect two networks together, but it seems it doesn't have this interface. I used to make a site-to-site, lan-to-lan, client-to-client. Or whatever it is called, it was easy enought to setup on our old RV042, sadly the thing finally give up. It doesn't seem like this router will do the job, but am I wrong? is there a way to connect it to another router via Ipsec tunneling?

 

[maxbraketorque]

I got this router thinking it could help me connect two networks together, but it seems it doesn't have this interface. I used to make a site-to-site, lan-to-lan, client-to-client. Or whatever it is called, it was easy enought to setup on our old RV042, sadly the thing finally give up. It doesn't seem like this router will do the job, but am I wrong? is there a way to connect it to another router via Ipsec tunneling?

Can be done using OpenVPN. Some knowledge of OpenVPN server setup is needed. Do you have ASUS routers at both sites?

 

[speedingcheetah]

Hi,
New here and just purchased this router. A bit anxious since a lot of customer reviews online indicate the 2.4cuz band dies. Saw in the review an issue with 20/40 causing connection drops, so I'm wondering if that is the cause for most people.

any tips for first time setup?

I purchased a 86U from MicroCenter on 9-14-18.
The 2.4ghz wifi radio failed on 10-27-18.
I exchanged the router (ate up the stores $40 Replacement plant since it was past the 30 day return policy)
I paid again for a new 3yr Protection plan on the new router. Annoying, but far more fast and convenient than dealing with Asus RMA process and replacement.)

Since then, had no failures. It is the fastest router and wifi I have had. (had a AC68U before)
Though, I do seem to have to power cycle the 86U every month or so as things slow down and lag a bit.
I am using current Merlin firmware.
THinking about moving over to a Ubquiti EdgeRouter to do my wired network and use the 86U as wifi AP...but not sure yet.

 

[Keenan]

I purchased a 86U from MicroCenter on 9-14-18.
The 2.4ghz wifi radio failed on 10-27-18.
I exchanged the router (ate up the stores $40 Replacement plant since it was past the 30 day return policy)
I paid again for a new 3yr Protection plan on the new router. Annoying, but far more fast and convenient than dealing with Asus RMA process and replacement.)

Since then, had no failures. It is the fastest router and wifi I have had. (had a AC68U before)
Though, I do seem to have to power cycle the 86U every month or so as things slow down and lag a bit.
I am using current Merlin firmware.

I'm not sure why you had to pay anything.

https://www.asus.com/us/support/article/684/

 

[speedingcheetah]

I'm not sure why you had to pay anything.

Read again STORE warranty plan.
This is separate to manufacture warranty terms.
Same thing applies with Best Buy or Square Trade...etc. any third party warranties.
It is what u pay for the convince of walking into the store you bought the product from and getting store credit back to buy a new one, anytime within in 3yrs of the purchase date.
$40 is worth it when, the thing is outdated and may develop issues near the 3yr mark, money spent on that model then rolls over to getting the newest model. However, only 45 days after first purchase, having to use the warranty, is frustrating. And I have never had a product fail that fast before.

 

[Keenan]

Read again STORE warranty plan.
This is separate to manufacture warranty terms.
Same thing applies with Best Buy or Square Trade...etc. any third party warranties.
It is what u pay for the convince of walking into the store you bought the product from and getting store credit back to buy a new one, anytime within in 3yrs of the purchase date.
$40 is worth it when, the thing is outdated and may develop issues near the 3yr mark, money spent on that model then rolls over to getting the newest model. However, only 45 days after first purchase, having to use the warranty, is frustrating. And I have never had a product fail that fast before.

Yes, I get it, convenience. Personally, I would shop elsewhere.

 

[speedingcheetah]

Yes, I get it, convenience. Personally, I would shop elsewhere.

No where else other than Best Buy around here, and MicroCenter also matches Amazon.com prices.
(i also have had TONS of delivery issues with Amazon Prime so I quite using them)
Second, I used to work at MicroCenter as a repair tech for 3yrs.
I purchased my initial Asus router the 68U there under Employee Pricing.
Anyway, that is getting a bit off topic.

 

[Keenan]

No where else other than Best Buy around here, and MicroCenter also matches Amazon.com prices.
(i also have had TONS of delivery issues with Amazon Prime so I quite using them)
Second, I used to work at MicroCenter as a repair tech for 3yrs.
I purchased my initial Asus router the 68U there under Employee Pricing.
Anyway, that is getting a bit off topic.

And they wouldn't give you a break on the 15 days? Wow!

 

[Going_Strong]

Hi,
New here and just purchased this router. A bit anxious since a lot of customer reviews online indicate the 2.4cuz band dies. Saw in the review an issue with 20/40 causing connection drops, so I'm wondering if that is the cause for most people.

any tips for first time setup?

To cheer you up - mine had no 2.4 radio issues. It failed, however, after no more than a year of usage.

But when I was using it I had no connection drops whatsoever ...

The problems that I did experience were of a different nature altogether. I found out that it was extremely (and I mean extremely) finnicky as regards the devices you tried to attach to it. For example, my TL-WPA8630 kits (two PLC devices that I simply must have up and running in order for my daughters to have internet) would need to be configured. reconfigured and reconfigured just to get connected. Once they were connected, everything went fine; it was getting them connected that was the problem.

Basically, I would say just enjoy the thing (you do have a warranty after all). And I sincerely hope it works for you.

 

[Wally173]

Sir,

In regards to your review you stated:

“The Cut Through Forwarding tests look for throughput reduction when various router features are used. The 99.1% score means testing did not show appreciable throughput reduction for any of the features tested (adaptive QoS, Bandwidth monitor, Traffic Monitor, AiProtection w/ all features enabled, Parental Control w/ all features enabled and keyword blocking).”


My question is with gigabit download speeds you were able to continue getting gigabit download speeds with all these settings enabled?

I am trying to troubleshoot with the RT-AX88U which is a different model but should be more powerful, however I cannot get gigabit speeds down with these features enabled.

Just want to clarify so I can stop pulling what little hair I have on my head out

 

[jrmtz85]

Sir,

In regards to your review you stated:

“The Cut Through Forwarding tests look for throughput reduction when various router features are used. The 99.1% score means testing did not show appreciable throughput reduction for any of the features tested (adaptive QoS, Bandwidth monitor, Traffic Monitor, AiProtection w/ all features enabled, Parental Control w/ all features enabled and keyword blocking).”


My question is with gigabit download speeds you were able to continue getting gigabit download speeds with all these settings enabled?

I am trying to troubleshoot with the RT-AX88U which is a different model but should be more powerful, however I cannot get gigabit speeds down with these features enabled.

Just want to clarify so I can stop pulling what little hair I have on my head out

I have an 86U with Merlin, AI protection features enabled, and Diversion and Skynet scripts. Have 1000/50 at home, and I pretty much always get the full 1000 when I download from fast servers (115-120 MB/sec).

 

[StR]

@thiggins
Sorry, I am confused: the review for this product and all the articles that include tests of this router list a
"typical price" of $151.
The review links to Amazon. The current price there is $179, and it that seems to be the lowest prices from this and other reputable sources (B&H, Newegg).
According to Camelcamelcamel, there was only a very brief period when Amazon's price was in the vicinity of $150. Most of the time, it fluctuates around $170-ish.
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0752FD3XJ

The 3rd party price shows a period of time in early 2020 when the price was around $150, but with intermittent availability, and unclear shipping fee. - Is that what is the basis for your "typical" $151? But the review was written many months before, and if the price was updated later, - it's been long since that was in effect. So, that "$151" seems to be rather misleading.
I've actually stumbled on this at least twice, 1-2 months apart.

 

[L&LD]

@StR prices change as demand changes too. Nothing stands still in time, except for first reports/reviews.

 

[StR]

@StR prices change as demand changes too. Nothing stands still in time, except for first reports/reviews.

That's why I referenced the price variation over the time.
What's your point?

Just in case I had failed to bring my point across in the previous comment: The price listed in the review and test reports is neither original/price at the time of writing, nor current.

 

[L&LD]

Okay, but what is your point then?

You said you were confused.

 

[StR]

Okay, but what is your point then?

You said you were confused.

Reiterated just above:

The price listed in the review and test reports is neither original/price at the time of writing, nor current.

 

[HWDan]

Thiggins made it quite clear some time ago that he no longer actively maintains the site anymore as the ad revenue is negligible. (I doubt he would spent time to maintain price history on 3 year old articles even if he did). You can find that discussion still linked on the main site page.

It's a good bet that he sampled a bunch of typical retail/online vendors at the time. Note that this camel site is Amazon and 3rd party Amazon seller specific so you won't find real market-wide history for other popular retailers like Best Buy, Staples, etc in there. (and around here 3rd party Amazon sellers always have way over inflated prices on older models as well.)

I actually bought mine on sale for $149 CDN at Staples.ca back in 2018 which is and was probably was around $100 US. It's routinely for sale at retail around here every few weeks for $199 CDN and $179 CDN ($150- $130US) Normally around $260 CDN here, or about $190 US.