Asus rt ac88u Vs NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900

[Craig Pettigrove]

I have been using the Netgear Nighthawk for around 2 years and have been very happy with it's performance. I recently upgraded to the Asus RT AC88U due to it's 8 LAN ports and was thinking it would give me noticeble performance benefits. One thing I was suprised to find out though, was the Nighthawk had better WiFi Range on the 2.4 and 5GHZ bands then the Asus RT AC88U. Now I am doubting whether I should sell the Asus router and just keep using the Netgear Nighthawk. Am I right to expect better range from the Asus router and am I getting many other benefits by using the Asus router. Any additional information would be helpful.

What do people consider the best all round router for under $250?

 

[avtella]

That's odd, pretty sure most reviews and experiences put the 88U ahead in performance/range. Did you upgrade the 88U firmware and also is your positioning the same?

 

[rbird2]

I originally bought a ASUS RT-AC3100 (basically a AC88U with only 4 Ethernet ports), returned it, replacing it with a Netgear R7800 router.

I have to agree with you, the R7800 has much better coverage (both 2.4 and 5.0 bands) in my home compared to the ASUS RT-AC3100. I'm pretty happy with the R7800's wireless performance.

 

[avtella]

OP was talking about the R7000 (AC1900).

 

[rbird2]

OP was talking about the R7000 (AC1900).

OOPS...

 

[Craig Pettigrove]

Thanks for the response. The NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router (R7000) has got better range than the Asus RT AC88U in my house. I compared the two routers by running both net spot and Istumbler to test signal strength. Both routers were side by side when I ran the tests. I would have thought for the $ that the Asus RT AC88U would offer better range than a 3 year old Netgear Router.

 

[psychopomp1]

I would have thought for the $ that the Asus RT AC88U would offer better range than a 3 year old Netgear Router.

You would think so right? But as you've found out, spending $$$ on a flashier newer router isn't guaranteed to give you better wifi performance. The R7000 might be getting old but is still a very good router. however if you want the latest and greatest for wifi coverage then buying one of the Netgear R7800, Netgear R9000 or Synology RT2600AC will almost certainly give you better wifi coverage than the R7000.