[Asus RT-AX88U] Experiences & Discussion

[razor92]

Well.. in ebay there is an italian store also selling it for 239€ (plus shipping) now..

Not new and without warranty

 

[FTC]

Not new and without warranty

Yes.. I missed that point.. sorry about it.

 

[ubimea]

Yes.. I missed that point.. sorry about it.

New with Asus warranty in the US for $269 at MicroCenter; bought one yesterday to replace a perfectly fine RT AC3200 from 2015, now happily serving as a wired access point grateful for the reduced responsibilities.

On the RT AX88U, turned off AX for now (will be adding new AX laptop by end of year); otherwise, new setup from scratch was tiresome, but without issue; looking forward to upgrading to Merlin when 38.14 is released, currently using stock Asus Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.384_6436.

 

[FTC]

In any case, to anyone buying a router from abroad, be aware not only of the risk of losing the warranty (or the ability to easily execute it), but also of the fact that different regions do have different wifi normative and available channels/power requirements, and it is quite difficult (in some cases not possible or fully documented) to change the operating region to suit your local requirements.

 

[Grisu]

i don’t know if it’s spam write here but send me a message private. It’s italian store online.

I'm blocked for PM so I cant, there are many links for good prices in this forum, isn't spam to help others which explicitely ask for the info.
Please let us know, all EU models are the same either in which country you bought it.

Have a look here with a list where to buy: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-rt-ax88u-delivery-times-prices.49145/

 

[RMerlin]

Never buy a router from a different region than yours.

 

[Kabouter Plop]

Never buy a router from a different region than yours.

Does this have to do with wifi spec and whats allowed per region ?

 

[Grisu]

EU is one harmonized wifi region like US and Canada are.

 

[RMerlin]

Does this have to do with wifi spec and whats allowed per region ?

Yes. A router from the EU region will have problems if used in North America, for example. The wifi region is hardcoded in the router, and determines the channels, output levels, etc...

 

[razor92]

Never buy a router from a different region than yours.

today i get asus ax88u and installed fw merlin! Work very very very nice!!! thank you for your work!

 

[Adamm]

Yes. A router from the EU region will have problems if used in North America, for example. The wifi region is hardcoded in the router, and determines the channels, output levels, etc...

This may only apply to select models? Region changing is present on my AX88U/AC86U/AC5300 and seems to work as expected. The last model I can recall this being locked down on was my AC68U.

 

[Kabouter Plop]

This may only apply to select models? Region changing is present on my AX88U/AC86U/AC5300 and seems to work as expected. The last model I can recall this being locked down on was my AC68U.

Not on mine

 

[Adamm]

Not on mine
View attachment 19877

Interesting, perhaps only models from select regions are locked down to comply with local government regulations. I know this was a big deal in the US a few years ago which initially led to these changes.

 

[Grisu]

RT-AC86U from EU had fixed region in CFE too, but with chinese version I had the possibility to change region like shown in your picture.
Maybe with newer models they continue to handle it similarly.
RT-AC68U can be changed easily to every country needed and even none with no restrictions and limits.

 

[Kabouter Plop]

Any news on next firmware see there a beta with wpa 3 and ofdma that is pretty old, guessing next update will wpa3 and ofdma support.

 

[Makaveli]

Not on mine
View attachment 19877

Mine is the same that region option is not there for me.

 

[RMerlin]

This may only apply to select models? Region changing is present on my AX88U/AC86U/AC5300 and seems to work as expected. The last model I can recall this being locked down on was my AC68U.

It depends both on the model and the original region. US models for instance will not have that setting, due to FCC requirements.

 

[RMerlin]

Any news on next firmware see there a beta with wpa 3 and ofdma that is pretty old, guessing next update will wpa3 and ofdma support.

Was originally scheduled for end of October, it got delayed. No new public ETA at this time.

 

[FBI Surveillance Van #2]

I just completed reading this (so far) 25 page thread, and it has been worth it!

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a RT-AX88U, set it up, installed the latest Asus-sourced firmware, and put it to work. My wife and I noticed an immediate improvement over our former wireless router, a Netgear AC3200 R8000, in every way. One would hope for such progress after five years of time!

We live in a rural area with no wireless cell phone coverage, so we depend on wifi calling using our cell phones (iPhone SEs). It was never great with the R8000 (easy to lose reception, call quality) but with the RT-AX88U, wifi calling is now every bit as good as landline!

We always thought that our Viasat (we have the very top plan) internet wasn't living up to its download "rating," 25Mbps, because using Speedtest we would barely get 25Mbps in the best of times, and only briefly. Plus, uploads were never better than 5-6Mbps. Now, with only the new wireless router, we approach 50Mbps downloads at times (and regularly get 30Mbps) and uploads that exceed 20Mbps. I had no idea that the R8000 was holding us back so much!

The RT-AX88U has had no glitches or problems, except for one thing: it would take forever to connect at 5g. That mystery was solved when I read in this thread that if you enable 160mhz bandwidth, the router has to search and confirm that there are not conflicts with radar.

My wife's PC came with an Intel AC9260 wifi adapter built in and right away it connected to the new router at approximately 900Mbps. A couple of days ago, my Asus version of the Intel AX200 160mhz adapter arrived and even as I sit here typing, I'm connected to the router at 2042/1103Mbps. Of course, since the ethernet port is only a Gigabit port, we are limited to incoming/outgoing data not exceeding that, but when transferring files between our computers, it is almost instantaneous.

I did a lot of experimenting with connecting to every 5g channel and recording its signal strength and speed at my computer, which is 75 feet away from the router, at the opposite end of the house, through a number of walls, appliances, etc. When I get time, I'll post my results here, if you guys want. I found it most interesting! The short version is that my control channel is 48 (best signal strength and speed) using AX and 160mhz.

Thank you to all for going through all of your travails and posting your fixes here!

One question, though; since I am pleased with the performance we are receiving with the Asus-sourced firmware, would we see any advantages using Asuswrt-Merlin? I've never used a "non-stock" firmware, so I'm very curious.

EDIT: I found the Asuswrt-Merlin forum and anwered my own question!

 

[thiggins]

If you can afford it, the RT-AX88U is a great router. It's only real flaw right now is its price.

What makes it "great" and a better choice than an AC88U?