ASUS Unveils RT-BE88U WiFi 7 Dual-Band Router

[sfx2000]

So those speeds 592/643 MB/s don't come from a router's usb port.

Read again - it's from the native USB 3.1 Gen 2 port on the SoC

 

[Retr0]

This is what I understood:
You have an NVME SSD attached to a device with an usb port, not to a router's usb port (RT-BE88U), hence those speeds would not be possible.

I have no idea what a directly attached ssd to an SoC means.

 

[VladDBA]

Asus UI Con:
- They should have an option in the UI to export and import your DHCP client list if you have dedicated IPs configured for your clients. Having to decode the config backup, get the client list from there, and then copy-paste each entry in the new router isn't fun if you have upwards of 30 entries.

Coming back to this part; I've added a step in my Decode-AsusRouterConfig PS script to extract and format the DHCP client list to pipe-delimited text and save it in a separate file.

 

[AlegreTom]

Hello, I bought the RT-BE88U to complement the GT-BE98 in airmesh since I have areas where little coverage reaches me.

The question is that I wanted to test the mlo and what happened are 2 things: first, the node does not connect any device when usually there are at least 7, second, when trying to create a new pro net guest it tells me that the router is not compatible with MLO

Maybe the firmware is not ready for this? or is it not possible?

 

[Jimmy9]

I hope this is ok, i didnt want to start another thread.
I have RTAX88U. Best client devices we have are .11ax (Macs, Surfaces, Smart TVs, Iphones, tablets).

I want the best router to give me VLAN, Next DNS, NordVPN/VPN Director support and 3-4 hungry simultaneous wifi users, 3 TVs streaming all the time. I will use the rtAX88U to replace my old wired AP node so i can update to WPA3 across the network.

Is the RT-BE88U the right device for me?

 

[maxbraketorque]

I hope this is ok, i didnt want to start another thread.
I have RTAX88U. Best client devices we have are .11ax (Macs, Surfaces, Smart TVs, Iphones, tablets).

I want the best router to give me VLAN, Next DNS, NordVPN/VPN Director support and 3-4 hungry simultaneous wifi users, 3 TVs streaming all the time. I will use the rtAX88U to replace my old wired AP node so i can update to WPA3 across the network.

Is the RT-BE88U the right device for me?

Hard to say without more info about the BE88U. Since your devices are all AX, there is no immediate value to wifi 7, but there is a possibility that the BE88U radios do a better job at AX than your AX88U. No one will know that until some testing is done.

Consider going with an AX88U Pro. This gets you into the 3.0.0.6 firmware which has several new features of value to many people.

 

[cygy2k]

Hard to say without more info about the BE88U. Since your devices are all AX, there is no immediate value to wifi 7, but there is a possibility that the BE88U radios do a better job at AX than your AX88U. No one will know that until some testing is done.

Consider going with an AX88U Pro. This gets you into the 3.0.0.6 firmware which has several new features of value to many people.

I don't like that dongknows.com doesn't show the different mixes of router generations because a great example of "progress" without improvement is the BE88U vs AX88U Pro. If you look at the benchmark charts, neither will be on the other's benchmarks. The description and summary talks about the BE88U being a great dual band router but when you compare the speeds compared to the AX88U Pro, you see the older does better in many scenarios since both are non-6ghz.

 

[jixiangyuan]

I don't like that dongknows.com doesn't show the different mixes of router generations because a great example of "progress" without improvement is the BE88U vs AX88U Pro. If you look at the benchmark charts, neither will be on the other's benchmarks. The description and summary talks about the BE88U being a great dual band router but when you compare the speeds compared to the AX88U Pro, you see the older does better in many scenarios since both are non-6ghz.

To be honest I think that unless all the tests are carried out at the same time under the same conditions (room temperature, humidity, etc.) and with the latest firmware, they are quite useless, because they are not direct comparisons. Older models (with old firmware) tested in the past do not 100% reflect their current performance.

 

[cygy2k]

That is a very valid argument and one I don't disagree with. Unfortunately, there isn't a perfect way to test and accurately depict speed comparisons in controlled environments, let alone constant changing ones. Likewise, firmware can also play a big factor. But, I don't know that we have anything better as a tool at this time.

 

[jixiangyuan]

That is a very valid argument and one I don't disagree with. Unfortunately, there isn't a perfect way to test and accurately depict speed comparisons in controlled environments, let alone constant changing ones. Likewise, firmware can also play a big factor. But, I don't know that we have anything better as a tool at this time.

I guess in a perfect world, you would also need to test every router simultaneously with all client devices (as each client device is different) as well as every possible home/office structure and device placement. However, in the world we live in, testers typically only run speed tests against 1-2 client devices at a time, and people assume that these results apply to all client devices, which is wrong.

I guess the speed tests people get online only reflect the speed that person got at that particular time with that particular router and client device. You can only know whether it’s an improvement or not if you run those tests yourself.

 

[Sparxxx]

how does the BE88U compare to the AX89X when it comes to wired routing speed?
I don't care about WiFi but would like to saturate my 10gbit fiber connection as much as possible.
Currently having the AX89X and was thinking that the BE88U might be faster, closer to 10gbit wired.

 

[sfx2000]

Just note that all WiFi7 hardware is pretty early - so one is an active beta tester...

Interoperability is the main thing to be concerned with 11be radios, as they need to support all the legacy stuff as well - and that is where trouble happens...

 

[Sparxxx]

I'm not really interested in the WiFi of the router as I have my own access points (3x Asus ET12).
I just need a router with SFP+ for LAN which can saturate my 10gbit as much as possbile. this BE88U seems to tick all the boxes but not sure how it compares to my current AX89X in terms of wired WAN speeds.

 

[Clark Griswald]

If wifi is not a concern, then why waste your time with an AIO router? I would suggest a more capable wired router running pfsense.

 

[Tech9]

why waste your time with an AIO router?

Indeed. Just another piece of disposable hardware perhaps EoL in 3-4 years time.

 

[Sparxxx]

that's also true. My other option would be to go OPNsense with a Protectli VP6650 or DEC850 (even a Minisforum MS-01 would be an option but I would prefer something fanless).
However those options cost 3 times more than what I can get the BE88U for..

 

[Clark Griswald]

VP6650
That seems a good hardware solution, since you don't need wifi!
If I had 10Gb home internet, I would definitely upgrade the hardware to achieve the best network speeds without any bottleneck.
Even with the cost of memory/ssd drives it is difficult to imagine the BE98 would be 3x less.
EDIT: Asus has the BE98U $350 while the VP6650 is $860 (direct)

 

[Jadehsn]

Have you looked at firewalla?

 

[Sparxxx]

VP6650
That seems a good hardware solution, since you don't need wifi!
If I had 10Gb home internet, I would definitely upgrade the hardware to achieve the best network speeds without any bottleneck.
Even with the cost of memory/ssd drives it is difficult to imagine the BE98 would be 3x less.
EDIT: Asus has the BE98U $350 while the VP6650 is $860 (direct)

I could get the BE88U for 260$
@Jadehsn I did look at Firewall but none of them have SFP+ ports and the one supporting 10G (Gold Pro) is far away from beeing released.

 

[Clark Griswald]

I could get the BE88U for 260$
@Jadehsn I did look at Firewall but none of them have SFP+ ports and the one supporting 10G (Gold Pro) is far away from beeing released.

Apologies, I stated BE98 and you are referencing the BE88.
Again, why bother with an AIO router when you don't need wifi?
Our neighborhood has 10Gb fiber, and I haven't found anyone getting full use of their 10Gb while using an AIO router.