Best ASUS router right now?

[cplay]

Hey everyone,

What's the best ASUS router/s to buy right now (no specific budget, just want the below needs satisfied):

•VPN speed (AES optimised)
•Range
•Throughput

Obs has to be supported by @RMerlin's insanely good firmware/on the list to be supported in upcoming versions.

Thank you

@OzarkEdge , @L&LD , @dave14305, @RMerlin

 

[ColinTaylor]

No Asus routers support AES-NI as that is an Intel x86 feature. On the ARM platform it's simply AES.

 

[cplay]

No Asus routers support AES-NI as that is an Intel x86 feature. On the ARM platform it's simply AES.

Updated - AES optimised is what I was intending to refer to.

Recommendations?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Recommendations?

IIRC you're in the UK? If so then take any WiFi reviews or recommendations from the likes of L&LD and others with a huge pinch of salt. As they are not located in the UK their routers will have completely different channel and power characteristics and are therefore not directly comparable to the UK models.

 

[cplay]

IIRC you're in the UK? If so then take any WiFi reviews or recommendations from the likes of L&LD and others with a huge pinch of salt. As they are not located in the UK their routers will have completely different channel and power characteristics and are therefore not directly comparable to the UK models.

The numbers will be off, sure due to limits on tx power.

But all of the ASUS routers should be hampered to the same degree, so whatever one's excel in the US should also excel in the UK?

 

[Tech9]

Most folks around will recommend AX86U, but you have to decide if you need it. If your clients are mostly AC 2-stream, there will be no noticeable performance difference with your current AC86U. Both AX86U and AC86U have AC Wave 2 radios, plus AX for AX86U. There is no need to spend more money just because you have a few AX clients, perhaps all mobile devices. What's the idea behind this upgrade?

 

[ColinTaylor]

The numbers will be off, sure due to limits on tx power.

But all of the ASUS routers should be hampered to the same degree, so whatever one's excel in the US should also excel in the UK?

One might hope so, just don't take it as gospel because you're not comparing apples with apples. That said, the pecking order of routers is likely to be roughly the same although the size of the improvements between them may be less significant.

 

[Tech9]

One more thing - single VPN client/server performance of AC86U is the the same as AX86U. OpenVPN uses single core and the CPU cores are the same. Quad-core CPU routers may have advantage when running multiple VPN clients/servers at the same time and on different cores.

 

[bbunge]

AX86U, AX86S or AX68U.

 

[leerees]

If you want great coverage and throughput, consider a mesh setup such as an AX92u or the new XT12. These will give you at least 1gbps over WiFi.

I wouldn't bother with the XT8 or lower as these have slower CPU performance than the AX92u.

There are lots of other Asus products but it sounds like what you need is a mesh solution.

 

[L&LD]

Slow Speedtest when AX86U is plugged on 2.5Gbe

Hey everyone! Hope you're doing great! I just got the FTTH on my flat (5Gbps down / 700Mbps up) and my ISP router have 2.5Gbe port. So I genuinely plug the ISP Router 2.5 to the AX86U 2.5. Everything with CAT 7 cable. Router print 2.5 link speed so everything seems ok. If I plug my...

www.snbforums.com

 

[blade12]

One more thing - single VPN client/server performance of AC86U is the the same as AX86U. OpenVPN uses single core and the CPU cores are the same. Quad-core CPU routers may have advantage when running multiple VPN clients/servers at the same time and on different cores.

Unless if you are willing to wait for wireguard, which I believe will be able to use multiple cores at the same time. And get much faster speeds. (still in beta testing though)

 

[BreakingDad]

2 pennys worth, I'm in UK, I got an AX86U a year or so ago, it's been faultless, I love it, and I cuddle it sometimes, when I'm feeling lonely.

Range is better than the RT-N66U I had before, and I see it as the natural succesor to the old black knight, speed is incredible, I get about 420dl over wifi off a 500dl line. Multiple PC's no lagging each other up with Flex.

No idea about VPNS. I only use a client side one when I'm downloading episodes of trainspotting live with Peter Snow.

 

[Gary_Dexter]

2 pennys worth, I'm in UK, I got an AX86U a year or so ago, it's been faultless, I love it, and I cuddle it sometimes, when I'm feeling lonely.

Range is better than the RT-N66U I had before, and I see it as the natural succesor to the old black knight, speed is incredible, I get about 420dl over wifi off a 500dl line. Multiple PC's no lagging each other up with Flex.

No idea about VPNS. I only use a client side one when I'm downloading episodes of trainspotting live with Peter Snow.

Are those speeds for AX devices?
I get over 500-550 on my AC iDevices

 

[ColinTaylor]

I get over 500-550 on my AC iDevices

On a 500 Mbps ISP connection like the previous poster said he has? That's impressive.

 

[BreakingDad]

Are those speeds for AX devices?
I get over 500-550 on my AC iDevices

They are speeds for AX device (Intel PC, in room above router, through ceiling. 5ghz 160mhz channel 64 wifi 6 using TP Archer TX50E Card with latest Intel driver on it.

 

[cplay]

Everyone here;

After convo above i purchased ax86u. Works great.

On 1gb down, 200mbps up connection.

Have moved to a new home and need better wifi coverage + throughput from mesh system.

This is my current setup (all connected via cat 6);
•AX86u - primary
•AC86u - mesh
•Ac68u - mesh

Recommendations please based on wanting max throughput and range, potential replacement mesh nodes;

AX86u
AX86s
AX68u

Anything else i should consider?

 

[L&LD]

Additional RT-AX86Us will be most useful if you can connect them via their 2.5GbE Ports for wired backhaul.

I use a couple of the QNAP QSW-1105-5T 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5GbE switches over Cat5E (100' run) cable and have no hiccups or slowdowns with my 1Gbps symmetrical up/down connection and any concurrent LAN usage (including to 2x QNAP 2.5GbE capable NAS').

Be sure you locate the routers as physically far apart as possible, for maximum performance and coverage. And be sure to manually select the Control Channel that works ideally for the new environment too.

AiMesh Ideal Placement

 

[RMerlin]

Have moved to a new home and need better wifi coverage + throughput from mesh system.

It's fairly unusual for a home to need more than three nodes total. Have you ensured that your node placement was already optimal?

Having too many nodes with too big of an overlap will make reliable roaming difficult.

 

[cplay]

It's fairly unusual for a home to need more than three nodes total. Have you ensured that your node placement was already optimal?

Having too many nodes with too big of an overlap will make reliable roaming difficult.

Have edited original post @RMerlin + @L&LD d

Looking for nodes to replace the ac86u and ac68u