Recommended Asus router for a small, 3br home?

[ADFHogan]

Hey folks,

Mate moving into a new house soon, and is looking for an OK router which isn't going to break the bank. I like the Asus routers 'cos they can run Merlin.. and even when they don't.. they seem to get more love from Asus, than the Nighthawks do from Netgear.. and then the rest seem to be mostly ISP bundle deals.

Small house (3br), single person, 50-100Mbps plan down, no VoIP ATA req'd, DHCP ethernet WAN (NBN), working from home, which Asus router would you aim for?

 

[MXThaurus]

If you got already one, stick with it and wait for Wi-fi 7 in 2024. If not, i would go for:
AC86U (Wifi 5),AX86U-Pro (Wifi 6, always on discount), GT-AXE11000 (Wi-fi 6E, Triband), Zen Wi-fi (for Mesh, no merlin cause it's only for Pro version that is expensive for your needs). Any device you'll pick it's for me the best ASUS choice for each Wi-fi technology.

 

[gpmc]

I'm in similar situation and I went for a RT-AX58U.
Definitely it's perfectly fitting all my needs (laptop, iPad, 3 Android phones, Xbox Series X, Nvidia Shield TV, Amazon FireStick 4K Max, OSMC Vero 4K+) and no issues with any of the Merlin firmwares made available since the beginning.

 

[drinkingbird]

Hey folks,

Mate moving into a new house soon, and is looking for an OK router which isn't going to break the bank. I like the Asus routers 'cos they can run Merlin.. and even when they don't.. they seem to get more love from Asus, than the Nighthawks do from Netgear.. and then the rest seem to be mostly ISP bundle deals.

Small house (3br), single person, 50-100Mbps plan down, no VoIP ATA req'd, DHCP ethernet WAN (NBN), working from home, which Asus router would you aim for?

I think just about any router can handle those requirements. Just be cautious of some of the used ones such as AC86U and even AX86U as they are known to have hardware failures.

If merlin isn't critical, TP Link makes good routers for low prices. Firmware isn't as polished but if you just need a router to do what a normal router is supposed to do, they work fine.

 

[Tech9]

I like the Asus routers 'cos they can run Merlin

Not all Asus routers run Asuswrt-Merlin and your friend may not be interested in 3rd party firmware.

 

[PureSpeed]

For cost effectiveness TP Link has a few good options I would go tri band setup something like the Archer AX3200 TP Link it’s very budget friendly has great range and a 2.5gb wan port on it as well in case you ever decide to up your internet speeds. Another good option is the Netgear RAX70 good tri band router with also great speed and range. It’s a little more pricey than the TP link model but overall it’s another solid performer. If you want Asus then something like an AX82u would work it’s a dual band gaming router and priced fairly reasonably. Out of those 3 I would go TP Link AX3200