ASUS RT-AX55 AX1800 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gigabit Router, 802.11ax, Lifetime internet security, Parental Control, Mesh WiFi support, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, 4 Gigabit LAN Ports, Beamforming

ASUS RT-AX55 AX1800 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gigabit Router, 802.11ax, Lifetime internet security, Parental Control, Mesh WiFi support, MU-MIMO, OFDMA, 4 Gigabit LAN Ports, Beamforming 

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Customer reviews
JK
5.0 out of 5 stars A reliable router that is highly customizable
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2016
Style: AC1900 | RT-AC68UPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
I purchased this router in August of 2015. I am using the stock firmware (updated). Since purchasing it, I've had very few issues (which I'll go over later). Setup was quick and easy. I literally plugged my cable modem in, along with the machines I wanted wired into the network and it worked. Very little setup was involved.

For the wired network, I have 2 PCs wired in, a Xbox One, and a Playstation 4. Connecting wirelessly, I have multiple cell phones, a tablet, a smart thermostat (Ecobee3), a laptop, a PS3, a wireless printer, and an Xbox 360. At no point have I had network disconnects occur due to the router. It has handled all network traffic lightning quick like a champ.

I live in an 850 sq ft single story house. The router is centrally located, and I have found that I can still connect via the wireless from across the street. Mind you, this is with the transmission power turned down (more on this later also).

I've been very impressed by this router. Especially since I upgraded from an old school Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router (WRT54GL) due to my router not being able to handle the bandwidth that a modern cable provider provides. Using the stock firmware, it is highly customizable. Despite being highly customizable, it is simple enough for the average user to be able to setup without needing advanced tech support.

The only issue that I had with this router was connecting my HP Photosmart wireless printer to the wireless network. Changing out my old router for the new one and going through the setup, it seemed like it should be a simple affair. It was not, and it took me months to figure out that I needed to 1) Buy a USB cord (A-Male to B-Male) 2) Hook the printer up to my PC using this cord, and then install the HP software. The router administration pages made it seem like this wasn't needed and that I just needed to download the ASUS software. Had I looked at the HP documentation instead of the ASUS documentation, I probably would've been fine. All in all, the issue was mainly on me. I will say that ASUS's documentation was a bit misleading (in my opinion). I can't fault the router for that though, so no stars have been taken off.

Transmission power: Earlier in the review, I stated that the range on this router is pretty strong despite me turning down the transmission power. Some would ask "Why would you turn down the transmission power? Doesn't that hurt the range or signal?". In my opinion, the default settings for this router's transmission power is excessive. For those not in the know, transmit power is a unit of power measured in milliwatts for the transmitter. The higher the power, the more milliwatts being used by the transmitter. Now, think of your average car. Would you want to put stronger fuel in it than what is needed and recommended for your use? What would happen if you continually used fuel that is stronger than what you needed?

The short answer is: Nothing good.
The long answer: You would be cutting the lifespan, along with the reliability. You *may* see a temporary increase in performance, or you may see a decrease because you pushed things too hard. You are more likely to see issues the higher the level you push things.

All in all, I recommend testing different transmit power levels. I seriously would recommend cutting your transmit power down to fit only what you need it to, and not increasing it beyond the defaults. Those that have reported short lifespans of their router, transmitters dying, or overheating most likely left the settings on default or raised them even higher. If you want this router to last a long time, cut the transmit power down.

Updated review:

It's now been about 5 - 6 years with this router and it's going strong still. I now have my laptop hardwired along with a PS4 and Xbox Series X. I'm on a 800 Mbps data plan with Xfinity (using my own modem) and consistently will get speeds over 900 Mbps at times (wired). Speeds aren't as strong over wireless, but I also have *a lot* of noise in the house (Philips Hue bulbs, Nest front door camera, smart locks, tons of Google / Alexa devices, along with other wireless cameras, etc.).

I am now in a house that's a bit larger (1,057 sq ft with a basement) and the range still works throughout the house and the yard. This router is a workhorse! I've upped the transmission power a little bit (to the default settings), but I don't think it really was needed.

I will say that I wasn't getting my full speeds for awhile due to not having the right settings. As with any router that you own, this can be a factor in your speeds - so if you're not getting the promised speeds hardwired to your router (but are getting them hardwired to your modem), it's time to do some troubleshooting. All in all, despite the numerous other routers available since this one came out, I still highly recommend this one due to it being such a workhorse.
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Vespula
5.0 out of 5 stars Where has this ASUS RT-AC68U router been all my life??
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2017
Style: AC1900 | RT-AC68UPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
Wow. Goodbye Netgear. Hello ASUS RT-AC68U AC1900 router! In fairness to Netgear, the netgear r6300 I have had for years has been a stable product (with the right settings, however) and it was paired with a Arris SB6141 Cable modem, but lightning took both of them away. I went for the combo C7000 Netgear latest and greatest I wanted to like it but it lagged and had 20 second drops of connectivity. Unstable. Unacceptable new product with bugs was my experience and a lot of others had the same experience too. Reviews for Asus were surprisingly good and never had owned an ASUS router before but the reviews were so over the top I had to find out. So I ordered my new Arris SB6141 Cable modem (because it was rock solid for me before) and the RT-AC68U.

First impressions... wow nice build quality. Very impressive. Real removable antenna just like a real AP pro class. It just felt good and looked great. All the machining and connections looked above grade from any other manufacturers in the consumer space I have seen. A real "PRO-SUMER" product.

My background is I.T. and I am in this space so to impress me was not an easy feat. Our use case for this router is:
NO cable... all streaming house... using Two Roku, 6 laptops, one of them dedicated for streaming Xfinity TV-GO stations, a Wii game console, Grace Digital Mondo Internet Radio player, HP laserjet on wifi, oven on wifi, garage doors on wifi, heated tile floor thermostat on wifi (for the weather), and 6 smart phones (2 iphones, 4 android). Plus a "lab" in my office using wifi devices (Wifi scanners, etc) for job related activities. We often could be streaming roku channels (ESPN, FoxGo, etc) at the same time as Fox news on another tv, with Roku netflix upstairs as well, plus any of the household (or all) could be streaming online youtube, amazon video prime or facetime with friends.

So you can see its a heavy usage situation. My router right now has 21 devices connected at one time from the list mentioned above. Back to the review...
On powering up and connecting to this Asus the setup was so easy it was amazing with the wizard. I was online in seconds.
The interface was amazing... Wow. The feature set was so in depth and so well done that this was like router Eden. Graphics, Data, Stats galore. Instant salivation for anyone with an appreciation and knowledge on 802.11. They should have code named this router the ASUS PAVLOV.

All that is great but if it doesnt work, or drops its just a piece of pretty junk. Guess what. Its got it where it counts too.

Signal strength around the house is stronger than ever. Speeds on all clients are crazy fast. Stability on 2.4 *AND* 5ghz is what it should be. I mean wow. where has this router been all my life?? The router has a cpu graph for the dual core cpus in the interface and its barely breathing handling the traffic- even with all the bells and whistles turned on collecting traffic, stats and web history from clients! Oh and did I mention this is all with QoS turned off!! Why limit bandwidth if you dont need to? QoS seems to be used best for small pipes or compensating for poor routers that cant handle a load, in my expeience. My network is rock solid. I will update this if something changes, of course, but from my experience you just know when you know, you know? And for this router... I know!

In closing, watching the real-time bandwidth utilization graphic in the interface I can see the ebb a flow of downstream data (as well as upstream). Mine was pulsating in bursts from 6 to 28Mbps as the demands of multiple HD streaming clients was requested. Dual core CPU never clicked over single digits combined. I have Xfinity Blast! and speed tests were 75-80 down and 10-12 Up over 5g wifi -- just for reference. plenty of headroom.,Netflix Roku App's Network test reported that my Downstream capability to their servers was 17.35 Mbps. Nice.

So to sum up. I think this is the best router ever on many levels, Build quality, stability, feature set, and pairs very nicely with a Arris SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem, which to me is a proven solid product that I have used easily for over a decade (back when it was made under Motorola). I even used a 6121 4 channel version prior to this 6141 8 channel down / 4 up coming out about 10 years ago (I think).
6141=great modem.

Asus RT68=Awesome Stable Router

EDIT UPDATE on 7/30/2018:
This has been a solid router for me since I wrote this review. I am up to 27-33 clients around the house generally between adding technology finding its way in the house (now 5 rokus!) and supporting transient devices for my job, or friends/family. Still remains to be great. I do update the firmware when it comes up and have not had problems with any version.

Also, I mentioned I used QoS off... I have since changed gears on that. I now have QoS on and set to MEDIA/VIDEO as the priority due to all the video we stream here... It has been rock solid and definitely performs better with QoS set ON. Video plays at Highest resolutions and glitch free all around the house.

Newest feature of this router in the firmware is AIMESH. This feature intrigued me because the far reaches of our bonus room has poor signal.... the roku in there doesnt seem to like the weak signal... I bought another one of these routers and added it as a MESH NODE. This allows seamless roaming around the house and load balancing of clients between the two routers. The only problem I had was the firmware's didnt match so it wouldnt mesh. I downloaded the latest and updated both to the latest firmware and then had no problems meshing the second router as a node. Very easy. I placed it at the end of the house downstairs, and now have good signal in the bonus room. I continue to love this router!! AiMESH rocks!

Update 12/27/18:
Still kicking strong. AIMESGH is great!! There have been several firmware updates and the router keeps getting better. I have not had any real issues with any of the firmware updates so I am grateful for that and kudos to ASUS for apparently knowing what they are doing and testing things sufficiently! I will say I have had to reboot this router less than 5 times since I have owned it due to some kind of internet issue. I dont know if it was caused by comcast, or just a glitch... but I did reboot it and the issue resolved on each of those occasions. Thats pretty darn stable. I might give it "five nines" of uptime considering I just never touch it except for those few times.
Since my original review, Comcast/Xfinity has upped the bandwidth so I am getting about 175 meg down now...same 10/12 meg upload... Everything runs great... and stable.
I have half a dozen clients on one side of the house on the mesh node 1 and the other half on the other "host" router... its nice. I have also been adding more devices since my last update ... RING doorbell, a SONOS Connect, two Google Home Minis, and four Amazon Echo DOT are added to the network (these are cool devices and love how you can use as intercoms by the way) .... also, I have four Ring floodlight cameras sitting in boxes I got for Christmas which I will be installing when the weather is nice which should be pushing me towards about 50 clients in the house (not all on at a time, mind you) but could be I suppose! Great router.
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Arctic Dragon
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy Setup and AImesh integration
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2024
Style: AC1900 | RT-AC68UPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
Bought a pair of these for my parent's new home network. I've owned ASUS routers in the past, and all have been outstanding workhorses that have lasted many years (definitely outlasted any Netgear or TLink products I've tried). Setup was a breeze, and even though I've never set up an AImesh network before (I've been able to survive off a single router in my previous house), the AImesh setup was also very simple. I did have to buy a third router to put between these two to get a stronger signal strength to the basement, but again, adding that third router into the mesh and configuring the network was very easy. The hardest part of it all was figuring out where to put the third router where there was access to a power outlet, be relatively unobstructed, and yet not bothered/knocked over by nosey cats - lol :D

ASUS also has a very good computer interface for managing your routers and network, and their mobile app is also very nice though does lack the full capabilities of the computer/web interface (but still has a number of useful features and information). I was able to set up the basic network using just the app, and only really needed the computer interface for some advanced fine tuning.

As an additional note, I bought this particular model because the computers here are a bit older, they don't have a ton of devices needing to be on the network, and there's usually only two of them using the network at any one point - so a more recent model with more bells/whistles/technology/speeds was not needed. Some good advice for choosing the right router for your network is to know what your current devices are capable of, how many devices/users will be using your network at one time, and how likely you are to buy devices that will have or need the latest technology (which usually only really applies to heavy computer gamers, or families that have multiple people streaming). You don't necessarily need the latest and greatest router just because it has the most recent technology. Know your needs, usage, and what your devices are actually capable of. This router was perfect for our needs: video appointments with doctors and team video meetings are smooth, and I'm able to play my MMORPG perfectly fine while visiting with no noticable lag and still have low ping, and the WiFi signal strength is good throughout the house. So while this is not the most deluxe or latest ASUS router model, it is perfectly capable of handling today's network needs, is easy to set up, and also very simple to integrate into an AImesh network if you need to extend your network for better whole-house coverage. In addition, this particular model allows you to turn off the LED lights, which is useful if you don't want those lights bothering you at night.
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Noah Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars great router, easy setup
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2024
Style: AX1800 | BlackPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
i bought this router for my parents’ house because the wifi and ethernet on the arris XB7 gateway xfinity forced on us is garbage. networks would disappear, pcs would lose internet access over ethernet, etc.
putting that gateway into bridge mode and attaching this router seems to have fixed the issues. not only that, its wifi maintains speed over distances far better than the XB7. setup was a breeze over the app, and more in depth settings like channel selection are available at asusrouter.com. this router looks like, feels like, and costs very little for what you get. it’s a powerhouse of a router for such a price and size. my parents’ house was built in 1840, it has very thick concrete walls. this router penetrates them easily! 802.11ax, 802.11ac, and 802.11n performance are all fantastic, so old devices are covered! everyone in the house has been greatly enjoying the consistent and stable connection this router provides. will update review if any problems arise!
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Houston Rao
5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet!! and hooking directly to Verizon FioS!
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2014
Style: AC1900 | RT-AC68UPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
Review has two parts - one about the router itself, the other about hooking up this router directly to Verizon FioS instead of using their router.

I used to have a DLink router about 3 years ago but stopped using it when I signed on the AT&T Uverse where I was "required" to use their supplied router. The UVerse router was a piece of j**k, limited to 100 Mpbs and wireless G with poor signal strength. It worked okay but provided limited to no control on traffic, parental controls, limiting children's computers to certain times of the day, etc.

The RT-AC68U is a beautiful beast compared to those earlier routers, blazing fast, strong signals, and a ton of advanced features that would meet the needs of most home and small business users. Earlier I would get some gibberish names of connected clients, like BRN564332 and especially with PCs, laptops, phones, tablets, rokus connected, I couldn't tell easily which was which - the Asus shows the mac id and if you click on it, it shows the manufacturer of that device and then allows you to name it to enable easy identification later. The network map shows you connected clients, wired and wireless, as well as the strength of the wireless connection. Setting up QoS is easy and highly configurable. Parental controls are simple and very powerful - I can limit the time of the day, by week and weekend, that the kid's Roku can connect to the internet and use the Network Services filter to disable gaming ports by time of day, by week and weekend. (yeah, you need to identify the ports that gaming uses but you can look it up on the internet by game name or the logs in the router show it as well).

Have not used the VPN features. Tried the USB download master but I prefer the download and cloud features on my Synology DS213j NAS. The LED lights, even when on, are fairly non-intrusive. The unit looks solidly built. This is my second Asus product, the first being a Windows 8 ultranote book and they appear to be making quality high performance products.

Some helpful hints on connecting to Verizon FioS with this router without buying or renting their router. Note this will work only for internet only services - if you subscribe to their TV services, you MUST use their router (but can set up the Asus behind or in front of their router using DMZ feature). When you are ordering FioS online, select "will buy my own Verizon router" and complete the order. Verizon's network terminal, called a ONT, (usually outside the house) has two Ethernet ports, one coax and the other Ethernet. By default, only the coax is activated as they usually run coax to their routers. The Asus router (and most retail routers) do not have a coax port. You must ask Verizon to activate the Ethernet port on the ONT (over the phone with the technical support, initial customer support will insist that you have to have a Verizon router, that is not true) and run (either yourself, if you chose self-install, or have the Verizon install person do it) Ethernet cable from the ONT to your Asus router. Ensure you have Cat5e or Cat 6 cable - they can support Gigabit Ethernet. Ensure you have the same cat cables from the router to your hard wired PCs - I used an older cable and could not get more than 10 Mbps for a whole frustrating week - till I simply switched to cat6 cable and boom!- I was up to 1 Gbps.
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F. Kuester
5.0 out of 5 stars New life for old equipment - wonderful concept (see edit)
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2015
Style: AC1900 | RT-AC68UPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
The Asus RT-AC68U is a huge improvement over my old Netgear N600 router and over either of the Arris Modem/Routers that TWC provided me when I upgraded my Internet service their 200Mbs Internet package. In terms of specifics:

1) I have verified that my connection exceeds 200Mbs on a consistent basis when testing on a wired connection. I replaced my old cable modem and the Arris Modem/router with a Surfboard SB-6183. I tested the wired connection both directly connected to the Surfboard and via the RT-AC68U. The only difference was a little bit of latency that showed up on the ping tests. The Netgear N600 tops out a 100Mbs as it doesn't support Gigabit Ethernet (which I also verified with testing).

2) On the 2.4Ghz side the Arris Modem/routers that TWC and I rented were pure garbage in terms of range. I live in a 3 story town home with the modem and router on the top floor (and I am unable to move it). My wife's Asus laptop supports 802.11n but only for 2.4GHz. With the old Netgear modem, she could get 6 to 16Mbs in the Kitchen/family room on the other side of the house on the 2nd floor. With the Arris modem/routers, this dropped to 1.6Mbs and failed completely if she took it to the furthest corner. Also and to me inexplicably, the upload speed was always faster than the download speed. With the RT-AC68U she moved up to 33Mbs on a regular basis. Even with line of sight to the router, the arris modem/router was poor. So much so that I setup a power-line adapter for her to use at her desk. The RT-AC68U totally eliminated her need to use a powerline adapter to get acceptable speed.

3) On the 5.0ghz speed, the results were less dramatic, but still significant with a much stronger signal and faster speeds. For example, an old HP (2010 vintage) laptop with 3bars of speed consistently gets over 60Mbs while the Arris modem/routers could barely provide a 5.0Ghz connection at all.

4) The only laptop we have with 802.11ac is my daughter's Surface Pro 3. I was not able to test with it while she was home from college this last weekend, but she did say that she is now able to get a connection in her bedroom, where she sometimes had problems with the Arris equipment.

Another significant plus, is that the guest network connections are fabulously flexible. We regularly host a homeowners association group meeting in our house and I was able to setup a dedicated network for that with no connection to our equipment and setup a separate guest connection for my daughter's friends so they can connect to our wireless printer.

I have not noted any of the dropout problems that others have experienced (we have 4 laptops of varing ages and brands), 4 cell phones (samsung and google), and a kindle touch.

I am rating it 4 star for several reasons:

a) I haven't been able to get a wireless signal over 100Mbs even with line of sight to the router.

b) Several key features such as beam-forming are hidden in the professional settings and are not defaults.

c) Changing the modem so it can only be administered via a wired connection is hard to do. The default is that any computer with a connection can reconfigure the router making it a requirement to change the password. I prefer a even more secure wired connection. I achieved this by giving my desktop computer a static IP address and then restricting the administration to that one IP address. The only nit is that the RT-AC68U displays a totally bizarre message about connection settings on wireless computers when they attempt to connect to the webpage rather than a straightforward message like "Connection to the RT-AC68U is only allowed via specified IP addresses".

d) The time that the DHCP server with the RT-AC68U retains an IP address association with a mac address is limited to 1 day. With the old Netgear N600, I could set this to 1 year (and possibly more). I want a high value as it allows equipment to connect without the "someother computer is using this IP address" message that we used to occasionally get. I found this eliminated "support calls" from my wife and children.

Edit April 2019. In the summer of 2017, I replaced this Asus unit with a Netgear Orbi. It went into the garage as an emergency backup. In 2019, my daughter bought a condo (1200 sq. ft) and I took the Asus over so she didn't have to pay rental on a router to Spectrum. I was totally surprised by all of the software enhancements that Asus had rolled out. Among these, It now is capable of being a node in a wireless network (not tested). I found the Asus provided Wireless excellent service on her 100mb internet connection. She has two 4k TVs (one wired, one wireless) connected along with computers and cell phones. So far everything is great. Note these were software upgrades, the top speed of the device and hardware limited protocols did not change but for a smaller home this seems to be a great fit.
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Steve T. Young, Sr
5.0 out of 5 stars Teenagers worst nightmare!
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2015
Style: AC1900 | RT-AC68UPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
I bought this three months ago; wish I had found it years earlier:

I have a serious 16yo geek / gamer whom, if allowed, would FIND a way to stay up all night and play games and do who knows what else.

This router has solved a significant issues we face as parents with the Parental Controls issues:

First, I debated for a while to give it five or four stars --there are a couple of things I do not like. However, overall it has been great. My biggest problem was my kids, and their abuse of the Internet at night, too long gaming, etc. I did try other expensive routers and returned them. This one does get them in their beds, away from the Internet at whatever time I set --and, once you get over the relatively small learning curve, is relatively easy.

I am by trade a geek. However, this message is NOT intended to be written at that level --even though this router has tons of features that would please even the geekest. This message is to PARENTS whom, IMHO, are very obligated these days to guard their children and whom typically need a way to stay ahead of technology and to protect them. . . this router, in addition to other tools, is a significant layer in the defense of our children.

Asus accomplishes Parental Controls by several methods: Time controls (that work) per any connected device; filters that effectively eliminate PORN and even messaging / file sharing, if desired, etc. Asus brands this by what they call "AI" controls (not sure what that stands for) also, their Firewall controls / website blocker works well, too. "E.g., when my kids stumble in school, I have entered "WarCraft" in their case in the firewall blocking which stops that problem in its tracks until the grades come up. . . Good. Worth the price of admission for just that! :-)

The learning curve, for even non-technical parents, I cannot imagine how it could be easier. But there is some learning to it. Primarily, this is done by typing in the IP address of the router in your browser, typically 192.168.1.1 and loggin in, Then, going to the "AI Controls" screen, seeing who is connected, and applying whatever restrictions you desire on that specific connected device. It works, (I love the time settings) and again, isn't that hard to do. Once mine saw that they cannot get around this, they started getting good night's sleep, etc.

My geek sons did eventually figure out how to SPOOF their "MAC" addresses (it isn't that hard to do) (A MAC address is the unique identifier for each device, and is shown on all screens and can be faked or "Spoofed") But, if you monitor this with some regularity, you can see when this happens as foreign-to-you addresses start popping up That is solved by some extra work, by applying an extra layer of "Filters" in the "Wireless" section that allow only specified MAC addresses to access the Internet. (a "white list" I call it) Asus helps you by associating MACs with machine name when, when possible, when you go to the screen to set this up. (I wish they had called it "whitelists" vs. "blacklists" and made it some easier. Be aware that at times I have had to go spend a few minutes and dig up a MAC address, e.g., for my NEST thermostat, so that it can get out, too --the price of raising kids these days. And please let me say again that all this is well worth it for the kid's sake. . .

In addition to the parental controls, the geek in me likes the range of this device --how far it gets out. We live in a three story townhouse, and range has been an issue for us. . . Today, this router is on the first floor, I am currently on the third with four bars (2.4Ghz) The 5Ghz DOES reach up here, but not as well (the nature of 5Ghz is not to reach as far) Throughput is great; and I do NOT have to reboot this device very often. Other features, (there are many; I have barely scratched the surface) are there, but I haven't had time! (another cost of having teenagers :-) ) If I do get time, some of the USB storage features would be next; also the VPN feature set is built in IF I ever need to adjust settings from outside my home. .(my first shallow attempt to do that failed, but I am sure it was my fault) .

PROS:
- Parental controls --far superior to others I tried (the "Open DNS" approach [ i.e., NetGear], IMHO, is not satisfactory. Again, this router has fairly easily solved this which WAS a very-large problem for us
- Reliability: First router and I haven't had to reboot a lot.
-Range: great
-Feature set: Far superior to most anything I have seen. Geeks can have a field day with all the stuff in the feature sets
--Instructions / Ease of setup and operations: Overall, were great
-Support: Recent firmware upgrades have been regular and helpful; I can tell Asus is on the job supporting this router
CONS

-Price. Obviously I think it is worth it --for my kids
-Asus, why in the world cannot I add additional SSIDs to my 2.4Ghz for example??? (not a huge deal, but was a point I debated to kick this down to four stars)
- Minor point, but even I had a little of a time figuring out the MAC Filter "white list"
- need controls over the wired clients
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Joseph Carter
5.0 out of 5 stars Security and the choice to WPA3 or not…
Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2022
Style: AX1800 | BlackPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
My first ASUS router was a freebie courtesy of T-Mobile. While that router got software updates, I was really impressed with its software. It was fairly end-user focused (consumer routers _usually_ get this right, with some notable exceptions, TP-Link!), and a few of them are relatively complete in terms of more advanced features someone like me would be looking for as well. The ASUS software was pretty friendly, only had a couple of quirks in the more advanced sections where more advanced users would immediately notice what didn't work and why not, and was generally very full featured.

If you've still got one of those old "T-Mobile TM-AC1900" branded RT-AC68Us in service, you need to stop using it. The things are dangerously insecure today, ASUS knows it, and I've been told the fault for that lies with T-Mobile, but rumors may not always be true. What is true is that if you try to hack your one working router and screw up a firmware downgrade, you'll wish you'd bought its replacement first. No, I don't have first hand experience this time, but I've made mistakes before, so keep reading!

I liked the ASUS software before, and it's only improved since. One of the cool little features it has now is a security checkup on your router that performs a bunch of sanity checks. Even if you're not a n00b, I really suggest looking this over, because you might have missed a setting. For example, it's going to tell you that WPS is turned on by default and suggest you turn it off. It'll also tell you if certain things are enabled you might have turned on deliberately, just to make sure you know what you're doing if you have them on. (Or if something or someone turned them on without your knowledge…)

This brings us to AiMesh and WPA2.

If this router has one point of disappointment for me, it's that AiMesh requires WPA2 and cannot be used with WPA3. One of the major reasons I moved to a WiFi 6 router is that if you think your network is secure with WPA2, I have a whole bunch of bridges to sell you, real cheap. WPA2 is about as secure as writing your network password next to your address on a billboard along the nearest highway.

Okay, that's not quite true—WEP was that insecure, WPA2 at least requires a couple of minutes to hack your wifi password. But only a couple of minutes, realistically. And if you want to use AiMesh, WPA2 is the best you get for encryption, sorry. That's because probably nothing before WiFi 6 devices will support WPA3, and part of ASUS's marketing is that you can turn your old WiFi 5 (802.11AC) router into a mesh router extension. You can, but because of that, WPA3 is off the table, even if you're not using any WPA2-only routers in your AiMesh.

I don't need AiMesh in this location, so I can just use WPA3 and be done with it. And that means the router's OS will warn me every time I set my WPA3 password that I should consider WPA2 instead for AiMesh and greater device compatibility. No, no thank you.

Granted, WPA3 denial of service is possible, but mitigations exist for that … you just do what you can. Everyone wants more security and to also at the exact same time transmit every single byte of data they want secured over the airwaves and just hopes nobody intercepts them. *shrug*

I get why they're doing it in a home-focused product, but realistically homes are going to be all WPA3-capable sooner than many businesses will be, most likely. I'm not going to let that affect my review of this otherwise very nice product.

Oh, another nice feature I almost forgot to mention! Support for more than one guest network! You can (should) put all of your smart devices on the same guest network which cannot talk to your home network computers. That way when one of those things that never gets an update gets hacked, the most it can do is play with your light bulbs, without the ability to use that as a way to start attacking your computers.
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J. Hicks
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent router
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2024
Style: AX1800 | BlackPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
Has two bands, 2.4 and 5.0, so works well for controlling my Alexa network and my internet for TV and computer. Signal is good throughout my entire two story home. Does the job spectacularly well!
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KitsuneLady
5.0 out of 5 stars Intel Wireless N-7260 users take note
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2022
Style: AX1800 | BlackPattern Name: RouterVerified Purchase
I just set this up today, so as of right now my review is only going to be re: the signal strength and ease of setup, plus the one problem I faced when trying to connect. I had no issues with the setup instructions for the hardware; if you can read, you can probably handle that part. I downloaded the router management app to my iPhone using the QR code provided on the instructions. It was a simple process to create a login for it and get the router set up with a password. It pretty much walks you through what to do so I'm not sure how anyone could mess that part up either. After that I connected both my iPhone and iPad to WiFi with no trouble.

The problem was with my laptop, which is a bit older (I'm not actually sure how old, if that tells you anything). It couldn't find either of the two signals (I separated the 2.5 and the 5.0 when setting up), no matter how close it was to the router. My laptop is running Windows 10, just for the record, but the issue was (I believe) the network adaptor. It has an Intel Wireless-N 7260. The laptop itself does not have an ethernet port so I had to take it to my father's house and use his wifi to make sure the driver for the network adaptor was up to date - it was. The Intel app that checks all your Intel parts for needed updates found nothing to update, in fact. Luckily, I remembered someone in the comments on here saying that he'd started having issues and turning off the Wifi6/802.11ax Mode helped. And indeed, the minute I disabled it in the app, my laptop started to pick up the 2.5ghz signal, nice and strong. I am one floor up and wall or two away from this router, and have a full strength signal.

For anyone else who had this problem, here is where you can disable that (I'm using the iOS app on an iphone so your route to this setting may be different): in the app, tap the Settings gear in the bottom right corner. Under Settings, go down to the Wifi section and tap that, then Wireless Settings in there, and then Network Settings last. At the top of this menu you will see "802.11ax Mode" is enabled by default. Disable it and then hit "apply" in the top right corner. Wait a few minutes and see if your device is picking up the signal after that. If not, you may have a different issue. I am posting this "review" right away in the hopes of helping someone else with the same problem.

I will note that there is an information button next to the disable tab for 802.11ax Mode that informs you "Some older WiFi clients and IoT devices may have connectivity issues or difficulty connecting to 802.11ax WiFi APs. If you experience such issues after enabling 802.11ax Mode, please check with your device manufacturer to ensure your device has the latest software, firmware or driver version." So, there you have it. If you are hellbent on using 802.11ax Mode with a PC that has the Intel Wireless-N 7260 installed, you're probably going to have to upgrade your network adaptor, because there is no update for it that will make that happen.

If I have any other issues I'll come back and update this...still need to connect the TVs and the game systems!

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