ASUS RT-AC86U

Product Information

That said, the bandwidth available at 50-feet dropped to 285.3Mbps, which was just a hair ahead of the Netgear RAX80’s 271.3Mbps. It was behind the TP-Link AX6000’s 396.7Mbps and the Linksys MR9600’s 363.3Mbps.

The RT-AC86U's throughput of 603.5Mbps and 589.6Mbps at 50 feet and 100 feet lagged behind the Archer C2300's 913.8Mbps and 613.2Mbps. It, however, outperformed the Norton Core's 601.4Mbps and 483.8Mbps at these distances. Well, more like out of view because, while the RT-AC86U proudly wears its red stripes on the front panel, the Asus RT-AX86U is a bit shy regarding its gaming abilities (unlike the RT-AX82U which is one of the flashiest ‘gaming’ routers that Asus ever designed), so it has positioned a red plastic section pointing downwards (also doubles down as a ventilation area). The Asus RT-AC86U had the same ventilation cut-outs as RT-AC68U but, due to a far more efficient power handling, the router operated at an adequate temperature (unlike its predecessor) and I noticed that the RT-AX86U is far more generous in terms of vent cut-outs. So, it’s not only the rear section that’s now covered by a weird pattern of longitudinal holes (looks very crowded), but the top part of the front panel will also allow the air to flow inside the case. This way, the Asus RT-AX86U, just like the RT-AC86U always works at a proper temperature, showing no signs that it may overheat. The LEDs are positioned in the same place on both wireless routers and I saw the same four LAN LEDs, the WAN LED, the Power and the two WiFi LEDs, but the RT-AX86U has additional two indicators, one for WPS and the other for the 2.5Gbps port. Verdict: I do like the slim profile of the RT-AC86U and while it clearly has everything that is required from an excellent WiFi 5 router, the Asus RT-AX86U is simply better – sure, both have a great airflow, there are all the expected ports, but the extra 2.5GbE port that can work as either WAN or LAN and the two USB 3.0 ports ensure that the Asus RT-AX86U wins this round. Internal Hardware Note: Yes, the Asus RT-AC86U is fully supported by Merlin, while the Asus RT-AX58U is currently not, but, considering that it is using the Broadcom platform, I say it’s only a matter of time. Asus RT-AX58U Rendkívül széles lefedettség– A nagy teljesítményű antennák, az ASUS AiRadar és a Range Boost megszünteti a vétel nélküli területeket, a MU-MIMO pedig maximalizálja a többeszközös teljesítményt.Its top speed of 667.8Mbps was achieved with our client at 15 feet, and the Asus is 23 percent faster than the Linksys WRT32X but marginally slower than the TP-Link Archer C2300's 682.3Mbps at the same distance. It moved 636.5Mbps at 5 feet, more than 50 percent less than the Archer C2300's class-leading 963.6Mbps at the same distance. At our terminal distance of 90-feet, the RT-AX86U was near its limit, with an average of only 7.4Mbps, barely enough for watching an HD stream. That said, the TP-Link AX6000 couldn’t even maintain a connection at that distance, while the Netgear RAX80 moved 20.8Mbps and the Netgear XR1000 led the way with 75.0Mbps of bandwidth available. The RT-AX86U had a range of 95-feet, 10-feet short of the XR1000.

The RT-AX86U did well at punching a strong Wi-Fi signal through walls and ceilings, with scores of 698.5Mbps available through a wall 25-feet from the router and 615.7Mbps to a floor above. This can’t compare to the Netgear RAX80’s 1.07Gbps and the TP-Link AX6000’s 744.7Mbps for the wall penetration test but roughly matches the Netgear XR1000’s 614.8Mbps. Kivételes teljesítményű processzor–Élvezd a simább hálózatkezelést és a gyorsabb adatátvitelt a PC-kategóriás, 1,8 GHz-es, 64 bites, kétmagos processzorralAnd while the UK and US prices are very reasonable, the markup in Australia is a bit much. Final verdict The RT-AC86U, however, came up short when sending its signal through walls and ceilings. It managed to deliver 557.7Mbps on the other side of a metal door, roughly on a par with the Linksys WRT32X's 559.0Mbps but well off the 662.6Mbps pace set by Norton Core. The 720.9Mbps it pushed through a soundboard wall can't compare with the Archer C2300's 921.7Mbps. It also fell short with 688.7Mbps emerging on the second floor of the lab, compared with 705.8Mbps for Norton Core. The RT-AC86U is a 4x4 AC2900 router powered by a 1.8GHz dual-core CPU and 512MB of RAM. It uses NitroQAM (1024-QAM) modulation technology to deliver potential throughput speeds of up to 750Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 2167Mbps on the 5GHz band and supports Multi User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) data streaming, which delivers data to compatible clients simultaneously rather than sequentially, and beamforming, which sends data directly to clients rather than over a broad spectrum.

When the Asus RT-AC86U came out, I was impressed by how compact it was considering the powerful internal hardware and that Asus has managed to maintain the same dimensions and the look of the Asus RT-AC68U (it measures 8.6 x 6.3 x 3.2 inches). But then came the Asus RT-AX58U with an even smaller case (measures 8.8 x 5.0 x 6.3 inches), but even so, it does occupy more space from the desk than the RT-AC86U and the reason for that is because the aforementioned router was built to sit vertically. So, just like the RT-AC68U, the RT-AC86U has three antennas pointing upwards and a built-in stand (that cannot be removed) to keep the device in its place, regardless of the number of cables are connected. But, unlike the plain front of the RT-AC68U, the RT-AC86U has an Y shaped front with a couple of red sections which, according to Asus, should qualify it as being a part of the gaming series (of course, there are some gaming-specific feature built into the software as well). Kereskedelmi kategóriás biztonság– A Tend Micro™ technológiájára épülő AiProtection blokkolja és semlegesíti a hálózatra kapcsolódó okoseszközöket veszélyeztető fenyegetéseket We have to presume Asus' firmware/hardware combination is a thing of genius. Sure, there's a meagre dual band radio on offer, but this unit absolutely ripped through our tests, and network spread was absolutely fine. Not necessarily 120% of other routers, though: in our test environment (yours may vary, such is the interaction of walls and Wi-Fi signals) its performance and spread was directly comparable to the Linksys WRT32X, a much more expensive router.The Asus RT-AC86U is advertised as an AC2900-class router, which means that it does feature a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 2,167 Mbps on the 5GHz band, while on the 3.4GHz band, it features a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 750 Mbps. The Asus RT-AX58U is advertised as an AX3000-class router, suggesting that the maximum theoretical data transfer rate on the 5GHz band is 2,402 Mbps and on the 2.4GHz band is 574 Mbps. The actual transfer speed of USB 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, and/or Type-C will vary depending on many factors including the processing speed of the host device, file attributes and other factors related to system configuration and your operating environment. Next, the Asus RT-AX58U supports the 1024-QAM technology that has the role of improving the throughput capabilities of the router and I know that this technology is a highlighted feature for the WiFi 6, but Asus has been taking advantage of the NitroQAM (1024-QAM) for a while now and yes, the Asus RT-AC86U does have it implemented as well.

There was bandwidth to spare with our informal saturation test where I stress the router by listening to the BBC World Service on an internet radio station while playing a variety of videos and moving data onto and off of a network-attached storage system. The audio and video came through skip free and there was no noticeable lag. Setup We started out sniffing at its looks, and came out gawping at its performance. For its price, and we definitely suggest buying at the lower mark if you can find it, the Asus RT-AC86U cooks up prime wireless performance from a gamer-friendly recipe.The Asus RT-AC86U had the WPS and the WiFi On/Off buttons together on the right side, while the RT-AX86U has positioned the WPS button on the left side and the LED On/Off button on the right – everything else can be found on the rear side of the routers. The RT-AC86U has its LED On/Off button in the middle, while the four Gigabit LAN ports lie on the right side and the Gigabit WAN port, the two USB ports (2.0 and 3.0), as well as the Power button and the Power port sit on the left side (there is also a camouflaged Reset button within the cut-out pattern). The ports and connectors on the Asus RT-AX86U feel more relaxed (more space in between them), so you can find the Power button next to the Power port, a small recessed Reset button, two USB ports (both 3.0), four Gigabit LAN ports (from which the first is a Gaming port – will have the highest priority) and there is one WAN port, as well as a 2.5GbE port which can either work as LAN or WAN.