ASUS RT-AC87U Product Details
- Ultra fast 802.11AC Wi Fi router with a combined Dual Band data rate of 2334 Mbps for smooth up to 4K/UHD video playback, ultra fast file sharing of large files and low latency online gaming
- 4×4 MU MIMO antenna design with AiRadar universal beamforming for unrivaled multi device performance and wireless signal coverage
- Built in USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Ports for up to 10 times faster data transfers to USB storage devices 2, printer sharing, and 3G/4G dongle support
- Aiprotection with trend Micro with triple strength total network security, Plus robust parental controls and privacy protection
- ASUS a I cloud 2.0 lets you access, Sync, share and stream your files anywhere, on any internet connected device; Usb 3.0 port for 10X-faster data transfers than USB 2.0; also includes one USB 2.0 port
Revolutionary Hardware
Powered by a dual-core processor, the RT-AC87U has plenty of horsepower to efficiently handle network traffic over 2.4/5.0 GHz wireless bands, 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and USB 3.0 and 2.0 storage/networking functionality.
Robust Coverage
With a true 4×4 (4 transmit, 4 receive) antenna design, both Wi-Fi range and signal stability are improved dramatically, providing a signal that is able to reach the farthest stretches of your home. AiRadar beamforming further focuses Wi-Fi signal on your devices, making your Wi-Fi faster, clearer and stronger.
Set ‘LAN Speed’ Records
By utilizing a hardware NAT, the RT-AC87U removes the bottleneck between the internet and your home network, enabling 2-5 times faster WAN-to-LAN performance vs. traditional software-based NAT.
What’s Included:
- ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless Router
- Ethernet Cable
- 4x External Antennas
- Power Supply Cable
- Online Installation Manual
Belkin Routers
TP-Link Routers
ASUS Routers
Cisco Routers
Arris Routers
Stark Review –
My setup:100 Mbps from Cox using Motorola SurfBoard SB614112-20 Devices connected at a timeIn use: Dropcam, Nest, Mac, Chromebook, iPads, iPhone, Xbox, Netflix, iTunes StreamingI’ve used:NETGEAR Nighthawk R7000NETGEAR Nighthawk R8000Latest AirPort Extreme——————————————————————————–I havent had it too long yet but it is the best router I have owned so far. Its pumping out the speeds I pay for. All of my devices connect without issue.VPNIt has the easiest VPN setup by far. I can connect to my home from my iPhone when I am on other networks.GUIThe browser interface is the most modern I have seen so far.Time MachineI have a 500 GB non-powered USB HD attached to backup my MacBook Pro Retina and it works very well.USB 3.0The port is in the front! – I hate that! I don’t want a wire plugged into the front of the device so I use the USB 2.0 port in the back.I don’t know why Asus and Netgear think people want the 3.0 port in the front. Most people use it for NAS so it should be plugged in the rear.RangeI’m not sure. My apartment is 700 square feet.
Annette Raynor –
I could not possibly recommend a product more highly! Outstanding right out of the box. Incredibly fast setup, ability to connect wireless to configure so no hunting around for a network cable to connect direct. Easy to follow simple setup instructions. That all being the case – the speed – and this is important – is off the charts! I have no less than a dozen wireless connections active with televisions streaming movies and the ability to set priority for traffic is key for me. I present live webinars and I must have priority over my kids streaming Netflix and all of this is easily done with this router. It replaces the Linksys EA4500 that was giving me horrific speeds and my webinars were unbearable because of latency. I installed the Asus and went from 13.57 mbps down with the Linksys to nearly 100 mbps immediately with the ASUS. But don’t take my word for it, see my photo of speed tests.
Birdski –
I purchased this router to replace a Linksys EA4500 n900 router. I suffered using the EA4500 on a rolled back firmware but the device would not allow me to log in while on a tablet or phone, and constantly dropped its connection. After reading many reviews on amazon I decided to purchase this router. I have had this router running for 3 weeks flawlessly. This router interface hands down beats anything Linksys has to offer. The menus are easy to navigate, and custom setups are a breeze with this router. The amount of customization this router offers is just immense. This router should last any user several years or more of excellent use when setup properly. I would recommend this router to anyone I know that has an appreciation for a more technical router. At first I had buyers remorse due to the price, but after I got the product up and running I knew I had purchased an excellent router. The price might scare you at first, but for a router this good, it was definitely worth it.
Customer –
In exactly 64 of the purchase date, the product died completely. It does not even come on. Before the complete failure, we noticed intermittent issues where some of the wireless devices would lose connection to the WiFi network. Rebooting the router seemed to fix those issues — only to repeat the reboot process the next day.Because the product failed after 64 days, I cannot return it to Amazon. I tried to call their tech support which starts with creating an online case number. I did that but after spending close to 2 hours on the phone, just waiting or going through automated prompts, I simply gave up without being able to speak to a human! Yes, I’m writing off some $250 after only 64 days! I’ll consider it the price of a lesson learned!
A Buyer in Texas –
I have this product. First and foremost, if you own ANY Apple (AC capable801.11AC product iPhone 6, and iPad Air 2) forget this product! The 2.4 and 5.0 channels on this router sucks! The rate varies greatly between 3Mbps to no more than 10Mbps. My new Apple Airport Extreme in contrast gets 200Mbps sustained!! I’ve tried to get technical support to help and they are awful! The support lady didn’t know what she was doing. In fact, she made me look at LAN settings (Not Wan or Wireless) thinking that I was some dumb customer. What she didn’t realize was that I am very technical about Wireless issues. She said her supervisor would call back and never did. The router looks nice and has some great software, but CONSISTANT signal strength to my new generation Apple devices that support AC (801.11AC) is just very poor! I had to go out and buy Apple’s Airport Extreme to get this to work right. To be fair, I have tried patiently to wait for a firmware fix to NO AVAIL to date. I did not buy this product from Amazon, but I thought I would help others out so as not to get there hopes up to high if they have the latest Apple devices.
Nicolas E. Kaiser –
This is a very capable home router with nice UTM-Like features for security. However I do recommend Merlin Firmware for this to replace the factory firmware as Merlin has better features and more security.One limitation I want to point out – this router does not function very well over 600Mbps. This has dual-core ARM processors than can easily handle ‘up to’ 600Mbps max on the WAN but anything more and you will spike the CPU to almost 100% and start dropping packets. My connection is an over provisioned 600Mbps connection that ‘should’ get up to 722Mbps. It did on Edgerouters and other appliances, but on this it seems woefully capped at around 595Mbps with an absolutely perfect speed test. That’s substantially lower than other routers I have tried more geared for higher speed connections. Keep that in mind if you are on any speed over 600Mbps as this router will disappoint.What this does offer is Trend Micro on the WAN to scan traffic and vulnerabilities. This is very capable for stopping malware downloads and infected websites. It’s quite easy to test this by trying to download EICAR test file which will be blocked. Or go to Malware Domain List and ‘test’ links with great caution to not execute any file that may get downloaded. But ASUS should block virtually every link.Feature wise this is very nearly a commercial grade router. Especially if you add Merlin Firmware. For the normal home (Sub-600Mbps) this will perform magnificently!
krayj –
We bought two of these routers to serve our office space. Our decision was based on the ASUS sales/marketing materials that claimed the device supported WPA2-Enterprise authentication. What their advertising withheld (until we received the units) was that WPA2-Enterprise is not supported from the 5g band, not even after updating the firmware to latest. How can they claim their device supports WPA2-Enterprise when it is broken on the most important band? I really feel misled. Sadly, it is too late for us to return the two units we purchased. If I knew then what I know now, I would have looked to another manufacturer who has actual support for WPA2-Enterprise authentication on all bands.Update: here is the statement I received from ASUS regarding this issue:I am really sorry, but the only way to get the WPA-Enterprise authentication is to set the router to router mode and not setting it as an access point.
Christopher –
Absolutely amazing router! Fantastic speed! Make sure to assign the 2.5ghz and 5ghz wifi settings to different ssid names in order to avoid any disconnection problems. If you allow the router to use auto you will inaccurately believe there is a firmware problem with the router because of disconnects. Once I tweaked with some settings I am easily reaching 150 megs over wifi!! Definitely worth the price.
Daniel Milrad –
Replacing a 3 year old Linksys that wasn’t giving the performance I needed. Hadn’t considered ASUS before but a friend swore by the performance. He was not wrong. It was very easy to setup and the performance is amazing. I was getting 9 – 10 Mbs from Comcast (paying for 50) and the old router based on Speedtest.net results. After installation and configuration I pegged the speed test at 119Mbs. The interface is very easy to use. Configuration is simple. The only challenge I had was the default IP to the router for management is not the standard 192.168.1.1 but rather the IP from the WAN. Additional bonus features that I had no idea the router had are the QoS features down to device/app/website levels and the embedded VPN server/client. I’ve never spent this much on a router before but now with everyone in the house having multiple devices and a bunch of IoT devices it was time for an upgrade. Worth every penny.
DC –
purchased in November 2014 and has been working fine until it stopped working recently. Nothing changed, but no wireless signal at all. Rebooted many times and factory reset it twice, but there’s no wireless signal while it shows fine on the managing program. There clearly is no signal on the LED panel as well. (2nd and 3rd blue light which are black now on the pic is signal light) I have tried to email to ASUS, but their SEND button doesnt work. At least one I purchased is a piece of junk!
Charles Anderson –
All my wifi problems are over! I Have google fiber in Kansas City and was a victim of their awful wifi router. I couldn’t get wifi to work in my house even with all 3 of their access points (router & 2 tv boxes) I set the asus up as an access point and wish I would have done this years ago. I lost days of my life trying to get a crappy router to work. Currently the only AC client device I have is my nexus 6, but the speeds are impressive. I attached a screen shot of speed test results. These results are from different rooms of my not so large house.
Andy H. –
Just got this router, updated to latest (dec 2015) firmware and so far it’s awesome! Getting 165 down on my iPhone, can’t complain!
Yeameen –
Extremely happy with the range! With my previous router, TP Link C7 I hardly could get 5GHz wifi from 2nd floor from the router on the 1st floor on different corner of the townhouse. With this one I am getting 100Mbps full duplex (that’s my internet speed. That’s what I need so haven’t tested for more). I upgraded the firmware just after setting the WiFi.Btw, I bought my device from Jet.com which was selling at lower price then.Pros:- Great 5GHz range. Very hard to find in this market.- UI is far better than Netgear and TP-Link.- Has traffic monitoring where you can see which devices are using what and even breakdown by which sites you are browsing. I haven’t tried QoS.- Create multiple guest network.- Quite good looking too.Cons:- Setup wizard wasn’t working for me. It freezes on the first step “Detecting network type”. I skipped and did a manual setup. Just setting wifi SSID/Password should be enough to start.- Little big
Alberto flores –
Idk why people say its bad, after all updates and everything its really good, good thing i got it sweet deal(picture i posted installing Cat6 cable so yeah thats why its messy)
Ron in Rinconada. NM –
I bought this relatively older model Router because of range, specs, price, and reviews. Turns out to be a true beast! For only $30 more than a new model 1900 router I get AC2400 MU-MIMO! Product has a great firmware upgrade (that gives you the features of the 88U for Hundreds less than that model). The software and App are hands down professional grade. You can configure every aspect of this device from the GUI or your phone. It can’t be beat for the price vs. specs alone. I did some tests on the distance and I can receive 2.4Hz all the way across the Farm and the highway thousands of feet away. As far as I could go because of a fence (see picture taken from there- the speck is the house). The look is fantastic, it fit in the same space as my old router, however, best of all… I have zero dead spots or bottlenecks, with multiple users, inside my home. This truly is the hands down best router I’ve ever owned. IMO it’s not worth the extra $250 to buy top of the line AC3600 since most service providers cannot even utilize the speed of a AC2400 yet. 7-2016
R.A. –
So far the Asus RT-AC87U had delivered, being really reliable and extremely fast on both LAN and Wifi devices. See attached image, speed is from my Note 5. No needs to reboot after all configurations (firmware upgrades) were completed. It was much easier to setup than expected.
GaryJ –
UPDATE: DEC 2016 – I should have listened to the reviews. The router seemed to work flawlessly in the beginning, but the end result is the same as everyone else, 5ghz random disconnect issues daily. Do not make the same mistake as me. I gave ASUS the benefit of the doubt and got burned! I’m ordering the NETGEAR AC1900 today to replace this router.UPDATE: DEC 2016 – I purchased the NETGEAR AC1900 yesterday, and the 5ghz disconnect issues are gone! The netgear AC1900 router download speed is significantly faster based on […] I can see why I initially purchased the ASUS, as the software and features are more advanced for fine tuning your network, the NETGEAR is a more simplified router. Ultimately, the NETGEAR wins on reliability and speed.I googled ASUS 5ghz disconnect issues and see that this problem has been going on since 2013. Its apparent that ASUS doesnt care about it customers and continues to sell a product that is obviously FLAWED. I will never buy an ASUS product again!!AUG 2016 – I was looking at the ASUS RT-AC87U router or the NETGEAR nighthawk AC1900, both of which seemed to have favorable reviews.The NIGHTHAWKS AC1900 negative reviews revolved around long term reliability/failure issues.The ASUS RT-AC87U negative reviews revolved around 5ghz/disconnect issues.I went ahead and purchased the ASUS AC2400. I’ve had this router for over a month and I absolutely LOVE IT, I haven’t experienced any disconnects or drop offs whatsoever.The dead spots that we had in our house from the old router are completely abolished with this new ASUS router. We use both 2.4ghz and 5ghz and get full wireless signal in every part of our large house. My wife uses a VPN connection for work, the kids and I have persistent wireless connections for streaming movies and browsing the internet, along with using the router as a print server.The web interface and admin tools are outstanding!! The granularity in the traffic analyzer, network monitoring and parental controls is great for keeping an eye on the kid’s web traffic.I’ve only had this router a month so we’ll see how it goes, but so far so good. Of course, if I encounter issues/failures with this router, I will definitely update this review accordingly.
Victor Sanchez –
I’m in love of this router, have a lot of strength to cover my house, 25 x 20 meters, no issues, i have a 4tb hard drive with all my movies and us it with my android tv in the tv or projector or tablet you name it.
S. S. –
ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless-AC2400 Dual Band Gigabit Router, AiProtection with Trend Micro for Complete Network SecurityPros: – User interface it very good, easy to use and feature rich.- It’s guest channels and main channels broadcast well, decent range though nothing to write home about but fast enough to watch Netflix without rebuffering when the smart TV is 30 feet from the router- Easy static IP addressing- User interface allows for nice device naming with icons, connection method and channelCons: – Overall reliability is horrible- Loses internet connection on a regular basis for seemingly no reason – must reboot to get it back and this router reboots slowly- Loses internet connection when uploading files in the 100 mb range – must reboot to get it back- Loses 5Ghz wifi on a regular basis (2.4 is stable) – must reboot to get it back- Client List fails to display and simply gives a one inch list that is empty – must “reset to factory defaults” to get it back- I’ve spend quite a bit of time rebooting, resetting this router and it is at the latest firmware levelAs you can see in the picture, I have to keep the router sitting upside down because there are no heat vents on the top, only the bottom and it seems to be running quite warm.Other Thoughts: I bought this due to having good experience with ASUS’s RT-N56U but needed a guest channel and 802.11ac capability. I bought the first one, a new one, in April 2016. It started having the issues listed above soon after receiving it. I spent quite some time and numerous emails with ASUS tech support in an effort to resolve them but finally ASUS recommended I send it back to them for repair. I did that in July and I had to pay to ship it to them even though it was brand new and under warranty – not happy with that at all – but I did it as I had no other choice.They sent me a refurbished unit for a replacement with a different serial number. That one is exhibiting the same issues as the original one. So, back to troubleshooting again. Lots of time spent on router forums, manufactures sites, with my cable company and searching the internet to try and find a solution but all I found were poor reviews on this model router authored by owners and profession review companies. Unfortunately, I did not look hard enough before buying this router since my previous ASUS experience was good. So, it appears this model is problematic in overall reliability and with its 5Ghz radio in particular.After several more tech support correspondences with ASUS, several router resets and firmware rescues, ASUS is recommending I send it back to their repair center. I told them I did not want to pay a second time to return another router for the same issues as the first one and it is still under warranty. They have agreed to pay shipping this time. Thank you! However, I have no faith whatsoever that whatever I get in return will be any better given my experience and the reviews I have now read on the RT-AC87U.So I asked them to pls take it back in trade for a different model or just buy it back and they said their policy prohibits it. I would ascertain them taking it back and I would go for the RT-AC88U instead as this has much better reviews and the same user interface. I’m also now looking at other router companies, if I have to pay for an RT-AC88U, which is at the high end of the pricing spectrum for an all in one router, I might as well entertain companies like Ubiquiti and a couple other not-so-consumer routers.I am very unhappy with this router which has caused me to write this negative review
Kate Mahoney –
UPDATE 4/10/17 – We moved to a new house and Comcast gave us an upgraded modem/router that allegedly had all the same features as this Asus router all in one, so we tried it. In short, it completely sucked. Within a week it was dropping signal multiple times daily and I couldn’t take it anymore so I put it into bridge mode and went back to using this Asus router and it has yet to drop signalONCE! I love this router so much.Original review -I have had the same old Linksys router for many years now and after buying a Roku 4, starting to use Plex, buying a network printer etc. it finally started to really show its age. Streaming was a nightmare. The printer kept going offline spontaneously and the router was dropping signal to all our devices and having to be manually reset constantly. I’d had it with the problems, so I did a lot of research an ended up buying this monster (and I mean that in the most flattering way possible). Here’s what we have always connected to the network in our large multi-level house:PC connected via a wireless USB adapter (more on that later)HP Office Jet Pro 6978 printerWD My Cloud 4TB hard drive (USB 3.0)WiFi security camera monitorRoku 4WD TV Live plusDISH network HD3 iPhones2 iPads1 laptopAlso, I edit a lot of audio and video for people so I’m regularly downloading and uploading lots of very large files. We don’t do any gaming but a large amount of streaming and other heavy internet heavy lifting. With the old router, my son couldn’t watch YouTube kids on his iPad while I had big uploads or downloads going and streaming was out of the question. Comcast is our provider and the service is good, but I’ve never felt like we’ve gotten the most out of it…until now.So now that you know about our network and usage, let me tell you about this router:- It’s a BEAST! It’s definitely larger and takes up more real estate than our old router (see side by side comparison pic) but it’s still pretty slim and low profile enough to fit on the top shelf of our office bookshelf along with our modem and WD My Cloud. The unit itself looks like it was manufactured in Mordor, but I admit, I kinda dig that about it. It’s got this edgy, tough, sexy look.- While I’m no expert, I built my own PC and am also not a novice when it comes to computer peripherals. I have come to trust ASUS for reliable and quality products for use in my machine. I have a lovely ASUS dual monitor set up, an ASUS MOBO and an ASUS optical drive/burner among other things and they’ve all been fantastic. The quality of this router is just what I have come to expect from ASUS. It is extremely well packaged and comes with everything you need.- Set up was easy which I really appreciate (with a couple caveats which I will get to momentarily)- Connection speeds, streaming, downloading/uploading have all been BLAZING FAST and amazingly reliable every since I turned this on for the first time. I have never had such a wonderful network experience in my life!!- Dual channels are perfect! I connect all iPhones, iPads, printer, laptop etc (longer range devices) to the 2.4Ghz band and reserve the 5Ghz band for the workhorse PC and the Roku 4 for streaming. This seems to me the perfect set up! Everything works flawlessly!- I have yet to fully explore all of the available settings and software but I fully intend to take advantage. I was especially happy to see that there are great parental controls offered!So, the caveats I mentioned earlier and the reason I took off a star are:- While the setup was relatively easy and painless, I did run into a couple snags. First, only my 2.4Ghz band was showing up after the initial setup. Fortunately it didn’t take too long searching forums to find an answer that worked for me. Someone said that it was the result of the firmware update. Indeed when I initially started the setup it found and strongly recommended that I download and install the latest firmware. Of course I did, why wouldn’t I? However, this user said that the unit would have to be reset following the firmware update in order to work properly. I did just that and immediately my 5Ghz band became available to choose. Also, I had to mess around with the channel numbers/settings to find what worked best for me, this is especially true if you live in a high traffic area.- Also, this isn’t the routers fault but is something I wish I’d thought of before, but my PC couldn’t detect the 5Ghz band once it did show up because the USB wireless adapter I had wasn’t designed for dual channel, 5GHz routers. It worked fine on 2.4Ghz but I wanted to run my PC on the 5Ghz band so I ended up buying a new TP Link Archer T4UH High Gain Wireless Dual Band Adapter and it is awesome!! Plays perfectly with this router. The 5Ghz band showed up immediately when I plugged it in and installed the driver and has been blazing fast ever since!All in all I have nearly nothing but good things to say so far about this router. I didn’t like that I had to search forums to find an answer to the problem of the router requiring a reset after flashing the new firmware, but it was a quick and easy fix and now I’m in love! Why did I wait so long to upgrade!? Yes, this router might be overkill for my needs and yes, the pricetag isn’t small, but I wanted something that wasn’t going to be outdated any time soon and could not only handle what we’re throwing at it right now but what we might throw at it in the forseable future. I couldn’t be more pleased with this purchased now that I have it up and running!Hope this helps! I did NOT receive this item for free or at a discount.