ASUS RT-AC88U Product Details
AC3100 Dual Band Gigabit WiFi Gaming Router with MU-MIMO, supporting AiProtection network security by Trend Micro, AiMesh for mesh WiFi system, and WTFast game accelerator
- Ultra-fast 802.11ac dual-band Wi-Fi router boosts speeds up to 3167 Mbps for low-latency online gaming, smooth 4K UHD video playback and extremely fast file-sharing.
- 4×4 antenna design with AiRadar universal beamforming for unrivaled Wi-Fi range.
- Intuitive ASUS Router App lets you control your network anywhere, without needing to boot up a PC.
- Exclusive built-in game accelerator from WTFast® lets you enjoy smooth gameplay in supported multi-player online games.
- AiProtection with Trend Micro™ for triple-strength network security, plus robust Parental Controls and privacy protection.
- 8 Gigabit LAN ports for extensive connectivity.
- Link aggregation for up to 2Gbps wired network speeds, so more devices can enjoy faster access.
- Revolutionary MU-MIMO technology can connect multiple MU-MIMO-compatible clients at each device’s maximum speed simultaneously.
- AiMesh Supported – Connect to other compatible ASUS routers to create a powerful and flexible whole-home Wi-Fi network
Whether you’re gaming online in a heated competition or streaming a live event in 4K UHD, lag and buffering are simply not an option. NitroQAM™ (1024-QAM) technology on the RT-AC88U delivers a combined 3167 Mbps Wi-Fi speed, ensuring everyone on your network can enjoy smooth streaming and low-latency online gaming.
Ping time and variance are critical technical parameters that affect responsiveness in online gaming, and their values depend heavily on the route game packets take to and from their destination. The Gamers Private Network® (GPN®) from WTFast® automatically performs route optimization, choosing the most efficient route for game packets, resulting in consistently-lower ping time and minimal packet loss. With RT-AC88U this optimization is free for accelerating one selectable device at a time, so you can enjoy the results on supported competitive multi-player online games1. Check out supported games list and more information about WTFast router edition here.
Network speed impacts every device you game with on every platform you game on. The ASUS RT-AC88U delivers bandwidth and coverage for all your gaming devices, from consoles to PCs to mobile devices*, and supports every operating system, including Windows®2, Mac OS®3 and Linux®4.
Boost your gaming bandwidth with Adaptive QoS (Quality of Service), which allows you to easily prioritize gaming packets and activities. You can even assign full dedicated bandwidth while gaming under gamer solo mode, making RT-AC88U the perfect ally for low latency gaming anywhere in your home. It supports major consoles including PlayStation®3, PlayStation®4, PS4™ Pro, PlayStation®Vita, Wii U, 3DS and Xbox One.
Networking is only half the equation when it comes to game performance. Anti-virus programs and 3rd party applications can consume valuable CPU and memory that could be reallocated to your game. With AiProtection on the RT-AC88U you can confidently turn off these utilities while you game, ensuring every available drop of resource is spent enhancing your game.
RT-AC88U is the master of entertaining, able to support multiple of devices and Full HD 1080p streams simultaneously. Beyond content consumption, the RT-AC88U enables a smarter home, supporting IP cameras, thermostats and a variety of devices you don’t even own yet.
With a four-transmit, four-receive (4T4R) antenna design, both Wi-Fi range and signal stability improve dramatically. AiRadar beamforming further focuses Wi-Fi signal on your devices, making your Wi-Fi faster, clearer and stronger.
In most cases, your RT-AC88U can deliver smooth, reliable Wi-Fi to every part of your home. But Wi-Fi coverage can be affected by many factors — room layout, construction materials, and even furnishings. ASUS AiMesh is an innovative new router feature that fixes these problems: it creates a whole-home Wi-Fi network using multiple ASUS routers. AiMesh is powerful, flexible and you can use a mix of ASUS router models — protecting your investment! AiMesh gives you time-saving central control, and seamless roaming capability. AiMesh is Wi-Fi you can rely on — for all your devices, all the time!
- Turn your ASUS routers into whole-home Wi-Fi system with a simple firmware update
- Mix and match preferred models from selected ASUS routers
- Create a Wi-Fi network with either a single SSID or multiple SSIDs
- All router features works across the entire Wi-Fi system
RT-AC88U’s top-of-the-line 1.4 GHz dual-core processor brings its computational capability to the next level. USB data transfers enjoy up to over 100 MB/s speed and the router download/upload speed (WAN-LAN throughput) up to 1800 Mbps5.
Multiple Capacity Wi-Fi with Revolutionary MU-MIMO Technology
MU-MIMO gives every compatible device6 its own dedicated full-speed Wi-Fi connection, so that multiple devices can connect at the same time without slowing down the network.
In fact, RT-AC88U is able to connect to multiple MU-MIMO-compatible clients at each device’s maximum speed simultaneously, unlike standard single-user MIMO where individual devices have to wait for sequential transmissions7
In fact, RT-AC88U is able to connect to multiple MU-MIMO-compatible clients at each device’s maximum speed simultaneously, unlike standard single-user MIMO where individual devices have to wait for sequential transmissions7
Parental Controls
Monitor and Restrict Internet Activity for Any User
Advanced parental controls help you to prevent users from visiting inappropriate websites, for example keeping young children safe from viewing adult content. You can also restrict the times that each device or guest account can access the internet, by applying scheduled time limits.
RT-AC88U exclusively has eight Gigabit LAN ports – twice the number most routers provide – for up to eight Ethernet-compatible devices to connect simultaneously. Smart TVs, game consoles, set top boxes, media players, NAS storage devices and more can now have their own dedicated ports, making RT-AC88U your digital home hub.
Your Sharing Center
With built-in USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, you can connect USB-enabled devices, such as external storage drives, printers, or a 3G/4G dongle to your ASUS router and share them conveniently with other users via Wi-Fi. And with USB 3.0, you can enjoy up to 10X faster data transfer speeds.
Link Aggregation, More Devices Go Faster
RT-AC88U features Link Aggregation, which combines two teaming LAN ports (the 1st and 2nd port) into one superfast wired connection for up to 2 Gbps using two Gigabit Ethernet cables5. With Link Aggregation enabled on your NAS, clients can unlock unprecedented transfer speeds.
What’s Included:
- ASUS RT-AC88U Wireless Router
- Ethernet Cable
- Power Supply Cable
- Online Installation Manual
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Charlie Samuel –
This router is great Router Asus makes great hardware & software the user interface is easy to configure.The Range covers 2,070 sqft of my home 50 feet away and still 180 mbs connection wired & wireless on 5ghz band.Ai protection: Helps blocks malicious attack to your pc or any connected device.Ai cloud: I have a 4TB drive work great i can access my files any where any time on the go!Time Machine backup: Works great for backup Mac to external hard drive.Download master: Very useful tool that lets you download torrents directly from the external hard drive even when your computer is offline which is great!It has 8 port switch with link aggregation 2gbps for NAS & 1.4 GHz Dual core cpu & 512mb of Ram.Cons : The only issue is USB 3.0 speeds are slow about 36 mbs from external hard but that can be fixed in setting Wireless – Professional-Reducing USB 3.0 interference just disable it and you will get faster usb 3.0 speeds.Firmware update checker is very bad hardly finds new firmware and when it does the firmware is out dated it better to just go to asus website under support and manually download the firmware update file.
Mindy –
Works great. Both 2.4 and 5 channels have no issues. Make sure modem does not have issues with this and vice versa. I purchased a netgear cm600 and did not work with my older linksys router which caused dropped connections every 30 minutes. After installing this new router,I’ve had Zero dropped connections. My speed test went from 70mb to 120mb after the installation. Quite happy! Thanks
Basic Sam –
It is not working with out of box condition,Plugged in that and it is simply not working at all.Just 1 time succeeded to enter GUI setting, but it stopped and just 2 LEDs are flashing.No other activities.Also I have pushed the reset button for more 30 seconds, there’s no changingP.S: it is working suddenly, despite Asus customer center’s help, it was not helpful.The router was no responce only blinking 2 LEDs, after 5~6 hours, I put power and it was working again.I don’t know how I did, and customer center’s support is not proper for my case.So far, spped is good, and disconnection with my Android phone is not appear than my last router AC3200.Update 21. Nov: It is dead again, I’ll return and refund.I’ll wait when they made better item with betther firmware.
Lon J. Seidman –
Asus makes some of the best routers on the market and this one continues that lineage. It is fast, feature rich, and offers simplified configuration options for many of its complex features.But do not be distracted by all of its antennas. This router, like some of its competitors, supports a new 4×4 1024 QAM mode that promises 2 gigabit per second theoretical wireless speeds. But the reality is that there isn’t currently a laptop, tablet, or phone on the market that actually supports these new speeds. In fact many devices on the market are only first implementing AC wireless speeds that started popping up on routers two years ago!So if you have an 802.11ac router already and are not pleased with your wireless performance this one likely won’t solve your problem. But if you are not yet currently on AC technology this will be an excellent entry point. Wireless AC devices will operate faster and more reliably on this router than they will on an older non-AC router.It’s loaded with features and has plenty of RAM and processor power to support what it touts. It has 8 full gigabit ethernet ports as part of its built in switch and two of them can be link aggregated to support higher speed network attached storage devices.Of note is the traffic analysis feature that can identify not only the biggest consumers of bandwidth on your network but also what it is they’re doing while consuming it. It can also sort traffic logs based on specific applications (Facebook, YouTube, Netflix, etc) across all devices.It also has a simplified traffic prioritization (QOS) feature to allow games,streaming media, voice over IP, etc. to take a higher priority on the network for lower latency. These priorities can be set by a simple point and click interface or configured manually. It also has an OpenVPN server for connecting to a network remotely as well as a client to link two remote networks together.Its USB 3.0 port is faster than prior Asus routers and is suitable for light file sharing. I was able to use its USB 2.0 port as a fallback for my main internet connection by having it seamlessly shift to a cellular modem when the main connection went down.I could go on but this is really the cream of the crop for enthusiast routers. Having looked at a lot of them over the last year or so this one really is the best one out there at the moment.
Dan M –
I bought this router to replace my Dark Knight ( which is now being used as an access point )The range on this Asus is great. I have it installed in my 3rd floor office and the many LAN ports are great. I can know run my two computers, two printers, Synology Diskstation in Link Aggregation Mode, and a Powerline connection to the first floor access point.Setup was easy coming from my previous Asus router, and wireless speeds are much faster than I had before.
alberto –
This is a Very User Friendly Wireless Router ….It has many Features you can only get in Commercial Routing Hardware and its in consumer Level Router…..It has made a world of difference in my online gaming stability of the connection!!!!!Heres a Speed and Line Quality Test….just for proof…..Bloat Rating A Line Quality A Speed B(thats because its fiber and its rated against 1GB Link)
PLin –
Pros: Extremely fast wifi speeds, very good range, tons of settings, easy to use browser interface, guest-mode wifiCons: Can get hot, large footprint, priceyIf you’re looking for one of the best dual-band routers on the market, then this is the one to get. It’s definitely priced like a flagship router, but it comes with a ton of features for pro users and anyone who wants very granular control over their home network. It is one of the few routers that comes with 8 LAN ports, so if you have a lot of wired devices, then it is a huge plus. Because this is a high-end router, it also has a very large footprint, but you can’t get away from that, regardless of brand or model. It’s one of the more “normal” looking routers, considering how the trend nowadays seems to be to make a router look as much as a UFO as possible.This is an dual-band AC3100 router, which means it has a 2.4GHz band that has a theoretical maximum speed of 1000 Mbps and a 5.0GHz band that has a theoretical maximum speed of 2167 Mbps, but you’ll never see those speeds in real-world applications. You’ll see some tri-band AC3200 routers on the market, and those usually have a 2.4GHz band of 600 MBps and two 5.0GHz bands of 1300Mbps each. For most users, a dual-band router is enough, especially if you just have a few devices.On my old router (a Linksys wireless-N), I was getting a download speed of around 73 Mbps in a room 30 ft away from the router. With this router, I was getting over 300 Mbps, which is the same as my wired connection. Both tests were conducted on the 5.0 GHz band on the same channel. I have a three-level house, and the signal was pretty good on the first two floors. I noticed a weaker signal on the third floor, but it’s rarely used, so it’s not a big deal.The browser interface is full of options and is very easy to navigate. It gives power users granular control over their network and has many features like guest-mode wifi, prioritizing traffic, configuring WOL, and many other features. Users of Asus routers will be pretty familiar with the layout.Like I said earlier, this router is big and can run kind of hot. So far, I haven’t seen any problems with it, but make sure it’s in a well ventilated area so it doesn’t overheat. If you have the money, then this is the router to get. I wouldn’t spend $100 more for the AC5300, since there aren’t many devices that can take advantage of its features and speeds, and a tri-band router is overkill.
Donnie B. –
April 11, 2016. Awesome gaming router. Update 12/03/2019. Still going strong. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made. Don’t need the WiFi anymore since we have everything hard-lined into it. Still works well when guests come over though.
S+S Florida –
Switched from ASUS RT-AC3200 to this one and could not be more happy. Using firmware Version:9.0.0.4.380_2697 WiFi coverage exceeds my expectations, both on the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio. My UHD 4k streaming services (Netflix, Vudu) are rock-solid, no dropouts on any of my 15 connected clients. Setup was straightforward, my *WIFI* download speed is now 180 MB/s on the 5 GHz band! I always keep my routers on a Notebook Chill Mat using the back USB of the router as a power source that keeps the router cool and working fine. Love the ASUS Router.
NP UCF –
It’s only been an hour but doing a few simple speed tests and now I wish i had bought this earlier. I have been using an apple time capsule for the last couple years and only now realize what I have been missing… all the damn bandwidth I was paying extra for. You can see the before and after and that is on wifi at the opposite end of my house.
Mom of 3 –
Router was flawless for 9 months. Its currently out for RMA. Started rebooting on its own, crashing constantly and finally got to the point where it would only have the power light and red internet light on. I can only hope that I don’t get a refurbished pile of garbage back after being down for over 2 weeks and counting with out a good router. Have a Darknight 66u router before this that is still working in another part of my house with a tooth pick holding the power button in but it still works fine.
SeonWoo Chang –
Great design and quality router.Its Wi-fi coverage is wider than AC68U and its wireless speed is 1.5~2x faster!I did not have enough time to test link aggregation.It is very huge router so you need to find a space to put.Overall, I am very satisfied.
Francisco Mellado K –
I received a used item. The box was open earlier and used because the cable of the charger was messy and not covered with plastic. I bought a new one, not a used one. The package says that inside the box comes a Rj-45 cable… there’s no rj-45 cable! of course, if is a used item, they have missed things….Also, behind the router show the installed firmware, but the router it’s not with the same firmware, it’s with the most current firmware from the end of december!! Why it this happening?Most curious thing… the power on botton was on the ON position…
Chris nadarajah –
first one was a dud. it turned on. did nothing else. the lights kept rebooting.I got the replacement yesterday and hooked it up, ran okay, but i put merlin`s latest FW and WOW. i love the 6 different openVPN clients that tomato and now WRTMerlin has. i will update this review after i upgrade some of my desktops with triple AC PCIE adapters. i want to def give this and roaming a more robust look. and edit this review lata.herese the radios in a very very noisy building, 11 and 48/80 were the least used, sometimes my noise levele is -90+ , but i usually exprect noide in the low -80dBm
Customer –
It’s a solid product, Wifi is great, 8 Gigabit LAN ports, firmware and iOS app is better than the competitors BUT if your are leaning towards this for extra range and WTFast then it might disappoint. First, check if your game is supported by the router version of WTFast. At the moment only 8 games are supported, see the screenshot. Wifi range is not as much as I expected, not substantially better than AC-66U or AC68U. I would’ve bought 66U or 68U and saved a lot, had I researched more on WTFast supported games but its on Asus as well for not putting asterisk on that “Extreme WiFi Router” marketing gimmick to sell this as an extreme range gaming router without stating limitations. Not worth the extra $$ for over-exaggerated features.
AnshPatel –
ASUS RT-AC88U Wireless-AC3100 Dual Band Gigabit Router, AiProtection with Trend Micro for Complete Network SecurityUpgraded my home router from Asus RT-N66u to Asus RT-AC88u.Connects to around 20 devices in my home and gigabit internet.Bought this in Oct 2016 from competitor.Observed couple of days ago that the casing is coming out. I have not seen anyone facing the issue so terribly disappointed.
Savvy Shopper –
Today I purchased a new Netgear CM1000 modem to rule out the possibility that the Arris SB6121 was the problem. The latest stock Asus firmware 7266 still will not work right with Comcast cable. I have tried using all allowable versions of the factory firmware and have had to resort to using Merlin’s firmware to even get an IPv6 connection which it will not keep. I am currently running Merlin’s firmware version 380.65_2 which will immediately acquire an IPv6 connection with the modem. Asus should consider some prefix designation specific settings for their IPv6 menu that mimic those that Merlin has incorporated into his menu for customers using Comcast cable. See the pictures to see that my modem is provisioned for IPv6 in the first line of the log and what the router did even with IPv6 enabled in its settings. Look at the top of the screen to confirm the firmware version that I’m using while this is happening.The radio is strong and covers my house with a strong 5ghz signal that no other router I’ve ever owned could do. In many places even the netgear r8000 I tried last year left dead zones that the RT-AC88U covers. The interface GUI is very intuitive and offers many settings and an ease of navigation that other routers don’t offer. Although this model allows for two DNS server designations I would like to see 3 or more in the menu. I have used this unit in failover mode with Comcast as my primary provider and AT&T VDSL as the second ISP and after properly configuring the AT&T modem/router to DMZ the IP address to the router it works just fine. I also like how the network map shows the clients and their connection method along with time connected and RX/TX speeds which is something that no other router I’ve owned has done.If they would just fix how it connects to Comcast and properly utilize prefix designation so it can keep its IPv6 address that would be a great start. So far this is completely unacceptable behavior from such an expensive product and I have emailed customer loyalty over this since my umpteen emails with pictures and logs to tech support have proven futile.
NAMOR –
Short feedback on this ASUS Router RT-AC88U. I have YET to find a wireless client that will give me more as the 1.3gbps connection speeds with this router. I did buy and return the ASUS PCE-AC88 as it was even less as my Laptop 3×3 wireless card. (only 975Mbps – 1Gbps) I have tinkered for a very long time to find out that for the wireless part this router, like many others, does simply not perform to its alleged theoretical max speeds. I am very upset about the low wireless speeds I get between WLAN and WAN. I have a Fiber connection from my ISP with both ways 1Gbps speeds yet on the wireless 5GHz band this doesn’t perform much better as my old router. I just did again a speedtest on my laptop and the download/upload speed test results were only 336 Mbps / 580 Mbps while connected at a solid 1.3Gbps to the router.The odd thing here has been also that the UPLOAD speed as shown just now, are almost double of what the download speed is. The up to 2.1 Gbps wireless speeds are lies and even between two ASUS products which are said by the manufacturer to work good together do NOT deliver. I am spoiled, that must be obvious, a tech savvy person and have read up in this for many months while playing with this and other products for many weeks. For people that do not have an ISP of Internet Service Provider with these super speeds but say 50Mbps or 100 Mbps this is a great product. I have at times a dozen or more devices connected to this Router, some hard wired or via LAN others, if not the majority via WLAN or Wirelessly. I know for a fact that there are routers out there, be it SU-MIMO, MU-MIMO or No MIMO at all that perform almost equally as good for half the price of this one and only if you have a big wallet and plenty to share I would say go ahead and buy it. I have a lot of ASUS items and like the quality of used materials, the attempted customer service, I say attempted as for me getting scripted novice suggestions ‘ain’t’ what I am looking for but real honest answers, factual and solutions, not band aids and non-solutions. I know some MFG Try and Asus in my experience has tried and most of the time done an ok job.I won’t go into all I have tried but know this, that all those advertised super speeds do not work, one has to disable a majority inside this router to get a little speed. Which in my world is sad and not acceptable. I am seriously thinking of returning this router and maybe, just maybe see how the 5300 performs in comparison but then again, WOW the money they ask for these fake advertised speeds… so buyer beware, do your homework. I have done mine and I challenge ASUS (or any other manufacturer MFG) to get me devices that will do at a minimum 1Gbps speedtest both ways.IMHO there are NONE. if there are bring it on and let me see for myself, if I like what I see I’ll get to keep it and give it a raving review, dead honest as always. :).
Mark –
I needed a new router to replace the one(Netgear) I have been using for years and the LAN started having problems slowing down. I have built many computers over the years and have always used Asus motherboards.This router was highly rated so I thought I would give it a try. Bad move on my part, I have been trying to get the wifi to work now for 2 days with no luck. I will be sending it back and going back to netgear. Won’t try an Asus router again.
Kevin –
This is a fantastic router. I spent a lot of time researching and comparing this router with the Asus AC-5300 and the Netgear Nighthawk x8 and x10. I work as a fiber optic internet installer and I knew the modem that we give out on the installations isn’t that great. I personally have had lots of experience with the Netgear routers and Asus. Both brands are very good at making quality routers. For me it came down to UI preference. Netgear is extremely basic and flat in my opinion. Their UI makes it kind of a chore to get where you want to go in configuring the router Asus makes it very easy to navigate and simple to the average user. But its all opinion based just like picking which tv brand you prefer. Price is also a big one especially when looking at these 4 routers. There is quite the gap between them. Some may argue you get what you pay for but for most homes the x10 is complete overkill in my opinion and at 400+ dollars I would rather upgrade my graphics card in my computer. The X8 is pretty close to the cost of the Asus but again I prefer the Asus. Now the comparison between the AC-5300 and this one, the RT-AC88U. After really looking at the specs,which are the same chip and ram wise, this came down to what am I going to be using it for; a heavy wifi user or more towards hard lining it. I ran cat 6 Ethernet through my house so I was going for the hard line side of things The AC-5300 has only 4 gigabit lan ports while the Asus RT-AC88U has 8. Side note, for how much all these routers cost why only 4. That was the kicker for me I wanted more ports for connecting my lines without the need for switches. If you are more of heavy wifi user then definitely consider the 5300. The antenna array is a bit like a bond villain logo but a friend of mine has one and that thing has some good reach. I really like the RT-AC88U. I have been using it for 4 months now with zero issues. I have 1000 meg internet which most of you know isn’t really that much 940 is actually the max if you read the fine print, and again some would consider that overkill but I like it. Hopefully this helps I attached a photo of a speed test after i hooked up my router to my network. This is on a pc on the opposite side of the house not directly fed from the router also I had already plugged and connected through wifi everything else in as well so as to see the speed test under normal household conditions to get a true test not just isolated to the pc.
Robert W Gray Jr –
Not impressed. I have had nothing but problems since I took this thing out of the box. The quick setup failed to work, it would fail to load the web page completely. I would log-in, and could not view all the options on the admin page. I would finally click on something and would get kicked out and have to log in again, this would repeatedly occur over and over again. I finally resorted to calling support. They told me I had to have it plugged into my cable modem for it to work properly, which I did and had the same result. The support tech then put me on hold for 15 mins until his shift ended at 6:30PM PST, what crap! I finally resorted to resetting to factory defaults and used the advanced set up. This time it worked, but would not let me change the network from 192.168.1.0/24. I could get the admin web page to load and make some configuration changes. I had most things set up and working however, the 2.4ghz wireless would fail to enable. I even tried both upgrading firmware and downgrading firmware with the same result. My baby’s webcam uses 2.4Ghz so I am no longer able to use it. I was able to change the LAN network from 192.168.1.0/24 after the firmware change.** The admin web page not loading and getting kicked out repeatedly.** Not being able to change the LAN address** The 2.4Ghz wifi radio not working** The crappy phone support I receivedI would not recommend this router to anyone.I should add I am a senior network administrator and have designed and built both large scale enterprise and small business networks. I have literally configured more than a thousand network devices and this one is one of the worst I have tried.
Esther X. –
Got a used one. They even didn’t reset the factory default before sent it to me. It has own password and router address. As the photoes. Terrible.After reset, it works, only one day. It died and never work again, even can not link the admin user.
A. Rod –
I’ve had my previous router for a little over 3 years which was a rt-ac68u. It was still working perfectly no problems just needed more power to run some vpns, plus there are more streaming devices being used on the network. I bought the ac88u from a warehouse deals with a practically brand new description. Everything came in the box as if new, every piece was in a bag except the antennas since they come inserted in slits on a piece of cardboard.I was using Merlin’s firmware on the ac68u so that was one of the first things I did to update the router to it’s most current firmware. I’m am using a fork of Merlin’s firmware which gives me a couple of unlocked features including the extra settings for vpn. Once I installed the updated firmware I did a factory reset, followed by a Nvram reset. This helps make sure only default values from current firmware are being used.I was kind of paranoid of this router based on the reviews on hardware failures and the 5g network not working or disappearing altogether. Once I had roughly the same setting as my ac68u and setup the vpn service I ran test on the network and range. My ISP Spectrum provides 300/20 service, so testing LAN speeds gave me 330/22 which is perfect.Now the WiFi is where I had to put in the most work in figuring out what was going wrong. First my 2.4 network would only max out at around 50-60/20 Mbps on my iPhone while being associated at a 144mbps. My ac68u was getting close to 80/20 Mbps on its 2.4 network. Testing the 5g network gave me roughly the same results as on the LAN 320/22 Mbps. I was disappointed at the 2.4 network speed results but decided to do some more research as to try to improve overall throughput on the 2.4 network. Their are many options to take into consideration like channel and the widths but for me channel 1 and on 20mhz gave the best results. Now their are other options to change which are located in the professional tab. Eventually after toggling on and off different settings based on opinions/facts on forums I got to an improvement in speed and range. Now on my 2.4 network I was maxing out at over 100 Mbps on my iPhone 6s Plus. I have pictured both the 2.4g and 5g network Speed test results.After having everything setup to my liking and not needing to reboot router, is when the 5g network started doing it’s disappearing act. Shrugged it off the first time but was thinking already i was having those 5g network problem I was reading in most of the reviews. It happen a second time and now I was getting worried i would have to return router. The 5g network kept disappearing about every 3-4 days and I would have to either reboot router or toggle the 5g network on/off to have it show up.I noticed on the wireless log page that the 5g network had a higher noise interference than normal. I did research to find out more information on what was causing this and what to do. Eventually I came to a page that explains the 5g network and it’s available channels that don’t overlap each other. But I also found out that certain channels mainly the higher channels are shared by certain radars and emergency services. There are 3 bands, the first one being domestic (home routers), bands 2-3 are for certain radars and emergency services. It’s said that if a router on a channel from band 2-3 would have to switch its channel to prevent interference with the radar or emergency services.The channel I was currently using fell into the 3rd band of channels, Once I switched to a channel in the first band I saw the difference. First their was less noice in the 5g network and connections were stronger. And as of right now I have 9 days up and running without the 5g network disappearing.So overall it was a lot of work but with new technology their comes a learning curve to figure out how everything works while maximizing performance . Right now I am happy with the routers overall performance and stability. I’ve included my professional tabs pages for both network to see my optimal settings. Gaming is great on two XBOX ones at the same time. Don’t use the WTFast feature. Streaming to multiple devices , phones, fire TV, smart TV , laptop with no problems.One thing is that this router does run a little hot. My ac68u was the same and I was using a fan to keep it cool. I had to buy another 120mm fan and used the two fans under the the ac88u to help with air circulation. It dropped the CPU temp by almost 20 degrees Celsius, and the WiFi CPU’s by about 10 degrees Celsius. Hopefully this will prolong the life of the router and give me at least 3 years + of performance.I will update if there are any changes or failures, but for know I’m willing to round up to 5 stars.Update October 13, 2017I found more info about 5g network disappearing on a forum. Thanks to ScottW, his suggestion of having the 5g network broadcast on 40mhz bandwidth. This has helped him keep his network up for weeks. Hope this help anyone having their 5g network disappear.
Peter T. Deal –
After 15 months of flawless service, the router is now overheating, and the external case is starting to melt! I keep it in my basement that’s generally 65 degrees F or cooler. Router has been disconnecting wifi at least 2x/hour for the past week. See picture of heat stress cracks in router case.Update: Still covered by warranty, so replaced by Asus. New unit works great! I put it on a laptop cooling stand with fans so it stays cool. Do a google search for “asus router overheating” and you’ll see that other people also have overheating issues with these routers since they lack adequate case ventilation. There are a ton of ventilation holes in the bottom, but few in the top or sides of the case. There really should be an internal fan for this model. Great experience with Asus tech support!Update 2: The replacement router has performed well and has not overheated so far. However, the firmware is buggy. For example, I have a USB drive attached for network storage, and at random times the router no longer recognizes that the drive is attached. Software reboots accomplish nothing, so the power has to be cycled, the drive removed, and then after the reboot is finished, the drive can be reinserted. Power cycling takes at least 10 minutes because the router is extremely slow to boot up.Additionally, the parental control that offers time scheduling doesn’t work consistently. In theory, you can allow or deny internet access to each device based on the MAC address and time of day. But in reality, although clients are blocked during the correct hours, they are also randomly blocked from internet access during the time of day that they should be allowed! This random blocking may last just a few minutes, or may require a power cycle of the router to fix. I’ve lowered my rating of this router to 3 stars as a result of this annoyance.
Michael Brewster –
I switched from 60 Mb/s to 300 Mb/s internet speed. I finally got this router to upload faster than 95 Mb/s, without the help of tech support. Now this router really flies!
Evstyle –
I’ve had this router for almost a year now… This is the worst money I’ve ever spent. Its basically unusable because it simply wont keep your network stable for more than a few days. Works great for about 48hrs then, both the 2.4 & 5ghz networks will not connect to the internet. In the time I’ve had it, I’ve updated the firmware like 6 times with various Asus router software… I’ve even tried Merlin on it but, it made no difference. I’ve moved it to several different places in my home, away from anything that could possibly be upsetting it… There are many sites out there with people who have the same problem with this router and are frustrated dealing with Asus. So, I’m going to spend money now, to ship it to them and pray they can fix it at all or, pray its not more money spent on an awful router. Its just sad, with the very expensive price tag of the RT-AC88U, other cheaper routers are chugging along perfectly in my home, and this is a $250 paperweight…Update 1/22/2018.. – I contacted Asus in December and they agreed for me to send it to them. I found the original box and was preparing to ship it. At the last minute, I remembered I still had the Merlin firmware on it.. (only used Merlin as a last resort after trying several Asus versions but, still wouldn’t work.) To make sure they wouldn’t blame the issue on the firmware, I thought I would just put the newest Asus version back on before I ship it. Went on Asus homepage and a version had just been released just a few days before. I installed the newest firmware and decided to toy with it one last time… and to my surprise.. it’s now working perfectly. It’s been a month and I haven’t had not one issue at all. The features it has, along with the incredible range, plus it is REALLY easy to use compared to other routers… makes this router the best I’ve ever seen or heard about(provided it continues to work this way.) So, I’m giving a couple stars back but, after spending an incredible amount of my time to make it work, 3 stars is the best that I can do.UPDATE 7/7/2019. Ok, now 18 months after all of the headaches ended.. and it’s been flawless in this time. Incredible amount of features and iron clad security. By far, the best router I’ve ever owned or worked with. I can’t forget what a sh!t show it was in the beginning so, for me it sadly can never be a 5 star purchase. But I’m pushing it up to 4 stars. Which is an incredible feat for any item that I gave a 1 star review on for the first 3 months. The one complaint I have which many users won’t, it’s that the Ai Protection from Trend Micro ( a feature of AC88U ) Can only be used if you opt in to Trend Micro recording your usage and being able to share that info. I bought this router to help defend my personal data in the first place. Not to hand it over to use the router. This is a feature listed on the box of the router I paid for. Apparently, Trend Micro needs more $ for their service at the cost of my personal data. So I’m a little torn here. But, at the end of the day.. If my Asus router was stolen.. I would buy it again. After all the headaches, That’s a huge compliment coming from me.
Koo_C –
This is the end-king of the ASUS router.I was originally planning to buy the RT-AC86U, but I purchased the AC-88U that was cheaper at Black Friday.I recommend.
QASE –
Started out liking this Asus 3100 after buying it April 23, 2017, could notice less lag and less drops. Was planning to buy a second to upgrade the router at the lake house, but held off to see how it held up.Unfortunately it dropped the 2.4 channel about 10 days ago. Did several resets and got it all working, but just a day later the router intermittently drops both 2.4 and 5 channels.Country of manufacture is a tired excuse, at $300 I didn’t expect to have to replace it within a year. Glad I didn’t by the second one.
Keith –
It’s a decent router. Plenty of settings internally, and I get good speeds thoughout my house. The only problem was the quality of the paint on the top of the router. It started peeling within a few months of purchase. Asus refused to fix it, or replace it, because they considered it to be cosmetic.
Logan –
I have tried many options to get the best preformance out of my PS4. I have done powerline adapters, plain WiFi options, access port and bridge mode on routers. Finally this came out and is the best option. If you can’t be next to your router this is the best thing. Don’t waste money on other options buy this router and do the ASUS AI mesh. I never got more than 45 mbps, now I’m getting 120+. This works great. I have the router wired into my PS4 and it’s still good connection without the wired connection. I highly recommend this! I will be making a YouTube video, check out my channel YeetZeeBu.
Xzulu –
One of the best routers I’ve ever used! This is actually my second one, my first one I sold it to a friend, since I had to move. But now I have it again and I’m very satisfied!!!
CaptainPico –
This router has really lived up to my expectations. I needed more than 4 ethernet ports which was a primary reason to select this router. The GUI is easy to use and there are a wide array of features that are easy to configure and implement. The wireless capability provides coverage throughout our two story house. We are now able to fully utilize our Spectrum cable Internet bandwidth using a combination of wired and wireless devices.
Andy Entrekin –
I spent some time last evening getting everything setup. I finally ended up using asuswrt-merlin’s firmware. Once the new firmware was done I made a few other tweaks. I was averaging around 220Mbps to 325Mbps. Once Merlins new firmware was in place and I turned off remote mngt access and UPnP I got speeds over 600Mbps quite often on the 5GHZ and max’d out the 2.4GHZ spectrum easily. I find that remote access tagged the overhead of the router to the tune of 15-20 Mbps and about the same for UPnP. I can easily stay above 600Mbps with those off and usually around 480-520Mbps with them on. Out of the box I was only doing around 255Mbps just so you know. I am now getting better speeds through the AC88U then connecting through the Xfinity router/modem directly. Pics included. I am on a late 2016 Macbook Pro with SSD with 2.6 i7 and 16GB RAM. You will notice the Merlin logo up on the top left of the Asus Routers page.
JadeEmperor –
Update 4/28/2019so I bought this router in September 2018 and wifi starting to get worst the last 2 weeks and now even on the Ethernet ports with cat7 cable were I used to pull 900mbps on my giga plan from comcast its only delivering 300+ , connected the Modem direct to the computer 800+ mbps , tried everything , reset and came to the conclusion that the router just went somehow kind of failure and need a new one , PEOPLE MY ADVICE STAY AWAY FROM THIS ROUTER , I had netgear before this and never had any issues ….this router in terms of quality and looks is amazing , but even with all those antennas the wifi is never stable on this one , need to restart it every day because wifi starts lagging or slow to much , in the router page to set up when selecting the channels for the wifi it doesn’t show the graphic with neighbors using what channels so you can select one with less traffic (netgear have this amazing feature ) ,there is a few more things that makes this router not worth the money they selling here , I am advance user and I would not recommend this one to no one even that on the cable connections works really good on my 1gb internet plan
Roadside –
This router improved the speed and coverage of my network considerably. Comcast forced me to buy a new Cable Modem and I replaced the router at the same time, but the difference in speed was huge. Old network capped out at 130 mbps. The new speed shot up to 160 mbps, and after I replaced the old Cat 5 with new Cat 7 the speed shot up again to 185 mbps. Once Comcast gets it’s Gigbit service finished in my area, I’ll be set. The wireless coverage extended out considerably as well. There aren’t any dead spots in the house at all and I can pick up the signal at my neighbors house at the end of the BLOCK! It was easy to set up and configure. Glad I did the upgrade!
F. Indech –
I Wanted to like very much this router, I have used before some Netgear, Dlink and others. Asus is my first one! and I wanted to buy because is a powerful router and has a mesh network. I also bought the Asus Blue Cave to be AiMesh Node.First the install was easy and fast, updated the new firmware and everything was working for less then a day. The router has stoped and I couldn’t get into the web interface, so, I have try the rescue mode! With the last firmware at ASUS website didn’t work, then I got an old one! It worked, but it took me hours to figure this out. Then I had to reset factory defaut then create the mesh network with Blue Cave.AiMesh now works nice! but, As in the picture I have a NAS, plugged in the LAN port from BlueCave (WAN port is required when you want to use AiMesh with cable) then I figure out that a media player plugged in the main router didn’t find the NAS… so, I had to get an swith to do that.So, there is many things that is supposed to be easier and better but with good and nice routers with mesh netowrk does not exist. Let’s wait for another brands to have this nice feature too!hope it helps who wants to understand better AiMesh
MediaBoxEnt –
Our smart devices were dropping connection all the time!, they always stopped working, ,my old routher could not handle my new smart home 😎This is a really great router and I highly recommend, now that I am writing this review I remember how long it took us to get simple tasks done with the old router, it may be a bit pricey, however, it is worth every penny!I has enough Ethernet ports , we use each one of them! , this is one of the best dual band routers we could find, after hours and hours of research!TIP: we always keep it up to date with the latest firmware, if there are tiny problems they will be solved!It was super easy to set up, as you can see on our video, please let us know if the was helpful for you 😁
James R Woda –
I read the reviews about the issues with the 2.4 GHz band, but some of them were older and I assumed that Asus was aware and had fixed the issue by now. I was wrong. The 2.4GHz band never worked. I contacted ASUS and they walked me through some steps (including Rescue Mode) but that did not correct the issue. I’m returning the router.
Ted –
I would say 90% of the users that purchase this router give it a poor review because they don’t know how to manage a good router. So because they think it’s “broken”, it’s just because they do not know how to properly manage a solid router. I’m an experienced IT guy. But not super savvy network wise. So I’ll do my best to explain the parts I thought were the best features of the router. First and foremost, if you have issues with it, call the Asus support line (812-282-2782 #3). There’s a BIG ol’ card in the package with that phone number on it. You can’t miss it. They support staff is great.Most modems today are actually “Gateways” (a router and modem in one). You cannot connect one router to another without a conflict.You have to disable the wireless connection on the modem before using this device. When I connected it, the router detected this conflict and tried to resolve it by adjusting itself. This didn’t work until about the 3rd time of rebooting the modem and the router.This router has multiple wireless connections: 2.4, 5ghz and a guest wireless connection which can be completely disconnected from your internal network and only have access to the internet.What I learned after purchasing this router:Many modems are finicky about what port you connect your router to. specifically port one. Plug it into port 2.If you have a preexisting wireless router in place, making the Asus have the same Wireless name and password will make (most) wireless devices automatically connect without any updates on the devices themselves.radio frequencies can conflict with each other if they are too close together (like a wireless router and a microwave right next to it).Almost all devices are compatible with the 2.4GHz wireless frequency. Several of my older devices are NOT 5GHz compatible (My IP Cameras and some older iDevices).2.4GHz frequency vs 5GHz frequency: 2.4GHz has a further range, but slower speed. 5GHz has a lower range but much faster wireless speed.To me the BEST features it came with out of the box was the parental features. You can isolate specific devices on your network and block out specific time ranges for the week (see pictures). As well as block specific types of sites (see pictures). This works well if you are trying to protect your kids from abusing the internet.It also scans the entire network for botnet or zombie attacks via a lifetime free subscription to Trend Micro updates.All in all, this router is absolutely worth it’s capabilities and price tag. I hope this info helps others out there that are in the same situation as me!P.S. I was also able to mount the router to the wall with some simple sticky tape. I just had to remove the rubber pads from it’s bottom to make it more flush to the wall. But there were no mounting holes unless you disassemble it. Which I wasn’t going to do. 🙂
Katzmeow –
The ASUS (AC3100) (RT-AC88U) is a piece of junk!! I had it for a month and the 2.4GHz part of the dual band stopped working. I spoke to 4 different representatives at ASUS who I could hardly understand and they gave me a bunch of nonsense. They asked me for a copy of proof of purchase, which I sent them plus a photo of the product identification tag from the back of the Router. They told me that I would have to send it in to have it repaired. Then they tell me that their level 14 department has to review everything and then make a decision as to whether they are going to send me a new Router in place of the one that dosen’t work which is only a month old and still under warranty. DON’T BUY THEIR PRODUCTS BECAUSE THEY DON’T STAND BEHIND THEIR PRODUCTS!!!
MHB –
I’m sure I’m crazy but when I first booted up this thing it ran at the pace of a snail. It took 3 minutes to boot and every screen was a minute. I downloaded the latest firmware upgrade and all the features worked slightly better. The next day it was working faster but still annoyingly slow. Now after a couple of days it’s lightningly fast. Weird. My only complaint is that you have to mount it on the wall with the LAN ports on top, (thus the picture) so all the cables drape down. It has the angular face that reminds me of ZURG.
Andrew –
Used as router for multiple streaming devices. Functional and fairly high performance. Router interface is not very clear. It has a lot of features basically assembled in a pile, without much logic.Biggest issue was repeated failure of parental timing controls. See pictures — taken on a Thursday. There are many IT features that don’t quite work as intended, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a feature that the maker seemed so proud of fail so dramatically. It’s the router equivalent of a Tesla on autopilot that drives into a telephone pole — almost every time you use it.Getting a different router.
Brian Burnett –
So, this product had some SUPER mixed reviews to be sure, and I looked at probably 20 different brands too, but I came back to ASUS for the flexibility and features in their UI.I was not disappointed by the hardware either! I got the same speed test results on WiFi as I got wired into the fiber modem itself, and that’s a feat!
Will Stevens –
2.4 radio never worked. No big deal I thought. What uses that anymore anyway? When I bought Sonos and realized they only work with 2.4 band it was too late to return. Picture shows the 2.4 band light that never comes on even when it’s the only band enabled in the router settings.I discovered in my searching that this router has had widespread problems in regards to this version of it having issues with the 2.4 band. Google it and you will see why I’m regretting my purchase.
ACW1120 –
I want to share with everyone that has the problem with this router that made the 2.4Ghz band disappeared. Apparently, the most current firmware 3.0.0.4.385_20490 fixed my problem, my 2.4Ghz band starts to appear again!You can download this from the Asus router support site, install it and you need to do a reset to factory default, and reboot it. Like magic, the 2.4Ghz starts working, it also broadcast with the unit’s MAC address.Before applying this firmware, I tried many different ways to rescue the disappeared 2.4 GHz, including flash from Asus-Merlin firmware, it is not working, I eventually gave it up for dead, my 5Ghz band still working fine, and the router performs well nonetheless, I kept it running without 2.4 GHz.I think the problem is not of a hardware failure, rather it is at the core of the firmware, which is locked from 3rd party modifications, you can see why Merlin firmware cannot address this issue also because he is using the core firmware from Asus, I am glad Asus fixed this issue eventually.