About Asus RT-AX 86 PRO

[thisisme]

Hello ,


After buying Asus RT-AX 57 , I had some good internet speed with OpenVPN to be honest ( 70 Mbps ) comparing to another Wireless Router ( Tp link AX55 ) that did reach only 20 Mbps at best .
but unfortunately the ASUS router is a bit limited in the Ram and also doesn't have some features such USB port , so I decided to look for another more powerful router from the same brand Asus, I found this Asus RT-AX 86U Pro which it seems like a really good router , I wonder if the VPN speed will be any different, and the USB features are they like expanded or like have more features, any idea or comment or experience to share from anybody who had or still has this Router Asus RT-AX 86 Pro .

In waiting for all your replies ,


Best Regards

 

[Tech9]

RT-AX86U Pro can do about 200Mbps on OpenVPN.

 

[bennor]

I wonder if the VPN speed will be any different, and the USB features are they like expanded or like have more features, any idea or comment or experience to share from anybody who had or still has this Router Asus RT-AX 86 Pro .

@thisisme, you may want to post your broadband speed if you haven't already so people can assess if the VPN speed would have any significant improvement with a different router.

There are various factors that affect VPN speed. It appears, based on various comments in other discussions about VPN speed on this forum that OpenVPN, as previously indicated, will top out at around 200Mbps on some AX series routers. With Wireguard being a bit faster then OpenVPN.

What do you intend to use the USB port on the router for? NAS, or something else? As many will say, a router is not an NAS. If you want an NAS buy or build an NAS. On consumer routers the USB port is sometimes just a advertising/marking feature. Real world use of that USB port could potentially impact the router operation. For light file storage the USB port on AX series routers is fine. For heavy NAS use? Look to using a real NAS so as to not degrade router performance.

While I haven't tested the actual speed of the VPN, I've experimented with using OpenVPN and Wireguard on a RT-AX-86U Pro. Both worked as advertised. Speed during the basic function testing was adequate with the AX86U Pro connected to a 500/500 fiber line. Overall the RT-AX86U Pro has been a significant improvement over the RT-AC68U I previously used, both in WiFi coverage and other factors. No idea how much of an improvement the RT-AX86U Pro would be over an RT-AX57. If one wants to attach a external hard drive to the local network there are other ways than using a router.

 

[thisisme]

@thisisme, you may want to post your broadband speed if you haven't already so people can assess if the VPN speed would have any significant improvement with a different router.

There are various factors that affect VPN speed. It appears, based on various comments in other discussions about VPN speed on this forum that OpenVPN, as previously indicated, will top out at around 200Mbps on some AX series routers. With Wireguard being a bit faster then OpenVPN.

What do you intend to use the USB port on the router for? NAS, or something else? As many will say, a router is not an NAS. If you want an NAS buy or build an NAS. On consumer routers the USB port is sometimes just a advertising/marking feature. Real world use of that USB port could potentially impact the router operation. For light file storage the USB port on AX series routers is fine. For heavy NAS use? Look to using a real NAS so as to not degrade router performance.

While I haven't tested the actual speed of the VPN, I've experimented with using OpenVPN and Wireguard on a RT-AX-86U Pro. Both worked as advertised. Speed during the basic function testing was adequate with the AX86U Pro connected to a 500/500 fiber line. Overall the RT-AX86U Pro has been a significant improvement over the RT-AC68U I previously used, both in WiFi coverage and other factors. No idea how much of an improvement the RT-AX86U Pro would be over an RT-AX57. If one wants to attach a external hard drive to the local network there are other ways than using a router.

Hello

thanks for the reply ,

my internet speed reaches 500 mbps via ethernet cable , and about 170 to 220 via wifi ,

for the usb port , i just want to have a local media server so to speak , i add an external hard drive capacity like 4 TB in order to watch movies from it and on other devices mainly two tvs and two computers .

i tested as i have already said ASUS AX 57 , 70 mbps was enough but i am trying to reach at least 100 mbps so i can benefit better from my internet speed .

 

[CaptainSTX]

Hello

thanks for the reply ,

my internet speed reaches 500 mbps via ethernet cable , and about 170 to 220 via wifi ,

for the usb port , i just want to have a local media server so to speak , i add an external hard drive capacity like 4 TB in order to watch movies from it and on other devices mainly two tvs and two computers .

i tested as i have already said ASUS AX 57 , 70 mbps was enough but i am trying to reach at least 100 mbps so i can benefit better from my internet speed .

On my AX86S on a 1.2 Gig connection with a PC connected by Ethernet to the router I sometimes get over 250 Mbps download speeds when running OpenVPN but more typically the speed is in the range 150 - 175 Mbps. If I connect using a WireGuard client speed normally doesn't exceed 100 Mbps. The only advantage I see with using a WireGuard client is they are more stable (never seem to disconnect) and the put less of a load on the CPU.

 

[Tech9]

my internet speed reaches 500 mbps via ethernet cable , and about 170 to 220 via wifi

Your current 70Mbps on OpenVPN is a good enough speed for what commercial VPNs are good for.

Your wireless speed depends on client capabilities, link speed to your router, distance to your router, channel available bandwidth, etc.

RT-AX86U Pro is definitely more capable device, but your Internet experience may not change much after ~$220 hardware upgrade.

 

[thisisme]

Your current 70Mbps on OpenVPN is a good enough speed for what commercial VPNs are good for.

Your wireless speed depends on client capabilities, link speed to your router, distance to your router, channel available bandwidth, etc.

RT-AX86U Pro is definitely more capable device, but your Internet experience may not change much after ~$220 hardware upgrade.

Yes i know it is a big upgrade and now since i will have a second floor , i think this Router will be the best solution for covering the house plus i will see with the capacity of this router , i have like 30 days return policy , since ASUS AX57 was less in RAM and also in the processor , i believe or lets say i expect ASUS AX86U PRO to perform better , lets hope for a better result

 

[Tech9]

There is a good chance RT-AX86U Pro will perform better. RT-AX57 is just an entry-lever router model.

 

[thisisme]

There is a good chance RT-AX86U Pro will perform better. RT-AX57 is just an entry-lever router model.

i truly hope so , i tried different routers and it did consume me time and money plus energy ,so i hope this time this router will meet my needs or at least be at my expectation

 

[Tech9]

How the router will perform depends on multiple factors. Most are external and unrelated to the listed technical specifications. Test your luck again. This router is "average to high" in Wi-Fi range and if it doesn't work well perhaps others won't work as well. Wireless technology has limitations.

 

[thisisme]

Hello again

Update for the Router ASUS RT-AX86U PRO :
today i did recieve the item and i installed in less than 10 min and i did check VPN SPEED ,

The most important thing that i was expecting and lets say hoping for was a speed internet with open vpn and
yes i confirm that the internet is 100 mbps in most cases and website that i did test except on testspeed which it is always stuck on 80 mbps , any good websites recommended for more reliable test speed ,


thanks in advance

 

[Tech9]

VPN speed also depends on external factors. Your device can do about 200Mbps as hardware, but you don’t know if the server you connect to can provide this speed to you. This may change depending on server choice, time of day, encryption type they use, etc.

 

[RMerlin]

For reference, OpenVPN benchmarks with the OpenVPN and iperf3 server running on an RT-AX86U Pro. Client is a wired desktop running Windows 11.

TCP:

P:\Applications\iperf3>iperf3 -c 10.8.0.1
Connecting to host 10.8.0.1, port 5201
[  4] local 10.8.0.2 port 10484 connected to 10.8.0.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  28.9 MBytes   242 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  31.9 MBytes   267 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.01   sec  31.5 MBytes   264 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.01-4.00   sec  31.9 MBytes   268 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  31.8 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  30.2 MBytes   255 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  31.9 MBytes   267 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  31.8 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  30.9 MBytes   259 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  31.8 MBytes   266 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   312 MBytes   262 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   312 MBytes   262 Mbits/sec                  receiver

UDP:

P:\Applications\iperf3>iperf3 -c 10.8.0.1
Connecting to host 10.8.0.1, port 5201
[  4] local 10.8.0.2 port 10030 connected to 10.8.0.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  26.2 MBytes   220 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  26.9 MBytes   225 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  28.6 MBytes   241 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  27.9 MBytes   233 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  27.4 MBytes   231 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  26.9 MBytes   225 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  26.8 MBytes   224 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  26.6 MBytes   224 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  26.8 MBytes   224 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  26.6 MBytes   224 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   271 MBytes   227 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   271 MBytes   227 Mbits/sec                  receiver

 

[RMerlin]

Update: UDP but with fast-io enabled (I thought it was no longer necessary on modern kernels, I guess not):

P:\Applications\iperf3>iperf3 -c 10.8.0.1
Connecting to host 10.8.0.1, port 5201
[  4] local 10.8.0.2 port 13103 connected to 10.8.0.1 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-1.00   sec  29.1 MBytes   244 Mbits/sec
[  4]   1.00-2.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec
[  4]   2.00-3.00   sec  29.4 MBytes   246 Mbits/sec
[  4]   3.00-4.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   249 Mbits/sec
[  4]   4.00-5.00   sec  29.4 MBytes   246 Mbits/sec
[  4]   5.00-6.00   sec  32.4 MBytes   272 Mbits/sec
[  4]   6.00-7.00   sec  29.4 MBytes   246 Mbits/sec
[  4]   7.00-8.00   sec  29.5 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec
[  4]   8.00-9.00   sec  29.6 MBytes   248 Mbits/sec
[  4]   9.00-10.00  sec  29.5 MBytes   247 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bandwidth
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   298 MBytes   249 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  4]   0.00-10.00  sec   298 MBytes   249 Mbits/sec                  receiver

So, expect up to 240-260 Mbps with the RT-AX86U Pro, depending on the protocol used.

I'm still not sure why UDP ends up slower than TCP. Maybe something to do with Broadcom's stack. 10 Mbps is not a huge difference however. I'm doing my tests within the LAN, so if you add the latency related to the Internet round-trips, UDP might end up being on par, if not faster when running over something with a higher latency than the 1 ms on my LAN.

 

[thisisme]

Hello again ,

Thanks for the help ,

I am so please with the new router up to now so I have to return Tp link Archer AX55 since ASUS RT-AX 86 PRO is taking over , but I have a question or let's a request for you all to help me choose a good repeater that works in mesh mode with my new router Asus RT-AX 86u PRO,

 

[Tech9]

Where is your RT-AX57? It can be used as AiMesh node, no? This is your repeater.

 

[thisisme]

Where is your RT-AX57? It can be used as AiMesh node, no? This is your repeater.

Hello again ,

Unfortunately I had to return it @ ASUS RT-AX 57 , but I can get ASUS RT-AX 58U to act as a repeater ? Or is there any other good repeater, I wanted to use TP LINK ARCHER AX55 as repeater with WDS but it doesn't have , I also still have TP LINK ARCHER C80 , it does have WDS though ,

---

 

[thisisme]

Hello again ,

is it possible to use two ASUS RT-AX86 U PRO to be connectd wirelessly ?
i am thinking to return TP LINK ARCHER AX55 since i want another Asus , or should i keep TP LINK ARCHER AX55 and use it as WIFI distributor from ASUS RT-AX86 U PRO so Asus router works only to give the internet with good vpn speed so like this ASUS wont have too much of CPU and RAM used .

your comments , feedback are always welcomed

 

[bennor]

Look up AiMesh and or Media Bridge options if you want to connect one Asus router to another.

What is AiMesh and AiMesh Router | ASUS US

AiMesh lets you mix different routers to create whole home mesh WiFi system for for fast and stable WiFi. Learn more about AiMesh vs mesh, and how to set up AiMesh.

www.asus.com

[AiMesh] What is ASUS AiMesh? | Official Support | ASUS Global

[AiMesh2.0] AiMesh 2.0 Web GUI - Introduction | Official Support | ASUS Global

[AiMesh] How to setup AiMesh system (Web GUI)? | Official Support | ASUS USA

[Wireless Router] Introduction of Operation Mode | Official Support | ASUS USA

[Wireless Router] How to set up media bridge mode? | Official Support | ASUS Global