Best ASUS Router Choice?

[dweiss]

I am trying to choose among the various current ASUS routers in order to add wireless capabilities to my network. I have narrowed my search to the ASUS devices based mostly on their general feature set and software. I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer based on the following:

I currently support all my devices on a hard-wired basis and only need Wi-Fi at this time in order to support an existing laptop (802.11 a/nb/g/n) and a yet to be purchased tablet of some kind. I will be replacing a Linksys / Vonage RTP-300 which I use behind a 10/100 Mbps switch. I will continue to use the switch and will add a Vonage V-23 as a replacement for the RTP-300. As I do now, I will continue to hard-wire devices wherever possible for performance and security reasons, although I am likely to add more wireless devices at some point in the future once I actually have the capability.

Overall, my Most Critical Issues are:

- Reliability: Most importantly, I want to set it up, turn it on, and leave it on for the next few years without having to worry about it.

- USB ports.

- Performance: Particularly range.

- External antenna: In case I have a need to add high gain antennas in the future.

- Disk support: So that I may use the router’s disk access as a way to feed content to my tablet. Note: I am assuming this will provide faster access to content than going either to the Internet or to another device on my LAN.

- Printer support: For a potential second printer other than the one currently connected through my LAN.

I am inclined to believe that the AC protocol is unlikely to be a significant issue for some time to come, however, I am still open to discussion on this topic. I know that none of the tablets I am currently considering use 802.11 AC, and I have not heard of any that do. With that in mind, I have been focusing on the routers "beneath" the RT-AC66U in the ASUS product line. Of course, cost is an issue, but it is not the determining factor for me.

In light of the above, I would appreciate any advice and recommendations anyone can offer in making a final choice for a router.

Thanks for the help,

 

[MaxGrit]

You want a router with a usb3 port.

I would go with

NETGEAR Nighthawk AC1900

or ASUS (RT-AC68U) Wireless-AC1900

 

[roscolo]

My situation similar to yours. Asus RT-AC66U has been flawless. Point by point what you're looking for:

Reliability: I turned on my RT-AC66U, set it up in about 15 minutes. Haven't had to think about it since. That's about 7 months of rock solid performance.

USB Ports: 2 of 'em. I have a 3TB WD Elements external drive connected to each. Functions like NAS. Streams multiple movies to multiple tablets, TV's, PC's without a hiccup.

Performance: Range. Range is insane. With the RT-AC66U in the house, I've walked 250 feet away outside and maintained connectivity. Inside 3,000 sq. ft. house it's full bars in 90% of the house.

External antenna: Got it. The included antennae seem more than adequate, but you can swap 'em out if you need to.

Disk Support: see above. Network share or AiCloud. AiCloud works great for sharing disk content locally or via internet. Asus has an excellent app for android or iphone, or using web browser works just as well.

Printer support: I've not used the USB port for a printer. All of my printers are LAN. But I'm running multiple commercial large format 44" printers via LAN, wireless and powerline and this router handles it all. With a DIR-655 I used to sometimes lose connectivity after a reboot. Not so with RT-AC66U. Just set it and forget it. Love it.

Like you, AC was not a big issue for me, but for $20 more than the RT-N66U, it made sense. Paid $169. Hope this helps.

 

[cmillar6]

My situation similar to yours. Asus RT-AC66U has been flawless. Point by point what you're looking for:

Reliability: I turned on my RT-AC66U, set it up in about 15 minutes. Haven't had to think about it since. That's about 7 months of rock solid performance.

USB Ports: 2 of 'em. I have a 3TB WD Elements external drive connected to each. Functions like NAS. Streams multiple movies to multiple tablets, TV's, PC's without a hiccup.

Performance: Range. Range is insane. With the RT-AC66U in the house, I've walked 250 feet away outside and maintained connectivity. Inside 3,000 sq. ft. house it's full bars in 90% of the house.

External antenna: Got it. The included antennae seem more than adequate, but you can swap 'em out if you need to.

Disk Support: see above. Network share or AiCloud. AiCloud works great for sharing disk content locally or via internet. Asus has an excellent app for android or iphone, or using web browser works just as well.

Printer support: I've not used the USB port for a printer. All of my printers are LAN. But I'm running multiple commercial large format 44" printers via LAN, wireless and powerline and this router handles it all. With a DIR-655 I used to sometimes lose connectivity after a reboot. Not so with RT-AC66U. Just set it and forget it. Love it.

Like you, AC was not a big issue for me, but for $20 more than the RT-N66U, it made sense. Paid $169. Hope this helps.

Ditto, if my AC66u got hit by lightning tonight I'd order another one without a second thought. I sat in my neighbors house last weekend and still had a strong connection between my iphone and AC66u. Yes it only has USB 2 but it works just fine for what I use my external drives for.

 

[dweiss]

.... Asus RT-AC66U has been flawless. ......

..... Ditto, if my AC66u got hit by lightning tonight I'd order another one without a second thought. .....

Thanks to both Roscolo and Cmillar6 as you have made some very useful points in favor of the RT–AC66U. However to focus the question a little bit more, if I delete the AC protocol, just which routers might you recommend that provide the features I am looking for but do not support the AC protocol? Is the RT-N66U the next in line, or is there something else? And, are there any disadvantages to be seen in going from the AC-66 to the N-66?

Also, while it is not much of the difference, it was mentioned that the RT-AC66U was purchased for only $169, and I was wondering where it could be found for that price?

Of course, if you are saying that I have to buy the RT-AC66U in order to get the higher reliability then I am perfectly happy to have the unused AC protocol and slightly different price in order to accomplish that goal. But if I can get all the features I want, minus a protocol I do not need, I would be just as happy to do it that way.

Thanks again,

-Danny.

 

[RogerSC]

If you don't care about wireless-ac or having a USB 3.0 port, then I'd get the RT-N66U, it is an excellent wireless-n router. Great range and throughput, and it has been very reliable here. Unsing RMerlin's firmware (SDK5) it covers my whole house on both 2.4 and 5GHz., and will stay up indefinitely. Also has the external antennas that you were looking for.

I think that you'll be very happy with it, if you choose to go in that direction.

 

[connorm]

lol my rt-ac66u 2.4 can not make it more then 50ft. letalone anything close to 250, ps your neighbors house probably isnt very far, i get signals from like 10 of my neighbors houses here, does that mean they have good wifi? no.

ps d link dir -655 rev b has much superior 2.4 performance for me

the only way i get half decent performance on the RT-AC66U for 2.4 is in legacy mode. then it starts getting comparable to my dir 655, seems like the unit really depends on good antenna placement cause i can make the signal horrible just moving antennas, the d link was nothing like this either it just always worked everywhere on my property, when i first got the asus and tested it all exited thinking it would make it farther then my d link, it couldnt even make it like 25-30 ft to my back deck, through 1 wall and glass windows, letalone of my property (always shows connected then shirty as frack when i run a speedtest. drops connection ect)when the d link was fine, the routers were sitting 1 foot apart and i tried dif channels on each, right now the asus is on 6

5GHz N and AC on the rt-66u is good.

2.4GHz is garbage.

still a great router overall though, but i wish i had waited and got the nighthawk r7000 from netgear. nas performance looks amazing on that router.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Regarding R7000, my RT-AC66U which logged more than half year uptime(not counting
few f/w upgrade times) was replaced by it a month ago. At least I can say I don't miss
ASUS so far.

 

[roscolo]

Thanks to both Roscolo and Cmillar6 as you have made some very useful points in favor of the RT–AC66U

... it was mentioned that the RT-AC66U was purchased for only $169, and I was wondering where it could be found for that price?

You're welcome. I paid $169 from Newegg.com and shipping was free. Pretty sure I used a 10% off promo code. When I bought my RT-AC66U, it was only $20 more than the N66U, so it was a no brainer for me to buy the RT-AC66U.

 

[roscolo]

Annnnnnnd...it really is a no-brainer now. RT-AC66U only $149.99 thru Dec. 1st at Newegg. Go get it!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...112513-Index-_-WirelessRouters-_-33320115-L0D

 

[Justin00stang]

I have an AC-66U in my shop, today I tried to hook up two usb printers to it.

They both show up as usb printers, but one reads enabled and one reads disabled. Both seem to work through the router, but as to which one will get disabled seems to be random, so I just unplugged one.

I used the asus printer tool to give win7 access, it works fine on one PC, it sees both routers I have on the network and lets me pick one (one in the house is hooked to the cable modem, the one in the shop is basically an AP). On another computer it only picked up the primary router (I have their IPs set to .1 and .2). I haven't tried a manual config yet to get access on the other computer, but if it only lets me to use one printer at a time, its not a real solution.

It does not look like the Asus firmware has any way to manage more than one printer (I'm not even sure if they were on dedicated ports if it would work), do any other builds do better?

The way my shop is wired I have a powered usb 1 into 2 cable that runs from my router cabinet to where my two label printers are located, previously this worked fine when a windows box was serving the printers, and even with an airport router.

 

[joegreat]

I am trying to choose among the various current ASUS routers in order to add wireless capabilities to my network. I have narrowed my search to the ASUS devices based mostly on their general feature set and software. I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer based on the following...

Hi,

My recommendation is simple and straight foward: Buy the latest and greatest router Asus.
Do not go for a "cheaper" low-ended version if there is a better one!
I know waht I am talking about: Still have a RT-N16 laying around (on top of my two other Asus routers).

Only thing to check is if Merlin and/or Padavan supports the router already.

I tried all the other brands like Netgear, Linksys, etc. - none, really none made me happy! The usage of DD-WRT software was just a small cure for the pain of bad router implementation.

With kind regards
Josip

 

[XSXS]

Also, you can try and find a good used one for sale. I bought the AC66 used for $75 and works flawlessly!