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ASUS RT-AC86U AC2900 Wi-Fi Router $231.46 + Delivery (Free with Prime) @ Amazon UK via AU

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ASUS RT-AC86U AC2900 Wi-Fi Router $231.46 + Delivery (Free with Prime) @ Amazon UK via AUAffiliate
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Clear on 28/03/2021 - 21:53 amazon.com.au (419 clicks)
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Excellent price on this popular AC router that's usually reduced to $252.81 on Amazon.

Based on previous deals it should come with an AU plug too considering that it's shipping from Amazon UK.

  • Ultimate gaming experience - Built-in WTFast® game accelerator and Adaptive QoS deliver lag-free online gaming and smooth 4K UHD streaming
  • Ultrafast Wi-Fi - AC2900 W-Fi speeds boosted with NitroQAM™ and 5GHz quad-stream technology to handle even the busiest home networks with ease
  • Ultrawide Coverage – High-performance antennas, ASUS AiRadar and Range Boost eliminate dead spots, and MU-MIMO maximizes Multi-device performance
  • Ultrapowerful Processor – Enjoy smoother networking and faster data transfers with the PC-grade 1.8GHz 64bit dual-core processor
  • Commercial-grade Security – AiProtection, powered by Trend Micro™, blocks and neutralizes internet security threats for all your connected smart devices
  • AiMesh Supported - Connect your RT-AC86U to other compatible ASUS routers to create a powerful and flexible whole-home Wi-Fi network
Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
Computing ASUS Wireless Router

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closed Comments

  • lgacb08 on 28/03/2021 - 21:59
    -2

    i wouldn't waste that much money for a 3+ years old router

    • gakko on 29/03/2021 - 08:35
      +2

      Suggest a better one for similar money then.

      • Lighter Fluid on 29/03/2021 - 09:03
        +1

        Doesn't really have to mate, it's his opinion and quite a valid point to be making.

        • gakko on 29/03/2021 - 10:28
          +7

          No but it's a useless contribution without context around why it's bad or what better alternatives there are.

          So I ask you, why is it a valid point to make? Why is it a bad router? What would you get intaead?

      • whitelie on 29/03/2021 - 11:09
        +1

        AX3600 or AX6000 ?

        Could nearly run a pair of them in mesh for similar money.

  • buckethat on 28/03/2021 - 22:08

    Are the Xiaomi pairs better than this? AX3600 or AX6000.

    • Garbotoxin on 28/03/2021 - 23:28
      +2

      I didn't have an AC86U, but I had a pair of AC68U and changed to a pair of Xiaomi AX3600s.

      Actual internet speeds wise (I had really decent wifi coverage/LAN connections already) it made no difference. Coverage wise was about the same, if not better than before.

      One thing I found annoying about my AC68U's firmware was that it gets really laggy sometimes, and sometimes it locks me out of the configuration page until I fully restart it. Have tried latest official ASUS firmwares or even OpenWRT, still the same.

      For me personally, the benefit the ASUS routers have over the Xiaomi one was built in DDNS service that's offered by ASUS, but with the Xiaomi (AX) depending if you have WIFI 6 enabled devices, it really speeds up local file transfer over the network (I was able to transfer files from my PC via WIFI to my NAS at 120MB/s).

      • nfr on 29/03/2021 - 00:10
        +1

        Have tried latest official ASUS firmwares or even OpenWRT, still the same.

        Asus must have changed the hardware, because mine never had problems with Asus or Merlin firmwares.

        • Garbotoxin on 29/03/2021 - 00:15

          Not sure, both of my AC68U units were from when they were literally released so if the hardware changed I wouldn't know!

          They're great units though! Have done the job without issues for the most part until they were replaced.

          • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 00:53
            +1

            @Garbotoxin: There are multiple revisions of AC68U, with A1 having a slower CPU. A2 onwards (B1, C1 etc…) have a faster CPU. However, AC68U is dated in today's standard.

    • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 00:39

      AX3600 and AX6000 both relied on CPU overclocking. AX3600 apparently addressed the 160Mhz channel width issue via a firmware though running in that mode means 2x2 instead of 4x4 (which generally isn't an issue for most people).

      I get the appeal of cost effective WiFi 6 routers, but no USB port and 1 less LAN port - again, shouldn't be an issue for most people… to me, is disappointing (but understandable given the price).

      RT-AC86U - it is mostly for people wanting to use Merlin firmware I reckon.

  • Rayredd on 28/03/2021 - 22:13
    +7

    Yeah. Not worth it. You’re gonna want a new router within the year. Nothing Non AX is worth this until you need a router now and in that case you’re not going to want to wait until the Suez Canal is unblocked.

  • fan8956 on 28/03/2021 - 23:04
    +12

    I returned mine twice because of the same issue, and TBH, if you really want to be future proof as mentioned above, go wifi6 as some wifi6 routers are quite cheap now.

    But if you want to compare apple with apple not orange, the same high-end wifi6 (AX) router (in terms of spec and performance) as this AC86U, you will be looking at around $450 (like Asus AX86U) if not over. And don't be fooled, getting wifi6 router will not give you any additional benefit than the wifi5 (AC) router if you are not going to change your wifi clients (smart devices, pc wifi adaptors, phones, tablets etc). If you are like me, then the only wifi client you have and has wifi6 support most likely is your phone if it is same or newer than iPhone 11. Phones older than that wont have wifi 6 support. And remember just one client being very wifi6 efficient won't really improve your overall network when all other clients are still less efficient (wifi5 or lower)

    To sum up, for my case, I returned my AC86U and got ARCHERC7 TP-Link Ac1750 (it supports openwrt for the extendability so you can install heaps of plugins and is cheap. Yes it is far less powerful than AC86U, but it serves my needs beautifully and reliably so far). I will only consider wifi 6 router when at least half of my wifi clients support wifi6.

    If anyone wants to neg me, please understand I am only talking about my case. I won't spend $450 for a router that I wont benefit from its key selling point wifi6 for quite a long time. By the time I can actually benefit from it, the wifi6 router would have gone down so much to like today's AC86U around $250 and I will have to bear that $200 lost for nothing…

    • Blitzfx on 29/03/2021 - 01:07

      wow, all top 3 search results are about ac86U problems

    • GSDan on 29/03/2021 - 08:59
      +1

      FWIW I've encountered the same 2.4GHz issue. In the couple of years I've had the router, it's come up twice for a couple of weeks at a time and then fixed itself somehow. Not an issue at the moment, but it's really annoying when it's happening.

  • PeeDee on 28/03/2021 - 23:07

    second hand routers yay or nay?

    • philart on 28/03/2021 - 23:14
      +1

      Yay if you get a good one at a good price, Nay if the vendor is selling because it's faulty.

  • kizzaaa on 28/03/2021 - 23:12
    -7

    The ASUS routers are great, but definitely worth future-proofing with a Wi-Fi 6 / AX series router.

    • Clear on 28/03/2021 - 23:13
      +1

      Why stop at WiFi 6 when you can future proof even further and go for WiFi 6E.

      • fan8956 on 28/03/2021 - 23:27
        +1

        There is not an end to this, lol.. all depends on your budget.

        • Clear on 28/03/2021 - 23:30
          -1

          Since kizzaaa feels the need to neg the deal his logic is flawed. He should be recommending WiFi 6E over Wifi 6.

          • fan8956 on 28/03/2021 - 23:33
            +2

            @Clear: He is the kind of people all the router manufacturers love and also the people who pay big money for the R&D cost of the cutting edge tech which benefits all other people like me later on, so I salute him

            • Clear on 28/03/2021 - 23:39
              -2

              @fan8956: They're also personal attacks on people who make contributions here.

              • fan8956 on 28/03/2021 - 23:42

                @Clear: haha, you are 100% right

                • Clear on 28/03/2021 - 23:43

                  @fan8956: Had he offered an alternative router that's better for less I'd be more accepting.

                  Many of the wifi 6 routers on the market offer no benefit over these.

                  • rookie317 on 28/03/2021 - 23:59
                    +1

                    @Clear: I got this for 5 WiFi 6 devices for $225 from Amazon and it's pretty good. Now I didn't bother checking specs or anything like that and I'm sure the ASUS router offers more overall features but purely WiFi performance, the TP-Link should theoretically beat or at least be comparable. It should be relatively future-proof too for that matter.

                    • Clear on 29/03/2021 - 00:05

                      @rookie317: The important part is the chipset that's being used inside. Many of them aren't actually capable of wifi 6 says they're overclocked. I'd be curious if the TP-Link is one of those.

                      Edit: Uses Intel AnyWAN GRX350 which properly supports 160Mhz and wifi 6. Excellent.

                      • [Deactivated] on 29/03/2021 - 02:10
                        +1

                        @Clear: It doesn't really matter if your router supports 160Mhz, since there's so many problems with other devices doing so you'll need to set it to 80Mhz anyway unless you have a very small number of devices and they're all pretty new.

              • sclyde2 on 29/03/2021 - 00:04
                +3

                @Clear: please explain the "personal attack". if someone negs a post, does that constitute a personal attack, or am i missing something here?

                • Clear on 29/03/2021 - 00:06
                  -4

                  @sclyde2: Nah not really. A lot of us get frustrated when we put a lot of effort in finding deals and someone negs without providing an alternative. Like saying it's not future proof is true, but what's a better alternative in the same price range?

                  It's not a big ask.

      • [Deactivated] on 29/03/2021 - 01:15

        Wifi 6E isn't approved for use in Australia, and might not ever be, at the least 12-18 months away if it does get approved as they'll need to move current users of this band..

        • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 01:41
          +1

          WiFi 6E / 6Ghz band support - obviously that has its pros and cons… but for mobile phones, the chipset makers did something dodgy - only provide 80Mhz channel width support.

          To get 160Mhz support for mobile phones, it looks like the WiFi 6E chipset will be needed. So essentially, current WiFi 6 mobile phones (and some tablets) aren't really proper WiFi 6. They are only offering half of the bandwidth. We are also seeing WiFi 6 routers with 80Mhz channel width support only.

          • [Deactivated] on 29/03/2021 - 01:46

            @netsurfer: Not sure what this has to do with the 6Ghz band not being approved in Australia. I have 160Mhz on my AC AP already, but there's lots of devices that don't like it.

            At this stage there's no guarantee device makers won't do what they happened with the iPhone, one version for the US market with one chipset / radio and one version for the rest of the world.

            • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 02:02
              +1

              @[Deactivated]: Are both AX3600 and AX6000 ACMA approved? AX210 (WiFi 6E) can be purchased from where most people buy those routers.

              Even if Aus doesn't approve it right away, iOS and Android will probably just disable it from software OS level. I do agree with you on 160Mhz channel width, it isn't trouble free at all. So, is it worthwhile to jump onto Wifi 6 now fully, with the chipset compatibility currently a bit of a mess and a lot of broken OFDMA implementation (or still in beta). Also, let's face it, smart plugs and globes getting Wifi 6 with OFDMA support… not likely any time soon.

              • [Deactivated] on 29/03/2021 - 02:06

                @netsurfer: The 6Ghz band isn't approved for use by the ACMA. Assuming you manage to grey import one you'll be breaking the law to use it.

                I'm looking forward to 6E, but again, it's more like 12-18 months away if it arrives at all.

                In the meantime I have pretty decent Wifi5 (AC) AP anyway that copes with dozens of devices without issues.

                • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 02:24

                  @[Deactivated]: We will find out soon enough. Certain versions of S21 Ultra support WiFi 6E (so that means importing those or buying those from overseas are breaking the law). SD888+ coming out later this year (so we will see whether that means no SD888+ in Australia).

                  Right now, you cannot really use 6Ghz anyway. Not aware of any 6E router available at all. I don't think WiFi 6 is worth it in the current state. Even if we cannot get 6E right away, it might be a good thing. We could avoid the first gen products, which tend to have issues. Also, I don't think a single router is going to work well for WiFi 6/6E. Prefer to go with mesh and 6E will help (just not a fan of dual band mesh, my mesh is triband (2x5Ghz band with 1 being used for backplane).

                  If you have an AC router supporting 160Mhz channel width already, WiFi 6 is not attractive to be honest. OFDMA - honestly, unrealistic unless you have all WiFi 6 clients (or at least lots of them). 6E would make sense….

    • boomramada on 29/03/2021 - 07:49
      +2

      future-proofing ?? IT? just don't buy anything.

  • utsc on 28/03/2021 - 23:42
    +2

    X20 with WiFi 6 - Two pack is going for $220 and 3 pack for $ 297 at the Good Guys Commercial

    • Clear on 29/03/2021 - 00:23

      You should post it as a deal. Can't rely on all us big posters 😉

      • utsc on 29/03/2021 - 00:27

        The 2 pack was sold at TGGC for $240 for while a go and was posted in this forum

        • Clear on 29/03/2021 - 00:37

          I just checked the specs and it's not even really wifi 6 as it has no 160MHz channel bandwidth and the 5GHz speed is actually slower than this ASUS.

          • utsc on 29/03/2021 - 09:54

            @Clear: @Clear

            Would you then recommend Deco M5 as a good value for money option for those who do not need very high speeds as the 3 pack at TGGC is going for $179

  • constantinechou on 29/03/2021 - 00:34

    Nah, I'd rather go for two xiaomi AX3600 to set up a mesh system for less than this price.

    • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 01:21

      Dual band routers with mesh firmware… How good do you expect them to be? Not saying Ai-Mesh for dual band routers is better, but are you saying Xiaomi is able to overcome traditional issues with using dual band routers in a mesh setup and outdo Asus on the mesh firmware for routers? Hint: both Asus and Xiaomi also sell Mesh products.

      If you have Intel AX200, AX201, AX210 or better, then I guess AX3600 makes sense if you are on a tight budget. However, we are still looking at hacking 4x4 80Mhz channels into 2x2 160Mhz channels and I have not found any review which tested that properly yet (because Xiaomi released that firmware change much later, and most reviewers finished the reviews months ago). Anyway, most of us don't really have a setup to properly test WiFi 6 (an OZBer indicated he is happy with AX3600 getting 120MB/s from NAS - to be honest, that's not exciting for WiFi 6). Even though our NBN is a joke in most areas, we are seeing 250MB plans now (so your WiFi 6 setup better manage to do better than 250MB/s minimum - even that is a somewhat lowish target).

      If your WiFi 6 devices are mostly mobile phones, they are all 80Mhz channel width max. You want 160Mhz channel width support, you are looking at WiFi 6E. Let's hope Apple leads the charge with WiFi 6E support on phones later this year as I am disappointed this year's flagship Android phones are still WiFi 6 chipset (the disappointment isn't WiFi 6, but lack of 160Mhz channel width support - as for why the Wifi chipset makers for mobile phones refused to add that support - my guess is most consumers don't really know the details, they see WiFi 6, they are happy).

      • T18 on 29/03/2021 - 09:12

        mmm when you say 250MB plans, you meant 2.5Gbps? Otherwise you wouldn't be getting or need 250MB/s.

        I thot 1Gbps is still new af down here.

        • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 09:44

          Yes, sorry, got the Mbps and MBps mixed up badly. 120MB/s for NAS, at the current time, that's what most consumers can hope for with AX3600. To be fair, we are not seeing many WiFi 6 routers with 2.5Gbps port(s) (let alone 10Gbps and a NAS supporting that). That said, 120MB/s is something a quality AC router is capable of.

          I get the appeal of AX3600. If you looked past the 160Mhz channel width implementation is a hack and the CPU is overclocked, at that price range, you cannot even get AC86U, which is essentially 80Mhz 4x4. So, unless you want the USB ports (3.0 + 2.0 combo) and/or Merlin firmware, AX3600 has better WiFi.

          • T18 on 29/03/2021 - 10:34

            @netsurfer: Yea defs agree 120MB/s should be plenty for most users. Personally I run wired connections for majority of my devices at home so I'm pretty happy with what I have now with wifi 5 already.

          • Garbotoxin on 29/03/2021 - 21:49

            @netsurfer: Said Ozber here that gets 120MB/s local via NAS. I couldn't get remotely close to that on an AC connection with my old AC68U, even though im roughly 5m away from the router with direct line of site.

            Not sure if it was my configuration on the router's end or my PC's end, but I checked every channel/frequency that was able to be broadcased for 802.11ac on that router and still didn't come close to just running a LAN cable directly (until I swapped to the AX3600).

            But yeah, as you said at the price range for the AX3600 (I got it for $99 each in the PCByte deal 2 weeks ago) it's really hard to beat in terms of standard features - USB port would be nice but I didn't use the one in my ASUS router anyway.

  • DarkOz on 29/03/2021 - 07:08
    +7

    I was choosing between RT-AC86U and RT-AX86U last month and I ended up getting the RT-AC86U:
    - It's half the price. A decent Wifi 6 router is still a ripoff
    - Wifi 5 is still way faster for a typical home with NBN50/NBN100. Only NBN250+ would benefit from Wifi 6
    - We have over 10 devices at home and ONLY 1 that uses Wifi 6. Even then I don't see this device needing 250Mbps+

  • T18 on 29/03/2021 - 09:08

    My RT-AC86U gives me headaches… Multiple Internet dropouts every day with Merlin firmware. Stock is better but still gets Internet dropouts once every few days.

    Would suggest avoiding this.

    • netsurfer on 29/03/2021 - 09:52

      Which router are you using now? Also, just out of interest, which ISP?
      Sounds like RT-AC86U has at least quality control issue (or potentially hardware issue).

      • T18 on 29/03/2021 - 10:29

        I'm using RT-AC86U still (also have a RT-AC68U as a mesh node), I like the DDNS that comes with it and haven't made up my mind spending the $ on alternatives.

        I might try swapping the two around..

      • T18 on 29/03/2021 - 10:31

        Missed your other question, I'm with Optus NBN HFC.

    • utsc on 29/03/2021 - 09:52

      I then assume AC68U, the old workhorse is still a good option.

    • pe arl on 29/03/2021 - 10:06

      Do you get dropouts on wired connections too or just wireless?

      • T18 on 29/03/2021 - 10:30
        +1

        Both wired and wireless. With Merlin firmware I had to restart the router everytime Internet drops out, I even wrote a script to automate this lol. It's better with the stock firmware now that I dont have to restart the router most of the time.

  • ESEMCE on 29/03/2021 - 09:59
    +2

    Based on previous deals it should come with an AU plug too considering that it's shipping from Amazon UK.

    Why would this be expected?
    UK has a different plug to us. (Same voltage and frequency, but very different plug)

    • Clear on 29/03/2021 - 11:24
      +2

      Based on previous deals it should come with an AU plug too considering that it's shipping from Amazon UK.

      There's your answer. In previous deals they shipped power adaptors with multiple plug types - it's not uncommon.

      • Clear on 29/03/2021 - 11:32

        In saying that I could be completely wrong though and it does come with a UK plug. 50/50!

  • lordofdestruction on 29/03/2021 - 12:13

    I would choose rt ax86u over this. I bought it with 20% afterpay promotion to replace old rt ac68 u. Overall happy with the purchase, better speed, smoother streaming, more stable connection…

    • Springfield on 29/03/2021 - 12:23

      How much did you pay?

      • lordofdestruction on 29/03/2021 - 13:03

        357 delivered

        • Springfield on 30/03/2021 - 08:14

          Good price for a quality router.
          Merlin firmware is available as well.

  • lordofdestruction on 29/03/2021 - 13:09

    Just found this, it should be better deal than this post imo.
    https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08CBC2WH2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_f…

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