Pretty decent price for the popular Asus RT-AX86U.
Note this is the UK model.
Usually dispatched within 1 to 4 weeks.
CamelCamelCamel.
can you be more transparent about your comment?
UK plug and potential warranty issues.
UK frequencies and potential warranty issues?
UK, PLUG, FREQUENCIES, UNNATURAL ROUTER, WARRANTY
That would ne against my nature.
UK plug, pita warranty and won't work 15kms outside UK 🤣
This. Why do we keep Insisting on posting international routers?
I'm certainly glad they do. Get me my two Asus back in 2020
Isn't Asus ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 a better option when it was on sale for around $420.
Tossing up between this (AX86U - waiting on local AU stock deal), or DreamMachine Pro for home network.
Don't really want the hassle of the UK plug/support, but it is a decent trade off; some ~$80 off RRP.
Have an older Netgear Nighthawk; D7000v2 and wi-fi drop outs have been every other day for years! The AX86U is rated pretty well, supposedly!
If plug is the only problem, asus routers always comes with connectors (3 types) for all..Just push it in and use whichever one you want to use.
I had the Netgear 7000P and it was total shit. I upgraded to ASUS RT-AX86U and it's been fantastic.
At least that's what I have seen with my previous ones - Australian versiond of RTAC68u and ROG Rapture GT-AX6000
At least not true for ax-82u that bought from Amazon UK, which only has UK plug and Asus AU won't provide any connector even you would like to pay for it.
Oh, I never had UK version of the router . Its weird that Aussie version they included UK and US along with AU, but not with UK version.
Same here, already got ax-82u and consider get this to build a ai mesh, or Dream machine?
Mine was the other way around, I had the 86U for about a year and bought it from Amazon UK, fantastic device no issue whatsoever, before I got the 82U, afterwards I decided to get the AX55 also.
if you are considering DreamMachine Pro then presumably your set up can make use of wireless access point. In that case consider Unifi U6-Pro which is readily available for around $240.
Longer term you'd save on not having to replace wifi broadcasting device and routing together. Routing hardware will outlast many gen of wifi broadcasting tech.
Using an access point is also an opportunity to position the wifi broadcaster somewhere central if your router/wifi combo machine isn't located centrally.
Im tossing up what to upgrade for our new house (most rooms have 2 cat ports, with a central hub under stairs the stairs).
I keep seeing these router deals, but im imagining a dreammachine + 2 APs backhauled would be more sustainable, given the ability to swap out/upgrade the APs. Ive got multiple ethernet in each room, and need to replace my ageing WNDR3700v2 (gargoyle).
+1 for wired backhaul.
Two well-located APs would beat out one wifi router in terms of coverage for sure. Hard to fight against physics. I live in the suburbs and somehow one single centrally located wifi device (wifi router or AP) covers the whole house adequately for my use case (just media consumption). Hate to admit this counts as an advantage in Australian wood-framed + plasterboard construction.
If most bandwidth-heavy devices are wired, that's conducive to great WiFi experience anyway. Upgrading from 802.11n to 802.11ac is a big jump in speed. Upgrading from 802.11ac to 802.11ax doesn't really move the needles in any significant way unless you are in a high-density environment with 50+ wifi devices.
Depending on your budget/technical level, there are a lot of ex-commercial 802.11ac APs floating around on eBay. If you are comfortable configurating them then you can have great performance improvement for very little money.
If buying new then definitely skip 802.11ac and go straight for 802.11ax. For home use both Ubiquiti Unifi U6 and TP-link's EAP6xx series will serve you well at reasonable prices.
For the router worthwhile looking for a good SQM implementation and try to configure it properly. I find that quite a game-changer to keep everyone in the house happy. When I first started out I used to spend lots of time trying to improve throughput numbers. Took a while to realise a good user-experience has a lot more to do with latency than throughput.
@BlueSkyAPI: Ive not been too concerned with the price of the Unifi AP's, although quick scan on ebay looks like some AP seconds go for < $50 each. Its the router+AP combos that starts to get expensive. Im leaning towards only needing a single AP upstairs (if at all, TV and PC are wired anyway), so it might even be excessive to go past a decent wireless router
@v00d00 AU: Exacly. Many 802.11ac APs have pretty high gain antennas and they would still be very usable for many years to come. At $50 a pop that's incredible value. In contrast 802.11ax APs rarely have used listings, buying new would be over $200 for very little incremental gain over the 802.11ac APs.
When you say router+AP combos are expensive did you mean Dream Machine Pro + AP? Or did you mean the router/wifi combo box like the one in this post (eg RT-AX86U)?
The router/wifi combos have become ridiculously expensive over the years. I get the impression that the majority of consumers are chasing for more antennas better reception paradigm. But diminishing returns definitely is at play.
@BlueSkyAPI: My mind I've always considered around $500 in budget. Yeh I was thinking dream machine and a unifi AP would be difficult to price beat a combo product. That said, dreammachine and a second hand AP (or two) would be more cost effective, but how much useful does the dreammachine become not running the full ubiquiti product line.
@v00d00 AU: An Unifi Dream Router + AP would give you two wifi broadcasting device so that’s valuable for coverage compared to a single router/wifi combo box. Additionally you’d have more flexibility on having multiple SSIDs and more granular firewall/routing control.
Dream Router makes sense over Dream Machine for the PoE port in addition to WiFi6 support. Saves you one power plug outlet and reduce clutter. Double check the AP’s PoE type matches though.
Definitely if going Unifi then go with full Unifi product line for the integration. It’s a small premium to pay if that’s something you’d enjoy using.
To put in perspective, a ghetto setup made of secondhand gear would cost around $360 (breakdown below). So a new shiny set of Unifi setup with warranty and latest tech isn’t that much more.
$100 – 802.11ac second hand APx2
$180 – TinyMiniMicro running pfSense
$80 – managed 8-port PoE switch
@BlueSkyAPI: Ah yeh thats right, i was forgetting the Dream Router. I came across that recently, looks maybe $429 is the best on offer atm. Maybe pull the trigger on that and wait for an AP deal to pop up. https://www.wireless1.com.au/ubiquiti-udm-unifi-dream-machin…
@v00d00 AU: err, you just linked to Dream Machine rather than Dream Router? same price it seems: https://www.wireless1.com.au/ubiquiti-unifi-dream-router-all…
The two PoE ports are 15W (802.3af) on Dream Router. Most WiFi6 APs are specced with 802.3at PoE which is 30W. But many people report U6-Pro (802.3at) works fine on the Dream Router (https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubiquiti/comments/wjyngb/dream_rout…).
Agree it's a good idea to start with Dream Router, and if the coverage is insufficient then add the AP later. Who knows maybe the Dream Router can provide enough coverage by itself. Testing it for real is the only way to find out.
@BlueSkyAPI: Yeh woops! I was going by the photos and didnt notice the subtle difference, and funnily same price yeh.
@v00d00 AU: Going through eBay Wireless1 $448 and combine with $50 off from https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/744832
Unifi U6-Pro is that 6 or 6e, dual or triple band??
U6-Pro is WiFi6. Dual-band.
WiFi 6E is a bit of a flop - not a lot of client devices supports it yet so it's not going to do much. Might as well skip it altogether and then move to WiFi 7.
Triple band is usually for mesh system to do wireless backhaul. But personally I'd recommend sticking with wired backhaul wherever possible to minimise latency.
getting pretty expensive… personally I think it's better to invest the money into a little nuc type box for Opnsense.
Opnsense >
Some people like to have something that’s plug and play.
Getting everything setup takes time and commitment.
But its fun or funner if that's a word ;)
as jlogic said, it depends on the person's technical know-how and time availability. I enjoy playing around with these routing systems but no way I am going to recommend my parents/friends to use the more flexible systems. Being the technical support for families and friends is a nice thing to do but there's a limit to it.
How long does it take you guys to boot up OPNsense and pfSense? The couple of times I tried pfSense I thought it was stupid on how long it takes to get ready. Not sure if I've done anything incorrectly.
Reckon it's time to upgrade the 68U yet?
Picked up 2 x RT-AC86U's for $50 each on clearance from Officeworks a little while ago, may be worth looking for clearance stock on these if you don't need Wi-Fi 6.
That’s amazing value.
Where and when was this ?
Yeah, wish I could do the same. Rocking 2 ac68u still and mostly happy
Second that. Bought a 2-pack used from ebay. Fantastic router with Merlin installed. Thought of on-selling the 2nd one but keeping it as spare.
Would like wifi 6e, tri-band…so this is a no from me.
Would you have a real world use case for it though?
I am only on AC right now and moving to AX purely due to age of the router. I have not seen my WiFi bottleneck at all.
Genuinely curious as I hear about new tech but have yet to find a real world need for it. It’s like 5G still haven’t found a need for it, where 4G isn’t enough.
Concur with jlogic. Most bandwidth-heavy load should be wired in an ideal setup. So for most residential use cases that leaves video conferencing, media consumption and web browsing on wifi, all of which AC can cover comfortably.
To achieve the top throughput in the marketing materials require using wide channel-width, say 160MHz for AC. But then that comes with a (significant) tradeoff with distance range, more potential interference as well as requiring client support.
Point being, for people not happy with AC gen wifi, they'd likely be better off to invest in wiring more devices (bandwidth related) and increasing number of access point (coverage related) rather than spending on the newer combo boxes.
Routing, or more specifically NATing actually needs very little CPU processing power. And most residential use cases are bottlenecked by the WAN connection speed anyway. Unless the WAN speed is 300+Mbps most the base AC gen combo router/wifi combo boxes should cover the routing comfortably.
So unless you are using complicated firewall, intrusion detection, or having very high number of simultaneous client devices, spending more on routing isn't going to help.
Gaming and streaming is a good enough reason.
Although I don't need a real world case to justify the purchase, ageing hardware gets updated eventually. Why not match what I've already got, the desktop has wifi6e (Aorus Master) other family members have recent gaming builds that have it. may as well at the very least upgrade the home hardware.
You've got the justification for yourself already so this is definitely not for you.
The discussion point here is that there is relatively small incremental gain for the additional money spent. But when money is not a constraint definitely get the newest and latest!
Households with good 5G connection can replace NBN fixed line. So if 5G can be offered at lower price it does meet a real world need
uhm excuse me sir/madam.
which of your devices are exactly compatible with wifi 6e?
would love to know :)
the guy replied above saying he's got an Aorus Master desktop with WiFi 6E. It's definitely on the high end side.
some of these comments, smh -_-
It comes with ALL the plugs in the box, doesn't matter what country you buy it from.
Why is warranty a concern on a router? how many routers have you had die?
I still have an AC68U from 10 years ago that I gave to my parents when I bought this one.
If it's dead out of the box you'll just return it to amazon
But if you don't make a big fuss out of it then it's not Ozbargain, right?
I think it's more the frequencies and the power of the transmission that is more the problem.
The only issue I had with a router was an Asus one failing just after a year. But Asus looked after it and so did the retailer.
Is the RT-AX86U worth getting at $469 local AU stock for a FTTP upgrade?
(currently usingTPGs terribel TP-Link FTTN experience with about 800m copper!)
If I upgrade to 100/20 to get FTTP, will the AX86u be a good upgrade for streaming, gaming on xbox (wired) and WFH approx 10m away through a wall?
Anyone got one that can attest to its reliability (warranty length etc?) i.e dropouts on wifi requiring resets all the time like the TP Link does!
I have the AC86U and works marvellously. I haven’t heard anything bad about the AX86U.
I recently got myself a AX6000 to replace my AC86U due to age and needing to get another node out at my house to cover the last part of the house that didn’t get proper WiFi coverage.
just curious, which TP-Link model is giving you problems requiring resets?
I have had a TP-Link EAP225 wireless AP for many years and it has never ever needed a reset. Even more reliable than my router.
What kind of wall are you trying to get through? 10m through a plaster wall without any other additional obstructions should be a piece of cake even for a basic router.
Have you already determined your dropouts are related to the WiFi and not the FTTN part?
We had an archer 1600v, now a vx220 g2v. Both had issues. Current one, 5ghz signal dies and says connected no internet around once a day. Partially "solved ' by allowing router to reset at 3am each evening. But in the day it sometimes needs us to switch to 2.4ghz, go into router, turn off ofdma, save, turn on ofdma again, save, and that gets 5ghz working again. Internet stays connected so not the network(although has had its share of issues with overloaded node and engineers accidentally knocking out cables!). Wiring in house from Nbn to socket replaced so new.
It does sound like the TP Link unit is faulty - perhaps a bug in the firmware. TPG gives a $100 rebate for BYOD customers, so maybe try return the TP-Link unit and then buy a separate modem/router of your choice and get the $100 rebate.
ASUS units are generally well-trusted and definitely worth a try - Can you borrow a one from a friend and test it out?
AX86U should have no problem doing WFH 10m through a wall. But only you can decide if the price tag is worth it.
Another possible alternative to consider is Unifi Dream Router. Similar price point, has PoE ports but doesn't have 2.5G ethernet port. https://www.wireless1.com.au/ubiquiti-unifi-dream-router-all…
I am on 100/20 FTTC and was previously using a TP-Link AX5400 which had terrible dropouts after a year or so, swapped over to the AX86u for 6 months now with no drop outs to report.
Coincidently i am upgrading to FTTP today to 250/25. So fingers crossed the AX86 is sufficient.
the modern routers will have no trouble with maxing out 250 AFAIK for routing. no idea about QoS/SQM though.
Just watch out for the NBN policers. If you are hitting them they just drop packets so you get slower that expected bandwidth. May need to setup QOS to limit the upload bandwidth to slightly lower than the plan, so you don't hit the policer.
@jlogic: Not an QoS expert. My understanding is it's normal for packets to be dropped when bandwidth is exceeded. The TCP mechanism will then adjust the flow rate down dynamically to try to find a more suitable rate.
Essentially each of the network equipment between end user and the destination server cannot buffer large amount of data and therefore packets have to be dropped. It's the transport layer that needs to deal with the drops. If networking equipment have large buffers then the users will likely experience high latency.
@BlueSkyAPI: From memory (search Whirlpool for the technical details) you don't want to hit the NBN policer as it will just drop packets instead of slowing/smoothing them out. So in affect your system will need to send the packets again which affects your upload speed. So if you limit your upload bandwidth to something just below your rated speed you avoid hitting the policer.
You hit the NBN policer before you hit your ISPs infrastructure.
@jlogic: cool cool. yeah I have to admit I've never really understood the bandwidth limiting, traffic prioritisation and shaping mechanisms at the network equipment level.
Remember to locate the router as high as possible
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/02/the-ars-technica-sem…
The Belkin RT3200 which was on sale on Amazon AU via Amazon UK, were only $70 AUD delivered a while ago. I bought a couple of them. They're a wifi 6 AX router that support Openwrt.
That sounds like really good value - I don't think there's any other reliable 802.11ax radios out there as this price point.
What's your experience with it so far running Openwrt?
What's the process to flash Openwrt on it?
Not as straightforward as other routers, but not that difficult either. There is a risk of bricking the device if something goes awry, but there are ways to resolve that anyway.
I have several routers and mesh units. I just experiment in my spare time.
You do need to wrap your head around how advanced Openwrt is, but so far everything I have learned has been worth it. I wouldn't buy a router that doesn't support it. I don't like technology to turn into landfill or e-waste when there's absolutely no need.
The big thing is refusing to purchase products that use closed source chipsets. You have to vote with your wallet.
On your last point that pretty much translates to using Qualcomm / Mediatek and no Broadcom chipsets? Broadcom is predatory on everything it touches so I support you on voting with the wallet!
I appreciate Openwrt unlocks a lot of advanced functionalities that are otherwise not available on consumer grade devices. Getting advanced features on consumer hardware is loads of fun which I enjoy doing too. These days I don't have as much time to tinker and the Ubiquity Unifi and TP-Link EAP access points have changed the landscape quite a bit - the advanced wifi features can now be had at consumer grade device price points so it makes less sense to spend time to tinker.
It's very different to the old days of when only commercial solutions (Cisco, Meraki, Aruba, Ruckus, Aerohive etc) have these functions.
@BlueSkyAPI: What can I say? I just like to learn. What I learn, translates into understanding other things more broadly.
I completely agree with you though. Definitely not worth the tinkering for the average person, or someone who is time poor.
Although I have to say, Openwrt is next level to anything even a commercial user could dream of. There is no comparison.
@Oofy Doofy: Definitely stay curious and keep on learning - that goes a long way for many things in life.
Commercial APs have emphasis on command-and-control centralised controller management these days. It's relevant for larger deployments when admins need to have a single pane visibility on hundreds of APs and often across multiple sites.
On the routing side Openwrt largely has feature parity with other routing systems in basic functions like SQM and VPN server (OpenVPN, wireguard, etc) which covers most home user needs.
For people wanting more advanced functions then Openwrt doesn't cover those as far as I know. For example IDS/IPS is more integrated in pfSense. Or other advanced routings like BGP/OSPF.
On a separate note, do you happen to be able to take some idle power consumption measurements for the Belkin RT3200? Say with two ethernet ports on, and also all five connected. I am very conscious in wanting to take into account idle power consumption in choice of hardware so always on the lookout for more data points.
| Brand | Model | Watt | Power Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubiquiti | U6-LR | 6.5 | US-8-60W |
| U6-Pro | 6.0 | US-8-60W | |
| U6-Lite | 4.4 | US-8-60W | |
| UAP-nanoHD | 5.1 | US-8-60W | |
| UAP-AC-Pro | 4.2 | US-8-60W | |
| UAP-AC-LR | 3.2 | US-8-60W | |
| TP-Link | EAP670 | 8.8 | DC Adapter |
| EAP610 | 7.1 | DC Adapter | |
| EAP225 | 3.7 | PoE switch 802.3af | |
| Extreme | AP305C | 5.0 | PoE switch 802.3af |
| Mikrotik | hAP ac2 | 4.2 | |
| hAP ax2 | 4.5 |
@BlueSkyAPI: https://forum.openwrt.org/t/intrusion-detection-and-preventi…
There's pretty much nothing it can't do. The only real limitation is due to onboard storage limiting the amount of packages (add-ons) you can install.
@Oofy Doofy: Since it's software it's possible to configure it to do anything. It takes time to configure things though, so if there's a platform with more ready-to-go packages plug-ins then I consider the easy-of-use a major win. Not everyone's got the time to tinker with software…. IDS/IPS and pfBlocker comes to mind.
Agree in usual low power devices running openwrt on aren't really meant to be for IDS/IPS due to hardware limitations.
Some quick Googling showed some forum posts saying it can route LAN<->WAN 600mbps with sqm which is plenty for residential use cases (https://forum.openwrt.org/t/belkin-rt3200-linksys-e8450-wifi…)
This device was sold for $310 18 months back. :-o
![[Back Order] Asus RT-AX86U Dual Band Wi-Fi 6 AX5700 Router $379.82 Delivered @ Amazon UK via AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/32/744732.jpg?h=f08a860c)
No thank you