New lowest price for this router according to camelcamelcamel.
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Do you even have a wifi 6e client or are you even planning to buy one in next couple of months? For most people I don't see a point in buying wifi 6e router and spending heaps which would be a waste.
Unless you go mesh, which is what I'm looking to do. Two wifi 6e units with a dedicated 6ghz backhaul.
You need to be careful on the placement of both units as wireless 6ghz backhaul has very limited range, and I feel it's rather not worth it for having 2 wifi 6e units so close to each other. If you have wired backhaul, you don't need 6ghz backhaul.
What's the point of having 2 expensive units with using them in wireless backhaul?
@ace310: So I can connect my series x and PS5 directly to one unit, as wired is not an option. I'm on a 1gbps connection. So I'll be able to better utilise it.
@Dreamcast: Again, I still don't see why you would spend on wifi 6e when both series x & ps5 don't support it. And wifi 6e wireless backhaul has very limited range. I don't even know which router does it.
Edit: Just an example of why it's not a good idea
Unless you use this mesh system in an ideal environment — one with lots of open space where you can place the two hardware units no more than 60 feet (18 m) away within the line of sight — the ET8 will be slow.
@ace310: The consoles will connect via ethernet to one unit, which will then connect via wifi 6e to the main unit.
Only reason I've held off is due to the range. Might need 3 units…. Oh and pricing.
I live in a unit. My room isn't within line of sight, but it's just under 10m distance. I looked at tp-link, though it looks like it's only good for 7m. The Asus unit might work.
a couple laptops support wifi 6 currently, but no device supports wifi 6e. but, its coming to the time where we need to replace the phones in the household and it can be assumed those will support wifi 6e. I am also weighing up getting a nas at some point this year to help with data storage and access.
also, would i see a benefit from wifi 6e if my nbn plan is only a 100/20 plan?
I would rather suggest going with wifi 6 for now as wifi 7 has been getting developed and wifi 6e will be left out. Frankly, I don't see much advantages of going with wifi 6e unless you have more than 1gig internet.
@ace310: is there anyway of getting 4g backup on this router or by combining this router with my rsp provided router as my hfc connection is always dropping out and the 4g backup is a necessity?
WiFi 6e can do 6Ghz band (and the normal 5Ghz band), whereas WiFi 6 come with 5Ghz band only.
There is no speed advantage, as both are at same speed.
It would only greatly benefit you when WiFi signal near your house is super crowded.
Would this be an improvment over an old Netcomm NF18ACV?
This router is better. Has newer wifi technology AX rather than your older AC. Plus you can pair it with another to create a mesh network. Are you getting the required wifi connection; consistent and reliable internet speeds? If yes than don't waste your money.
Thanks for the reply. Currently the connection is stable but doesn't reach far in a small 2b house.
Will give this a go.
With WiFi, you need to choose between these 2 trade-offs :
A) Wide range, but slower speeds
B) Short range, but fast speeds
So, if you know this golden rule, then your expectations will match,
eg. don't expect 802.11ax when you're 35-metres away or upstairs in a double-story house.
In those situations, change your WiFi to the slower speeds,
and you will have a more stable connection, albeit slower…but for most applications this is already good.
Without doing too much research, do any of you IT types know if both USB ports on this unit can be used simultaneously for different functions, ie one for HDD, the other for 4G usb modem backup?
Definitely. One is USB 3 for 4g failover the other one is USB 2 for printer. May be slow for HDD tho
Cheers
Yes, you can do exactly that using dual WAN mode for the 4G USB dongle. I recommend installing AsusWRT-Merlin firmware and the skies the limit. I have dual WAN using 2 Ethernet ports (the WAN port and a LAN port VLANed off as second WAN port). Then I have 1 USB port connected to a UPS (monitored via NUT and WinNut on my PC) and second USB port has a USB flash drive with Entware installed for Linux package management. It also acts as an NAS for my wifi security cameras.
I recommend installing AsusWRT-Merlin firmware
Yes, the Merlin firmware is great,
and this RT-AX56U has a stable Merlin release.
GT-AC2900
GT-AX11000
GT-AX11000_PRO
GT-AX6000
GT-AXE11000
GT-AXE16000
RT-AC3100
RT-AC5300
RT-AC68U
RT-AC86U
RT-AC88U
RT-AX56U
RT-AX58U
RT-AX68U
RT-AX86U
RT-AX86U_PRO
RT-AX88U
ZenWiFi Pro XT12
Bought this last time it went on sale. Overall really happy with it, get full wifi coverage across the entire house now compared to my old router and the asus router app is pretty handy as well. Highly recommend for this price.
Same here - really good product.
Whats the range on this? Good?
Hey mate,
I bought this during the last sale. I’m in a single storey 4 bedroom house with dual living. Router is situated in the centre room of the house and it covers the whole house with no dramas. Full coverage all over.
I can extend out as far to the middle of the road out the front and also in the backyard with nil issues.
Cheers
Thanks! Ordered and giving it a go for parents place which is having issues
Double brick, brick veneer or (most likely), paper and timber house?
My two storey double brick house with brick internal walls is a little bit of a problem for wifi. I'll be purchasing this as a 3rd mesh point to help out.
Yeh its two storey double brick.
So can i mesh this with my existing router or is more a replacement and ill need to buy 2 to mesh?
@richmond12: You need at least two Asus routers to create a mesh setup. If it's a replacement or not depends on the kind of nbn. Do you have FTTN, FTTB, FTTC, FTTP, HFC, FW?
@richmond12: Scroll down and it will say something like this.
Technology used in your connection
Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) has been used in your connection to the broadband access network.
@richmond12: For HFC if they aren't using Telstra's VoIP and auto 4G failover you can plug in the Asus RT-AX56U to the nbn NTD. Configure the Asus as a router.
If they are using Telstra's VoIP and auto 4G failover keep the Telstra modem (Wi-Fi switched off) and configure the Asus RT-AX56U as a Wi-Fi access point.
@Twix: Thanks, ill have to check/ask when i install.
But worst come to worse i can plug straight into the telstra router?
Bought one in the last sale. Wonder if Amazon would refund the difference since it's still within the refund window.
buy another and send your existing unit back. Not likely to get a difference refund.
Would rather not do that.
I paid for it mostly using GC & would rather not be stuck with over $100 worth of Amazon GC/ credit (since I don't buy from Amazon that often).
It's such a waste of resources - double postage + they might just trash the returned items instead of reselling them somehow. (If I return the brand new unit, maybe they'll resell it, who knows.) Yes, I know they're not my financial costs but I do care about the planet.
Too many returns can get you banned.
Try contacting support, I got refunded the price drop of a phone a couple of years back. They initially said no but when I pointed out reordering and getting a refund on the old one would cost them more they changed their mind.
@vinnycol: Sorry. Don't think I get the pun.
Anyway, I've tried. It's only $14 and I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it.
Return window closed for me yesterday.
Hi all, any thoughts on a cheap fttp modem?needs to be small form due to sie constraints, thanks in advance.
Telstra gateway on fb market, $20 ish ?
Seen a business version which looks massive on FB, otherwise rest seem to be VDSL versions, or am I blind.
No modem needed for FTTP, you should be able to just plug a router like this one directly into the NBN box in the house. Just need to make sure router supports VLAN tagging if your ISP uses it.
Worth upgrading from the AC68U? No issues with it so 50/50.
Not unless you have a bunch of 802.11AX compatible devices and need the higher transfer rate on wifi.
No issues with it
There's your answer.
Personally, went from a dual TM-AC1900(AC68U) setup to a GT-AX6000/AX86S setup. I've seen an improvement in range to the point where there's no need to add a third AIMesh node.The second node is more for VR/connecting ethernet devices. Eventual plan is to put ethernet in and then reassess wireless needs.
I'm mainly running Wifi 6 clients (other than IOT devices).
THIS IS OZBARGAIN!!!
since when do we wait for something to have an issue to replace it?
I find the signal of this router didn't pass through brick walls as good as AC68U.
I definitely get weaker signal upstairs
Would this pair well with a much older AC68U in mesh via a wired backhaul? Main purpose is to increase coverage rather than speed.
Would this be a big upgrade over my current router - Asus rt ac68u?
As my other comment, only if you have 802.11AX compatible devices, AC68U is still a solid router
Not really. I moved from that a rt-ac68u to this, as my rt-ac68u's wireless became dodgy.
Without going into too much detail, it is a small upgrade range wise and good if you have ax devices. But if your 68u is solid then….
I've used ASUS WiFi routers for ~15 years now,
and personally, I've always found the 'higher chipsets' in faster WiFi routers
give better speeds and range, with slower WiFi devices.
hmm 2 of these and i have a mesh network …..got the 4g ax56 in last deal because in wanted 4g backup but it’s not as mesh for some reason …..so 2 of these i can build mesh ?
keep using the 4g ax56 as a modem …. i’m very impressed with asus wireless based on 4g ax56 compared to my tplinks and range …..
Omg that last deal was pretty good, just what I needed.
max purchase of 1 ….oh well it’s a start to ai mesh i guess until i get 2nd one on a killer deal …..
Yeah just wanted one anyway, need a 4g backup for a small business.
Can you Aimesh this with RT-AC86U? Not wired
Try not to combine AC with AX for mesh. Not ideal and could be buggy at times. Other thing almost always use higher spec router as the main node.
ok I see
Great price. Thinking of getting one as a backup in case my AC86U workhorse dies. Can't justify upgrading to AX-86U for 450 freaking dollars when we only ever use NBN50/100 and not even half our devices are on ax.
i have a few ax devices but nbn is the bottleneck as im on hfc ….find ax1800 isn’t the congestion point ….it’s my nbn connection.
quite surprised how much better coverage i get with ax vs ac …..
Thanks for the confirmation. Yeah our NBN50/NBN100 will bottle neck everything so there is no point to upgrade. Just that $125 is a great price as a backup. Same AC86U costs $250 and out of stock everywhere.
Maybe a noob question, got a AC86U already, and now this. To form a mesh, shall I use AX56U as the primary or AC86U to max out the benefits?
Thanks in advance
Currently own a TP-Link VR1600V router and my devices cannot find my network past the half way point of the house (nbn modem/router are in one corner of the house).
Would this ASUS router be an upgrade over my current router and assist in terms of house coverage length? or is a wifi extender of the sort a better solution for me here. TIA.
i just got an asus router with ax1800 support and my google chrome now works at the other end of the house ….. previously had tp link ax5400 …. not sure if quality of antennas or firmware ….. but the ax56 would be uplift from the vr1600 and at $125 you can run mesh if you can find a 2nd asus at a good price …..this deal caps at 1 per person ….. i have 4 brick walls between my router and TV ….
Hmm thats good to hear, I will look into this router with also supports x1800; new to this idea of running 'mesh' is this the idea of having multiple router points around the house? so I could use this router with another cheaper ASUS modem that supports mesh as an extension point?
How is the ax56 an improvement over the vr1600? close to pulling the trigger $125 seems like a steal
Definitely no to wifi extender. This one is way better then your tp-link in all aspects.
in all aspects you say? so this could help improve wifi connectivity issues around the house? really looking for stability and range as some devices cant even find the network and really arent that far apart
Again, everything depends on the house layout, types of walls, router placement etc. But comparing the specs of your tp-link with this asus, I can fairly certainly say Asus is way better.
One thing many people do is place the router inside a closet or somewhere hidden, try not to do that. Place it in open and as high as possible to get the most out of it.
I upgraded from the same router-modem (supplied by iinet) to this. It was an improvement for me, most notably, Teams calls have becomes more stable and speed seems to have increased at the furthest point away from the router. (TBH. The VR16000V is known to be a POS so almost anything would be an improvement.)
The one computer that has always had trouble in 5GHz is still having trouble with that and I have had to set up a dedicated 2.4GHz guest network just for it. Otherwise, all other devices seem to have benefited from the smart network.
I don't have a large unit (but have solid internal walls/ floor slabs that interfere with transmission) so can't really comment on improvement on range.
One additional benefit of this router is that if it doesn't give you enough coverage, you can always pair it with another ASUS router than supports AiMesh and create a mesh system (ideally with wire backhaul). A mesh system is far better than getting an extender.
Did you trash the iinet router completely? III still have mine plugged in for VoiP, router acting as a bridge.
Same situation, this ASUS is amazing for NAS purposes in addition to all the other stuff you've outlined.
I'm on iinet FTTB so I've to keep the tp-link in bridge mode - VoIP doesn't work in bridge mode but we don't use that function anyway.
If you want to keep the VoIP function, I believe you'll have to set the ASUS up as an AP instead.
I have the same modem and also have been thinking about upgrading. But my connection is 100/20 and i am getting 95+ everrywhere in my house over 5ghz band( small 2 bed house router centrally placed without any obstacles). As i am already getting the max speed of my nbn connection what will improve with upgrading to this one?
If it ain't broken, don't fix it.
Lol. I was thinking more like better latency for games or faster loading of videos etc. Thanks anyway.
@Hellcat: If you're already getting max speed (presumably via wifi), downloading of video ain't gonna get any faster.
No idea about latency but this is certainly not marketed as a gaming router.
this is a far superior device to the TP-Link the TP is not great for coverage but it's a cheap ISP provided device with internal antennas & is a reasonable device for ISP's to provide for free / support
I spent a lot of time configuring it to see what it was capable of & used it briefly as part of a network but I would not use it for it's wifi the Asus is just so much better in terms of signal, speed memory / configuration settings etc, also one is a Chinese device (read into that as you wish) the asus Taiwanese
My friends from the CCP tell me that Taiwan is the property of China…
haha not quite yet
Don't laugh.
I am using Telstra Smart modem Gen 2, should I upgrade it to this?
nothing to laugh about …..still have sagem router because when i call optus with an issue they asked what router im using and they support the sagem which they gave me 4 years ago ……seems they log into it and collect status so they know how good the nbn connection is rather than just look at nbn modem then i disconnect the sagem and use asus again. ……
if I use this AX56U, do I still need to use the Telstra modem?
Depends which kind of NBN connection you've got
@FlyingPanda99: You'll need a modem for FTTC anyway, so you might as well keep using the modem-router that your ISP provides as the modem and let your new router handles the WIFI & network.
@Love a bargain: nbn give you the NCD modem for FTTC connections. For nbn FTTC a Telstra modem is only needed if you are using Telstra's VoIP and auto 4G failover. If you don't use those Telstra services the Asus RT-AX56U can be plugged into the nbn NCD modem.
Is there a point going with wifi 6e instead or is wifi 6 sufficient?