Part of Early Amazon Prime Big Deal Days
Same price as previous Prime Day Sale
About this item
- Supporting the latest Wi-Fi standard 802.11AX (Wi-Fi 6) and 80MHz bandwidth
- Built for multi-device households
- Increase capacity and efficiency
- Commercial-grade security for your home network
CamelCamelCamel.
This router is now End of Life and will no longer be supported. Beware.
https://www.asus.com/event/network/eol-product/
Merlin will also not be supporting this model any longer.
Dam that’s annoying. bought this earlier this year
Same here, I'm actually considering returning it for this reason. Asus shouldn't be selling routers they no longer support.
Asus shouldn't be selling routers they no longer support.
Asus are not selling this, Amazon is.
No alternate firmware support, and no support for standard firmware.
Standard scam, selling landfill instead of throwing it away themselves.
Once you build your own router you never look back.
@Shootinputin89: best mini pc that can act as a router or when would you suggest I look for that info? Ideally something low wattage that can handle 10+ clients in a 2 bedroom unit.
@Guerilla89: Passively cooled multi-port machine like a Qotom (Aliexpress). Or a Fitlet if you want smaller, or even look into a Rockpi E (SBC with dual ports) if you're okay with a 100M port.
Anything can handle "10+ clients" but these typically don't do wifi- you use a separate WAP for that.
Some people just use a random USFF PC like a ThinkCentre Tiny + a USB NIC, but I dislike the idea of a fan running 24x7 to build up dust, and the reliance on USB dongles.
Me too. Kinda shitty they are dumping it so soon. How will this effect us if we continue to use this router for another four years?
How will this effect us if we continue to use this router for another four years?
The router will keep working fine.
I'd only be concerned if any security vulnerabilities are discovered in it.
@spaceflight: I'd only be concerned if any security vulnerabilities are discovered in it.
Which is only a matter of time.
@Austrian Oak: Unfortunately, the new version of the firmware did have fixes for security vulnerabilities. If you are into linux, most of them can be patched by upgrading to the latest version of those utilities. However, one fix is router hostapd related. Don't panic though, that fix is for a wifi setup that I really doubt most people would use at home (and it is silly to use that with this router anyway).
One key reason we use Merlin firmware is to get some of those fixes timely. It is a shame Merlin decided not to continue supporting it (if Asus is not supporting it for 3.0.0.6 based firmware, it is hard to support it). The most annoying part is majority of routers previously on older 388 based firmware will still be supported by Asus, but for some reason, Asus is dropping support for this router (I am guessing because it is the cheapest out of all the routers which are on 388 based firmware).
I was tempted to get one just for fun, but now, I am not so sure.
@Austrian Oak: Just to let people know:
Yes, it is a bit of a mess, but that's the case when you don't get the more expensive, more mainstream Asus routers people use for Merlin.
At this price, we cannot expect too much. However, two things to bear in mind:
@netsurfer: Most of us are not worth "hacking“.
Exactly. Besides first line of defends would be yourselves and not following through any suspicious links or applications.
Most of us are not worth "hacking".
Do you think that compromised routers, cameras, and IoT devices are attacked by some guy in a hoodie targeting your specific IP address and nobody else?
Or is it more likely your IP address is scanned along with a hundred thousand or so others as part of a scripted exercise?
When that happens, you can decide whether to get a new router then.
Right. So most people closely follow infosec news for router vulnerabilities.
Just don't already buy EoL internet-facing hardware. It's not complicated and it's not worth worrying about.
@rumblytangara: Did you actually read the vulnerabilities detail for those fixes? Do you actually know what those vulnerabilities are about?
Some of the IP camera makers got caught uploading videos unencrypted, no router magic can overcome that. This false impression that the router will block everything out is a bad idea. There are better / easier ways to hack you.
Which router do you recommend then? Don't blow it out of the proportion. Also, don't take it out of context, if you do run Merlin firmware, you can easily apply some of the fixes before Asus did.
@netsurfer: The specific old existing vulnerabilities simply don't matter. What matters is that if anything new is discovered, Asus won't bother addressing them because the model has already fallen off their maintenance list.
It's also been mentioned above that Merlin won't be releasing updates for this model either.
Again, how do you think that devices for get hacked (that are not massively high-target profiles like government figures or industry execs)? Do people target Joe Bloggs specifically or is his IP just part of the hundred thousand that is scanned that day?
Which router do you recommend then?
Something that's still supported. As opposed to something where the manufacturer has explicitly said "we are not touching this anymore"
Sure, there are loads of ways to get hacked, but why make it any easier by buying landfill as your first line of defense?
@rumblytangara: Which router do you currently own?
The specific old existing vulnerabilities simply do matter. 75% of the fixes are basically updating new binaries for some utilities which anyone who runs Merlin firmware can easily do, way before Asus.
Asus won't bother addressing them
Again, you don't know the full story. That router is officially on 386 firmware branch with Asus "official" firmware. Merlin ported "388" across. 386 is being maintained by Merlin (regular security patching). Technically, if this router is popular enough, someone could re-port newer 386 Merlin across. It was on Merlin 386 based firmware before.
This caring so much about security but couldn't be bothered reading vulnerabilities and blindly assume if a router vendor considered a router "active", you will get regular updates is wishful thinking.
Which router do you currently own?
OPNsense. Which is why I only pay attention to vulnerability reports when the thankfully rare "buy it for someone else" scenario eventuates.
What are you running?
This caring so much about security but couldn't be bothered reading vulnerabilities and blindly assume if a router vendor considered a router "active", you will get regular updates is wishful thinking.
Asus is pretty decent with releasing updated firmwares, but nothing guarantees their products don't have problems. But willfully saying that "unsupported EoL gear is fiiiine" is simply irresponsbile. Especially if the 'fix' is to reflash firmware that is hopefully provided by someone else.
@rumblytangara: OPNsense has critical vulnerabilities unpatched. Let's hope the next version of OPNsense patches that.
If you asked me, one particular critical vulnerability should be fixed a.s.a.p.
@rumblytangara: Why it is important to check vulnerabilities rather than just jumping on the bandwagon?
That vulnerability fix I was talking about was raised in early 2020. That means ALL Asus routers had that issue for 3 years. Thus, it is important to know what it is about. 99% of us don't use that feature so we are not affected. Asus most likely knew that too, so that's probably why it took them so long to work on it.
You believe you are VIP and you want air tight security, get a commercial grade router.
You believe you are VIP and you want air tight security, get a commercial grade router.
Which will also have vulnerabilities identified and then fixed sometime down the line.
Every year we get "emergency-must-install-now" patches from Cisco, Arista and Juniper. And we're getting those because the hardware is not EoL.
Router security is do the best you can, and buying something explicitly dropped is certainly not.
@rumblytangara: As I mentioned above, OPNsense has a critical vulnerability that needs to be fixed. Let's keep quiet about that one coz. hacker doesn't even need to be near your router to use that hack.
Let's keep quiet about that one coz. hacker doesn't even need to be near your router to use that hack.
Well, good for you.
The only computer that's secure is not connected to the internet, turned off, and in a safe dropped to the bottom of the ocean.
But there's a wide spectrum between that and explicitly EoL'd like the depreciated router in this deal.
Time for you to answer some questions:
Most of us are not worth "hacking".
Again, how do you think that attackers act- do they choose targets carefully or do they spray and pray?
If there is some super duper vulnerability that's so bad, it will likely affect a lot of routers. When that happens, you can decide whether to get a new router then.
What % of router owners do you think regularly follow vulnerability reports?
@rumblytangara: At the end of the day, it is up to you. If you are really serious about security vulnerability, you can fix that issue yourself, without waiting for the official fix. That was the reply I was hoping for from a OPNsense owner, since in theory, you have even greater control.
However, personally, I feel most of us are not worth hacking so there is no need to manually patch that now, waiting for the official fix is fine.
While it is best not to run a router that's EOL unless there are custom firmware such as Merlin which continue to provide support, there are other forks of Merlin firmware on other routers. I cannot be certain the other developers won't pick up the support for the router in question. As such, I don't feel it is 100% safe to tell people it is time to switch. Merlin does provide source code so it is possible for the other 2 developers who have forked the project to pick this up.
@rumblytangara: You really need to read my first comment in this thread, rather than taking things out of context multiple times.
I was the one who pointed out Asus did fix vulnerabilities in the next version of firmware after the EOL of this firmware. However, I need to let people know what they are. Furthermore, OZBers already decided on this issue. People are happy to be made aware of the router is in EOL status.
We cannot assume people have spare budget to change routers, especially people going for cheap routers. For now, I am not seeing any major issue being reported. I replied to an existing owner of the router. It is not a must to replace the router yet. I am not saying don't change it. I am saying don't panic yet.
@netsurfer: Most people buy routers on the assumption that they're going to be good for years. This is sometimes a mistaken assumption, but it's a reasonably assumption and Asus has generally been pretty decent compared to their competitors.
You're saying that it's cheap so don't expect much and hack around with untested/unsupported firmware from Merlin. What percentage of typically mom and pop purchasers do you really think this reasonably applies to, versus some enthusiast geek who's going to be happy to DIY it?
For someone who is so totally insistent on demanding answers to questions, you sure are great at avoiding answering any yourself.
@rumblytangara: I just replied to this.
There are other forks of Merlin. This router has 2 customer firmware branches, 386 and 388. There are other developers who forked Merlin so they could pick up support for it. They generally work on routers not supported by Merlin. The 386 firmware branch has high hope because there are many popular, older routers on this path. Even Merlin supports 386 still.
It is not difficult to continue supporting it, because the source code is available. I've gone through this before, it is a bit unlucky this router got the 388 treatment from Merlin, otherwise, it will likely remain supported by Merlin.
When it comes to an Asus router supported by Merlin, the Merlin aspect is part of the consideration. This is not one of those generic routers. Clearly you know it too so let's not pretend that's not a factor.
@netsurfer: Hackers do not discriminate, lowest hanging fruit and there is always something of value!
The typical consumer with their ISP supplied router don't update the firmware ever, so id still call this an upgrade and not worry too much about updates.
@reactor-au: The ISP provided ones are usually setup to auto update from firmwares pushed by the ISP and often don't have their updates published on the manufacturers site. You would be lucky to receive more than 2-3 updates though.
The Telstra ones seem to receive more than most other ISPs but they are annoying since they don't update you straight to the latest, they do it one at a time in order so when you get a brand new Telstra router out of the box and connect it up to the net it will reboot itself every 10-15min for like an hr as it applies each update.
I continued using my old RT-AC87U for several years after the Merlin support ended, then I bought the RT-AX56U during the last sale @ $129 and pretty quickly realised that the most recent release of Merlin will be the last lol.
It doesn't really bother me, it works and it's stable just as my old one was. It's still in the cupboard as a backup if I ever need it.
I used and still use the RT-AC68U without updating it for over 4 years. And was fine.
Put dd-wrt on it
They don't support any of the AX models yet…
@f4te: I got the RT-AX53U last year for $65 and it works great as a router with OpenWRT, using stock firmware it's so weirdly slow and laggy for the UI.
This device however will probably never have open firmware thanks to using Broadcom not having opensource drivers. The AX53U has MediaTek.
@joshx: The link you posted is for AX56U v2. That one has some cost cutting down to reduce the RAM and flash ROM (both by 50%).
Thanks for letting us know. Was just about to buy this.
TIL routers have EOL
This will be fine for the average user and the tinfoil free hatters
That surprising you should probably leave a negative vote this deal just to alert people. It's interesting that the RT-AX92U is EOL too and some of the Zen Wifi etc. since they are such recent models. And the most irritating thing is that the AC68U and other related models were provided by many RSP's for NBN so it's going to be a cash cow for Asus.
The AX56U if supported was a pretty compelling purchase for any home setup not gigabit and you could just buy another for mesh. I'm hoping it's not for profit reasons, perhaps the EOL could be chipset-based?
Would have been fine for gigabit.
I tried it on gigabit
The WAN port couldn't do full 930mbps with firewall etc. on
It got up into the 800's
I think it's a chipset or architecture limitation since on the cheaper models they share a bit of bus etc. between chips
GT-AX6000 did full gigabit with all features turned on no sweat
Why is no one negging?
Agree it’s a major defect if your router becomes insecure or loses a lot of future improvements and often all the features that were promised don’t even work when certain features are turned on
The main purposes for having a router are security and stability so may as well use it as an internal switch or NAS which isn’t worth the current price
I think we're giving a lot of weight to firmware updates. They don't release them that often and all my routers I have used in my life I rarely updated them.
What is merlin?
Merlin is like a backyard wizard who makes "third party alternative firmware for Asus routers internet/computer geeks"
what does that do? i dont understand any of it
Which feature swings it for you?
It is the newest / current branch of Asus firmware. It has some more features (Security scan, New VPN, Safe browsing, Login captcha, DNS over TLS, Auto Firmware update, Notification, Instant Guard 2.0) and works with the Asus app.
However, there is a twist to it. ASUSWRT 4.0 is technically being replaced by ASUSWRT 5.0. Also, choopachups is unaware of what Merlin firmware does to RX-AX56U.
That said, 58U is lucky that Asus is keeping it active. However, there is yet another twist, according to Merlin firmware official documentation:
So, basically, if you really want a cheap way for ASUSWRT 4 or 5, and you don't care about Merlin firmware, 58U is the cheapest one. Hardware wise v2 is better, but Merlin already indicated he won't work on it. Essentially, these lower end routers generally don't interest people who are more serious about firmware hacking. If you are really serious about doing a proper Merlin setup, generally, you wouldn't consider 56U, 58U. Basically, you get what you paid for.
As for just get 58U v1, the twist is, technically the CPU in 58U v1 is weaker than 56U (v1). So, this whole thing is a mess.
Thank you for the detailed reply. I appreciate your help.
The reason behind my interest in asuswrt is better parental controls and offcourse, Merlin is added benifit.
I've wasted money on latest version of tplink router and it has unusable interface and practically useless filtering. Pihole does better filtering and is easy to configure.
Any ideas in this regard? I am considering adguard, but again, it will be as good as pie hole. I don't know..
Also, one of the things that tplink and pihole lack is grouping the devices. Devices are grouped based on Mac addresses and apple devices change their mac by default. And now windows has this function as well. There is no easy way to stop unknown macs in tplink (may be I am missing something).
All I want a decent parental control that just works.
Except that's sadly not supported by Merlin yet.
V1 is, V2 isn't (but V2 has better hardware) and no, Merlin won't do V2. He told people that back in 2022. Also, the CPU in 56U and 58U are based on older ARM technology.
Is this router better than the (Technocolor)Telstra Smart Modem 2?
Anything is better than a Telstra router
Some people suggested getting the Technocolor Telstra smart modem 2 & using a 3rd party firmware (like merlin with asus) & it was suppose to be good.
Optus is worse, Never works
@alex27 I don’t doubt that one bit, good old Floptus
Much, replaced mine with this and issues with range and occasional 2.4g issues were resolved. But if you are still with Telstra (you shouldn't be as there are much better plans ..I pay the lazy tax) and ever have issues with NBN connection (power outage recently knocked mine out), you will still need the Telstra smart modem for 4g backup.
Oh, I'm not with Telstra, jsut in the market for a new router. Some people suggested getting the Technocolor Telstra smart modem 2 & using a 3rd party firmware (like merlin with asus) & it was suppose to be good.
FTTN compatible?
It's a router. You're missing the 'Modem' part of 'Modem-Router' for FTTN. Although, if you already have the modem, then you can attach this to that and it'll still work.
You'll need a NBN modem to connect to it for FTTN. For FTTP, this will work fine just plugging into the WAN port from the NTD box.
I am think of upgrading to 1GBPS FTTP NBN from Aussie broadband. Do I need a modem separately or will this router be enough?
This router will work fine with FTTP. Just run a network cable from the NBN internal box to the WAN port on this router and you're good to go. I've noticed that someone mentioned in this post that they weren't able to get full gigabit speed with this model though if that's what you're after. I'm currently on 250/25 and no issues with those speeds on this router.
And I was hoping to get it fit aimesh
Not the best Asus router I have purchased but still does an ok job
any good 6e router to recommend? or a ceiling mounted one?
What about wireless AI mesh on this?
I use one for in my mesh —> ethernet backhaul to a TUF-AX3000 v1. Both running Merlin. Great performance from the 56U as a mesh node.
It's solid setup for gigabit FTTP for very little expenditure. Bummed to hear it's being dropped, but less of a problem for an AiMesh node. I haven't paid attention how the support will be for the TUF-AX3000 v1… but currently it's supported by a fork of Merlin.
Would it still be good for wireless backhaul?
Ie. TUFAX3000 to this via wireless upstairs
If you read reviews, people have difficulties with receiving wifi signal from this router.
is this a better unit than the amazon branded one they give you with the 1000mpbs internet plans from superloop and the likes?
Just remember this model got flagged with a critical security vulnerability (which got fixed via update/patch)
Update it to the latest firmware as soon as you receive it.
Source?
Looks like the vulnerability is with the version 2 of this model and not the version 1 which is the model listed in this post
Bought one, was in need of a new router. Will probably pair it with the Asus RP-AX56 for AiMesh
Such a shame support is being dropped so early. I have a Fritzbox 7490 from 2014 and it still receives updates.
Is it better then one from dodo it's a Huawei
$180 for ax5400 here (only 1 unit left): https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/353784872267?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mk…
Could I also request any advice - I have the Aussie BB Netcomm NF18 cloud mesh. Wifi signal is lacking/drops towards the further part of the house (small house). Any idea if an Asus router like this or a bit higher end asus router would help with coverage, or do I go down the mesh road?
No experience on Netcomm mesh. However, in general, mesh setup is better. Some people get this router to run AiMesh, but I still think a proper mesh is better.
One key factor for people getting this router is being able to run custom firmware, but with the EOL announcement and Merlin officially ending support as well, it is not really a great choice anymore.
Thanks mate, appreciate the insight.
Was hoping one router would suffice for my small place, but maybe since I was only able to place the router on one side of the house instead of the centre, is too big of a hurdle in terms of coverage. Might need to look into mesh.
If your wifi coverage is just a bit out, then this router "may" help (though honestly, it is not a proper fix). With NBN, normally the modem is position near the front of the house, rather than in the middle so normally, the router is there too.
I let my family members use a proper mesh (less issue, better coverage). I do have another setup with multiple traditional routers (which only I use), but when WiFi went a bit pear shaped on that setup, I know how to fix that setup. However, my family members are not tech savvy so I let them use something more reliable, even if the max WiFi speed is a bit lower.
Is this worth upgrading to from my default ZTE modem from Superloop?
No if you gave this to me for free I wouldn't use it because it's EOL
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/14390252/redir
PSA: ebay will have a fully funded sale starting later today for plus members.
![[Prime] ASUS RT-AX56U AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 Router $129 (RRP $229) Delivered @ Amazon AU](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/38/804238.jpg?h=48f066ac)
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