ASUS RT-AX86U Pro AX5700 Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router (German Stock) $316.07 Delivered @ Amazon DE via AU

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ASUS RT-AX86U Pro AX5700 Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router (German Stock) $316.07 Delivered @ Amazon DE via AUAffiliate
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trevor99 on 06/09/2024 - 10:59 amazon.com.au (651 clicks)
Last edited 06/09/2024 - 11:33 by 2 other users
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German stock.

Improvement on the $377 from this recent deal: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/863473
However this time around it's longer shipping, sent from Germany.

I bought the Flint 2 last week myself, and found it dropping WiFi connections a couple of times. Subsequently reflashed it to OpenWrt and now it's perfect, a very good unit.

I noticed in my research that this Asus router was using 8 watts vs 6 watts for the Flint 2 on tests, so therefore I'd guess the WiFi on the Asus is stronger if you have a large area to service. In any case the deal for the Fiint 2 has now finished.

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
Computing ASUS Wireless Router

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Comments

  • RichardL on 06/09/2024 - 11:02
    +15

    Improvement on the $377 from this recent deal: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/863473

    Note: UK/Germany Routers are not the same as Australian Routers.

    From previous deal post:

    https://w.wol.ph/2015/08/28/maximum-wifi-transmission-power-…

    Country 802.11 Bands Channels Max txpower
    Australia b 1-11 200
    Germany b 1-13 100
      • RichardL on 06/09/2024 - 11:09
        +5

        There's only 1 Australian Review on Amazon for the specific model (RT-AX86U Pro) and it's 1 Star

          • netsurfer on 06/09/2024 - 11:29
            +8

            @trevor99: Didn't neg you, but it is well known different region routers have different setup. The region code for Asus routers are baked into the routers, not firmware anymore. However, you can have the router switch region via some linux commands, though it is something that has to be done every time the router restarts. Furthermore, in some regions, Asus do not provide plug adapters and only come with a power adapter for that region.

            Based on the region, the router's interface enables or disables some items. For most people, it is better to get the Australian model. The reason is your other devices (i.e. phones) are likely to adhere to only WiFi channels permitted in Australia. However, there are people getting Asus routers because of its ability to be manually customised.

          • XCOM v2 on 06/09/2024 - 12:22

            @trevor99: they are not exactly the same. see above comment

          • PlaunsJanus on 06/09/2024 - 14:04
            +1

            @trevor99: No evidence.
            C'mon mate there ozbargain posts that discuss this thoroughly and plenty of information online.

            I have an Asus UK router and am happy with the performance.
            I updated the firmware with an Australian one but I doubt it makes any difference.
            However I haven't looked into it at all anywhere, ever so there's obviously no evidence

            • trevor99 on 07/09/2024 - 11:34
              +1

              @PlaunsJanus: Fyi when setting up OpenWrt on the Flint 2 you set up the radio devices from scratch. and it configures itself including the frequency width and power depending on the country code entered. So for example when I chose AU, the 2.4Ghz it changed from 20Mhz to 40Mhz without forcing and the max power was set to 33dBm. Appears these controls are all in the software?

      • SwarleyAUS on 06/09/2024 - 11:19

        Mine is ok. I would've said great a few weeks ago but recently it's not been updating the connected devices view correctly. Asus told me to do an engineering reset which seems like it's fixed the issue but too early to tell. Has a lot of good features that are well-simplified, the UI needs a refresh though - ubiquiti is tempting me

    • netsurfer on 06/09/2024 - 11:24
      +1

      Asus did baked the config into the device. However, you can workaround it. From memory, the AU model doesn't set it to 200. Also, that table is old and likely outdated. According to that table, for WiFi 802.11a (5Ghz), AU max is 1000 whereas DE max is 4000.

      If you really want to maximise the transmit power, you need to customise it through a startup script. Also TX Power of 200 doesn't give you 2x the coverage of 100. It is not linear.

    • Skullytor on 06/09/2024 - 11:31
      +2

      Yeh! I'd rather pay a bit extra and get the AU version
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/863473

      Deal is expired but they come up at that price often enough

      • RedHab on 06/09/2024 - 12:43
        +1

        You can get this for $288 on AliExpress. They have 10% discount codes every few weeks if you're willing to wait.

      • japes on 06/09/2024 - 12:53
        +2

        Chat with Amazon and get them to match the other Amazon price. I got one a couple of months ago for $309, Australian stock, matching an international price (might have been UK).

        • TommyGun on 06/09/2024 - 16:08

          Tried that with zero luck. Flatly refused and said they don't even price match. Anyway no rush.

          • japes on 06/09/2024 - 17:46

            @TommyGun: I just said I'd order from the international page anyway but it seemed silly to not do it for the same price with Australian stock, and they gave me a promo code that discounted it to the same price.

        • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:11

          Hi, where exactly did you chat with amazon? Just through the support pages? How did you present it to them? Did you mention anything about the region differences?

          • japes on 07/09/2024 - 08:59

            @Ice009: There's a live chat option through support (on desktop at least) - I just presented both prices with links and they asked me to add to cart. Said I wanted this router, can I get Australian stock at the same price to save the hassle of international shipping and they gave me a promo code for the difference.

            • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 23:50

              @japes: Cool, thanks a lot. I usually use desktop, so I just go to Amazon help and follow the links there to the live chat? I think I've used it once or twice before ages ago.

              I will try it if the price of the German or UK model gets in the low $300 range.

              When you did get the deal, what was the price difference between the two? I think this might be the key.

              I'm thinking if it wasn't a large gap, maybe they were cool with it. For example, if I were to try for the GT-AX6000, the German/UK prices were $285 to $297 the past couple of weeks, but the AU one was $549, so I wonder if they'd make that big of a jump (close to $300 AUD). I'm guessing not, but I suppose it's worth trying.

              • japes on 08/09/2024 - 02:19

                @Ice009: Price difference was $158.35 at the time, July 9. AU was listed at $484.

                It did take me five minutes of explaining.

                • Ice009 on 08/09/2024 - 04:59

                  @japes: Oh, OK, so it wasn't easy to do it? What were they trying to say? Were they asking why you wanted to do it?

                  • japes on 08/09/2024 - 09:13

                    @Ice009: It wasn't hard, just took five minutes to communicate what I wanted to do.

    • spaceflight on 06/09/2024 - 12:22

      Higher transmit power might help devices receive a signal further away but unless those devices also have a high power radio to transmit with there isn't really an advantage.

      • RedHab on 06/09/2024 - 12:40
        -1

        True, but it depends. Many internet connections (think ADSL or NBN) as asymmetrical, so downloads are a lot faster than uploads. Which is how most people use (consume) the Internet.

        However, if you have Wifi cameras then sending lots of data, then you will want higher uploads.

        Also, in RF engineering, just doubling Tx power isn't the first option. Decreasing noise, and better modulation schemes are generally preferred.

    • BargainKen on 06/09/2024 - 14:51

      Its likely to be firmware controlled based on region, tell it you're in AU and you'll get AU power levels.

      Anyone who thinks Asus makes a router specifically for a small market like Australia with higher power levels probably thinks the NBN is good value for money.

  • Skullytor on 06/09/2024 - 11:32
    +2

    Does anyone know the Asus End of Life for this model? Asus Singapore says its 2026
    https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1051375/

  • ponchus on 06/09/2024 - 11:34

    This or the ASUS Tuff Gaming AX6000?

    • Skullytor on 06/09/2024 - 11:57

      looks like there is a new kid on the block
      https://www.asus.com/au/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/…

      • ponchus on 06/09/2024 - 12:10

        To be honest, for the price I would probably go for the RT-BE88U. Doesn't have 6E but it does have the same 2.5Gbps ports and 4 more 10Gbps ports as well.

        • Skullytor on 06/09/2024 - 12:11

          No Marlin fireware for RT-BE88U it seems

          • ponchus on 06/09/2024 - 12:21

            @Skullytor: Ahhh darn. Not ideal, but not a deal breaker. The price though being double that of the RT-AX86U Pro isn't great but would be on par with the BE86U (probably)

        • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:21

          I've been looking at these the past few weeks and I agree. I'd rather the RT-BE88U. I thought the CPU, RAM specs were going to be the same for both like previous gen with the BE88U having more ports, but they gimped the RAM to 1GB on the BE86U compared to 2GB for the BE88U, but both have 2.6Ghz Quad Core CPUs. If the prices are similar, I'd pick the BE88U due to also having a bunch more ports.

          Either way, the specs of these new routers are beastly. The one thing holding me back (apart from price) is no Asuswrt-Merlin support.

          If I could get the AU version of the GT-AX6000 for similar pricing to what the German models have been going for ~$285, I'd be happy enough with that. Was almost going to pull the trigger on it last week, but the wireless power levels held me back.

          Not sure I'm confident enough to try changing the region and adjusting the power levels like explained in this link another member gave me a couple of weeks ago, that was also posted by another member in this thread https://gist.github.com/francoism90/3dede7973354d067c41bff5e…

      • TommyGun on 06/09/2024 - 13:48

        If anything, the new model should see some better pricing and deals on the AC86U Pro.

    • karkassa on 06/09/2024 - 22:58

      I did not want to go for the TUF, which uses Mediatek cpu and doesn't have Merlin available.
      I went with the ROG GT-AX6000, which was sub $300 these days from Amazon UK and Germany, but probably no stock now.
      Maybe worth adding a camelcamelcamel alert and wait

      • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:29

        I just posted about that above. I almost ordered the UK/German one, but held back due to not being sure if it would provide as good of coverage as the AU model, and not being confident enough to try and change the region.

        Did you order it? Curious what you think of it when you get it. Another member I spoke to has played around with the region settings, but he knows what he's doing and he said it's working fine for him so far.

        The other reason I wanted the GT-AX6000 was because of the Merlin support. Can't remember if there is an alternate Merlin firmware for the TUF model that's modified by someone else and is a fork of Merlin to work on select Mediatek chipset Asus Routers. I think it's called gnuton, but I don't think the TUF AX-6000 is one of the supported TUF models.

        • karkassa on 07/09/2024 - 12:53

          I didn't get it yet, was supposed to arrive 2 days ago but now it says next week :(
          I am not too worried about coverage, as a very well-regarded router I do expect it to do a good job anyway, costing almost half the price of the AU model.
          I will compare it to my AC-3100U, which covers well the house. Ultimately I will try to mesh them if it doesn't limit the GT-AX6000 bands and features

          • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 23:46

            @karkassa: The price is awesome. Cannot fault that when the price is almost 50% less. Please tell me how it goes when you get it.

            That's actually what I was thinking of doing if getting the German or UK GT-AX6000, was going to try using the AC68U with it for some extra coverage if I need it. Have you used a Mesh setup before (I haven't)?

            • karkassa on 08/09/2024 - 11:10

              @Ice009: Not yet, I will update here when I get a chance to try it

              • Ice009 on 08/09/2024 - 18:50

                @karkassa: Alright, cool, thanks. If the thread is closed by the time you try it or get around to trying it, send me a PM instead.

                • karkassa on 10/09/2024 - 19:55

                  @Ice009: It didn't arrive.. the carrier (Australia Global Post, a strange auspost international subsidiary) says this:

                  02/09/24 | 12:00 GMT | GB | Parcel contains on or more item(s) not allowed to ship into destination country without special registration | Parcel returned to shipper - restricted goods

                  So don't think it will ever arrive. Amazon will just refund it, unfortunately, as the UK/DE deals are not on anymore. Back to camel³ alerts.

                  • Ice009 on 10/09/2024 - 23:51

                    @karkassa: I sent a PM, but other than what I said in the PM, I wonder why it seems to be getting stopped for you. I know a couple of other members here definitely got theirs shipped and received, but that was 2-3 months ago.

  • gingerscale on 06/09/2024 - 12:05
    +3

    why would you not buy a Wifi 6e modem in 2024, especially if your spending this amount of $, all devices for the last few years have wifi 6e

    • get-innocuous on 06/09/2024 - 12:18
      +2

      If you're in a house rather than apartment wifi 6E doesn't have huge benefits for a single router setup.

      This router delivers 900Mbit via wifi to my PC which I am very happy with.

    • rumblytangara on 06/09/2024 - 14:32

      I care about reliable and stable APs which provide good coverage more than max theoretical speeds. Especially when combined with NBN which is probably the real bottleneck.

      I'm still on Wifi 5 hardware, because it's rock solid, incredibly flexible, and faster than my internet.

  • mecusherb on 06/09/2024 - 12:11

    I am not very tech savvy - Do you think my WIFI speeds are effected by my Netgear Ac1200 R62000 Model/Router?

    As in, is it worth upgrading to a better Modem. I am on a Aussie 100/20 plan and a LAN test through my PS4 had it flying at 96mbps however my work surface pro only gets up to about 24mbs at it's peak. This is after resetting the modem.

    Basically, is it worth upgrading the modem or is this kind of normal?

    • get-innocuous on 06/09/2024 - 12:15
      +1

      If you're only getting 24Mbps on your surface pro something else is going wrong. If you're sitting right next to the router a Wifi 5/ac router should be able to maintain 500Mbps.

      • mecusherb on 06/09/2024 - 12:17

        I might do a test on the mac mini which I haven't. Perhaps the work VPN is messing about with it too?

        • Skullytor on 06/09/2024 - 12:46

          Possibly yes…. test speeds with VPN disconnected.

    • wangasm on 06/09/2024 - 12:34

      Are you connected on the 5ghz band and not 2.4?
      And yes a VPN can slow it down. You should test with a phone too

      • mecusherb on 06/09/2024 - 12:36

        Phone is 52.4/16.1

        So decent speeds.

        How do I check which band I am on?

        **Edit - Worth noting that my partner works on the third floor of the townhouse and I am downstairs next to the modem so pros and cons to both bands.

        • wangasm on 06/09/2024 - 12:39

          You should be able to see 2 available Wifi networks and one should have 5G at the end of the name, make sure you are connected to this one.
          5G is faster but has less range. Really old devices won't support 5G

  • kungfuman on 06/09/2024 - 12:14
    +1

    yeah anything over a 100 bucks I tend not to risk it with overseas suppliers.

  • JoeyJoeJoe on 06/09/2024 - 12:21
    +1

    Nein

    • 0806449 on 06/09/2024 - 12:33

      Got Nein

  • spinferno on 06/09/2024 - 12:31
    +1

    I got excited from the positive reviews from the last deal that was posted for the RT-AX86U… then I saw the specs for the RT-AX88U and realised that it's less than a hundy more, so I pulled the trigger on the RT-AX88U. It's a beast and the wifi signal is so strong i can use it in every room now and even 1m away from my 1200 watt microwave during use!

    • goatonboat on 06/09/2024 - 14:34

      RT-AX88U is a great router…!

      I'm looking to offload mine now as i've stepped up to a U7 Pro. I swear the asus has slightly better range!

      • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:37

        Was trying to send you a PM, but seems you have it turned off. I was just curious on how much you were looking to sell the RT-AX88U for? Didn't want to post asking that in the thread. I was only looking at the Pro models (RT-AX86U Pro) or the GT-AX6000 in the AX series, as the GT-AX6000 has very similar specs and is virtually the same router as the RT-AX88U Pro that wasn't released here in AU.

    • Pashka on 06/09/2024 - 16:25

      then I saw the specs for the RT-AX88U and realised that it's less than a hundy more, so I pulled the trigger on the RT-AX88U. It's a beast and the wifi signal is so strong i can use it in every room now and even 1m away from my 1200 watt microwave during use!

      I was looking at the Asus RT-AX88U Pro, then I looked at the specs of the fint 2 which were the same at nearly half the price.

      Got the flint 2, phenomenal WiFi performance, would definitely purchase again.

  • trevor99 on 06/09/2024 - 12:34

    Range of WiFi 6 is the best. Latency can also be better than 5. 6E or 7 does not improve range. Can only really help if there is heavy congestion like in tight apartment buildings etc because it opens more frequencies. This is why is hasn't changed for years.

    WiFi 7 has shorter range.

    How much throughput do you actually want?

    If you have range issues choose the 2.4Mhz option for WiFi 6.

    • rumblytangara on 06/09/2024 - 15:00

      Can only really help if there is heavy congestion like in tight apartment buildings etc because it opens more frequencies. This is why is hasn't changed for years.

      From my casual testing, the extra spectrum from 6e/7 isn't a big deal either. I've tested my 5GHz stuff in environments where I could see 30+ competing 5GHz APs and was still getting 400-500Mbps.

      The gig speeds from 6 and above only really seem to kick in when literally in the same room as the AP- the max speeds drop like crazy as soon as there's a single wall in the way.

      • trevor99 on 06/09/2024 - 15:19

        Yeah I think it comes down to testing it in your own place - stick something like this in then check around your house to see if it's enough. Play with antenna direction. Otherwise use something like a meshed system or powerline to a new WiFi id. This Asus will do mesh. In my case I have a 3 story house with a Flint 2 and it's good enough in all areas.

        • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:40

          The Flint 2 is super interesting, but I wanted an Asus Router due to Merlin support.

          Do you know if you can have OpenVPN or Wireguard clients only to specific devices on the Flint 2.?

  • thispasito on 06/09/2024 - 12:45

    I think this will have the EU plug. I got the EU plug when I bought an ASUS product from Amazon Germany.

    Not a big deal if you have universal sockets but it is a bit annoying if you have to go out and buy an adapter.

  • justtoreply on 06/09/2024 - 13:18

    This is a bad purchase imho. Not 6E/7. Reduced transmit power because it's German.

    I can think of worse ways to spend $377, but not easily when it comes to router purchases

    In the least it's not better than the AU model for $377

  • kobe8tang on 06/09/2024 - 13:34
    -1

    My AC-68 died after 3 years of use due to a capacitor failed for a common issue. Now only shows fade power light. Not happy for these three years as sometimes data disconnected. Then I bought a Xiaomi AX6000 for 3 months, half of the price and much more powerful and stable.

    • wangasm on 06/09/2024 - 16:28

      That's pretty unlucky. My AC68U is 7 years old and still going with never an issue.

      • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:47

        Did you mean AC86U or was it definitely an AC68U (from what I've read and by my own experience, the AC68U is pretty well built). Having said that, my AC-86U failed after about 3 years (I was pretty happy with this router as it was giving me decent OpenVPN speeds which is something I wanted - the only thing missing for it for me was Wireguard support), but I had to go back to my AC68U just over a year ago (luckily I kept it as a spare) and it's still running fine. Can't use OpenVPN on it, though, as it's too slow. I used to use it through the router on devices where you couldn't install a VPN client to directly, but not really worth using on the AC68U.

        I wonder if Kobe8Tang could have taken the router to an electronics repair guy and gotten it fixed if it was only a minor job?

        • wangasm on 07/09/2024 - 14:00

          Definitely AC68U in my case. I've not seen many other people here report issues with it either.

  • Freestyle on 06/09/2024 - 13:46

    Why does this German stock keep getting posted every month or so lol this is standard price its been at this price forever

  • sivadfam on 06/09/2024 - 15:17

    I got one from Amazon US came to $365 and has stronger power levels than the Au version , it does have bands here that are not to be used.

    I hope EOL is not in 2025 as the router is not that old. I have a 4 bedroom brick house and had to reduce the 2.4 ghz power level

    • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:49

      Why did you have to reduce the power level? Was a higher power level causing issues with your devices?

      I think the US version is closet to AU power and channel wise? Did you end up just buying an adapter plug to use it here?

  • Namidairo on 06/09/2024 - 16:09

    A single 2.5gbit port isn't great, unless you were using this as an AP downstream of something else instead of using to handle your WAN connection.

    It'll be more of an issue next September, but something to keep in mind for those intending to go onto those plans.

    They're also freaking me out with the use of ufl cables to route to the furthest two front end modules. I know they're trying to reduce signal loss by shortening all the paths from wireless radio to FEM to antenna, but it's weird to look at.

  • Securityclearance on 06/09/2024 - 17:44

    worth upgrading a ac68u? 1000down on FTTP with about 20 devices

    • wangasm on 07/09/2024 - 01:05

      Do you actually reach 1000mb with the ac68u? Before I upgraded my ac68u, it could only reach around 400mb max on my 1000mb HFC connection.

      • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:52

        I am going to get a 1000Mbit connection soon and do have the AC68U. Are you saying I won't get close to max speed? I was expecting something around 850-900Mbit, but if it's only 400Mbit, then that's going to be an issue. It does have Gigabit WAN port, so I'm not sure why you only got 400Mbit speeds from it.

        What did you upgrade to?

        • Securityclearance on 07/09/2024 - 13:43

          can get around 850 ish dependent on time of day/other uses in the house - i honestly think try with 68u and only upgrade if necessary

        • wangasm on 07/09/2024 - 13:52

          Sorry I should have clarified that 400mb was the max speed over Wifi. Ethernet should be faster but I didn't do much testing with that.

          I upgraded to the router in this deal and now easily reach 900-950mb over Wifi6

  • Spun on 06/09/2024 - 22:36

    Was considering this deal a few days ago (missed the Aus model for $377) until I read just how gymped the EU Wifi Tx power is (and the hassle to go through to maybe rectify it and keep it after each power cycle).

    Ended up spending a bunch more money on an RT-BE88U instead (for $600). So far it's an incredible upgrade over the DSL-AC68U it replaced.

    • rumblytangara on 06/09/2024 - 23:00
      +2

      I haven't checked the spectrum allowances in Oz, but how could you drop $600 on a consumer-grade router that doesn't even cover 6GHz?

      It's got fancy fast ethernet ports and all, but if you want to talk about gimped equipment, dropping the newest of the three available chunks of spectrum is certainly gimped.

      If I'm dropping that much money, it's for gear that's built to enterprise standards and reliability. Even if it's used and older tech.

      • kizzaaa on 07/09/2024 - 01:13

        If I'm dropping that much money, it's for gear that's built to enterprise standards and reliability. Even if it's used and older tech.

        Where would you look and what brands what you consider? I'm guessing brands like Ubiquiti?

        • rumblytangara on 07/09/2024 - 09:48
          +1

          I'm one of those home networking nerds who has spent too much time tinkering. I'm running secondhand Ruckus Networks APs meshed and bridged, gear which is usually found in convention centres and designed to support hundreds of connections per node. Routing is performed by one of those little fanless industrial PCs running pfSense.

          I don't like Ubiquiti- I've run their gear before and found that the software was unreliable and poorly optimised for wifi management, the hardware was cheaply designed- I opened up my Unifi and Ruckus units and the Unifi PCB had perhaps half the component count. The Ruckus antenna modules were a whole extra level of additional sophistication- a 3D PCB with multiple traces which form a tunable antenna array vs a single bit of stamped metal in the Unifi.

          What Ubiquiti does well is external casing design, and eye-candy UI. It looks pretty and has great WAF.

          Ruckus seems to be rare in Oz, especially secondhand. Here it would be Omada new, or recycled Cisco (but you'd need a way around their support paywall). It I was starting from scratch inOz I'd go Omada and pfSense or keep it simple with Asus AIMesh.

      • Namidairo on 07/09/2024 - 01:30
        +1

        We get lower half of the 6ghz spectrum at the moment.

        I would argue you would be missing over half the bandwidth too, if you were to take into account 320mhz wide channel usage on 6ghz, and using 5ghz+6ghz MLO versus 2.4ghz+5ghz. (Or more rarely 5ghz+5ghz which won't work on any Intel card)

        The teehee AliExpress DIY solution involving sbc, be14000 card, accessories, and throwing in an unmanaged 2.5gbit switch (with SFP modules to connect the two)…

        I think it might actually come in at roughly the same price, or cheaper. I might have to joke fill a cart and calculate the cost.

        Or course, I'd probably just tell most people to wire up their homes and ceiling mount a couple Ubiquiti U7 Pro's hooked up to a PoE+ switch. Sort of a "do it once, do it right" approach. The AliExpress route I only mentioned because of the incessant need for me to tinker.

      • Ice009 on 07/09/2024 - 05:56
        +1

        compared to other Asus Routers from previous gen (AX, AXE), I'd say the price is pretty darn good. What else from previous gen spec wise comes close at this price when looking at AU stock only? It's a beast of a router spec wise. 2.6Ghz Quad Core CPU, 2GB RAM. I don't personally need the 6Ghz myself, so if you're someone that needs that, then you have to pay much more for the next model/s up in regard to Asus Router/s that support it.

      • Spun on 07/09/2024 - 07:49
        +2

        I knew I'd get this question… and fair enough because it's absolutely valid. I'm usually pretty careful with my purchases (hence why I was still running a 12 year old modem as my main AI Mesh node).

        You're 100% right. A missing 6Ghz spectrum is gymped, and if that's a must-have for a router for you, this device is immediately out of the question.
        For my use-case it wasn't a must-have in the next couple of years, so spending more than double the amount to get it wasn't something I was willing to do. I will want 6Ghz a few years down the track, and when it happens I'll add it and probably move this device to being a child node somewhere in the house (and by that time 6Ghz will be mainstream and down to sensible prices).

        This will be a long reply, so here's the TL;DR:

        • I needed a new router, and I needed it now; and
        • It had to be a bit of Asus gear to plug into an existing AI Mesh network; and
        • I don't see myself missing the 6Ghz band in the next few years, after which time adding on 6Ghz will be cheaper than the stupid prices they're asking today; and
        • Aside from missing the 6Ghz band, this router is stacked for $600. Yes $600 isn't peanuts, but you're getting a 10G RJ45, an SFP+ port, and another 8 ports (4 @ 2.5Gbps!!), plus Wifi 7 toys like MLO, and according to reviews I read/watched, an excellent wifi range. Ignoring the 6Ghz crippling, this router is a pretty cool piece of kit.

        But, here's the long version of the thought process I went through to select this:

        Firstly, there are 2 main factors which weighed into my decision:

        • I'm already in the Asus AI Mesh ecosystem (with older AC gear all over the house), so wanting to leverage that gear, and just upgrade to Wifi 7 over time, I wanted to stay with Asus. If that wasn't the case the decision probably would have been different; and
        • I needed something very soon. I've just been upgraded to FTTP. Also, running the DSL-AC68U as my main node (with a dual core CPU and only 512mb of onboard memory) meant the device would hit resource limits causing the whole mesh network to freeze until it recovered, and it was happening regularly. If I didn't do something soon my wife and kids may have killed me, so in essence I'm investing in my own health.

        As for this device, as far as I can tell, for me the 6Ghz omission is the only downside I feel I'll care about in the next few years with this bit of gear. Yes, it sucks that this band isn't there, but I also don't consider myself needing those kinds of speeds over wifi over shorter distances any time in the near future.

        To go up to something with the 6Ghz band at the moment in Asus gear would have meant going up to a RT-BE92U or a GT-BE98, both of which are at least double what I paid. Also I don't know what CPU chipset the BE92U has, but if it isn't Broadcom it won't get Merlin support, and the BE98 is unlikely because the creator of Merlin is weighing up dropping support for the ROG firmware versions because of the extra effort required.

        The biggest downside for me so far is that it has made a couple of my existing child nodes in my AI Mesh network redundant. They're connected, but they're now just sitting there with 0 devices connected. After doing an AI Mesh optimisation devices are choosing to connect back to the new BE88U (which is all the way at the front of the house) rather than connecting to the child nodes because of the range of the new device. I tested this myself by tethering my phone to different nodes in the network, and sure enough connecting to the BE88U gave better speeds. I now have to either rethink the placement of these nodes, or just put a few of the older AI Mesh devices (like an RT-AC68U) back in their boxes and give them away.

        Also of note was the possibility of a Merlin firmware version in the future. It isn't there yet, but given this modem has a Broadcom chipset and isn't an ROG model, chances are very good that it will get Merlin support in an upcoming release. Not a showstopper for me, but I'm running Merlin on my other devices where it is supported, and it is a nice bonus.

        In short, would I have preferred to wait a few years until a Wifi 7 6Ghz router was down to the $600 mark? Absolutely! But I needed something soon, and when I missed the RT-AX86U sale for $377 recently, I decided to spend the extra $223 and get the new model. Like any purchase, everyone is going to have different circumstances to know whether this is or isn't the right piece of kit, but the points above were my reasoning. I hope this helps anyone on the fence like I was to jump one way or the other.

        • rumblytangara on 07/09/2024 - 09:55
          +1

          Yeah, fair reasoning.

          Of all the home networking brands, I'd trust Asus the most for their good approach to firmware support. And AIMesh seems a lot more capable than any of the other options in this space.

          • Spun on 07/09/2024 - 10:01

            @rumblytangara: AI Mesh has been absolutely flawless for me. The backwards compatibility alone is pretty exceptional.

            About 12 months ago I imported a Nest Pro 6E 3 pack from Amazon US (since I have nest cams so I'm using the Google Home app already) and within a week I sent them back. Even compared to my old Asus gear the coverage was garbage. Lesson learned.

            • rumblytangara on 07/09/2024 - 10:12
              +1

              @Spun: The original Google wifi system seemed to have been designed for the lowest common denominator home owner. It was widely regarded as something to avoid if you wanted any degree of control over your network- I'd expect that any later models would have kept with this approach.

              • Spun on 07/09/2024 - 11:35

                @rumblytangara: Yep I found that out the hard way. I was expecting better, but they were junk.

                The ol' Amazon Prime subscription and the free returns comes in handy sometimes.

        • Ice009 on 12/09/2024 - 07:16

          Awesome review mate. I also read your review on Amazon. Thanks for posting here as well. What price did you get the BE88U for? It's currently back to $649 last I checked. Was it on a deal when you bought it?

          Interesting that the first Amazon review says the 5Ghz Wireless isn't as good as his old RT-AX88U. I'm sort of taking that review with a grain of salt as he didn't say anything else in his review.

          I'm still using an RT-AC68U (did have an AC86U and would have used that quite a bit longer, but it failed over a year ago and had to go back to AC68U that I kept as a spare), and I just installed Merlin on it yesterday for the first time. I wanted to install Merlin to see what it's like, as if I were to buy something like the BE88U that doesn't currently have Merlin support, I wanted to see what I'd be missing out on. So far, I like Asuswrt-Merlin Firmware quite a bit. Still would like to get something newer and the RT-BE88U is at the top of my list, but price is past the amount I wanted to spend.

          I've actually been looking at possibly getting a US router such as the RT-AX88U Pro, but not sure about the voltage as I'm not sure if all of them can be used in AU? On a lower-end model on Amazon US, I saw that is says 110V~240V, so I'm guessing just an adapter plug is all that is needed. I also saw that US power levels are similar and it they also use similar channels to AU.

          Has anyone bought a US model? It appears to me that the US versions are closest to AU wireless power wise.

          To go up to something with the 6Ghz band at the moment in Asus gear would have meant going up to a RT-BE92U or a GT-BE98, both of which are at least double what I paid. Also I don't know what CPU chipset the BE92U has, but if it isn't Broadcom it won't get Merlin support, and the BE98 is unlikely because the creator of Merlin is weighing up dropping support for the ROG firmware versions because of the extra effort required.

          If you were betting, do you think the RT-BE88U will get Merlin firmware support at some point? I think I read someone mention that he has to buy 3 models of the the same hardware, and that the model also has to be a popular selling model. I'm sort of thinking since it's missing the 6Ghz channel, this might not become a popular selling model, but IMO hopefully people that don't need 6Ghz still buy it due to the rest of what it offers, which is quite substantial for the price (CPU, RAM, 10GbE LAN port, 2.5GbE LAN ports etc.).

          Also, very interesting about Merlin's comments about ROG models. When did he say this? I was looking at the GT-AX6000 too, but if he's thinking of dropping support for the ROG line, I may have to take that off of my list.

          I also took a look at the RT-BE92U, but that seems to have worse hardware specs than the RT-BE88U, and is using similar CPU, RAM (2Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM) to previous gen models such as this one listed (RT-AX86U Pro) in this OzBargain deal.

  • conza on 20/09/2024 - 23:20

    So afaict, the TUF-AX6000 is basically an RT-AX88U in a slightly different shell and with 512MB vs 1024MB of RAM. It's $260 odd on Amazon from overseas, can see some people have had their rejected delivery, but there are dozens of positive reviews from buyers in Australia who had received theirs

    I went for it as I couldn't find an RT-AX88U in many places here, it's on eBay which is probably fine, but RAM doesn't seem to be an issue from anyone I've heard of, we'll see.

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