The colored circle graphs each one's ping time across those tests. Each one shows the lag results of those 90 speed tests for a single router. Each router I review goes through a minimum of 90 speeds tests, so that adds up a lot of data on lag. In my speed tests here at home, I always ping the same server in Lexington, Kentucky, about 80 miles away, and I record the ping time for each and every test. Lag, or ping, is a measurement of how long, in milliseconds, it takes your router to send a signal to a specific server and receive an answer. Routers that keep the colored line closer to the center of the graph are better - and the RT-AX86U (purple) is the best I've ever tested. One last point on performance (and I really can't stress this enough): The RT-AX86U is flat-out fantastic at handling latency, easily the best router I've ever tested when it comes to lag.Įach of these graphs show you how much lag I recorded across 90 speed tests for a single router. But for most users, especially those using the RT-AX86U on its own, I'd recommend turning the feature off and just sticking to the 5GHz band for most of your heavy traffic if speeds seem lower than you'd expect.
Asus router review update#
And, in fairness to Asus, the bandsteering feature might be designed with a mesh setup in mind, so once I get a chance to test it out in a setup like that with other Asus devices on the network extending the system's range, I'll update this space. That said, I re-tested the RT-AX86U in 2022 after upgrading my home network to gigabit speeds, and didn't see nearly as much of a bandsteering issue, so perhaps the firmware has gotten smarter. If I connected at a distance, where the 2.4GHz signal strength was stronger, and then moved close to the router, where the much faster 5GHz band is ideal, the router wouldn't realize it and steer me to the 5GHz band without me disconnecting and reconnecting. With SmartConnect, the RT-AX86U automatically "steers" you between the two bands depending on which one it thinks is better for your connection - but speeds fell noticeably after turning it on, and I saw inconsistent performance depending on how close I was to the router when I'd first connect to the network.
Asus router review upgrade#
The RT-AX86U is a worthy upgrade over each of those.Īfter testing both the 5GHz and 2.4 GHz bands throughout my home, I turned on the SmartConnect feature, which combines both bands into a single, unified network. Just keep in mind that each of those costs hundreds more than the RT-AX86U.Īs for entry-level Wi-Fi 6 routers that cost less, the TP-Link AX1500 and the Linksys MR7350 each felt underpowered in my tests, with whole-home average speeds of 189 and 97 Mbps. That's a good result, but not as strong as fancier Wi-Fi 6 routers, including the Netgear Nighthawk AX12 and Asus' own RT-AX89X, which clocked in at 250 and 289 Mbps, respectively.
Asus router review download#
In the end, the average download speed across all of my tests from all corners of my house was 218 Mbps.
The Asus RT-AX86U (yellow) delivered fast speeds throughout my home - not quite as fast as fancier Wi-Fi 6 routers that cost hundreds more, but noticeably faster than entry-level Wi-Fi 6 routers that cost less. All of that makes it a good pick if you're living in a home with a gigabit internet plan, and support for 4x4 MU-MIMO connections on the 5GHz band makes it easier for the router to handle multiple devices at once, or to aggregate multiple lines of traffic to devices that use multiple antennas. The router boasts of top transfer rates of up to 4,804 Mbps on the 5GHz band and 861 Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, and it also features a 2.5 Gbps WAN port that allows for multi-gig incoming wired speeds from your modem. That's not to say that they'll be slow, though. Translation: Your actual speeds will be a lot lower. Don't let that figure mislead you - those numbers are based on optimized, lab-based tests that don't take real-world factors like distance, interference and physical obstructions into account, and you can only connect to one band at a time. The RT-AX86U is a dual-band AX5700 router, which means that it supports Wi-Fi 6, and that the top theoretical speeds from its 2.4 and 5GHz bands add up to 5,700 Mbps, or 5.7 Gbps.
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