This Twin-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router Punches Manner Up

So why am I bagging on the value? It’s that the RT-BE86U doesn’t have a 6GHz band. That’s what allows Wi-Fi 7’s 320MHz channels, arguably the protocol’s most boastworthy function as a result of it doubles channel bandwidth—a measure of the dimensions of the “pipe” your information goes by—out there to Wi-Fi 7 telephones and laptops in comparison with the 160MHz channels routers have supplied for years now. That may result in throughput increased than my benchmarking gear can truly measure, as I indicated in my review of the also-$300 Eero Pro 7. Nonetheless, when you ignore the 6GHz-lessness of all of it, the RT-BE86U looks like a worthy machine.

Quick and Steady Wi-Fi Efficiency

The RT-BE86U is probably not the ugliest object, however it is vitally a lot a router-looking router, with three tall antennas stabbing out from the highest and an array of at least 10 LED standing lights on the entrance. On the again, you’ll discover 5 ethernet ports: a 10GbE WAN/LAN port and 4 2.5GbE LAN, considered one of which might additionally alternatively function your WAN connection to the web. There are additionally two USB ports again there—one USB 3.2 and one USB 2.0—for connecting issues like a tough drive for network-level entry.

There are good causes to disregard my criticism about that lacking band. For one factor, your first publicity to Wi-Fi 7 is fairly more likely to be by a smartphone earlier than the rest. I don’t find out about you, however because it stands, I by no means have to attend lengthy to obtain an app at residence, and haven’t for years. What would be a difficulty is having to attend for a YouTube video to buffer as a result of I’m within the incorrect room. That didn’t occur with the RT-BE86U, which gave me a strong connection all through my home all by its lonesome. My Eero Professional 6E two-router mesh setup solely does that if the routers are positioned simply so.

Let’s discuss numbers. Inside about 15 ft of the RT-BE86U, I noticed throughput that averaged between 1.7Gbps and 1.8Gbps utilizing a Wi-Fi 7 connection and round 1.5Gbps with Wi-Fi 6. And on Wi-Fi 5, it was extra like 1.35Gbps, examined with 160MHz channel bandwidth. Farther away within the Wi-Fi graveyard that’s my workplace, I nonetheless noticed throughput between simply shy of 580Mbps and 630Mbps, which is increased than my web plan affords. In concept, you may get even higher throughput utilizing Multi-Hyperlink Operation, a function that lashes collectively two bands to make use of as one, however the RT-BE86U solely has 2.4GHz to supply as a second band, which doesn’t add sufficient to be noticeable.

Most of those assessments had been executed with an M2 MacBook Air wired to the RT-BE86U utilizing a Plugable 2.5GbE USB-C ethernet adapter and a Samsung Galaxy Book 2 geared up with an MSI BE6500 USB Wi-Fi 7 adapter. I went again and confirmed that I noticed related efficiency utilizing the gargantuan Asus ROG Strix G18 gaming laptop computer Asus lent me, which was the one method I needed to take a look at Wi-Fi 5 as a result of MSI’s adapter doesn’t supply choices like switching Wi-Fi protocols.

With benchmarking completed—and at nice danger to my household’s sanity—I swapped out my Eeros for the RT-BE86U for a few days. Fortunately, issues labored with out a hitch; sensible residence units had been responsive and films streamed flawlessly on my Apple TVs, each from the web and the Plex server on my Synology NAS. My Nintendo Swap, a tool that has at all times been cussed about utilizing a 5GHz sign, however carried out strongly on the two.4GHz band even in my workplace, one of many worst spots in my home for Wi-Fi. That didn’t assist me get first place in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, however it definitely didn’t damage my possibilities.

All of that was spectacular in my 100-year-old, three-story (counting the basement) residence stuffed with Wi-Fi-killing plaster-and-lath partitions. The RT-BE86U’s sign even punched by my residence’s faux-stone exterior to succeed in extra distant units like my Netatmo Presence Wi-Fi safety digital camera and my Meross storage door opener. Each labored extra sluggishly, however in equity, I’d’ve been shocked in the event that they hadn’t. Asus’ router does help mesh networking with the corporate’s different mesh-capable routers, which might probably repair that.

See Asus RT-BE86U at Amazon

Configure to Your Coronary heart’s Content material

You don’t need to be a community engineer to make use of Asus routers, however there’s a little bit of a studying curve in terms of configuring one. The place Eero’s app presents you with fast, fundamental info on the house display that’s pretty simple to know, the Asus app sticks a scrolling, meaningless-to-most community site visitors visualizer in your face whenever you load it up.

I get the sense that Asus actually tries to make issues user-friendly and approachable. For example, faucet the Household tab on the house display and also you’ll discover easy-to-understand pre-configured parental management choices that allow you to set schedules to disclaim your youngsters units an web connection and filter web site visitors. In case you faucet Settings after which Community, you’ll be able to straightforwardly alter your SSID (the title to your Wi-Fi community) and password or arrange a visitor community. (Asus calls this an IoT community, however it capabilities the identical method, obscuring the remainder of your community from units linked to it.) However elsewhere, you don’t need to dig far in any respect earlier than you’re within the weeds of technical community jargon.

Most individuals received’t seemingly get that far—as soon as your community is about up, how typically do you truly take a look at your router’s settings? However in order for you extra management over their router, there’s lots to fiddle with, particularly throughout the RT-BE86U’s internet interface. Choices vary from establishing IP reservations (Asus calls it “IP Binding”) to tweaking transmission energy and toggling particular Wi-Fi options. You may also configure an area digital community, or VLAN, arrange hyperlink aggregation to your community switches, and take a look at pretty detailed exercise statistics for units in your community, too.

Nice If You Don’t Want Wi-Fi 7’s Finest Options

Good Wi-Fi routers value cash; that’s only a truth. However you shortly run into diminishing returns whenever you get into the $300-plus vary, particularly as nearly all of us don’t want tremendous high-end Wi-Fi efficiency. So after I take a look at a router, I care extra about its stability and protection vary than I do about uncooked throughput. Because of the RT-BE86U’s means to remain steady over a broad vary, even in a difficult Wi-Fi setting, you’ll be able to even have your cake and eat it too, a minimum of whereas Wi-Fi 7 continues to be in its relative infancy and most of us can’t reap the benefits of it.

That’s not simply because Asus made a good-performing router. The RT-BE86U has options like the flexibility to perform as a VPN server that you simply route your site visitors by when away from residence, letting you obscure yet one more private location information level as you progress all over the world. The corporate additionally affords issues like free malicious website blocking or virus-infected machine detection by way of its AiProtection function, which is offered in live performance with cybersecurity agency Development Micro.

In case you like these options and also you wish to be sure to have a powerful Wi-Fi connection all through a medium-sized residence (mine is about 1,800 sq. ft counting the basement, for reference) with out the necessity for extra entry factors, the RT-BE86U may very well be an awesome buy. But when your wants are lesser otherwise you suppose loads of 6GHz Wi-Fi 7 units are within the close to future for you, look elsewhere.

See Asus RT-BE86U at Amazon