ASUS RT-AC66U Next-Generation Dual-band Wireless Router

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. ASUS RT-AC66U Router4. ASUS RT-AC66U User Interface & Settings5. Testing & Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

Wireless routers are now an essential part of any household, connecting Desktop Computers, Games Consoles, Media Servers, Laptops, Tablets and Phones to your home network and more importantly the internet. With this many devices connecting to the internet, a fast wireless router is a key investment for a media-savvy household.

The ASUS RT-AC66U is a 5th generation dual-band Wi-Fi router, which can reach a combined data transfer speed of 1.75 Gbps – all without wires. While there aren't many devices out there that can connect at full-speed, it is of course backwards compatible and as such is future proof.

Specifications

Network Standard	IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.3u, IPv4, IPv6
Product Segment	AC1750 ultimate AC performance; 450+1300Mbps
Data Rate	802.11a : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54Mbps 802.11b : 1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps 802.11g : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54Mbps 802.11n : up to 450Mbps 802.11ac: up to 1300Mbps
Antenna	Detachable antenna x 3
Operating Frequency	2.4G~2.4835GHz /5.1~5.8GHz
Encryption	64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise, WPA2-Enterprise
Firewall & Access Control	Firewall: SPI intrusion detection,DoS protection Access control: Parental control, Network service filter, URL filter, Port filter
Management	UPnP, DLNA, DNS Proxy, NTP Client, DDNS, Port Triger, Virtual Server, DMZ
VPN Support	IPSec Pass-Throuth PPTP Pass-Through L2TP Pass-Through PPTP server
WAN Connection Type	Internet connection type : Automatic IP, Static IP, PPPoE(MPPE supported), PPTP, L2TP Dual Link support Multicast Proxy support

The ASUS RT-AC66U router has been packaged in a dark coloured box with the product picture glowing on the front.

The back of the box informs you about the ‘Incredible Performance and Signal Connection' as well as the ‘ASUS AICloud' and other useful features.

Included with the RT-AC66U router is a warranty notice, an impressively thick quick start guide and a driver/set-up CD.

Also in the packaging are the 3 antennas for this device, the stand which holds it upright, and an ethernet cable.

There is of course a power supply, in this case a 2-pin plug.

The RT-AC66U has a simple look with a striped black pattern on top, and is surprisingly thin.

The back of the RT-AC66U fits quite a lot into a small space as it features 3 x Antenna screws, as well as 2 x USB 2.0 ports and the 5 xRJ45 Gigabit ports.

On the front of the device are a series of LED's, in fact an impressive 9 blue LED's. These will, at a glance, tell you exactly what's plugged in to the RT-AC66U and if any problems have arisen.

After fitting the antennas, the RT-AC66U takes up quite a bit more space, however it should give excellent coverage.

From the back it does look a bit cramped, but none of the ports are blocked with the Antennas in the standard and recommended arrangement.

After plugging in the RT-AC66U and powering it up we then entered the IP address of the router and we were met with the ‘Quick Internet Setup' pages.

The first thing it wanted set-up was the admin log-in and password.

We were then guided through setting up the wireless settings for both the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz transmitters.

Finally we were able to press finish and connect to our router wirelessly.

We were then forwarded to the User Interface for the ASUS RT-AC66U. Our first impressions were that it was laid out quite logically but did contain a lot of options. The first page of the User Interface is the network map.

The second page allows you to set-up up to 3 guest networks per wireless band (6 in total).

The third page is titled ‘Traffic Manager' and allows you to enable the QoS setting.

There are also options for Parental Controls and a vast array of USB applications.

ASUS are also promoting their AiCloud service which is the combination of an NAS device and a cloud service.

We then moved to the advanced settings pages where we were able to adjust a vast array of Wireless and LAN settings.

Further to this there are options for WAN and IPV6 settings, including setting up a DMZ and DDNS.

There are also VPN and Firewall options for you to adjust.

Finally the last page allows you to change the mode of the router allowing it to also work as a Media Bridge or Access Point.

To test this router we set-up a simple network in our house, which used a standard Virgin Media Router as a modem. We then plugged in both the ASUS RT-AC66U and our Buffalo AirStation Nfiniti Dual Band Wireless Router (WZR-HP-AG300H). This allows us to have a fairly decent benchmark router which we know performs very well at N300 speeds.

Unfortunately, there aren't many 802.11 AC devices out but we did manage to pick up a Netgear A6200 WiFi Dual Band USB adapter, in fact it hadn't been released when we started the review. While this is by far the fastest USB dongle on the market, its top possible speed is limited to 867 Mbps, although the ASUS RT-AC66U should be able to reach 1.3 Gbps on the 5 GHz band.

We then set-up the routers in the same room, on different channels to ensure no interference. We then used the Buffalo AirStatio Nfiniti N450 Wireless-N USB Adapter plugged into our laptop so that we could test the range of both routers under 2.4 GHz settings.

We initially tested this in the same room, and unsurprisingly we were connected at a full 450 Mbps from the ASUS router and a full 300 Mbps from the Buffalo.

We then went to the end of the garden (approximately ~15 meters but including 3 thick walls) and repeated the test. This time the ASUS router had dropped to 4 bars of strength, and the Buffalo had dropped to 3 bars.

The wireless speed's had also dropped but the ASUS was remaining at ~263 Mbps (although still peaking up to 405 Mbps), while the Buffalo had dropped all the way down to ~52 Mbps. While the ASUS router has a slight headstart (i.e. faster to start off with) it is clear that over distance the ASUS router still performs really well.

We then switched to our new Netgear A6200 802.11 AC Dual Band USB adapter, and tested the relative 5 GHz speeds. At a distance of 1 meter the ASUS router was maintaining a very impressive 702 Mbps, which is easily the fastest we have ever tested. Moving to a distance of 15 metres the speed had however dropped to the 263 Mbps that we saw with the 2.4 Ghz band.

While we know there is more potential to come from the ASUS router we were certainly impressed with its relative performance, and it certainly bodes well for the future AC devices.

In terms of the user interface, we have always liked the approach taken by ASUS. It is simple, effective and really easy to navigate.

The display doesn't feel cluttered but there are more than the usual options available. We were also impressed with the loading times, as with many networked devices you have to wait for the next page to load, but with the ASUS UI it was almost instantaneous.

The ASUS RT-AC66U is a feature packed router with 2 x USB ports that can act as a print server or in conjunction with storage to give a NAS set-up. It also incorporates ASUS AiCloud which does look to be a great service, and has several advantages over Dropbox or Google Drive. You can attach as much storage as you want, easily giving you several TB of data storage if needed.

Overall the device performed great, and was easy to use. As expected with a cutting edge device, the costs are high. It can currently be purchased for £180.98 from Amazon.co.uk, which is quite a lot when you can't get the best performance out of it just yet. Of course, you will also have to factor in the cost of the latest 802.11ac USB dongle which in our case set us back another £70. That said, we do expect prices will fall quite quickly.

Pros

• Performance of 5 GHz at close range is very impressive.
• Lots of great features.
• Extremely stable router.
• ASUS AiCloud incorporated.
• A future-proof wireless router.

Cons

• High price tag.
• 5 GHz speeds dropped off quite quickly with range.
• Can't get full speed out of the device with current technology.

Kitguru says: With the potential of 1.3 Gbps data transfer rate this will be a fast performing router which will be perfect for the media savvy audience for years to come.

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