ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE98 PRO First Quad-Band WiFi 7 Gaming Router supports 320MHz, Dual 10G Port, Triple-level Game Acceleration, Mobile Game Mode, Subscription-Free Security, AiMesh, and VPN features

I got this to control multibe networks for my iot devices, kids network and primary network. To start the setup is easy and your up and running within 10 minutes usually but this is depending on the settings your ISP use. For what i needed it was great value for money and it is fast and handles crowded network signals really well in that there has not been a noticable performance hit over wifi. The device is regually recieves firmware updates and is still very much supported by Asus, the network segregation adds little to the security of the network but it does allow you to manage these seperate networks differently. It works well with older Asus mesh products but i did find the additional network ID's i had put in place did not play well with the older devices on older firmware. The feature i was interested in was the guest network pro which gave me the ability to control my kids network availability time but it also had limited support over older AI mesh devices. This is a top product for the price and the wifi speeds are as advertised for us but this will vary per household.

Currently upgraded my 2 GT6 routers working in an AI Mesh setup over WiFi to 2 GS-BE18000 same setup! After the initial setup was completed on the app (quick and painless like usual) im currently getting stronger signals and my speed increase was beyond my expectations! I was mostly after 6Ghz band and the added MLO for WiFi 7 which are fantastic in there own ways! The speed increase i have seen between my 2 routers has gone from 200-300 Mbps to 600-800Mbps for me this increases has blown me away! To me this upgrade for reliability, stability, range and speeds for the price these routers are, is worth every penny!

I was looking for an upgrade from me Asus Bluecave AC router, and this popped up on sale. Given that Asus generally are amongst the most active with firmware updates amongst router manufacturers, and that the few reviews of this online were positive i gave it a try. I was toying with a mesh network system, but the ET12s are silly money and the XT8s are getting on a bit. This also hit the sweet spot, as there have been a number of firmware releases since December which have helped squash a number of bugs, security issues etc.. But you'll have to manually trigger a firmware update to get the latest - and THEN set the router to auto update. This is big and loud; two things that had put me off. Thankfully the Mrs gave her seal of approval based on the pictures on the product page so i was covered! The RGB can be turned off, and the red colour on the antennas are just plastic - no lights/LEDs. Once setup it looks like an upended spider, not one of our piddly ones; think giant Aussie Huntsman. Coming from an Asus router the web admin console was familiar, with a few gamer apps/options thrown in. But compared to the Bluecave the AX6000s admin console if ridiculously quick. My Bluecave had a few issues which drove the upgrade; TP-Link KP303 extension strips would knock out 2.4Ghz wifi, Logitech Harmony hubs couldn't get online with it and on the odd occasion my Mrs Laptop would fail to get online. None of those issues have occurred with the AX6000. On to the main reason the buy this; Wifi 6. I have 2 wifi 6 clients active; an AX201 card in a PC motherboard and a Galaxy S10. The PC is located on the floor above the router in a back bedroom - the spacing is about 8-10 meters. Once 160Mhz bandwidth was enabled and the control channel set to over 100 on the 5Ghz band the speed hit: 1361Mbps down. Transferring a 5Gb file to my file server which is hard wired to the router from my PC achieves transfer speeds at 80MB per second. That was to a old fashioned HDD. The Bluecave hit 60MBs at best. In terms of signal strength improvement, i have a wifi security camera on the outside of the house and it would struggle with the BlueCave. Initially the AX6000 didn't far much better, but after 2 days the camera registered full signal - through 1 internal wall, 1 external wall where the camera is behind a steel lintel. All in all a good upgrade; better wifi coverage and speed, a newer product (hopefully supported for as long). The good: +Super simple setup - connect it via ethernet, launch a web browser and it'll start the process +It's fast both in terms of wifi throughput but also performance when in the web admin console +Some degree of future proofing with 2x 2.5Gbps Ethernet sockets (1x WAN and 1x LAN) +Gamer features - VPN, QOS; although some more of a gimmick +Great wifi signal across both bands - but allow it 1-2 days to build up an accurate picture of your house (which it does using wifi signal reflection) and will then adjust the signal to best suit the environment/maximise signal. +Reasonably priced (got mine for £280) +You can turn off the RGB +AiMesh software built into the firmware allows you to turn multiple single Asus routers into a mesh network +MerlinWRT firmware is now available The bad: - It's got a large footprint, almost the size of an A4 sheet - 160Mhz bandwidth is not enabled by default, but is easily enabled - The looks; it screams teenage gamer taste - Not fully future proof: no Wifi 6E A few tips: 1. Upgrade the firmware as soon as you can manually; mine shipped with the earliest release firmware 2. When replacing an existing router reboot your modem or ISP provided router once it's connected via ethernet and powered up. I needed to go this before the AX-6000 picked up the IP address and got onto the internet. 3. Enable 160Mhz bandwidth, it unlocks the real speed 4. Wifi channels below 100 don't make use of the full speed. This can be manually set. 5. Reboot any/all devices if you are re-using SSIDs and passwords from your old router with the new one to get them to register/back online. 6. Auto firmware updates with Asus can be a risk; with my previous router a firmware update killed guest networks and it took them a month to deploy a fix. 7. Use one of the 6 guest networks for your smart home products, and disable intranet access on the guest network for better security/segregation. 8. Use either the router app OR the web console for administration - don't use both as they can cause conflicts. A few full tech reviews: Linus Tech Tips (more a paid infomercial) Dongknows.com - best review by far AVForums

ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX6000 The router comes well packed, with the router itself, aerials, and a power supply, a Cat6 cable and a quick start leaflet. One slightly disappointing issue is that there are only five lan ports. With a router this expensive I would expect eight. The finish is more like the RT-AX82U, in that it is not that expensive looking. Older routers certainly look and feel more impressive. This router is light and, well, dare I say it, very plastic. The legs don't light up and even the illuminated Asus logo really doesn't do it. Mine was unevenly lit and the effects not at all smooth. The aerials have red plastic inserts but they don't light up so I am not sure why they bothered. All in all it looks like a cheap router. Strange considering the gaming world is very particular about product looks. Strange coming from Asus too, they are normally produce good looking products. Plugging in you need to attempt to access the internet with a browser and you are immediately met with the Asus configuration page. You need to sort out some passwords so it’s advisable to have paper and pencil handy. The setup is remarkably good and is a really strong feature of the router. If you have owned an Asus router before then the user interface comes as no surprise. It has all the familiar options with a few new ones. Overall performance of the router is just staggering. It's very fast indeed. No complaints there! There are a wealth of options in the Asus including the new three step gaming acceleration. I have to say that I found this a little disappointing because it was involved setting it up. It is also very "Asus" oriented in that it boosts performance for Asus hardware and apps running on your PC. I couldn't even find where one of the apps downloaded from. This is very different to something like the DumaOS which is configured out of the box - ready to rock as they say - no configuration required. The Asus has more potential though as long as you don't mind spending time getting to know what it all does. One downside to the router is that nearly all of the advanced features need your consent to allow Trend to collect your data. That can even consist of emails. I am not sure what to think. On the one hand the performance is great, the flexibility is great, but the looks and ports are very meh for the price. Overall if you have a rubbish router at the moment then this is a great general purpose replacement but if you want an out of the box gaming router or if you are looking to upgrade an already good router then perhaps look elsewhere. The Asus is a lot to pay for not a lot of new features. As a general purpose router there is no doubt the Asus is excellent and now it is supported by Merlin which adds one star. Unfortunately the price really is a big negative with this router. Oh, and don't believe the "reduces ping by 90%". Unless you have a very specific problem, it's not going to solve anything. Recommended but over-priced and good grief Asus, do something about the looks!

**Updated after raising defects and security vulnerabilities with Asus 11th Feb 2020** Firstly the actual wifi performance on it's own is excellent, and it's easy to configure quickly as a gateway, router or AP. The CPU clocks at 1.8Ghz which is enough to support high throughput on OpenVPN connections too. Unlike IPsec, OpenVPN does not support multi-threading, so relies on the computing power of a single core. Great for laptops, desktops and mobile devices but not so much for low-spec routers. We've seen 70-100Mbps throughput in some cases. Very promising. However there's where the good news ends, and the firmware (router OS) is far below the standard we'd expect at this price point. In the eight days we've had this to configure and test we've noticed that the "VPN Fusion" UX is severely compromised. The router doesn't have a hardware clock so relies on NTP sync on reboot - if that fails then your OpenVPN connections will fail when they cannot verify the server and / or client certificates (because the router sys date on reboot is 2014). We even configured NTP to use a LAN NTP server, but it still seems to fail to sync on boot. The remedy is to ssh onto the router and force an NTP sync (if you run into the same problem: "ntpclient -h <ntpserver ip or name> -s"). Not only that but we've noticed that it reboots itself - even after disabling the scheduled reboot - re-creating this problem seemingly at random... and requiring manual intervention. Yet worse is that either as a result of whatever errors cause the above or perhaps some other time-triggered action behind the scenes, the routing tables appear to get flushed. So if you have a default connection set up in fusion to use a VPN, all of a sudden your traffic is routed out plain over the base internet connection (even if the VPN connection is active and connected). We've tried the latest firmware and have raised two defects with Asus today, although we don't expect much from this (perhaps Asus will prove us wrong?). Sincerely considering sending this router back and picking up a Cisco wireless router - which is cheaper, almost the same specs and far more reliable; otherwise we'll have to build a Debian wired router to take care of all the security this ROG should do out-of-the-box. Updates 11th Feb 2020: I raised three defects with Asus, two of which were closed without any response or resolution. The third involved the support person not understanding the problem e.g. "remote log server does not support port number i.e. 10.1.1.1:12345"). Since then I've also identified some security issues with the latest firmware, and notified Asus. I can't disclose what those vulnerabilities are until the manufacturer has had a chance of remediation; however I'll be returning this router as "defective". The Asus RT-AX88U looks like promising hardware and is actually supported by the Asus Merlin custom firmware; alternatively the Cisco SOHO range is solid (and cheaper).

very customizable options and the app is relatively user friendly once you get used to it Got it on sale and it beats other routers at the same price point in terms of features and tech Although the built in VPN will reduce your internet speeds by about 25% which is normal as the CPU is not built for it I have disabled it in the meantime as I fear constant CPU use will reduce longevity and increase heat

I'm sure this is a great piece of hardware, but without the software to back it up, it's just a very expensive brick. Unfortunately I found myself so frustrated, it took less than 24 hours for me to return it. This is a monster of a device, and while probably perfect for the LED-lit teenage gamer bedroom, this 'dead spider' design will scare small children and not fit in with most people's home decor. I tried to like it and think it was cool, but I couldn't kid myself. Even my partner admitted it was "hideous". Aesthetics aside, I became suspicious after downloading the app. Lack of attention to detail is often an indicator of what's to come. The UI is gimmicky instead of functional, with a mish-mash of style elements (high-tech space theme with Times Roman fonts?!), poor grammar, punctuation and spelling making it feel more like malware than solid engineering and design. Even the 'simple' theme is just mostly a skin that still falls short. I tried to overlook these quirks and went on to create a network. Surely the most basic functionality a router should provide. In 20 years of setting up my home's networks (and friend's and family), never had I had an issue with step one. The app wouldn't allow me to set a password for the new network. Despite conforming to its password requirements - it wouldn't accept anything. So giving up, I went to the Web UI. You'll want to do this on a desktop/laptop, it's not a responsive design that will accommodate a phone screen. I was then able to set the network password, the same one the app wouldn't allow. Unfortunately getting past this screen proved problematic, as I was landed back at it after reconnecting to the network with its new password. I was just asked to enter it again... and again... (x5). I manually edited the URL to land me at another screen where I had access to the router's settings. After this hiccup, everything felt solid, the rated speed was showing 1,200Mb/s sat next to it, and around 800Mb/s in the room above. Web browsing felt snappy and responsive. I started to have faith in the hardware at least. The next morning, I connected two more devices to the network, neither were able to access to the internet. I went to the web portal and found none of devices listed as connected clients, even though the devices themselves were connected and had IP addresses assigned. I decided to reboot the router, after which, none of the previously working devices could access the internet. I couldn't bring myself to spend another hour fighting the software to diagnose basic functionality issues. I've never had these problems with previous routers, even ISP issued ones. So I did not expect this of a premium router at this price. I think it's a shame, this could be a great device, but the user experience lets it down massively. I gave a 2-star for UI as it tries to be high-tech, but fails to be usable 3-star for stability, because the hardware is probably stable, but the software is likely the problem

Asus GT-AX11000 review. I was a little hesitant about buying this router because of the way it looks on the product photos. Having received it the photos, don’t really do it justice as I think it looks really in person. Initial set up is really easy using the app or browser. Just as a tip when you set it up run all the firmware updates (there might be more than one) then when that’s done factory reset it and run through the set up normally again and customise it how you want. The range of the WiFi is incredible, it even gets a strong signal outside the front of my home and back garden. There are no WiFi black spots in my large house. The internet has remained stable and all devices work with no issue. Be warned though if you have an xbox one if you keep tweaking things too much it can cause problems but to be fair you don’t need to change the router setting for the xbox to work flawlessly with this router. Setting up port forwarding is easy if your game is already on the list, just pick the game and device then you are done. Game boost is as simple as flipping a switch to prioritise game traffic, you can just leave it on if you want. These are great but you don’t really have to use them unless there are actual problems that they solve. To help keep the router stable I would avoid excessively changing settings as this will lead to problems. I know when you get a new router with this level of customisation you will want to turn everything on (understandable, you just paid a fair bit for it) but you can set it and forget it for some incredibly strong all round performance. I received the hardware version 1.1 of this router, I also have the version 1. There isn’t much visible difference but the 1.1 does seem to offer stronger connections for all my devices, for example my outdoor cable went from -78dbm to -65dbm (lower dbm = better, 70 Is ok and 30 is the very best, 80 isn’t good and over 90 is unusable). That’s a pretty good upgrade in my book (the router and camera were in the same place as before to help keep the test fair). I tried AiMesh with this and it’s really easy to set up. You might not need this as this is a single powerful router and mesh systems usually consist of two or three weaker devices. If you do set this up in AiMesh then don’t forget to use roaming assistant and roaming block lists (this locks certain devices to the main router so they never connect to the node). I thought I wouldn’t like the LED but so far I’ve left it on colour cycle and it looks good. The antennas are really chunky on the router, and come out of the side so you will need a fair bit of space to place this. Overall I’m happy with the product and enjoying a good internet connection, hassle free with enhanced features if I need to use them. If you are looking for a router in this price/ performance category then this will have to be on your shortlist.