This double band wi-fi router hits the top path

So why am I reaching the price? Is that RT-BE86U does not have a gang of 6 GHz. This is what allows the 320 MHz channels of Wi -Fi 7, undoubtedly the most facilitated characteristic of the protocol because it doubles the bandwidth of the channels – a measure of the size of the “pipe” that your data is conveyed – available for Wi -Fi 7 phones and laptops compared to the 160 MHz channels offered for years. This can lead to a higher flow that my comparative analysis equipment can really measure, as I indicated in my EERO Pro 7 exam to $ 300.

Fast and stable Wi-Fi performance

The RT-BE86U may not be the ugliest object, but it is really a router with the router appearance, with three high stabbed branches from the top and a table of no less than 10 LED state lights at the front. At the rear, you will find five Ethernet ports: a 10GBe WAN / LAN port and four LAN 2.5gbe, one of which can also serve as a WAN connection to the Internet. There are also two USB ports there – a USB 3.2 and a USB 2.0 – to connect things like a hard drive for access to the network.

There are good reasons to ignore my criticisms of this missing group. On the one hand, your first exposure to Wi-Fi 7 is very likely to go through a smartphone before anything else. I don’t know about you, but as it stands, I never have to wait a long time to download an application at home, and I haven’t had for years. What would be Be a problem is to have to wait for a video on a YouTube video because I’m in the wrong room. This did not happen with RT-BE86U, which gave me a solid connection in all my house by its loner. My two -rod 6th two -route mesh configuration only does if the routers are placed fair.

Let’s talk about numbers. About 15 feet from RT-BE86U, I saw the flow that made an average of 1.7 GB and 1.8 GB using Wi-Fi 7 and approximately 1.5 Gbit / s with Wi-Fi 6. And on Wi-Fi 5, it looked more like 1.35 GB further in the Wi-Fi cemetery which is my office, I have always seen a speed between 580 Mbps and 630 Mbps that my internet plan offers. In theory, you can get an even better speed by using multi-lien operation, a feature that brings together two strips to be used as one, but the RT-BE86U has only 2.4 GHz to offer as the second band, which does not add enough to be noticeable.

Most of these tests were carried out with an M2 MacBook Air Wired to the RT-BE86U using a Plugable USB-C Ethernet Ethernet adapter and a Samsung Galaxy Book 2 equipped with an MSI Be6500 USB Wi-Fi 7. I am returned and I confirmed that I saw similar performances using the Gargantusen Tapable ASUS ROG Loaned, which was the only way I had to test Wi-Fi 5 because the MSI adapter does not offer options such as switching Wi-Fi protocols.

With the comparative analysis completed – and at great risk for the mental health of my family – I exchanged my EEROS for the RT -BE86U for a few days. Fortunately, things worked without a hitch; Intelligent home devices were reactive and the films are in difficulty perfectly on my Apple TV, both from the Internet and on the Plex server on my Synology NAS. My Nintendo switch, a device that has always been obstinate by the use of a 5 GHz signal, nevertheless worked strongly on the 2.4 GHz band even in my office, one of the worst places in my house for Wi-Fi. This did not help me get first place Mario Kart 8 DeluxeBut it certainly did not harm my chances.

All of this was impressive in my 100-story house of 100 floors (counting the basement) filled with plaster walls and the Wi-Fi-Killing workforce. The RT-BE86U signal has even struck through the outdoors in false stone of my house to reach more distant devices such as my Wi-Fi security camera Netatmo and my opening of Meross garage door. The two worked more slowly, but in all honesty, I would have been surprised if they did not do it. The ASUS router supports the network of mesh with other compatible routers of the company, which could potentially solve this problem.

See Asus RT-BE86U on Amazon

Configure the contents of your heart

You don’t need to be a network engineer to use Asus routers, but there is a little learning curve when it comes to configuring one. When the EERO application presents quick basic information on the home screen which is quite easy to understand, the ASUS application sticks a most meaningful network traffic viewer in your face when you load it.

I have the impression that ASUS really try to make things friendly and accessible. For example, press the family tab on the home screen and you will find easy -to -understand preconfigured parental control options that allow you to define timetables to refuse your children’s devices an internet connection and filter internet traffic. If you press Settings, then in a network, you can directly adjust your SSID (the name of your Wi-Fi network) and password or configure a guest network. (Asus calls this an IoT network, but it works in the same way, obscuring the rest of your network from devices that are connected to it.) But elsewhere, you do not have to dig far before being in the weeds of the technical network jargon.

Most people will probably not get as far – once your network is set up, how often do you look at your router settings? But if you want more control over their router, there is a lot to play, especially in the web interface of RT-BE86U. The options vary from the configuration of IP reservations (Asus calls it “IP link”) to the modification of the transmission power and to the implementation of specific Wi-Fi features. You can also configure a local virtual network, or VLAN, configure links for your network switches and also consult business statistics detailed for devices on your network.

Great if you don’t need the best Wi-Fi 7 features

Good Wi-Fi routers cost money; It’s just a fact. But you quickly meet decreasing yields when you enter the $ 300 and more range, especially since the majority of us do not need Super high-end Wi-Fi performance. So when I look at a router, I care more about its range of stability and coverage than on raw flow. Thanks to RT-BE86U’s ability to stay stable on a wide range, even in a difficult Wi-Fi environment, you can really have your cake and eat it too, at least while Wi-Fi 7 is still in your early childhood and most of us cannot benefit from it.

It is not only because Asus has made a good efficient router. RT-BE86U has features such as the possibility of working as a VPN server that you transport your traffic when you are far from home, allowing you to hide another personal location data when you move around the world. The company also offers items such as free blocking of malicious sites or detection of devices infected with the virus via its aptrotection functionality, which is provided in concert with the Trend Micro cybersecurity company.

If you like these features and want to make sure you have a strong Wi-Fi connection in an entire medium-sized house (mine is around 1,800 square feet while counting the basement, for reference) without the need for additional access points, the RT-BE86U could be an excellent purchase. But if your needs are less or if you think that many 6 GHz Wi-Fi devices are in the near future, look elsewhere.

See Asus RT-BE86U on Amazon