Review: ASUS RT-AC68U router shares two networks simultaneously – even from a 4G modem

In the past few weeks, I received from ASUS and I’ve been testing one of its most complete options in the world of routers. THE RT-AC68U it has been available in the Brazilian market for some time, but it remains one of the models on sale in the country with more specialized resources, such as the excellent support for two networks (more on it ahead).

On the other hand, the suggested price of R $ 1,800 can scare consumers who are looking for such equipment and are used to the traditional price range of R $ 200-400. So, is it worth the much higher investment in equipment that, in theory, does the same thing?

ASUS RT-AC68U Router

We’ll find out below.

Design

At first glance, the AC68U does not look bad. It is relatively larger than “common” routers, but its vertical design leaves nothing to be desired, with much of the front surface taken by a textured panel that reflects the light in a very elegant way. The status lights – which are many – shine at the right spot, without impairing visibility but at the same time without obscuring the views. At the back, the Ethernet inputs are illuminated, making life easier for night owls who need to connect some equipment by wire.

ASUS RT-AC68U Router

The three antennas at the top are threadable and, despite taking up a good vertical space, they are essential for the satisfactory operation of the router and must always be connected when it is turned on. You can move them in all directions, which makes life a little easier for those who don’t have much space.

An interesting addition here is the “LED On / Off” button, which simply turns all the lights on or off the router without interrupting its operation. It may seem of little use, but it breaks a lot – and saves a little energy – when the idea is to hide it in a piece of furniture where these lights will not be used in any way. By the way, talking about hiding the router in a piece of furniture, if this is your intention, you will not encounter any problems: the AC68U’s slim design allows it to fit in (almost) anywhere.

Initial setting

The AC68U instruction manual explains very well the simple process of configuring the equipment – or at least as it should be: connect the device to the modem, the power source and turn it on; use any device with Wi-Fi (computer, tablet, smartphone) to connect to the newly created network by the router; and, once connected, access the equipment’s settings through any browser to get everything working.

Initial configuration of the ASUS router

In practice, unfortunately, things did not flow so easily. When I turned on the router, I came across a network with a password – and none of those mentioned in the instruction manual worked. With that, I had to resort to brute force to set it up: after looking hard, I found an Ethernet cable in the bottom of a drawer (the AC68U box comes with one of these, but it was already being used to connect the router to the modem, of course) and connected the device to my MacBook Pro. Only then was I able to access the MAC address of the router and configure it.

From then on, just compliments. The AC68U automatically detected my type of connection, performing the entire configuration process basically alone; my only intervention was to choose the passwords of the configured networks – I mean networks, in the plural, because one of the AC68U’s features is Dual-WAN transmission, that is, in two bands (2.4GHz and 5GHz), which are established separately – or together, depending on your wishes – each with its own name, password and specific settings.

You can configure two networks over the same line, use one of the LAN ports as a secondary WAN (if you have two broadband plans at home, you no longer need two routers) or use one of the USB ports to connect a modem 3G / 4G and route it – more on that ahead.

Operation

Here are some explanations: I live in an apartment of those big, old, with thick walls – that is, the nightmare of any router. Until the arrival of the AC68U, I always used the equipment provided by the internet company itself, that is, a modem-router of the most basic. That meant a bad signal, sometimes nonexistent, in some rooms farther from the house.

The equipment tested here, on the other hand, boasts of being “the fastest router in the world”, with speeds comparable to those obtained by cables! All of this because of the combination of a Broadcom BCM4709 Wi-Fi chipset, a processor dual-core ARM Cortex A9 with 800MHz and 256MB of memory, which transmits data at a maximum combined bandwidth speed of 1,900Mbps, 1,300Mbps for the 802.11ac network (the most modern) and 600Mbps for 802.11n.

But numbers and specifications matter little – experience does, right? At this point, I can say that exchanging a basic modem-router for the AC68U was figuratively equivalent to putting glasses for the first time on a nearsighted person. Things just flowed to another level: Netflix didn’t drop from 4K at any time, FileZilla started to get things done faster and even Mario Kart 8’s online mode on Wii U – notorious for delays and communication failures – was played perfectly without lags or falls.

The router’s fire test, however, was in terms of range. In my 15Mbps “broadband”, getting a reasonable speed on the equipment side is easy, but moving to rooms further away from the house proves to be a pain. So that’s exactly what I did: I tested the speeds received by an iPhone 5c on both networks (the AC68U’s and Vivo’s basic modem-router), on the balcony of the suite, the furthest room where, in general, the internet it almost never arrives. Result: where my usual router scored a measly 0.88Mbps, the AC68U reached an impressive 14.56Mbps. In other words, the pet overcame the different brick walls as if they were wind. Amazing!

Resources

This is another point where the AC68U shines: the amount of features presented by the equipment is simply overwhelming. My favorite of them resides in the device’s rear USB ports (one of them 3.0): besides the possibility of connecting printers and external hard drives for network access – which worked perfectly and without the minimum of configuration – the best part is the possibility to stick a 3G / 4G USB modem there and use the device to route this connection without even turning off your main internet.

The router’s settings screen has another set of features. There, you can view and edit all devices connected to the network (s), as well as block access from specific devices, limit speed and establish file sharing through a connected USB device. There is also the Parental Control feature, which allows the user to select certain devices – the child’s tablet, for example – and establish access times, outside of which the device is unable to connect. It would be interesting here to also see a block on certain sites and not only based on time, but it is an interesting possibility anyway.

Moving to the hardware side, the four Gigabit Ethernet ports on the back of the AC68U allow the establishment of a very high speed network for computers connected by wire. USB ports, when occupied by a storage device, such as an external HDD, can be used in the best way with AiDisk, an ASUS program that allows sharing /streaming files via an FTP interface that worked perfectly in my tests – including iOS and Android.

Finally

Is the AC68U, as you claim, the fastest router in the world? I don’t know, I haven’t tested every router in the world to prove it. But I can say with absolute certainty that it is one of the fastest, at least, and much more than that: its incomparable resources in relation to the competition put it on a completely different level in terms of general qualities.

ASUS RT-AC68U Router

Of course, with this, two questions can be raised. The first is, of course, the price: ASUS suggests the value of R $ 1,800 for the AC68U – much, much higher than most equipment in the segment – on the other hand, cheaper than the R $ 2,100 that Apple charges for AirPort Extreme. The consequent second question would be whether ordinary, home users need so many resources and speed. So, is it worth it?

The answer is not so simple, but in general terms, if you, the basic user, are just looking for a way to route your internet connection in a not too big apartment, I can say that no – a R $ 300-500 router will give good results similar.

On the other hand, if you can afford it, live in a large apartment or house, work at home (like me), subscribe to two broadband services and / or if you are a resource enthusiast to take advantage of the myriad of them presented by the AC68U, the ASUS router is one of the best purchases you can make in the segment – perhaps the best.