this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024

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A review of the ASUS RT-AX88U Pro + I need your advice! (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by SamB to c/technology

38 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I recently finished testing the ASUS RT-AX88U Pro and you can see for yourself the results that I got.

But this is not entirely the point of this post. The problem is that the search engines have become weird, so I need to ask you, the user, if this type of content is useful.

So please let me know if the type of tests that I ran are useful and clear enough. If I can add something or need to remove specific info.

I also intend to move towards video format and to be honest, translating all this written info into a comprehensive video is incredibly overwhelming.

Which is why I need your advice about what needs to be improved. Thank you!

top 38 comments

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[–] SamB 11 points 10 months ago

Since it seems that the link has been removed, I will try to add it in the comments: https://www.mbreviews.com/asus-rt-ax88u-pro-wifi-6-router-review/ What a strange occurrence

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (6 children)

I'm trying to look for a good Wifi 6E router that can use open source firmware like dd wrt. Haven't been able to find one yet. Any advice?

[–] potajito 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not dd wrt, but I got a redmi ax6000 and after an evening of tinkering I got openwrt working. Pretty good, WiFi 6 and all that for a 100 eur router.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Not OP but that's good to know, thanks for the heads-up!

[–] Ab_intra 2 points 10 months ago

Same. I've been looking at this one tho.

[–] SamB 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, I don’t think there are any WiFi 6 or 6e routers that support ddwrt. And only a handful that support openwrt.. Can’t recommend any since I did not test them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There's a decent amount of WiFi 6 routers/APs supported by OpenWrt, but not really 6e: https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi

[–] Telodzrum 2 points 10 months ago

OpnSense for router/switch/etc. and a Ruckus box running the Unleashed firmware for the AP.

[–] RustyHeater 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not 6E but the GLINet Flint 2 runs a flavour of OpenWrt 23.05.

I own the original Flint and I have been really happy with it. It's has a "fisher price" mode for most people; but then you can also log into Luci and really tinker under the hood.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I have the Flint 2. I'm only using it as a dumb AP and managed switch but the wireless performance has been a significant step up over previous APs and routers I've owned, even if it doesn't support 6E. And it comes with a couple of 2.5GbE ports so you can integrate it with a 2.5GbE LAN and use with a 2.5GbE+ internet connection (not that it's very common yet).

To OP: the firmware is in its early days (both stock and snapshot openwrt) so you may run into problems with some use cases.

[–] EncryptKeeper 1 points 10 months ago

Just buy whatever router you want and then buy a wifi6e/Wifi 7 WAP.

[–] WhiteOakBayou 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I, for one, can not see your results

[–] SamB 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Are the images not loading? There should be multi client and single client test results.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You just uploaded a picture of the router

[–] SamB 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, it was removed.. I attempted to add the link in a comment. Hopefully it stays.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

You can edit the post also.

[–] Brkdncr 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Honestly I’ve given up on single-device setups. Mesh APs with a router that doesn’t do any wifi is what I’m doing going forward. The tech is too different to put into a single device.

I’ve had nothing but problems over the years. Asus, Synology, whatever the isp hands out, etc.

WiFi also seems to be changing nearly yearly while routing (and switching) has not changed much at all.

[–] the_tab_key 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do you have a good suggestion for a router with this setup. This is how I have my network set up now but I need a router upgrade and can't seem to find a decent non-WiFi router

[–] Brkdncr 2 points 10 months ago

I just switched to tplink omada. It’s fine. If I need to look for something else it will probably be microtik. After that I’m looking at real enterprise firewalls.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I don't bother with "mesh" type setups specifically, but yeah, router/switch in one device (usually with one or more additional switches for more ports and/or newer wired standards) and APs in separate devices with ethernet backhaul.

These APs could still be all-in-one routers if they have good wifi hardware/drivers and have OpenWrt support, but they are treated as dumb APs that could be swapped in/out if problems occur.

[–] HansSlonzok 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Great review. I'd like to see power consumption tests too, because this device works 24/7 and sometimes it takes more energy than laptop in a year.

[–] SamB 2 points 10 months ago

Thank you for the suggestion. I will add power consumption to the article as well, it’s easy to do so.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I cannot see any tests...

[–] SamB 2 points 10 months ago

It seems that the link got deleted. I inserted it into a comment.

[–] frostycore 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tried this router, gave me nothing but issues. Weird dropouts when trying to download over wifi on my 1Gb connection. Ended up going with a Synology RT6600AX and never looked back.

[–] SamB 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The RT6600ax is on my list of routers that I will test. Hopefully it got cheaper to make the time invested worth it.

[–] frostycore 1 points 10 months ago

First router I’ve owned where the base firmware is better than open-wrt/dd-wrt.. can’t recommend it enough

[–] ceiphas 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Please put sarons eye in the middle

[–] SamB 2 points 10 months ago

You should see the GT-AX6000.

[–] machinin 3 points 10 months ago

I'm not sure if I'm the typical user looking at these reviews, but I want to know about installing other firmware. For example, on Asus, can I install the Merlin firmware. On others, is ddwrt or openwrt available?

[–] MeanEYE 2 points 10 months ago

I have 68U and to be honest it's good for what I need it but price is approaching professional gear. And routing/switching is mostly been offloaded to other dedicated devices. Considering lightning strikes damaged one of my WAN ports, next device I get will probably not be router of this kind but something like Teltonika RUTRX1 and add missing functionality thought other devices.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Wow. Those search engines are so bad they outright removed your advertisement link. Crazy

I dunno. I think any review of an all in one router with an emphasis on performance/technology is, at best, irresponsible at this point. "Mesh" systems have gotten cheap enough that they are genuine products to consider for consumers which means buying a wireless access point (WAP) is actually reasonable. Hardware for a router (whether home built or a dedicated appliance), a switch, and a wireless access point comes out not that much more expensivee than a "performance router". And then just replace the WAP in a few years for a fraction of the price of a new "router" and you have Wifi 9.5161616

If you just need "a router that works" then... Amazon and/or Wirecutter have you covered because they are all "more or less the same" and it becomes a matter of what brand and price you like. If you care about performance and coverage and so forth... the all in ones are horrible.

[–] SamB 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It depends on the brand since very few allow the user to properly configure and control the mesh system. Then again, there’s AiMesh available.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

TP-Link (and I think even ubiquiti?) allow the WAPs to be used in both standalone and mesh mode. The pricing required for meshing means a standalone WAP is dirt cheap.

And the standalone plays well with any router.

Even entertaining the idea of buying an all in one "router" at this point is comparable to buying a prebuilt PC. If all you need is something that works, they can be a good choice. But for anyone who would know how to interpret performance numbers you are a lot better off building it yourself (or slipping microcenter a 20). Same here. I think it is pfsense that even sell theirs preinstalled on pretty decent hardware (that you can then reformat for opnsense...).

[–] SamB 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh, I wholeheartedly agree. But I don’t think we’ll manage to convince many people, outside the tech enthusiasts that this is the best way for good WiFi.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I dunno. I think any review of an all in one router with an emphasis on performance/technology is, at best, irresponsible at this point.

[–] SamB 1 points 10 months ago

I am more interested whether the testing methodology is good enough and clear. I can apply it to multi node systems, as well as wireless APs.

[–] SamB 0 points 10 months ago

Noted.