ASUSRT-AX82U 5400 Dual Band + Wi-Fi 6 Gaming Router,PS5 Compatible,up to 2000 sq ft & 30+ devices,Mobile Game Mode, ASUS AURA RGB,Lifetime Free Internet Security,Mesh Wi-Fi support, gaming port,black

RT-AX82U AX5400 Dual Band WiFi 6 Gaming RouterRouter arrives boxed with a network cable to connect to a modem, a manual, and a power block. The aerials are fixed so nothing to do there. The power block is very small so I assume the router uses very little power. Oddly the power block is in several pieces and you have to add the correct plug unit for your country. There are two, one is the UK, I suppose the other is European.I have to say that the router is not particularly impressive to look at. It certainly does not look like the money it cost. I refrain from saying “cheap” but yeah, not expensive for sure! It's also ( well at least to me ) surprisingly small and light. But, in a darkened room and the LEDs on it looks amazing! Reminds me of the heads of the machines in War of the World. Creepy stuff!The user interface is good, and if you have had an Asus router before you will be 100% familiar with it. There really isn’t a lot of difference with this router and any other Asus except perhaps for the lack of WTF. A few things are missing, but a few things have been added too, so it's all good. There are tons of features.The router comes with a thick manual, but before you get excited like I did, it’s only two pages long but in hundreds and hundreds of different languages. It looks like an encyclopedia but it’s really not. Typical Asus,there is no documentation and it really leaves you wanting information. Enrolling on their global forum is a must.Setup is automatic. The moment you open a browser it asks you a series of questions. In passing, it works on both wired or wireless. Be ready with some passwords you want to use and any user names and passwords you might need for your ISP. When the router finishes it’s initial setup, write down the address of the router! I didn’t and later found out that it assigns a really unusual number and I couldn’t find the configuration web page again. If that happens you have to manually reset the router ( pin hole on the back - hold for two seconds ) and start again.The performance is very good indeed. You notice right from the start that the configuration pages from the router load in almost instantly. the wireless is not the strongest but it's good for it's price. Lets face it, if you are a gamer then you are using a wired port and the wireless is for not so serious stuff, like grandma's laptop. Wired, the performance is really good. Better than my old router which is the older AC88U. I guess it must come down to the chips inside. My old AC88U had a higher build quality and was a much more impressive machine, yet it's slower.I really, really like the addition of priority devices. That is an extremely welcome addition to the software. This basically allows you to specify anything that you use for playing games and priority will always be given to that device. Automatically the device plugged in to the “game” port gets that priority but you can delete that or add other devices as you wish. Love that!The only big downside to the router is that there no Merlin for it and there probably never will be because its the wrong chipset manufacturer for Merlin, but as yet I haven’t stumbled over any problems.The router runs surprisingly cool. My old AC88U used to get as hot as toast.Nearly a month since I bought it now and it hasn't made any mistakes. It just sits quietly in the corner of the room doing what it is supposed to be doing without error.Do I like it? Yes. I had some doubts about moving to a cheaper router but I have no regrets. It's fantastic value and the wired performance is amazing. It's not short on features and I definitely recommend it.When the router was first released it was fantastic value for money, but now in 2022 the price has risen so much it's difficult to say that it's fantastic value any more. It is a great router but it seems somewhat over-priced now.

If you are looking for lots of technical information about data transfer rates, networks diagnostics and all that stuff that will have most of us losing the will to live - read another review! :)This is a simple explanation on why this is a seriously good router and major upgrade over the stuff your provider (BT/Talk Talk/Plusnet etc) supplies.Before you start, make sure you know your account details. If you don't know, a (quick?) call to your provider or a bit of searching via google as many of these are generic. You will need to enter this in the setup.Secondly download the app to your phone. It is easily found on the Apple or Google play stores.Search Asus router or similar and you will find it - or use the QR code in the manual.To be honest the setup is as simple as that. Power down your current router, unplug and then just plug in the network cable to the connector marked WAN and power up the Asus router.Fire up the app on your phone, select the model of router - it is on the box - and follow the instructions.Congratulations to Asus on the most straightforward setup of a router I have ever done (and I have done a number over the years).You can turn off the silly RGB LED display if you so wish. I did and it just now sits there silently doing its job.There is so much more you can do, from setting timers on certain connections (say a kids phone/tablet) to deciding what devices get priority and so very much more.However, if you are unsure on it, just let it manage things automatically.One other thing, try turning OFF the 2.4ghz frequency and running just on the 5ghz.You should find you get much faster connection speeds and no loss of range. And that is coming from someone who lives in a 200+ year old cottage with solid walls more than a foot thick!If you have a more recent phone (S10 or newer) you should now get wifi6 connections which give a serious increase in download speeds!All in all, if there is a better combination of price, performance and ease of use, I have not seen it.If your current router is giving you issues or you don't think the wi-fi around the house is very good then you should be very happy with this.I will update over the coming months, but if it continues as it has in the first month then there won't be a lot to report.Highly recommended!Update 12th January 2022.No change to the above. Still working utterly flawlessly with rock solid connections both wired and wireless. I did say these updates may not have much to report! :)Update 7th March 2022.Well I am afraid there is still nothing to report!I did a firmware update which took all of a couple of minutes to complete and still everything works absolutely perfectly.Connections are totally stable and speeds (and coverage) remain far superior to the BT kit used previously.Update 2nd July 2022.Another firmware update applied sometime in June is the only thing to report.Oh and I had to switch the 2.4ghz band back on to allow an app to work (Govee lights).Still working absolutely perfectly and the speeds are rock solid along with the connection.Update 18th May 2023.I still cannot fault this router! A couple of firmware updates applied since the last update and absolutely zero issues with connection.Seriously, if there is a better router (ignore wifi 7, we are not there yet), certainly for the price, I am not aware of it!If you are a BT internet user you really should get this, it is a significant upgrade over the standard kit and is much more stable. Well do ASUS you have delivered a peach of a product!Thanks for getting to the end of the review, I hope you found it useful.

It is well made, looks good (though I have mine in a cupboard under the stairs), and has an absolute shedload of features. Highlights for me would be Bandwidth monitor (with graphs for live usage), Traffic Analyzer (see how many GB of data your kids are using!), flexible DHCP configuration, and the ability to be a VPN server AND VPN client. There is also a very competent mobile app which allows you to monitor usage and even invoke the parental control features.I don't use the wireless much - most of my house is wired and has a separate mesh wi-fi network (which, by the way, worked absolutely fine with the Asus router), but I did a little testing of the wi-fi and also setup a guest network. It all worked fine - good range and it maintained the connection when moving around the house. Unfortunately, the router is located in a terrible location to provide full house coverage - and so it didn't, but it would be asking too much of it!Finally, general performance is good - the ping improved to the internet (35ms down to 20ms) compared to my previous router (an old, but very reliable TP-Link unit). If gaming or streaming is important, then there are QOS features to allow you to prioritise traffic to specific devices on the network (e.g. games console or PC).It could seem quite complicated to set up, but there is plenty of on screen help and the documentation is pretty clear. Maybe not a router for the complete beginner, but an excellent bit of kit otherwise. (oh yes - and you can change the colours on the front of it! Not important, but fun!)