ASUSROG Rapture GT6 (2PK) AX10000 Tri-Band WiFi 6 Gaming Mesh System, Covers up to 5,800 sq ft, 2.5 Gbps Port, Triple-Level Game Acceleration, UNII 4, Free Lifetime Internet Security, Black

I purchased the ASUS GT-AX11000 gaming router to improve WiFi coverage of my 3600 square foot, 2-level home in a densely packed beach cities neighborhood where spacing between homes is about 10 feet side-to side, and where there are a LOT of overlapping WiFi domains competing for capacity.Sifting through many, many reviews, the consistently strong points of this WiFi router seemed to be a very broad coverage area, unusually high capacity at a distance plus ability to handle a LOT of throughput and clients. And I found that these claims were quite true, in my application.In particular, I wanted seamless WiFi calling as cell coverage at this location is very poor. Friends who've installed mesh systems reported mixed WiFi calling results, with node handoffs often dropping calls. In this capacity, the GT-AX11000 installation was very successful. I now have seamless WiFi calling throughout my home and yard ... and a bit beyond. (Yay!)In addition, my family has been "sheltering in place" from COVID19, with three of us working remotely (2 VPNs, many video conferences) and my two sons are avid gamers and we all like to stream media (movies, TV, music) from the usual internet sources. This situation severely strained the old LAN infrastructure.Internet service bandwidth to this home is 200+ Mbps down/10+ Mbps up. Service distribution in the home is through a mix of wired gigabit Ethernet and WiFi networks.The previous wired/WiFi system was built around a Linksys WRT1900AC router, with a wired Netgear Access point to extend the network at one end of the home and another Netgear wireless repeater to fill the remaining WiFi voids at the other. WiFi service capacity varied from 90 Mbps in close proximity to the router, down to 20 Mbps at any significant distance, and WiFi calling was unreliable do to many "dead zones" and the different coverage areas provided by the access point and repeater.A key complication is that the home has numerous large mirrored, 2 and 3-panel closet doors and also has very large mirrors in each of its four bathrooms. These mirrors are break up "line of sight" RF transmissions and have been problematic with every WiFi system installed. Plus home construction is stucco over wire mesh - not very RF-friendly, either.Placed in the same exact location as the previous 4-antenna Linksys WRT1900AC WiFi router, the 6-antenna ASUS GT-AX11000 somehow manages to cover the entire property all by itself (no need for the auxiliary WAP and extender) with no dead spots on 2.4 GHz, and just ONE very tiny dead spot on 5 Ghz. The ASUS WiFi router appears to put out a 6-7 dB stronger signal than the old Linksys, but somehow the return channel from wireless clients, like cellphones, is also much cleaner.In most of the home, 2.4 GHz WiFi now supports 80-200+ Mbps, with 35-40+ Mbps out in the extreme front and back yards (lot is 50x150 feet). This is twice the speed and much better coverage than the old Linksys WRT1900AC.Oddly, 5 GHz service is almost uniformly 200+ Mbps (service provider limit) - I expected this band to drop off rapidly with distance but it seems to work at full speed throughout most of the home, except for one very small "dead" location. Remarkable. Of course, it helps that there is absolutely no other routers in range that supports the 2nd 5 GHz band. But our new laptops DO. (Yay!)Setup was easy. The GT-AX11000 was a nearly drop-in replacement for the old WRT1900AC and required only one or two minor tweaks to its basic settings to bring everything else up seamlessly. This includes supporting about 30 clients on a typical day. ASUS went out of their way to make router menus user-friendly and self-explanatory, and since this unit has been out for more than a year, the firmware seems pretty bug-free too, though there are a LOT of gaming tweaks I haven't tried. I did NOT buy this expensive piece of gear for gaming.The whole family seems happy with this new arrangement. Even the gamers.In conclusion, applied as a my home's central WiFi/wired router, the ASUS GT-AX11000 is a stellar performer in a large home in a densely populated area where many WiFi networks compete. The home's many large mirrors and stucco-over-chicken-wire construction, which hampered the performance of previous routers, does not seem to be a problem for this beast.And it IS a beast - looking like a giant alien spider sitting on top of a bookcase.Quite expensive, but delivers and works great (so far) - and that's what I REALLY care about!

I have installed the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 on July 28th, 2019, and so far, I can not praise this router enough. I am a computer system builder and have dealt with all sorts of home and small business networking scenarios over the last 10+ years and the Asus units are by far the easiest to set up and the best in features/performance with the right unit purchased.Installation:Installing the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 was extremely easy. You do NOT need a computer with Ethernet connections to configure or set it up. It is an option, but if you own a tablet or smartphone, a simple app download will get you up in running in no time.I downloaded the Asus router app from the Google Play store. I powered down my ISP's modem, connected the router to it, and then booted the modem. I waited for it to establish a connection, then booted up the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000. I waited a few moments for the router to start communicating with the modem and then launched the Asus Router app on my Samsung S10 smartphone. The app found the router without issue, and after a couple of clicks and setting the signal properties and passwords, I was connected and online. It all took less than 5 minutes. Asus has really simplified the configuration and setup process. Shortly after connections where established, it found a firmware update, and I installed it. Once rebooted, I was back online and ready to go.Features:This router, as well as several other Asus higher-end models, has a FANTASTIC user interface with a slew of options to customize, control, and configure your network. This makes it super easy to monitor your internet/bandwidth usage.In my network, I have an online printer, 3 desktops, 4 smartphones, 2 tablets, and a smart TV all belonging to various family members. The Asus router app will show a complete list of all the devices that have been connected to it. If the device is online and connected to the router at that moment, you can see in real-time the amount of traffic that is being uploaded/downloaded to and from that device. If that device is turned off, it is added to the 'Offline' devices, but still available to be configured in the app.Once a device is connected, you will see it's standard ID name (example - Android 4.4, etc if it is an android phone). You can then rename that device so you can identify it easier. So for example, let's say one of your kids connects their phone to the wifi. You can rename it to 'Joey's Cellphone' and then not only monitor how much traffic is going to/from the phone, but you can limit the bandwidth it sends and receives, and even, with a simple tap of a button, you can turn off the signal entirely so the device no longer has access to the router/internet. You can also set up a schedule of when that device can receive a signal from the router. This is extremely handy if you want to limit a user's online time. If a family member has multiple devices, you can group those devices all together under a single user account, and turn access on/off for all that user's devices with a simple tap of the button.I do a lot of video and audio work, and one of my connected devices is a NAS (network-attached storage unit). One of the features of this router that I found useful was the 'IP Binding' feature. Wat this will do is, it will take a mac address of a certain device, and once that device is powered on/connected, it will assign a specific IP number to that device every single time that device connects to the router. It's somewhat like a static IP address, but without the hassle of all the extra configuration steps. This is helpful to me because, with my NAS, I have mapped network drives on my Windows 10 computer. If the network loses power in any of the devices, there is a chance when the NAS re-connects that it'll get a different IP number, which will force me to have to disconnect all mapped network drives from the NAS and re-map them with the new IP number. With IP Binding, the router will make sure that the NAS, as well as any other device I configure with it, will get the same IP number at all times.Signal Strength:This router has fantastic signal strength. I do not have my router places in the best of places. It's on the bottom shelf of my workstation on the second floor, with a few pieces of computer gear sitting next to it. I still receive 5 bars of 2.4Ghz signal all over the house, and I get a steady 3 or 4 bars of 5Ghz service. This is in a home with an outer wall and inner wall of solid concrete block from the foundation to the roof, with 6 inches of dead air space between them. So there is a lot that signal has to penetrate through in order to reach the devices.I have been online with this router for about 4 days now. In all my testing, I can not say I have run across any issues so far. Connected to my network at random times, I have 3 desktops, 1 laptop, 4 smartphones, 2 game consoles, a tablet, and a Kindle. With having Gigabit internet through my ISP, I have pushed this router pretty hard at times while testing it. My hardest test so far, I simultaneously had Netflix streaming on 2 devices, online gaming on another, doing large file transferring/downloading from the NAS AND internet on another. All devices combined were pulling from all 3 radio bands this router offers. I had no buffering or lag issues on any of the devices.So far, I have ZERO complaints about this router. I have been doing home and small business networking for over 10 years, and this is by far the best networking purchase I have ever made. I highly recommend this router at this point. If I hit any issues in the future, or it doesn't stand the test of time, I will come back to update this review!