ASUS - RT-AC86U Wifi Router

My ASUS RT-AC86U has still been going strong and has worked really well for me, I'm actually wondering whether it's time to upgrade myself to something that supports WiFi 6/6E and 6GHz now that I have multiple WiFi 6 series devices

To give a meaningful answer to your question, we need to know more about the home and usage. Are you in Europe where the floors and walls are often concrete (because wifi does not pass well through concrete)? Are you in USA with a woodframe home less than 50 years old (wifi should pass through walls easily)? Or in an older US home with woodframe construction that has plaster walls over chicken wire (wifi does not penetrate as well)? Is it a single floor home or do you need wifi on multiple floors? What kind of use does your inlaws have? Just browsing and streaming to one or two TVs? Or do they expect gamer speeds in all locations? I have a 2000 sq ft woodframe construction home (20 years old). I have one Asus RT-AC86U router that easily provides good wifi everywhere in my home. And my router is located on one side of my home in a suboptimal location. I am not a gamer. But I do have about 30 IOT devices connected

If you have any type of QoS or packet inspection enabled turn it off. Most of these devices cannot do pppoe combined with QoSat gigabit speed. I’ve for many years used this exact asus in access point mode with a Firewalla gold (highly recommended) as router doing pppoe and WiFi easily hits 850 mbps in speed tests with some optimized settings. The Firewalla does packet inspection, qos and more. The asus was flashed with asus-wrt Merlin firmware which I also highly recommend instead of the very buggy standard firmware. There are many ways to get a good system. I now use dedicated access points but the ASUS worked well in access point mode.

I have a very similar network at my place. Old 68U is a media bridge to the basement and the 86U is the main router for the house. Now you have me thinking :) [https://www.asus.com/event/network/eol-product/](https://www.asus.com/event/network/eol-product/) Both are listed. :/ # End-of-life product list When a product is end-of-life, it means: * It is no longer manufactured * Its certification will not be renewed * Its firmware, utility, website, DM, QSG and manual will not be updated * It may be replaced by a new product with updated hardware and similar functions

I have a couple of Asus Routers (RT-AC68U, RT-AC86U) but both are no longer supported with firmware updates from Asus or Merlin and was interested in a more current router OS for use in 2025. I am using the RT-AC86U running Adguard Home behind my ISP's modem/router but prefer using my own router without the ISP's equipment.

I have both 86u and 68u. First used as router and second as AP. Recently moved to Mikrotik RB5009 as router and TP-Link EAP610 as AP. Sad because I love ASUS network stuff but it was worth it to move - new router seems to be faster overall and wifi 6 actually slaps hard on my smartphone and work Mac

If that Asus is the RT-AC68U then it's at least meshable if you buy a newer Asus router to use as your main router. That's one of the things that I like about using AiMesh. You can get a better router, and still put your old one to work somewhere else in the house. My current RT-AX68U Pro replaced by RT-AC86U, and that replaced an RT-AC66U. All three are currently meshed, so the garage and driveway get a good signal, as well as the rest of the house.

I really like my ASUS routers (RT-AX55, RT-AC86U). I have them set up on a mesh network and the ASUS app provides a good bit of useful functionality. The only downside is that the idle CPU temps for both are pretty high (170-175F), so I get worried about thermal throttling when under load. Seems to be a common issue with ASUS routers

I moved from a Asus AIO running Merlin firmware that was very good, to a mini PC running IPFire, I like it even more. It has a deeper feature set, and the firewall rules make more sense to me. Lots of configurable features and plenty of add ons too.

I have an 82u and a 86s in a mesh configuration and that works well. EDIT: Just be aware that if you use the Asus/TrendMicro security suite with their routers, the router sends your routing data to TrendMicro and their partners. Even though it is nice to have, I have all that turned off because of this.

This is awful advice. You need to take into consideration what the needs are. For example I have 29 devices paired with smart home automation and a 1.5gbps connection. If I use an AXE5400 then I am speed capped over wifi to only get a max of about 850mbps download speeds instead of the full 1.5gbps due to the AXE5400 only having gigibit ethernet ports (Routers with 2.5gbps ports are rare and expensive). The Wifi 6 performance on the AXE5400 is also dreadful. I am getting an AXE75 to see if it's any better because I am so disappointed with the AXE5400. You are probably the sort of person that would have said in the 90s "28 Megs of memory is plenty enough!". My Asus 86u router is also slower over 5g wifi than the crappy AXE5400.

I've had zero problems with M1 for many years. Only went down once, and that was for scheduled maintenance in the middle of the night. Also, it's not just your internet plan that could be the cause of any issues. If your router isn't good enough, or is in a terrible position, or is overheating, or the bomb shelter is between your laptop and the router, you are gonna have issues no matter what plan you have. I have a standard 1Gbps plan but an Asus gaming router with ethernet cables going to the 3 heaviest users in the home – PS5, living TV and bedroom TV. I also set up a second router using Asus AImesh to provide wifi signal to one of the further corners of the house.

I've been using AiMesh since the beginning, and it was rocky at first, but now I'm currently quite happy with it. One solid main router and two APs outside. What unifi did you get to replace your setup and do you think it was worth the cost?

Asus AiMesh - Yea TP-Link Deco - Yes TP-Link Easy Mesh - Not sure

I use Asus routers in my Ai mesh network and it gives me complete control over everything and I've loved it. I use that coupled with family link from Google and I feel like I've done my job as a parent blocking as much bullshit as I can for my kids.  But don't worry, their friends who's parents don't care about a single thing they consume will come along and ruin your hard work. Or your kids will be kids and find loop holes, which they always do. But you still tried. 

Asus AiMesh can be configured without an app and uses local credentials for management.

I went from DD-WRT for years to ASUS AiMesh and have been on Unifi equipment for a good four years now. I never have any issues with roaming (3600+ home) and I can fine tune whenever necessary (rare). I love the Unifi and don't plan on moving away any time soon. If you want peace of mind, I definitely also recommend Unifi.

As has been said, plug in everything you can. For a basic option, the Asus routers with AiMesh are a pretty simple solution. Start with one on the second floor centrally located and see if you need more. Use inSSIDer to see how your signal strength is as what kind of interference you have and set settings accordingly. If you’re not reaching all corners, add another compatible Asus and put them on floors 1 and 3 (both wired connection to WAN jack)

Avoid tp-link and any other CCP networking equipment. Don't intentionally put stuff with backdoors in them just to save a few bucks. Unifi is great but it's expensive and you really should use it wired. If you're just looking for plug and play mesh Asus has good offerings. Their AI mesh system works well