ASUS - RT-AC86U Wifi Router

If you don't want to spend too much then any router will do. If you do however want to get something that will give you all the settings you could dream of then I'd recommend any good old ASUS gaming router. I've had two and what can I say I love messing around with all of the settings. The one I'm using now is the ASUS RT-AC86U there might be a newer model but you cant to wrong with ASUS gaming routers. Gaming routers have more settings, slightly better hardware. I bought my gaming router just to segregate my general wifi devices form my gaming devices. The extra settings make that easy to do.

It's stronger than the Asus AC86U it replaced, which i found to work quite well for the last 7-8 years or so that I've owned it (I got it mid 2017 iirc). Well, except for wifi 7 and 6E stuff in higher bands, it's hard to really say, line of sight helps a lot but I've only really tried wireless vr twice so far and as long as it's LOS the experience was quite good. Say what you will about asus lately, but they make pretty good consumer components, the old ac86u was highly supported both from asus and the aftermarket firmware community, asus seems to be a lot less against that kind of thing than other brands, which I find important.

If you don’t specifically need the 6ghz band the 88U or 86U are better on the 5ghz band which is where most performance devices will connect

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 had the ASUS 86U routers for more than a decade. I’d still be using the first one if it wasn’t for lightning. The replacement router an RT-AX86U Pro has been in operation for a couple of years now and I use Asuswrt-Merlin firmware rather than ASUS. Asuswrt-Merlin updates firmware components more frequently as well as redesigns some of it though the core is base on latest ASUS build. I use it in a 1,600 sq ft condo.

I have been an ASUS user for more than a decade. Had a RT-AC86U until a close lightning killed it. Now I have a RT-AX86U Pro running Merlin firmware. Refer to: https://www.asus.com/us/product-compare?ProductID=26439,25357&LevelId=Networking-IoT-Servers-WiFi-7 Both routers are close from a specifications perspective. However, there are a few differences that may help you decide.

More than a decade ago I needed a router and LinkSys was my choice. I returned it the next day and bought an ASUS RT-AC86U and met my requirements until a near lightning strike took it out. I replaced with an ASUS RT-AX86U which has been fantastic. Both routers used Merlin firmware. Today, you need to understand your requirements and then go to the ASUS website and compare/contrast but before you buy go to https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net to confirm Merlin support. Additionally, choose a router that has features that will future proof your home network.

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