ASUS - RT-BE88U

Asus BE-88U or 98U, an SPF+ to RJ45 adapter and a couple of TP-Link SX1008 switches.

I just moved from a BE88U (Have been Asus+Merlin for the last 10 years) to a UniFi system, UDM Pro, Agg Switch, and a U7 Pro Max running the latest EA FW and Network app, and have been rock solid including 2.4hhz IOT devices.

I would go with Ubiquiti if you're at least a little tech savvy. That's what I'd go with if I had a bigger budget, but I also don't feel confident enough to build myself. But I'm also happy with my Asus, so that one you have there would be a good choice also, IMO. If the firmware it comes with doesn't do what you want or it gets an update in the future that removes features, you can flash custom firmware to most Asus routers. Just google if it's compatible with Merlin or openWRT, most are I think. Edit: just noticed you had 3 Asus routers. Don't get the BE88U, you want triple-band.

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

I'm running rt-be88u... It's smooth and fast ..has like 8 ports Asus for the win!

**Title:** Loving the BE88U (and planning my Ubiquiti upgrade) I recently purchased the **ASUS BE88U** over the **BE92U** and paid the extra $100 for better stability, extra power, and the SFP port so I can run dual WAN ports at 10 GbE. Right now, only my Verizon service is running at 2.5 Gbps — and the crazy part is it actually clocks out on Speedtest at 2.5 Gbps up and down! I’m running **dual WAN in load-balance mode**, and I opted to install **Asuswrt-Merlin** firmware. I’ve also got a mesh setup using my old routers (AC88U and AX88U) — a great way to repurpose older gear. I couldn’t be happier with the BE88U. It’s fast, responsive, and stable. I was already familiar with the ASUS interface from my previous models, and this one never lags. It also handles dual WAN far better than the older units. This weekend, I’m going to turn the BE88U into a **mesh AP** and replace routing duties with a **Ubiquiti UCG-Fiber**, which has 2 × 10 GbE SFP+ WAN ports. If I love the BE88U so much, why switch? Simple — **Ubiquiti’s Uni software is next-level** and gets me deeper into their ecosystem. I also have a **Tuya Wi-Fi camera system and alarm**, but switching to Ubiquiti gear will let me do a lot more. Uni offers **geo-blocking, IPS add-ons, and better logging** if you install an NVMe drive in their UCG routers. I’m not sure if the Dream Router supports all of these, but the UCG line definitely does. I can also upgrade to **Uni cameras and smart door locks**, and since their routers can function as NVRs, I may skip a standalone recorder unless I add a lot of cameras. For Wi-Fi, they’ve got several **PoE access points under $200**, and I’m eyeing their new **Wi-Fi 7 outdoor APs**. Their smart light switches — with port colors that change based on VLAN — are super cool too. I also love that I can **manage everything from one place** using the Uni management suite. It’s a hybrid cloud model, so I can access and manage my network from anywhere. Don’t get me wrong — I **highly recommend the ASUS BE88U**, and I’ll keep using my ASUS mesh until I can afford the $500 or so for three Ubiquiti APs. Honestly, I’m a little annoyed that Ubiquiti is *that good*, because I just finished building an **OPNsense firewall** on a repurposed **Sophos SG210** with 4 × 10 GbE ports, 6 × 2.5 GbE ports, a Xeon E3 CPU, and 24 GB RAM. I might use that as a dedicated IPS to take some load off the UCG-Fiber — not sure yet. If you don’t need everything the Uni ecosystem offers, you’ll be super happy with the **BE88U**. And hey — you can always upgrade later like I plan to. **Dave’O** https://preview.redd.it/pimvddja0szf1.png?width=638&format=png&auto=webp&s=8337e20766f68f454a7261730ae88587a3b37d3b

You don’t need a 3 pack for that sq feet. Look at a 2 pack if you want mesh . Otherwise I prefer ASUS routers. Check out BE88u. It will probably be fine!

Thanks for the info I did decide to get the BE88U and I was able to take out the other APs they're currently of no use to me right now, but eventually they will probably come in handy so I'll be keeping them.

I like ASUS for consumer needs like yours. They have gaming features, but they're gimmicks. Look at the Asus RT-BE88U for a larger router, or the RT-BE86U for a bit smaller. These are the wifi 7 models which you may not need ot want. You can find the Wifi 6 models as RT-AX88U and RT-AX86U respectively on Amazon. They have some other models as well. I wouldn't pay a premium for any TUF or ROG branded "gaming" routers, the others do the same thing.

I have both the 96u and 88u. The 96u is my whole house router while the 88u is dedicated to VR. If you don't care about the 6ghz band then the 88u is the way to go. Costs less, supports 4x1gb, 4x2.5gb, and 2x10gb (the 2nd is sfp+), and a smaller footprint.

I have a 2700sqft house with bedrooms on the second floor and router in the basement. I recently upgraded to an Asus RT-BE88U from a TP Link ax-21. Have no issues getting connection in bed room from the router to handheld and streaming devices. Though if you have any gaming or desktop equipment you may need to set up APs and get a hard wire. But the router alone is perfect for me, where before I was considering MoCa for the top floor and now I’m not sure it’s necessary

You are thinking right. Wrt has been good on my BE88.

Depends what you use them for and what piece of shit your isp gives you. I have a Asus RT-BE88U but have flashed it with Merlin. I use it to handle a fairly complex home network, vpn is on the router with exclusions, I have guest networks and all sorts. The WiFi is insane for speed and range compared to the piece of shit isp router. Just because you have a basic network or don't know how to network doesn't mean they're a waste of money.

I got the Asus be88u this week and the wifi it nearly full speed everywhere in the house. 500mbps everywhere. Just another option to look for

I have the Asus RT-BE88U and I love it. 10g wan and a 10g spf+ lan that you can convert to ethernet if you like.

I got the BE88U and it is amazing with Marlin so far I use it mainly for the two WANs and VPN. I can see there are a lot of good routers but what is great about this one is the 4 cores 2.6 CPU and it is the cheapest with this processor. This is very important for openVPN since it runs with a single core and can get to 300+ Mb (other routers can hit 30-70-100 according to their CPU) while handling load balancing for the two WANs Not talking about other features like WiFi as a lot other routers has it. My main point of preference is the 2.6 CPU. The LAN ports on it are superior as well. 4 2.5 + 4 1 Gb

Yes, you'll see mixed reviews on nearly everything wifi 7. For various reasons, some are pilot error, and some are because of early, not so good, wifi 7 firmware versions. The RT-BE96U is one of the wifi 7 routers that has been stable for some time now. The big issue (for me) with the RT-BE88U is that it has only 2 bands, 2.4GHz. and 5GHz., which limits your MLO opportunities. When you have all 3 bands, 2.4, 5, and 6GHz. you have more opportunity for the router to use the wider bandwidth 6GHz. to optimize your speed/bandwidth using MLO. Which actually does work, by the way...I'm seeing super fast wifi speeds here on the wifi 7 devices, and great speeds on wifi 6 clients. Anyways, yes, if you're looking for a good two-band wifi 7 router, the RT-BE88U would serve you well.

I have an older ASUS and it covers my entire 3500 sq ft house, router on the top floor and it covers the entire home down to the basement, also covers a 2 acre backyard. This is the modern model of it. 5g is always only good for short distances, you need 2.4Ghz for long range access. https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-gaming-routers/rt-be88u/

I was recently shopping for a wifi router, and I find it best to start by making a list of features I care about, then stacking the candidates up on that. Here is the brief list of differences I saw between these two units. The biggest difference I saw was the 92 has 6Ghz, but only 2x2. The 88 lacks 6ghz, but has better 4x4 support for 5ghz. The 88 also has more ethernet ports if you have a lot of devices to plug in. The 88 also has a tiny bit more cpu power so maybe it is better at supporting VPNs? Unfortunately, VPN performance metrics in consumer routers is hard to find. The other thing the 88 has is a second 10Gbit Wan SFP+ port. This feature probably doesn't matter unless you have an internet connection faster than 2.5Mbit, or you need fiber optic support. Seriously however, if you have 5-10Gbit internet, you probably need to start looking at separate routers. Asus RT-BE92U - WIFI 7 ($220.) 2.4GHz 3x3 5GHz 2x2 6GHz 2x2 MLO supported.  Wan/LAN: 1x10Gbit, 1x2.5Gbit.  LAN 3x2.5Gbit 2.0GHz quad-core processor [https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-7/all-series/asus-rt-be92u/techspec/](https://www.asus.com/us/networking-iot-servers/wifi-7/all-series/asus-rt-be92u/techspec/) Asus RT-BE88U - WIFI 7 ($329) 2.4GHz 4x4 5Ghz 4x4 6Ghz - None. MLO supported.  WAN/LAN: 1x10Gbit, 1x10Gbit SFP+, 1x2.5Gbit.   LAN: 3x2.5Gbit. 4x1Gbit. 2.6GHz quad-core processor [https://www.asus.com/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-gaming-routers/rt-be88u/techspec/](https://www.asus.com/networking-iot-servers/wifi-routers/asus-gaming-routers/rt-be88u/techspec/)

Gaming routers are marketing. If you're going to spend $400 to $500 on a router get an Asus, BE86U or BE88U are the cream of the crop right now, but you could probably spend half that and have perfectly good performance and coverage and have some left over to buy a second less expensive one to use as a mesh node. Of course If I was looking to invest that kind of money I'd get a dedicated router and separate access points from Ubiquiti or possibly the TP Link Omada line, but that setup isn't for everyone.

I like Asus since you don't have to go all-in with mesh on day one. Wireless backhaul is an issue with every mesh system. I started with an AiMesh Extendable Router and I can add anything from the Asus line-up if I need better coverage. And, yeah, that RT-AX86U Pro is pretty nice with its 2.5 Gbps port connecting to my Arris cable modem. This computer is wired to a LAN port and works very well, and the wi-fi around the house is very reliable.

WiFi 7 and MLO. It has 4x 2.5gbps Ethernet and 2x 10gbps. So it can handle 10gbps fiber which is future proof for most people. It can handle an insane amount of devices and it has 16x antenna (2 in each antenna) so the signal is great. It is also quad band, the US version has 1x 2.4ghz 1x 5ghz and 2x 6ghz. The European version is the same but with 2x 5ghz instead of 6ghz. Which is handy for load balancing if you have a lot of wireless devices or using as a wireless back haul. It also has decent security features built in that doesn't require a subscription like the other brands. Then it has beefy specs as far routers go. It does all this passively cooled too, which is pretty awesome as other routers with these specs have a fan. It's expensive yes, but it depends on how much you want/need those features and how long you want to keep it for. I have one and I don't have any regrets and I don't need no expensive mesh system anymore to cover my house. It will probably last me 10 years given the slowness of my area when it comes to upgrading the fiber speeds.

I have this monster of a router. It's crazy fast and will easily last 10 years.

500mbs is more than enough for couple of people. Even for doing 4k streaming is fine. Don't really see any benefits of 1gig unless you are downloading/uploading tons of data. 2gb is just overkill and definitely not required. Look at review website dongknows to narrow down the choice of routers based on your requirement. Everyone is different so hard recommend, still some are good. Few router recommendations 1. Unifi UDR7. Great all-in-one router with lots of features. 2. Asus with wifi 7 and support for merlin firmware. Check above website for reviews. 3. If you want more control and would like to go DIY route, Any N100 mini pc with dual nic running opnsense/pfsense on it. Maybe directly or virtualized. Add an AP like unifi or omada or something else.

Was doing research on deco mesh systems and one thing i noticed is that there’s a lot of complaints about hardware revisions and firmware. I was interested in the ability to select preferred connection between decos and device preferred connection. That way i could set the mesh topology as i wanted while steering non mobile devices to specific decos where signals are strong from multiple decos to the correct one. Simple right? Nope. The updated firmware for this feature only applied to specific versions of hw. So a v1 xe75 got it but not a v2 at the time. Then an xe200 didnt have it at all and it some older popular models never got it at all. It just seemed like a mess and the model i ordered didnt have it but amazon lost the pkg so i got an asus instead that feature is just naturally in their firmware… Their wifi7 models all support it but it’s like they just stop supporting previous popular hardware and move on so quickly

If the internal walls in your apartment are concrete and you don't have line of sight to the router it can be hard to get reliable wifi in multiple rooms even in a small apartment. The issue is made worse by the fact that there are a lot of competing signals in most places in Hong Kong. WiFi 7 does deal with these issues better than previous technology, but is expensive. I use as Asus WiFi 7 router and it is a distinct improvement on the one that it replaced. With a 2.5G connection I am seeing download speeds in a 700sq ft apartment of 500mbps at worst and about 1100mbps as best.

If the internal walls in your apartment are concrete and you don't have line of sight to the router it can be hard to get reliable wifi in multiple rooms even in a small apartment. The issue is made worse by the fact that there are a lot of competing signals in most places in Hong Kong. WiFi 7 does deal with these issues better than previous technology, but is expensive. I use as Asus WiFi 7 router and it is a distinct improvement on the one that it replaced. With a 2.5G connection I am seeing download speeds in a 700sq ft apartment of 500mbps at worst and about 1100mbps as best.

Asus zenwifi is worth considering. Just got 2 nodes of the 6E one from 2023 for $200 @ microcenter. After some issues with a new fully updated asus wifi7 router constantly rebooting & some similar claims across a few of their wifi7 devices i fear they've got a bug. The 6E has been running fantastic for ~4days now

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

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

ASUS aimesh is the best option besides true ap based systems.

I've been using Asus Aimesh for years. 3 nodes and seamless switching when walking around. There does seem to be a client limit at about 75-80 wifi devices whiche forced me to move iot devices to a separate wifi network. Asus is great to start with but unifi likely my next system

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.

For gaming use cable, for wifi coverage of this size, you can do well with asus aimesh, you can pick two routers of your choice, cheaper than ismesh system and many settings available.

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)

ASUS AIMESH Stable and cheap.