ASUS - TUF Gaming AX6000 (TUF-AX6000)

That or ASUS TUF AX6000 - the same hardware. Both great devices.

I do own TUF AX6000 and its QoS is almost perfect with SQM cake on a gigabit WAN. But that’s a device that is an overkill to use on 11Mbps connection. You can do that with any decent OpenWRT router from the past 10 years if you set up SQM cake properly. If you still want to use this router, it’s a great device and I highly recommend it for fiber connections over 500Mbps. I think I was the first person to actually start the the discussion about SQM, hard/soft offloading and optimizations, in the router’s respective thread on OpenWRT forum, because no bufferbloat is of highest importance for a stable and responsive internet connection. SQM with some hardware offloading works well on this device at least up to 1.5Gbps/1.5Gbps (down/up). It has 2 x 2.5Gbps ports (for NAS), and with some LAN port remapping it works great. That was the crucial feature for me. The alternative was x86 + dumb AP, but in my opinion a router should be simple and just that - a router. Also, power usage is way lower. And reboot times in case of power down or restart are significantly shorter then booting up any PC. I have never seen better home WiFi coverage, and had a chance to test more than a few (expensive) OpenWRT routers over the years in real life scenario. By my criteria it’s a perfect WiFi 6 router for my needs. Been using it since the early days of its beta OpenWRT build in 2023. Unless you explicitely need 6GHz, WiFi 6 is more than most people really need. This is probably related to all 3 routers mentioned here, since they are basically the same hardware. I picked up ASUS since it was available locally and was cheapest at the moment. Search for “SQM” here for more details: https://forum.openwrt.org/t/asus-tuf-gaming-ax6000-support/ Let me know if I could help with any questions or concerns. Oh, an important notice: try to stick with 23.05 (not 24.10 yet) for at least a few weeks until all the bugs are fixed abd tested. This is a normal thing for most routers. And you can search TUF AX4200 thread as well, since the only difference is a 2.5Gbps port and minor difference in WiFi.

Thank you! For 11Mbps internet speed, you can have a good router with SQM if you go with any decent router from the past 10 years or so. Just look for devices that support official releases (not beta), at least 23.05 to be up to date. ARM devices are beefy, but most MIPS devices will be able to handle that speed well. Even the good old Linksys WRT54G(L). However, most WiFi 6 routers (your request) are using more modern hardware and appeared in the last 3 years or so. Look at the official OpenWRT list of WiFi 6 devices and pick your favorite one. Try to stay away from Qualcomm for reasons already mentioned above (Mediatek is good), and look for devices with official releases (avoid beta). Then look for availability of that device in your own country and go with that. For future-proofing I would suggest 4 core devices, but in your case it’s not really needed. Any 2 core ARM cpu will work just perfectly. Here is the list. Whatever your pick will be, read the wiki page for that device and check out the forum, so you can learn more about the device, so you can have an informed decision. https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_16128_ax-wifi Feel free to send any questions you got.

I was referring to ASUS TUF AX6000 most of the time. The same hardware (the same SoC) is used on Glinet and Xiaomi devices mentioned above. ASUS TUF AX6000 has the same SoC with different (slower) wifi cards on ASUS TUF AX4200, so development was pretty much the same. For your info as a user: those are two different devices and ROMs are NOT interchangeable! There is almost no difference in wifi delivery in real life, so if you can live without 2 port 2.5Gbps, TUF AX4200 is a good choice. When I mentioned 23.05 I was in fact referring to the latest version, which is at the tims of writing 23.05.5. 23.05.x has been very stable since day 1. New 24.10 is using new kernel and already has an (emergency) upgrade 24.10.1 that fixes boot loops. About your wifi going “silent”, unless it is a hardware fault, it almost certainly has to do with wifi calibration data being corupted. Try “downgrading” (quote marks used deliberately) to 23.05.5 and see if that fixes the issue. If not, contact people on OpenWRT forum in the respective thread for your device, looking for mtd partition backup. Hopefully somebody will be able to help. Depending on a device and how OpenWRT rom was packed for it, one of those two things will usually help. If nothing helps, your last resort is to return the device for waranty with returning to the original manufacturer rom (or to contact the manufacturer for software help).

With all the due respect, it’s an overpriced router nowadays. Any modern ARM with 4 cores router can eat if for breakfast for half the price. Turris had the best router for more than a few years now. And well deserving. But since wifi 6 devices with powerful arm soc started popping up, they have been de-throned for almost 2 years now. Unless they upgrade the hardware and/or decrease the price, any x86 (mini) pc + dumb ap will provide way more cpu power. Or you can buy 4 core ARM router for half the price to be the router, and top it up with a N100 mini pc (or a second hand ThinkCentre) to be a vm host for the other half. You will end up with 5-10x more cpu power for the same money. Again, we are talking about (fiber) gigabit speeds.

I second that. It has 2 x 2.5 Gbps ports, and wifi is crazy stable.

--banana pi r4, tp-link be805 (not available yet) with filogic 880 --asus bt8 (snapshot) with filogic 860 --banana pi r3, gl.inet flint 2, asus tuf ax6000, asus tuf ax4200, redmi ax6000, mercusys mr90x; with filogic 830 --lots of cheaper devices like xiaomi ax3000t with filogic 820 --x86 openwrt on mini pc with intel n100/n150 + wifi ap device

I prefer routers with openWRT support to migrate if official firmware support ends. I use ASUS TUF AX4200 and RT-AX59u for standard usage and asus tuf ax6000 if more speed or power is required (like thick walls and NAS).

Depends on your need/situation. Even with a 500mbit internet access a 5ghz wifi6 router is mostly good enough if the client device is in the same room. So, how many rooms/walls do you have to support? I use 4x ASUS tuf ax6000 in mesh configuration because of the thick walls in our apartment. The router supports 4x4 for 5ghz streams between routers. Mobile devices support 2x2. The 6ghz band isn’t serving my needs.

My setup with two tuf ax6000 routers and 3 walls in between works good.Looks for me there is another problem in your setup. And keep in mind your laptops have only a 2x2 antenna setup.

Happy [Asus TUF AX6000](https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/tuf-ax6000) user. The only thing I had to fix was tcp offloading issue, check here: https://forum.openwrt.org/t/asus-tuf-gaming-ax6000-support/163002/496 . Since then, stable and happy with it.

You basically got the equivalent of an AX3000 router (2x2 on 2.4GHz + 2x2 on 5GHz). I do think you got shafted depending on what they would have provided without the extra £50 but the ISP is not completely lying. The TUF AX6000 was £180 back in April 2024, but it's not been available for a while now. The TUF BE3600 is £140 today (£130 on Amazon) but if you don't have Wi-Fi 7 devices it'll perform basically the same as a £105 TUF AX3000. The issue is that ASUS doesn't have anything in between £130 and £230 for Wi-Fi 7 (from what I can see) and the ISPs as of recently have been avoiding China made routers so other cheaper brands are out of question. You will likely not notice any speed difference on a single device but with multiple devices using internet at the same time, the AX6000 routers will likely perform better especially if you got a gigabit connection and older Wi-Fi 5 devices in the mix which get their speed from MIMO mainly. With 4x4 MIMO like on AX6000 it would support more devices. There's probably not much difference in range though. If you don't care about transferring files locally or wireless VR capabilities then it likely doesn't matter.

You basically got the equivalent of an AX3000 router (2x2 on 2.4GHz + 2x2 on 5GHz). I do think you got shafted depending on what they would have provided without the extra £50 but the ISP is not completely lying. The TUF AX6000 was £180 back in April 2024, but it's not been available for a while now. The TUF BE3600 is £140 today (£130 on Amazon) but if you don't have Wi-Fi 7 devices it'll perform basically the same as a £105 TUF AX3000. The issue is that ASUS doesn't have anything in between £130 and £230 for Wi-Fi 7 (from what I can see) and the ISPs as of recently have been avoiding China made routers so other cheaper brands are out of question. You will likely not notice any speed difference on a single device but with multiple devices using internet at the same time, the AX6000 routers will likely perform better especially if you got a gigabit connection and older Wi-Fi 5 devices in the mix which get their speed from MIMO mainly. With 4x4 MIMO like on AX6000 it would support more devices. There's probably not much difference in range though. If you don't care about transferring files locally or wireless VR capabilities then it likely doesn't matter.

This router won't support Wifi7

Rock solid for over a year

Well it depends on what exactly you’re trying to optimize. I did a full reset of my TUF AX5400 and set up everything from scratch to fix any WiFi issues I had, especially WiFi calling. That said, I have about 10-14 devices online at any time at home and once I did this reset, all the issues I had were fixed. Unless you need multi gigabit transfers within the network or have a multi gig connection, it doesn’t make sense to change the router, especially when the devices and Internet can’t make use of it. If you do need to upgrade, get one with a better CPU rather than looking at feature list.

I have 2 x ASUS GT AX-6000 picked up from Amazon for $399ea. This replaced the 1 x TUF AX3000 and 2 x TUF AX5400 I previously had. My advice would be: Get a wifi router with high CPU performance Dual band or triband router At least 1GB system memory Inbuilt security Mesh expandability Reason for this is to handle the numerous amounts of wireless devices there area these days. Asus are the benchmark for wifi routers in today's market. Their software is hands down the best as well. I wouldn't worry too much about wifi 7 etc as no device barely support it. Hell we have just began to 90% utilise WiFi6. I have a 1000/50 connection at home with NAS and Cat6a wiring. I can tell you WiFi6 is plenty unless you are the 1% who require ultra uber fast wifi to download 10TB of stuff a week.

FYI , all of our current routers and mesh product all have extensive on router functionality including Open, Wireguard and much more. As such you could pick BT6, 8, 10, 16 our any of the routers. Also all of the units have our Gaming QoS option for prioritizing game packets and or specific systems, if you want a more streamlined experience our gaming models ( ROG, ROG STRIX, TUF GAMING ) also have dedicated Gaming Ports which are pre configured should you connect your device to that port. You can also do this manually through our firmware/app. Also note unless you need the coverage specific to a kit ( which can be done via AiMesh ) on the router side you have the benefit of no backhual use maximizing throughput if you are within the coverage area of a router.

Currently you have wifi5 asus router. If you get a wifi6/7 asus router as your main remember that you will be running a slower mesh. If I understand it correctly, aimesh runs at the lowest speed of all the nodes in mesh. So choose wisely. I currently have gt-ax6000 and it's been rock solid. The coverage is excellent. I have a 2 storey 175sqm house and it covers almost everything. I would look into xd6, ax86u or gt-ax6000 or something else.

Your main problem is that both routers are in a cupboard. They reduced the range significantly. Even if you get better router but hide them in closet you will be disappointed. I have ont inside pantry where initially I had my router. That would only cover half of my house (185sqm 2 storey). I got electrician to fish out conduit from the ont cabinet in pantry to outside above the door along with a power point installed. Got a normal shelf above and got my asus gt-ax6000 router outside. Now it covers the whole house without any issues. All rooms are wired and I could have added more mesh to make it work easily. Ont cabinet was too small to install a switch and put the router inside.

I use an Asus GT-AX6000. I'm delighted with it. No lag.

You should look at the Xfinity list of approved modems for your area. I'm using the Netgear CM2000 that I got used on eBay with Xfinity. It was on the list, works great, and has given me no trouble. I'm currently on the 300/20Mbps speed tier with Xfinity, but the CM2000 is pretty versatile. Does DOCSYS 3.1, and goes up to 2.33gigabits according to Xfinity. As far as routers go, I've had good results with Asus for some time now. Couple of nice Asus routers are the RT-AX88U Pro and the RT-BE96U routers. Personally, I have the RT-BE96U that works well with wifi-7 and MLO. I also have the GT-AX6000 which is the gaming version of the RT-AX88U Pro, same chip sets. Both of these provide great wireless, each one covers our whole house (2-story, 2000sq.ft.). The RT-BE96U provides slightly better wireless, but both are really good. No need for mesh for wireless here...used to have a mesh, but was able to replace that with a single router when I got the GT-AX6000. One of the things that I appreciate about Asus, in addition to the quality of their hardware, is that they support their products with new firmware for several years. They don't just put out a couple of bug fix firmware releases and then stop supporting their products, like some other manufacturers do :-).

Close to $200 and works really well, the Asus GT-AX6000. Using one right now, gives me full house wireless coverage in our 2000 sq.ft. 2-story house. Has a couple of 2.5Gbps ports as well. Nice piece of hardware. Highly recommended.

Asus GT-AX6000 or RT-AX88U Pro. I have a 2000 sq. ft. home, and don't need a mesh with the GT-AX6000. The RT-AX88U Pro is the same hardware, but may be better on the spousal acceptance factor :-). At any rate, I get great coverage in my house with this single router. And it has some really good monitoring tools, QoS, and a system log. You also have the choice of third-party firmware (RMerlin) if you're looking for that. Won't use up your entire budget, though, only running around $260 on Amazon.

hi, got the Asus AX6000,really great performance and not so expensive.

I have this same router and it has been an absolute nightmare. It is constantly changing device IP addresses and assigning them incorrectly, causing repeated IP conflicts and kicking devices off of the network. I have tried every single config you can imagine, same issue so I have to RMA this device. Third one in a year. SMH

I bought one and but its slower than my Asus ax6000 😢

Asus ax 6000 had the most powerful range I found way back when. It is limited by the fcc (what ever determines radio broadcasting power) for routers. Like others are saying, putting down fiber or a cable 100ft would not be too bad. Ubiquiti has a long range outdoor extender but is very expensive. Starlink could be another option if you don’t want spectrum.

Just recently ordered this. 4x4 router with usb port at a reasonable price and cheaper than the 4 year old RT-AX86u pro

No problems so far. Everything works.

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