| ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router |  |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Network | |
| Written by Steven Iglesias-Hearst | |
| Tuesday, 06 March 2012 | |
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Gigabit Router Final ThoughtsWhen it comes to networking products looks tend to be somewhat of an afterthought, with the ASUS RT-N66U this simply isn't the case. I'm sure many of you will agree that first and foremost on your list of priorities when buying a router is the price, next would be performance and then looks come last. After all you can easily hide a router out of sight, or you may not even have room on your desk to display your router, so looks need not be so important. A non-tech savvy individual might look at the ASUS RT-N66U and think "what is that?" since this router doesn't fit the normal design brief. I myself am a sucker for good looking gear and I find the need to have things that fit into a certain scheme, whether it be a color scheme or purely a design scheme, I don't like things that don't fit in very well. The main quality I look for is performance, I always find myself looking for the best performance for the money I have available. When I can find looks and performance in one package then I don't hesitate, that's where reviews are handy. ASUS RT-N66U ConclusionImportant: In this section I am going to write a brief five point summary on the following categories; Performance, Appearance, Construction, Functionality and Value. These views are my own and help me to give the ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router a rating out of 10. A high or low score does not necessarily mean that it is better or worse than a similar router that has been reviewed by another writer here at Benchmark Reviews, which may have got a higher or lower score. It is however a good indicator of whether the ASUS RT-N66U router is good or not. I would strongly urge you to read the entire review, if you have not already, so that you can make an educated decision for yourself.
The performance of the ASUS RT-N66U is very respectable indeed, on a Wireless G 54Mb/s connection the router maintained an average 19.80Mb/s UDP throughput on all test points. The Wireless N 300 USB adapter throughput tapered off with distance but this is to be expected anyway. The hard wired LAN to LAN throughput tests presented some very interesting numbers and are not to be shrugged off. All in all these are very good results for a home user router. The ASUS RT-N66U appearance will score very highly. I have already stated that I am a sucker for good looks and that is exactly what the RT-N66U has, as I'm sure you will agree. It is certainly different from 99% of the routers available on the market today and will set a new 'bar' for competing manufacturers to aim for. I am glad that ASUS went with a matte finish instead of glossy like the RT-N56U before it, the glossy finish was nice but it was easily spoiled. The construction of the ASUS RT-N66U is very good indeed. The unit is very compact for a router with this sort of feature set, but the super long external antenna means it will appear much bigger. It has been built very well with no obvious screws holding it together, and has plenty of ventilation to deal with any heat that builds up. Functionality of the ASUS RT-N66U also gets top marks. The two USB 2.0 ports add a whole new dimension of functionality and the implemented uses mean that you can use the RT-N66U almost like a dedicated NAS, downloading and streaming content while your PC is off or if you prefer you can attach a 3G dongle via the USB ports to the router for internet sharing. The automatic QoS settings are quick and simple as is the setup and navigation through the routers settings. There is some broken English in the menus but I consider them Easter eggs and you get a little smile when you find them. The 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands both run concurrently meaning you can download and stream at the same time without maxing out on bandwidth. The ASUS RT-N66U is available for $179.99 (NewEgg and Amazon). There are not many wireless routers at this price point and the ASUS RT-N66U fits into the top end of the price range for many routers that have a similar feature set. With this in mind, I would say the ASUS RT-N66U offers reasonable value for money, but may be considered quite high for those who need only need a simple router for home use. If you are looking for a stylish, feature packed and great performing router then you should definitely consider the ASUS RT-N66U as one to put on the shortlist. Pros:
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Comments
450Mbps in 2.4Ghz and 450Mbps in 5Ghz.
You can't put them together and say 900Mbps. That's where I quit reading your review btw.
Take your time in the future. It's obvious speed reading is not your thing.
on behalf of this new tech router, i ran two different laptops for copying couples files from two shared hard-drives and their speed come closed to 450....nbps
gotta test it yourself to reallize the different
I was wondering if you did any testing at 2.4Ghz, since 2.4Ghz has better penetration of solid objects, and can have better performance in some situations (walls and distance).
This review was ironically timed because I just installed an ASUS(PCE-N15) PCI card in my main machine (Mortal online uses a strange PVP prediction system that seems to give advantages to wireless lag in Melee situations (acts like a lag switch), for some reason).
But it only supports connections in the 2.4Ghz band. My router is a dual band router. Although my internet connection is maximum 8 Mbps, and the router is only 3' from the main machine, I'm wondering if I should return the PCI version and get the USB version you reviewed.
At this time I'm getting identical ping and transfer rates from my ISP as I do when I'm 100% wired. Any suggestions?
I was wondering how the N adapter would perform on the 2.4Ghz band.
I'm thinking that my setup is going to deliver no less speed than using the 5Ghz spectrum. Again, I'm not transferring information between any LAN.
#news.softpedia.com/news/CES-2012-ASUS-Reveals-EA-N66-Ethernet-to-Wi-Fi-bridge-246497.shtml
Has anyone located a source for these yet?
##facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150712472221414&set=pu.125555631413&type=1&theater
This quote gives me hope :)
"The ASUS RT-N66U has two built in USB 2.0 ports that allow you to share printers and USB storage over LAN and WAN, and also allows you to share a 3G/4G internet connection.!
Here is a zoomed in screen capture: #i945.photobucket.com/albums/ad297/hatchet_2009/ASUS_RT-N66U_3G-4G_WiMax.jpg
Feel a bit silly for not realizing that WiMax was the same thing as 4g, but you learn something every day.
Thanks in advance!!