ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless N900 Gigabit Router Review

To test this router we set-up a simple network in our house, which used a standard ISP provided Virgin Media Router as a modem. We then plugged in both the ASUS RT-N66U and our Buffalo AirStation Nfiniti Dual Band Wireless Router (WZR-HP-AG300H). This allows us to have a decent benchmark router, which we know performs very well at N300 speeds.

We then set-up the routers to test in the same room on different channels, to stop interference. We then used the Buffalo AirStatio Nfiniti N450 Wireless-N USB Adapter plugged into a laptop so that we could test the range of both routers under 2.4 GHz settings.

We initially tested this in the same room and unsurprisingly we were connected at a full 450 Mbps from the ASUS router and a full 300 Mbps from the Buffalo with both offering 5 full bars of wireless strength.

We then went to the end of a garden outside (approximately ~15 meters but facing a challenge of three thick walls) and repeated the test. This time the ASUS router had only dropped to 4 bars of strength, and the Buffalo had dropped to 3 bars.

The wireless speeds had also dropped for both but the ASUS was holding at ~405 Mbps, while the Buffalo had dropped all the way down to ~81 Mbps. While the ASUS router has a slight headstart (i.e. faster to start off with) it is clear that over distance the ASUS router performs really well.

The 5 GHz band offered a similar performance level, offering up to 450 Mbps in the same room, and 263 Mbps in our garden (although peaking to 405 Mbps). Obviously if you were looking for pure 5 GHz performance you would be looking at buying the new ASUS RT-AC66U which in our tests offered up to 702 Mbps in the same room.

The ASUS RT-N66U has plenty of features including DLNA support, Aidisk, Download Master, 8 potential SSID's and more. As such it can easily be turned into a family media server, print server or can even be used as cloud storage. On top of this ASUS offers 3 -year Warranty coverage which will be reassuring for many people.

The User Interface is great, we like how it is laid out with a simple colour scheme and is very easy to navigate. We don't even hesitate when going to change a setting as we know exactly which tab it will be under.

Even though this device is easy to set up and can be configured in a few seconds, there are plenty of options that can be tweaked. Again we were impressed with the loading times as the User Interface pages load instantaneously over Gigabit Ethernet (something even our Buffalo router can't manage.)

The RT-N66U performed well, offering class leading 2.4 GHz performance. Both bands offer up to 450 Mbps but you will need a fast USB adapter or PCI card, and as such this does the bump the cost up a fair bit.

That said, if you want a router that can comfortably deliver 300 Mbps (even at the other end of the house) then this router is for you. We were also very impressed with the reliability of the RT-N66U, we didn't have any problems using it for several weeks in a daily environment.

The price point of £108.79 from Amazon.co.uk is very reasonable and places it almost £50 cheaper than the Netgear equivalent. I can certainly recommend the ASUS RT-N66U as it offers great performance and is extremely easy to set-up and use on a day to day basis.

Pros

• Great overall performance.
• Lots of useful features.
• Extremely stable router.
• Very well built.
• Modest price.

Cons

• 5 GHz performance can be beaten at this price point.
• Will need a 450 Mbps adapter to get best performance.

Kitguru says: Another great router from ASUS which delivers fantastic all round performance at a very reasonable price point.

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