ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, IEEE 802.3/3u/3ab

Pros: Let's get this out of the way immediately. This is the fastest, most reliable router I have ever used and I test quite a few. Easy to install. Looks great. 2 x USB ports. 3 detachable external antennas 3x3 stream on N (2.45ghz) so potentially 450mbps and 1300mbps on AC (5ghz) User Friendly interface.

Cons: Heavy get's a little hot needs to have latest 345 firmware installed to get best stability and 2.45ghz performance. Little expensive, but in line with other 802.11ac routers.

Overall Review: In the last month I have tested and used at least 9 different routers including N900 N750 and AC from Netgear, Trendnet, TP-Link, D-Link and of course Asus. I can categorically state right now that the ASUS was hands down the fastest router, the most reliable router and the router that had the best range. Testing a router is not always easy but I have a laptop that is set in a specific location. The routers that I test are also placed in a very specific location. I test LAN performance by using the same two gigabit wired computers on my network with Totusoft's Lan Test program. I then test Wifi performance by transferring the same files with Lan Test from one wired computer on my network to the laptop and then back again from the laptop to the desktop computer. The laptop has an onboard 2x2 stream N chipset that will provide a maximum of 300mbps. In order to test AC and retest N I use a matching Asus USB adapter that is good for 300mbps on N (2.45ghz) and 867mbps on AC (5ghz). My test methods remain consistent throughout testing. I use auto settings on all routers and enable WPA2 AES for best performance. The laptop and router are separated by 50ft with 3 walls in between. Testing between wired computers Lan Test reported 812mbps write and 584mbps read. Using the laptop's internal 2x2 N adapter and Lan Test I measured 59mbps write and 58mbps read. When I fired up the Asus USB adapter Lan Test reported 139mbps write and 101mbps read!!!! Awesome, compare these figures to the laptops internal Intel chipset. It got even better when I connected to the router via AC. Lan Test reported 168mbps and 214mbps (read and write). Fast enough to stream hidef video without stuttering. This was at 50ft by the way, 5ghz does not have the range of 2.45ghz, so at 50ft color me impressed. It's not important for me to note here the results of the other routers that were tested in the same way, I can tell you that not one came close to providing the performance of the Asus. External antennas is exceedingly important to me in a router. Asus got this router perfect in my opinion. Please make sure that the latest 345 firmware is used. The interface was a joy to use, it is clean of clutter and reasonably fast to save settings. I recommend this router even for those of you out there that are still using wireless N.... Terrific router....

Pros: 802.11ac technology will later allow for quicker speeds once devices are more readily available. AiCloud enables you to access your network from anywhere, and from any device! Whether it is just an attached USB device, shared printer, or going as far as an attached NAS or PCs, you can access it! The functionality in terms of what this router can do is just jaw dropping. No more do you need a 3rd party program for WOL!

Cons: If there was a con for this router, it would be listed here...

Overall Review: Where to begin!?!?!? In a nutshell, I would consider this router for businesses! Simply because of the onsite/offsite functionality it has to offer. I have had this for more than a month, and I am just now able to submit a review due to the endless settings. And yet, it is sooooo easy to setup!!! First off, the range for this thing is incredible! My phone connects to it when I turn the street corner...a city block away!!! If you have a data cap on your cell phone, but you want to download some stuff, well, connect it to your VPN built into the router and your phone is now blind to the cellular company, minus calls and messages. You can allow your buddies to access the VPN by setting up an account on the router for them. But, if he wants to connect to it, or you for that matter, make sure your ISP gives you a static IP. If you suspect someone is on your VPN, and you want to see them, there is a VPN status tab to show you who is connected. Want to get to your NAS but it is sleeping? Well, use the WOL feature to turn on any device on your network, either from your website, the AiCloud App, or by remoting into it directly. Then, use the AiCloud app to access those files from your phone. No phone? By enabling the DDNS feature, you can access your network via https, courtesy of setting up your free account with ASUS. Speaking of which, say you attached a USB device to your router, and you have the app up, and your buddy wants the songs you are playing, or the video you are watching, using the built in media player (from the router). Just select it and you can have a 24 hour link to give to him to download it. After 24 hours...BOOM!...the link is no longer valid. When you set up the DDNS, you can name it anything you want, so long as someone else has not used it. Just make sure you assign static IPs to those devices that have unique WOL features (my NAS), which is a snap! And don't forget to enable it in the BIOS of those PCs and enable it in Windows, if not already done. For those with access to WANs, just turn it on! There are numerous toggles to turn on all these feature. It is so user friendly that a baby could use it! Are you using this in an advanced corporate network with high-end security configurations? Well, you can easily lock this down, or set up those settings under the professional tab to configure the router with fine tuned times of days where the radio is turned on/off. And I am not joking, you can really lock this down! I mean, not only can you set it to turn off during the lunch hour, but you can adjust the power settings for the transmissions! Say you are using a RADIUS Server...what's the IP? Plug it in and watch it go! If your network seems slow, just pull up the traffic monitor and block that guy via his MAC. Then make your packets the boss under the QoS. Or maybe you want to use the built-in NetStat or Ping to troubleshoot connectivity across your network. FEATURES UNTESTED DUE TO COMPONENTS: Printer 802.11a

Pros: This thing is just rock solid. Since the day I have bought it I have only had to reset it for changes I have made. The distance of the signal surpasses other AC routers I've tried. Throughput is consistent. Through stress testing I got bored before this started dropping packets.

Cons: No matter how many times... it still doesn't make me breakfast.

Overall Review: I have tried multiple AC routers and this is the one that made me stop trying new ones. I flashed the version of DD-WRT I wanted to it and have never had to reset it unless I made changes that required it. It's been running consistently up for over 2 months now.

Pros: fast, Wi-Fi range and nicely laid out firmware and gets better with each new firmware

Cons: isn't a sexy girl willing to do anything :)

Overall Review: So this router has performed well with the newest firmware I was so impressed with asus firmware updates on a regular basis and its range , I purchased another to use as a AP. one thing I not sure but seems like the wireless range is not as far as it was new. it covered the property and then some. Now I lucky to get a usable signal on the porch out side. I think this happened with a firmware update. so i played with the tx power sure it helped also increasing the speed ( doubling it )but still not like it was. still does not cover the hole house like it did when new. the new one i purchased just last month also has low wireless range so it must be something asus did in the firmware. i hope asus will fix this in a new firmware cause it like a just above average AC wireless router now. When before it was outstanding

Pros: It's a good router, and based on the hardware, I'd highly recommend it. Mine was bought as a Black Friday 2012 item and has been pretty solid for well over a year.

Cons: The firmware has a critical vulnerability that allows anybody with an internet connection to hack into attached USB drives. Look up an Arstechnica article titled: "Dear Asus router user: You’ve been pwned, thanks to easily exploited flaw" for more info. Firmware below 30043744422 has this vulnerability.

Overall Review: Asus updated the firmware once previously, attempting to fix the problem, but dropped the ball. The exploit persisted. I am skittish to continue using Asus AiCloud until I learn that the exploit is resolved this time. Please upvote if this helps you. It's a pretty critical flaw.

Pros: FAST! Worked right out of the box with hardly a hassle! It feels like my internet connection performs faster and more responsive.

Cons: None so far except price.

Overall Review: Yes if you dont wait long enough or have a bad connection during the firmware update you can hose your router. But don't dispair, several have had the issue (including myself!) and its a easy fix if you still have your old router or downloaded the latest firmware version before you start the update! It's a simple procedure thats documented under Firmware Restoration. (What follows I copied from another review which is what I followed). Prior to installing device, download the latest firmware from ASUS Support site and install the included cd software. If the Router cannot be communicated with on hook up, do the Firmware Restoration. It is used on an ASUS Wireless Router that failed during its firmware upgrading process. The process takes about three to four minutes. To launch the rescue mode and use the Firmware Restoration utility: 1. Unplug the wireless router from the power source. 2. Hold the Reset button (use a paper clip) at the rear panel and simultaneously re-plug the wireless router into the power source. Release the Reset button when the Power LED at the front panel flashes slowly, which indicates that the wireless router is in the rescue mode. 3. Use the following to set up your TCP/IP settings if needed (i didn't need to do anything): IP address: 192.168.1.x Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 4. From your computer’s desktop, click Start > All Programs > ASUS Utility RT-AC66U Wireless Router > Firmware Restoration. 5. Specify the firmware file, then click Upload. Once the firmware installed, the router rebooted and then I was able to access it.

Pros: I replaced a DLink DIR-625 802.11n router with this one after reading about the new AC routers in PC Magazine. When I bought the DLink it was cutting edge and the fastest router out there. But it's a 2 stream router, with maximum throughput of 300mbps. As time went on, 3 stream routers became available, with throughput up to 450 mbps using the 802.11n standard, but I never had a desire or need to upgrade until recently. Doing a lot of downloading recently and transferring files between computers on my home network, I noticed my data was fluctuating between 162 - 270mbps. Transfers between computers was slow, and I wanted faster and more stable connections on my internal network, as well as being ready to upgrade to the AC standard when I upgraded my computers in the next year or so. I wasn't too pleased with the unit right out of the box, to be honest, as I had expected it to just work better, be faster, and not require any tweaking. So, my first evening with it actually had me consider sending it back. I had set the 5 Ghz band to the highest bandwidth (80mHz) thinking more is better, and left the 2.4mHz band on auto. I was getting disconnects on the 2.4 mHz band, and the data was fluctuating more wildly than ever, between 270 - 102mbps, staying near the low side of things most of the time. Having read a number of posts that had mentioned tweaking the unit, I went in and set the 2.4gHz band to 40mHz, and lo and behold, my data transfer rate went to very solid 300mbps. That was higher than it had ever been, and was the maximum my existing wireless NIC would allow. I then went in and switched the 5.0gHz band to 40 mHz as well and voila, again, my data rates shot up to a solid 300 mbps on that band as well. Once the unit had proved to be faster and more stable than my older router for a couple of days, I went ahead and ordered up 2 Linksys AE3000 3 stream USB wireless adapters with higher data throughput than my existing adapters. Once the new adapters arrived, my data throughput showed a consistent 450 mbps on both computers. Transferring between computers is faster now, my connection is faster and more stable, and once I upgrade my computers in the future, I'm ready for the faster 1.3 gHz transfer rates on my internal network thanks to the purchase of this upgrade for my system. Highly recommended for anyone who wants the fastest possible transfer rates on their internal home computer network.

Cons: Not optimized right out of the box. Requires tweaking of bandwidth by user in order to achieve fast stable data transfers that the unit is capable of, which many home users will not be aware of.

Overall Review: Requires tweaking of bandwidth on both bands to achieve fastest, most stable transfer rates. requires upgrade of any existing 2 stream "n" adapters to 3 stream "n" adapters, to achieve fastest "n" network transfer rates, which home users may not be aware of prior to purchasing.

Pros: Its fancy Replaced a E1000 that couldn't get a signal to my phone in my bedroom. This router will give me my maximum bandwidth on my phone in my bedroom. Nice.

Cons: There are quite a few people who experience dropped connections on a 10-15 minute basis with many of these new high end routers. Poster Phuzion at DD-WRT forum had this to say: No there is not any build that fixes it so don't waste your time. The firewall scripts works fine. The problem is really with half-bridge modems that assign the router a public IP but send DHCP from their private LAN IP which is outside of the WAN subnet. The firewall prevents the lease from being renewed since the replies are coming from a different subnet than the WAN IP is in. After the lease expires, the WAN IP is lost, and the firewall no longer cares where the new DHCP lease comes from. http://svn.dd-wrt.com/ticket/973 I lucked out and found a tech support agent at Windstream who knew her stuff and she walked me through manually bridging the modem, even though it was supposed to bridge itself if a router was downstream, and the issue is solved.

Overall Review: Its just awful to drop this sort of money and then have issues but its not the router, its the modem.