Question 1

can you unscrew the antennas on this model router?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  They are gold plated SMB connectors.

Question 2

will it work with 10?

Accepted Answer

If you mean Windows 10, the answer is yes as these packets are flowing from my Win 10 PC through my Asus router to you.

Question 3

Can this unit be wall mounted??  Any holes on the bottom?

Accepted Answer

There are mounting holes on the bottom of the unit, but the manual recommends that you not mount it directly on the wall. (Nevertheless, plenty of people do mount it directly on the wall rather than on a shelf of some sort, and it is working well for me since I've done so.)

Question 4

how is it?

i want this for laptop, r is it right choice?

Accepted Answer

It's a reasonably good router and it will work exactly the same way with any wireless devices: desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets (PDA's) and so on. I've been using this router for almost two years for wired connection with a TV and for wireless connections with a desktop, laptops, smartphones and tablets and everything has been working quite well.

Question 5

I got 1Gbps connection from AT&T and I would like to use this device to plug into my cable modem to take advantage of higher speed (wireless). Will this setup work? The cable modem I have has WiFi connection but it supports speed only up to 100 Mbps. Thanks!

Accepted Answer

This is not a good device for you, it will restrict wired connections and your Internet access to 100Mbps. Spend a little more on a 1Gbps router;  there are two 1Gbps versions of this router, 300 Mbps wifi for $86 ($66 with rebate) and 900 Mbps wifi for $97. I got a refurbished 1Gbps 300N  TP-Link router for under $20.  The extra cost of the new  ac-wifi is probably over kill, unless you know that you have devices that can effectively utilize it. This router is fine for more normal Internet speeds and casual LAN data sharing, and the only time you will ever notice the speed difference is when transferring extremely large files. But I think it's a sin to reduce your maximum Internet speed by a factor of ten.

Question 6

Does it support wireless printing?

Accepted Answer

This router does not have a USB port to connect to a printer, so it cannot be used with a printer that only has a USB interface. If your printer has wifi built-in it will connect like any other wireless device.

Question 7

Instead of security encryption, will this unit allow me to restrict access by device MAC numbers?

Accepted Answer

That is a rather vague question asked. By "restrict", I would assume "limiting" or prioritizing traffic for each individual MAC address associated with this router through QoS, then yes. Other features can be accessed through its parental control option that restricts whoever you want to be able to access, say the internet only on specific days/time/how long etc etc...

I hope this answers your question. If not, please be a bit more descriptive and I'll answer it to the best of my ability.

Question 8

What is the maximum amount of devices that this all in one router can hold wirelessly?

Accepted Answer

A wireless device technically has no limit on the number of connections. However, your DHCP pool in the web interface determines the maximum number of IPs the router can distribute at one time. Of course, that is adjustable. By default, it's 254.

Realistically, the more wireless devices using the router simultaneously, the slower all active traffic will be. A wireless device can only transmit/receive traffic for one connection at a time, so it queues the requests in order of importance. Importance determined by the type of traffic it is. All other devices are unaware they are not being serviced, so the application on the device resends the request until it is filled, but this results in some latency.

Ergo, the more devices actively in use, the more the latency. Probably up to 10 devices, this is effectively unnoticeable. After that, you might eyeball it periodically to increase efficiency using a variety of more complex techniques.

This has nothing to do with the model of routers. All wireless routers work this way. The only distinction being routers that sport 2+ actively simultaneous antennas operating on different frequencies. I.E. 2.4Ghz G + 5Ghz N. Not really worth the extra expense if you ask me.

Question 9

I have a nice wifi router in a central location in my house (netgear nighthawk).
I am in need of a network bridge to install 3 equipments I have on my study room, which is about 20 ft away from the router.
These equipments are wired network only.
Would this router work as a bridge and allow me to receive the wifi signal from my main router and feed my 3 wired equipment?
I cannot pass a cable from the main router to the study room. I need the bridge to receive wifi signal and then I connect my 3 equipment to this bridge lan ports.

Accepted Answer

Yes I have used it for that purpose.  The bandwidth is 1/2 of normal.  My only concern is that sometimes different brands of routers will not communicate well.  I recommend that you download the manual for this router from ASUS.  But beware that some manuals specify a switch on the back of the router to select the mode.  That must have been for an earlier version of the router because the latest ones I purchased do not have a mode switch on the rear.  But the settings for mode can be accessed from the web interface.   You should access the web interface from a computer connected to the router via cable not wifi.  Just for setup.  I also suggest that you do the initial setup with the ASUS router very close to the main router to eliminate possible dead spots.  And of course once it is setup you need to release and renew the IP address on the computer that you are using to setup the router.  In most cases the ASUS router will have a new address once it initializes the bridge.  Make sure wifi is disabled on the computer you are using for setup to avoid conflicts.  On that computer DHCP must be enabled of course.  I could go on but you should get it if you read the manual and Google search.  Good luck.  Hope that helped.

Question 10

is this a dual band?

Accepted Answer

Yes it is dual band. I want to point out though that it works in one mode, the other mode, or mixed mode. If it is in mixed mode, it will transfer to both at the slower speed.

Questions & Answers