![]() ![]() The RT-AX88U also showed improvement with network congestion control. The RT-AX88U on the close test hit 300.62 Mbps of throughput, and 271.43 Mbps at the far distance, which handily outclasses our previous top router, the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AC5300, which scored 230.6 Mbps and 226.11 Mbps, respectively. Moving on to the 5 GHz frequency and 802.11ax starts to shine. This might appear disappointing, but it's important to realize that 802.11ax offers no real benefit on the 2.4 GHz frequency. On the older 2.4 GHz frequency, the RT-AX88U performed in throughput testing at an acceptable (but hardly extraordinary) 152.35 Mbps on our close-distance test, and 158.23 Mbps on the far test. It functions to block viruses and malware, and is included for the life of the router. Finally, another useful feature is Trend Micro's free AiProtection Pro, which is a network level security package. Another gaming plus is Adaptive QoS, which prioritizes gaming traffic when gaming on a congested network. We had mixed results when we previously tested GPNs, but having the service already on the router is still a nice value add that no competitor's routers offer at this time. First, the "Gaming Private Network" WTFast is integrated into the router, and supports a limited list of games. The RT-AX88U also boasts a gaming-centric feature set. It is primarily web-based, though it can also be used via an iOS or Android app. It has a robust feature set and allows granular control over every setting, including support for VPN client and server, parental controls, port forwarding, personal cloud networking, and guest networking. The RT-AX88U utilizes the AsusWRT interface, the preeminent standard for networking enthusiasts. Here, the RT-AX88U offers greater throughput while being only dual band, which is quite impressive-although this is again theoretic due to available client adapters. For those keeping score, we have had routers from the previous 802.11ac generation that could get close to that total throughput before, such as the Asus GT-AC5300- but they were tri-band with dual 5 GHz signals. Here, the RT-AX88U claims a total throughput of 6000 Mbps, with the 2.4 GHz topping out at 1148 Mbps, and the 5 GHz offering 4804 Mbps. ![]() Now onto the wireless, which is the real story of an 802.11ax router. In addition, for even more throughput, two of the Ethernet ports can be configured for link aggregation (802.3ad). On the back side is a Gigabit WAN port for the modem connection, along with a healthy eight Gigabit Ethernet ports, enough to connect a whole gaggle of devices without resorting to an external switch. Too many routers neglect their wired Ethernet connections, which are the preferred method for gaming when possible, but this is an area where the RT-AX88U comes through. Still, when upgrading hardware, it can be reasonable to get ahead of the curve and future proof it when possible. As such, we focused on the current tangible benefits of this 802.11ax router rather than what it could be down the road. However, it comes with the caveat that there aren't currently any 802.11ax client adapters available, so we can't know the router's true potential. This emerging wireless standard certainly holds quite a bit of potential, and perhaps represents an even more substantial step forward than the transition from 802.11n to 802.11ac. The Asus RT-AX88U, the update to the Asus RT-AC88U, is a newly introduced router that promises to bring the advantages of 802.11ax (aka Wi-Fi 6) to the home router market. There are also improvements to MU-MIMO to allow more data to be transmitted at once, and refinements to beamforming as well. The other big news here is Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), which is designed to increase the number of subchannels for each wireless channel, which should reduce latency and allow the router to handle more clients simultaneously. Wi-Fi 6 promises some advantages, including not surprisingly greater bandwidth. ![]()
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