ASUS RT-AC56U AC1200 Dual Band WiFi Gigabit Router 802.11ac, 1167 Mbps WiFi Speed, 4x Gigabit LAN Ports, AiProtection Security, AiCloud File Sharing, AiRadar Beamforming

Pros: I used the RT-AC68U as my main router. However, it is installed on the top level of our home, so even with its range, reliability and speed downstairs was somewhat poor. This was naturally worse with 5GHz. I decided to get this router in addition.

Why? Not only have I had nothing but good expierences with Asus routers, but this, just like the RT-AC68U, allow you to install custom firmware. I installed ASUS WRT Merlin on this as well, and used a 600MBPS GBIT Powerline Ethernet adapter to feed this router downstairs. This allowed me to setup this router as an access point. Much better than simply repeating a weak WiFi signal.

With this, WiFi is now completely usable throughout the house. I also now have the spare ethernet ports I wanted downstairs. Sometimes I just prefer to avoid WiFi, for obvious reasons.

This router also looks very nice, you won't be tempted to hide it.

Cons: The antennas on this router are internal. I prefer external, incase I wanted to switch them out. It still works great, and I doubt you will have a problem with this router.

Overall Review: Actual 802.11AC repeaters cost twice as much as I spent on this item. (I bought it open-box). This however gives me the option to use it as a repeater, OR to use it as an access point fed via ethernet.

It has a 800MHz dual core processor. It will handle whatever you throw at it.

I highly recommend the Merlin firmware with it, as it maintains the slick Asus webui, adds useful features, and fixes bugs over the stock firmware.

If you want the latest (802.11AC, USB 3.0, all Gigabit ports, fast processor, customizability), I'm quite convinced this router is your best option, and it won't completely break the bank.

HIGHLY recommend.

Pros: High-quality, compact and attractive hardware, Nice UI.

Cons: Plagued with intermittent performance problems – router will work correctly, but after a certain (unknown) amount of data passes through it, everything slows to a crawl.

Overall Review: Owning this router for the past eight months has been an exercise in frustration and disappointment. I’ve worked with Support (which was an average experience), reset & restored the router multiple times, and have been through five or six firmware revisions. I have to reboot this router a couple times a week. The 12 year-old Linksys WRT54G it replaced was rebooted MAYBE once a year. By the time I gave up on this router, it was essentially emulating the WRT54G (in that all advanced features were disabled and it was running 2.4GHz b/g in Legacy mode).

Other ASUS models seem to be better, but the RT-AC56U is a dud. There seem to be low-level hardware problems which cannot be resolved by firmware updates. Believe the negative reviews you read here and at other large Internet retailers. The Wirecutter has since rescinded their recommendation on this unit

I guess I’ll RMA the unit, but I’m not sure I really want another RT-AC56U in return.