Asus RT-AX88U – a new WiFi 6 generation is here!

Packaging and parameters

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming router which attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers of those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

Basic parameters

Packaging and the surface

The contents of the package and its design are reminiscent of other routers from this manufacturer. You know right away what model it is and what its main features are.

Inside you will find the router itself, antennas, LAN cable, power adapter and documentation, as usual.

The design of the AX88U is identical to its predecessor AC88U which we will compare it to later. It differs only in the accent color which is now gold instead of red. We can find it inside the router and on the antennas.

The bottom side is completely perforated so that the router can cool well, as it can heat up considerably during use. As with the gaming ROG AC2900, the AX88U also has a black plastic body which is literally a fingerprint magnet.

Almost all the connectivity is at the back. There is USB 3.0, 1Gb WAN port, up to 8× 1Gb RJ-45 connectors, a pair of antennas, WPS and reset buttons, a power connector and a power button. The main advantage (above all) is the eight LAN ports which can be found in this series of routers and square ROG routers.

There is another USB 3.0 port on the front which is hidden behind a plastic cover. On the left side, in the same place, there are buttons to turn off the LED indicators and to turn off WiFi.

The router is relatively large and heavy, so we recommend that you carefully consider where you place it. In terms of design, the only differences from its predecessor are the gold color, a slightly changed order of elements on the back and the replacement of USB 2.0 with faster USB 3.0 on the back as well.

The main changes are therefore functional and you will learn them in the tests section. Before that, however, we will look at what changes WiFi 6 brings and also the router’s web interface.

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

WiFi 6, OFDMA, TWT and more

After a few years, we finally see the new WiFi standard. So far, we have known mainly 802.11n, which was the historically used 2.4GHz network, and 802.11ac which was a newer, 5GHz network. There have been attempts to introduce 60GHz WiFi 802.11ad but it has somehow not been widespread due to little adaptations by manufacturers. Asus still uses it, for example with the ROG Phone smartphone, to wirelessly transfer image from the phone onto TV.

So what is WiFi 6 and what makes it special? WiFi 6 is a new name for the 802.11ax standard which, like 802.11ac, works at 5 GHz but also offers 2.4 GHz which was only the case with the old 802.11n network. 802.11ax is an improvement of the both most used frequencies. WiFi 6 is a new name that has been introduced so that basic users could better differentiate the types of WiFi. WiFi 6 is 802.11ax, WiFi 5 is 802.11ac and WiFi 4 is 802.11n.

In addition to the new name, WiFi 6 brings several functional improvements and it is not just about speed.

OFDMA

WiFi has so far worked so inefficiently that it’s astonishing. The fact that you can use multiple devices at home at once is due to the speed and technology of MU-MIMO. However, when you imagine one router antenna, the signal always goes through one channel to one device, then to a second, to a third, and so on. The channel has different sizes and the device does not have to use its entire width. Still, it does get the whole channel. Imagine that there is only one car on an entire highway. Crazy, isn’t it? And that’s exactly how inefficiently WiFi has worked so far.

OFDMA or Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access allows to divide this channel into smaller channels (lanes on a highway) and communicate with multiple devices at once. Thanks to this, WiFi connection will be significantly improved, especially in shopping malls, airports, conferences or factories, where tens to hundreds of devices are connected at a time. The router has been given control over the width of the individual lanes on the highway and can thus use the transmission channel better and more efficiently. At the same time, there is no need to change clients, i.e. smartphones, laptops, etc. The new router is backward compatible with all existing devices.

TWT

Target Wake Time will be especially useful for IoT devices that collect data and then send it to a router once a day. Until now, these IoT devices have had to be constantly connected to the router and thus their WiFi antenna actively which consumes a lot of power. TWT will allow the router and the client to set a time when data will be sent, and the rest of the time, for example, the client will be able to turn off their WiFi antennas and save battery. This will have a big impact on battery life of various IoT sensors.

BSS Coloring

Your router is constantly listening to requests from devices, even if they are not your devices or your network. Again, a huge waste of resources and efficiency, but that’s the way it is. BSS Coloring allows to color your network with your devices and ignore all other surrounding networks. This avoids interference known as CCI – common channel interference. Your router will be used much more efficiently and just for your needs.

These were just a few of the interesting changes that WiFi 6 brings. It’s inconceivable how we’ve been able to work so far when wasting an entire channel for one client, listening to requests from other networks, or having IoT devices constantly connected to the Access Point. WiFi 6 is literally revolutionary and manufacturers are aware of it. Smartphones, laptops, motherboards and other devices that are already equipped with WiFi 6 are gradually coming to the market. Examples are definitely AMD X570 motherboards or the newly introduced Intel Ice Lake processors which already have WiFi 6 integrated. When buying a new device, be sure to check what WiFi version it is equipped with. For laptop owners, we can recommend an easy replacement of the WiFi card, which we also used for testing.

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

Software – General settings

Like the ROG AC2900, the AX88U offers a sophisticated web interface. This time, however, it is dressed in the usual blue color and not red as in the case of the gaming router. All functions are more or less identical, but the gaming router had more functions associated with playing games. We won’t find Dashboard here, so the default screen is the Network Map.

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

Software – Advanced settings

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

Software – AiMesh

When reviewing the gaming ROG AC2900, we promised you a closer look at how AiMesh works. To recap, AiMesh is my favorite feature of Asus routers. If you have at least two routers, you can set one as the AiMesh router and the other as the AiMesh node. So one of them takes over the control function and the other one only delivers WiFi and Ethernet connections. You can connect routers to each other via WiFi, but I prefer an Ethernet connection for stability, latency and better speeds. When connected via Ethernet, the cable goes from the LAN router to the WAN node. The goal of AiMesh is to create one large network, where all devices will be visible to each other and, especially WiFi roaming. In practice, while in one room you are connected to a router A, after moving to another room you will be connected to a router B completely automatically without your knowledge. Thus, you still have a maximum WiFi signal.

The manufacturer currently offers about 12 routers that support AiMesh. They are sold as standalone routers (tested on AX88U) or as packages of 2-3 routers (AX92U or Asus Lyra). More and more devices are gradually being added to the AiMesh family, which we only praise.

The configuration of AiMesh takes place in several steps. The first is to change the mode of the router that will serve as the node. This is in the advanced settings under management.

Then, when the secondary router reboots, connect to the main router’s web interface and place the two routers side by side. In the network map you will find the AiMesh icon and the option to search for AiMesh nodes. Select your secondary router and wait for the configuration to complete. This takes a few minutes.

After successfully connecting to the AiMesh network, you can turn off the secondary router and move it to a designated location in another room. Then turn it on and wait for the main router to find it again. In the web interface of the main router, you can then see a list of clients connected to the node as well as choose your preferred connection or name the room where the node is located.

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

Methodology of testing

The aim of the tests is to demonstrate real transfer speeds between the router and the client in a panel house environment, not in laboratory conditions. This means that there are many other WiFi networks in the area and, during the 10-meter test, the signal has to pass through to the third room, with the individual rooms being separated by reinforced concrete walls but with open doors.

Upload and download tests are performed using the TamoSoft Throughput Test app, where we focus on the results of TCP upload and TCP download. The router is connected to our test bench for graphics cards via 1-gigabit connection and serves as a server. The client is a Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop with Intel WiFi 8265 802.11ac and AX200 802.11ax. The second client is an iPhone XS Max. The transfer takes exactly a minute. All tests are performed twice and the results are an average of both measurements.

The USB transfer tests are again performed on the Lenovo X1 Carbon laptop with the help of an external Samsung T5 SSD which is connected to the router via USB and serves as a network storage. Subsequently, a large 10 GB+ video file is written to and read from this storage.

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

A few words for introduction

In the following graphs you will see up to three values for the tested AX88U router. Why? Because there really were three tests to show the difference in speeds. The first test is the connection of a WiFi 5 or 802.11ac client, i.e. the mentioned Lenovo laptop with an Intel WiFi 8265 802.11ac WiFi card. Subsequently, the WiFi card was replaced with Intel WiFi AX200 802.11ax and all tests were performed again. However, by default, the router is set to use a maximum of 80Hz band and 160Hz must be explicitly enabled. Therefore, we tested both frequencies to make clear what the difference between the basic state and maximum usage of new WiFi 6 which brings the 160Hz band is.

We also tested connection between two WiFi 6 802.11ax clients, namely the already mentioned Lenovo laptop and a desktop, the heart of which was the new AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and the Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming motherboard which is also equipped with a WiFi 6 card.

The desktop again served as a server and the laptop as a client. However, the speeds were not as consistent as with the cable connection and the result of this test is only the knowledge that in such a configuration it is possible to observe transfer speed of up to 2 Gb/s.

So much for the introduction, let’s proceed to the tests.

In immediate vicinity

From a 10-meter distance

Upload and download via USB port

We’ve recently brought you a review of an Asus gaming routerwhich attracted attention with RGB backlighting. Today we will look at another router from this company that is unique in another field. This is one of the first WiFi 6 routers or those that support the new 802.11 ax standard. Let’s take a look at what improvements the novelty brings and what real differences you will see compared to 802.11 ac routers used so far.

Conclusion

WiFi 6 is the revolution we definitely needed, especially in a world where more and more people have multiple smart devices and IoT is growing at a dizzying pace. OFDMA, TWT and other technologies that WiFi 6 brings will be essential for our WiFi networks to handle this growth of the number of devices. At the same time, it is more than good that both the 2.4 and 5GHz networks have improved. Especially the 2.4GHz band already needed it, because for about 10 years it did not get any significant improvement. This also applies to the speeds themselves. While at 802.11ac the maximum speed of one antenna and one client was 866 Mbit, now it is up to 1.2 Gbit. As we saw in the tests, the transfer speed on the AX88U is already being held back by 1Gbit LAN ports because the wireless network is faster. We hope that this year we will see the first 10Gbit router from Asus which would solve this drawback.

The router itself, Asus RT-AX88U, is not much to blame. It is an improved version of the AC88U which offers WiFi 6. The main advantages are 8 LAN ports, a pair of USB 3.0 ports and a great web interface and AiMesh for connecting several routers. Yes, the price is high, 350 euros for a top WiFi 6 router is a lot at first sight, but it is definitely a better investment than in the case of the gaming ROG Rapture AC2900 which “only” has extra RGB backlighting. Thanks to the fact that the new router is also compatible with older devices, you do not have to wait with the investment to buy new clients. It is a big investment, but it is an investment in the future.

English translation and edit by Lukáš Terényi

• Contents
• Packaging and parameters
• WiFi 6 – what does it bring?
• Software – General settings
• Software – Advanced settings
• Software – AiMesh
• Methodology of testing
• Tests results
• Conclusion