Packaging and parameters
Routers, for the most part, are not among the design-appealing devices you’d want to show off. They are usually white or black boxes with antennas sticking out of them and you hide them somewhere behind your computer, TV or in a closet. But that doesn’t have to be the rule, and the new Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 is proof of that. In addition to the unconventional design, the tested model impresses with its focus on mesh networking, which Asus routers are known for.
Packaging and exterior
The XT12 has not avoided the traditionally colourful and beautiful design of the box, and the description on the back is also aimed at presenting the mesh solution and its advantages.
Since it’s a two-pack, there’s double of everything inside the box, so two routers, power cables and adapters. Somehow, however, there’s only one LAN cable, and you only need one documentation as well.
The XT12 impresses at first sight with its unconventional design. It is a kind of cube with a square base, 11.5 cm long and 24.1 cm high, the top is transparent and one of the corners is bevelled.
Most routers have two or four antennas. The XT12 received up to ten internal ones, which is understandable given its support for up to three bands, but still quite unique.
Routers targeted for use in a mesh network typically do not offer the same features as dedicated routers sold one at a time. Still, you get two for the price of one. The XT12, however, is somewhat unique in this area. It offers a quartet of RJ-45 connectors, two of which are 2.5 Gb and the other two 1 Gb. One of the faster pair is designated as a WAN port and the other is used for LAN.
As we already know from tests of the AX88U, for example, we can transfer speeds higher than 1 Gb over WiFi 6, which means that the wired connection is slower than the wireless one, which is quite illogical. The top model AX89X solved this problem with 10 Gb ports, which are not yet found in cheaper models. When testing the inexpensive RT-AX53U, I introduced the idea that 2.5 Gb connectors would make a lot of sense for WiFi 6 routers, and the XT12 is the first model where we can see this idea in practice.
What did not please me, on the other hand, is the complete absence of USB ports. I consider this a big oversight, as even the cheapest pieces already have at least USB 2.0, although the 3.0 standard would have been better. I’ve been using the USB port for a year now to connect a 2.5″ SSD and fast and easily accessible storage that you can connect to a PC anytime if you need to, but the vast majority of the time the drive is just connected to the router. Among other things, the USB port could also be used to connect a printer or other accessories, and you’ll unfortunately lose all of that with the XT12.
The RGB backlit logo, which also serves as an information LED about the router status, tries to save the situation. Inside the router we find 256 MB Flash, 1 GB RAM and a 2.0 GHz quad-core 64-bit processor, which makes it one of the better pieces. Important from the router’s point of view are the configurations of the individual bands. The XT12 offers a 4×4 configuration for both the 2.4GHz and both 5GHz networks, making the theoretical maximum speeds 1148 Mbps for the 2.4GHz and 4804 Mbps for each of the 5GHz networks. Overall, the router thus offers bandwidths of up to 11 Gbps (1148+4804+4804), but this is more of a marketing designation, especially when the manufacturer refers to it as the AX11000 ultimate AX performance. But it doesn’t change the fact that the XT12’s wireless connectivity is really excellent. It is also important to mention that the router offers the important 160 MHz band, which was introduced along with WiFi 6 and is one of the important features of this standard.
Of the WiFi 6 new features, OFDMA and TWT are not missing, which is just a plus. The overall equipment of the XT12, except for the lack of USB ports, looks very good on paper and in practice. Another interesting feature is the ability to aggregate 1 Gb LAN connectors to achieve 2 Gb speeds for connection to, for example, a NAS. A better solution would be to have all ports 2.5 Gb, but we will hopefully see that in a future model. Software support and installation via the web GUI but also the app is great as always and there is probably no point to elaborate on this topic anymore. If you’re interested, I recommend reading some of the older Asus router tests.
Routers, for the most part, are not among the design-appealing devices you’d want to show off. They are usually white or black boxes with antennas sticking out of them and you hide them somewhere behind your computer, TV or in a closet. But that doesn’t have to be the rule, and the new Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 is proof of that. In addition to the unconventional design, the tested model impresses with its focus on mesh networking, which Asus routers are known for.
Methodology
The aim of the tests is to show the real transfer speeds between the router and the client in a panel building environment, not under laboratory conditions. This means that there are many other WiFi networks in the area, and during the 10-meter distance test, the signal must pass to the third room, with the individual rooms separated by reinforced concrete walls but open doors.
Upload and download tests are performed using the TamoSoft Throughput Test application, where we select the results of TCP upload and TCP download. The router is connected to a MSI GE76 Raider with a 2.5 Gb LAN connector and a Killer 1675x WiFi 6E card, and a second laptop with an Intel WiFi AX210NGW, which also supports WiFi 6E. The transfer takes exactly one minute. All tests are run three times and the results are the average of the three measurements.
Routers, for the most part, are not among the design-appealing devices you’d want to show off. They are usually white or black boxes with antennas sticking out of them and you hide them somewhere behind your computer, TV or in a closet. But that doesn’t have to be the rule, and the new Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 is proof of that. In addition to the unconventional design, the tested model impresses with its focus on mesh networking, which Asus routers are known for.
In the immediate vicinity
The new product achieves very good results in WiFi speed tests, which thanks to the 160 MHz bandwidth and 4 × 4 configuration is not such a big surprise, but rather a confirmation of paper assumptions and expectations. Still, it’s nice to see how the inexpensive AX53U fares. The AC88U, on the other hand, is already starting to show its age.
From a distance of ten metres
Ten antennas and Rangeboost Plus also achieve high numbers in the distance test and especially in the upload. Surprisingly the AC88U did well in downloading, but this is more of an exception proving the rule.
Wired transfers
When testing cable transfers between the two devices, we see that the XT12 offers very balanced upload and download numbers, offering 30–50 % higher rates compared to the other models.
Power draw
We measure the power draw with a new methodology using a UNI-T UT71E multimeter. We compared the power draw at both idle and full load during the speed tests. The AX53U had the lowest power draw, with an idle power of 3.1–3.2 W; after the LAN cable and WiFi tests, the power draw increased to a maximum of 4.4 W. Second in order was the XT12, which hovered around 11 W and only slightly exceeded 12 W at maximum. The oldest AC88U had the highest power draw with an idle draw of 13.3 W and a peak of 14.5 W. An interesting finding during the test was that when the LAN cable was plugged in, the power draw on all routers increased by about 1 W.
Routers, for the most part, are not among the design-appealing devices you’d want to show off. They are usually white or black boxes with antennas sticking out of them and you hide them somewhere behind your computer, TV or in a closet. But that doesn’t have to be the rule, and the new Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 is proof of that. In addition to the unconventional design, the tested model impresses with its focus on mesh networking, which Asus routers are known for.
Conclusion
Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 is a stylish and very unconventionally designed router that definitely does not deserve to be hidden somewhere in a corner or closet, quite the opposite. It has the potential to become a fashion accessory that you display in your living room or bedroom and every visitor to your home will be interested in it.
Often, however, such fashion oriented pieces of hardware fail in all other aspects and offer no qualities other than design. Fortunately, this is not the case with the XT12, as it is a very capable router with very solid speeds as well as excellent software features.
I also very much welcome the use of 2.5 Gb LAN/WAN ports, which solve the problem of the vast majority of routers with WiFi 6, namely slow wired connections. What I consider to be a missed opportunity and a rather large step in the wrong direction is the absence of USB connectors, which, as I mentioned, I use on a daily basis and would miss them with the XT12. Apart from that, I can only criticise one thing and that is the price.
The XT12 is on sale as both a standalone router, and in a two-pack, which we had for testing. The price of a standalone router is around 440 EUR and a two-pack costs 730 EUR, which is quite a lot. And I write this as an owner of the top model AX89X, which hovers just over 500 EUR, but offers two 10 Gb ports, eight LAN ports, USB ports, etc, etc.
Of course, the focus of XT12 and AX89X is completely different, but I can’t help wondering if it’s not better to save a bit more and buy two AX89X, connect them with a 10 Gb cable and achieve even significantly faster transmissions and enjoy the richer equipment offered by the rather cut down XT12 in comparison.
English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš