ASUS RT-AC88U Router Review : A must-have with fiber connection

Along with our recent fiber internet connection, we also got our new ASUS RT-AC88U router that serves as the main router of our home. As we aim to have the best network and internet experience, we opted to also future proof our home with this router for any possible expansion in our home setup.

In the box, we have the four antennas that can give up to 5400sq ft coverage, standard adapter, LAN cable, Manual and CD Installation.

The red and black color combination is a nice jump from the “Dark Knight” design of previous ASUS routers. It’s not Republic of Gamers to be specific, but it has gaming dedicated features for above average enthusiasts. Even the four antenna design looks nice, giving you a nice router for a conversation starter.

It has 8 LAN ports at the back with one USB 2.0 port for printer devices, AiCloud USB devices, 3G / 4G dongle support (Just in case your internet is down) and media server hub. Our home setup isn’t that big for all 8 LAN ports to be utilized, at the most are 4 which are my desktop PC, CCTV, Smart TV and extension router.

Our Home Setup

Now, one thing we did to our Fiber’s stock router is to put it into bridge mode. This makes it just a modem and disables the wireless capabilities and other LAN ports, ultimately the goal of our router upgrade is to let the RT-AC88U manage our overall network traffic for better management.

Please excuse the cable management as it’s not yet cleaned up

Once set-up is done, it was just a simple deactivation of the Wi-Fi signal of the stock PLDT Fibr router and let the RT-AC88U do its magic. We also did a setup of our wireless printer server for our EPSON L210 all-in-one printer.

Making our network as one

We used our old ASUS RT-AC66U to become an access point server to extend the wireless signal of our home. As a result, we now have a unified SSID Wi-Fi across our home and better coverage of internet.

What’s good about ASUS routers is the router.asus.com link to access the router’s menu. Plus, we just upgraded our RT-AC66U’s firmware to the latest similar to the RT-AC88U, so setup was so easy and intuitive.

Is the network responsive

We can honestly say that out network has never been better, we now have an ideal home setup for any appliance/gadget to connect to the internet. Plus, local network transfers are fast and easy, especially that all devices including the Smart TV can simply fetch high-quality movies and play it.

Plus, everything is manageable via an app for easier access. Gone the days that you need a laptop 100% of the time just to change a simple setting. Our only comment to ASUS for this app is to update the font ans times new roman is so 1990s.

Gaming Priority

The RT-AC88U has a WTFast gaming boost management feature, it allows a certain device to be patched into a dedicated line throughout the globe for faster communication and less lag. Although it might sound good, it’s limited to a number of games such as Dota 2, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Counter Strike Global offensive and the World of Tanks, Warships and warplanes series.

Right now we play mostly Overwatch and Diablo 3, so we don’t see the need to use this app. In times we do play Dota 3, we don’t encounter any downtime at all. But we can’t isolate if the Game Boost management has to do anything with it.

Security

The RT-AC88U has a built-in trend micro smart home network protection, it detects possible threats from malicious sites and packets. In our duration of use of the router, we haven’t encountered any threats and that’s a good thing for us.

Features like this are often ignored, but it won’t hurt to activate as it could save you time and money in the long run.

Power Consumption

Just take note that getting a router this big makes you subjective to more electricity consumption. A standard Wireless N router takes up 12W of electricity while the RT-AC88U uses 19V – 2.37A (Energy Saving), 3.42A (High Power) or 45-65W.

So running the RT-AC88U on an average household 24/7 for one month will average 200-300 pesos in your monthly bill. But just remember that this is still better as you will only have to use one device as compared to multiple routers with less signal reliability.

Conclusion

The lesson for this is that don’t ignore your router, it could be the difference of having a fast connection or a loosing gaming experience. The more devices connected to one network, the better the router should be. Fortunately, with our recent Fiber internet upgrade…the ASUS RT-AC88U provided the right upgrade we need and you will probably too.

Watch this video for more details in why you need a good router, it doesn’t have to be similar to the RT-AC88U as there are more offerings from ASUS. But if you are serious about your network and heavily relies on the internet, then you can get the ASUS RT-AC88U for Php18,050.

We give the ASUS RT-AC88U our 100% Satisfying Recommended Award for being a solid router for the new generation home. Gamers, enthusiasts and even non-techies will feel how solid the network is once connected.