Asus RT-AX88U Pro 5 GHz router review, is it worth it?

The Asus RT-AX88U Pro (RT-AX88UPRO) router released in 2023. It is powered by Broadcom BCM4912 @ 2 GHz chipset, 1024 MB of RAM and 256 MB of flash. The AX6000 router is compatible with IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax standards, and the maximum speed that you can get with RT-AX88U Pro is 1148 + 4804 Mbps. The router has 1 x 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps WAN and 4 x 10/100/1000 Mbps, 1 x 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps LAN ports.

The RT-AX88U Pro is a versatile router that offers more than just basic functionality. With its advanced features and capabilities, it provides a reliable and high-performance networking solution for both home and office environments. This router features USB connectors that provide additional functionality and expand the capabilities of your network. Asus provides a range of affordable networking solutions, making them accessible to a wide range of users.

Table of contents:

• Asus RT-AX88U Pro specifications
• Asus RT-AX88U Pro pictures

Asus RT-AX88U Pro (RT-AX88UPRO) specifications

Body

If you plan to move or travel frequently and need to take your router with you, the dimensions become important for portability. Smaller and more compact routers are generally easier to transport, while larger routers with external antennas or multiple ports may be bulkier and less convenient to carry. The weight of a router can be a consideration in certain situations, but it is generally not as crucial as other factors such as performance, features, and compatibility.

System

The Broadcom BCM4912 @ 2 GHz CPU provides processing power to handle various tasks and services within the RT-AX88U Pro router. The RT-AX88U Pro comes with 1024 MB of RAM. The amount of RAM in a router can impact its performance and capacity to handle concurrent operations and traffic. Higher RAM capacity allows for better multitasking, larger routing tables, and improved overall performance. The 256 MB flash memory in the router serves as the storage medium for the router's firmware. It is a non-volatile memory that retains its data even when power is removed from the device.

The Asus often releases firmware updates to enhance the router's functionality, improve security, fix bugs, and add new features. Firmware updates can provide performance improvements, compatibility with new devices or protocols, and address vulnerabilities. The Asus packages the RT-AX88U Pro router with 19 V / 2.37 A PSU. A good PSU is an essential component of a computer or electronic device that converts electrical power from an outlet into the appropriate voltage and current required to power the internal components of the device.

Network

Like many modern routers, the RT-AX88U Pro supports many network standards too. The IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses, represented as four sets of numbers separated by periods (e.g. 192.168.0.1). The RT-AX88U Pro router also supports IPv6 protocol, allowing you to utilize the latest version of the Internet Protocol. The LAN ports are physical connectors on a RT-AX88U Pro router that allow you to connect devices to your local network using Ethernet cables.

This router has Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, which provides data transfer speeds of up to 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) over Ethernet connections. The 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port of RT-AX88U Pro router provides a significant speed boost compared to standard gigabit Ethernet. It offers a data transfer rate of 2.5 gigabits per second (Gbps), which is two and a half times faster than the maximum speed of 1 Gbps supported by gigabit Ethernet.

The WAN port on a router stands for "Wide Area Network" port. It is used to connect the router to the external network, typically provided by an internet service provider (ISP). The RT-AX88U Pro router supports Gigabit speed on its WAN port, that can support speeds up to 1000 Mbps. This router ensures that you can fully utilize high-speed internet connections provided by your ISP. The RT-AX88U Pro router also supports 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet on its WAN port.

You can connect the 3G/4G USB dongle to the USB port on the RT-AX88U Pro router. The router will recognize the dongle as a WAN (Wide Area Network) connection and establish an internet connection using the cellular data provided by the dongle. The RT-AX88U Pro comes with OpenVPN support. OpenVPN is a full-featured SSL VPN solution which implements OSI layer 2 or 3 secure network extension using the industry standard SSL/TLS protocol. The PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) is an older VPN protocol that was widely used in the past but is now considered less secure compared to newer alternatives like IPsec or OpenVPN.

Wireless

The 4 x 4 dBi, RP-SMA antennas of RT-AX88U Pro influence the quality and stability of the Wi-Fi signal. A properly positioned and well-designed antenna can minimize interference and signal degradation, leading to a more reliable and stable connection. This router is 2.4 GHz capable. The 2.4GHz band refers to the portion of the radio spectrum between 2.400 and 2.4835 gigahertz. This frequency range is unlicensed and globally available for various wireless applications, including Wi-Fi.

The RT-AX88U Pro supports 5 GHz signals. Most modern devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smart TVs, support dual-band Wi-Fi, which means they can connect to both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. By utilizing the 5 GHz band, you can offload some devices from the crowded 2.4 GHz band, reducing congestion and improving overall network performance. This AX Wi-Fi router provides significantly faster data transfer rates compared to older Wi-Fi standards. They can support higher speeds and increased capacity, allowing for smoother streaming, faster downloads, and improved overall network performance.

The AX6000 refers to the maximum combined data transfer rate supported by the router across all Wi-Fi bands. The RT-AX88U Pro is capable of a maximum throughput speed of 1148 + 4804 Mbps. The real-world speed of a RT-AX88U Pro router is typically lower than its theoretical maximum speed. The TX power of RT-AX88U Pro can be adjusted by the user or set automatically by the router firmware. Higher TX power values indicate stronger signal transmission, which can result in a larger coverage area.

The RT-AX88U Pro router offers several security protocols: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPS. The WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) was the first security protocol for Wi-Fi networks but is now considered weak and easily compromised. It uses a static encryption key and has known vulnerabilities, so it is no longer recommended for securing Wi-Fi networks. The WPA2 (Wi-Fi Protected Access 2) was introduced as an improvement over WEP and provides stronger security. If WPA3 is not available, WPA2-Personal with AES encryption is still considered secure.

The RT-AX88U Pro router offers WPS. The WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) provides a simplified and convenient method for connecting devices to a Wi-Fi network. Instead of manually entering the Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and password, users can use the WPS feature to establish a connection with the push of a button or by entering a PIN. The Asus RT-AX88U Pro router is capable of creating a guest network. Guests connected to the guest network usually have limited access to network settings and configurations. They are typically restricted from accessing devices connected to the primary network, such as printers, network-attached storage (NAS), or other shared resources.

Connectivity

USB ports can offer additional functionality depending on the router's capabilities. The USB 3 ports provide a fast interface for external storage with data transfer rates of up to 4.8 Gbps. By connecting a USB printer to the RT-AX88U Pro router, you can make it accessible to all devices on your network. This eliminates the need for individual printer connections and allows multiple devices to use the printer simultaneously. The USB file server functionality of this router allows you to connect external storage devices, such as USB flash drives or hard drives to your network. This enables easy file sharing and access among devices connected to the network.

Administration

The default IP address of this router is 192.168.1.1. Explore the router's configuration interface to access more advanced settings such as port forwarding, DHCP settings, parental controls, firewall settings, and QoS (Quality of Service) settings. If you are unable to log in to the setup panel of your Asus router, performing a reset can be a helpful troubleshooting step. It is highly recommended to change the default password of your RT-AX88U Pro router after the initial setup. If you forget the new password in the future, you may need to perform a factory reset on the router to revert to the default settings.

The specifications above are based on the official data published by the manufacturer, but we also take user reviews into consideration. If you found an error or something lacking in the specifications above for the Asus RT-AX88U Pro, then don’t hesite and signal the problem to us.

Asus RT-AX88U Pro (RT-AX88UPRO) pictures

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