Asus RT-AC58U Review

Asus is well known for its networking devices with its solid offering and robust feature-set on RT series of routers. From the lower-end to top-end Asus has some very compelling offering. But there is a gap between ASUS’s entry-level and mid-range router line-up, the RT-AC58U AC1300 is a new router that aims to fill that gap, this is a brand new router with the latest quad-core Qualcomm IPQ4018 processor – the industry’s first single-chip Wi-Fi system-on-chip (SoC) to bring Wave-2 802.11ac features, which just st and added in 2016. So we should expect a great performance at an affordable price.

The RT-AC58U AC1300 Dual-Band Router has 400+867 Mbps total speeds of its dual-band 2.4 and 5GHz WiFi. Other features include MU-MIMO technology, 128MB memory, four antennae, and a USB 3.0 port. Let’s find out how its actual performance.

Asus RT-AC58U

#	Image	Details
1		Asus RT-AC58U AC1200	Amazon.com
2		ASUS Dual-Band 2x2 AC1300 Super-Fast WiFi 4-Port Gigabit Router with MU-MIMO and USB 3.0 (RT-ACRH13)	Amazon.com

Design

The ASUS RT-AC58U is designed to compete and fill the gap in the ASUS router line-up, with its set between standard 2.5GHz dual-band routers and ASUS mid-range 2.5/5GHz routers. With performance close to the midrange and affordable price point of just ₹5000 in India or $70 in the USA, the RT-AC58U is an ideal choice for a small office or home with multiple simultaneous users, using its four antennas and MU-MIMO support it can handle multiple devices easily, thanks to its quad-core Qualcomm IPQ4018 processor (SoC) and Wave-2 802.11ac. The RT-AC58U also has all add-on features like AiCloud personal cloud service, 3G/4G data sharing, but ASUS did remove some features to keep the cost down, like built-in Download Master for USB drives. Though the router offers only one USB port, which means only 1 driver or printer can be connected at a time, but at the list, it’s a USB 3.0, so transfer speed is good. Overall ASUS RT-AC58U provides all the important bits that make a good a router, and for the price, it’s an excellent package with performance and features, we are giving it the BEST VALUE AWARD and SILVER AWARD.

ASUS added a new RT-AC58U Dual-Band 802.11ac WiFi Router in their line-up. This model supports dual-band WiFi access point (2.4GHz – 400Mbps and 5GHz – 867Mbps) thus AC1300 enhanced AC performance: 400+867 Mbps.

Features

Utilizing the MU-MIMO technology for delivering outstanding coverage and smooth multi-device performance, this home router is configured with a powerful quad-core A7 processor, a 128MB DDR3 RAM, a 128MB flash memory, a WPS button, 1x Internet LAN port, 4x LAN ports, and 1x USB 3.0 port.

• Super-Fast Wi-Fi – Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi with concurrent speeds up to 867Mbps (5GHz) and 400Mbps (2.4GHz)
• Improved Wi-Fi Range – Four external 5dBi antennas for improved Wi-Fi range and multi-device performance
• MU-MIMO – Revolutionary technology for the best multi-device performance
• Quad-Core Processor – Responsive network performance and smooth data handling
• 128MB Memory for Multi-Tasking – Fast memory architecture enables stable multiple simultaneous download streams on multiple devices
• USB 3.0 – up to 10X faster data transfer speeds

Equipped with 4 external high-gain antennas, the RT-AC58U supports for dual-band WiFi access point (2.4GHz – 400Mbps and 5GHz – 867Mbps) and provides security through encryption using WEP (64/128bit), WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, and WPA-Enterprise. Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing yet.