ASUS RT-AC87U review: One of the fastest routers out there

ASUS has not been in the dominating space when it comes into the wireless router segment. Leading brands such as D-Link, Linksys, Cisco, and a few others have captured the wireless networking segment, especially from budget to high-end. However, ASUS has been in the upper segment of fast and feature-rich peripherals. Out from the ASUS factory is the recent wireless dual-band router—the RT-AC87U. It is claimed as one of the fastest router available.

The ASUS RT-AC87U is a dual-band wireless router with the fastest wireless networking with the latest 802.11ac title on its back. The wireless router has a meal-looking design—the four antennas on the rear and the front chassis having a chiselled look will give you the feeling of owning a mean machine on your desk. The entire chassis has a textured finish with four detachable antennas. The front has a tapering body with a bit awkwardly placed USB 3.0 port. The rear sports four Ethernet ports for local networking, one Ethernet for WAN (internet connection) and a USB 2.0 port. Reset, power and WPS buttons and a power connector complete the rear end. The front has all the LED indicators from LAN / WAN connectivity to WAN and wireless modes. Lastly, the router runs off its own external power adapter, but sadly, the manufacturer has not bundled an Indian power plug, but has supplied an American and European one. You would have to opt for a converter for it.

Under the hood lies a very powerful hardware. The RT-AC87U packs a one of the first four-spatial-stream setup (4x4) with 802.11ac wireless standard chipset. It uses a dual-core 500MHz Quantenna QT3840BC chipset, capable of delivering a 5GHz band with blazing speeds of up to 1733Mbps with 802.11ac modes. However, though you can get high-speed data throughputs using conventional 802.11ac equipment, the max throughput can be achieved only using compatible quad-stream clients.

Using 2.4GHz band, the router is capable of delivering data throughput speeds of 600Mbps, using compatible hardware on the client side. The RT-AC87U has a built-in flash memory of 128MB and sports 512MB of DDR3 RAM, which is one of the most powerful hardware built into a SOHO router.

The ASUS RT-AC87U features four Gigabit LAN Ethernet ports on the rear for physical connectivity between servers, network storage or clients. Though sufficient enough for basic needs, 8 ports would have been beneficial.

The rear panel USB 2.0 port is placed well, but the front USB 3.0 port is awkwardly placed for external storage devices. This could have been placed on the rear, considering one would (possibly) attach an external storage to the router to have network storage usability. The USB 2.0 port could have been placed on the front for quick access to pen drives and temporary data transfer.

Setting up the router is pretty simple and straight-forward. It gets simpler when using the quick-setup guide, but if you want enhanced control and settings, you should prefer the manual setup mode. The router can be used in three modes—basic router, access point or as a media bridge (when paired with another RT-AC87U router). If you have used any of the previous RT-series routers, you can be ensured that the RT-AC87U has a robust firmware and easy-to-use user interface.

Unlike conventional home routers, which sport one guest mode, the RT-AC87U has an ability to enable up to 6 guest users. Additional features are great too—a single click can let you see the presently connected devices in a map, including wired and wireless clients and devices. The USB ports are multi-functional—they can be used for storage devices for network storage, 3G internet dongles and as print servers.

On the performance front, the ASUS RT-AC87U does great, but you would need compatible 802.11ac hardware on the client-front to make sure you tap the true performance for data throughput. With 5GHz band 802.11ac clients, one can expect speeds of close to 1Gbps in short distances and around 512Mbps at longer distances in line-of-sight. Using it in large offices at a particular height can give you the best results, but the throughput speeds will differ from place to place. Homes filled with furniture, walls in between and offices with lots of cabins can affect the range and throughput speeds accordingly.

If you are planning to upgrade your router to higher speeds for your clients, the ASUS RT-AC87U is one of the best routers we can recommend. However, ensure that you are using compatible 802.11ac hardware on the client side to tap the best performance of the router. The ASUS RT-AC87U is the best future-proof router you can upgrade to, at this point. However, the cost is not as appealing. Retailing for a whopping Rs 24,400, the ASUS RT-AC87U is an expensive piece of equipment for a regular home, but a great option for a small office.