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I bought an ASUS RT-AC5300 router today and will be updating this thread with my experiences with it.
First good sign is, last year I bought the ASUS RT-AC3200 router for the sole fact that it has a feature called Smart Connect which when activated, you no longer see 3 bands, 2.4GHz, 5GHz 1, and 5 GHz 2 and sit puzzled thinking "hmmm, which band is best to connect to?" as Smart Connect combines all the 3 bands into 1 SSID and as more devices connect, it assigns them to the least congested band. Sounds great on paper right? that thing never worked properly. My devices were getting randomly disconnected all the time. I tried upgrading to diff. firmwares including Merlin's builds but finally gave up and returned it. It was simply not usable.
First good sign with this router is that Smart Connect actually works now. I haven't been disconnected in the past 2 hours that I have been using the router.
I also turned on the Firewall and added a few ad sites and the Microsoft Telemetry addresses to have them blocked and it didn't affect the router's performance like it did with my RT-AC68U thanks to its 1.4 GHz Dual Core processor.
Additionally, it has an extra security layer called AiProtection which is like a built in Anti-Virus from Trend Micro. On my previous RT-AC68U and RT-AC88U, enabling AiProtection caused a bit of a performance hit. With this router you don't feel a thing, it silently works in the background with no negative impact on performance.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask
@downloads @Ethrem
Speed Test Results (exactly the same as my RT-AC68U):
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Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
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hmscott, Captain_Bobby and Spartan@HIDevolution like this.
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Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
After 48 hours of using it with AiProtection enabled and Smart Connect, I am happy to report that I haven't experienced any disconnections! Finally, ASUS makes a router with features that actually work unlike my previous AC3200 which used to disconnect left and right when Smart Connect/AiProtection were enabled
hmscott likes this. -
Don't be so happy yet. My router used to work for a week or so and then something would give up. I'm guessing there was a firewall-related memory leak or NAT table overflow, either way it had to be rebooted.
This was fixed with a firmware update, but my point is you'll need at least a month - if not more - to be able to say with any certainty that it is stable.Spartan@HIDevolution likes this. -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
I was in Computer Plaza 2 days ago wanting to buy the Netgear R8000 but then this router caught my eye, and as much as I want to avoid ASUS products from previous bad experience, its 3 year warranty and local support here is what made me give it a try. I hope I don't regret it. -
Captain_Bobby Notebook Consultant
I have the Netgear version of your router but more for the reason TomJGX suggested. I have 16 devices on my network and my old Linksys E4200 couldn't handle all of them at once.
The extra band and smart connect actually do work well. I live in an apartment building and according to inSSIDer, the low band is on channel 8 straddling my neighbors and the 2 high ones are splitting my iPhone's and iPads between them. I'm happy with it.
Our routers may be different vendors but are internally based on the same platform so I would suspect you'll be happy too.
Bobby -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
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http://www.cnet.com/uk/products/netgear-r8500-nighthawk-x8-ac5300-smart-wifi-router/ -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
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Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
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The whole smart connect concept is Gimmicky. When in good proximity to the router it is always suggested to use the 5Ghz Bands since they offer the most throughput. If you use the same password on all the the supported bands, then your device will automatically jump the next best SSID/band available if the 5Ghz falls off or out of range. Having the router do it for you is just asking for complications.
This is why i love DDWRT. it is a no BS firmware with actual control. Merlini is a good alternative if you are looking for something with a familiar interface.
Also its not really worth it using the in built malware/site blocking functions, NOD32 already does everything for me, you can use whatever you prefer and it will be better. And there are a lot of better tools that offer more control and less frustration than the inbuilt router "blocking" shenanigans.
Dont get me wrong, this is one of the best routers out there, but try and avoid using the additional "fluff" functions bundled in, will save you a lot of headaches and will save a lot of resources on the router itself.
I have been using this for the past 3 years : http://www.amazon.com/RT-AC66U-Dual-Band-Wireless-AC1750-Gigabit-Router/dp/B008ABOJKS
Not even a single hickup so far. I have all my personal devices over static IP's and have QoS setup for DHCP based wifi devices.
A controlled setup goes a long way in preventing issues.Last edited: Apr 2, 2016Starlight5 likes this. -
@Phoenix
How does it actually work? Is it "in the cloud" sort of antivirus or is it physically running one the router? What about the virus definitions (if it's the latter)?
If it's the former I would be rather terrified that all of my traffic and files downloaded are reported somewhere. It's like VPN in reverse.Starlight5 likes this. -
Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
I did try a few tests on that eicar website or whatever it's called in the past. All threats were blocked before they could even be downloaded, they were sample viruses.
very interesting thread about it:
bought an ASUS AC-87U Router, do I still need an AV?
Bought an ASUS RT-AC5300 Router
Discussion in 'Networking and Wireless' started by Spartan@HIDevolution, Mar 13, 2016.