Thursday, September 26th 2013

ASUS Announces the World's Fastest Wireless Router is Available for Pre-Order

Press Release by
Cristian_25H
 Discuss (26 Comments)
ASUS is excited to announce that the RT-AC68U Wireless-AC1900 Dual-band router is now available for pre-order at select resellers. Capable of delivering speeds up to 1.3 Gbps over 802.11ac and 600 Mbps over 802.11n thanks to Broadcom TurboQAM technology, the RT-AC68U is the world's fastest dual-band wireless router.

Powered by a dual-core processor, the RT-AC68U eliminates the performance drops that plague other routers with busy networks. So even on the busiest home networks HD video streaming is always smooth, low latencies enhance online gaming and VoIP calls, and file downloads are not interrupted.
The RT-AC68U also features dual USB ports for file, printer and 3G/4G modem sharing that includes a USB 3.0 port for high-speed data transfers. ASUS AiCloud technology transforms home networking into your personal cloud for easy streaming and sharing to smartphones, PCs, and tablets. AiRadar intelligently strengthens the signal for extended and enhanced coverage while dual-band 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz technology ensure full backward-compatibility with current wireless devices.

Pre-Order Information
The RT-AC68U is available for pre-order at the following resellers - Amazon, NCIX and Newegg.

SPECIFICATIONS
Full specifications are available at www.asus.com/Networking/RTAC68U.

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26 Comments on ASUS Announces the World's Fastest Wireless Router is Available for Pre-Order

#1
Fourstaff
The N66U is a charm, but I wouldn't pay more than a hundred pounds for a home router. $220 is a bit too much even if its fast and reliable.
Posted on Reply
#2
Solidstate89
Like with all ASUS routers, give them 6 months or so to iron out the firmware before you buy them. It was true with the RT-N16 I used to own, and it was true the RT-N66U I currently own.
Posted on Reply
#3
acperience7
On a device like this is a dual core processor really needed (even if it's a specialized design and code)? I feel like it's just marketing.
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#5
The Von Matrices
Solidstate89Like with all ASUS routers, give them 6 months or so to iron out the firmware before you buy them. It was true with the RT-N16 I used to own, and it was true the RT-N66U I currently own.
And it was true with both the ASUS RT-AC66U and the EA-N66 I own; they both used to crash and restart daily but only the latest firmwares (nearly a year after release) have fixed that.

I just wish that there were more 802.11AC devices to connect. I get horrible 5GHz reception where I live (lots of small rooms), so I want to get a PCIe card with 802.11AC support and external antennae so that I can use a big antenna, but alas the only 802.11AC adapters are USB ones with tiny antennae.
Posted on Reply
#6
ChristTheGreat
The Von MatricesAnd it was true with both the ASUS RT-AC66U and the EA-N66 I own; they both used to crash and restart daily but only the latest firmwares (nearly a year after release) have fixed that.

I just wish that there were more 802.11AC devices to connect. I get horrible 5GHz reception where I live (lots of small rooms), so I want to get a PCIe card with 802.11AC support and external antennae so that I can use a big antenna, but alas the only 802.11AC adapters are USB ones with tiny antennae.
Like Asus bios? I always see for a new board, like 3040506 bios in a row xD

but nice to see some fast wireless. I would like to test that
Posted on Reply
#7
thebeephaha
The Von MatricesAnd it was true with both the ASUS RT-AC66U and the EA-N66 I own; they both used to crash and restart daily but only the latest firmwares (nearly a year after release) have fixed that.

I just wish that there were more 802.11AC devices to connect. I get horrible 5GHz reception where I live (lots of small rooms), so I want to get a PCIe card with 802.11AC support and external antennae so that I can use a big antenna, but alas the only 802.11AC adapters are USB ones with tiny antennae.
ASUS PCE-AC68 Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 Adapter IE...

;)
Posted on Reply
#8
Igb
acperience7On a device like this is a dual core processor really needed (even if it's a specialized design and code)? I feel like it's just marketing.
If you are asking it is absolutely neccesary, the answer is that it is not. Routing capability is far more than enough with "old" RT-AC66U broadcom processor

But there are some areas when it is really neccesary. OpenVPN and usb performance are dramatically increased (old processors cant even handle usb 2.0 full speeds). Before this launch something strange was ocurring, RT-AC56U (2x2, dual core) was much faster in this cases than its bigger brother RT-AC66U (3x3, old slower single core processor) but the latter has far better wireless performance.

Now they are offering advantages of both with no major drawbacks... at an increased price.
Posted on Reply
#9
Tonduluboy
if i add another $10 monthly on my current internet speed fee, my internet speed will be upgraded boost by 150%...

ATM i'm using a $30 TP link wireless router share by 3 pcs and no problem at all on speed...
I guess this expensive $200 router suitable only for businesses or office...
Posted on Reply
#10
Prima.Vera
Well, 600Mbps or more seems like an overkill. Even Japan, with the fastest mainstream Internet in the world, has maximum 200Mbps for the public. I would prefer instead of bigger speeds to improve the range and penetration. Those are the real problems. ;)
Posted on Reply
#11
zomg
Prima.VeraWell, 600Mbps or more seems like an overkill.
wireless 600 mbps will be useful for local transfers (wifi to gigabit lan), like copying or playing large files
Posted on Reply
#12
wowman
I'm thinking about similar hardware with powerful cpu like haswell and just virtualize the the firmware. They don't need to update the whole hardware in the future as long as the cpu is capable.

Just imagine when they upgrade 4G network to 5G in the future, they can do it just by clicking a button from their laptop. Quite handy.

Just Wooow....
Posted on Reply
#13
Solidstate89
wowmanI'm thinking about similar hardware with powerful cpu like haswell and just virtualize the the firmware. They don't need to update the whole hardware in the future as long as the cpu is capable.

Just imagine when they upgrade 4G network to 5G in the future, they can do it just by clicking a button from their laptop. Quite handy.

Just Wooow....
Tell me, just how MUCH crack have you snorted? :slap:
Posted on Reply
#14
Sasqui
Solidstate89Like with all ASUS routers, give them 6 months or so to iron out the firmware before you buy them. It was true with the RT-N16 I used to own, and it was true the RT-N66U I currently own.
Couldn't be happier with the N66U... except printer sharing is horrible. What has me drooling over this is the USB 3.0 for NAS purposes. And another USB 2.0 for printers, if they can get it to work. No clue why they didn't incorporate 2x USB 3.0 ports.
Posted on Reply
#15
Brusfantomet
Prima.VeraWell, 600Mbps or more seems like an overkill. Even Japan, with the fastest mainstream Internet in the world, has maximum 200Mbps for the public. I would prefer instead of bigger speeds to improve the range and penetration. Those are the real problems. ;)
hmm, i can get 400 Mbs up and down here (same suppler i have now), albeit at the exuberant price of 10000 NOK (1665 USD) a month. But there was a time when 10 Mbs lines were at that price here.

The AC66U have worked nicely for me so far, but this rooter is getting into semi pro price range. And i am not sure it has the features for that kind of work.
Posted on Reply
#17
Solidstate89
SasquiCouldn't be happier with the N66U... except printer sharing is horrible. What has me drooling over this is the USB 3.0 for NAS purposes. And another USB 2.0 for printers, if they can get it to work. No clue why they didn't incorporate 2x USB 3.0 ports.
If you have an all Windows house, you can just share the printers using Homegroup.
Posted on Reply
#18
Igb
wowmanI'm thinking about similar hardware with powerful cpu like haswell and just virtualize the the firmware. They don't need to update the whole hardware in the future as long as the cpu is capable.

Just imagine when they upgrade 4G network to 5G in the future, they can do it just by clicking a button from their laptop. Quite handy.

Just Wooow....
Well, 2 big problems here.

1) How much power do you want your router to consume? Because RT-AC68U with arround 30W on load is quite high for a router. ¿You want a computer on 24/7 only for router purposes?

2) You will need to upgrade the network card anyways anytime a new standard appears. So you will have to spend some money on updating aswell

3) You can turn a computer into a router if you choose adequate hardware. DD-WRT has a (quite old) x86 version, aswell as other alternatives. Still not very extended.
Posted on Reply
#20
The Von Matrices
XzibitI'm reminded of this...

Netgear accuses Asus of submitting fraudulent test results to the FCC
That's very interesting; I did not know about that. I wonder how that lawsuit will turn out. Thanks for the link.
wowmanJust imagine when they upgrade 4G network to 5G in the future, they can do it just by clicking a button from their laptop. Quite handy.
These ASUS routers already support connecting a WWAN ("4G") USB dongle and using that as the primary internet connection, so switching from "4G' to "5G" is as simple as replacing a USB dongle.
Posted on Reply
#21
ypsylon
I would definitely be cautious about routers from ASUS. Firmware is rubbish many months after release or purchase. I bought recently N55 and it is fairly useful as failover (lying on the shelf). Wanted better, paid the premium and still using "ancient" 6-7 yo router.
Posted on Reply
#22
remixedcat
The Von MatricesAnd it was true with both the ASUS RT-AC66U and the EA-N66 I own; they both used to crash and restart daily but only the latest firmwares (nearly a year after release) have fixed that.

I just wish that there were more 802.11AC devices to connect. I get horrible 5GHz reception where I live (lots of small rooms), so I want to get a PCIe card with 802.11AC support and external antennae so that I can use a big antenna, but alas the only 802.11AC adapters are USB ones with tiny antennae.
Amped ACA1 and RTA15:
remixedcat.blogspot.com/2013/09/amped-wireless-rta15-and-aca1-review.html


Thats my review.
Posted on Reply
#23
slim142
$220 seems too high for a router

Hopefully by the time it hits $150 a better/newer model is not available yet.
Posted on Reply
#25
Wshlist
The Von MatricesAnd it was true with both the ASUS RT-AC66U and the EA-N66 I own; they both used to crash and restart daily but only the latest firmwares (nearly a year after release) have fixed that.
.
That's better than netgear, they would no longer support a product after a year and you would be stuck with some beta firmware that half-works.
Posted on Reply
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