ASUS RT-AX1800S Dual Band WiFi 6 Router

Edit: I changed the rating to 5 stars from 3 because the router itself is really nice and quite effective in spite of some woeful errors and misleading information in the manual and quick start guide that made it frustrating to get it setup. See added comments below.

Wow. Yes, so far after spending some hours trying to connect and configure this router–it works well it seems. No, I’m not completely set up but things are working for some devices now. What’s my quibble? Very little about the “quick startup” and the manual “quick start” instructions matched the actual router well enough to get off the ground. Astonishingly, tech support was totally unaware of what was not working and I had to stumble around while they were escalating to get into the setup menu by alternate means.

1. The URL for getting into the router’s setup failed in Linux with two browsers. The browsers (chrome and firefox) changed the typed URL I gave it to a generic asus url. I could not get them to trigger the router’s internal ddns to give me the setup software.

2. Chat help gave me a standard baseline IP to login: 192.168.1.1–didn’t work. They couldn’t understand why. It turned out that the router’s internal initial IP was 192.168.1.50. Wow. Heads were spinning at Asus Help Chat.

I eventually got into the router’s setup (while waiting for the “escalation agent” to arrive on the end of the line. Then, the setup menus were not as shown in the pdf manual on the disc that came with the router. It would be really nice if the folks that update the software would update the manuals before releasing it all to the world at large. Really bush league for a first rate hardware company like Asus. I have super Asus products that I think are first rate. I am shocked at how poor the instructions that came with this router were in spite of how good the router seems to be.

edit: it continues. There was a one sentence statement in a menu that implied that router login authentication could be more secure by making it via “https” so I clicked on it. Nope, locked me out until we agreed to reset to factory status by putting something in the pin-hole reset button. Bingo, 4 hours of setup disappeared but I was in again. Grrr. Totally inadequate documentation of what that would do and the inference that it was going to make logging in more secure. Grrr. The documentation of this device is well-intended but grossly out of date and also, it seems woefully inaccurate in some places where things get really important.

edit 2: I made this 5 stars because the router is really nice now that I’ve had 2 weeks to use it and tweak things. I should say that I have been dealing with multiple routers as technology has advanced for over 20 years. Overall, the menu system is good and reasonably well-documented within the router. The idea that the Quick Start Guide and the manual both failed to give me information that got me logged into the router from Chrome and Firefox within Linux is quite dismaying and a first for me. The idea that even Customer Support did not have the correct IP for logging into the router is astonishing. Logging in from Windows (which I almost never use) worked for the login url and I was then able to change the base IP to a value that fit the static IPs in my system.

Customer Support was earnest and polite. I was passed from a first line tech to a supervisor and the latter suggested a couple of things to get past the “https” lockout and then said I’d have to do the “pinhole reset.” I assumed all along that I’d have to do that but was hoping not need to start over with setup which I had spent a while doing. However, the reset did not affect the firmware upgrade I had performed and I had notes for all the manually defined IPs and their corresponding MAC addresses and so redoing the setup went pretty quickly.

Performance: I had purchased the router because it was recommended by Nvidia support that getting a router with MU-MIMO capability was a good idea for enhancing streaming as well as one that was dual band. This router is 3×3 MU-MIMO and in addition it provides stronger signals from the other side of the house to my livingroom where the important wifi devices are located. Greater range would be overkill that only exposed my LAN to more of my neighborhood. Speed is great for streaming to my streaming box and Smart 4K TV. Three walls and about 40 feet of distance between the router and devices is no problem. I am still tinkering with the QoS settings to see how that affects things. I have yet to use the internal VPN and it was suggested by my VPN provider that for maximum speed with VPN I should stick with clients on my computers and individual devices since encryption and decryption may be demanding for router processors.

So….I can recommend the router strongly for those who can get past the hiccups imposed by the faulty documentation. I still have not explored what exactly was being suggested in the menu system about using https for better security in accessing the router menus and I doubt I check that box again any time soon. Changing the login username and passwords should be safe enough in my somewhat isolated location and moderately low tech neighborhood.

Independientemente de las opciones ya tradicionales en los router de Asus, el rendimiento de este modelo que sin ser un AX es excelente, la potencia de señal (tengo el router en el segundo piso y distribuye la red de 5Ghz en mas del 70% de la casa en nivel de calidad decente), en el caso de la red de 2.4Ghz es bastante estable y en realidad es un AC1900 no un 1750 por lo que tiene mayor rendimiento del que menciona el fabricante (esta información se puede constatar en varios reviews en la red o en pruebas si tienen el equipo para verificarlo) su alcance es obviamente mayor que la red de 5Ghz y ofrece una excelente estabilidad de conexion, las opciones de configuración en particular las de control parental y seguridad (Trend Micro) que son algo que todo padre de familia debiera de tener en consideración cuando los niños tienen acceso a la red a traves de tabletas y celulares (independientemente de los bloqueos de seguridad en estos) y su detección de paginas inseguras y bloqueo de las mismas permiten ofrecer una mayor seguridad con la navegación de aquellos miembros de la familia con un conocimiento muy básico o inexistente sobre riesgos de seguridad en la web.

Es importante mencionar que además este modelo viene con soporte para configuración Aimesh, lo cual lo hace compatible y da soporte para expansion a futuro aun cuando se adquiera un router con soporte WiFi 6 ya que estos tienen de fabrica el soporte para este tipo de configuración en todos sus modelos.

Ya por ultimo aunque ya es algo característico de todos los modelos de Asus el soporte para crear red de invitados independiente de las redes principales y bloquear el acceso de esta a las redes internas por seguridad permite poder ofrecer a los invitados una conexion a la web sin que esto afecte a los dispositivos principales ya que automáticamente se asigna una prioridad menor a estas conexiones sobre las redes principales (además de la posible asignación de ancho de banda gracias al QoS adaptativa o también la opción de limitador de ancho de banda por dispositivo dentro de las mismas opciones) la mejor opción en este momento en precio-rendimiento-seguridad en routers de Asus y en mi caso lo agarre en oferta en menos de $1800 lo que recomendaría estar cazando los descuentos a la espera de una nueva oferta en el modelo.

P.D. Lo compre directo de Amazon tengan cuidado al elegir vendedor

You can verify everything written here is true with a quick google search. Talking to you, Amazon.

While ASUS does source some production to China, ASUS is a Taiwanese company and the sticker on the router states “Made in Vietnam”. I’m inclined to believe that. The product origin on this page states “China” but I doubt, and hope, that’s not true. You may not think it matters, but it does more than you might know.

Most consumers only care about speed and affordability when it comes to routers, but it should be security at the top of the list. All your data flows through your router, including personal and financial data. Security flaws in your network can also affect neighboring networks around you. If you buy a cheap router based on speed capability alone with security flaws built in, either intentionally or not, you’re basically paying to be hacked, or for your neighbors to be, or possibly unknowingly being a conduit for attacks on your entire country. It has happened in the past, it’s still happening, and will continue to happen.

Most routers today are produced in China. Even companies based in the US produce there and it’s very hard to find one that’s not made there. The problem with routers made in China is that ultimately, businesses there are controlled by the CCP government, not the business owner. This allows their government to implement whatever they want in their exported tech and products. It’s why some of their tech companies like Huawei have been banned in numerous countries. Routers made in China from brands like Wavlink which are sold in big retail stores across the US have been found to contain hidden back doors and intentional security holes and vulnerabilities to malware like Mirai. Basically open doors for hackers. Some of these back doors have been used in the past to launch cyber attacks (Mirai botnet) on the US which caused major network outages, as well as in other countries. From a cybersecurity perspective, these look a lot like “trial runs” to me. But speculation and paranoia aside, why take the chance on inviting that kind of tech into your home? It wasn’t an isolated, one time event when these back doors were discovered, and it was with various routers and companies out of China. Again, all this is verifiable with the slightest amount of research using credible sources.

I have tried some routers made in China. I could tell they had horrible security just by using the app, or during setup. One was capable of remote access, yet the option to turn it on or off was non existent. It didn’t even ask during set up and the option was nowhere in the app. Remote access should always be turned off, unless you need to access your router from outside your home, which is rarely needed for the average user. If it’s on, it’s just an unnecessary access point open for hackers to attempt access. It might have been possible to check by connecting directly to it using the Web UI, but instead I just returned it and went on the hunt for non-Chinese routers. It took a lot of research since there aren’t many, but finally landed on this one.

I am much, much happier with this ASUS router and it seems very security focused! There are numerous security options available in the app, and also asks you about remote access during set up. It has AI Protection by Trend Micro built in (included free of charge) which constantly monitors your network for viruses and intrusions and even blocks harmful websites. You can also monitor all connections and traffic through the app. There are even additional apps you can download for more functionalities.

As for speed, WiFi 6 is awesome. This thing is lightning fast to my previous ISP provided router and much more stable. If you’re not familiar with WiFi 6, it’s not really a speed booster. It provides a more stable connection though, even in very signal-congested areas such as apartments or offices where there’s numerous routers and networks overlapping and causing interference. This more stable connection will often times yield higher speeds. Your PC and various hardware must be WiFi 6 capable to utilize it, but there are cheap and affordable USB adapters available to enable it on your PC if it’s not already capable. Aside from that, the 5GHz signal is stable and fast, even without WiFi 6. 2.4GHz is not bad at all either. There are options in the app to monitor what’s connected at all times and you can even limit bandwidth to certain devices, or ban them from connecting completely if you want to streamline your connections.

There are a lot more features to this router, which are easily accessed from the app which appears extremely robust compared to the anemic apps I used with the Chinese routers. Those seemed like toys compared to this. I haven’t tried Ai Mesh, but it is yet another useful capability of this router.

Completely happy with this router based on speed, stability, capabilities, and most of all, security!

I’m a gamer and remote worker, So I wanted Two things from this router. 1. was to get better Wifi and connection speeds/stability and with updated technology in general which means this thing has newer technology than what was available in my basic router that My ISP provides. 2. I needed options to see security and other features not available to me from my other router. So I got that and then some. With the ability to customize my router settings unlike with my ISP router I was able to setup the newer technology in the Menu. Which is the router settings page. Firefox worked perfectly and connected to the router immediately. The router setup was easy but I was cautious. It prompted to UPDATE FIRMWARE which I and almost everybody recommend just make sure theirs no other programs running on the PC. I used Asus recommendations on their website for best security. I couldnt mess with these settings on my old router because my ISP locked down the page. I would recommend this if you need a more reliable router than your ISP provides. Its much better, trust me. I instantly saw the speed increase and it doesnt buffer at all when watching TV or on PC. Very smooth. So the gaming is far better experience than before. Im getting better latency in games like MW3 which has terrible servers to begin with. Sure you can’t get rid of the packet burst completely because of this. But this helps very much and Im glad I bought this. In the future who knows I might get something better and use this for its mesh capability. So there is that option. But honestly I couldn’t ask for much more. Just make sure you research and turn off certain features that you dont need. Asus has recommendations that should help even in the settings page UI. Side note, I love MSI and ASUS boxes their nice quality.