This router offers blistering performance and tons of features.
This router offers blistering performance and tons of features.
WIRELESS MONSTER
ASUS RT-AC5300 Tri-band Gigabit Router
With sharp angles throughout and no less than eight external antennas, the new ASUS RT-AC5300 router is radical, bold and certainly unique. It’s also amongst the bulkiest and heaviest routers we’ve come across, tipping the scales at nearly 2kg. But eye-catching design aside, the RT-AC5300 is among the new breed of tri-band routers that uses Broadcom’s latest 4x4 5G XStream platform. It support up to four spatial streams for higher combined data rates.
As a result, this new router now supports up to 1,000Mbps on its single 2.4GHz band and 2,150Mbps each on its two 5GHz bands. Add them all up for a combined data transfer rate of 5,300Mbps. The RT-AC5300 also supports the latest MU-MIMO technology, so it can transmit data to multiple compatible devices simultaneously.However, remember that performance is still dependent on client support. Today, there are very few devices that support three spatial streams, much less four.
Clients that support MU-MIMO are also few and far between.On the bright side, the RT-AC5300 proved to be one very fast router. It was consistently amongst the top routers tested and performance over range was particularly impressive. At our farthest test range of 17 meters, its managed the fastest file transfer speed we have ever recorded of 242.42Mbps.One nifty feature about the RT-AC5300 is support for port aggregation.
Two out of its four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports can be combined as a single super-fast connection. This will benefit users with enthusiast consumer NAS systems that also support port aggregation for faster transfer of data, backup and streaming. Speaking of Ethernet ports, the RT-AC5300 router also has a single Gigabit WAN port and a USB 3.0 and 2.0 port that can be used with external storage devices for wireless backups or file sharing, or printers for print sharing.
The RT-AC5300 uses ASUS’ familiar ASUSWRT setup interface. It’s not the prettiest looking and a little daunting, but once you start exploring around, it is straightforward enough to use. It’s also quite feature-rich with online cloud storage functionality via AiCloud 2.0 and has built-in anti-spyware/anti-malware via AiProtection.Game Boost is a new feature that instantly adjusts your QoS rules to prioritize gaming connections on both wired and wireless networks.
Game Boost also features a free lifetime subscription to the WTFast Gamers Private Network, a VPN service for gamers.At $469, the ASUS RT-AC5300 is fairly pricey, but wholly justifiable given its wealth of features and performance. If you insist on having the absolute cutting-edge in wireless technology, this is for you.
AT A GLANCE
Frequency bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz x 2, Combined data rate: 5300Mbps, Wireless standards: 802.11ac/b/g/n/a, Price: $469.
The router supports port aggregation, combining two Gigabit Ethernet ports to form one super-fast connection.
