ASUS RT-BE96U BE19000 802.11BE Tri-Band Performance WiFi 7 Extendable Router with 6GHz support, Dual 10G Port, 320Mhz, lifetime internet security , MLO, Multi-RU puncturing , AiMesh Support

Just don’t do it, buy the RT-BE88U instead and be happy!
I purchased this router to future proof my network at home, and to replace the RT-AC87U because it finally just couldn’t take it anymore (lasted a decade of rock solid performance, which is excellent when you really think about it). Everything with the RT-BE96U went smoothly in the beginning, for the most part. Firmware updated immediately after connecting, great. But what I didn’t know is that it really would have been better to start all over after the firmware upgrade because it definitely made things a little different for the initial setup and much smarter. I learned the hard way anyway because a factory reset was eventually required to restore the connection from the ISP. So then starting the process with the latest firmware gave me a slightly different initial setup, which was ultimately better than the initial one. However, any and all little interruptions from the ISP would result in this router entering an infinite autowan loop. Factory reset fixed it every single time, but why on earth should I have to factory reset a router like this on a regular basis? Something was clearly very wrong with this router and its ability to automatically establish a network connection through DHCP. Worked initially, then never again. The reset button didn’t even work to factory reset the device, even though the power LED flashed telling me I had pressed the reset button for a long enough time. Thats how I really knew this router was actually defective. It had to be reset multiple times and powered off just to get back to default settings, even my decade old router would reset after the very first time that I pressed the reset button for a long enough time! The BE96U should have just instantly gone back to factory reset process after pressing the recessed reset button for long enough to make the power LED flash, indicating a successful initiation to factory default, but no. It would just really do just about nothing honestly. If a Thunderstorm was in the area, any minor interruption and boom, infinite autowan loop, all in the log file, so no mistake about it. Asus customer service line actually had a dedicated recording on their phone lines, and it sounded a lot like what I was dealing with because their recommendation was a factory reset. Three days in a row in one week, that was enough. Thank goodness I just barely was within the return window. This is a terrible product, especially when considering the price paid and the difficulties experienced, very sorry to say, but happy to report in the hopes that it helps others to make an informed decision. They have the RT-BE88U and it has received nothing but overwhelmingly positive reviews and already over 4k of them. Available June 2024, so you know what to do. I think this one was just created before the IEEE BE standard was really fully established and fleshed out, 2023, and they just don’t have all the bugs figured out yet. The RT-BE88U (RT-BE7200) was released in June 2024, and look at how popular it is compared to this one. I should I have known better, shame on me, but thankfully the defective product could be returned just in the nick of time. Don’t make the mistake I did and think that a really expensive piece of equipment won’t give you problems. This one did and I’m coming off a decade of solid performance with my previous ASUS router. That’s not exactly by chance either, surge protector and proper grounding is very important. Hopefully I’ll have nothing but positive things to say about the RT-BE88U. Can’t wait to find out!

I’ve been using this router for around 2 months. I work from home, and as a software developer my #1 priority is a stable internet connection. I’m no stranger to Asus routers, I upgraded from an RT-AX88U.First and foremost, it’s a huge router. It has 8 antennae and I don’t have any Wi-Fi coverage issues, although I live in a small apartment so unsure how good it is in big houses. It has 6 ethernet ports of which 2 are 10Gbps and the rest is Gigabit. I wish more ports were 10Gbps or at least 2.5Gbps. I have a symmetrical Gigabit Internet connection so I don’t need the 10Gbps port for WAN. I have a 2.5Gbps switch connected to one of the 10Gbps ports, and my computer is connected to the other 10Gbps port.Setting up the router is easy, you just follow the on-screen instructions. There is also a mobile app you can use, but using a laptop/desktop will be much easier. I strongly suggest you install Asuswrt-Merlin instead of the stock firmware since it adds a bunch of features.I have 3 wired clients connecting to the router at 2.5Gbps (by using an external switch), one wired client at Gigabit and around 10 wireless clients at all times. My monthly Internet use is around 4 Terabytes, and that excludes local use.This router doesn’t warm up at all, it doesn’t freeze and I haven’t had to reset it since the day I got it. If your ISP has weird rules around MAC addresses, you can manually set a MAC address for your router.I have two OpenVPN clients set up on the router, and I can set the router to route certain domains through VPNs and the rest through the regular WAN. This isn’t something that other routers allow you to do. I also have an OpenVPN server running and it allows me to work through my home computer wherever I am.In terms of Wi-Fi speeds, if I’m using a Wi-Fi 7 device, I can essentially match the speeds I get through Ethernet. But it really depends on how close you are to the router.Overall, this router allows me to do everything I could possibly want from a router.

The routers performance is the best I’ve ever had, and honestly it’s a pretty router…albeit a little big. The packaging was next level, each antenna had 3 layers of plastic wrapping….i thought it was a bit overkill but I appreciated.Now the problem is the setup…it’s designed to be super easy to setup and get you started so if you just need to setup a router quickly and you’re completely rehauling your network this is fine…but if you’re planning to add this to your network with specific settings…this will drive you nuts until you can get into the admin tools. I wish they had an expert mode that just puts you straight to the router settings directly. It had a basic and advanced but those are still very high level.Anyways once I got to the admin tools, I just had to make sure I disabled some settings and boom it worked amazingly.Remember if your setting this up as your new aimesh router u need to reset your other Asus aimesh to factory settings.I’m now 10G across my home and I love it!I do wanna say the price is a little ridiculous, that and the restrictive initial setup made me remove a star. If they can get the price to around 600$ I’d say it’s more worth it, but I caved and bought it at 850 since I just wanted to replace my old gt5300