ASUS Repeater/Access Point/Media Bridge (RP-AC56)

To start off, I had my eye on this device coming out the pipeline from ASUS for a couple months. I saw it was in FCC approval a while back on a major tech website and waited as it just looked too promising to pass up. My first impression of this device upon receipt was that it looks like solid quality, but know it is a bigger footprint than many repeaters out there, but worth it as I will explain below. I have been using the ASUS RT-AC66U as my home router, but in some areas of my home including my office the wireless range was dismal. I also wanted to ability to host a external hard drive onto the network, however my router is wall mounted in the master bedroom closet and there is no place to locate a hard drive. This device was the perfect solution!I will continue to update my review as time goes on and let people know how the device is holding up, but so far so good!-- Setup --In my home I do have some wired Ethernet ports so I initially tried to plug this beast into the Ethernet port as put it in Access Point mode. The issue I ran into is the "Quick Setup" is designed for Range Extension "Repeater Mode" for picking up the existing wireless signal and rebroadcasting it (this uses allows use of the WPS button on the back of your router and the range extender). The problem that quickly occurred was this device and my ASUS router were both on 192.168.1.1 by default. The instructions claim that repeater.asus.com will direct you to this RP device, however it did not work the first couple tries. After multiple attempts to get this device online with no success, I finally decided to see if it worked the "quick setup" way. I went and plugged it in as a WiFi only repeater and pressed the WPS button on the router then the range extender. Sure enough, worked like a charm. I still wanted it setup in the office which is not quite the best range for it to be in this configuration mode so I went back and now tried it again with the Access Point mode by plugging it into the Ethernet, WORKED PERFECT! Now by going to repeater.asus.com it was on 192.168.1.224 and I could login to the console and off I went, set-up exact same SSIDs as the router for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz and the system is working perfectly since. The UI is clean and very similar to the one I am used to from the ASUS router. All in all I see this as a minor frustration and not worth dinging the product as in the end it works perfect.-- Range/Functionality --The device offers Repeater Mode, Access Point(AP) mode, and Media Bridge mode. I am now setup in Access Point mode but had easy success as mentioned above with Repeater mode. One of the primary reasons I picked this up was I wanted another ASUS wireless devices that will seamlessly extend wireless coverage in my home without the need for MORE SSIDs. The TimeCapsule from Apple was great in providing a wireless AP, but if I put it on the same SSID I ran into major problems of jumping around and dropping connections. By having this device with an ASUS router it is seamless and I have zero drops. There is a setting in the control panel of this device and my ASUS router for "Roaming Assistance" that is can be enabled. I believe this improves the hand-off between devices. I have enabled it on both of my devices.As far as range and performance it is outstanding!!! I have ~100Mbps cable internet in my home. This AP to my iPhone 6 or laptop on 5Ghz puts out OVER 100Mbps when I am about 10 feet away, and hits somewhere in the ~115Mbps range (clearly capped by ISP). With a laptop I see it easily extend over 100+Mbps. I can get across most of the house and still maintain the 80-90 range. Outside stucco exterior I am still picking up 70Mbps. Obviously with 2.4GHz you get the expected drop in speed of about 50%+ but the range is stronger. I intend to mainly use the 5Ghz from this device though. Bottom-line, it performs at the level it should given the technology and nothing less!--Size/Footprint/Physical Information--While this device has a decent size footprint, it is actually pretty light weight being under 2 pounds. However, if you want the ability to drop a device down to really put out some 1st class WiFi in a dead zone all the while providing additional Ethernet ports (5 port switch) and USB 3.0 then the size is totally worth it. I personally have mine in the corner of the room setup next to an Apple Time Capsule which I show in the attached photos and they are roughly the same size. I can confirm it is 7inch x 4inch x 4inch. Be warned it glows RED, personally I think its awesome looking, but if you don't want a nightlight in the room, find a different spot or steer clear.--Packaging--Solid packaging, very "apple-ish", comes with one Ethernet jumper cable, power cord, and the device itself. Not much else to add.-- Hosted Hard Drive -- (With explanation of how to get USB 3.0 to work)This device has a single USB 3.0 port on the back that is perfect for hosting the contents of a hard drive on your network and even on your DDNS website offered free with your ASUS router. I plugged my USB 3.0 HDD in to the back of the ASUS RP and to my surprise, no device was detected in the control panel. I tried multiple times to power up both the HDD and the RP but still no luck. After some forum searching with similar ASUS technology I found a setting under Wireless Advanced Settings, that is enabled by default, that blocks USB 3.0 interference. Once you disable this setting the HDD was detected immediately and everything worked perfect. Honestly, ASUS should give a warning to customers about this as it is very hidden and you expect by default a feature like USB 3.0 would be functional. The Media servers can be turned on and allow all kinds of remote access to documents, etc. through their AiCloud 2.0 app AND it offers a built in iTunes server. I am planning to setup the iTunes server to host Blu-ray content to my Apple TV downstairs, but this is still in the works.

ASUS Customer Loyalty: I have contacted ASUS support and was referred to the engineering team, back in late October, 2017. I was told to expect a call from them in 72 hrs... it has been over 30 days and well over 720 hours. I need help as this router is now a very expensive paper weight.My Review:I give this 2 stars only because I originally wrote a review of the product and gave it a single star, hoping that ASUS would see the review and contact me (see my point, above, regarding how my 'call back' from ASUS engineering has not happened...). I noticed that ASUS Customer Loyalty has responded to other reviews when they have 2 stars, so hopefully they will see this and attempt to contact me regarding the failure of my ASUS RP-AC1900.I own the ASUS RT-AC5300 router, and purchased this RP-AC1900 repeater at the same time so as to extend the reach of the RT-AC5300 router. I assumed it would be needed given my home layout. I have a home office on a separate floor, and my previous wifi routers have never been able to reach my office without significant loss of performance.The logic behind purchasing the RP-AC1900 along with the RT-AC5300 was this: it was ASUS' best repeater available when I purchased the RT-AC5300, and I assumed that compatibility was a reasonable assumption given the fact that both are ASUS products.The RT-AC5300 and the RP-AC1900 are, in fact, extremely compatible. The setup of the RP-AC1900, once I set up the RT-AC5300, was mindbogglingly simple! I have had to download the latest firmware for the RP-AC1900 (and for the RT-AC5300) and have done hard resets on both - each time I reestablished my home networks on the RT-AC5300, the setup of the RP-AC1900 was super easy and incredibly intuitive. My compliments to ASUS for having figured that out!Unfortunately, the RP-AC1900 turned out to be a bit of a problem child.In my line of work, I often use my home office for video and audio conferences using web-based services, on my office PC/laptops, connected to the wifi network in my office (the very network from my RT-AC5300 which is repeated / extended by my RP-AC1900). I often, in fact every time I have a meeting using the extended network, loose internet connectivity and the meeting software has to reestablish my participation in the ongoing meeting.My first response was, and for the longest time I blamed, my internet provider: "Damn Cable Monopoly! Shame on them for such crappy service!" - you know, the typical response one has to internet issues: blame your cable company. But, about 1 month ago, I happened to conduct a meeting from upstairs, logged into the network supported by my Klingon Warship (the RT-AC5300). My coworker and I spent 3 hours on a web-based video conference, sharing docs, our screens, consuming huge amounts of bandwidth, when my coworker noticed (out loud), that I had not dropped the whole time. He asked what I was doing differently, and it dawned on me that I WAS doing something differently: I was using the wifi network supported by the RT-AC5300. It's 8 spider like antennas were beam-forming all MU-MINOie and my connection was stable, hell, bullet-proof. The Klingon Warship is strong, and it lives long and prospers.... you get the point. It rocks. The RP-AC1900 was suddenly my new suspect. Com-c-a-s-t was temporarily off my poo-poo list.So, I went into the Admin app for the RP-AC1900 and searched for logs...and low and behold, there are records!!! The RP-AC1900 has been dropping and reconnecting for-EVER. So, I updated firmware, I reset it, I checked the firmware again, and unplugged it, and plugged it back in, I rinsed and repeated for both the repeater and the router... I moved it to RIGHT underneath the Klingon Warship (the RT-AC5300) - so it was literally 7 feet away (and only separated by 3/4 inch white oak floors with 3/4 inch redwood sub flooring). The force was strong. Unfortunately - the repeater continues to fail...I didn't figure all of this out until my warranty from ASUS had expired (of course). I bought the RP-AC1900 in Aug of 2016 and figured out that it was faulty in late September 2017. Of course. I know, call me a dummy. I'm no Mr Spock. I fancy myself more of a Doctor McCoy: "Damn it Jim, I'm only a doctor!", but I'm not a doctor. Nor am I a network engineer. Nor am I a Klingon. Nor am I a dude with lots of time to educate myself on wifi networking and how to interpret the very technical scrips found in the logs of a RP-AC1900.Ships Log: Star-Date Late October, 2017: I contacted the ASUS help desk, spoke with a really cool dude who attested to the fact that "Houston, we have a problem" with my RP-AC1900. He tried to figure it out and conceded that it would have to be addressed by Scotty, the Chief Engineer. He took notes, and sent them to Engineering, along with my cell phone number. With the intent that someone in Engineering would call me within 72 hours. Scotty never called. I feel so used...So - I have a very nice looking black monolith, kinda like the one in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Except mine is made by ASUS, and it doesn't work.Help, someone, please...

Al principio me encantó, pues resolvía mi problema de señal.Sin embargo, ahora cada dos semanas aprox. Tenemos que desconectarlo por un rato (10Minutos como mínimo) para que vuelva a funcionar.Lo que más me molesta es que nos tardamos mucho en encontrar esta solución, porque en todos los dispositivos mostraba que había señal, pero no la enviaba realmente (no sé cómo es esto posible- pero pasaba).Ahora que encontramos este parche funciona correctamente.

Despues de ver pocos reviews de este repetidor, me decidi por comprarlo, por el momento lo estoy usando como AP, de hecho una de sus caracteristicas por la que estaba interesado ya que no todos los repetidores tienen esta opcion y esta trabajando muy bien, sin desconecciones, resets, muy confiable igual que su primo router casi del mismo nombre el RT-AC68U. Me ha costado trabajo conectar algunos de mis dispositivos (nexus 6) pero creo tener ya la configuracion adecuada. Se me hace un poco elevado su precio, creo que estaria muy bien en el rango de los $2000 a $2500. No he probado la opcion de repetidor con la tecnologia Expressway pero supongo que funciona igual de bien que la tecnologia FastLane de netgear. Lo que si es que ya le hace falta una actualizacion de firmware, la ultima fue en marzo de este año ????

Otorga una función similar a otros repetidores de menor precio , si deseas transferir datos pesados corta toda señal de todos los dispositivos y hay que reiniciarlo , lo pensaría muy bien antes de elegir, espero tenga una actualización pronto para evitar más problemas .

Super Expansor muy eficiente muy recomendable con la red 5Ghz con poco alcance pero una vez conectado señal execelente.

very localized, not that good for distance