ASUS RP-AC68U AC1900 Range Extender, 5 Gigabit Ports, USB 3.0, Repeater Mode, Access Point Mode, Media Bridge Mode, 4K Video Playback, Online Gaming, Power LED Light, 3 Years Warranty

EDIT:I'm amending my review after a fair period of use and I'm amending it downwards. Why? Well the signal it puts out is, frankly, rubbish. My old TP-Link was in the same location and I could get a solid signal in the garden about 20 feet away. With this I can barely get my phone to connect and it frequently drops out. Worse, there is no way to increase the signal output. Unfortunately I cannot now return it for a refund so I am going to have to try and flog it for whatever I can get on eBay and buy something else. I find it enormously frustrating that manufacturers don't consider that lots of houses are made from substantial materials like stone because they're older than a few years and make products that only work in modern houses with paper thin walls. In short, if you have a modern house this will probably be OK, but if you have and older house look elsewhere because this is a hundred and forty quids worth of utter shite.Firstly I'm going to address two criticisms from another reviewer:1) "The firmware is cobbled together". No it isn't. The admin interface is the same as used on their routers but so what? No one moans at MS because all office apps use roughly the same layout and functions, it's called re-use and is not a bad thing at all. It is true that in one or two places there are references to features which do not exist on the AP by default but this is small beer and unlikely to cause anyone any problems (albeit it's a little untidy). Firmware is something else entirely which you as a user do not ever see or really know about except when there's an update available and even then it's a black box. However, there may be problems with the actual firmware which I will discuss later.2) "...distinct lack of processor power...": This is a totally unsubstantiated claim based on absolutely no evidence. In fact the processor is not under-powered at all. It has a dual-core ARM cpu, likely a 1.4GHz unit as Asus use a lot of these, and it never gets any really heavy load at boot up or in use. I suspect the reviewer was making the assumption based on the relatively long boot time, but I believe this is more to do with establishing the link, aggregating the channels and filtering out interference to get a stable connection. Personally I never turn it off so this isn't an issue anyway.Whilst the reviewer is right about changing the mode to an extent, it isn't really that time consuming - if you want to change the mode it might take you a couple of minutes, but really, who changes the mode on a whim? 95% of consumers will want a repeater or media bridge and the other five percent might want the ability to add a 5GHz network. Once set up almost no one is going to change that except maybe once in a blue moon. It's not really a valid complaint.The headline speeds claimed for any device by any manufacturer always come with a list of caveats which include being used with another device with the right chipset (not necessarily the same manufacturer but it generally helps), in ideal conditions with nothing in between the two units and preferably no more than a metre apart. Indeed, I have an Asus DSL-AC68U router for my VDSL service and when I tested them next to one another I did indeed almost manage the 1900Mbps link that is claimed (although note that the 'link speed' is never the actual throughput speed you will experience). Once I had moved it to the intended location I was getting about 50+Mbps on the 2.4GHz and when it could get the 5GHz signal (which is patchy thanks to the 5GHz inability to penetrate the multiple thick walls I have between the two), it would connect at anywhere between 10 and 70Mbps.In practice this does not matter for most users as even if they have a 76Mbps+ internet connection the chances of them ever actually using all that bandwidth in one go are zero and the vast majority of consumers don't actually need that much bandwidth anyway. Obviously your mileage will vary based the layout of your property, the materials between the base unit and the repeater and of course what you use the connection for. For the best possible performance you would want to use the Access Point mode which requires a cabled ethernet connection between your router and the repeater, but that isn't always possible. With how it is in my property I can easily watch HD streams as well as carrying out other activities and having other devices connected to it to. I have one of the gigabit ports feeding a gigbit switch with a printer, playstation, laptop and desktop connected to that plus wireless devices and no problems at all.One thing I have noticed about the firmware is that I don't think the developers were very careful about which 2.4GHz channels they worked with. The DSL-AC68U allows you to use channels 1-13 in the UK which is very useful since most routers only work up to channel 11 so you can use 13 and avoid interference. My old TP-Link access point was quite happy to work on channel 13 too so I didn't even think about it when plugging in the RP-AC68U. As a result I spent an infuriating 2 hours trying all combos of automatic and manual setup (I even resorted to WPS which I hate because you have no clue what it's doing and sharing) but I could not get the 2.4GHz channel to connect and with a patchy 5GHz signal I was dead in the water.At this point I tried contacting Asus tech support. All I can say is: Don't. I went through their phone menu system to get to the right people and each time because the right person was busy, I got the wrong person. I couldn't have them call back (landline was due to be tied up by volunteer work by my wife) and so they weren't very helpful (even when I could understand them - UK number bot definitely not UK based staff).In desperation I tried using the 'media bridge' mode and suddenly the 2.4GHz band connected just fine. As a result I looked at my router settings and realised I was using channel 13. I changed to channel 11, then set up the RP-AC68U as a repeater again and it connected to the 2.4GHz band correctly. Clearly the unit can see channel 13 but for whatever reason it refuses to use it in repeater mode which I suspect is a firmware bug and I have reported it to Asus.However, all that said it is unlikely to be an issue for most people as they are not network techs or expert level users who might be using unusual channels. And from that perspective the RP-AC68U is an excellent unit. It is easy to set up and use and so far it has not dropped the connection, slowed down or been in any way unstable (unlike my old TP-Link which every so often would drop all connections and need a re-boot, especially after handling a large amount of data). It looks good too and the ability to turn off the red lighting is nice too as is the presence of 5 gigabit ports.I've docked a star because of the channel 13 problems and also because Asus support leaves something to be desired, but I think a firmware fix would sort the channel 13 problem and most people would hopefully never need the support line so it shouldn't be too big a problem (although Asus could improve it a bit). But beyond that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the unit because it works so well despite those caveats.

I have an Asus RT-AC68U router, which has been brilliant in all respects in my 3 storey house, reaching all floors well. The only area it falls short in, is the large back garden and garage (used as a gym), which are not served at all. This is not a surprise, as the router is situated by the front door and there are several thick brick walls for the WiFi to pass through before it gets to the rear garden. I had used an older dual-band Netgear range extender and my experience with that device had just about convinced me that range extenders are useless. Having a fair bit of confidence in Asus’s networking equipment, I decided I would use a second Asus router as an access point or possibly invest in a decent range extender to service the garden & the garage. I then discovered that the RP-AC68U could act as an access point or a range extender. Being very impressed with my router’s speed, the RP-AC68U had the same speed and the similarity in model numbers indicated they could be similar in performance, so I purchased the RP-AC68U.The range extender arrives in a good looking informative box, which certainly promised good performance. The RP-AC68U is a bit space-age looking and is on the bulky size. The red light does not help in allowing the device to blend into my kitchen, but thankfully tapping the Asus logo switches off the red light.What is in the box? Not a great deal in terms of documentation, more a getting started booklet over a few pages (in many languages) and a setup leaflet are all you get, which is not ideal given my setup experience.Setting up was a real pain, which unfolded over several hours. I am familiar with networking products, having installed custom firmware on a good few routers and de-bricked a few friends routers along the way and I also have qualifications in network administration, so I was not expecting issues, but here goes. After numerous attempts, neither device would link using WPS, so it was going to have to be a manual connection – I count myself as surprised that two Asus devices did not initially get on well. The RP-AC68U decided it would set itself up at 192.168.1.1, which was not ideal, as my router also occupies that address. This made getting access to either very difficult. After several botched setup attempts over about an hour and a half, I was going to give up, but thankfully, the RP-AC68U went to 192.168.1.43 and they were willing to work together. The RP-AC68U was very sluggish when on the firmware page and did not give a stable wifi signal. Pressing on in the hope that things would settle down, I used the same passwords and SSID’s as my router to allow roaming and setup roaming assist on both devices, it made no difference, the clients would not switch automatically. I decided to use the default SSID’s for the extender and manually switch WiFi connections, which would not be too bad, as we would use the router in the house and the extender in the garden and the house. There remained problems. The RP-AC68U was designed to pick up both the 2.4 & 5 ghz signals from my router, it would not pick-up the 2.4ghz signal, no matter how many times I tried. A few phone calls to Asus and at their request, a re-loading of the firmware I did not correct the fault. It did however make the firmware more responsive, so a step forward, but still not working correctly. Asus technical support agreed that this sounded like a hardware problem and to return the device. Amazon kindly replaced the RP-AC68U and sadly, the replacement also had the same fault and after further contacting Asus has also been returned. This was a great shame, as I really wanted this device to extend my WiFi to the garden/garage.Despite being faulty, I did some testing on the RP-AC68U and it was not too bad, but the fault really held it back. It ranged in download speeds from 19-40MB's when stood in the same place in my garage, with a link speed between the router and the extender varinging widely between 2.4MB/s and 800MB/s.If you can get a working version, there is some potential here. The WiFi given out by the RP-AC68U was a very responsive, with Netflix HD films playing immediately and well, going straight to HD video. If it was not defective, it would have fulfilled my requirements very nicely, but I do not intend to waste any more time setting up, phoning Asus, contact Amazon and visiting my local Collect+ to return devices from what appears to be a defective batch.Conclusion – Potential to be a great performance, with decent range, fiddly and time consuming in setup, poor documentation and looks a bit space age, which is not entirely a compliment. But, if it does not work, it is no good to me and I have been forced to request a refund - if it would have worked properly, then I would guess from my limited time with it, that it would have the potential to be a 5 start device, I have give 2 stars as there is potential.One final note - Asus technical support were helpful, but I was unable to access their second tier support (mechanism to submit files/e-mails to them was defective) which is a shame, as I really wanted a definitive solution to my problems with this product.I am considering getting a second RT-AC68U and using that as a repeater, but not sure how that will work.