ASUS RT-BE86U WiFi 7 Gaming Router, 10G WAN, 6.8 Gbps, Mesh VPN Compatible

I'm really loving this new router! So I'm using Home Assistant, and needed a way to manage my internal and external network, as well as hard-coding IPs and 'turning off' internet access for certain devices. Now I'm totally not a network person, so there are probably other ways to do what I needed to do, but this router made it super straight-forward. On the connectivity side, I live in a 3 story 3500+sf house (way bigger than my old 1200 sf condo) and I've no issues at all reaching every single corner and even out into the yard. I have it set up in my office on the first floor, and it's not really central the office is in the corner, but again no issues. Back to my Home Assistant setup, I've found the stability and signal strength of the router to be perfect for my routines and the like as most of my stuff is connected through WiFi. I was originally looking at setting up a mesh in my home fearing that I'd have dead spots, but it's been perfectly fine! So, long story short, this was probably overkill for what I need it for as it has a LOT more advanced features that I don't use (my bad, as I said I'm not a networking gal), but I really wanted something solid that has a good interface and solid connectivity, and this fits the bill.

I’ve been really impressed with the ASUS RT-BE86U. I’ve deployed several of these in single-router setups (no nodes yet), and every one has been completely stable and dependable. Setup was straightforward. I always update to the latest firmware right away, and each install has gone perfectly — no connection drops, slowdowns, or random issues. Most of these homes have around 20–30 devices connected, including phones, TVs, Google smart devices, and the occasional gaming PC. The RT-BE86U handles everything effortlessly with solid speed and coverage throughout the house. The only small change I’ve noticed compared to the AX86U Pro is the rearranged GUI — some of the Wi-Fi settings have been moved under the “Network” section. It’s a bit different and took a minute to get used to, but once you know where everything is, it’s not a big deal. Overall, the RT-BE86U has been flawless as a standalone router. It’s fast, reliable, and a great upgrade for anyone wanting top-tier Wi-Fi 7 performance without headaches.

If you are building an AiMesh system using the RT-BE88U for the router, this is the unit you want to use for your AiMesh node(s). Like the RT-BE88U, this router is wifi-7, but it does not have the 6ghz band. If you look at my review for the RT-BE88U you will see that wifi-7 caused my WiiM phone app to no longer be able to find its devices. This was a show stopper for me, so I turned off wifi-7. It is not a problem for me because I only have two wifi-7 devices on my LAN. The other 37 are wifi-6. I'll try wifi-7 again when Asus-Merlin and/or WiiM release new firmware. Speaking of Asus-Merlin, this router supports version 3006.*.*. Asus-Merlin has AMTM built-in which lets you install Diversion and Skynet very easily. The RT-BE88U and RT-BE86U are high performance routers, if you know how to configure them properly.

I'm giving this thing one star for now because I just spent an hour and a half working on it to get it back up and running after its first firmware update. After the initial update, half of my devices wouldn't see the wifi network. Rebooting didn't help. Which, btw, rebooting doesn't just reboot the product once. It has to reboot 3-5 times whenever it says it's rebooting. Then, when it comes back online, the wifi network has to disappear and reappear and reconnect 3-5 times as well before I can even get to an admin page or have the app connect to it. After an hour and a half of troubleshooting: saving settings, factory reset, reboot reboot reboot reboot reboot, restore settings, all 3-4 times, the same issue was occurring. I finally figured out that the admin password requirements changed with the firmware update. My original password didn't meet them. Well I thought obviously the admin password wouldn't affect the ability for devices to see the wifi network because, well, why would it? I reset the admin password to align with the new password requirements, then reboot reboot reboot reboot reboot, and lo and behold everything connected again. It goes without saying the admin password should not have anything to do with devices seeing the wifi network, but here we are. I will update the one-star review if I never have to go through all this b.s. again! Update: Well it's been 20 minutes and guess what. Half my devices can no longer see the wifi network AGAIN, and they disconnected. I think it may have rebooted AGAIN, but I wasn't monitoring it to notice. I don't even know if I'll waste my time getting a replacement. Update: Turning off wifi-7 seems to have fixed the wifi network not showing for many of my devices. All the devices that did connect when the issue was occurring appeared to be using the 5gHz band. Final update: Wifi networks disappeared again. So I factory reset it one last time and configured it from scratch instead of restoring from saved settings. After an hour the issue occurred again. I'm done! And get this. There isn't even an option to replace the device, only return it for a refund. ASUS doesn't even have enough confidence in their own devices to think maybe the problem could be just the one device. I won't buy their brand again.

After a long conversation with ChatGPT it recommend this Router to me. I described my house with pics and listed all my devices. When the Router arrived ChatGPT walk me through every step of setup and it wall went flawlessly. All my devices reconnected automatically without issue. Signal is definitely stronger than the old dinosaur I had. So far, so happy.

UPDATE: After returning for replacement, expert advice on setup and ASUS updating the firmware, this router has returned to the quality performance that I have been accustomed to from ASUS. It has been running for several days now without a single WIFI drop. I have updated to 4 stars. I won't give 5 stars because of all the hassle I have had to go through. The product should be good to go right out of the box. I had an ASUS RT-AC86U for 7 years that performed flawlessly for 7 years until I got up one day and it had died. Because of my past experience with Asus quality products I bought the ASUS RT-BE86U BE6800. It has been very disappointing. It constantly would drop WiFi connections over and over. I have spent the last week using ChatGPT to help configure and diagnose this unit but the best I could achieve was only dropping 2-4 times a day for 30-60 seconds before reconnecting. Results were: To rule out configuration or environmental factors, I have already performed: • Full factory reset • Full WPS-button hard reset with cold boot • Reconfiguration from scratch with minimal services • Operation in Router Mode and Access Point Mode • Manual static channel assignments (2.4 and 5 GHz) • Smart Connect disabled • OFDMA, roaming assistants, and advanced features disabled • WAN bypassed/isolated; issue persists with no WAN involvement • Manual device reconnections • Tested with a single client only • ISP modem/router stable with no WAN drops Wi-Fi failures occur regardless of load, time of day, or number of connected devices. Based on repeated WL subsystem crashes, DMA dumps, “dying gasp” deregistration, and full chip reinitialization, this unit appears to have a hardware-level defect (radio module, memory, or power subsystem). I am returning this one for another to see if it works any better. If not I will be buying something different. Not sure if it will be ASUS.

Easy setup for wifi. Basic setup was great. Tons of options and features for advanced users. Phone app is helpful for most settings, access on computer for more options. Signal is loud and clear. Bought as upgrade from 10 year old router. So far very happy with.

I love this router. It’s fast, modern, and best of all it allows me to repurpose my last ASUS router as an AImesh extension. I’ve had cheap junky routers that get a year of security support, and I’ve had ASUS which seems to be solid for far, far longer. Plus, this one supports ASUS Merlin for those who like to unlock a bit more functionality. I started buying routers in the dd-wrt 54g days, and I’ve bought my fair share of tp-link, but in this era of network insecurity and Chinese backdoors, I basically trust ASUS enough to shell out extra for they routers. If I had to choose something else, I’d spend more (not less!) and get ubiquity, but this fits my needs just perfect.

Great router replacing my old still functional AC5300 router. BE6800 sports double the memory and cpu core at 1GB 4 core CPU, and the 3 long antennas cover more than the 6 antennas of my old router. Configured BE6800 the same way as my old router and slot it in as a pure replacement. Works like a charm, one SSID, it automatically pic he right channel or channel based on client device, works flawlessly. As for the old AC5300, I reset it and run it as an AiMesh node to extend the range to the other side of the house. Connected via a CAT6 cable as backhaul, the coverage is now superb at both ends of the house and the yards. Router is running embedded linux, allowing flexibilty of firewall, many features handle like a breeze, like DNS, DHCP, Media server, remote disk, SSH access, speed test, traceroute, etc. Many generation after AC5300, delivery same and more features at a cheaper price, even before inflation adjustment.

Es una maravilla de router!!! Altamente recomendable, vale cada centavo que pagas, protege tu red de una forma que uno no se daba ni cuenta que estabas siendo infectado o seguido. la configuración es facil si sabes solo un poquito, Le conecte un SSD y lo ocupo como un NAS accediendo a mi disco de manera remota VPN. Funciona más que excelente. Lo recomiendo ampliamente, el envío fue rápido y el ASUS llegó impecable, VENDEDOR 100% RECOMENDABLE. GRACIAS.

Sorprendentemente fácil de instalar y controlar. Tiene mucho rango, atraviesa paredes para generar conexiones estables.

Overall solid performance. Easy setup. Mobile app is very useful. No major issues after 6 months. Require restart once in a while.

Estoy encantado con mi compra, ha sido justo lo que esperaba. Había estado teniendo un router Asus modelo RT-AC66U B1 que me funcionaba muy bien; sin embargo, ya se sentía que en momentos se estresaba de más por la cantidad de dispositivos conectados en casa y la necesidad de mantener una velocidad estable de conexión a internet (tengo contratados 700mb de descarga). Fue por lo anterior que decidí actualizar mi router a este nuevo RT-BE86U… sin duda una hermosura. Se mantiene la facilidad de configuración y mejoraron la priorización para gaming. Con su puerto 10G puedo aprovechar al máximo mi velocidad y me otorga, de forma INALÁMBRICA, los 700mb a una distancia medianamente alejada del router. Es cierto que no tiene la antena de 6ghz para el “wifi7 puro”, aunque sí nos ofrece “de base” dos conexiones (SSID) en 5ghz y una en 2.4ghz (esta última con la opción de crearle mas redes). Por lo que en mi caso resultó perfecto puesto que bastantes de mis dispositivos ya reconocen de forma ideal el protocolo de WiFi6 y la conexión es estupenda. Sin duda alguna recomiendo la compra y percibo que podré tener este router funcionando sin problemas por al menos 6 años.