Review

ASUS RT-AC5300 Tri-Band Gigabit Router Review

With the increase in the counts of portable devices at home and now everyone at my house is demanding more n more WiFi range and connectivity. Even with a high speed internet my home network is being bottle-necked by an old Linksys WiFi router and is now shouting loud for an upgrade.

I want this upgrade to be not just for fast WiFi connectivity but to also add some new feature to me home network like a central storage for all the family pics, videos and songs and also a network support to me existing printer and more.

ASUS came forward with their new Tri-Band Wireless-AC5300 Gigabit Router the RT-AC5300 for my rescue, features one of the fastest combined data rate available with any router on the Indian market. To achieve it theoretical top speed of 5334Mbps ASUS RT-AC5300 uses 8 massive antennas and broadcasts three networks – 5 GHz data rates up to 4334 Mbps and 2.4 GHz up to 1000 Mbps fulfilling all households and office Wi-Fi needs with many connected devices. Great.

Now let's see what this Asus AC5300 Router have for us.

Features

• Ultra-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi router with a combined tri-band data rate of 5334 Mbps for low latency online gaming, smooth 4K streaming and extremely fast file-sharing.
• Broadcom® NitroQAMTM technology boosts two 5 GHz data rates up to 4334 Mbps and 2.4 GHz up to 1000 Mbps.
• Tri-Band with multiple devices connected at the same time.
• Tri-Band Smart Connect automatically selects the fastest of the three available frequency bands for each device, based on the device's speed, signal strength and how busy each band is.
• 4x4 antenna design with AiRadar universal beamforming for unbeatable wireless signal coverage
• Link aggregation supports close to 2 Gbps wired transmission for more devices to enjoy faster access speed.

Ultimate Gaming and 4K Streaming - NitroQAMâ„¢ Technology - Seamless Experience
Whether you're gaming online in a heated competition or streaming a live event in 4K UHD, lag and buffering are simply not an option. NitroQAMâ„¢ (1024-QAM) technology on the RT-AC5300 delivers a combined 5334 Mbps Wi-Fi speed, ensuring everyone on your network can enjoy smooth streaming and low-latency online gaming.

DOUBLE GAMING BOOST
Enjoy low-latency online gaming with boosted internet and home network performance!

Free Game Accelerator Inside
Ping time and variance are critical technical parameters that affect responsiveness in online gaming, and their values depend heavily on the route game packets take to and from their destination. The Gamers Private Network®(GPN) from WTFast® automatically performs route optimization, choosing the most efficient route for game packets, resulting in consistently-lower ping time and minimal packet loss. With RT-AC5300 this optimization is free for accelerating one selectable device at a time, so you can enjoy the results on supported competitive multi-player online games1. Check out supported games list and more information about WTFast router edition here.

Cross-Platform Compatibility
Network speed impacts every device you game with on every platform you game on. The ASUS RT-AC5300 delivers bandwidth and coverage for all your gaming devices, from consoles to PCs to mobile devices*, and supports every operating system, including Windows®2, Mac OS®3 and Linux®4.

Adaptive QoS – Prioritize Your Game
Boost your gaming bandwidth with Adaptive QoS (Quality of Service), which allows you to easily prioritize gaming packets and activities. You can even assign full dedicated bandwidth while gaming under gamer solo mode, making RT-AC5300 the perfect ally for low latency gaming anywhere in your home.

Bandwidth for All
RT-AC5300 is the master of entertainment, with its ability to support multiple devices and multiple Full HD 1080p streams. Beyond content consumption, the RT-AC5300 enables a smarter home, supporting IP cameras, thermostats and a variety of devices you don't even own yet.

Unbeatable Wi-Fi Coverage
With a four-transmit, four-receive (4T4R) antenna design, both Wi-Fi range and signal stability improve dramatically. AiRadar beamforming further focuses the Wi-Fi signal on your devices, making your Wi-Fi faster, clearer and stronger.

More Bands Means More Devices
Having an ASUS RT-AC5300 is like having three wireless routers in one. The two separate 5 GHz wireless bands — each with speeds up to 2167 Mbps — and the single 1000 Mbps 2.4 GHz wireless band all work simultaneously. This means you can enjoy lag-free online gaming, smooth 4K video streaming and uninterrupted file downloading on every device connected to your home network.

Tri-band Smart Connect – Automatically Chooses the Best Band Available for You
Tri-band Smart Connect intelligently assigns each device to best available band. This means you get better range and faster, more reliable connections consistently without the need to manually re-connect to the best band available.

Powerful Processor, Faster Transfers
RT-AC5300's top-of-the-line 1.4 GHz dual-core processor brings its computational capability to the next level. USB data transfers enjoy up to over 100 MB/s speed and the router download/upload speed (WAN-LAN throughput) up to 1800 Mbps.

Multiple Capacity Wi-Fi with Revolutionary MU-MIMO Technology
MU-MIMO gives every compatible device6 its own dedicated full-speed Wi-Fi connection, so that multiple devices can connect at the same time without slowing down the network. In fact, RT-AC5300 is able to connect to multiple MU-MIMO-compatible clients at each device's maximum speed simultaneously, unlike standard single-user MIMO where individual devices have to wait for sequential transmissions.

Parental Controls - Monitor and Restrict Internet Activity for Any User
Advanced parental controls help you to prevent users from visiting inappropriate websites, for example keeping young children safe from viewing adult content. You can also restrict the times that each device or guest account can access the internet, by applying scheduled time limits.

Extensive Connectivity Options
With 4 Gigabit LAN ports on RT-AC5300, you can connect up to four Ethernet-compatible devices simultaneously. Non-Wi-Fi devices like your Smart TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes, media players, NAS storage devices and more in your home now can have their own exclusive dedicated ports, making RT-AC5300 your digital home hub.

Your Sharing Center
With built-in USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, you can connect USB-enabled devices, such as external storage drives, printers, or a 3G/4G dongle to your ASUS router and share them conveniently with other users via Wi-Fi. And with USB 3.0, you can enjoy up to 10X faster data transfer speeds.

Link Aggregation, More Devices Go Faster!
RT-AC5300 features Link Aggregation, which combines two teaming LAN ports (the 1st and 2nd port) into one superfast wired connection for up to 2 Gbps using two Gigabit Ethernet cables5. With Link Aggregation enabled on your NAS, clients can unlock unprecedented transfer speeds.

ASUSWRT – Easily Control Your Network
RT-AC5300 features the enhanced, intuitive ASUSWRT user interface, which gives you easy access to both the 3-step web-based installation process and a wealth of robust advanced options.

Control Your Network Anywhere - ASUS Router App
In your increasingly mobile-enabled life, having control over your network via an app is more important than ever. The new ASUS Router App is built from the ground-up to be both intuitive and robust, allowing you to setup your router, manage network traffic, diagnose connection issues and even update firmware, all without needing to boot up a PC.

Package

ASUS RT-AC5300 comes in a box securely packaged with Modem graphics, Model name and features highlights on front and the back of the box.

Inside the box

Looks

ASUS RT-AC5300 is one of the most attractive looking piece of decide I have ever seen. It looks like a great Sci-Fi device from future. Great design work ASUS.

Specifications

Testing

For testing this router I used Sony VIA S-Series Laptop, WD My Passport 1TB USB3 drive, ASUS Z170 deluxe system with dual linked G-LAN and few mobile devices.

Software / Interface

Benchmarks

To test the WIFI Performance of ASUS RT-AC5300 we used LAN Speed Test. This testing was done on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands at approx. 10m distance between Router and Laptop.

To test the Wired LAN Performance of ASUS RT-AC5300 we used ASUS Z170 Deluxe Board based PC which is connected to the router with dual linked Gig-LAN and Network performance is checked by running LAN Speed test at same time on three different PC connected with router two via GigLAN port and one with 100Mbps connectivity .

Power Consumption

Wattage reading as per displayed by APC Pro 1000VA (Model no. BR1000G-IN) UPS.
At Idle on device is plugged into the router and WIFI card was disabled on laptop.
For load big file is transferred from Laptop via WIFi and same time media files are used from USB 3.0 drive attached to the router.

Pros

• Dual 5GHz + 2.4GHz Tri-band
• Superb looks
• Easy Setup
• Printer Server
• File Sharing support via USB 3.0 external drive

Cons

• NIL

Conclusion

ASUS RT-AC5300 is a feature packed product with great looks and superb performance with theoretical top speed of 5334 Mbps using 5GHz and 2.4GHz band.

If you have lots of WIFI devices at your home or office, than ASUS RT-AC5300 is a great router that can easily manage your WIFI network by automatically assign connecting devices to either 2.4 GHz network or 5.0 GHz network depending on the device network bandwidth usage. So all your devices will have optimized wireless performance. And with 8 big external antennas this device offers superb WiFi coverage.

You can also use any external USB 3.0 drive with this router acting as a centralized file sharing for all device as well as you can also connect USB printer to work as network printer, off-loading printer sharing from your local node. And now the best part for me is the effortless Guest WiFi sharing from my mobile device to all my guests at home.

ASUS RT-AC5300 is truly a high-performance Tri-Band Wireless-AC5300 Gigabit Route, a single powerful device improving home/small office network by doing many tasks seamlessly and worthy of our PC TeK REVIEWS Excellence Award.

Manufacturers Info

Thanks.

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