Upgraded from the legendary ASUS RT-AX86U and this router has been an absolute monster. Easy to setup and updated the firmware, no issues and seems the myriad of problems from the early days have been largely resolved, at least in my experience so far after a couple of months of usage. The WiFi signal across all bands are consistently strong throughout the house just on its own, excellent speeds and stability and the router has never been hot. I did read before buying that the router tends to overheat, so have been keeping an eye on that but can't say that the router has ever been hotter than normal operational temperatures. In my opinion, absolutely worth giving this router a shot if you're looking to upgrade into WiFi 7 that still has very strong 5 GHz performance as well. I did try a few other WiFi 7 routers before this one and can safely say this one performed the best out of them all in the end. Read more

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! Read more

Last update 7-12 Running as advertised, without the issues I had with the first unit. Fast and great range. I will be implementing the new ASUS BQ16 pro mesh in my house this week and will write a full review. Update 6-30 It's been a wild ride. Just after posting the review on the 98U, it died. I tried reloading the backup, factory reset and nothing. This is where thing really took a turn. I had to "chat" with Amazon to return the router and they finally issued the shipping label. Seems that it's only buy or return when it came to this unit. I went and purchased another. Here is where the glitch in the Amazon matrix's comes in (it has happened more than once to me). Always follows the same pattern, deliver day was moved up by Amazon. On the delivery day it showed out for delivery and never showed up. New delivery day is now two days out. On the delivery day it shows out for delivery and again never shows up. I get a note from Amazon saying wait a day and then I can return it. I waited the day and go to return it and talk to support. All I really wanted to do is get a replacement. I finally talk the support type to replace it and he does, it arrives two days later. The new one has been up for a week and is work as advertised. Still love the unit. I have tested the speed on both my Mac Mini and my Linux Mint devices and it is averaging 20%+ fast for comparable workloads on my prior 6E routers. Update 6-15 I've had the 98u for 24 hours, solid, quiet and works as advertised with predictable results: - I continue to run test on the speed. However, so far it looks to be at least 10 -15% faster than the 96u, YMMV. - Normal daily operations, Non-Cached web browsing, Slack, Signal, Email seems feels faster especially web surfing. - As measured using openspeedtest (HTML5 and HTTP) is faster than my prior ET-12 and the 96U. Again YMMV I removed a node from my mesh ET-12 (7 node) system in the house and added the 96U. Working well and my son is happy to finally have a cool looking router and he says it's faster (and tested it, I guess I'm rubbing off on him?). Yes this is a mix of Wifi 6 and 7 and I have plans to replacing the ET-12s with the BQ16 Pro if ASUS ever gets their heads out of their corporate keisters. Update 6-14 OK broke down and purchased the BE98U for my office mostly because my son saw the 96U and wanted it for his setup. I plan on running the 96U in a mesh setup when the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro gets here (I'll address this when I review the BQ16s). Anyway, configured the 98U; start to finish 5 minutes. So far: - Feels faster - I'll get stats on this today - Nice LEDs (I don't care but I'm sure there are gamers that will) - Better web UI with a nice status page - Advanced configurations UI mirror the format on other Asus hardware. Big plus here! I'll get some time with it and update this review. Overall I'm please with it. Update: 4/23/2024 Finally an update. Mostly fixes including security with some functional additions. As I mentioned before, updates are measured in months. Update: 4/3/2024: The BD96U has been rock solid no drops. Still no software update since December, not uncommon (unfortunately) for ASUS. Updated 2/16/2024: So far Wifi 7 has been a strange ride. First I've been in networking for over 30 years and have contributed to and watched it grow up. I have a separate (from my house) office on it's own network. Here I implement what will eventually go into my house. My first attempt with Wifi 7 was the disastrous TP-Link BE95. In a nutshell, nice hardware but everything else was a train wreak. Software, UI, Security, subscription model and privacy were awful. Now normally I buy and use the eventual hardware I would be using in the main house for my office first, but this time I pulled a crazy Ivan, I bought the BE96U. I wanted the BE98 but it's not available (right now) anywhere unless you want to pay $1300 on Ebay (at the time of this review). I plan on implementing the ASUS ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro when it becomes available for my house. Oh and just for reference, I have owned and used Orbi, Linksys, TP-Link and now Asus. The BE96U is replacing a single Asus ET-12. The ET-12 worked very well but it's time to move on. Here are my impressions of the BE96U so far: Pros: - Implementation was easy 9and for someone that breaks EVERYTHING that says a lot) - Web client and Web interface was something I was used to and the options are fantastic (as a network guy) - Web UI is straight forward and to the point and does a very good job of implementing mid-level functional implementation - Great advanced features, features the other providers hide. These advanced features gives the user the opportunity to exploit the full potential of the unit. Hear me TP-Link, Orbi and others? - Mobile client is very good - 2 10G ports - Wireless coverage inside my office and all the way into my main house is very good - No subscriptions for basic features the other vendors make you pay for. IMO this is pure GREED - It's FAST Cons: - The unit is big (I knew this going in). Beast mode. - As with the ET-12 and ET-8 software releases are measured in many months. This is good and bad. However, IMO newer hardware and software should error on the side of more frequent updates. Release early, release often. - 1G ports? Your competitors moved to 2.5G, so should you. What is ASUS thinking? - Where is USB C? I move very large data sets, video etc. daily around as part of my job and it's fast. As I measure, faster than the ET-12. I have the extra 10G port going into a 10G switch. I applaud ASUS for not yielding to the subscription model their competitors have gone all in on. ORBI, TP-Link and the others should be ashamed of themselves for charging for basic features and poor software. The BE96U is working as advertised, no network drops since I've had it and I don't have to think about it, the ultimate goal of any network. It just works. I will be updating this review as I get network time under my belt. Read more

Too Long Don't Wish to Read - The ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro (hereafter noted as the "98 Pro") (released in March of 2024) takes the underwear of other Wifi 7 flagship routers and pulls it up over their heads and then slaps em silly. Although initially buggy with incomplete functions, … new motherboard versions combined with firmware updates have slowly transformed this router from a three-star device into the more mature product that was promised by ASUS back in early 2024. Five stars as of March, 2025. The long version - Few people are going to be able to afford the GT-BE98 Pro, ... much less set it up correctly, ... but for those who can, this router can perform some fairly rare functions while using the very latest standards. Initial versions (models sold until November of 2024) of the BE98 came with the slightly buggy 1.0 motherboard and suffered from a few half-baked functions in the firmware. In many ways, those initial 98 Pro's were inferior to the prior ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 and GT-AXE11000 routers, especially when it came to Wifi 6 and 6E clients. As of March, 2025, ASUS is currently on their third motherboard revision (1.2a) and updated the firmware on March 13th to 3.0.0.6.102_37812 (for North American users). This combination has hammered out most of the bugs, nags, and missing features that plagued most of 2024. Let’s look at some of the current features: Build Quality – Initially buggy with motherboards 1.0 (initial release, March 2024) and 1.1 (initial release November, 2024). As of mid-February and the 1.2a motherboard release, the 98 Pro has finally reached a more mature state. Firmware updates will work on all the boards, so no worries about needing separate versions. Due to the 2.6 GHz quad-core processor and the amount of clients it can handle, heat release is paramount to the 98 Pro's design. Mine, sitting about two feet off the ground (see pic) in an open space gets slightly warm but never hot (the CPU typically runs at about 45 deg C). Also, … the eight antennae feature two internal dipole elements each and need to be extended (per the user manual) for the best throughput. The 98 Pro also features separate amplifiers for each radio chain (and this is what helps it to saturate a large home for example). The 98 Pro also features two 10G ports and four 2.5G ports on the back, … in short, you are covered for the latest fiber optic speeds up to 10G. Finally, the 98 Pro is covered in LEDs and Aura lighting, which can all be controlled through the web interface. The styling is, ... well, ... let's call the design, ... spiderbot. Some will love it and some will hate it. I don't mind the styling but I wish they had removed the stickers from the clear window portion and expanded that with more heatsinks for the CPU. Overall, the build quality is exactly what you would expect from such a high-end router. Initial Setup – A new owner has the option to either use ASUS’s smartphone Router app (which I don’t recommend due to security concerns) or the far better web interface (usually reached by typing 192.168.50.1 into your address bar). The start up procedure will ask the owner a bunch of simple questions to set up your password, Smart Connect and/or separate SSIDs, mesh networking, and so on. It only takes a few minutes but works well. The one thing I do not like is that you cannot setup the router until you have internet access. The 98 Pro really needs the ability to be accessed for troubleshooting even if the internet is down (id est, ... particularly when the internet is down). Firmware Features – In short, the 98 Pro is stacked with just about every possible feature a home user could want or need. Smart Connect is configured stock and works very well for those who don’t want separate SSIDs. The 98 Pro will support up to 32 separate networks (and SSIDs) for those that need it. I, myself, have my 98 Pro set up with a separate SSID for each band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz (1), and 6 GHz (2)) along with a separate network for guests (aptly named, "Alien_Anal_Probe_for_Guests") and a separate network for IoT devices (security cams, etc ...). Protection - The 98 Pro also offers the usual firewall services (iPv4, iPv6, etc ...), NAT, etc … tools but also offers Trend Micro’s AI Protection free of subscription fees. While it won’t stop everything, the service is a nice extra add-on for a home user. ASUS also offers ADGuard DNS through its firmware under the parental controls section (also a free subscription although you have to sign up for it). I have been testing it and so far have found it does indeed cut down on sites that try to blind you with 40 ads popping up. Gaming Features - True to its Republic of Gamers (ROG) moniker, the 98 Pro provides several services to help out online gamers. The Game Booster page offers three levels of Quality of Service (QOS) adjustments and there are separate settings for managing ping to well known game servers (Call of Duty, War Thunder, Arma, Eve Online, etc ….). The end user also has numerous customizable options for tailoring any game connection to their liking and there is even the ability for the router to recognize other ROG devices (like motherboards). I use the Game Booster features for DCS World online flight simming combat and have brought my average ping down from about 14 milliseconds to about 11 milliseconds for the two preferred servers I enjoy playing on. WiFi 7 – The IEEE introduced Wifi 7, also known as 802.11be back in January of 2024. From a technical standpoint, Wifi 7 offers MLO, MIMO, Flexible Channel, and MRU improvements to Wifi 6 and 6E standards. The Wifi Alliance states that Wifi 7 allows up to 46 Gbits per second but that is theoretical. In the real-world, Wifi 7 using the 98 Pro will realistically reach around 4 Gbit/sec while the prior Wifi 6E reaches about 1.7 Gbit/sec. While the Wifi Alliance promises Wifi 7 speeds out to 98 feet indoors, realistically you are looking at more like 15 to 25 feet, … so you need to be in the same room with no walls blocking the signal. Truth be told, … Wifi 7 is really a bit of a short range gimmick. That said, does the 98 Pro fulfill Wifi 7 speeds? … Yes, as of November, 2024, it can indeed reach these speeds as long as the client is less than 25 feet from the router. As of the 1.2a motherboard (starting mid-Feb, 2025) and the latest firmware (37812), .. excellent. My Pixel 9 Pro XL and my wife's iPhone 16 both work excellently although only within the same room and only out to about 8 meters or so. Testing some file transfers, I was able to reach speeds of 3800 Mbps from 3 feet away and 3100 Mbps from 15 feet away, ... smoking fast! I am ever going to need file transfers that fast? …. Not really, … but it is nice to have. Wifi 6 and 6E – As noted previously, … initially the 98 Pro performed poorly compared to dedicated Wifi 6E routers like the GT-AXE16000. Much of these problems were ironed out (finally) from Nov to Jan of 2025. The 98 Pro now delivers full Wifi 6 and 6E throughput if the client supports those standards. I use a Meta Quest Pro VR headset (which uses Wifi 6E but not Wifi 7) in wireless mode to fly virtual aircraft in MSFS 2024 and DCS World (I have my second 6 GHz band setup exclusively for the Quest Pro headset so there is no interference). I have tested the Quest Pro with numerous routers and the 98 Pro now exceeds the GT-AXE11000 as the best router I have ever used for connecting the headset at 1300 Mbps from three meters. My dream of flying in high fidelity and with all settings maxed in DCS World without a Link cable has finally been realized and with slightly better performance than my previous GT-AXE11000 router. Wifi 5 and 2.4 GHz - So far, excellent. The 98 Pro has the highest speeds I have ever seen on the 5 GHz band at roughly 1100 Mbps (from 25 feet)(upstairs and through three walls I am getting roughly 740 Mbps). With the 2.4 GHz band, I am getting excellent penetration throughout the house and all of my 32 IoT devices can connect without problems or delays, even cameras 80 feet away on my back fence. Network Attached Storage - The 98 Pro features one 3.2 USB port and one 2.0 USB port. I have my 2TB Samsung T9 SSD attached to the USB 3.2 port and am getting file transfer speeds around 1750 Mbps! I did briefly try out ASUS's AICloud feature but it seemed half-baked and more of a security risk, so I turned that feature off. Custom Firmware - The 98 Pro is compatible with the WRT Merlin custom firmware releases which give the router some additional features not found in the stock firmware. It is also nice to be able to use this firmware if you find a feature in the stock firmware is not working as well as you wished. Sadly, the 98 Pro cannot use DD-WRT custom firmware at this point in time. Conclusion – Anytime the IEEE releases a new Wifi standard, it is always going to take a good year to 18 months for real-world products to actually fully implement those standards. The 98 Pro is no different. When the 98 Pro was first released in March of 2024, it was somewhat buggy and had numerous small issues with both Wifi 7 and 6E connectivity. In short, … it was a three star router. It reached a four star router level around Dec of 2024. Now that there have been two motherboard changes and several firmware releases, the 98 Pro is indeed reaching true Wifi 7 speeds and has fixed most of the small bugs and 6E connectivity issues that plagued it in 2024. Overall, it is now a five star product. Read more

funciona increible, Read more

Clairement le produit est de qualité et les performances sont au rendez-vous. J’ai utilisé mon ancien routeur ASUS pour faire un AiMesh et ça fonctionne super bien. Je recommande donc sans hésiter ! Important de noter que seul les appareils récents pourront maximiser le potentiel de ce produit avec l’activation du Wi-Fi 7 et la fonctionnalité de Multi-Link Operation (MLO). Read more

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. Read more

Tenía un Netgear Nighthawk AX12 WiFi 6 los ultimos casi 4 años, mis necesidades en casa son muy grandes y requiero WiFi de alto performance ya que tengo por trabajo Videollamadas todo el dia, correos, envío y recepción de archivos grandes, ademas de Tidal 24 bits 192khz HiRes FLAC, streaming en 4k para 4 pantallas, Alexas, porton electrico, app de panales solares etc, un gran numero de dispositivos inalámbricos que requieren un alto performance de conectividad, quise actualizarme a la nueva tecnologia WiFi 7 y aunque se que estoy entrando temprano quiero estar preparado para los proximos años estando a la vanguardia. Mi experiencia de primeros pasos fué medianamente sencilla, digamos que le dedique una hora y media para encontrar y montarlo en un lugar bien ubicado para asegurar muy buena cobertura, además el router es ENORME tenía que asegurar que no estorbe y se vea bien, le adapte una base de aluminio con sinchos (ya que no viene preparado para atornillarlo a un muro). Bajé la aplicación y seguí los primeros pasos del instructivo lo cual no me llevo más de 40 minutos incluyendo la actualización del firmware, por cierto, la aplicación me gustó más que la de mi anterior router, es intuitiva y muy completa. Aún estoy probando el desempeño a corta y mediana distancia en las dos plantas de mi casa pero hasta ahora estoy viendo aproximadamente entre 100 y 200 megas de mejora sobre mi plan de 1GB en varios celulares, laptops y mejor velocidad desde la cochera y patio trasero. Estoy muy emocionado de lo que podré hacer conforme vaya teniendo más equipos con wifi 7. Read more