Asus RT-N66U: A Solidly Build High Performance Router For The Home

Asus RT-N66U Router: The Excellent IPv6 Solidly Build High Performance Home Router

by Eric Steinhoffer

If you have been looking for a wireless router to replace your existing router for whatever reasons, you should seriously consider the Asus RT-N66U router if you are expecting to get high performance out of your router. This router is officially designated as ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router by its manufacturer, Asus. 

The Asus RT-N66U as it is more popularly known is a simultaneous dual-band three-stream "N-900" router with one Gigabit WAN port. The "N-900" indicates that the Asus RT-N66U can support 450 Mbps link rates when both radios are set to 20/40 or 40 mHz channel bandwidth.

The Asus RT-N66U’s duo band allows you to maximize your internet usage by splitting the bandwidth into two with both of them running concurrently. One bandwidth is used for basic internet use, for example,  web surfing, email and file loading while the other band is used for HD content streaming like watching movies, listening to music and playing online games.

If you are into on-line games, then you are looking at the right router as the Asus RT-N66U router ranks amongst the top, if not the top in today’s gaming router world. With the help of its new ASUS Ai Radar, the router intelligently strengthens connections to wireless devices to provide optimized signals in all directions and with better coverage as well to improve data throughput.

The Asus RT-N66U has a 600MHz CPU and a whole whopping 256Mb of RAM for the NAT table. In fact, currently there are no other routers in the market that has the specifications of the Asus RT-N66U. It also comes with 3 normal internal and 3 external antennas. If you need a longer range, you can easily replace the external antennas with bigger ones. 

It also comes with four switched Gigabit LAN ports and two USB 2.0 ports. These 2 USB ports support both hard drive and printer sharing. The Asus RT-N66U is also designed to operate up to 300,000 Internet client data sessions and is IPv6 support. 

For wireless security, the router has WPA and WPA2. When you first power up the router it will start with WPA as the default. However once you have done the initial setup, you can change it to the more secure WPA2. With this model, you also have up to 8 multi-user SSIDs with parental controls. This feature is particularly useful if you are running a small business and you need let your customer access the internet via your router.  You can simply assign them specific SSIDs and your files will be protected from unauthorized access.

Taking the feedback from its existing customer that sometimes it can be daunting for the non-technical user to set-up a router, Asus took the effort to make it easy for the not so technically inclined to set up the RT-N66U with its ASUSWRT dashboard user interface. 

As with all products, there will always be some negative points. Here are some of the negative points about the Asus RT-N66U:

• WPA is enabled by default. Make sure to turn it off to protect yourself from the WPA exploit
• The initial firmware (3.0.0.3.72) is broken. You CANNOT connect to the Internet with this factory shipped firmware. However this problem appears to have been fixed by Asus as after their recall of the initial shipment with the broken firmware, there no longer appears to have further reported cases of broken firmware 
• The USB ports are version 2.0 while the USB 3.0 standards are becoming more popular now

What are the good points about the Asus RT-N66U?

• Excellent WiFi (signal strength and throughput) performance compared to its competitors

• Fast 600MHz CPU and 256 Mb RAM allows you to easily manage multiple connections and heavy loads

• Very stable. Reports from forums generally found that customers are very happy with its stability with hardly anyone complaining for the router being down

• Provides native IPv6 Support

• Dual band concurrent WiFi

• Under ideal conditions, you can get up to a maximum of 450 Mbps on both bands; ideal for bandwidth demanding tasks such as 3D HD video streaming, multiplayer gaming on one band and normal internet related tasks on the other band

• Flexibility for additional sharing and streaming via the 2 USB ports

• You can get a longer range by easily upgrading the external antennas

• Comes with Gigabit WAN and LAN ports

• Unlike some other routers which are very light and flimsy, the Asus RT-N66U is heavy due to the fact that it is solidly built

• Can work as a standalone VPN server

The Aus RT-N66U is a great router for a small business or a home with a really high speed Internet connection. It is also very good if you play on-line games and need an uninterrupted connection. If you are also looking for an excellent modem to provide this connection from the service provider to the Asus RT-N66U, be sure to check out the Motorola SB6121 cable modem as well.

Overall I strongly recommend the Asus RT-N66U router; it does what a router is designed to do and it does it so reliably and easily. If you are looking for an excellent IPv6 compliant solidly build high performance router with the latest features then don’t waste your time on more reviews, go for the Asus RT-N66U. 

Click on this link to buy Asus RT-N66U at one of the best price in the market with free shipping as well.

Asus RT-N66U’s Customers’ Experience

5.0 out of 5 stars Best router on the market!, January 30, 2012

By KeithKman (Southern California)

"...I upgraded to the RT-N66U from an old Linksys WRT54G running Tomato firmware connected to an old Ambit U10C018 cable modem. My new setup is the RT-N66U connected via a DOCSIS 3.0 Cisco DPC3010 cable modem. With the Ambit modem connected to the RT-N66U I was getting 12Mbps download on Speedtest.net. With the Cisco modem connected to the RT-N66U I am getting 33Mbps download.

The setup is straight forward. I used the web GUI. As people have stated, the initial firmware that comes with this router is broken if using the English language GUI. I did not have any problems navigating to the "Administration" tab on the left side, selecting "Firmware Upgrade" tab on the top, selecting "Check" next to "Firmware Version", and updating the firmware to 3.0.0.3.90. Updating the firmware took 3 minutes. Once updated, everything seems to be working EXCEPT port forwarding from inside the network. You can view from outside the network, just not within. Hopefully this is fixed in another firmware update.

The overall performance of the router is simply amazing. The WiFi range is better than any other router I have tested. I was able to get 2/3 bars on my iPhone 4S WiFi meter from a street away. I only have one desktop, Asus all-in-one PC, and it is connected via LAN. My other devices connected via LAN are my Xbox and Roku XS player.

Everything else is connected via WAN (WiFi): four iPhone 4S, Lenovo T510 laptop, Toshiba laptop, MacBook Pro, iPod Touch, and HP Officejet 4500 printer. The router handles all of my devices with ease. If I am playing Modern Warfare 3 on my Xbox and a family member is streaming Netflix on the Roku player, the router has zero issues. Only thing I notice is if there is a lot of activity on the network the RT-N66U gets luke warm.

Up time is over a week with zero issues. I would highly recommend this router to anyone, newbie to an expert IT professional..."

5.0 out of 5 stars RT-N66U from Amazon had Zero Problems, January 28, 2012

By M.Montes (Texas)

"...I just got 2 delivered from Amazon on 01/23/12. One for my house and one for my business. Installed Using Windows 7 64bit and Chrome and had absolutely no problems. No broken or messed up menus. Everything was smooth and easy. I made it through the initial setup wizard, tested it for a few minutes then immediately updated to the latest firmware.

Several others on smallnetbuilder have reported the same thing... that Amazon's batch seems to be fine. Also if you think your router is DOA, this one actually has a power button. You have to press it after plugging it in to turn it on. I had never seen that on a router before.

Performance of the router is excellent. I have had it up for 6 days straight with no reboots or dropped connections. It has great range and signal strength. This is by far the best router I have ever owned. Build quality is excellent as well, it feels very well made. It may have had its problems initially but with the bugs worked out now... you have to give it strong consideration as a top router in its class..."

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than competition., May 11, 2012

By JoelSmith "EveryMan" (Birmingham, AL)

"...I went through a few of the competitor's products before settling on this one. After several months of constant usage I've had no problems (not even a reboot). All of the premium home routers seem to do well when you're standing next to them but this one succeeds where others fail: excellent signal at longer dlstances...like when I'm in the garage hiding from the wife.

Those three antennas poking out of the top of the unit are not a gimmick-the competitors would do well to abandon the internal antenna design..."

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!, March 24, 2012

By N.ayer

"...This product is too good. I was with E3000 Linksys but the room upstairs did not have good signal. A month ago I bought e4200v2 Linksys and it was terrible. Easy to connect but seems like it was performing poorly than e3000. Returned it.

Waited for Asus as it was not in stock probably due to the bugs that need fixing. Once it become available in amzn, I bought it. Installed it yesterday.

Wow what a difference. Setup was a breeze. Every room in my house has top-speed. In fact I woke up happy thinking about this :)..."

5.0 out of 5 stars The BEST Router I have ever owned, March 31, 2012

By Dtrane (Saltillo, Mexico) 

"...I have had this Asus RT-N66U router for a week now. It is hands down the best router for the home environment for power users. My wireless performance is equal to the wired performance. I did the initial setup from my IPad.

From initial hookup to surfing on the Internet was less than 5 minutes for a basic setup. I then connected 3 TV's, 3 laptops, and 2 IPads in less than 30 min for all. No loss of performance at all. I can't say enough about this thing. It is a great looking device. Well worth the price I paid..."

Click Here To Buy the Asus RT-N66U at a fantastic 17% Discount

A Love Letter To The Boxee Box: The Boxee Box Review

A Love Letter To The Boxee Box: The Boxee Box Review

By Barry Orlov

You just can't imagine it. When some people found that they have bought product, they go all out to share with the world. This is the case of an owner of the Boxee Box. He loved the Boxee Box so much that he even wrote a review on the Boxee Box titled: "A Love Letter To he Boxee Box". 

If you are searching for a media streamer to enhance your digital home entertainment, read on...

This is a customer review of the Boxee Box by D-Link HD Streaming Media Player

Okay, so in one sentence, I love the Boxee Box. Throw all your movie files at it and it eats em up easily, scrapes IMDB for ratings/synopsis/and DVD covers. Apps include good stuff like Rev3 podcasts and TWiT, as well as Pandora, TED talks, Flickr, Wired, MLB, and NBATV to name some of my favs. It also gathers the most popular shows on the internet and allows you to watch selected episodes for free. There is a full function flash browser which is really cool for me since I like to watch Starcraft 2 tournament streams and other flash streaming sites and it easily connects to my shared folders over WiFi.

Pros:
1) Plays all movie files including ISOs, m2ts ps3 blu rays, MKV, etc... Loads them quickly and it looks beautiful. There are options on the Boxee Box to set video all the way up to 1080p 24hz.

2) Apps, I love shows on Rev3 and TWiT, and this makes it a lot easier than downloading them, I find myself watching more things when I am bored, simply because its easy and available.

3) I love love love that it automatically gets DVD covers for all the movies I have, its such a nice touch and looks beautiful. I remember years back these movie stars were talking about their Kaleidoscope movie system that cost $30k and could keep all your movies on it with cover art and u just click a button to watch them, now this is achievable with this $200 box that does even more than that.

4) As I mentioned movies load pretty quickly, and if you stop a movie and leave to the main menu, it keeps your place perfectly so that when you click back to it you are watching right where you left off.

5) Ports, the Boxee Box has em all. SD card slot, 2 USB, HDMI, composite audio, and digital audio. Connect an external HD with any movies on it and it will scan it and add them all to your library with cover art in minutes

6) The Boxee Box’s remote looks simple on one side, but flip it over and it has a full QWERTY keyboard to navigate websites and input usernames and passwords, something no other box has.

7) Friends list, shows anything your friends recommend

8) Watch later, is a great feature that is probably underused, I have a ton of media, and I don't really feel like watching a lot of it, but there are certain things I can't wait to see, so I just add those hot items to the watch later list so I can just click that instead of navigating through 200 movies

9) UI of the Boxee Box looks nice enough and is fairly easy to navigate, again this box does more than any other, so there are a lot of menu features

Cons:
1) Remote, every time I pick it up it's always backwards, kind of a design flaw, as well as not having a backlight, considering people in home theaters are almost always in the dark, it kind of renders the QWERTY useless.

2) Some of the menu options are hidden or not as easy to find for the less technically inclined

3) No Netflix or Hulu (yet), should be coming any week now. I don't personally use any of them so it doesn't piss me off as much as it has others, but it WILL have it so keep an eye out.

4) The design of the Boxee Box is dumb in my opinion, you cannot stack it with other theater components and it's not that cool that it looks like its melting into your table

All in all the Boxee Box is a must buy for theater nerds and normal folks alike. Once it has Netflix then it really isn't a question if you should spend the little extra to get the Boxee Box over a very limited functionality box like Apple TV or Roku.

P.S. – Netflix is available on the Boxee Box as of February 14, 2011 in Canada and the US.

What Other Users Are Saying About The Boxee Box In Their Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars: Worth it …The reason I am giving this 5 starts is two-fold. 1) It does what it says it does. And does it well. The local content streams HD video beautifully and without the hassle of plugging my laptop into my tv just to watch a show or movie. The apps also work well, especially TED, Pandora and Vice. Cannot wait for Netflix though. 2) The reception to user feedback has been incredible. Each and every complaint is getting individual attention; and not just for bugs. For instance, people have complained it takes to many click to get to local content. So now, an update will give users the option of featuring their local content. By  Matthew Kirsch

5.0 out of 5 stars: Gets better every day I've owned it. …The first day I had the Boxee box I was very happy to have a new device to play my movies, tv shows, music, and view my photos. I'm moving to the Boxee from a custom atom powered Ion net top running XBMC. I had to be a giant nerd to use the XBMC on that computer. The Boxee box is braindead simple to setup, use, and maintain. I started by adding my network shares (nerdy part). After leaving Boxee to scan my shares I was very happy to see all my tv episodes were labeled and the movies had their posters. I'm very happy with the Boxee box, the only shortcoming is that I couldn't play a 1080p video over my Gigiabit network. Hopefully future software releases fix this. By  Timothy OBrien

5.0 out of 5 stars: Boxee is Awesome I love the Boxee Box. It's a little tricky to set up at first (They are working on making it easier), but once it's set up it works and plays moives, TV, Music, etc flawlessly. Boxee is a great way to make your television more social. By  Nathaniel

5.0 out of 5 stars: AMAZING Product As a user who download a lot of MKV files in 1080p but also likes to slip in a good bit of NetFlix as well this thing is awesome. I've got a 2TB drive hooked up to it and it's playing everything I toss at it without a problem (mostly 1080/720p mkv files, but also a few AVI files). It also plays Netflix and HBOGO just fine. I couldn't be happier. They recently added Spotify, which has just been the cherry on top of this experience. 5 Star. By  Z. Fretty

Want more reviews on the Boxee Box? Click here.

 

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