Asus' gamer-centric RT-AC88U with 8 wired ethernet ports on Router

[froggyboy604]

Asus announced a slew of products designed to appeal to gamers this afternoon, but the one that interests me the most is the new RT-AC88U router. It’s a dual-band model that Asus claims will deliver up to 2.1Gbps of throughput on the 5GHz band and 1Gbps on the 2.4GHz band. But more noteworthy, this is the first consumer-oriented 802.11ac router to deliver more than four ethernet ports: The RT-AC88U has an eight-port gigabit switch.

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This does look like a nice router for people who have many computers, laptops, game consoles, and settop boxes in one room, and rather use wired connections instead of wireless.

 

[VirusZero]

That might be something useful for LAN parties too. Stack 8 people on wired connection and then hit 8 more on wireless. Instant 16 player mayhem without having to hook up multiple routers and switches to make a mess of wires.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Very nice, most likely out of my pocket book. My concern is not many gaming devices take advantage of 5GHz.

 

[froggyboy604]

Very nice, most likely out of my pocket book. My concern is not many gaming devices take advantage of 5GHz.

The Nvidia Shield consoles like the handheld, tablet, and console has 5 Ghz. Xbox One, Gaming laptops and desktops also has 5 Ghz.

But, the PS4, Wii U and older consoles like 3DS PS3, 360, and Wii still use 2.4 GHz.

I think even older devices, and devices which is only 2.4 GHz will run fast on this router because the router is very fast, and have good range.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

xbox one runs at that rate? Damn, why doesn't the PS4?

 

[froggyboy604]

xbox one runs at that rate? Damn, why doesn't the PS4?

Sony most likely want to save money building the PS4 by using a 2.4 GHz-only wifi chip since the PS4 cost $399 when it first came out instead of the more expensive price of $499 for the Xbox One which also has 2 HDMI ports, Kinect, a bigger case, external power supply, and other features which are not on the PS4.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Guess I will have to wait for PS5 then for that, hopefully.

 

[froggyboy604]

Guess I will have to wait for PS5 then for that, hopefully.

Sony may release an external USB Dual-band adapter like how the Xbox 360 has an USB 802.11N Wi-Fi adapter which has two antennas, and support both 2.4 and 5 GHz connections on it.

I bet, when the PS5 comes out, there would be faster, and more powerful wifi adapters than 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Eh, its not like I really need 5 ghz, the current one plays my online games like Destiny just fine.

 

[froggyboy604]

I think 5 GHz is only good for short-range speed where your devices are closer to your wifi router, but you still need 2.4 GHz for connecting to devices which are farther away.

I think if you are close to your router, you should use a wired connection.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I think 5 GHz is only good for short-range speed where your devices are closer to your wifi router, but you still need 2.4 GHz for connecting to devices which are farther away.

I think if you are close to your router, you should use a wired connection.

sounds like 5ghz defeats the whole purpose.

 

[lb]

It looks like a nice device, and the design is pretty neat, but it's not something I would invest in...

 

[froggyboy604]

It looks like a nice device, and the design is pretty neat, but it's not something I would invest in...

I agree it has is a nice device, and design is good. But, I most likely never buy this device since I rather buy a regular wired network switch with 8 or more wired ports, and just plug the switch into my current wifi router/modem if I need the switch to access the internet.