ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router From Asus List Price: $179.99 Price: $109.99 & eligible for FREE Shipping on orders over $35.  Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Ships from and sold by Amazon.com Average customer review:

Product Description

Introducing the ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band N900 Ultra Fast Wireless Router. With 3 x detachable R-SMA type antenna, 50% wider coverage than standard N SPEC, VPN Server function enable and IPv6 support ASUS RT-N66U is a true Business class router yet affordable from regular consumers.Support IPv6.2 years parts and labor warranty.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45 in Personal Computers
• Size: 12in l x 9.4in w x 3.4in h
• Color: Black
• Brand: Asus
• Model: RT-N66U
• Format: CD-ROM
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 3.50" h x 14.00" w x 11.00" l, 1.80 pounds

Features

• 3 x Detachable antenna for 2.4GHz/5GHz with peak gain 3dBi/ 5dBi
• IPv6 support; VPN Server Support
• 802.11n: up to 450Mbps ; 802.11a/g: up to 54Mbps; 802.11b: up to 11Mbps
• Supports Ethernet and 802.3 with max. bit rate 10/100/1000 Mbps
• 2 x USB2.0 support for Printer sharing or HDD sharing

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Editorial Reviews

From the Manufacturer

RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Router

Incredible Performance with Incredible Control

From the Black Diamond series that brought the world's most powerful router, the RT-N56U,¹ The ASUS RT-N66U dual-band wireless-N900 gigabit router delivers incredible performance and coverage range. With ASUSWRT, quickly setup your network, customize user access, and monitor signal strength. Following the award-winning RT-N56U, the RT-N66U increases Wi-Fi speed for both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz transmission by 50% up to 900Mbps that makes it ideal for bandwidth demanding tasks such as HD video steaming, multiplayer gaming, USB hard drive file sharing, and USB connected printer sharing. Built-in Wi-Fi amplifiers make the RT-N66U the perfect wireless router for larger, multi-level homes and buildings with signal range that reaches virtually any area.
Whether you're a tech-savvy enthusiast or a first-time user, the RT-N66U is exceptional easy to use with CD-free, Quick Installation Setup (QIS) that lets you plug-n-surf right out of the box and connect PCs, smartphones, tablets, and other wireless devices quickly. Thanks to its refined interface tools, you get control like never before, letting you monitor signal strength, setup parental settings, and other useful functions in a robust yet intuitive way.

Learn More

Designed for Class-Leading Speed and Range

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Designed with the latest in networking technology, the RT-N66U delivers exceptionally fast wired and wireless connectivity. What's more, it comes with a powerful detachable Wi-Fi antenna to further extend wireless range.

Dual-Band Connectivity for Lag-Free Entertainment

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Delivering both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz concurrent bands up to 450Mbps and 450Mbps respectively, the RT-N66U has a total speed of up to 900Mbps connectivity to provide speed with stability. Perform basic internet tasks like Web browsing and file downloading under the 2.4 GHz band, whil e also simultaneously streaming HD content and other demanding applications smoothly on the 5 GHz band.

Optimized and Reliable Wireless Coverage via Ai Radar

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ASUS Ai Radar intelligently strengthens connections to wireless devices. With high-powered amplification and beam forming, it provides optimized signals in any direction with better coverage to improve data throu ghput.

Easy Setup Through Your Tablet, Smartphone, or PC

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With the RT-N66U, setup is simple. Simply power and connect the router and then open a bowser on a Wi-Fi-enabled device like a laptop o r tablet. You will be taken to a setup page with a prompt to enter the ID/password listed in your manual and that's it! Now setting up your net work is easier than ever.

Powerful functions, easiest management

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With the ASUSWRT Dashboard UI, setup, monitor, and control network applications all in one intuitive area. The whole new dashboard interface lets you manage all clients and settings on a single graphic al interface and provides 1-click updates.

Optimize Your Network for You

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Do you game a lot, or spend most of your time streaming videos? Whatever your planned use is, the RT-N66U has a Quality of Service (QoS) that lets you select how much bandwidth is prioritized for virtually any task. Plus, the traffic monitor allows you to check your Web usage in a clear and graphical interface.

Two Multi-Functional Built-in USB ports

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Featuring connectivity to devices, FTPs, SAMBA, UPnP AV servers, and DLNA support, the RT-N66U makes sharing and networking easier with two built-in USB ports. Download HTTP, FTP, and P2P files to a router-connected USB storage device all day a nd without a PC. Additionally, the twin USB ports allow for networked printer and file server connections, so you perform multiple tasks at on ce.

Key Features

• 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Concurrent Dual-Band Transmissions for b Signal Strength and Ultra-Fast Connection Rates up to 900Mbps (Learn more)
• Gigabit Ethernet Ports for the Fastest, Most Reliable Internet Performance (Learn more)
• Download Master for Wireless Data Storage and Access to Router-Connected USB Storage Devices (Learn more)
• Expanded Wireless Coverage with Detachable High-Powered Antennas (Learn more)
• File Sharing, Printer Sharing, and 3G Sharing via Multi-Function Twin USB Ports (Learn more)
• IPv6 enabled for future proof Web surfing compatibility
• ASUSWRT for Easy Setup, Signal Monitoring, and Network Appli cation Control (Learn more)

Specifications

Hardware

• Processor: Broadcom 470 @ 600MHz
• RAM: 256MB DDR2
• Flash: 32MB Flash + Micro SD slot
• WAN: 1 x Gigabit Ethernet or USB 3G/4G dongle
• LAN: 4 x Gigabit Ethernet
• USB: 2 x USB 2.0 ports
• Antenna: 3 x external detachable for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
• Dimensions: 207 x 148.8 x35.5 (L x W x H)
• Power Supply: AC Input: 100~240Vac/1.2A 50~60Hz
• DC Output: 19V/ 1.58A
• Buttons: WPS Button, Reset Button, Power Button

Wireless Features

• Frequency: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (concurrent)
• Data Rate: 802.11n (2.4 GHz & 5 GHz) up to 450Mbps; 802.11a/g up to 54Mbps; 802.11b up to 11Mbps
• Output Power: High po wer: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (user adjustable); 802.11n 17~26 dBm; 802.11g 17~26 dBm; 802.11b up to 26 dBm
• Encryption: 64/128 bit WEP , WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK, WPA-Enterprise, WPA2-Enterprise
• Authentication: Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS & PIN)

Software

• Network Protocol: Automatic IP, Static IP, PPPoE (MPPE support), PPTP, L2TP IPv4, IPv6
• DHCP: Server, Cl ient, DHCP, Client list, IP and MAC binding
• QoS: WMM, User definable rule for IP/MAC, Port, Protocol, upload and download band width management
• Port Forwarding: Port forward, Port Trigger, UPnP, DMZ
• Dynamic DNS: ASUS DDNS, DynDNS, TZO, Z ONEEDIT
• NAT Pass through: IPSec, PPTP, L2TP, RTSP pass through, PPPoE relay
• Firewall: NAT and SPI, intrusion detection, DoS protect, Port filter, MAC filter
• Access Control: Parental controls, MAC filter, Network service filter, URL fil ter
• Management: Network map, Traffic monitor, Performance tuning, Telnet server, System log
• Operation Mode: Rou ter Mode, AP Mode
• Download Master: Support BT, NZB, HTTP, FTP, E2DK download; Support encryption: DHT, PEX and Magnet Link; Upl oad and download bandwidth control; Download scheduling
• DLNA Server: Image: JPEG; Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, PCM, MP4, LPCM, OGG; Vi deo: ASF, AVI, DIVX, MP2P, MPEG, MPG, TS, VOB, WMV, MKV, MOV
• Printer Server: Multifunctional printer support
• Fil e Server: Samba server & FTP server with account management
• VPN Server: PPTP VPN server

What's in the Box

• RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Router
• RJ-45 Cable
• Support C D (User Manual and Utility Software)
• Power Adapter
• Warranty Card
• Quick Start Guide

	RT-N53	RT-N56U	RT-N66U
Performance
Wireless	Dual Band Wireless N
Frequency	2.4 GHz/ 5 GHz
Antenna	2 x  2.4 GHz / 5 GHz internal	2 x  2.4 GHz/ 5 GHz internal	3 x 2.4 GHz/ 5 GHz detachable external
		1 x 5 GHz internal
LAN	10/100 LAN	Gigabit	Gigabit
USB 2.0 ports	0	2	2
Max Data Range	300Mbps	300Mbps	450Mbps
Coverage Range (estimated)	300ft	360ft	450ft
Unique Features
CD-Free Installation	X	X	X
ASUSWRT (Graphical User Interface)	X	X	X
EZ QoS	X	X	X
Ai Radar		X	X
USB Print Sharing Support		X	X
Ai Desk		X	X
Key Features
URL Filter	X	X	X
Real-time Traffic Monitoring	X	X	X
DLNA Support	X	X	X
Parental Control	X	X	X
Multi-SSID	X		X
Wall Mount Support	X		X
IPv6 Support

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
1156 of 1171 people found the following review helpful.
Awesome hardware, but be sure to set it up properly!
By Nicolas Siemsen
The Asus RT-N66U is absolutely an impressive piece of hardware. Seriously powerful, feature packed, aesthetically pleasing, and at an approachable price point for the hobbyist. I think you'll find that this holds true by reading all the great reviews here.

There are definitely two weak points to be aware of, however.

The first - the firmware that it ships with is in pretty rough shape.

After unboxing and plugging in my router I went through the setup wizard to change the SSID, change the router password, and set up WPA2 key. This went fine. After that, I went in to the router settings and made one small change, saved it, and was disconnected from the router as part of the change. It should have reconnected shortly after, but instead my browser presented me the page that comes up when a web address cannot be reached. I tried for a while but the router was suddenly inaccessible on the default IP address. Basically, from what I could tell, the change I made however benign had buggered up the router. I ended up resorting to a reset - accomplished by holding the reset button for 5-10 seconds with the router turned on.

So lesson #1 here is to immediately install the newest firmware available at the Asus website THE MOMENT you unbox your and plug in your router. The firmware update went smoothly after I got the router reset to factory setup and working again, and now it's been working flawlessly for a month.

OK, second weak point - the router, as far as I'm concerned, comes from the factory improperly configured. That is, the default settings in the router hamper its full and proper operation.

What I mean by this is that after installing the router I was getting less than ideal performance out of it. While it was working well enough to give me good download and upload speeds (25mb/sec down, 15mb/sec up) from my cable connection, internal network speeds and coverage were below expectations. For example, paired with a matching dual band NetGear USB wireless adapter on my office computer, Windows wireless client was showing network speed fluctuating between 78Mbps and 216Mbps with it usually in the middle somewhere around 120Mbps. Better than the approx 50Mbps speeds I would see with my 802.11g router and adapter previously but not what I'd expected. In addition, the signal strength was rather poor in the back room. As another example, I was getting a consistent 144Mbps from my XPS M1530 laptop, with an older single band 2.4Ghz draft-N internal card, in the living room right near the router. Also less than my hopes had been for this router.

So I did some more thorough review of the wireless settings and found two big issues that needed to be change to get this router working as it should be.

The first was that the wireless control channel setting for both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands is set to "Auto" be default. Ideally, this would mean that the router would dynamically select the best channel based on local interference in that band. In the real world, though, this Auto mode on most routers doesn't work that well and this is no different. I performed a wireless network scan with my Android phone using a free app, and found that my router was camped out on Channel 6. As some may know, this is the default channel for most consumer routers and most home users never change away from it. Sure enough, there were three other wireless networks that I could detect around neighborhood that were on channel 6 as well. To remedy this, I took the 2.4Ghz band off of Auto and set the channel to 1. For those making this change themselves, be sure to scan using something like WiEye on your phone or inSSIDer on your computer. Assuming that most of the other routers in your area will be using channel 6, you will need to move yours to the far ends of the channel list, choosing either 1 or 11. This because the signal from the routers set to channel 6 do not stay there perfectly, instead they overlap substantially. A router on channel 8, for example, will have a pretty good overlap with those on channel 6 and will still see interference. The only way to avoid this is moving all the way to 1 or 11. I left the 5Ghz channel selection on Auto for now, as the 5Ghz band is much less interference prone currently, and in fact I don't believe there are any other 5Ghz networks in range in my neighborhood currently so it's a non-issue there.

The second major problem I found with the router's default setting was also in the router settings. The RT-N66U has the option to change the bandwidth for a given band. By default, I found that both the 2.4 and 5Ghz bands were set to a signal bandwidth of 20Hz. The reason this is a major issue is that at 20Hz, there is simply not enough throughput on the given band to allow for this router to hit its full speed potential. So I went ahead and set the router to use 40Hz bandwidth for each band.

With those two changes, my network performance and signal strength increased dramatically with real world results to prove it. Now, that dual-band network adapter in my office shows pegged at a solid 450Mbps (x2 for the dual bands for a theoretical 900Mbps hence the N900 designation on the router). Now that's what I'd been expecting all along! As for the laptop in the other room, on single band 2.4Ghz it is now hitting a rock solid 300Mbps which is the max for that older draft-N card. This extra speed has even helped me attain the max internet speeds I can expect from my cable plan, I'm now seeing 30+Mbps download speeds and 20+Mbps uploads.

Now that it is properly configured, I have set it up to do all sorts of other fun stuff. I set up the VPN, with encryption, and can now connect to that with my Android phone and tablet when traveling which is a great feature for secure and private browsing when at airports, hotels, etc. I set up a separate "guest" SSID that is segregated from my internal network for my phones and to connect to since they are the only devices that regularly leave the security of the internal network. There are still 5 more guest SSID's I can set up. Additionally, I connected a USB hard drive to it and it's running as a local share folder as well as a DLNA and iTunes server. It's doing all this with a desktop computer, two laptop computers, three Android phones, an Android tablet, a chromecast and a PS3 all connected to it and it's not even breaking a sweat.

So that's a lot of info, but I hope you can see that in the end with some know-how and research on the internet (like reading this review) this router can be just about the best thing you can do for your home or small business network at this price point. I would not hesitate to recommend it with the above provisos in mind.
740 of 789 people found the following review helpful.
After initial release problems, which have been resolved, this is hands-down the best WiFi access point on the market.
By Craig M. Hamm
Well, as mentioned in another review, the firmware in the initial shipment of these (3.0.0.3.72) is broken. Not buggy, not unstable, but broken. You CANNOT connect to the Internet with the factory firmware, at least in the initial release. I purchased one, returned it in exchange for another one, and the second one had the exact same problem. As discussed on this here: [...]

You must manually enter a URL [...] then change to a language other than English, then update the firmware. (The current version from the ASUS website is 3.0.0.3.90 as of 1/13/2012) Of course, that means you need to download the firmware first, since you can't connect to the Internet with the factory firmware. And of course, a router is required for most people to access the Internet, so... well, you can see where I'm going with this.

After the firmware update, things were much better. I had the Internet connection set up in a few minutes, and the speed was unbelievable. Certainly the fastest consumer wireless on the market right now. It has nice features, like 6 different SSIDs for guest networks (3 for each band.) You can choose whether or not to give those networks access to your primary network, and since you can set up multiple SSIDs, you can have different settings for each. It also has parental controls, good QoS, a VPN server and some other nice features. It supports Zoneedit for dynamic DNS, so I was pretty happy about that. (Neither the Cisco or the Linksys models I have tried do.)

One feature that's present in the Linksys E4200, but not on this router, is an SSL web GUI. I work in IT, and it bothers me administering my firewall over plaintext HTTP. Probably not that big a deal to home users, but I don't think it's that difficult to implement an HTTPS server for the admin GUI. It also makes this unit completely unsuited for deployment in a business environment, where security is paramount. I'm hopeful that it'll be in a future firmware update. I could probably use this router for a lot of small-business clients.

As far as wireless range goes, this blows away both the Cisco E4200v1 and the Netgear WNDR3800, both of which I tested in the same placement as this one. I get full signal in all corners of my house, which isn't too big, but both the Netgear and Cisco routers got medium signal in the corners of my house. I have 5 wireless devices and 6 wired devices, and speed thus far has not been a problem. I stream video without drops and file transfers are quick. No complaints.

I really wish ASUS hadn't made the error of shipping this with broken firmware. They will undoubtedly have a return rate nearing 100% until they get the new firmware on shipping units. Had it not been for this, I would easily give this product 5 stars. If it had HTTPS on the GUI, I'd say it's a perfect device.

UPDATE 10/12/2012
So they fixed the firmware issue within a couple weeks of release. Now, they've released a firmware upgrade that adds HTTPS functionality. I'm upgrading my review to five stars!

UPDATE 11/16/2012
I changed the title of the review, because, other than price, there is no longer any reason not to buy this product. It is the best wireless access point on the market, save for the new ASUS RT-AC66U, which is just an updated version of this product. (New radio, supports a new standard that nobody uses yet.) I don't use it as a router, so I can't qualify those features, but as far as range, features and consistent connectivity, you can't beat this product at any price.
296 of 323 people found the following review helpful.
Solid router, AWESOME range, READ FOR ENGLISH FIRMWARE CONFIG HELP!
By Bryan Lynch
I got my shiny new RT-N66U today from Amazon.

I do networking for a living and figured even though I'd seen reports of the shipping factory firmware being broken in English mode, it would be no problem.

WHAT A PAIN!!!!!!!!!!! Come on Asus!!!!

The short and sweet version of how to get your router up and running with 3.0.0.3.72:

*Download 3.0.0.3.90 firmware from [...]
*Extract RT-N66U_3.0.0.3_90.trx to somewhere on your computer
*Log in to 192.168.1.1 (User:admin Pass:admin)
*Complete the initial setup wizard using any info you want. Just GET THROUGH IT. It will display a broken page at the end.
*Enter 192.168.1.1 in your web browser
*Click on "Administration" on the left
*Click on "Firmware Upgrade" on the top tab
*Switch the language box in the top-right-hand corner from "English" to something else. I used French.
*Upload RT-N66U_3.0.0.3_90.trx
***WAIT FOR IT TO FINISH***
*When it's complete, choose "English" again from the language drop-down.
*Go back to 192.168.1.1 and complete your initial router configuration.

The good news is that after I got 3.0.0.3.90 on the router all seems to be running smoothly.

I was replacing an ASUS RT-N56U and I have found so far:

*SIGNIFICANTLY better range on both 2.4 and 5ghz bands (Maybe 3-6db increase at an 80ft distance)

I'm hoping that when I get a wireless adapter that supports 450Mbps that I'll be able to see the huge difference.

I like the way it physically looks (Like some type of network Samurai device) and I love that I can swap out the antennas as I see fit. It looks pretty bad-ass actually.

It's been running smooth for a day now.

The specs on this thing are awesome. I just can't believe that Asus would let it ship out with severely broken English firmware. Oh well that's what I get for buying a product the day it's released lol.

The bottom line is that if you're into this kind of technology, the initial configuration pain shouldn't be a huge deterrent to you. Third-party Broadcom firmware support will be abundant for this router soon. There are already a few releases out there for you to try like TomatoUSB.

The 2.4ghz range increase was noticeable for me. 5ghz was also increased, but still has a smaller range footprint than the 2.4ghz band.

If you are not comfortable with this kind of work, maybe wait a few months for Asus to ship some units out with the firmware upgraded for you.

I would have given this router 5 stars if it wasn't for the shipping firmware bug. Asus, you get 4 stars for making me work.

Update to come in a few weeks of operation.

Update 1/19/12: Just using the built-in wifi radio on my Samsung Galaxy S2, I was able to use my router nearly a block away from my house on 2.4ghz. The router is near a window and this was almost line-of-sight.

I plan on playing with the DLNA features in the next day or two. I'll post how that goes.

So far so good! Love it!

Update 1/23/12: I've been busy the last few days but I wanted to check in and say that this router has been running 100% rock solid and the wifi range increase has been DRAMATIC for me. I love the looks and function of this unit and plan on recommending it to any friend who asks.