Asus RT-N66U

Bottom Line

The Asus RT-N66U has been called "the superhero of Asus' lineup of routers." The successor to the well-reviewed Asus RT-N56U (*Est. $100), the RT-N66U is a true simultaneous dual-band router, operating at 450 Mbps on each band. As such, it's especially recommended for those who use bandwidth heavy applications, such as multiplayer games and 3D HD video streaming, as well as for home and small office environments.

Ease of Use

Great for novice and experienced users. Reviewers report that the Asus RT-N66U is very easy to set up through the supplied CD and also via the Asus website, which is considered to be well designed and easy for beginners to navigate. The website also provides experienced users with access to all the router's features. Some users say they had difficulty setting up the RT-N66U, but these firmware problems seem to have been resolved.

Performance

Fast, long range performance. The Asus RT-N66U receives praise from experts and users for its excellent coverage, stability and fast data rates, especially on the 5 GHz band. However, the data speed on the 2.4 Ghz band was "more pedestrian."  The RT-N66U has excellent range on both bands, up to 300 feet in the CNET tests. The TechRadar.com reviewer especially recommends this router for people who use a lot of bandwidth for 3D HD video streaming and multiplayer games.

Features

Attractive design and two USB ports. The Asus RT-N66U has an attractive design, angular with a black finish. The router has two USB ports, but it doesn't support USB 3.0, though all of the four LAN ports and one WAN port are Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The USB ports can be used to support printers or external storage. There are two guest networks, one on each band, and each supports three guests.  Both the 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz band supports the 450 Mbps data transfer standard.