Asus RT-BE88U Review: A Straightforward and Powerful dual-band Wi-Fi 7 Router

Jun 12, 2024

8 Min Read

The RT-BE88U, first announced in late March, is Asus's third standalone Wi-Fi 7 router after the RT-BE96U and GT-BE98 Pro, and it's a special one.

Unlike any other Wi-Fi 7 broadcasters I've seen, the RT-BE88U is unique in that it does not feature the 6GHz band. It's a new type of cutting-edge hardware without having all the edges. While that might disappoint many enthusiasts, going dual-band has its perks.

Here's the bottom line: If you can live without the 6GHz band, which might just be the way it is in certain parts of the world, the RT-BE88U is an excellent Wi-Fi 7 router with all you can look for in a single broadcaster. It has everything to justify the $399 price tag and then some.

On the other hand, if you need the 6GHz, the RT-BE96U is a better alternative.

Dong's note: I first published this post on April 3, 2024, as a new piece and updated it to an in-depth review on June 12, 2024, after weekslong hands-on testing.

Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 Router Box Content — Like previous models, the Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 router comes with four detachable antennas, making it easy to use as a non-Wi-Fi router—the Wi-Fi functions can be turned off via its web user interface.

Table of Contents

Asus RT-BE88U: A powerful first dual-band Wi-Fi 7 router

The first thing to note about the new RT-BE88U is its name. If it rings a bell, that's because it's the latest version of the RT-AX88U, which is the Wi-Fi 6 variant of the original RT-AC88U. For over a decade, this 88U lineup has been famous for two reasons:

Its typical design has become unapologetically representative of a "Wi-Fi router"—a flat rectangular box with four detachable external antennas sticking up from the back. At a glance, even the most novice users would know it has something to do with Wi-Fi.
It has the most generous built-in switch. In other words, it comes with the highest number of network ports a router can have, significantly more than the usual one WAN and four LANs.

The Asus RT-BE88U maintains those. In fact, it looks almost exactly the same as the RT-AX88U and is now even more generous on the port front, with 10 built-in ports in total.

Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 Router Left Angle — The Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 retains the traditional "I'm a Wi-Fi router!" design and now comes with the most network ports ever found in a home router, including six multi-Gigabit ports, one of which can work as the Gaming port, and four Gigabit ports.

Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 Router Multi-Gig Ports — The Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 retains the traditional "I'm a Wi-Fi router!" design and now comes with the most network ports ever found in a home router, including six multi-Gigabit ports, one of which can work as the Gaming port, and four Gigabit ports.

The second thing to note about the new router is that it is a bit less exciting—or maybe more exciting, depending on who you ask. As mentioned, the new router does not feature 6GHz. It's not tri-band (or Quad-band) hardware like the rest of the Wi-Fi 7 crowd I've worked on. Instead, it remains dual-band like all previous models, with a 2.4GHz and a 5GHz band.

If you're thinking, "What's the point of Wi-Fi 7 without 6GHz?" you're not alone. However, the truth is that the 6GHz band is not universally available worldwide, and where it is, it varies in width and portion. That's to say, this band is complicated.

The adoption of the 6GHz band for Wi-Fi around the world

The 6GHz band has a total width of 1200MHz, ranging from 5.925GHz to 7.125GHz, and is divided into 59 channels of 20MHz each. These channels are grouped to create "sub-bands," which also vary from one region to another.

In the U.S., the FCC has designated four sub-bands across the entire spectrum, including U-NII-5, U-UNII-6, UNII-7, and UNII-8, for Wi-Fi use, though portions of the band may be reserved for other applications. The E.U. Commission, on the other hand, allows only the U-NII-5 equivalent part of the frequency, or 480MHz in width, for Wi-Fi.

countries enabling wifi in 6ghz — The status of the 6GHz for Wi-Fi around the world

Generally, Wi-Fi 6E needs a 160MHz channel to deliver the best performance, and Wi-Fi 7 requires double that, 320MHz. Due to spectrum availability and other reasons, real-world hardware tends to use narrower channels in most cases.

Overall, the use of the 6GHz frequency is complicated and is the main reason a Wi-Fi broadcaster made for one region might not work in another.

The table below shows its current adoption worldwide. The "Considering" portion is generally slated to be finalized by the end of January 2025, though that's not a done deal.

Country	Status	Spectrum
United States	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Andorra	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Argentina	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Australia	Adopted Considering	5925-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Austria	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Bahrain	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Belgium	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Brazil	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
CEPT	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Canada	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Chile	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Colombia	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Costa Rica	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Dominican Republic	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Egypt	Considering	5925-6425 MHz
El Salvador	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
European Union	Adopted	5945-6425 MHz
Faroe Islands	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
France	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Germany	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Gibraltar	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Guatemala	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Honduras	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Hong Kong	Adopted Considering	5925-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Iceland	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Ireland	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Isle of Man	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Japan	Adopted Considering	5925-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Jordan	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Kenya	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Liechtenstein	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Luxembourg	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Malaysia	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Mauritius	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Mexico	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Monaco	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Morocco	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Namibia	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Netherlands	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
New Zealand	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Norway	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Oman	Considering	5925-6425 MHz
Peru	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Portugal	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Qatar	Adopted Considering	5925-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Russian Federation	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Saudi Arabia	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Singapore	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
South Africa	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
South Korea	Adopted	5925-7125 MHz
Spain	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Switzerland	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz
Thailand	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Togo	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
Tunisia	Considering	5925-6425 MHz
Turkey	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
United Arab Emirates	Adopted	5925-6425 MHz
United Kingdom	Adopted Considering	5945-6425 MHz 6425-7125 MHz

Countries with 6GHz band for Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 as of late 2023.

Additionally, Wi-Fi 7 also has improvements in the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands and will help make things better even when the 6GHz is not part of the equation. Since these two bands have been in use for Wi-Fi for almost two decades, it's easy for hardware supporting them to fit anywhere.

In my testing, the new router proved to support Wi-Fi 7's new 4K-QAM and featured dual-band Multi-Link Operation (MLO) to increase throughput and minimize latency—more in the performance section below.

Thanks to the lack of a third band, the new router maintains the traditional physical size used by previous models. The table below shows similarities and differences between variants of the 88U in Asus's R.T. series.

Asus RT-BE88U vs. RT-AX88U vs. RT-AC88U: Hardware specifications

Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 Router Top — Hardware specifications: Asus RT-BE88U vs. RT-AX88U vs. RT-AC88U

Asus RT AX88U Pro vs. GT-AX6000 Top — Hardware specifications: Asus RT-BE88U vs. RT-AX88U vs. RT-AC88U

Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 Router Front — The front and back of the Asus RT-BE88U. The router comes with four detachable antennas.

Asus RT-BE88U Wi-Fi 7 Router Back — The front and back of the Asus RT-BE88U. The router comes with four detachable antennas.

Same design but now with more ports

The RT-BE88U looks identical to the RT-AX88U, including the color of its antennas.

There are minor differences, though: Its Asus logo badge is now a bit more fancy, and the new router also does away with the WPS and Wi-Fi buttons and the second USB 3.0 port on the front. In return, it has the most built-in network ports—all 10 of them, five of which are Multi-Gig, and one is an SFP+. In all, it has a combined total wired bandwidth of 34Gbps, the highest among its peers.

By the way, the RT-BE88U is Asus's second with an SFP+ port after the RT-AX89X, which allows it to support high-end switches or certain Fiber-optic ONTs. Some might want to swap this port for a 2nd 10GBASE-T port, which can be arrived via an SFP+-to-10GBASE-T transceiver—I'd recommend the TP-Link TL-SM5310-T, which worked well in my trial.

The new router comes with four antennas that can rotate 360 degrees and open up to 90 degrees outward. Like the previous version, you can detach them if you don't use the Wi-Fi function, which can be turned off via the web user interface.

So, if you still feel raw about the lack of the 6GHz band, you can use it as a non-Wi-Fi router and get a tri-band or quad-band Wi-Fi 7 access point to complete your setup. This is actually a good setup if you need to place the router in a far corner of the house or in the basement, where it's not ideal to place your Wi-Fi broadcaster.

Asus RT-BE88U Web User Interface MLO — The Asus RT-BE88U features Wi-Fi 7's MLO and, with AsusWRT 5.0, has Guest Network Pro, which enables users to create multiple virtual SSIDs to fit different scenarios, such as Guest Portal, Guest Network, LoT Network, and more. These additional SSIDs have in-depth customization and can be made available at the router or the rest of the system in an AiMesh setup when multiple hardware units are in use.

Asus RT-BE88U Web User Interface Guest Network Pro — The Asus RT-BE88U features Wi-Fi 7's MLO and, with AsusWRT 5.0, has Guest Network Pro, which enables users to create multiple virtual SSIDs to fit different scenarios, such as Guest Portal, Guest Network, LoT Network, and more. These additional SSIDs have in-depth customization and can be made available at the router or the rest of the system in an AiMesh setup when multiple hardware units are in use.

A familiar Asus AiMesh router

Despite the support for Wi-Fi 7 and the increased number of ports, the new RT-BE88U is slated to be a familiar router.

Specifically, running AsusWRT 5.0, it'll be very similar to other Asus Wi-Fi 7 routers with Guest Network Pro and VLAN, on top of other goodies available to Asus's entire RT series, including:

Robust web user interface with optional Asus Route mobile app and the ability to import setting backup files of other Asus routers. (In my trial, the RT-BE88U's universal restore feature could handle backups from many, including the ExpertWiFi EBR63.)
AiMesh support.
Built-in Parental Controls and online protection (AiProtection) plus other traffic-related features.
USB-based features (cellular tethering, network storage, media streaming server, etc.)
The support for advanced VPN, including WireGuard and Instant Guard.
Tons of network/Wi-Fi settings, tools, and other features.

In fact, in terms of features, it'll be very similar to the RT-BE96U, which shares the same AsusWRT 5.0 firmware. You can expect lots of practical applications from it, and all are free for life.

Asus RT-BE88U Web User Interface VPN — The Asus RT-BE88U supports all flavors of VPN and also has advanced VLAN for a robust network.

Asus RT-BE88U Web User Interface VLAN — The Asus RT-BE88U supports all flavors of VPN and also has advanced VLAN for a robust network.

Like previous members of the 88U gang, the RT-BE88U also has gaming features built for gamers, making it an even more versatile router. It is part of the long list of Asus's gaming routers in the table below.

	US MSRP	Multi-Gig Port	Gaming Private Network	ROG First, Game Radar	Gaming Port	GeForce Now	Aura Lights
RT-BE88U	$399	1x10GbE 1xSFP+ 4x2.5GbE	No		Yes	No	No
RT-BE96U	$700	2x10GbE	No
GT-BE98 Pro	$800	2x10GbE 4x2.5GbE	WTFast	Yes		No	Yes
RT-AX88U Pro	$350	2x2.5GbE	WTFast	No
GT6 (canned mesh)	$600 (2-pack)	1x2.5GbE	No	Yes		No	Yes
GT-AXE16000	$700	1x2.5GbE 2x10GbE	WTFast	Yes		No	Yes
GT-AX11000 Pro	$450	1x2.5GbE 1x10GbE	WTFast	Yes
GT-AXE11000	$550	1x2.5GbE	Outfox	Yes		No	Yes
GT-AX11000	$450	1x2.5GbE	WTFast	Yes		No	Yes
GT-AX6000	$400	2x2.5GbE	No	Yes		No	Yes
GS-AX5400	$250	None	No		Yes	No	Yes
GS-AX3000	$180	None	No		Yes	No	Yes
RT-AX88U	$350	None	WTFast	No
RT-AX89X	$450	1x10GbE 1xSFP+	No
RT-AX86U	$250	1x2.5GbE	No		Yes		No
RT-AX86S	$250	None	No		Yes		No
RT-AX82U	$230	None	No		Yes	No	Yes
RT-AX92U (canned mesh)	$400 (2-pack)	None	WTFast	No
TUF-AX5400	$200	None	No		Yes	No	Yes

The incomplete list of Asus's gaming routers—the street prices might be different from the MSRP.
All of these routers include the standard set of Asus's gaming features, including Mobile Game Mode, Open NAT, Gear Accelerator, and VPN Fusion.

You need a SFP+ to BASE-T adapter to use the Asus RT-BE88U with two 10GBASE-T devices — The Asus RT-BE88U is being tested. I used a TP-Link TL-SM5310-T to get a second 10GBASE-T port out of it, and it worked well.

The Asus RT-BE88U is being tested. I used a TP-Link TL-SM5310-T to get a second 10GBASE-T port out of it, and it worked well.

Asus RT-BE88U: Excellent performance

I tested the RT-BE88U as a standalone router for a couple of weeks, and it performed excellently for the most part.

The router's multi-Gigabit port proved to have among the fastest sustained wired performances, and its Wi-Fi delivered excellent coverage and sustained rates.

Clearly, without the 6GHz band, its wireless performance wasn't as impressive as that of other Wi-Fi 7 routers, but it was more than fast enough for most homes' needs, with Gig+ sustained speeds in many cases.

Asus RT-BE88U Multi-Gig Ports Wired Performance — The Asus RT-BE88U's Multi-Gig wired performance.

The router also had excellent range, similar to that of the RT-AX88U Pro or any other high-end dual-band router. It's hard to put Wi-Fi coverage in numbers, but if you have a home of around 2500 ft² (232 m²) when placed at the center. But, the way Wi-Fi is, your mileage will vary.

The router also passed my 3-day stress test without disconnecting. It proved to be reliable. Despite having no internal fan, it remained pretty cool—it got slightly warm even during heavy operation.

Asus RT-BE88U Router Long Range Performance — The Asus RT-BE88U's Wi-Fi performance when hosting clients of different Wi-Fi standards.

Asus RT-BE88U Router Close Range Performance — The Asus RT-BE88U's Wi-Fi performance when hosting clients of different Wi-Fi standards.

On the downside, the RT-BE88U's network-attached storage (NAS) performance could use some improvement. When hosting a portable SSD, via Mulit-Gig wired connections, its read and write performance generally averaged below 200MB/s, as shown on the chart. That wasn't exactly slow, but it clearly could be faster. That said, the router will pass for a mini NAS server for those with casual network storage needs.

Performance

8.5 out of 10

Features

9 out of 10

Design and Setup

8 out of 10

Value

8 out of 10

Pros

Top-tier Wi-Fi 7 for 2.4GHz and 5GHz band with 4K QAM and MLO support; excellent performance

Tons of valuable features, including AiMesh 2.0, Gaming, Guest Network, Pro, and VLAN

Ten built-in network ports, six of which are Multi-Gig ports and SFP+ with Dual-WAN and Link Aggregation support

Universal setting backup and restoration; open source firmware; fanless design

Comparatively affordable

Cons

No 6GHz band; no 2nd 10GBASE-T port

Not wall-mount-ready

Conclusion

The new RT-BE88U is an interesting router. As the first Wi-Fi 7 broadcaster without the 6GHz band, it likely will disappoint many users. However, if you don't care for the new and complicated frequency, its wired networking extras make it worth the $399 retail cost. The fact that it has only two bands means it's a lean piece of hardware, which can be a good thing.

There are many tri-band and quad-band routers out there, and they are good for all situations. However, within the world of dual-band hardware, the RT-BE88U is arguably the best router to date. And with Asus's recent announcement, it's not the only Wi-Fi 7 router sans 6GHz you'll find down the line.

Looking for a more "traditional" Wi-Fi 7 router? Check out this list.

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55 thoughts on “Asus RT-BE88U Review: A Straightforward and Powerful dual-band Wi-Fi 7 Router”

Nick

Sep 9, 2024 at 8:08 am

I bought this router but have yet to take it out of its packaging.

I know it claims to “Bolster your wired network capacity up to 34G (sic)” but I wish they would provide an actual number for the throughput/switching capacity. I’m sure it could handle saturating my ~2gbps fiber connection from one host, but I wonder if it can handle that plus 4 clients transferring to each other via LAN on the 2.5 and 10gbps ports.

My thinking in buying it was to use it as a wired router only, and with the truly great selection of ports run 2.5gbps Ethernet runs to each of the ET8 nodes I already have, but in AP mode, as a backhaul. And then use the other ports to branch off to other devices/switches via SFP (DAC to switch) and the other 2.5gbps port, maybe even the 10gbps if I throw a new NIC in one of my machines.

I did notice it has 2GB RAM, which is more than any other Asus I have, so maybe it can handle some decent throughput? Did you happen to do any basic testing on the “34G” claim?

Thanks!
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Sep 9, 2024 at 12:14 pm
  
  That claim is misleading Nick. That number is the total bandwidth of the ports. In real-world usage, you’ll get at best the wired performance on the charts, which is plenty.
  Reply
  - Nick
    
    Sep 16, 2024 at 8:35 am
    
    You’re right, it is plenty! I took it out of the box finally and got it set up much more quickly than expected, including removing my old AIMesh network and rebuilding it with this as the primary and my ET8s and an AXE7800 as nodes. With all of the 2.5gbps ports, it was very simple to run Ethernet backhaul to all nodes. One of the nodes is actually connected through a 5×2.5G + 1x10G SFP+ switch and 10gbps link back to the BE88U and that works perfectly too. my NAS and desktop are also connected to that switch and I’ve noticed no bottlenecks when transferring files across the house over Ethernet while also downloading files from the Internet while also streaming on my phone from the AP, and BE88U isn’t anywhere near maxing out CPU or RAM. I’m glad I decided to try it vs building an opnsense box. For the price, this many ports seems hard to beat. Thanks again for your review!
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      Sep 17, 2024 at 1:35 am
      
      👍
      Reply
Lea

Sep 1, 2024 at 4:36 am

I can’t find SFP modules compatibility list for this router.
The internet provider can give me SFP+ or SFP28, 10Gbps or 25Gbps line speed respectively. I’d like to go with the 25Gbps setup, but due to the lack of “nice” hardware at reasonable price I’m thinking of using 10Gbps hw with 25Gbps connection to pay the setup fee only once. I’d like to upgrade the devices later.
Reading around, in general SFP+ and SFP28 are designed to be compatible, communicating at 10Gbps obviously, but I’m afraid that it might be YMMV situation hence I was looking for compatibility list.
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Sep 2, 2024 at 9:55 am
  
  SFP+ follow the rules of the standard, Lea. The router can’t handle more than 10Gbps and it’ll be a long time before there’s a home router that can do faster wired speeds.
  Reply
John

Sep 1, 2024 at 2:03 am

If I’m using 1 or 2GB Fios do I use the 10GB WAN or the 2.5GB WAN/LAN port for my ONT cable?
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Sep 1, 2024 at 9:04 am
  
  Either will work, John since they are Multi+Gig ports and will work at whichever speed grades up to theirs.
  Reply
Dan

Aug 31, 2024 at 8:30 pm

Hi Dong, many thanks for the informative review. This is very helpful for non-savvy buyers like myself. I would like to ask why the tested long-range wifi 6 performance is so much lower than the AX88U Pro? (It’s 820Mbps for the BE88U vs 1471Mbps for the AX88U Pro). Does this mean that the wifi 6 coverage range of the BE88U is shorter than that of the AX88U Pro?
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Aug 31, 2024 at 8:38 pm
  
  It is what it is, Dan. Generally, newer broadcaters tend to do worse with clients of older standards compared to broadcatters of the same old standards. More here. In case you want a better analogy, software or hardware made for Windows 95 will run much better on Windows 95 or Windows 98 than do they on Windows 11, if they run at all.
  
  Additionally, the routers were tested at different times with different firmware versions and software drivers etc. It’s impossible to tell. More on testing here. But the range doesn’t change much. Don’t get too hung up on the numbers, read the whole reviews!
  Reply
  - Dan
    
    Sep 1, 2024 at 12:34 am
    
    Thank you for the swift reply Dong. I’m considering buying a couple of the BE88U plus maybe a BE86U for a 3-storey AiMesh, with wired backhaul. These are unfortunately unavailable in my country (Singapore), so I’ll probably ship it in from China (it’s cheaper there too). Any idea if there would be firmware / compatibility issues in using imported Chinese sets?
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      Sep 2, 2024 at 9:51 am
      
      I only have access to and experience with stuff made for the US market, Dan.
      Reply
Matt

Aug 20, 2024 at 2:01 pm

Hi Dong,
I am curious about what client was used to test MLO and BE to achieve such high performance.
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Aug 20, 2024 at 2:10 pm
  
  Here’s how I test, Matt. It was an Intel BE200.
  Reply
  - Matt
    
    Aug 20, 2024 at 2:25 pm
    
    Great. Do you use BE200 for both 10ft and 40ft performance test?
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      Aug 20, 2024 at 2:31 pm
      
      Read the post on testing linked in my previous reply, Matt.
      Reply
Peke

Aug 7, 2024 at 5:11 pm

The only thing I am interested in this router if in WAN page, you can add new WAN Profile and enable multi-services WAN and use SPF+ ONU stick.

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1050072/
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Aug 7, 2024 at 8:10 pm
  
  OK, I guess. 🙂
  Reply
Jason

Aug 4, 2024 at 8:11 pm

I tried to revise my statement, but it fell away…

I’ll try again. And ty for your patience.
I understand that the MLO picks whatever band it sees fit which messes up speed tests. But I don’t understand how it doesn’t choose the highest bandwidth signal at close range, yet it significantly increases the range of the higher one at greater distances. Also, I thought you said that only 2 clients (as of your writing) accepted MLO on the PC end (ex. be200) vs a phone. I’m talking about the section where you explain MLO and bands then jump right into mesh systems. This is not meshed. And it’s confusing to understand why you mention Asus and say the main SSID doesn’t have MLO. It does, but you have to enable it after setup. You don’t need a secondary (ghost) SSID for that. I currently only have the main (enabled MLO) and the preset IoT and a guest SSID set up. Going into the MLO settings does allow for another SSID (and I can’t see why I’d ever need that) but that’s probably part of this confusion. Is it necessary, and should it be made with the same SSID as the main for a multi connection? So far so good with the router. I’m just trying to further understand specifics. I’m no slouch to reading and trying to piece all this together, but some things just aren’t explained to brass tacks. I do appreciate your time and effort in all of this. So, with that said, what am I overlooking? And I know you commented to someone that 320MHz was a typo, and again to me about 240MHz, so am I to assume that this router only supports 160MHz at all? Strangely enough, your graph shows this in comparison to other routers, but their website doesn’t mention any of it in the details. Again, ty for any clarification.
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Aug 4, 2024 at 9:04 pm
  
  Here’s the link the MLO feature again. Make sure you read the entire section, if not the entire post.
  
  Your future comments will be vetted before published. Make sure you pay attention and respect the comment rules.
  Reply
Jason

Aug 4, 2024 at 7:37 pm

Thank you for the link, but I read that as well. I have the Intel BE200 in my laptop. You are the reason I knew it existed. Well worth the $ and everything runs much smoother than it ever did! Still, it doesn’t show as MLO in the router. And sorry to drop a different Q again under this topic, but I read a mention about speed tests. What I’m trying to figure out is why (if unreliable) my router’s speed test shows spds reflecting what I pay for and running a spd test on my phone barely registers 1/5 of that speed. The laptop shows about 85% (1GB service). All in the same room as the router and on Wifi7… I know the router is hard wired, but with few IoT devices on their own SSID and nothing running on the main, It seems I should see the results I did the day they installed it (using my AC router before), esp since this is Wifi7 and there’s no reason for a speed test to be slower than running on split bands. It seems the MLO device does worse than the other. I also understand that you said it picks the signal to run on, but that makes no sense to me if it can run on both to mitigate higher speeds and less bottlenecks. Let’s assume I all but memorized your post on Wifi7 or MLO and it’s newer tech and what it brings to the table for this router and all clients that support it (MIMO 2×2 (BE200) or 4×4 (OP12)… What am I missing from your write up(s)? I just want to know I’m getting the best possible outcome from any settings and capabilities. (At least the phone does stay on 5ghz at a distance where it would fall back to 2.4ghz before, as a plus to the MLO description you gave.) Thanks for any details with this.
Reply
- Jason
  
  Aug 4, 2024 at 8:18 pm
  
  I’m sorry about this almost double post. I thought it should’ve been under your reply when I revised it. 😒 That’s why I re-wrote the top comment.
  Reply
Jeff

Jul 4, 2024 at 8:00 am

Dong, happy 4th! Long time reader, appreciate your reviews and attention to questions and comments.

1. I was looking for RT-BE88U and only found RT-BE7200 at my “best” buy store, is this the same device? All looks same but zero mention of RT-BE88U on packaging etc.

2. I have it setup, and max download speed using Azus QoS tool shows 4GB, but when I connect direct to my Google router I can get 8GB… is this normal or should these Asus routers achieve full speed coming from an 8GB router?

3. If I want more than 2.5GB to any devices downstream the Asus router do I need to make use of the SPF+ port, presumably to an SPF+ compatible switch?

Thanks much from a novice just trying to max out my speeds!

-Jeff-
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Jul 4, 2024 at 12:00 pm
  
  Happy Fourth, Jeff!
  
  1. That happens a lot, like the case of the RT-AX58U vs RT-AX3000. They are essentially the same. The name change is to create a different SKU to help Best Buy cheat on its “price matching” promise. Generally, I’d go with the standard version, though, regardless of vendors. They tend to have better (firmware) support, etc..
  2. Don’t trust a router’s built-in speed test, they are generally accurate up to a certain threshold, often that’s Gigabit. More on speed testing here. As noted, a 10Gbps port generally deliver between 6.5Gbps to 8.5Gbps. Performance drops when you enable traffic-managing features, such as QoS.
  3. That or you have to use a transceiver as mentioned in the review. For your case the Zyxel XGS1250-12 or the Zyxel XS1930-12HP is a good option.
  Reply
  - Gordie
    
    Sep 29, 2024 at 10:16 am
    
    Hi Dong,
    
    I came across this same issue when buying mine online. It would take me a while to swap it with another version, so keeping it would be ideal. Can you please expand on your statement that the “standard” version will have better technical support? Is it enough to warrant a change?
    
    Thanks!
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      Sep 29, 2024 at 11:19 am
      
      I didn’t make such a statement, Gordie. If you read what’s written, things are clear.
      Reply
      - Gordie
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 3:57 pm
        
        Hi Dong,
        
        Sorry, I must have misunderstood your previous comment. You replied to the other person: “Generally, I’d go with the standard version, though, regardless of vendors. They tend to have better (firmware) support, etc.”
        
        What does this mean?
        
        Cheers,
        Gordie
      - Dong Ngo
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 4:17 pm
        
        It’s plain English, Gordie. Read the previous comment for context.
      - Gordie
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 6:17 pm
        
        Hi Dong,
        
        Thank you again for all the help and patience. In reading your article about the RT-AX58U vs RT-AX3000, you mentioned one might be more of a “real world” version. I’m guessing the real world one in this case is the RT-BE88U. Is that correct? (What’s weird is I didn’t buy it from a big box store).
        
        Thank you again!
      - Dong Ngo
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 7:33 pm
        
        Again, Gordie, I didn’t mention anything like that. Make sure you read the whole thing to understand what’s written within the context, I can’t address your incorrect quotes of what I didn’t write.
      - Gordie
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 9:11 pm
        
        Hi Dong,
        
        Am I misreading the comment section where you said on July 4:
        
        “1. That happens a lot, like the case of the RT-AX58U vs RT-AX3000. They are essentially the same. The name change is to create a different SKU to help Best Buy cheat on its “price matching” promise. Generally, I’d go with the standard version, though, regardless of vendors. They tend to have better (firmware) support, etc..”
        
        My sincerest apologies if I’m misreading this, but I’m very lost if this isn’t what you said.
        
        I don’t want to waste your time, but I’m honestly very confused.
        
        Thank you again.
      - Dong Ngo
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 9:49 pm
        
        That’s what I wrote and it had nothing to do with what you quoted in your previous questions. Something was lost somewhere in what I wrote and what you read. In any case, it’s clear what I meant in what I wrote. If you can’t understand what I already wrote, I’m not sure what else I can say to help.
      - Gordie
        
        Sep 29, 2024 at 10:05 pm
        
        Hi Dong,
        
        It’s okay. I’m likely not explaining it well, and misinterpreted what you were saying. My apologies again. In a nutshell, I was wondering if, on the off chance, that the other-labelled version of the router (the RT-BE7200, which I recieved) perhaps not getting the same updates as the RT-BE88U would be a detriment. But I think in reading your other articles I’m better understanding what is happening. So I was more looking for your opinion.
        
        I greatly appreciate your site, and have gained much insight from your reviews, good, and tricks — so regardless, thank you for all that you do!
        
        Cheers,
        Gordie
Yoav

Jun 28, 2024 at 4:23 pm

Hi Dong,
Providing that all of my devices only use up to WiFi6 (I mean, even the latest iPhones and Mac’s only support standards up to WiFi6e), should I stick with the AX88U Pro for the time being? Do I read it correctly, that the AX and AC protocols will be more efficient on the older model (considering I do not require more than two 2.5gbps LAN connections)?
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Jun 28, 2024 at 8:18 pm
  
  Yes, Yoav.
  Reply
Jeremy

Jun 25, 2024 at 8:20 pm

I don’t like that dongknows.com doesn’t show the different mixes of router generations because a great example of “progress” without improvement is the BE88U vs AX88U Pro. If you look at the benchmark charts, neither will be on the other’s benchmarks. The description and summary talks about the BE88U being a great dual band router but when you compare the speeds compared to the AX88U Pro, you see the older does better in many scenarios since both are non-6ghz.
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Jun 26, 2024 at 11:36 am
  
  You can put only so many items on a chart, Jeremy. Also if you want to compare apples to oranges you’ll need to do that yourself. Generally, a Wi-Fi broadcaster does better with clients of its standard than a broadcaster of a higher standard. Keep that in mind. There’s more to a router than the performance numbers.
  Reply
Hovlnad

May 20, 2024 at 2:55 am

Would have been perfect for me…..
but the SFP+ port is a deal breaker.
I need two “normal” 10g multi gig ports….
I’m therefore strongly considering the older ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000.
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  May 20, 2024 at 9:25 am
  
  Or the RT-BE96U or GT-BE98 Pro.
  Reply
  - hovlnad
    
    May 20, 2024 at 12:20 pm
    
    hi
    yes the GT-BE98 (+pro) would be nice except for the price 🙂
    and on the RT-BE96U Asus has “limited” the Lan ports vs the GT-BE98 , so for me personally the GT-AXE16000 is a better option.
    
    One other alternative might also be a RT-BE88U and an sfp+ to rj-45 Transceiver (multi gig). but need to think a bit more about that……
    
    thanks for a great site
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      May 20, 2024 at 2:21 pm
      
      👍
      Reply
Vernon Stevens

May 14, 2024 at 11:54 am

Hi Dong,
Thank you for highlighting this router … you might have a look at the new router’s 5Ghz performance, is it a typo?
Cheers Vern
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  May 14, 2024 at 3:50 pm
  
  Not sure what you meant, Vernon. This is a preview, there’s no performance yet.
  Reply
  - Vernon Stevens
    
    May 14, 2024 at 9:15 pm
    
    Thank you for replying Dong,
    I noted that the 2.4GHz WIFI specs were all confirmed “up to 1376 Mbps” on the third line of the table entitled “ Asus RT-BE88U vs. RT-AX88U vs. RT-AC88U: Hardware specifications” but then, rather than leave the 5.0GHz WIFI specs line blank for the new router (as you would expect if the figure was unknown) on the 4th line … 1000 Mbps was entered (I processed that and thought it should read 10,000 Mbps?). Kindest regards, Vernon
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      May 15, 2024 at 1:16 am
      
      It was a typo. Wordpress has issues with tables where sometimes the content of the cells moves around… Next time, please just highlight the text and click the red box to report it, much easier to fix. Thanks.
      Reply
Mihai

May 11, 2024 at 11:05 am

I’m eager to see what this router NAS performance is like 🙂
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  May 11, 2024 at 3:34 pm
  
  🤞
  Reply
Gene Olson

Apr 3, 2024 at 9:26 pm

Dong,

You seem to have stopped doing router WiFi bandwidth tests. That’s what I liked best about your reviews. The advertized bitrate on all routers is nonsense. I hope advertizers aren’t leaning on you to stop embarrassing them. I have been looking to you to find out how fast these routers really are.

Thanks,
Gene
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Apr 3, 2024 at 9:47 pm
  
  Stop how, Gene? This router is not even available yet. Maybe you should start reading more than just the performance charts.
  Reply
Bill Koerner

Apr 3, 2024 at 2:55 pm

First thing I wondered… How are they getting a 320 MHz Bandwidth in the 5 GHz Band? From what I understand, there are only three (3) 160 MHz Bandwidths available in the 5 GHz band, and they are not contiguous. Thus, it has to be doing aggregate channels. On top of that, the 5 GHz band is pretty congested, which means they may have issues trying to use a 160 MHz bandwidth. I know EERO uses a 240 MHz bandwidth in the 5 GHz band, but not sure how you could expect to get a 320 MHz bandwidth…
Reply
- Dong Ngo
  
  Apr 3, 2024 at 3:10 pm
  
  It was my typo. Fixed.
  
  And yes, realistically, you can only count on the 80MHz width.
  Reply
  - Jason Zukowski Zukowski
    
    Aug 3, 2024 at 11:54 pm
    
    I was wondering something similar. I just got this router and it allows you to enable 160MHz in the UI, but it mentions nothing about 240MHz anywhere. That also brings to mind the channel situation. I use WiFiman to scan for the best open channels and set them manually, but I believe the higher I go, the less reach I will get. Is the router smart enough to pick the best channel on it’s own, or am I doing it right and the reach is better because of less congestion (and the upgrade to the BE88U from the AC88U)?
    On another note, I’m still trying to read up on many things, but I don’t understand why my laptop shows in the router UI as running on 5GHz band and my phone shows MLO. Both are wifi 7 capable. Shouldn’t they both show the same (MLO), and how do you enable/disable it on the client end?
    Reply
    - Dong Ngo
      
      Aug 4, 2024 at 11:17 am
      
      That was a typo, Jason. Your device needs to support MLO to connect via an MLO link. More here.
      Reply
      - Jason
        
        Aug 4, 2024 at 7:16 pm
        
        Thank you for the link, but I read that as well. I have the Intel BE200 in my laptop. You are the reason I knew it existed. Well worth the $ and everything runs much smoother than it ever did! Still, it doesn’t show as MLO in the router. And sorry to drop a different Q again under this topic, but I read a mention about speed tests. What I’m trying to figure out is why (if unreliable) my router’s speed test shows spds reflecting what I pay for and running a spd test on my phone barely registers 1/5 of that speed. The laptop shows about 85% (1GB service). All in the same room as the router and on Wifi7… I know the router is hard wired, but with few IoT devices on their own SSID and nothing running on the main, It seems I should see the results I did the day they installed it (using my AC router before), esp since this is Wifi7 and there’s no reason for a speed test to be slower than running on split bands. It seems the MLO device does worse than the other. What am I missing from your write up(s)?
      - Dong Ngo
        
        Aug 4, 2024 at 7:35 pm
        
        You didn’t read, Jason. Try again. 🙂
        
        In all seriousness, you missed important details. Take your time!

	RT-BE88U	RT-AX88U Pro	RT-AX88U	RT-AC88U
Model
Wi-Fi Bandwidth	Dual-band BE7200	Dual-Band AX6000		Dual-band AC3100
2.4GHz Wi-Fi Specs (channel width)	4x4 BE Up to 1376Mbps (20/40MHz)	4x4 AX Up to 1148Mbps (20/40MHz)		4x4 AC Up to 1000Mbps (20/40MHz)
5GHz Wi-Fi Specs (channel width)	4x4 BE Up to 5764Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz)	4X4 AX Up to 4804Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz)		4x4 AC Up to 2167Mbps (20/40/80MHz)
6GHz Wi-Fi Specs	None
Guest Network Pro (SDN) and VLAN	Yes		No
AiMesh-ready	Yes
Gigabit Ports	4x LAN		8x LAN, 1x WAN
Multi-Gig Ports	1x 10Gbps WAN/LAN 1x 10Gbps SFP+ 1x 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN 3x 2.5Gbps LAN	1x 2.5Gbps WAN-only, 1x 2.5Gbps LAN/WAN	None
Multi-Link Operation (MLO)	Yes	N/A (Wi-Fi 7 only)
Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC)	N/A (6GHz band only)
Link Aggregation	Yes (LAN and WAN)
Dual-WAN	Yes
USB Ports	1 x USB 3.0		1x USB 3.0 1x USB 2.0
Mobile App	Asus Router
QoS	Yes
Parental Control	Yes
Processing Power	2.6Ghz quad-core CPU, 256MB Flash, 2 GB DDR4 RAM	2.0 GHz quad-core CPU, 256 MB Flash, 1 GB RAM	1.8 GHz quad-core CPU, 256MB Flash, 1GB RAM	1.4 GHz dual-core CPU, 128MB Flash, 512MB RAM
Built-in Online Protection	Yes
Asus Gaming Features	Yes (with Gaming port)	Yes
Aura Game Light	No
Dimensions	11.8 x 7.4 x 2.4 in (30 x 18.8 x 6.04 cm)
Weight	2.23 lbs (1.01 kg)		2.1 lbs (945 g)
Release Date	March 2024	January 2023	January 2019	December 2015
Firmware Version (at review)	3.0.0.6.102.33921	3.0.0.4.388.22250	3.0.0.4.384.6436	3.0.0.4.384.5329
Power Input	100 - 240V
Power Consumption (per 24 hours)	≈ 340 Wh	≈ 285Wh	not measured
U.S. Price (at launch)	$399	$349.99	$299.99	$279.99

Asus RT-BE88U Review: A Straightforward and Powerful dual-band Wi-Fi 7 Router

Asus RT-BE88U: A powerful first dual-band Wi-Fi 7 router

Asus RT-BE88U vs. RT-AX88U vs. RT-AC88U: Hardware specifications

Same design but now with more ports

A familiar Asus AiMesh router

Asus RT-BE88U: Excellent performance

Asus RT-BE88U Pro's Rating

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