๐
The RT-BE96U is Asus's first Wi-Fi 7 router but far from the first of its type. Yet, it turned out to be the most exciting among its peers in my experience. It has the most to offer, including a real Wi-Fi 7 experience, though, like the rest, still lacks some major features.
Here's the bottom line: Even when considering the current draft stage of Wi-Fi 7, the RT-BE96U is an excellent buy for those wanting Gig+ and faster connections, both wired and wireless. The new router is the first Wi-Fi 7 machine I'd recommend, albeit with some reservations. It's well worth the effort and the suggested $699.99 retail price.
If you're looking for a powerful cutting-edge broadcaster that can work as a robust mesh member, check out Asus RT-BE96U today! It'll likely work out great, especially if you have multi-Gigabit broadband and a couple of Wi-Fi 7 clients to match.
Asus RT-BE96U: A powerful tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router
The Asus RT-BE96U has been available since late August, but I took my time testing it for several reasons.
First, I wanted to wait for firmware updates. That's generally a wise thing to do with Asus routers, especially a version of major changes. And it's indeed major in this case. The new router uses a new Linux kernel, version 3.0.0.6, instead of the 3.0.0.4 used in existing Asus Wi-Fi 6E routers and older.
The second and more important reason is that I was on a quest to get some real computer-based Windows clients. Some smartphones support the new standard, and I've had a couple, but the way I test routers, phones generally don't cut it.
After a couple of months, the RT-BE96U recently got its post-release firmware, and this month also marked the time I managed to build my own Wi-Fi 7 test clients using the new Intel BE200 chipset via Wi-Fi 7-ready motherboards and add-on adapters.
Before the RT-BE96U, I already used these new test clients with other Wi-Fi 7 broadcasters, including those from TP-Link that I already reviewed, the ARRIS SURFboard G54 Cable Gateway and the Links Velop Pro 7, but they all still treated them no better than a Wi-Fi 6E device, (which would likely soon change with future firmware updates). The RT-BE96U is the first that did them right, to an extent, and you'll note below. The fact that Asus is one of the early adopters of Intel's Wi-Fi 7 chipsโin its motherboardsโmight have had something to do with this.
So, the wait is finally over, and it proved to be worth it. But before we get there, let's address the elephant in the room, the GT-BE98.
Asus RT-BE96U vs. GT-BE98: Likely a better alternative
In January, Asus announced the RT-BE96U and the GT-BE98, the quad-band gaming version, at the same time. If you wonder why I didn't pick the latter for a review, its release date is still up in the air. The hardware is not available yet.
However, judging from my experience with the Archer BE800, similar to the RT-BE96U and the Archer BE900 (the GT-BE98's counterpart), I would say that the GT-BE98's Wi-Fi will likely not be worth the hype for a couple of reasons.
First, it gets to the quad-band status by having the 5GHz split in two, like in the case of the GT-AXE16000 or any tri-band Wi-Fi 6 router. Band splitting might increase the theoretical bandwidthโyou can use two portions of the 5GHz band at a timeโbut that limits the flexibility of the entire frequency. Specifically, each portion is much narrower, lowering the chance of building a wide channel in practice.
As I mentioned in this detailed post on band-splitting, quad-band hardware has to sacrifice the bandwidth in its sub-bands, and at the end of the day, it is just not worth the extra cost and the headache in configuration. In the case of Wi-Fi 7, that will be compounded with the new Multi-Link Operation feature, making things complicated. This is likely why the GT-BE98 is not available yet.
Most importantly, considering the vastly greater bandwidth of Wi-Fi 7, splitting a band seems unnecessary.
What the GT-BE98 will decidedly have more than RT-BE96U (as well as the TP-Link Archer BE900 in some aspects) is its network ports and gaming features. While more Multi-Gig ports are always great, the gaming features can be hit or missโthey apply to only certain types of games. You'll be able to play most games just fine with the RT-BE96U, thanks to its robust QoS. So, on this front, the fancy red theme and Aura RGB lighting are the GT-BE98's only advantages over the RT-BE96U. And they are just bling.
Tip: You can turn the RGB light off and have the option to use the regular theme has always been available in Asus gaming routers running Merlin firmware.
That said, on the Wi-Fi front, I'd preemptively call the RT-BE96U better. That can be premature, and we'll cross that bridge when the GT-98 is out. For now, the table below shows the similarities and differences between these two.
Asus RT-BE96U vs. GT-BE98: Hardware specifications
| Asus RT-BE96U BE19000 tri-band Wi-Fi 7 Router | Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Wi-Fi 7 Gaming Router | |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Model | RT-BE96U | GT-BE98 |
| Antennas | 8 x external | |
| Wi-Fi Bandwidth | Tri-band BE19000 (2.4GHz + 5GHz + 6GHz โ 19000Mbps) | Quad-band BE25000 (2.4GHz + 5GHz-1 + 5GHz-2 + 6GHz โ 25000Mbps) |
| Modulation Scheme (QAM) | 4096-QAM (all bands) | |
| 1st Band (Qchannel width) | 2.4GHz: up to 1376Mbps | |
| 2nd Band (channel width) | 5GHz: up to 5762Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) | 5GHz-1: up to 5762Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) |
| 3rd Band (channel width) | 6GHz: up to 11,525Mbps (20/40/80/160/320MHz) | |
| 4th Band (channel width) | None | 5GHz-2: up to 5762Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) |
| Network Standards | IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IEEE 802.11ax, IEEE 802.11be, IPv4, IPv6 | |
| Mesh-Ready | Yes (AiMesh) | |
| Network Features | Web User Interface Asus Mobile App Asus Core Features | Web User Interface Asus Mobile App Asus Core Features Asus Gaming Features |
| Processing Power | Quad-core 2.6GHz CPU, 256MB Flash, 2GB DDR4 RAM | |
| Multi-Gig Port | 1x 10GBASE-T WAN/LAN 1x 10GBASE-T LAN | 1x 10GBASE-T WAN/LAN 1x 10GBASE-T LAN 1x 2.5GBASE-T WAN/WAN 3x 2.5GBASE-T LAN |
| Gigabit Port | 4 x Gigabit LAN | 1x Gigabit LAN |
| USB Port | 1 x USB 3.0 1 x USB 2.0 | |
| Hardware Buttons | Power Switch Reset Button WPS Button LED Control | |
| Package Contents | ASUS RT-BE96U RJ-45 cableโฏ Power adapterโฏ Quick Start guideโฏ Warranty cardโฏ | ROG Rapture GT-BE98 RJ-45 cableโฏ Power adapterโฏ Quick Start guideโฏ Warranty cardโฏ |
| Dimensions (with antennas) | 13.8 x 13.8 x 8.57 in (350.6 x 350.6 x 217.59 mm) | 14.12 x 14.12 x 8.77 in (358.6 x 358.6 x 222.8 mm) |
| Weight | 4.12 lbs (1.87 kg) | 4.41 lbs (2 kg) |
| DC Power Adapter | AC Input: 100~240 V (50~60 Hz)โฏ DCโฏOutput:โฏ19V with max. 3.42A current; 19.5V with max 3.33A current | |
| Power Consumption (per 24 hours) | โ 375 Wh (as tested) | not yet tested |
| Firmware Version (at review) | 3.0.0.6.102_32872 | not yet tested |
| US Release Date | โAugust 18, 2023 | TBD |
| US Price (at launch) | $699.99 | TBD |
Asus RT-BE96U: Detail photos
Asus RT-BE96U: A familiar (bulky) AiMesh router
While the name might remind you of the RT-AX86U, the RT-BE96U looks more like Asus's top-tier Wi-Fi 6 and 6E gaming routers, including the GT-AXE16000. It comes in the familiar bulky, squarish design first introduced with the RT-AC5300 Wi-Fi 5 router, with 8 external antennas sticking out from its sides.
You can swivel each of these antennas some 200 degrees around and open it up to 45 degrees outward. They are not detachable, and there's no way to use the router without making it an eyesore to some. Keep that in mind if you are married to somebody who likes pretty thingsโthis router doesn't have that coveted "wife-acceptance" element.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and personally, I don't mind this massive physical size. And this thing is large for a good reason. It has lots to offer.
But before we get to the goods, let's get one thing out of the way, literally.
Lots of plastic
For some reason, the RT-BE96U comes with lots of unnecessary plastic wrapping. More than previous Asus routers I've worked with.
Specifically, everything is placed inside a plastic bagโthe power adapter alone uses two --, and each of the eight antennas is covered in not one, not two, but three layers of wrap. The two inner layers were so tightly attached I needed a small knife to pry them out. It took me over 10 minutes to remove all the plastic from the hardware. And I had to try very hard not to cause scratches.
The process was time-consuming and, frankly, quite upsetting. I kept thinking these little pieces of trash would eventually end up in the landfill or the ocean. They will almost certainly outlast this router.
The good news is, getting past the pile of trash, you'll get to the RT-BE96U itself, which has virtually all you can expect from a top-tier Wi-Fi router, as detailed in this primer post on Asus hardware. Basically, you'll get anything you'd want for a robust home network from this router, including VPN, QoS, AiProtection, Parental Controls, Traffic/data cap monitoring, and much more, at no additional cost.
Considering it's Asus's first Wi-Fi 7 router, here are a few things to note.
Standard setup process with universal restoration
If you have used an Asus router before, chances are you can back up its settings to a file and load it on the RT-BE96U. I did that during the setup process, and all the settings of an RT-AX86U Pro were ported over nicely.
However, it's worth noting that it's best to set up the new router from scratch. If you indeed want to reuse the settings of an old router, after uploading the settings, follow these simple steps:
- Adjust certain detailsโmodel name, SSID, Wi-Fi settings, port configurations, etc.โto match the new router.
- Do a setting backup to a new file and reset the router to the default setting.
- Restore the new router with the backup file in step #2.
In my experience, these extra steps will remove the kinks and make the new router work smoothly with the previous router's settings.
The second thing to note is that you should avoid using the Asus mobile app for the setup process. Instead, follow this detailed guide using the web user interface. I tested the app briefly with the initial setup of the RT-BE96U and ran into different issuesโI gave up after a few tries.
Super-flexible network ports, only two Multi-Gig connections
The RT-BE96U comes with two 10Gbps Multi-Gig portsโone is the default WAN port, the other is a LAN portโand four Gigabit LAN ports labeled LAN1 to LAN4. However, you can use the web user interface to configure these ports in many ways.
For example, when applicable, you can:
- turn a Gigabit port into the primary WAN port and use the two 10Gbps ports as LANs.
- combine the default WAN port with the LAN4 port to form a WAN Link Aggregation.
- combine the LAN1 and LAN2 ports into a LAN Link Aggregation
- In a Dual-WAN, you can use any two network ports to host two separate broadband connections or use a USB port to host a cellular as the backup.
Overall, the router has the most flexible port management I've seen, even among Asus routers. This flexibility makes the fact it has only two Multi-Gig ports a bit restrictive. Specifically, if you want a Dual-WAN setup with two multi-Gigabit broadband connections, you'll have no Multi-Gig port left for the local network, which cancels out the benefits of extra Internet bandwidth.
So, on this port front, the RT-BE96U would be perfect if its Gigabit ports were all Multi-Gig (like the case of the Archer BE800) or if it had at least another Multi-Gig LAN port. This area is where the upcoming GT-BE98 is decidedly better.
Excellent support for AiMesh
AiMesh helps turn any supported router into a mesh member, and the RT-BE96U had that in its arsenal.
In my brief testing, I used the RT-AX89X as a satellite node, and the two worked well together, wirelessly (not recommended) or via a 10Gbps backhaul link (yay!). That was a nice surprise, considering the RT-BE96U used a much newer firmware version than the once-cream-of-the-crop Wi-Fi 6 router. So, if you're using the RT-AX89X and thinking of upgrading, you can use it as a mesh node.
Note: The RT-AX89X is one of a few Asus routers that doesn't support universal cross-model backup and restoration.
Asus RT-BE96U: All-around excellent performance with real Wi-Fi 7 speeds
For this review, I tested the RT-BE96U over a week, and it was a pleasant surprise.
The router worked well with existing Wi-Fi 6E and older clients. Its 5GHz and 2.4GHz support the legacy WPA authentication method and will allow clients as old as Wi-Fi 4 to connect.
When I used my newly-minted Wi-Fi 7 Windows clients with it, they, for the first time, connected at higher than the speed of Wi-Fi 6E. Specifically, my 2x2 Intel BE200 could negotiate at around 4Gbps and deliver sustained rates over 2Gbps. That was the fastest I've seen with my testing methodology.
And over 2Gbps was the highest Internet speed I got on the test laptop out of my 10Gbps fiber-optic line. So, it's safe to say the RT-BE96U is the fastest Wi-Fi router I've seen. It might not hold this title for long, considering there are more similar routers on the horizon, but for now, the fastest it indeed is.
I went back and briefly retested other Wi-Fi 7 broadcasters I had reviewed, and none delivered the same Wi-Fi 7 speeds. But that might soon change via firmware/driver updates.
However, the speed on this 6GHz band fluctuated. Generally within distances up to 50 feet in range, my test laptop negotiated somewhere between 1.4Gbps to 4.1Gbps and never sustained faster than 2.3Gbps of real-world rates. Still, that was enough to see how Wi-Fi 7 was a clear improvement over Wi-Fi 6E.
It's important to note that MLO wasn't available during my testing, nor was AFCโthese two important features of Wi-Fi 7 will need to wait until well into 2024. Still, the RT-BE96U passed my three-day stress without disconnection, and it had excellent range, one of the best for a single broadcaster.
It's hard to measure the coverage precisely, but if you live in a home of around 2500 ft2 (232 m2) without thick walls, place it in the middle, and chances are you'll get Wi-Fi at every corner. Your mileage will vary.
The RT-BE96U also did well as a mini NAS server when hosting a portable SSD. Via a wired 10Gbps connection, it sustained over 150MB/s for writing and over 200MB/s for reading. While these weren't the best I've seen, they were generally fast enough for a single family's simple file-sharing or media-streaming tasks.
I also tested the router's two 10GBASE-T ports the way I do Multi-Gig switches, and as usual, they didn't deliver close to 10Gbps. Instead, I got around 6200Mbps at most. But that's consistently been the case for all 10Gbps routers I've tried, and that's more than fast enough for any home.
The RT-BE96U ran cool and completely silent during my trial. It seemed to have no internal fan, though I didn't open it to make sure.
Asus RT-BE96U's Rating
Pros
Wi-Fi 7 support; excellent performance; AiMesh-ready
Lots of free, in-depth, and useful networking features and settings (VPN, AiProtection, Parental Control, Bandwidth monitoring, etc.)
Two 10Gbps Multi-Gig ports with excellent port flexibility; supports Dual-WAN and LAN/WAN Link Aggregations
No vendor required login account; run cool and quiet
Cons
Only two 10Gbps ports
Bulky design, not wall-mountable
Lots of unnecessary plastic wraps
Conclusion
Thanks to the recent availability of the Intel BE200 chip, the tri-band Asus RT-BE96U is the very first Wi-Fi 7 router on the market that could demonstrate the new standard's 2x2 connection grade to a consumer-grade Windows computer. It certainly won't be the last.
Besides Wi-Fi, the new router also has an excellent set of features and two 10Gbps ports. Coupled with a Multi-Gig switch, it helps you build a complete multi-Gigabit network in your home.
Just like Wi-Fi 7, which is not even all there yet, the Asus RT-BE96U is not a must-have, and I wouldn't be surprised if it had firmware bugs or more significant changes from now until the new wireless standard is ratified. However, if you're looking for a powerful router that potentially has virtually everything today, it's one of the best candidates. Have $700 lying around? Give it a try!
Dong,
In my experience, all modern ethernet switches run at wire speed. I notice in this article you shown none of them doing that. I suspect the problem here is in your clients or your methodology.
For example, I’ve tested two Intel X540 cards plugged into a PCIe 2.0 x8 bus running through a Trendnet TEG-3102WS switch (two SFP+ ports) using TCP-mode iperf3 with Linux on both ends and ethernet flow control enabled. I consistently get 9.4 Gbps with mtu 1500 and 9.9 Gbps with mtu 9000 transfering simultaneiously in both directions. TCP overhead is the only reason they don’t run 10.0 Gbps.
Gene
You’re probably right, Geneโthanks for sharing the experience.
Still, this also depends on the application. I generally use Windows Explorer for the testing since that’s what most of us use to access shared folders in real life. My testing is not about showing the best possible scores but the real-world experience of a product.
To be honest, I didn’t expect to test 10Gbps devices with my equipment. For that, we’d need 20Gbps equipment or faster. More here. But this will have to do for now.
I do not mean to criticise your testing of WiFi systems. I have folllowed your reviews for years and value them greatly. My point here is that all ethernet switches run at line speed. And you are reporting that they run at different speeds to your readers.
Imagine that you applied your testing methodology to a set of multi-colored ethernet cables connected directly between your clients. You would find you are rating them by color, and you would honestly report that red, green and blue colors run at different speeds, none close to 10 Gbps.
Your methodology works great at lower speeds, but it doesn’t apply well to 10 GE switches.
Hi Dong,
I’m looking to upgrade my network to wifi 7 and I’ve read this article along with your MLO article and I’m trying to see what is the best way to set up the router. I have multiple different types of clients to just 2.4 , 5 , 6, and even a few wifi 7 phones.
i currently set up individual bands 2.4, and 5…I’m guessing if you do that you will loose MLO. BUT love control over what bands the clients connect to?
use smart connect option?? I am hesitant with this as I like control a
and had drop issues in the past.
or use MLO option?? is this just an enhanced smart connect option? will my 2.4 clients still connect? will this option cause issues.
it’s very confusing.
It is indeed confusing, John. I’d say you gain little (if anything at all) with MLO unless you have a FULLY WIRELESS mesh system. But in any case, you can use the router’s SDN (Guest Network Pro) feature to create multiple SSIDs of whichever band(s) you want for segmenting your network. That takes a bit of time to set up to your liking but it works.
Any chance we could get a retest of this with MLO enabled? Seems like it should be in the firmware now, and it would be great to have a comparison against the MLO performance of the BQ16 Pro!
I already did and you’ll see it in the performance charts of newer reviews, such as this one, Edward. I can’t afford to re-review all hardware when I review a new one. Most important: Don’t put too much hope and expectation on MLOโmore here.
Hello Dong, Do you know of any routers I can purchase that will have a minimum of 2.5GB Ethernet ports? I would prefer a 2.5GB or even better, a 10GB WAN Port to connect to my ISP. But inside my home I wish I could have 2.5GB to connect my ethernet devices to. I have an Asus router set up using lan backhaul over 1gb ports. One final thought is I am concerned about the limited number of devices. For Example Aus AX86u says 35 connected devices, does this include those connected via ethernet?
There are all here, Ezra, or this list on the best of them. As for the number of devices, check out this post on routers.
Does this router have Smart Queue Management (SQM)? How can you tell from the specs page, as I am not seeing it listed.
{…}
This setting is part of QoS, Chris, and not all routers have it seperated nor do all vendors call it SQM. It seems you’ve been reading too much marketing nonsense. ๐
Where is the Multi-Gig switch performance chart? Like this chart when looking at switching comparison. Even though you mention what you got. It would still be nice to see in comparison to the switches you tested and other ASUS routers,
Look closer, Spizz.
Would pairing this with a XT12 for a mesh be a wise choice? Or should the satellite router also be Wifi-7?
Nope, not a good choice. More here Mike.
Does the RT-BE96U support a separate SSID for MLO, similar to what the TP-Link Archer BE700 does? Couldn’t find any information in the manual online.
No, Craig, that was not available during my testing. But it could change via firmware. The feature itself is not yet available and was just a place holder in the case of TP-Link, by the way.
Curious what you know about EasyMesh, touted for next-gen WiFi 7 h/w? Is the AiMesh in this router designed to work with other manufacturers in a cross-platform mesh arrangement and/or are you expecting future F/W updates to add that capability?
EasyMesh, so far, seems to use the generic WDS protocol and is quite limited. More here.
Thx
Hi Dong!
Thanks for the review. I noticed that the Asus GT-AXE16000 is missing from the speed performance chart. Looking at that review, it seemed to perform a lot better on AX/AXE bands than the RT-BE96U. Any thoughts as to why?
And if you had to choose between the two (GT-AXE16000 vs RT-BE96U), which would you recommend if upgrading from a 5yr old AC2600?
Yeap, Craig, I initially pick the charge of mesh Wi-Fi 6E router then add the Wi-Fi 7 mesh routers to them (they were avaible first) then I added the RT-AX96U. But numbers are always numbers — here are those of the GT-AXE16000.
I’d go with the RT-BE96U, as long as you keep in mind that Wi-Fi 7 is not yet fully there and the firmware might still be buggy for a while.
I agree Dong, this router is a beast, and, hasnt had a hiccup for me in over a month..much better than the Deco BE95 i dealt with before
Hi Dong,
Thanks for the review! I was wondering if you would be able to retest Archer BE800 and BE9300 with your new wifi 7 client? I would love to see how they compare
I already did — as mentioned in this review. But eventually, they will work like they are supposed to. Clearly, there’s no chance I’ll go back to test them again and again every time I review a new BE router.
Maybe I’m misunderstanding but why would you need to retest them everytime a new wifi7 router comes out? Just seeing their be 6ghz result is enough, to compare with other routers’ be 6ghz results
Because during the first round of reviews, the routers didn’t have firmware that support Wi-Fi 7 and there was no Wi-Fi 7 clients or the clients didn’t have the software driver that support the standard. Etc. More here.
Great review as usual, now question, did you see discrepancy in the download speed vs upload with AXE and AX clients?
I do get about 1.2-1.3Gbps of download but then upload has some challenges getting north of 500Mbps???
That generally has nothing with the Wi-Fi standards, Alexis. If any, it has something to do with your broadband plan, the test server you use, or the hardware’s WAN or LAN port. Generally, don’t use Wi-Fi to test Internet and vice versa if you want to know the actual speed of either. They are two different things. More on speed testing in this post.
Thanks for the review. I love reading reviews here. They go in depth.
However, I canโt understand why a 2024 router has a usb2 port. This doesnโt make sense for me. Why no USB-C?
Likely because they all use USB 3.0 (a.k.a 3.2 Gen 1) and it’s cheaper to use the old port type. Also, we’re still in 2023. ๐
Youโre right. Itโs cheaper, but weโre talking about a $700 router ๐. Also, it will take some time until it will be widely available. Most likely end of Q1 2024. Thereโs no trace of it in Europe.
By cheaper, I meant in production cost. And yes, the EU has been far ahead of the US on the “make sense” front. Over here, unfortunately, money is still the only thing that talks.
Hi Dong
Would a 6e client such as an iPhone 15 connect to the wifi7 radio ?
Trying to ascertain backwards compatibility of 6e devices and WiFi 7 equipped routers.
Yes, as you can see on the performance charts, Mario. Read the post of Wi-Fi 7 for more.
Hi Dong,
Happy holidays and thanks again for the detailed review of the RT-BE96U, the first I’ve seen from any of the tech websites. This replaces the venerable RT-AX89X that I’ve been using for a while and yes it’s got decently fast speeds wired and wireless especially on 10Gbps fiber broadband. Agree on your view that the quad-band GT-BE98 might be overhyped due to the splitting of the 5Ghz band in half that limits flexibility of frequency use. I was wondering though with the quad-band GT-BE98 Pro’s two 6Ghz bands, will that same limitation also apply?
Yes, Richard. I talked abot about that in the review of the Deco BE95.
Gotcha thanks.
Asus cheaping out- all those gigabit LAN ports should at least be 2.5G. Still most likely need to buy a switch.
Otherwise it looks good.
Agreed. Pretty much what I said in the review but you shouted, so you win. Jeez!
Hi Dong;
interesting read, as always! What do you think about using a pair of ET12’s as mesh with this guy? Is it a waste of “wifi 7”, or might it actually be awesum?
happy thanksgiving!
I think I’ll work, via wired backhauling of course. You’ll only get Wi-Fi 7 at the router.
Happy Thanksgiving ๐ฆ!
good point; I wonder how long it will take Asus to come up with a premium wifi 7 mesh set like the et 12?
enjoy your turkey!
Prolly next year.
When I see one of your emails coming in Dong, I drop everything to read it. Excellent stuff as always. I have a feeling in 2024 I will be dropping a WiFi 7 node into my existing AiMesh ๐
๐