Currently all routers from the manufacturer ASUS are extensible, this means that they have the functionality of ASUS AiMesh to form a complete WiFi mesh network. Thanks to this feature, we can use any ASUS model, be it a router or a Mesh WiFi system from the ZenWiFi family, to form a Mesh network and provide a great user experience through fully transparent WiFi roaming.
Main features
This new router from the manufacturer ASUS is Simultaneous dual band with Wi-Fi 6 and AX3000 class. In the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 574Mbps, thanks to its two external antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration, at 40MHz channel width and the Wi-Fi 6 standard. In the 5GHz band we can get a speed up to 2402Mbps, thanks to its two external antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration, 160MHz channel width and the new Wi-Fi 6 standard. If wireless clients do not support 160MHz channel width, then they will be able to achieve maximum theoretical 1.201Mbps.
This equipment incorporates all Wi-Fi 6 standard technologies such as OFDMA, MU-MIMO, Target Wake Time, Beamforming etc. We also have a WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) button to synchronize the wireless clients, as long as you use the WPA2-Personal protocol, because it also supports WPA3-Personal to provide the maximum possible security to the clients.
Regarding the wired characteristics, this new model has one Gigabit Ethernet port for the Internet WAN. The Asuswrt firmware has support for VLANs in the Internet WAN, VLAN per port and also the Movistar Triple VLAN FTTH profile to completely replace the operator’s router. As for the LAN, we have a total of four Gigabit Ethernet ports for the LAN, the firmware allows you to configure these ports as Jumbo Frames but it does not have Link Aggregation, it is something that you must take into account.
This router does not have any USB port, when a router from the manufacturer ASUS does not have a USB port we will not have the “U” at the end of the model in question. And this RT-AX57 team does not carry it.
Regarding the firmware of this equipment, it is the asus wrt 386 and there is no chance we can update to the new version Asuswrt 388 with the popular WireGuard VPN server. The reason is that we only have 256MB of RAM, and the new firmware requires at least 512MB of RAM. For this reason, we will not be able to enjoy the update with all the improvements, but that does not mean that they abandon the development of the 386 branch for the entry-level and mid-range models.
This router incorporates typical services such as compatibility with AiMesh, guest WiFi network, AiProtection (the classic, not the PRO, so we don’t have two-way IPS), we also have a time-based parental control, and the traditional QoS (We don’t have Adaptive QoS either). The rest of the options are the usual ones, all the WiFi, LAN and WAN network settings, as well as compatibility with Amazon Alexa and also full support for IPv6. As for VPN servers, we have PPTP, IPsec VPN, OpenVPN and also Instant Guard. The rest of the options related to the firewall, administration, system registry and network tools are the same as always.
As you can see, this mid-range router has basic features, but its price is around €90, so you can’t ask for much more. It must be taken into account that it is an extensible router and at a wireless level it is quite good.
Unboxing and first impressions
In RedesZone we already have with us the new ASUS RT-AX57 router, a mid-range model that has good hardware at the WiFi level and the “normal” at the wired level, since it has all the Gigabit Ethernet ports. Something to keep in mind is that it does not have a USB port, as other higher-end models from the manufacturer do.
If you want to see what this new router is like and everything that the box includes, you can see it here:
Soon in RedesZone we are going to offer you a complete analysis where you can see the main characteristics of this router, the real wireless and wired performance, as well as all the firmware configuration options, and also the absences.
