LABS TEST / WIFI 6 ROUTERS
I
f your primary concern when it
comes to home Wi-Fi performance
is getting enough range, then the
best option isn’t to spend big on a single fast
router, but to get a mesh system. These
systems use multiple routers that work
together to extend and distribute the Wi-Fi
signal, like a glorified Wi-Fi extender that’s
faster and more versatile. Asus’ AiMesh
AX6100 is the first Wi-Fi 6 router we’ve seen
to offer this feature, with this £384 kit including
two fully fledged Wi-Fi 6 routers.You place one of them next to your internet
connection, and the second one in an adjacent
room or on the floor above. For instance, in our
test scenario, the second router was placed on
the first floor, in the centre of the house. Ideally,
you want to find a location that’s close enough
to still get a strong, fast signal from the first
router but that’s far enough away to still offer
a meaningful range extension.
The AX6100 consists of two RT-AX92U
units, each of which has an identical set of
features: four external aerials; four rear LAN
ports; one rear WAN port; two USB 3 ports; and
power, reset and WPS buttons. Around the
front there’s also a full array of LEDs to indicate
power, LAN, WAN and Wi-Fi activity, with three
separate lights for each of the three Wi-Fi
bands (2 x 5GHz and 1 x 2.4GHz).
The units themselves are amazingly
small, considering they’re as powerful as
any other router in this Labs test, and have
a tri-band Wi-Fi system (the second 5GHz
band is a dedicated channel for
communication between the two routers).
They measure just 155mm² by 151mm tall
when their four antennae are raised. For this
reason alone, they’ll be considerably more
appealing to some users than the much
larger routers in this test.
Setting up the AX6100 is a little more
complicated than some mesh systems. As
the routers are identical, you need to set
them up one by one, whereas the likes of the
Netgear Orbi come readily paired up. It’s easy
enough, though, and we were up and running
within 15 minutes.
The overall menu system of each
RT-AX92U is basically identical to the
RT-AX88U (see p55), with Asus’ huge wealth
of options being a little overwhelming. What’s
more, we encountered one particular issue
that proved a problem for testing: we couldn’t
get the USB storage sharing to work.On every other router, it’s a simple case of
plugging in the storage device and turning on
the feature in the menus. Here, though, you’re
asked to create a user account with which to
log in and jump through all sorts of hoops, all
for it not to work anyway in our case.
Otherwise, the AX6100 seriously
impressed when it came to Wi-Fi
performance. It wiped the floor with the
other routers on test, providing nearly double
the performance of all the others in our first
test location and getting on for 10x the
performance at the longest range tests. We
haven’t recorded results for the 2.4GHz band,
as the AX6100 automatically combines its
bands into one signal.Conclusion
If better range and coverage is your main
concern when it comes to Wi-Fi, the AX6100 is
the ultimate router right now (other Wi-Fi 6
mesh routers will no doubt arrive soon). Mesh
router systems rule the roost in this regard,
and the Asus AX6100 is the perfect example
of why. Considering it only costs £60 more
than most of the other routers in this Labs, it’s
a relative bargain too.ASUS AIMESH AX6100
/£384inc VAT
SUPPLIER scan.co.ukVERDICT
Surprisingly good value for money and
superb performance make the AX6100 the
Wi-Fi 6 router to beat.DESIGN
14 / 20
PERFORMANCE
30 / 30FEATURES
14 / 20
VALUE
26 / 30OVERALLSCORE
84
SPEC
Weight
2 x 654g
Dimensions (mm)
2 x 155 x 155 x 151 (W x D x H)
Ethernet
4 x LAN + 1 x WAN 1000Mbps, use two ports for
WAN link aggregation
Wi-Fi
802.11ax tri band (AX6000)
USB ports
1 x USB3.1, 1 x USB 2
Processor
1.8GHz quad-core Broadcom BCM4908
Extras
Two routers in one, dedicated band for
wireless backhaulcc
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