With the RT-AXE7800, ASUS offers a powerful and exciting WLAN 6E router. In addition to the usual 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands, this also supports the 6 GHz band, which promises higher data rates.
The router also has a 2.5 GBit LAN port and generally the extensive features typical of ASUS.
Let’s take a look at the ASUS RT-AXE7800 in the test. How good or bad is the WiFi router? Does the 6 GHz band help?
At this point, many thanks to ASUS for providing the RT-AXE7800 for this test.
ASUS RT-AXE7800 im Test
ASUS obviously relies on a somewhat eye-catching exterior for the RT-AXE7800. This uses a hexagonal design with six antennas, which can be folded out.
Although we don’t exactly have a “gaming router” from the ASUS ROG series, it is clear that ASUS is already moving somewhat in this direction.
In addition to the eye-catching shape and the very present antennas, we have 9 status LEDs on the front.
As usual, the connections are located on the back. There we have 5 LAN ports, 1x USB 3.0 and a DC input.
3x 1 Gbit LAN 1x 1 Gbit WAN/LAN 1x 2.5 Gbit WAN/LAN
We initially have three 1 Gbit LAN ports and two WAN ports. One of these WAN ports offers 2.5 Gbit LAN speed. However, you can choose here whether you want to use the 1 Gbit or 2.5 Gbit port as a WAN/uplink and the other as a normal LAN port.
Excellent! As a rule, we don’t have internet with more than 1 Gbit in Germany yet, so you can use the 2.5 Gbit LAN port for a NAS, for example.
A 2.5 Gbit LAN port is good, but it would of course be better if we had several 2.5 Gbit LAN ports.
Software
The ASUS RT-AXE7800 uses the proven and well-known ASUS standard software, which is used in almost all models.
In general, the ASUS WebUI is characterized by a wealth of functions, but in terms of appearance there is room for improvement. In some places the user interface seems a bit overloaded and confusing. A “facelift” would be desirable here, although this is unlikely to be implemented in the near future.
In addition to the WEBUI, ASUS offers an app that presumably represents the “facelift” mentioned. However, in the case of the RT-AXE7800, the setup app didn’t really work on my Pixel 8 Pro.
So I simply set it up on the PC, which worked without any problems.
However, in terms of functionality, there is nothing to complain about! The RT-AXE7800 masters all requirements and offers extremely detailed setting options.
Router, Repeater, Access Point
You can use the RT-AXE7800U either as a router, access point or repeater.
But remember, there is no modem built into the RT-AXE7800! So you most likely still need a modem, FritzBox, Speedport or something similar.
AIMesh
Thanks to AiMesh, ASUS WLAN routers offer the option of connecting several models to form a mesh system. This is exciting because it is also possible to combine different models in a mesh system.
If you have an old ASUS WLAN router, it may be possible to simply use it as an additional node with the ASUS RT-AXE7800.
USB sharing
Thanks to the USB 3.0 port, it is possible to connect a USB drive (external HDD / SSD) to the router and share it over your network.
There is simple user management and the option to create different shared folders and provide them with simple access rights depending on the user.
The maximum data rate via LAN is 97 MB/s reading and 67 MB/s writing.
WLAN 6E beim RT-AXE7800
The ASUS RT-AXE7800 relies on the WLAN 6E standard. WLAN 6E is essentially the normal WLAN 6 standard, which is also fully backwards compatible. However, we also have the new 6 GHz band here, in addition to the usual 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
2,4 GHz – 574 Mbit
5 GHz – 4804 Mbit
6 Ghz – 2402 Mbit
But what is the 6 GHz band for? On paper, this one is even slower at 2402 Mbit than the 5 GHz band, which offers 4804 Mbit?
The 4804 Mbit on the 5 GHz band is achieved in a 4×4 design. To put it bluntly, four parallel streams are set up here to achieve this 4804 Mbit. But this also requires 4 antennas.
However, your smartphone and notebook do not have 4 antennas, so this usually doesn’t help us much in practice or only when using several devices at the same time.
The 2402 Mbit on the 6 GHz band, however, is achieved with a 2×2 design. For this, your smartphone, tablet or notebook only needs to have 2 antennas, which is often the case.
Accordingly, the maximum data rates are usually identical between 5 GHz and 6 GHz. However, the 6 GHz band is usually “freer”. There are fewer interference signals and the like here. Accordingly, the real performance on the 6 GHz band can be higher.
As long as you are in the same room with the RT-AXE7800. Because the 6 GHz band has a very poor range even compared to the 5 GHz band.
Performance in practice
But what does the performance of the ASUS RT-AXE7800 look like in practice? For this purpose, I tested this and the UniFi 7 Pro / UniFi 6 Pro in combination with the Samsung S24 Ultra (WLAN 7 is supported) and the Intel AX210 WLAN card (WLAN 6E).
I tested the performance on a local server.
Let’s start with an impressive picture of the performance in combination with the Intel AX210 WLAN card. Here I got a whopping 1747.8 Mbit download and 1634.1 Mbit upload on the 5 GHz band. Impressive!
At least at a short distance of approx. 2-3 meters.
In a direct comparison, the RT-AXE7800 can clearly beat the UniFi 6 Pro, although this is primarily due to the 2.5 Gbit LAN uplink.
At short distances, the WLAN performance of most WLAN routers already exceeds the 1 Gbit level, so the 2.5 Gbit uplink as can be found here is clearly the next and important step in the right direction.
Compared to the UniFi 7 Pro, we see a fairly balanced picture. The UniFi 7 Pro is a few Mbit faster, except when uploading with the S24 Ultra, which is surprising.
The S24 Ultra is a WLAN 7 smartphone and the UniFi 7 Pro is a WLAN 7 router. But in the current expansion stage, WLAN 7 doesn’t seem to bring any real advantage compared to WLAN 6 on the ASUS RT-AXE7800.
At least on the 5 GHz band.
On the 6 GHz band, the UniFi 7 Pro is a bit faster. But what does it look like from a distance? Here a middle distance through 2 walls.
Here the RT-AXE7800 is on average ahead of the UniFi models. However, here too the differences are not earth-shattering. Nevertheless, the ASUS’s eye-catching antennas certainly seem to be of some use.
Power consumption
I was very positively surprised by the power consumption of the RT-AXE7800. This was clearly below the UniFi 7 Pro if we want to stick with this comparison.
With Gbit LAN the router only needed +- 8 W and with 2.5Gbit LAN +-8.5W.
Absolutely not too much for a model of this class! Even under load we barely reach 10W.
Conclusion
The RT-AXE7800 is a typical ASUS WLAN router. It is powerful with a wide range of functions. Like most ASUS WLAN routers, I would primarily recommend the RT-AXE7800 to enthusiasts who value many functions/options.
These include things like AIMesh, which allows multiple ASUS routers to be combined in a mesh network, USB network sharing, etc.
Of course, the very high performance is also important! I was able to achieve up to 1747.8 Mbit download and 1634.1 Mbit upload in practice with a test notebook. Remarkable!
These high speeds are possible thanks to the 2.5 Gbit LAN port, which can be used either as a WAN/uplink or as a regular LAN port for a NAS or a 2.5 Gbit switch, for example.
There are further plus points for the good range and the comparatively low power consumption of less than 10W.
Are there any criticisms? Aside from the design of the WebUI, I would perhaps have liked a second 2.5 Gbit LAN port. But that would be all my criticisms.
So if you are looking for a comprehensive and powerful WLAN router/access point with WLAN 6E, then the ASUS RT-AXE7800 is a good choice.