With the RT-AX59U, ASUS offers a comparatively inexpensive WLAN router with the latest technology.
This should offer up to 4200 MBit according to the WLAN 6 standard for less than €130. It relies on a beautifully compact and simple housing with the option for wall mounting.
This also makes it suitable as an additional access point in larger apartments.
Let’s take a look at the ASUS RT-AX59U in the test!
Many thanks to ASUS for providing the RT-AX59U for this test.
The ASUS RT-AX59U in the test
The RT-AX59U almost has a somewhat unusual design. So ASUS relies on a super simple and simple design.
The router is quite compact at approx. 204 x 130 x 40 mm. This can also be mounted on walls, which is why the flat design also makes a lot of sense.
For wall mounting, you need to remove the stand and attach it to the back.
Otherwise, the router relies on a very “clean” black design. It looks simple, unobtrusive and professional.
On the port side, we have the usual.
1x Gbit LAN WAN
3x Gbit LAN
1x USB 3.0
1x USB 2.0
1x DC Eingang
We also have a WPS button and an on/off switch.
Software
The RT-AX59U relies on ASUS’s standard software, which it uses in almost all models.
Basically, the ASUS WebUI can be described as extremely rich in features, but there is room for improvement, especially visually. The sharing UI seems a bit overloaded and confusing. A “facelift” would make sense, but it probably won’t happen.
In addition to the WEBUI, ASUS also offers an app, which probably represents the “facelift”.
Functionally there is nothing to complain about! The RT-AX59U can do “everything” and you have very detailed setting options.
Router, Repeater, Access Point
You can use the ASUS RT-AX59U as a router, access point or repeater. Practical!
Performance of the ASUS RT-AX59U
The ASUS RT-AX59U is a mid-range wireless router. This is of course based on the WLAN 6 standard, but is also backwards compatible with all old WLAN standards.
WLAN 6 2,4GHz – 574 Mbit – 2×2 Streams 40 MHz
WLAN 6 5 Ghz – 3603 Mbit – 3×3 Steams 160 MHz
Interesting! The ASUS RT-AX59U uses a 3×3 design. So inside we find three antennas for the 5GHz band, which can generate three parallel streams with up to 1201 Mbit.
Fortunately, we have the 160 MHz channel width, which is required, for example in combination with the Intel AX WLAN cards (which are pretty much the best in the notebook sector), to achieve full speed.
After WLAN 5 we have a maximum of 867 Mbit on the 5GHz band and 300 Mbit after WLAN 4.
Performance Check
The performance of WLAN routers can depend on many factors, the respective client, the number of WLAN networks in the area, radio devices, etc.
Nevertheless, let’s take a quick look at the transmission rates in combination with various end devices.
Here we see quite impressive values! In combination with a local NAS and at a shorter distance, the ASUS RT-AX59U achieves almost Gbit LAN speeds.
Most end devices reach 900+ Mbit here. In the best case even to 984 MBit. The RT-AX59U may already be limited by its Gbit LAN ports!
But this is nothing negative here! In the same room with the router, you can expect the same speeds as with a Gbit LAN cable, provided your end device has a sufficiently high-capacity WLAN.
But how does it compare to other WiFi devices?
At close range, the RT-AX59U was able to beat both the Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Lite and the Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Pro. Only the ASUS ROG Rapture GT6 was able to surpass the RT-AX59U a bit.
We see a similar picture at a medium distance (10 meters + 1 wall).
Use as “NAS”
You can connect external hard drives or SSDs to the router and use it as a kind of “NAS”, i.e. share it in the network.
The speed of this release varies greatly depending on whether you access it via LAN or WLAN.
LAN WLAN
We achieve very good 98 MB/s reading and 48 MB/s writing via LAN. I only got 37 MB/s or 25 MB/s via WLAN, which is significantly less than the WLAN connection should be able to do.
There may be a “double load” on the processor for WiFi and NAS usage, which is why USB drive performance is so much slower over WiFi.
power consumption
On average, the ASUS RT-AX59U needs around 5W. More towards 6W if you use all LAN ports, just under 5W when completely idle.
Conclusion
The ASUS RT-AX59U falls into the category fast, cheap and good! At just over €100, the ASUS RT-AX59U is not the cheapest WiFi router on the market, but it is also far from the most expensive model.
But it still offers a very good performance! In practice, you will achieve speeds of 800-900 Mbit over short distances with almost all current WLAN 6 devices.
The RT-AX59U also continues to achieve very good performance over medium distances, even if larger models cannot achieve higher speeds here.
Fortunately, you can also use the RT-AX59U as a router, access point or repeater without any problems. I can well imagine the RT-AX59U as an additional access point! The router will also look good in an AiMesh system.
The software from ASUS is, as usual, very extensive, but sometimes a bit “overwhelming”. ASUS is not my first choice for absolute beginners, but if you have a rough idea of what you want to do, then the ASUS RT-AX59U is a great router with high performance, stability and features!
POSITIVE
High WiFi performance on the 5Ghz band
160MHz channel width
WLAN 6 Support
USB ports for NAS functionality
Extensive software
Low power consumption
NEGATIVE
WebUI could get a refresh
“only” Transfer LAN Ports