REVIEW Asus RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router - "Dark Knight"

Greetings fellow OCAU’ers!
So a few months ago, I had Asus drop me a line in regards to taking an interest in reviewing one of their routers.
I was only too happy to oblige. So without further ado, you will find my review in the thread below!

Up for review is the ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router.

First Impressions​

One thing that really stood out for me was the nickname this router has been given as it is listed on the Manual. It did come as a shock to find among the usual Ethernet cable, power adapter and plastic wrap is an instruction manual for a router affectionately labelled “Dark Knight”.


"And Yes Mr Wayne, it does come in black!"

What more can I say? The RT-N66U is sleek, unique and really looks like it would be best suited sitting in a batcave while you work out the identity of who stole your mother’s pearls one night.

As far as the physical features it comes complete with four gigabit Ethernet ports, three detachable antennas, two USB ports, one gigabit WAN port and a partridge in a pear tree WPS Button. Additionally, you have the usual power port for the supplied adaptor and a power switch.


Source: Asus RT-N66U Support Page

The status lights on the Router fired up in their bright blue fires and within literally seconds, all of the lights showing that the router was now ready were alight and blinking.



I am quoted by saying “What, already?” An interesting point to note is that the power adapter also has a blue LED in one side that lights up when there is power to the unit. This will be a very good feature for some (especially when you have to dig in a jungle of power cords later on in the same area) but others will find this as a hindrance - especially those who have a room with a particular lighting agenda.

Setup​

Prior to setting this router up I had another ADSL2+ modem/router but it did not have the ability to bridge the connection to the Dark Knight. Thanks to OCAU's Swap & Shop I was able to get a modem on the cheap and was up and running in no time.


Initial CD Wizard Autoplay screen.


The initial setup is as usual for routers of this nature - via a wired connection. The provided CD with the setup wizard walks you through rebooting your modem and it automatically detects the connectivity from the Dark Knight to your current modem.



In my case, I had already pre-configured the ADSL2+ modem to bridged mode and connected it to the WAN port of the Dark Knight. One important thing to note is that during this phase of the setup wizard, you may find the wizard with the error that it cannot detect a wired connection.




This will occur if you have more than one Ethernet adapter or virtual Ethernet adapters configured on your machine. The fix for this is to simply disable all but the active wired connection to the Dark Knight.

Asus boasts “Get Online in 30 Seconds” on their support page and I’d say that whether you’re a seasoned router guru or this is your very first router configuration, you’ll see that this is possible – provided you are already prepared for what’s ahead. The features of this router are very elaborate and the setup is very particular about some of the inistial configuration. That aside, I didn't find myself tearing my hair out in confusion – the support provided in the setup wizard and the manual are very clear about instructing step by step.







From this point on for me, it was smooth sailing. I was asked to configure my internet connection (in my case, ADLS2+ PPPoE, but check with your ISP for which connection type you have.) This router does also have a "Special Requirements" option if your ISP has any custom attributed required.









Both of the Wireless band setups and all other general configuration items were inclusive of this initial setup wizard.





As you can see, the terminology is technical, but easy to follow.

Interface​

The router’s initial web interface has a “complete overview” page.


Update: Screenshot is now more recent.

From the main page you can get to just about every feature area of the router features in under two clicks. And because The Dark Knight has such an impressive performance, it tends to load the interface pages with minimal fuss and a surprisingly quick response.

Overall, this is a joy to use - a plethora of features and yet such a simple interface! This is not always an easy feat to pull off – especially with router web interfaces. It is however easy to spend a fair bit of time going through each feature and understanding them, so brew up a coffee before you get going.

Internet​

I run ADSL2+ and I am just over 1 km from the DSL exchange. I ran SpeedTest.net twice a day for three days during peak and off-peak.


This was my average results for each test.
Lowest Download:10.1
Lowest Upload: 0.6
Highest Download: 16.3
Highest Upload: 1.2

Overall this was as expected, but it was nice to see that I had not lost any performance since changing my network topography.

Wireless​

The wireless runs dual band SSID’s for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, both of which frequencies have MAC Filtering, RADIUS/Enterprise level wireless provisioning, Wireless bridging and many more.




It can also run 3x 2.4 GHz and 3x 5 GHz Guest Wireless SSID's. It also gives full control over duration, whether it can interact with other machines, authentication and wireless encryption.










InSSIDer reveals that my Laptop used in this test only supports the 2.4GHz bands! I hope to be able to retry more testing on this under the 5GHz nirvana.
It should be noted that InSSIDer is unable to disclose the vendor of the Dark Knight on the created guest access. Additionally, this shows that the signal adjusts very quickly to fine tune the signal to be with as little interference as possible. This can be seen in the two screenshots above.

Since the Dark Knight boasts so many guest wireless SSID's - how does it affect connectivity if we were to switch them all on?


I managed to switch on 3 guest wireless in 2.4 GHz and one channel in 5 GHz before the router hit the limit.


When I click to enable another one, it simply just loads the same page. I even tried to "trick" it by disabling one 2.4 GHz which let me have 2x 2.4 GHz and 3x 5 GHz, but after attempting to add another I was punished and the router completely dropped all wireless signal on me. So the official limit to this router is the 2x SSID's + 5x Guest configurations broadcasting at one time.

During this test, I found that the router didn't need any reboot, it simply just gently stopped wireless connections and resumed them after a wireless SSID was added or removed. So anybody who might be streaming wireless or requiring a "live internet feed" such as online multiplayer it will drop.


An unceremonious error screen.

In its favour, a simple toggle of the power switch had me back up and running in under a minute.

My stress test for the wireless involved the Transfer of three very large 1080 videos, a 720p video streaming from a USB Drive plugged into the Dark Knight while an iPad, an iPhone 4S and a Xperia Z were also being used to stream from the internet. This test was conducted over 3 hours.
All of this combined and the results were clear: the Dark Knight barely broke a sweat. I had no skips, no dropouts and no issues. Nothing. Just a lot of light activity and a whole lot of wireless grunt.

This router is crammed with a ridiculous level of advanced options in the wireless features.




A few of them do appear to give you the ability to increase (or unintentionally decrease) your general wireless strength, range and speed. I live in a 3 storey apartment block, so when I was able to get Wi-Fi from the underground carpark to my iPhone 4S, I decided that perhaps these settings were already working to the best of their ability on the default values.

USB Capability​

The options for configuring any storage from USB are everything you can imagine.



FTP access, Network Place/Samba Access, Cloud Disk access, AiDisk, account login provisioning, concurrent connections and even NTFS Sparse compression support. The ability to customise and cater to just about any USB Drive is just mind boggling. These are often entry level features you’d expect on a low end NAS.





Beyond just hard drives? Network printer access, iTunes server, USB 3G/4G Backup internet mode and even a peculiar little option known as “Download Master”; which essentially turns this router + storage device combo into a very intelligent "computer-less downloader" complete with remote downloading support via a web interface.

One of my biggest gripes with other routers is that when you plug in a larger disk into the USB ports, it indexes all the files and yet still will take an eternity when you start flicking through the directories – whether it be as simple as looking through on your computer or even your console. The Dark Knight on the other hand – pre-caches the directories and from then on the file access is quick. This small performance gain can be equally considered when transferring files either via Wi-Fi or of course the gigabit ports.

I also give Asus extra brownie points with regards to not having to reboot the router each time you plug or unplug a HDD from the USB ports.

Additional​

One of my favourite features within this router by far is the Network Monitoring.







Suspect a device is hogging the web but not sure if it’s a wireless device or a rogue computer plugged into the Ethernet? No problem!

Flick between the tabs for the activity monitor page and set to view between the wireless bands and the wired connections.

This provides multiple views from real-time, to the past 24 hours and your daily totals in an easy to function table.

Is there possibly someone leeching your wireless while you’re not at home but you’re not sure where to start? Change the monitor to show the last 24 hours and check your usage throughout the day - compare it to your internet usage traffic with your ISP. When you're troubleshooting these kinds of issues it is often difficult with other routers to address the issue.


Parental control is also a feature that I should note. It uses MAC addresses to create date and time limits for devices. (Not to be mistaken with the Firewall, which has features such as keyword blocking, URL blocking and port changes).
You can add or remove time blocks to allow or remove time durations.




Other features such as pinging external sites and Netstat advanced features are also inclusive.

Conclusion​

There are so many features on this router that during my time in reviewing I have not been able to get through them all.


Seriously, I'd be here for weeks trying to summarize everything on this router.

On that thought alone, this is definitely a router with features you will end up playing with over a long period of time.

This is a router that you’d have at home, at a small LAN, in a small business environment or even if you’re deciding to return as a caped crusader.

While there are certainly many ways to achieve the same features this router has to offer with other hardware, it’s very hard to achieve it at the same price that the RT-N66U sells for.

With a feature rich capability that is equally matched by the amount of awards for the RT-N66U, I can very easily say that I am surprised I didn’t find a “Kitchen Sink” configuration. Despite a few minor things to keep aware of in the setup wizard, I believe that this router caters for just about every imaginable network scenario you throw at it.

Score:
4/5

I would like to sincerely thank ASUS Australia for allowing me to complete this review . I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time reviewing and look forward to challenging more ASUS goodies in the near future.

So as a first review it’s over to you OCAU – how’d I do? Are there any things I can improve on? Are my jokes terrible? Would you read another review?

 

Everything you've written there I wholly agree with.

I have the same model router except for the wireless chip change to support 802.11ac. It's been labelled the RT-AC66U. The software onboard is the same and I too have a modem previously utilised as a modem/router but all the additional options have been disabled bar the modem which is now in Bridge mode.

I didn't know about the issue with regard to the disabling of network intefaces for the automatic configuration to be implemented - I just fumbled with the router and managed to get the modem enabled.

I would hazard a guess that the connection is now a little bit faster and much more stable than before.

 

Thanks for the thorough reply mate. Really enjoyed it

I know MKBHD on YouTube has a dark knight so I had heard of the before. But yes very in depth and interesting review.

Can't wait to hear more! Congrats CJ

 

Not only did you review this router comprehensively but you also educated me... had no idea about inSSIDer. Thanks for breaking my 6-year lurk haha.

ASUS is on the money recently with their gear, gf has a slick Ivy Bridge-based AIO she is delighted with too.

 

One other thing that wasn't mentioned in this review but written in other reviews and comparisons involving this router.

This series of router has one of the highest consistent throughput of data currently available on the market. In router performance it rates 700+Mbps. It'll be great for 1Gbps NBN connections.

Code:

Test Description	     RT-N66U   RT-N56U
WAN - LAN	             732 Mbps  802 Mbps
LAN - WAN	             729 Mbps  862 Mbps
Total Simultaneous	     810 Mbps  1269 Mbps
Max Simultaneous Connections 34,925    34,925
Firmware Version	     3.1.0.3.90	1.0.1.2

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...n900-gigabit-router-reviewed?showall=&start=2

 

Firstly, thank you kindly for everyone who has read through the review so far and given feedback. It's much appreciated!

That's actually quite interesting to know. A good friend of mine in Canberra is running one of these on an NBN connection (100mb down) in a house with 4 gamers (very high internet usage). It does very well in handling the high speed connections and equally handling the high amount of connected devices.

 

Excellent review Renegade. Really appreciate the comprehensive address of the product.

 

looking forward to new ac model with dsl modem inbuilt (/end dream)

 

Doubt that will happen. These things are designed to be purely routers.

Besides, with a data throughput of 750+ Mbit/s you wouldn't want to limit them to DSL alone. These things are meant for NBN Fibre!

 

I have bought 3 of these routers.

I got the first from the US before it came out here, because they are beasts and all the reviews have been very positive.

I have not been disappointed. My only gripe is dd-wrt is not 100% stable, even though the router has been out for a while. But that is not ASUS's fault. I ended up having to use two of these together to repeat the wireless network in my compound in africa. My laptop could barely get anything, Whereas with these I could re-transmit the network with ease. All my co-workers appreciated this.

I setup a second one as a under access point mode in my house but found I didn't use it as the range was almost full bars at the back of the house. (3 brick walls approx 30m) to anyone thinking about buying one, do!

 

I've been using these exclusively for my AV/control installs for 8 or 9 months now. Love them - though I have had 2 duds out of about 35 purchased, otherwise, they are awesome.

Z...

 

I've found this also.

My router is set up in the study upstairs. I have a suspended concrete slab for the second story, metal frame between walls and double brick on the outer walls and even in the furthest reaches of the house where wireless signal from many other pieces of equipment nary may travel I am getting 40-50% signal strength going from inSSIDer's realtime discovery.

My wife's iPad isn't seemingly able to pick up a signal but my laptop in the same place can get 50-60% so I'm going to say that the iPad design creates some interference.

 

I got one of these on preorder when they first came out. Brilliant router. Paired with a TP Link 8817 it's awesome. Massively underutilised at the moment but I got thinking more headroom has to be better.

 

The throughput on that sounds amazing! Looks like the Billion routers of old yore are finally getting toppled.

 

I wish my RT-N16 would die so i can have an excuse to upgrade to this or the AC model.

 

Update: ASUS have responded to my request to get my hands on some 5 GHz gear and to try a few other things. Prepare for a run-down!



Excuse the terrible photo quality, I was overly eager to get just any photo at this stage. I've pulled out my proper camera to get all my photos produced from RAW.

 

Sorry for the bump, but with our Metadata ready to be hoovered up by our Friendly Government - this router has interested me.
https://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=43811&p=product

Anyone who posted in this thread in 2003, has your N66U survived since then? For $175 from ARC in Parramatta, I might swing past on my lunch break to buy this. It's got penetrating power through walls (which I need thanks to double-brick) and can handle 3 SSIDs with a VPN.

 

the 66U is old now, I'd be going for a newer model.

 

Do you understand how the metadata will be collected? Do you understand that the router won't be a means for stopping your metadata being collected?

power's correct - the RT-N66U is very old. Get something newer. Minimum RT-AC68U. Newest is RT-AC87U.

Thread hasn't been around since 2003. 2013. 2 years.

 

Thanks Power. Could you recommend a later model for what I'm looking for? I'd like to have the following setup:

3 x SSIDs

1. gaming - No VPN needed as it will impact game performance
2. general browsing - VPN will be setup on this
3. replicate SSID from old telstra modem - no VPN necessary

QOS is needed to control the massive facebook upload spikes that kill gaming connections.
VPN on selected SSIDs, to choose when to have my metadata monitored and when not to.
Decent wifi power because I'm in a 3 storey double brick house. Wifi router will be in the middle as close as I can get it.

The metadata will be retained by my ISP. So my VPN will create a secure tunnel to a country outside of the 5-Eyes program. Are you saying that's not enough?