Not sure how you guys do it in the UK… Anyway I just decided to replace my 5 year old Asus Router with a new one, Asus RT-AC88U I’m not sure if it will improve SQ but I suspect I’ll get better speed throughout my house. It’s kind a large so extra power can always be helpful.
… its an ugly SOB, whats with the spiky things, don’t you guys over there do pretty ??
My hub has 7 antenna’s - inside - & a range about 100 feet all around the property
… and even more spiky is the
Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 Tri-Band 
Why indeed?
Looks like you’re using Blue Tooth?
@Mike-B The spikey things are, as you well know are WiFi Antennas … They are external because they are more effective that way. Also I really don’t give a S…T about how it looks since it’s not something I put on display … But I am curious how many square feet of coverage does your BT router need to cover?
Sorry Rick, I have a buddy with an Asus, it’s just a joke with him about the spiky things. I said in my post, the little BT box covers the whole house & about 100 ft all around. It has a 7 antenna array, shaped, polarised & orientated for optimum coverage
If focusing on wireless access point and coverage as opposed to routers, I would ensure your WAP can talk EasyMesh to other WAPs or can be setup to talk to other WAPs to provide an ESSID with a single WLAN.
The BT Smart Hub 2 for example supports the EasyMesh option.
From a home bundle broadband router perspective I would ensure your router can talk to your ISP VDSL modem or fibre NTE, or if using the modem internally is optimised for your local DSLAM/ cabinet… as well as supporting IPv6 in the way your ISP provides it.
I would also check for good support of IGMP on the router’s switchports and Wireless Access Point… in theory good support of IGMP could marginally help SQ in some setups.
If you can borrow the router you are thinking of first and check it works with your apps, such as the Naim app etc first.
Personally I would never buy an all in one system again for my network. After switching to Ubiquiti Unifi products my network has never been so good on wireless and wired. Separate router, switch and WAP’s powered by ethernet.
The Asus router is not a combination modem wifi router. Modem is a Motorola Docis 3.1 unit No need to borrow a router first to see if it works… that’s kind of silly, and I don’t use any NAIM apps. And Simon here’s all the specs:
- Network Standard
IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IPv4, IPv6
- Product Segment
AC3100 ultimate AC performance : 1000+2167 Mbps
- Coverage
Very large homes
- Data Rate
802.11a : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54 Mbps
802.11b : 1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps
802.11g : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54 Mbps
802.11n : up to 600 Mbps
802.11ac : up to 1734 Mbps
1024QAM (2.4GHz) : up to 1000 Mbps
1024QAM (5GHz) : up to2167 Mbps
- Antenna
External antenna x 4
- Transmit/Receive
MIMO technology
2.4 GHz 4 x 4
5 GHz 4 x 4
- Processor
1.4 GHz dual-core processor
- Memory
128 MB Flash
512 MB RAM
- Wi-Fi Technology
Beamforming: standard-based and universal
1024-QAM high data rate
20/40/80 MHz bandwidth
- Operating Frequency
2.4 GHz / 5 GHz
- Encryption
64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise , WPA2-Enterprise , WPS support
- Firewall & Access Control
Access control：Parental control, Network service filter, URL filter, Port filter
- Management
UPnP, IGMP v1/v2/v3, DNS Proxy, DHCP, NTP Client, DDNS, Port Trigger, Port Forwarding, DMZ, System Event Log
- WAN Connection Type
Internet connection type : Automatic IP, Static IP, PPPoE(MPPE supported), PPTP, L2TP
- Utilities
Router setup wizard; Firmware restoration; Device discovary; printer setup utility
- Ports
RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for WAN x 1, RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for LAN x 8
USB 2.0 x 1
USB 3.0 x 1
- Features
Link Aggregation
- 802.3ad
MU-MIMO
Traffic Analyzer
Adaptive QoS
AiProtection
Parental Control
Guest Network : 2.4 GHz x 3, 5 GHz x 3
VPN server : IPSec Pass-Through, PPTP Pass-Through, L2TP Pass-Through, PPTP Server, OpenVPN Server
VPN client : PPTP client, L2TP client, OpenVPN client
Mac OS Backup
Enhanced media server (AiPlayer app compatible) - Image : Jpeg
- Audio : mp3, wma, wav, pcm, mp4, lpcm, ogg
- Video : asf, avi, divx, mpeg, mpg, ts, vob, wmv, mkv, mov
AiCloud personal cloud service
3G/4G data sharing
Printer Server - Multifunctional printer support (Windows only)
- LPR protocol support
Download Master - Support bt, nzb, http, ed2k
- Support encryption, DHT, PEX and magnet link
- Upload and download bandwidth control
- Download scheduling
AiDisk file server - Samba and FTP server with account management
Dual WAN
IPTV support
Roaming Assist
- Buttons
WPS Button, Reset Button, Power Button, Wireless on/off Button, LED on/off Button
- LED Indicator
Power x 1
Wi-Fi x 2
WAN x 1
USB x 2
WPS x 1
LAN x 1
- Power Supply
AC Input : 110V~240V(50~60Hz)
DC Output : 19 V with max. 2.37 A current
I have a Asus RT-AC88U on Virgin fibre 200Mbps connection the Asus is very good, 8 ports on the back are very useful, feeing the 6 rooms in the house and one going to the Naim Cisco switch. The USB for printers and storage are a bonus. The WiFi is rock solid even at the bottom of the garden. It lives on the top of a grandfather clock which hides the wires and only the tips of the aerials are visible over the finials if I stand on tip toes.
LOL. No finials on mine to hide behind plus I would need stepladders to reboot it. 
I’ve never needed to use the physical button, I just reboot from the app. But yes steps are needed for access!
I’m sure it will be fine… my point is about interoperability hence the try out… but if you don’t use any apps, or specifically Naim apps then there is nothing to loose… go for it.
With regard to Wifi it’s often better to have several APs that can drop to low power rather than a single one that is probably needing to run high power and compete… and your clients may also then need to run at higher power as well
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