ASUS RT-N66U Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router Review

ASUS RT-N66U Wi-Fi Performance Testing

To test our router to simulate real world application use, we connected the ASUS RT-N66U to our PC running Windows 7 64-bit and then configured the router to use Automatic settings for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands. We then took a laptop PC containing an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 wireless adapter and moved it 25-feet away from the router. We didn’t tell the client anything more than the SSID for each router and let it automatically choose the channel to connect to. The router was set to Unsecure Mode (for fastest data throughput), and with WMM / QoS turned ON. After connecting, we ran the PC application LAN Speed Test (LST) to measure file transfer and network speeds.

LST builds a file in memory and then transfers the packet without the effects of windows file caching. It then reports the time and calculates the network speed.

We repeated the test 2 more times rotating the router 90 degrees after each test to make sure that the routers speed was affected adversely by its orientation. We then plotted the average Read/Write speeds shown below:

Test Results: The ASUS RT-N66U goes straight to the top of our charts clocking the fastest 1MB transfer time that we have measured. The 147Mpbs Read speeds of the ASUS RT-N66U were 25% better than that of the Netgear R6300. This is also a 110% improvement in Read speeds over our budget router, the EnGenius ESR750H.

Test Results: The 100 MB data that we test here best simulates data that you would see if you wanted to stream high-definition video. The ASUS RT-N66U router again shows great form with stellar performance numbers. While the Average Write Speeds may lag behind our top Netgear routers, the all-important Read Speeds tops its competitors with an almost 8% gain in speed over the Netgear WNDR4500. These performance numbers are very impressive.