ASUS RT-BE96U WiFi 7 Tri-Band Router Review

Join Wendell as he delves into the new ASUS RT-BE96U WiFi 7 Router.
Why does it look like that? Is it good? Those answers and more in this newest Level 1 Techs review video.
Buy it here: newegg.io/nc288ffca2
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Music: "Earth Bound" by Slynk
Edited by Autumn

[@madness1931]

Finally, a router review that doesn't immediatly start talking about an "app", and actually reviews the product. Cheers Level1.

[@k9online]

Yeah, after my past two years at an ISP and working with dozens upon dozens of consumer routers, Asus was the last one standing insofar as not pushing app setup. They HAVE a (actually pretty decent) app but it wasn't required. TP-Link routers are also still like that, but their mesh systems basically force the use of an app. Asus ZenWiFi mesh is exactly like their routers, standard full featured web interface and setup. There are some more not so well known brands you can get online that are like this too but you don't usually find them in stores.

[@cldpt]

to be fair, consumer-facing products do benefit from having a simper experience such as that provided by a phone screen which everybody has easy access to, and can perfectly go through the basic stuff most users need. Mikrotik and Ubiquiti are good examples of companies making prosummer kit with very decent apps which showcase the best functionalities of their products to unsuspecting, non-techie users.

[@Harvester88]

@@k9online I just got the TP Link BE800 and outside of a few snafus, it's been a great experience. I came from an Asus Wifi 6 router and the home network is scorching, also, my airlink experience has been amazing.

[@spiralout112]

That intro was amazing!

[@sativagirl1885]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX_dfaZjrbimqZI

[@cmoullasnet]

💯 We need a whole sci-fi series with APs. Ubiquiti 🛸, Asus 🚀 et al.

[@declanmcardle]

@@cmoullasnet Detach the saucer section Mr. LaForge...a Ubiquity AP7 goes flying across the room...

[@anthonyr.589]

The power switch is awesome. Dont ever change ASUS

[@EpicManTony]

Also if you do need to reboot you don’t accidentally drop the power cable behind a cabinet or stand.

[@FEARmeify]

ASUS sucks. They've been doing some shady stuff lately. Please change ASUS.

[@zehoo2]

I just lost a small amount of respect for him with his tirade against a very useful feature. The ability to power cycle the router without having to mess with the power cable. 😑Not everyone has rock solid internet.

[@POVwithRC]

​@@zehoo2If you lost respect over that difference of viewpoints, you never had any respect for him to begin with.

[@leexgx]

Log into router and restart?

[@dvdavid888]

Hope Wendell does a follow up on Asuswrt-Merlin

[@accrevoke]

@2:45, I use the power switch when i leave the house for weeks... i.e. on business trip. I tend to power off a lot of equipment when i need to leave for extended amount of time...

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

I have two dedicated switches in my power distribution box for that. One to power down the apartment completely for maintenance, one to power off everything except the fridge.

[@levraichris3321]

Exactly, did not understand the rant... We need power switches

[@BoraHorzaGobuchul]

@@levraichris3321 yeah, but not ones you can easily accidentally press on equipment which should have long uptime.

[@Tsiikki]

@@levraichris3321 My RT-88U has push button power with nice detent, which is 500 % better than that kind of lever.

[@levraichris3321]

@@BoraHorzaGobuchul I bet you're handling your router every single day of course

[@twirre]

Loving the intro! Effects as advanced as early Star Trek

[@SwirlingDragonMist]

I love the way your reviews are lightyears ahead of the other fluffy immaterial nonsense. Contextualizing the nat performance around teleconferencing and the 2gb is dare I say… Fantastical! Much appreciated!

[@LeJimster]

Wow. That router is massive. I've experimented in the past building my own routers, I can't remember the name of the software but I ran something linux based around 2006 (I remembered: IPCop) and then a few years later I built a pfsense router. I remember originally needing to do this because off the shelf home routers would often crap out when torrenting.

[@adriancoanda9227]

Yeah torrents are a thing of the past now, today you can also use your phone as a router, y mean out there are also lte routers, but the test wasn't with max function enabled y mean the nas functions weren't tested there you will see cpu up 😅

[@Skylord12345]

@@adriancoanda9227 with ads getting worse and worse by the day torrents have may a huge comeback. Hope to see you back on the seas!

[@MikeStavola]

​@@adriancoanda9227 Last I checked, torrents are still somewhat popular. Like, 1/10th of what it was 15 years ago, but it's still kickin'. Also remember that more than 50% of traffic consists of the actions of bots and spiders and SEO junk and spoofed views and clicks.

[@TheFrostySaucer]

Okay I’ve watched a few of your videos in the past and liked your stuff but wow that intro really did it for me.🤣🤣🤣🤣 absolutely amazing!

[@FrenziedManbeast]

I slapped a two port 2.5GbE NIC into an HP mini desktop with a 12th gen i3 in 2022 because multi-gig routers were astronomically expensive compared to my $160 solution. Wendell, is there any hope for a "forbidden AP?" Having to spend $700 for a WF7 AP for my house is beyond absurd, but I do live near multiple airports so getting away from 5Ghz would be lovely.

[@KingTroopa]

Yeah that $700 price tag ouch

[@zxcvb_bvcxz]

having done this with proper PCIe wifi cards (i.e AP cards from AsiaRF) I still wasn't faster than a Asus AX router. Not worth it if you want >=900 mbit IMO (I hit 700 with mine, 900 at further distance with Asus)

[@praetorxyn]

At least you can get the Unifi Wi-Fi 7 AP much cheaper than this.

[@marcogenovesi8570]

Not really. Most of the radios good for AP use are embedded so they come with a CPU and stuff to make an AP device

[@FrenziedManbeast]

@@praetorxyn You can, with the Unifi 7 AP the port is capped at 2.5GbE. You're honestly missing out on the promise of WF7's massive speed jump over 6/6E if you go this route, not to mention you're buying into an ecosystem. I like being able to run devices a la carte because I've been burned too many times with 'ecosystem stagnation'.

[@endykun]

This intro is the best thing I've seen in months....

[@I4get42]

Hi Wendell 😀! I'm really looking forward to the Asus be88u. It hasn't been announced for the usa yet, but that is closer to the ports I want. I'd lean towards it as a wired router/switch and use my Aruba AP for wifi.

[@zushiba]

I have an ASUS RT-AXE7800 and run my DNS through a pihole instance I have running on a used Chromebox CN60 running CasaOS. Works great!

[@ArcadiyIvanov]

The production values are getting mindblowing! :D

[@Jinxmann]

I'm loving the Star Trek inspired intro!

[@amigatommy7]

I power cycle routers that are confused sometimes. Bought the "pro" version of this some time ago and will install in as a Mesh #1 next time I trip over it.

[@chrisbullock6477]

Great insight Wendell and nice to see you looking into routers. I'm moving to a new place that can get Google Fiber, and am looking at purchasing the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BE98 PRO First Quad-Band router if you could possible look at reviewing that one and maybe comparing any pros/cons between the two? And if not totally understand, I currently have the ASUS GT-AXE 11000 and looking to upgrade to GT-BE90 Pro and use my old one as a Mesh Router.

[@dividion8102]

At 22:22 I thought he'd add, "Let's boldly take this router where no router has gone before." A missed opportunity, like routers passing in the night. :)

[@ronwood5729]

that intro was redonkulous and i love it

[@chrisbullock6477]

You totally surprised me with this one. Although I was hoping it would be the "Pro" Quad band version.

[@_____alyptic]

Custom firmware as in Merlin-WRT? Also maybe the Power switch to help do the factory reset? Where you hold WPS or whatever before you flip it on. Could be easier than putting in the cable while holding the button

[@Kilraeus]

Best Review I have seen for SOHO routers, what i would have loved is some coverage of IPv6 differences. E.g. the state table size, NAT is no longer relevant, but firewall states are likely bulkier. Client address assignment, does it reliably send the RAs for clients to SLAAC or does it need to use dhcp anyway like some ubiquiti products

[@cldpt]

Fun fact: Asus has been putting USB dongle-based WWAN support for a while now, nearly 2 decdes. I recall buying a router with this feature from them back in the late naughts. The tricky thing was getting a 2-3G dongle that would be supported from your ISP (usually the only place you could get one, because everything was SIMLocked then), as sometimes they wouldn't really play well with the protocol that would configure the SIM card and whatnot

[@amateurwizard]

Class leading introduction to accompany this amazing hardware 🎉

[@HoeLeeFuQQ]

Bro the intro was amazing

[@MarkRose1337]

I still have a pair of WRT54GS with 8 MB of flash and 32 MB of RAM. That model was created specifically for tinkerers, after they shrank the resources of the original WRT54G (newer versions had less RAM and storage).

[@BGraves]

E-waste nowadays

[@MarkRose1337]

@@BGraves Pretty much. The 32 MB makes it difficult to run a modern kernel, and OpenWRT has stopped supporting them.

[@LapFox]

Back in 2015 I bought a WRT1200AC on an Amazon prime deal for about £90 with the intention of getting in to OpenWRT. I'm in the unfortunate camp of not being able to run any cables around my apartment so I'm trying to get the best performance I can in this noisy environment. With your experience in the OpenWRT community could you point me in the direction of any sources I should take a look at to get started?

[@MarkRose1337]

@@LapFox I haven't touched OpenWRT in well over a decade. I'd start with the site and ask questions in their forum.

[@BGraves]

@@LapFox if you are an early adopter of Wi-Fi 7 you get a whole set of frequency to yourself for the next few years.

[@OsX86H3AvY]

I LOVE being able to connect my phone to my PfSense and my old OpenWRT routers for cell phone backup, that was just a HUGE thing for me (and with Spectrum you can use your Spectrum Mobile connection which is your neighbors WiFi then bridge it through your phone to the router and suddenly YOUR wifi is courtesy your neighbor and they dont even realize it :) :) :))

[@ricardobornman1698]

Dude! Is that a router or Sauron crown? You keep that up I'm gonna have to phone some hobbits...

[@MainelyElectrons]

Perfect! I am so sick of my OpenMesh WiFi 5/AC AP and want something fast to replace it

[@nemesis851_]

I think it was 3 years ago I felt this unit AU90 was PhantomHardware as it was never in stock, always back ordered and reviews were posted before it was available It had great specs. If Wendell actually is hands on with this NEW MODEL I’ll consider it again. Watching to see if it’s the previous model specs, but new model name

[@acubley]

The intro- "It's Wendell One, he's gone from geek to nerd!" [right there with him]

[@Jdmorris143]

I use the router power switch when the kids don't listen. They cry, I laugh, and then they listen.

[@souljunkee]

I love my RT-BE98U PRO. 4 x 2.5 ports instead of gigabit ports.

[@MarcsSpark]

Best intro ever!

[@milktoastgregg]

Great review! Please take the protective tape off your big screens.

[@MrFerisko]

My RT-AC68U that I had for ages now is still going strong. I was considering an upgrade, but seeing how fugly the ASUS router range became in last few years I might pass for another couple years. Or just look elsewhere. And yeah, if you want 4 2.5Gbps ports you got to upgrade to RT-BE98U. Which is even fuglier iteration of this.

[@PsychoStreak]

Honestly, I'm on Team Power switch. I've been on enough support calls where I've had to talk users through unplugging their router and plugging it back in that a power switch would have been WONDERFUL. Plus it saves wear and tear on the barrel connector for the power brick. Maybe place that one somewhere less accident prone, but leave it there, ASUS. Everything needs a power switch that's easy to get to. Just in case.

[@JiSiN3000]

Thx for testing 👍🏻 I'm really thinking to buy either RT-BE96U or GT-BE98. But... i wonder how much it can handle WAN LAN throughput. If it could at least come close to those 10Gbps that those 2 Ports support 🤔 I'm looking for an Asus Router to finally upgrade my FTTH from 1Gbps to 10Gbps 😅

[@t00lshack]

Yeah NAT translation counts can impact CPU usage. BIt torrent is a "great way" to get large translation tables.

[@cds5067]

The only tech channel worth watching. Appreciated man gained a lot of important knowledge from this. Just a comment my family wants to kove aeay from ethernet for aesthetics and wifi routers are important to us. Keep up the good work youre a true legend love.

[@mbe102]

Dude, that intro! HAHA, fantastic!

[@Mr.Morden]

Reminds me of the Replicator robots from Stargate.

[@karaloop9544]

11:33 Good to see that the router is well protected against STDs.

[@h4rdcor31]

@level1techs, Do you know of a good way to test NAT states? I have some WFH users that consistently have call quality issues that we can't isolate and the section on NAT States sounds a lot like what I'm running into.

[@unibrowser1]

You should review the BE98 Pro that I have next!

[@integer0verload948]

Wendel , how does this do with dual ISP WAN load balancing? Still lose a bunch of features?

[@ivancano915]

Asus RT-axe7800 experience is absolutely trash tier status. Random drops then will not provide speeds past 80Mbps(wired or wireless) on a Gigabit Fiber network. Reboot corrects issue for about half a day. Have never had this terrible experience with other routers. Asus tech support solution was to hard reset router and setup the wifi network again. Did not resolve the issue. Router is updated with the latest firmware. Unfortunately won't be using Asus routers anymore when there are much better solutions available. That being said. Your channel and reviews are absolutely top notch!

[@NatesRandomVideo]

Honey… someone gave Wendell caffeine again! 😂

[@juts89]

The prices on these were so high that I just bought a ubiquiti UDM SE and an AP. Now I have PoE and a much more configurable network.

[@danielshaw007]

I get actual 6ghz band on my Netgear RAXE500 , best router ive owned to date.

[@MechaNut]

In regards to the physical power switch. My ISP is a cable company which shall remain nameless because I wouldn't recommend their services. Often times, due to issues with firmware/configuration updates that get pushed to the cable modem, I have to power cycle both the cable modem and the router for Internet connection to work correctly. The physical power switch on the router comes in really handy in that situation. In a perfect world I would have a reliable and fast fiber internet connection, but we all don't have that as an option. This is something that I have to typically deal with around once a month.

Networking is weird. For the last couple of years I used an asus AImesh system and it was great. One of my biggest missing features was not being able to set transmit power per ap. Apart from this it was really great. Now I changed to a Grandstream system. Their APs are great. But their router was a bit of a disappointment. Speeds are awesome, and the ui is okay for the most part. But the vpn part of it is very lacking. My biggest missing feature was the lack of domain name support (or ipv6 at least) for vpn servers. My old asus had this, heck it could deal with cert renewal automatically. Grandstream also can't do basic things such as installing updates by a press of a button. But for the price and speed their GWN7002 and 7003 are amazing with supported 2.5G sfp modules. Also where I live a lot of small businesses use asus gear with modded firmwares as they're so versatile and cross compatible, and have a wide range of hardware offerings.

[@allanwilmath8226]

People need power switches on their router so they can reboot it when the malware on their malware crashes ore slows it down enough to notice. Seriously Wendell I was stunned to see you even reviewing this since consumer routers are so Sus at this point. I'm just watching to see if wifi can get close to it's BS marketing even on a consumer device.

[@Kappi1997]

I hope I haven't overseen it but would you expect the router to be capable for 10 Gbit symmetric WAN over the SFP+? I mean going through a nat is always demanding

[@pacificbuildingcare]

Im still using WIndows 7 even though I have Windows 10 & 11 but I still enjoy my Windows 7 system more. Should this router be fine for a Windows 7 computer? Currently I have a Linksys ea-9500 router which is still great but is the Asus RT BE96u much better or way better? Thanks

[@merace2480]

Did you try speed with wpa3 and protected management frames disabled on wifi 7? From my experience protected management frames have big impact

[@amangine]

Would you be willing to review the firewalla routers? They're pricey and no web UI (mainly have to use a smartphone app) but they do enable a lot of functionality (deep packet inspection, rules, etc.) without having to setup separate box.

[@chrisbullock6477]

Wendell any substantial differences between having a Quad band Asus router over the more common Tri-Band that's been around for some years now

[@waterflame321]

Is cat6e and wifi6e the same standard? Or do they just coincidentally use the same number letter combo?

[@barrycompton8972]

I'm not sure how pie hole works. But can't you change the DHCP settings to a different DNS appliance?

[@paulfilbert5670]

Can I use my ASUS GT-AX11000 as an extender for my ASUS RT-BE96U? And connect my PS5 to the AX11000’s 2.5ghz port? Would that give me the best possible connection without having to run Ethernet cables through the walls? (Two story home with weird layout)

[@Freddie1980]

So what sort of CPU is this running? Have Asus adopted RISC V or this ARM based?

[@GainingDespair]

Asus is kinda notorious for not supporting their devices, or only offering short lived support, they still sell routers new on Amazon right now which are end of life day 1 of ownership. It's not really just them either, many companies are like this, should be a crime. I get not ever device can be supported till the end of time but mandatory software support 1 year after last model sold should be required by law. At this point routers seem to be more disposable by design than a $100 smartphone, I refuse to replace my equipment biyearly, I mean I still have some GL iNet routers which are Chinese but 3 years old and still getting regular security updates. I don't like trusting Chinese equipment but they get updates, are supported by OpenWrt and reasonable priced for the specs.

[@adriancoanda9227]

Support will be paid only y mean if you would buy a entire truck of those you w7l definitely get Support 😅 but else those are becoming big they have also business oriented products , but really they are the fastest in drivers/firmware updates compared to other companies where you have to wait for years until next update

[@thetruellamaman4543]

Unfortunately all of the good, well supported WAPs are made for businesses and cost a ton

[@adriancoanda9227]

@@thetruellamaman4543 ah get a nuc and you got your router, even a good mobile smartphone has routing capabilities, and Acces point is the antenna and a inter wi-fi card done ,

[@sbme1147]

Need to check out Asus Merlin. There were a couple routers for sure they supported for like 10 years. Also they give him their Firmware to work on, sometimes the stuff he implements they use a month or three months later and does Not void your warranty. Check out SNB Forums and Merlin to get an idea what Asus ones are supported. I went on Asus site ( others ) and clicked on all their routers over like a year to see how many firmware updates they do. At least they list all the CVE’s and go in detail the problems, I like that. However as a company something has happened to them over the last 3 years or so.

[@MGSBESTProductions]

Personally, I feel the best consumer router is the Gl-iNet Flint 2. Works great for everything I need.

[@Revoku]

how does it handle bufferbloat? like my wife n kids watching youtube in 3 different rooms while I'm trying to play a game that uses UDP can be a PITA with alot of routers

[@Mike-wk2ip]

You said “If you don’t use this as a router, you effectively get dual 10Gb ports.” Does this mean that if you do use it as a router, you only have one WAN port? I’d like to use it in Dual WAN Load Balancing mode with my 2 ISPs (one cable, one fibre) and have a dozens of devices in my house and several family members working from home all day. Can you use it as a router with two ISPs using the Dual 10Gb WAN ports?

[@tommybronze3451]

What wifi7 access point you guys would advise ... that has something like AiMesh ? Or have you guys actually seen an open source wifi mesh that I could contenerise ?

[@mindshelfpro]

Does OpenWRT work on it?

[@SpoonHurler]

But can it run Wing Commander though?

[@JayJayYUP]

Anything concerning bufferbloat?

[@leexgx]

2.5gbe missing is bit silly for its price point (2x10gbe is nice but it's just 2, one is for WAN port I assume unless you can use one of the 5 ports as WAN)

[@terrycook2733]

I feel like gaming so many ways now

[@dangoodall1253]

I'm waiting for mediatek filogic based routers that support 6e or 7. They should be well supported by openwrt and other third party firmwares. I don't believe any current 6e/7 routers will support openwrt. With routers costing so much (if you want at least 3 streams on the 5/6ghz channels) I'd much rather have other options if the oem firmware isn't stable or capable enough. Filogic 860 devices are coming this year I believe (the banana rp4 is available but no wifi 7 radios exist for it yet). My internet is sub gig but my use case is for wireless VR which benefits from the advances in latency and bandwidth offered by devices. Just my thoughts, nice review and testing

[@kurlis]

I wanna buy a GT-BE98 Pro, why couldn't you do a review on that model 😭

[@user-rb9cy8ib7v]

For that kind of money, I'd expect more RAM/ROM (or they could just make it upgradeable), but the basics look pretty good.

[@kiseitai2]

True. Most of the features are present in more affordable asus routers. My ax86u has all of the customization needed to host websites and comes with 1gb ram. I guess the price covers all of the silicone work done to support the standard, but 700 is definitely on the high end for the ram available.

[@1____-____1]

I haven't watched the vid yet but can I put OpenWRT on it?

[@kev3226]

Does it have a setting that disables WiFi and Ethernet configuration?

[@Bob_Smith19]

The lack of VLANs bothers me. I’m still using a RT-AC88U. I want to upgrade but ASUS does not offer anything w/ comparable number of LAN ports let alone multiple 2.5gb connections and VLANs. Would be nice if I could do everything in one box but they always cut corners somewhere.

[@Schniebel89]

since WiFi7 is that expensive I thing I get a 6E router instead. Any suggestions?

[@Pro720HyperMaster720]

3:00 Btw the power switch in the router is mandatory in some regions that’s why they always tend to have one

[@philippb1768]

Pleas make that thing walk around, then i buy it for sure😂

[@EagleEye-MJG]

It was my understanding that the "Guest Network Pro" feature, creates multiple VLANs....no?🤔

[@StuPhee]

That thing is fucking massive. Damn.

[@user-eh8oo4uh8h]

Great video, Dr Who vibes! But for the money, I'd rather buy a Mikrotik or Ubiquiti router.

[@Constructive-ty6pl]

re: wired speeds, i think ethernet is being pitched as an open approach to uhhhhh NPU interlinks. Like instead of NVLink or whatever the modern one is. So they must be cooking something

[@michaelmouton53]

The NAT address table (at 3,000) isn't really all that big. A $60 MikroTik HeX 5 (256MB RAM) can hold up to 225,280 entries, which is significantly more than the +- 65,536 max entries you can have on a public IP anyway. It's fine for most consumers I suppose, but at $700 with 2GB of RAM I think it should not be an issue to increase it.

[@KiraSlith]

Gods that Asus UI is ancient, That UI goes back to at least 2012. I hope it isn't as confusingly laid out as it used to be.

[@harmundcarakan201]

My biggest problem is my phone, laptop, entertainment devices, Don't even support wifi 6, let alone 7, Currently running a Asus Wifi 5 device, and agree the software is solid, but hard to justify replacing my current router. I'd love to upgrade to WPA 3, but right now its all going to be mixed. Been going wired for most and a segmented WPA wifi vlan.

[@waspoza]

How much power it pulls when idle?

[@KeithTingle]

I wish these sorts of devices could run routeros or opnsense

[@Maxjoker98]

The power switch thing might be a regulatory requirement in some regions. Dunno.

[@spiceyfrenchtoast9421]

Asus Merlin firmware is magical ❤

[@MCentral8086]

Better off going with a PFSense/OPNSense router. Solutions like the Netgate 6100 ( 2 x 10G, 4 x 2.5G , 2 x 1G) only cost a little more than this, and have 8 gb of ram onboard for applications. (Yes, you'd also have to attach a wifi solution to this)

[@Decenium]

my current router, AC3200 is starting to show some weird behavior, just restarting itself for no reason I can find, so kinda in the market for something new

[@leonard8766]

Could I build something like this or better for cheaper?

[@jonathanisom]

Don't shame the power switch. The number of times I've had to talk someone trough power cycling a router and they had to unplug the power cord and they say "which wire?" is way to many.

[@iRageGGB]

For $600+ I'd rather go with something like the Ubiquiti Dream Machine pro (DMP $380) and a Ubiquiti U7 Pro for an AP ($190) over an ASUS product. DMP is a quad core CPU @ 1.7ghz w/4GB of DDR4 RAM and It seems like it'd just be a better purchase over all. Total is still sub $600 and a better, likely more flexible system. The DMP is also more powerful, and has seemingly better protection packages (I haven't compared them side by side obviously) but it'd be interesting. Id like to see this ASUS router vs a small form factor PC running PFSense or something.

[@mad1316]

Power switch: because ASUS firmware updates often request a manual power cycle (and they don't want to encourage people to unplug).

[@comguaf8093]

man the sound on the intro omg

[@allencampbell3726]

ASUS: Put physical power switches on everything. Especially WIFI routers. Thanks.