ASUS DSL-AC68U Dual-band Wireless-AC1900 ADSL/ VDSL Modem Router
$310 | WWW.ASUS.COM.AU An older product, but it still checks out.
Like many router manufacturers, ASUS tends to reserve its best tech for its broadband routers, leaving poor ADSL users languishing on older products. So even though it’s been kicking around for a few years now, the DSL-AC68U remains ASUS’s most advanced ADSL product.
That said, it was a damn fine product when it was released and remains so now. A big part of that comes down to the ASUS WRT firmware, which is the best in the business.
Based on the open-source OpenWRT firmware, ASUS has modified it to be both easy to use and very capable. It supports VPNs out of the box, both client and server. It has per-user traffic monitoring, capable timebased parental controls and support for using a USB LTE modem as a primary or secondary WAN (with failover and load balancing). It also plugs into ASUS’s AiCloud service, allowing you to access to the content of a drive attached to its USB 3.0 port remotely.
For all its capabilities, it manages to be straightforward to set up and use, with an attractive mobile app to get it configured quickly. The mobile app even allows access to some of the more advanced capabilities, although if you want to really get down in the weeds with VPNs and the like, you’ll need to log onto the main admin console.
The hardware is capable enough for most home users, with well-performing 3x3 MIMO and good signal reception in our wireless tests. It doesn’t have MU-MIMO or tri-band, but it should be plenty powerful for most homes.