Masker gadget: Asus RT-AXE7800 – advanced and powerful WiFi 6E router

The daily use we make of the Internet, whether on the home computer, the mobile device or one of the smart home products that most of us can find at home, has made the WiFi router a much more important product, and in many cases we would prefer to invest in a powerful router such as theASUS RT-AXE7800 of Asus (ASUS) which we are testing this time, than relying on the router offered by our Internet provider.

The ASUS RT-AXE7800 is an extremely powerful router, which comes with a unique feature in the form of support for the WiFi 6E standard with the 6GHz frequency, in addition to the more common 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies available in routers such as the ASUS RT -AX68U and the ASUS ZenWiFi AX Mini XD4 set which we tested previously.

It supports an information transfer speed of up to 4804Mbps wirelessly, and offers advanced features such as the ASUS AiMesh for connecting the company’s routers to the MESH network even when it comes to different models, and also includes a built-in USB connection for adding different devices, AiProtection Pro protection in collaboration with Trend Micro and more.

ASUS RT-AXE7800 router (photo: Jan Langerman, Gadgety)

A closer look – ASUS RT-AXE7800

While the RT-AX68U router that we tested previously was meant to be a design item, it can be said that the RT-AXE7800 is a “statement” item that is meant to stand out wherever we decide to put it thanks to its large, hexagonal structure, which resembles a spider, especially when the six antennas in its part The upper ones are open, and form a “circle” around the triple ASUS logo in the center of the router when they are closed.

It must be said that this is not the smallest or lightest router that can be found on the market today, when it weighs a little more than a kilogram. It is made of flat plastic with a matte finish with a collection of ventilation openings in the upper part and a collection of white LEDs in the front showing the activity status of the 2.4/5/6GHz networks and the various LAN connections.

The only thing that is strange in the design of the router is ASUS’ decision to combine the power switch, restart and the fast WPS connection in the lower part of the router, something that may be less problematic when it sits on a normal surface, but if you decide to hang it on the wall using the existing connections, the user will have to physically remove it in order to access them.

One of the most interesting parts of any router, and especially the RT-AXE7800, is the collection of connections that ASUS has integrated into it. Besides a single USB-A 3.0 connection that can be used to create dedicated network storage through an external hard drive connection, support for a cellular modem connection, and more, we find 5 network connections.

In contrast to the Gigabit or 1G connection that we are used to finding in most computers and routers today, among the five connections in the router, the most extreme right connection comes with support for a higher speed of 2.5G, or in other words data transfer at a speed of up to 312MB/s (instead of 125MB/s ), which is especially critical for users who have fiber internet faster than 1G at home.

In addition, the AX7800 supports a pair of WAN connections (which can also be used as a LAN), with the second WAN connection reaching 1G speed, which still allows improving network performance if the user has 2 separate Internet connections or as a backup in case one of the connections is not working .

Finally, the AX7800 also supports “Link Aggregation” technology in the pair of 1G connections (second and third from the right), which allow to increase the speed of data transmission by using 2 network cables at the same time if the device to which they are connected also supports this as well -LAN and WAN, which theoretically doubles the data transfer speed from 125MB/s to 250MB/s.

RT-AXE7800 – Connections (photo: Jan Langerman, Gadgety)

Installation and use – ASUS RT-AXE7800

The process of setting up and using the RT-AXE7800 is essentially the same as the Mini XD4 and RT-AX68U routers that we tested previously, when the operations can be performed using the ASUS Router application (Android/iOS) or via the router’s network interface. It should be noted that in both cases the interface is not available in the Hebrew language.

The setup itself is simple, when the ASUS interface will ask us to set a username and password for the router, the name and password for the WiFi networks and special settings if necessary for our Internet provider, a process that only takes a few minutes, when the router will also update itself to the latest firmware.

When finished, we can access the network interface of the ASUSWRT system used by the router, which comes with a particularly extensive set of options compared to normal routers and especially to the routers that you get from Internet providers as default.

Among the various features you can find the AiProtection Pro system designed to provide a layer of protection to users in collaboration with the security company Trend Micro.

You can also find parental control with the option to filter content and create different profiles, quick DNS setup for AdGuard, which activates an advertisement and content filter for all devices connected to the router, connection to VPN services, connection to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, a variety of options for using the connection -USB in them as personal AiCloud cloud storage through a mobile application (Android/iOS) with an external hard connection to the router, a print and download server, a cellular modem connection and more.

The ASUS router comes with quite a considerable amount of features that are not usually found in many routers, with some of them taking advantage of the USB connections built into the router in order to give additional value to the user.

While the lack of Hebrew can be defined as a disadvantage, it is hard to say that there are many routers on the market that come with a full Hebrew interface, the setup and use of the RT-AX68U router is quite simple.

Technical specifications and performance tests – RT-AXE7800

As a premium router, the RT-AXE7800 comes with particularly impressive technical specifications designed to help it support multiple connected devices as well as the various features that ASUS has incorporated into it.

Specifications:

• Processor – Broadcom BCM6756 quad-core at 1.7GHz
• Memory –  DDR4 512MB
• WiFi standards – Supports WiFi 6/6E standards and the previous WiFi standards at 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz frequencies with a bandwidth of 160MHz
• speed –
  • WiFi 5 – up to 2167Mbps
  • WiFi 6 2.4GHz – up to 574Mbps
  • WiFi 6 5GHz – up to 4804Mbps
  • WiFi 6E 2.4GHz – עד 2402Mbps
• Antennas – 6 external (2.4GHz 2×2 / 5GHz 4×4 / 6GHz 2×2)
• Encryption – WPA3-Personal, WPA2-Personal/Enterprise
• connections –
  • WAN/LAN 2.5Gbps x1
  • WAN/LAN 1Gbps x1
  • LAN 1Gbps x3
  • USB-A x1
• Dimensions -24.3×22.3×15.5 mm
• Weight – 1033 grams

As with other WiFi 6 routers, the name and speed rating of the ASUS RT-AXE7800 router is calculated by adding the WiFi 6 speeds it supports, so 574Mbps + 4804Mbps + 2402Mbps = AXE7800 rating.

The RT-AXE7800 router was tested using a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra device as the only device in my possession that supports WiFi 6/6E, but here also unfortunately lies a big problem with the router review.

According to reports in the Samsung community and online reddit discussions, the S22U as well as the newer S23U have trouble seeing 6GHz networks and not only in the case of ASUS routers, which prevented me from testing the 6GHz connection, but did not affect the speed tests since the maximum speed of The router is on the 5GHz frequency.

The tests themselves were performed using Ookla’s SpeedTest app.

Speedtest speed test on a wired connection

The quality of the WiFi signal was tested using the WiFi Analyzer application, where the signal quality is defined as:

• Excellent WiFi signal – less than 50dBm.
• Good WiFi signal – between 50dBm and 60dBm.
• Reasonable WiFi signal – between 60dBm and 70dBm.
• Weak WiFi signal – more than 70dBm.

The test itself was performed only in the WiFi 6 standard on the 5GHz frequency to test the maximum data transfer rate of the RT-AXE7800, when the 5GHz signal transmits more information but for a shorter range, which emphasizes the strength of the WiFi signal at home.

The speed and strength of the signal was tested in the following rooms:

• The router room – 0 range test, no disturbing walls, an extreme room in the house.
• Living room – A distance of about 10 meters with one partition wall, central location in the house.
• Room 1 – A distance of about 12 meters with 2 partition walls.
• Room 2 – a distance of about 15 meters with 3 partition walls.

Test results with a comparison to the ASUS RT-AX68U, Xiaomi AX1800 and HotBox 4 routers:

	examination	router room	Living room	Room 1	Room 2
HotBox router 4 WiFi 5 5GHz	Speed test	508Mbps	226Mbps	11Mbps	–
	power	48dBm-	74dBm-	82dBm-	no reception
Xiaomi AX1800 router WiFi 6 5GHz	Speed test	507Mbps	299Mbps	38Mbps	–
	power	37dBm-	67dBm-	72dBm-	no reception
ASUS RT-AX68U router WiFi 6 5GHz	Speed test	512Mbps	269Mbps	108Mbps	46Mbps
	power	35dBm-	71dBm-	71dBm-	86dBm-
ASUS RT-AXE7800 router WiFi 6 5GHz	Speed test	508Mbps	364Mbps	171Mbps	58Mbps
	power	38dBm-	67dBm-	77dBm-	84dBm-

While the results in the second room, which is more distant, are less optimal, in the end it is a problematic location of the router in my case more than a problem with the router itself, when the big bonus with ASUS routers is that you can easily create a MESH network even with the use of simpler routers than the RT-AXE7800.

The bottom line – what we thought of the Asus RT-AXE7800

The ASUS RT-AXE7800 router is not meant to be your average home WiFi solution, but a solution for more advanced users looking for more advanced features like the built-in 2.5G connection, and early adopters of technology that can take advantage of WiFi 6E technology support and the 6GHz frequency, in addition to the usual 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, even though we could not test them properly.

Despite all its features and the relatively busy interface compared to simpler routers on the market, using the router is convenient and easy and allows you to take advantage of its more advanced capabilities such as creating NAS-like network storage with the ASUS AiDisk or adding protection for children’s Internet surfing.

If you have high-speed fiber internet at home or you are looking to upgrade your home WiFi and need the additional features offered by the RT-AXE7800 router, this is a very high-quality solution despite the high initial price, which becomes more profitable when it comes to long-term use With support for features that are not yet common such as the 6GHz network and WiFi 6E.

The ASUS RT-AXE7800 router will be available for purchase in Israel starting this April after it receives the required approvals from the Ministry of Communications, when its expected price tag will be NIS 1,299.

What did we like?

• Excellent and stable performance.
• Wide coverage of the house.
• Supports ASUS AiMesh technology.
• Built-in protection system AiProtection Pro.
• 2.5G connection.
• USB connection with a variety of uses.
• Link Aggregation support.
• WiFi 6/6E support with 7 160MHz channels.
• Price (there are cheaper routers on the market).

What not?

• The 6GHz frequency could not be tested.
• The power button is less accessible.
• Price (still 1000+ price tag).

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