Hey everyone, Patrik CK here with a follow up to my review of the ASUS RT-ACRH13 Dual
Band AC1300 Wi-Fi wireless router, for simplicity sake I’m just going to call it the AC1300
for the rest of the video.
I wanted to make this video because there are plenty of times when I’ve watched my
favorite YouTubers do an unboxing and review of a new product only to think, what would
it actually be like to use and rely on this thing for 3 months or 3 years.
Rarely does anyone follow up with their review unless something went wrong, which is totally
understandable.
They don’t have time to do yearlong reviews of products with new stuff coming out every
day.
Luckily though, I do and have; now I can give an overarching review of the AC1300’s reliability,
performance, and ease of use.
I also want to answer a few questions that have been asked over the last year by users
in the comments below and over on my website the1ck.com.
If you haven’t seen my original review video there will be a link to it below.
So let’s get started with the simple fact that this little workhorse has yet to let
me down.
Other than my power actually being knocked out for 3 days straight I’ve had 100% uptime.
I honestly can’t say I’m too surprised, but had some Netgear equipment that needed
constant resetting in the past, so good marks on reliability there.
As for performance, I haven’t seen any degradation once so ever.
Up until I made an ISP switch I was getting 90Mbps down on both the wired and AC wireless
sides of the fence which was the plan speed.
Now with my new ISP I get 55Mbps, again the plan speed but soon, hopefully, I’ll get
my fiber link setup so that I can show some real impressive numbers.
Within the home network, the AC1300 shined once again, retrieving files from networked
computers or storage devises at speeds in excess of 900Mbps, which means transferring
a 2 gigabyte video only takes 16 seconds!
This is why you want to upgrade an older router even if you have a low speed internet plan,
your home network will benefit with the caveat that your computers actually have at least
a gigabit network port.
My experience working within the ASUS router interface has been nothing but a breeze.
Updating the firmware, viewing a list of connected network users, and even limiting speeds for
those users is incredibly easy.
There is no substitute for a good user experience and ASUS has definitely delivered.
It’s no wonder this router is still $70 a year later!
With that said I did run into two issues that stood out to me.
For one, when multiple devices are connected this thing can get pretty toasty so keeping
the router in a closed utility closet may not be the best choice.
More annoyingly, several times I couldn’t find a device in the router interface that
I know was connected to the wi-fi network.
I have yet to figure out why this specific device an LG smart phone was not showing up.
So anyway that’s the quick and dirty of it, I’d still highly recommend the AC1300
if you’re looking for a new, good, and affordable router.
A link to buy the AC1300 on Amazon will be in the description!
Now in the time since my review I’ve been asked a good number of questions about this
router and I wanted to cover the ones I thought would be the most helpful for those of you
still weighing your options.
Let’s start with a simple one.
Can you remove the antennas?
The short answer is no, they definitely designed it to not be easy without a hammer and I honestly
wouldn’t recommend it.
Where do they get the 1300 speed rating from?
It’s a little bit of a marketing gimmick that manufactures do now to boost their speed
rating.
In the AC1300’s case all they do is add the speed of the 5ghz band which is 867Mbps
on this router and the 2.4ghz band which is 400Mbps, That gets you to 1267, round it up
because why not?
And you get your 1300.
Just to be clear you will never get 1300Mbps on this router and honestly you won’t on
any other router even if they claim a 3900 speed rating, it’s all smoke and mirrors.
And yes the theoretical max for AC wireless is 1300Mbps but they capped the 5ghz band
to 867Mbps on this devise so it wouldn’t conflict with their next router in this lineup
the AC1750.
What's the difference between this router and the AC58U router?
This took me a while to figure out, and as far as I can tell, nothing that’s important
enough to give it, its own sku.
I took the FULL spec sheet from ASUS's website and put them side by side (because the ASUS
compare tool didn't let me compare the two....for some reason <>) and the only difference
according to spec sheet is that the AC1300 doesn't have AiDisk File server manager which
doesn’t appeared to be right because I have the option right here, so yeah I don’t see
a difference between them.
You can see the side by side comparison chart I made at the link below.
I have a 10mbps capped connection so using a router with max speeds of 1300 mbps or more
would make no difference in my internet speed right?
Correct, unfortunately it won't help you exceed your capped connection from your provider
but there are other benefits to simply having more modern equipment like better security,
more network management options, and a more efficient allocation of the bandwidth that
you do get thanks to features like MU-MIMO which basically allows the router to communicate
to multiple supported devises simultaneously.
What’s the difference in range between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies?
While 5Ghz can carry more data at faster speeds the higher frequency means it gets impeded
by physically barriers easier than lower frequency bands.
So in many instances you do get better range on the 2.4Ghz frequency.
I’ve seen comparisons with 2.4Ghz having almost 50% better range inside a typical home
compared to it’s 5Ghz counterpart.
This will depend on a host of factors like what your home’s layout and all the other
electronic devices that interfere with Wifi signals like microwave ovens
“Animation, circles growing from router one for 2.4 and other for 5 showing 2.4 going
further than 5.”
I have a modem with an integrated router and Wi-Fi from my ISP, should I still buy a separate
wifi router?
I would, mostly because the modem/router combos that ISP’s provide are usually provided
by the lowest bidder.
Some are good enough but if you have multiple devices like game consoles weather their hard
wired or not and other Wi-Fi equipment that support the AC standard you’ll want to take
advantage of having an independent router with a 2 by 2 or more antenna setup.
You’ll get better and more consistent connection across all the devices again thanks to features
like MU-MIMO.
It’s the best setup in the long run and one I’ve been using for a very long time.
Why is this an upgrade if people have gigabit speeds anyway?
For one people still have routers with max speeds of 100Mbps.
Heck they are still selling the decades old Linksys WRT54GL for $67 and people still buy
it!
Secondly even as Gigabit speed fiber connections have become more ubiquities you still have
to consider that even now the average global broadband speed is only 7.2 Mbps, and even
in countries who are known for their modern bleeding edge internet infrastructure like
South Korea the average is a mere 28.6 Mbps, compare that to a dismal 18.7 Mbps in the
US, so even having a 90Mbps connection is a luxury.
Don’t get me started with the fact that if some political leaders have their way the
definition of broadband in the US will be lowered from the current 25Mbps benchmark
to just 10 freaking 10.
But I digress, a link to the map of internet speeds by country will be in the description
That covers the most important questions from the last year but if you peeps have any other
questions about this router don’t hesitate to leave a comment below!
I still believe this is a great router for most households and I’ll be using mine for
the foreseeable future.
Again a link to buy the AC1300 on Amazon will be in the description!
Well this has been Patrik CK, like and share if you enjoyed this content.
Subscribe to get more videos when they come out and hope to see you all next time, thanks
everyone!