Asus DSL-N55U Dual Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router
UPDATE - I updated to 3.0.3 and most issues are being sorted now.
Introduction :-
Asus DSL N55U is an attempt from Asus in field high-end ADSL-Modem Router, I call it little brother of Asus RT-N66U with Modem functionalities.
Its one of the few routers which offers Dual Band with Modem with 2 CPUs running at 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz to provide enough juice to last wifi signal and with 4X Gigabit LAN port and 2 USB ports the modem tries to reach on top of the seat of Modem/Router category.
The hardware revision of router used is A1 and Software version is 1.0.0.9 (I could not update to 3.0X version since there was no software for Windows 8) [Updated to 3.0.3 now]
The box arrived -
Whats in the Box -
One of the cool looking model with a shine makes it look like next gen devices , the lights on routers are sweet with blue led which arent that visible during daytime but looks cool at night.The router has a wall stand but does not really gets mounted properly RT-N66U had a better design in wall mounting.On the back it has 3 ports for antennas the blue ADSL cable tiny slot for power cable ,Router on-off (I like the push button instead) , Wifi On-OFf , 2X 2.0 USB Ports , Wifi Reset and finally 4X Gigabit LAN Ports.The power cable slot location i felt was a bit awkward since it fumbles with other cables frequently
Back
Front
Configuring :-
The first thing you notice when you open the box is there is no CD for configuration because you don't need one , it has been one of the most easiest setup i have ever done you don't even need to open your browser as soon as you plug in the router it would automatically open your browser and ask for PPOE login details one of many things which has made even more lazy now ;-) and with a matter of minutes i was also up with my setup for my wireless client since the router has dual modes but you can disable modes from Router GUI
GUI :-
Since i was still on Old GUI things look quite clean and simple and everything you wanted to knew was easy to find, 2 things which i had hard time to find was my ADSL statistics and Port Forwarding.Overall i liked the GUI but the new GUI of 3.0X looks more stylish when compared to 1.0.0.9 - UPDATE - Its now 3.0.3
Main Page
The also added Guest Network with nice time limit
USB Apps
Port forwarding
Traffic Monitor
Wireless
Additional Features :-
So this is the reason why people buy high end routers, the range on the router was abolsutely fantastic with the 3rd antenna plugged in i was able to stream 4GB file at my neighbours home with at-least 6-8 walls between not a single drop in wifi for over 2 weeks now and i keep my router on 24X7 , though i did faced certain ADSL connection issues especially when ISP disconnects sometimes and when connection comes back the router does not turns of blue led for Internet but I'm sure this would be fixed by future patches from Asus.With dual mode of 5Ghz and 2.5Ghz suports actual speeds of 300Mbps but since ADSL2+ is limited to 24Mbps only people in Netherlands and France would not purchase this router
, running the router on 2.4Ghz is defintely slower when compared to 5Ghz but i was able to get far better range on 2.4Ghz but 5Ghz is best bet if you are closer to the router especially when you want to steam movies as well as stream videos from YouTube.
Issues :-
There were couple of issues which i identified
1. The router gets heated quite fast and stays hot can understand that there are 2 CPU's but something should be done for it.
2. At times when you internet goes off the router tries to open MS Windows help which says Internet is not working , i known that its not working but how are you going to open that page when internet is not working [This seems sorted with firmware update 3.0.3]
3. There was no firmware for Windows 8 and with latest version they have enabled download master which allows to download torrent directly on USB attached to router so i could not test it out either.
Conclusion :-
Asus DSL 55U one of the better routers in categories of Modem/Router with very good range , good design , a working QOS but a high price point retails around Rs.10,500/- though there were issues with ADSL going out of sync and LED not responding correctly I'm sure this things can be fixed by future firmware.This category is really one which makes you think do you need Dual Band Router since its ADSL2+ which is limited to 24Mbps max speed but if you want a device for router and modem this is the best thing money can buy.
Thanks Asus for proving the router for review
UPDATE - I updated to 3.0.3 and most issues are being sorted now.
Introduction :-
Asus DSL N55U is an attempt from Asus in field high-end ADSL-Modem Router, I call it little brother of Asus RT-N66U with Modem functionalities.
Its one of the few routers which offers Dual Band with Modem with 2 CPUs running at 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz to provide enough juice to last wifi signal and with 4X Gigabit LAN port and 2 USB ports the modem tries to reach on top of the seat of Modem/Router category.
The hardware revision of router used is A1 and Software version is 1.0.0.9 (I could not update to 3.0X version since there was no software for Windows 8) [Updated to 3.0.3 now]
The box arrived -
Whats in the Box -
- Router
- Power Supply
- 3 Detachable Antennas
- ADSL Microfilter
- Ethernet cable
- RJ11 cable
- Quick Start Guide
- Warranty Policy
- KasperSky AntiVirus 2012
One of the cool looking model with a shine makes it look like next gen devices , the lights on routers are sweet with blue led which arent that visible during daytime but looks cool at night.The router has a wall stand but does not really gets mounted properly RT-N66U had a better design in wall mounting.On the back it has 3 ports for antennas the blue ADSL cable tiny slot for power cable ,Router on-off (I like the push button instead) , Wifi On-OFf , 2X 2.0 USB Ports , Wifi Reset and finally 4X Gigabit LAN Ports.The power cable slot location i felt was a bit awkward since it fumbles with other cables frequently
Back
Front
Configuring :-
The first thing you notice when you open the box is there is no CD for configuration because you don't need one , it has been one of the most easiest setup i have ever done you don't even need to open your browser as soon as you plug in the router it would automatically open your browser and ask for PPOE login details one of many things which has made even more lazy now ;-) and with a matter of minutes i was also up with my setup for my wireless client since the router has dual modes but you can disable modes from Router GUI
GUI :-
Since i was still on Old GUI things look quite clean and simple and everything you wanted to knew was easy to find, 2 things which i had hard time to find was my ADSL statistics and Port Forwarding.Overall i liked the GUI but the new GUI of 3.0X looks more stylish when compared to 1.0.0.9 - UPDATE - Its now 3.0.3
Main Page
The also added Guest Network with nice time limit
USB Apps
Port forwarding
Traffic Monitor
Wireless
Additional Features :-
- QOS - In true sense its QOS i have seen routers calling themselves supporting QOS but this is one of the few where i found QOS actually working really well especially alongside bittorrent.
- USB - The USB ports are useful for cell phone and tablet charging was also able to stream movies from USB attached to router it supported all formats from FAT32,EXT3 and NTFS no problems whatsover , was able to copy over the files easily at 10MB per second.
- Media Server - Router also acts as media server so it acts as DLNA[Mini DLNA] and indexes all your movies to steam to any DLNA compliant device
- DDNS - Routers offers free services so go and build your domain now.
- USB Modem - You can also plugin your 3GB USB Dongle to surf internet from dongle in case MTNL/BSNL throws dust at your face.
- Download Master - You can download torrents , Usenet files with USB attached to router and it seamlessly downloads torrents on it , start pause , stop everything worked for me at backend its transmission client which is running in download master.It gacve good download speed when downloading from Download Master.
- AIDisk - Allows you to share your files across internet once you activate this feature.
So this is the reason why people buy high end routers, the range on the router was abolsutely fantastic with the 3rd antenna plugged in i was able to stream 4GB file at my neighbours home with at-least 6-8 walls between not a single drop in wifi for over 2 weeks now and i keep my router on 24X7 , though i did faced certain ADSL connection issues especially when ISP disconnects sometimes and when connection comes back the router does not turns of blue led for Internet but I'm sure this would be fixed by future patches from Asus.With dual mode of 5Ghz and 2.5Ghz suports actual speeds of 300Mbps but since ADSL2+ is limited to 24Mbps only people in Netherlands and France would not purchase this router
, running the router on 2.4Ghz is defintely slower when compared to 5Ghz but i was able to get far better range on 2.4Ghz but 5Ghz is best bet if you are closer to the router especially when you want to steam movies as well as stream videos from YouTube.Issues :-
There were couple of issues which i identified
1. The router gets heated quite fast and stays hot can understand that there are 2 CPU's but something should be done for it.
2. At times when you internet goes off the router tries to open MS Windows help which says Internet is not working , i known that its not working but how are you going to open that page when internet is not working
[This seems sorted with firmware update 3.0.3]3. There was no firmware for Windows 8 and with latest version they have enabled download master which allows to download torrent directly on USB attached to router so i could not test it out either.
Conclusion :-
Asus DSL 55U one of the better routers in categories of Modem/Router with very good range , good design , a working QOS but a high price point retails around Rs.10,500/- though there were issues with ADSL going out of sync and LED not responding correctly I'm sure this things can be fixed by future firmware.This category is really one which makes you think do you need Dual Band Router since its ADSL2+ which is limited to 24Mbps max speed but if you want a device for router and modem this is the best thing money can buy.
Thanks Asus for proving the router for review
