Product Review: ASUS DSL-N55U (D1) Wireless-N600 ADSL Modem Router
So today I have got my new ASUS DSL-N55U router to replace the temporary D-Link DSL-224 VDSL router which I have used (because my original ASUS DSL-N55U C1 was hit by lightning).
As I have been using the DSL-N55U for about a year now, I fell in love with the User Interface (or as ASUS calls it, ASUSWRT Dashboard) of the ASUS DSL routers because it is simple, but very powerful to use. Compared to the D-Link interface (which need to get used to to find your way around), the ASUS interface just packs so much more features. Also, there is an app called “ASUS Router” which you can use to monitor a lot of things as well as do a lot of configurations by making use of your smartphone.
Wireless LAN
The ASUS DSL-N55U D1 Router works in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless networks frequency, with up to 600Mbps total bandwidth. Each wireless network range can also be assigned a unique SSID, for example “TechStudio_24G” & “TechStudio_5G”. A “guest” feature is also available and when enabled you can allow visitors to connect to the guest network without letting them see what is going on on your network, and only have access to the internet. There are a lot of professional wireless settings to configure it the way you want.
Double the choice
Dual WAN support allows you to configure two separate internet connections on the same router. Load balancing and failover modes give you extra reliability and redundancy to ensure uninterrupted internet access. All of this on an ADSL router which you can use at home. This makes this router future-proof as well, as you do not need to upgrade all your network equipment when you want to move over to another media, like Fibre. The Fibre modem can just plug into the WAN port, and then there is no need to do hours of configurations all over again.
Better Wireless Range
ASUS AiRadar intelligently strengthens wireless connectivity using beamforming technology, high power amplification, and exclusive ASUS RF fine-tuning. This ensures extended coverage, dynamic data speed increases, and enhanced stability. I have noticed this better wireless range since my first DSL-N55U compared to the D-Link router which I have used for a little while. This router packs quite some range for its size and very little interference occurs when moving further away. There might have been occasions where there were slight signal irregularities at the far edge of its range, but still better than most other wireless routers in its class which I have tested.
Less bottlenecks
The DSL-N55U also features 4x built-in gigabit LAN ports. When used at home, or at a small office where it is connected to other gigabit network equipment, speed will always remain constant on the local network. The gigabit interfaces are unmanaged, but you still have the features to assign a MAC address to an IP via DHCP.
Expansion capabilities
The DSL-N55U has 2x high-speed USB 2.0 ports to connect devices like an External Hard Drive, Printers or a 3G/4G Modem (for Internet failover purposes). Personally, I think it would have been great to get this model with USB 3.0 ports as file sharing across your network would have been so much faster. Create network printers even if your printer doesn’t have a LAN port, just by making use of one of the USB ports on this router. The 2x USB ports make the DSL-N55U D1 perfect for file, multimedia, and printer sharing, while ASUS AiDisk offers remote access and content streaming on a wide range of compatible devices.
ASUSWRT Dashboard
As mentioned, ASUS got it right with their admin dashboard on their routers. Without any knowledge on setting up routers, anyone can set it up with minimum effort. It is really that easy to get the basics setup on this router. With the latest firmware update (V1.1.2.2_17-g00f2807 by the time of this publication) ASUS now have included a “Web History” logging feature as one of the few new additions to the firmware. One thing that also stood out for me, was the URL filtering feature. You might ask why this is something spectacular as most commercially available routers have this feature. Correct, but for the first time I have noticed that you can actually block HTTPS URL’s which wasn’t possible in the past. Now you can have better control on internet use when there are people on your network which you want to restrict sites like Facebook and YouTube (why would you want to do that 🙂 ). Also with this dashboard, you have live network traffic monitoring options, displayed in a colourful graph to monitor the current usage of the WAN, WLAN and LAN interfaces.
Virtual Private Networking
The DSL-N55U D1 offers a simple VPN server and VPN client setup to access a home network or the internet privately and securely. To be honest, setting up VPN’s can be quite a process if you need to setup DDNS or static IP’s on any router. The ASUS interface is quite simple, but I have find the lack of DDNS providers and even the option to provide your own DDNS provider frustrating on domestic DSL routers. You are quite limited to the options which is available on the router, and that aren’t many.
Some Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Very easy to setup and administrate.
- Fast and stable ADSL connectivity (depending on your line quality).
- Great internet failover features.
- Great wireless LAN range.
- Actual blocking of HTTPS websites.
Cons:
- Not everyone will fork out over R2,500 for a domestic ADSL router.
- No USB 3.0 ports.
- Limited VPN DDNS providers.
Conclusion
The ASUS DSL-N55U D1 Wireless ADSL Modem Router is very impressive and packed with features and configuration options. It might be a bit on the pricey side, but there is quite a difference between this router and the cheaper options from alternative brands which is available.
Please feel free to leave your comments below.
Leave a Reply