ASUS RT-AX52 router review: affordable speed

 

An inexpensive Wi-Fi router may seem insufficiently powerful for gaming and streaming services, but as we prepared our ASUS RT-AX52 review, it turned out that this is not the case.

 

Design

 

 

The device is made in a laconic and discreet style: a matte black body, many ventilation holes and eight LEDs.

 

They show power supply, operation of WAN and LAN ports, activity of two wireless bands and the activation of the WPS function.

 

 

Ventilation holes are located on the sides, on the top and back of the router, as well as on the bottom, which improves air circulation. The rear panel contains three Gigabit LAN ports and one WAN port, a recessed Reset button, a raised WPS button, a power connector, and a power switch.

There are cross-shaped cutouts on the bottom of the device that allow you to mount the router on a wall or other vertical surface.

 

Equipment

 

 

ASUS RT-AX52 is equipped with a dual-core processor, 256 MB of DDR3 RAM and 128 MB of permanent memory. The router supports Wi-Fi 6 in two frequency bands. The maximum declared data transfer rate reaches 574 Mbps at 2.4 GHz and 1201 Mbps at 5 GHz, for a total of 1775 Mbps and corresponds to the AX1800 class. More affordable devices of the AX1500 class at 2.4 GHz only support Wi-Fi 4, which is noticeably slower.

 

 

If devices connected to the ASUS RT-AX52 do not support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), the router will be able to transmit data at speeds of up to 867 Mbps using the Wi-Fi 5 standard (802.11ac) and up to 300 Mbps using the Wi-Fi standard. Fi 4 (802.11n). Wi-Fi 6 support also includes OFDMA and MU-MIMO technologies, which improve bandwidth utilization and increase coverage. BSS Coloring technology improves wireless transmission efficiency even in high client density environments.

 

Support for the modern and more reliable WPA3 security protocol has been implemented. Instant Guard VPN technology allows you to use a public Wi-Fi network through a router with a built-in secure channel setting.

 

The proprietary AiMesh technology will allow you to combine several routers from ASUS into a single seamless Wi-Fi network.

 

You can make these and other settings through the ASUS Router application, available for Android and iOS. There is also a web interface, of course. The first connection to ASUS RT-AX52 can be made through a computer connected to the router via a LAN interface, or via Wi-Fi. In the second case, to connect you will need the data indicated on the bottom panel of the device case.

 

Impressions

 

The ASUS RT-AX52 router has two qualities necessary for success in the market. The first is the affordable price. Considering that the wireless communication protocol will be relevant for several years, it has a very good price. Other useful features include four gigabit network ports and support for ASUS AiMesh technology for combining several routers into one network. So this is a very good offer in the class of budget routers with 802.11ax Wi-Fi support.

Characteristics of ASUS RT-AX52

Standard:	Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) (2.4 GHz): up to 300 Mbps Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) (5 GHz): up to 867 Mbps Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) (2.4 GHz): up to 574 Mbps Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) (5 GHz): up to 1201 Mbps
Connectors:	1×1 Gbit/s, 4×1 Gbit/s, 1 power port
Number of antennas:	4, fixed
Features:	OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) Beamforming, 1024-QAM
Connection types:	dynamic IP/static IP/PPPoE/PPTP/L2TP
LAN:	DHCP, IPTV, LAN Link Aggregation
WAN:	DMZ, DDNS, NAT
Security:	WPA, WPA2, WPA3, WPA/WPA2-Enterprise (802.1x)
Protocols:	IPv4, IPv6
Processor:	1.3 GHz
Memory:	RAM 128 MB, ROM 256 MB
Dimensions:	192×126×48 mm
Weight:	298 g
Supplier:	ASUS representative office in Ukraine
Price:	$60

Rating:

+ bandwidth

+ price

-non-removable antennas

 

Read also:

• Review of the router ASUS RT-AX56U with Wi-Fi 6 support
• Router review ASUS TUF Gaming AX3000 V2: sophistication
• Router with mobile modem and Dual WAN