ASUS RT-AX58U Dual Band WIFI Router (RT-AX3000) (Renewed)

This review is for ASUS RT-AX58U Dual Band WIFI Router (RT-AX3000) (Renewed). My old ASUS RT-N66 routers have been faithful, trouble-free routers for over a decade. They were the first router I have ever owned so long I nearly forgot I had them. They just worked and never had an issue. Asus no longer updates them so I was starting to become concerned about security with something that has grown this old. I didn't want to spend a fortune, but I also know I did not want a junk router that drops connections or fails within 12 months. I decided to try refurbished RT-AX58U routers to replace my 2 older models. I have had them up and running for a month now and I can say they perform as reliably as my older routers and they have better throughput which is important for home office work using cloud based storage. They operate a little cooler than my old routers. They are warm when you touch them, never hot. I don't feel like I need to leave the closet door (where I have them installed) open for cooling. Signal strength is very good throughout my 2000 sq ft home. They are located in a coat closet near the middle of the home. Going refurbished was a concern, but once they arrived, I could see that was not an issue. Mine both looked brand new, they just came bubble wrapped instead of being in a box. I plugged them in and the firmware was up to date and the new router routines were active which indicates they had never been used or that someone actually did test them and fully reset them before sending to me. Quite honestly, these were a new in box experience, less the box. I won't do a full technical review, you can get that from the mfgr's website or any of the dozens of very detailed reviews online. I will just state that an average home user in an average home (maybe 2000+ sq ft) will be happy with this router even with a few computers online and maybe a couple of streaming media players, and a half dozen cell phones all going at once. It will pull data through at very reasonable and stable rates that will not bog down on the endpoint devices. I work from home everyday and I am a moderate to heavy data user. I cannot tell when anyone else in the home starts watching a streaming TV channel or plays a game. If this sounds like your home, this router is a very reasonably priced unit that will not disappoint you and it won't break the bank... mine were just 89 bucks each when I got them. I would not hesitate to recommend or purchase these routers again.

I purchased this router from Amazon Renew that was made by Asus in Taiwan, which was a good point for me. However, I faced some difficulties when I received the router. The original firmware was outdated, and I had trouble flashing the router firmware. My primary purpose for this router was to replace a mesh node in my network.However, when I tried to log in to the router through the Asus graphical user interface dashboard and update the BIOS, it did not recognize my master ID and password. This caused all my issues with the router. I had to remove the AX58 from the mesh, reset it, and connect it to the modem as instructed. I also had to reset my Xfinity modem so that it properly connect to the internet with the new AX58 unit. If you do not do this, you will get a "no internet" error, and you will not be able to complete your setup or change your ID and password for this router.After successfully reconfiguring the AX58, I did a reset (not a WPS reset, which would wipe out your ID and password) and updated the firmware as if this was the only router in the network. I finally updated the firmware to the most current version. I then performed another reset and inserted this unit into the mesh network using my AX86U to search for it. It found it without any problems, and it has been working without any issues since then.In summary, the firmware on this AX58U is outdated (year 2020). In order to increase security and performance, you need to update it. However, you will not be able to use the mesh process to transer your master settings to this new node. You need to do it independently as if this is the only router in your network, this is fine if this is the only router; but if you have an existing network and want to use it as a mesh node, there is work to be done.2024-10-30Follow up review: I have been using this router in my Asus mesh network with AX86U, it boots fast, and very reliable, I have no problem with it, I tried it both with Asus firmware and Merlin, it both works well. The performance is also very good, I can get my cell with 5G chanel to 70% of the rated line speed, 700 mpbs out of 1G. Overall very good practical choice of the Asus router family.2025-4-5This router AX58u is really versatile and reliable unit, I used it more than a year, it never gave me any problem.Sometimes, I think it performs better than Asus more expensive router, I get very close to the line speed(1G), and it is the reason I don't think I will migrate to the Wifi7 anytime soon. I don't think it can do better than this little router already provided.