G.Fast ready Asus DSL-AC88U

Asus will shortly release the DSL-AC88U modem/router in the UK, intended to replace the horrible DSL-AC68U. This is based on the excellent RT-AC88U but with an adsl/vdsl/g.fast modem built-in, supporting speeds of up to 900/500 mbps. Hardware specs are very impressive, and best of all, it seems Asus have finally ditched the Mediatek modem and put a Broadcom modem in it....Hallelujah!! Wifi coverage will be top notch as it uses Broadcom's 4 stream Mu-Mimo architecture, though personally I prefer Qualcomm Atheros (QCA) wifi radios.

My guess is that it will be priced around the £300 mark, though it wouldn't surprise me if Asus initially priced it in the £400-£500 bracket.

Oh and it looks damn sexy too

https://www.asus.com/Networking/DSL-AC88U/overview/
https://www.asus.com/Networking/DSL-AC88U/specificat...
https://www.asus.com/Networking/DSL-AC88U/gallery/

Edited by baby_frogmella (Thu 09-Feb-17 12:11:49)

Almost just want one so can play around with lighting it for photographs

Screams gamer market at me based on the styling

My guess is that it will be priced around the £300 mark, though it wouldn't surprise me if Asus initially priced it in the £400-£500 bracket.

Do you think there will be much demand at that price?

In reply to a post by Apprentice:

My guess is that it will be priced around the £300 mark, though it wouldn't surprise me if Asus initially priced it in the £400-£500 bracket.

Do you think there will be much demand at that price?

Probably not at its initial price but I imagine once its been out for a while and Asus have ironed out all the bugs (Asus routers are often very buggy when just released) it should sell quite well provided its less than £300. The RT variant is ~ £250 and is quite popular amongst router enthusiasts, so no reason why the DSL version can't be a success...provided Asus haven't put in a Mediatek dsl chipset

Edited by baby_frogmella (Thu 09-Feb-17 15:04:23)

Mmm I think I'll pass on that and if I ever use G.fast will use ISP-provided hardware. The speed increment from G.fast doesn't really make me feel the need to replace my AC87U.

Very much a niche, enthusiast product for right now, even more so than the RT-AC88U.

Hi

Looks like it is marketing the "mine is faster than yours" crowd with more money than sense at that price.

By the time G.Fast is launched and mainstream the ISP supplied modem will be tuned for the UK G.Fast and so better. It could even be early G.Fast kit never end up working at all on the flavour of G.Fast in the UK that might come about after the trials.

If you are a real gamer you connect using Ethernet anyway, that will do more for latency and speed than any number of aerials you can stick on a plastic box!

Regards

Phil

another horrible modem that ignores UPBO etc?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

another horrible modem that ignores UPBO etc?

With this model, it has broadcom xdsl drivers/firmware BCM63138 (A2pvfbH043f.d26o supporting g.fast/35b) my guess if there is issue in this case, possibly will be due to broadcom? but other based broadcom ones, seems are ok

I will add later some pictures for all , once i noticed this thread, thanks

Edited by babis3g (Fri 10-Feb-17 14:58:46)

In reply to a post by babis3g:

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

another horrible modem that ignores UPBO etc?

With this model, it has broadcom xdsl drivers/firmware BCM63138 (A2pvfbH043f.d26o supporting g.fast/35b) my guess if there is issue in this case, possibly will be due to broadcom? but other based broadcom ones, seems are ok

I will add later some pictures for all , once i noticed this thread, thanks

Indeed Broadcom modem routers are usually rock solid, it was due to the very unstable Mediatek chipset on the Asus DSL-68U that users were turning off UPBO to improve stability. Obviously UPBO is there for a reason, to counter cross talk, and if everyone began switching it off then sync rates would be lower as a result. So UPBO won't be a problem on the DSl-AC88U - at least for adsl2+ & vdsl2 lines. On G.fast, who knows...

Edited by baby_frogmella (Fri 10-Feb-17 15:30:18)

A g.fast modem that is not supporting vectoring will not be welcome and may be rejected by vendors deployed DSLAM

With no vectoring G.fast is a dead duck