I’ve been fighting my ASUS routers (in AP Mode) for the better part of 8 years now. Their implementation for all of the bundled utilities is to farm all of it to a 3rd party who actually supplies all of the utilities. None of the utilities are made by ASUS themselves, and you have to agree to an onerous set of terms to even unlock those utilities, so I have never used them. Talk about shrink-wrap licensing.
Anyways, I opted for an older version so as not to pay through the nose: the Netgear Orbi AX5400, which offers WiFi 6 on a Tri-Band Mesh System, and supports up to 5.4Gbps network throughput, and comes with one Router and two Satellites, which I also placed in AP (Access Point) Mode. AP Mode just means I’m not interested in using all the bells and whistles, just need the system for it’s AX5400 WiFi chops. I really like the hardware and it’s performance so far.
Unfortunately, the installation process was designed for a beginner, and assumed every user is a beginner, which was really the worst part of the whole experience. I was actively forced to wait 2 minutes per step to go from step to step. Sadly, they did not build any provisions for those who might know what they are doing. It took me about 3 hours to setup, but really, most of that time was spent figuring-out how to side-step their install process effectively. I think if they just offered an “admin” or “power user” mode, it would only take about 15-20 minutes total time to setup. Oh well.
But, I have to say, our WiFi coverage is now rock solid! I can even be down the street or in the farthest reaches of our property and still have all-bars on the WiFi meter. I picked up the refurbished (aka “renewed”) version via Amazon for just about $200, so money well spent!