ASUS Release DSL-AC88U – One of the First G.fast Broadband WiFi Routers

Technology firm ASUS has this week become one of the first major manufacturers to officially release a G.fast integrated wireless broadband router (DSLAC88U), which also offers integrated ADSL/VDSL2, WiFi speeds of up to 3167Mbps and will cost you a small fortune.

As most people know Openreach (BT) are currently rolling out their ‘up to’ 330Mbps capable G.fast (ITU G.9700/9701) broadband technology to a pilot of 138,000 UK premises by the end of March 2017, before expanding to 10 million premises by 2020 (details). Initially this will revolve around a two box solution where the end user is supplied with a G.fast modem (Huawei MT992) that can be plugged into a separate wireless router.

However we eventually expect G.fast to be integrated into many more wireless routers just as the ADSL and VDSL2 (FTTC) technologies are today, although it may take time for the costs to come down enough before we see wider adoption. Not to mention that any such routers would also have be validated via BT’s tricky testing regime before ISPs can use them.

In the meantime a number of router manufacturers are working to build G.fast equipped routers, with AVM’s FRITZ!Box 7582 due in mid-2017 and Billion also known to be working on something similar. Never the less ASUS has now confirmed that their previously unveiled DSL-AC88U will be one of the first to market when it launches in the UK during the “first week” of March 2017 for an SRP of £219.99.

The router appears to support pretty much everything you could want at that price and it uses a seemingly strong Broadcom modem, although we’d caution against buying one until somebody has had a chance to test it on a real G.fast line in the United Kingdom. The first run of any new technology can often be imperfect or may miss some vital features. It’s also not exactly the smallest piece of kit.

Full Specification for the DSL-AC88U

Network Standard
IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n, IEEE 802.11ac, IPv4, IPv6

Wi-Fi Data Rate
802.11a : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54 Mbps
802.11b : 1, 2, 5.5, 11 Mbps
802.11g : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54 Mbps
802.11n : up to 600 Mbps
802.11n TurboQAM : up to 800 Mbps
802.11ac : up to 1734 Mbps
1024QAM (2.4GHz) : up to 1000 Mbps
1024QAM (5GHz) : up to2167 Mbps

xDSL Data Rate
G.fast Upstream: 500Mbps, Downstream: 900Mbps
VDSL2 profile 35b Upstream: 100Mbps, Downstream: 300Mbps
VDSL2 profile 30a Upstream: 100Mbps, Downstream: 200Mbps
VDSL profile 17a Upstream:50Mbps, Downstream:100Mbps
VDSL profile 12a,12b Upstream:22Mbps, Downstream:68Mbps
VDSL profile 8a,8b,8c,8d Upstream:16Mbps, Downstream:50Mbps
ADSL2 Upstream: 3.3Mbps, Downstream: 24Mbps
ADSL2 Upstream: 3.5Mbps, Downstream: 12Mbps

Features
‧DHCP server, firewall/NAT, DynDNS
‧VPN server(PPTP/Open VPN)
‧VPN client(PPTP/L2TP/Open VPN)
‧Dual WAN Fail over/Fail back
‧Quality of Service (QoS)
‧IPTV(VDSL/ADSL WAN)
‧DSL feedback mechanism
‧Save/Resotre configuration file

Antenna
Detachable dBi antenna x 4

LED Indicator
Power, VDSL, Internet, LAN x 2, 5 GHz Wi-Fi, 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, USB x 1, E-WAN

Button
WPS Button, Reset Button, Power Button, Wireless on/off Button, LED on/off Button

Ports
1 x RJ11 for xDSL
4 x RJ45 10/100/1000/Gigabits BaseT for LAN
1 x RJ45 10/100/1000/Gigabits BaseT for WAN
USB Ports
USB 2.0 x 1
USB 3.0 x 1

USB Applications
Printer Server
FTP Server
Download Master
3G/4G sharing

Operating Frequency
2.4GHz
5GHz

Operation Channel
13 Europe (ETSI)

Security
WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK

Management
Web-based GUI configuration
Firmware upgraded, configuration data uploaded and downloaded via Web-based GUI
Auto VPI/VCI detection
Configuration backup and restore

VPN Support
PPTP Pass-Through
OpenVPN server
PPTP client
L2TP client
OpenVPN client

Power Adapter
AC Input : 110 ~240 V(50~60HZ)
DC Output : 19 V/3.42 A

Dimensions
292 x 180 x 61 ~ mm (WxDxH) (Without Bezel)

Weight
795 g (Device Only)