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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Great Travel Router

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  • Top 250 Contributor

  The RT-BE58 is a great travel router that’s easy to set up, configure, easy to pack away. The speed and range are not incredible, owing to its portable nature, but it’s great for anyone that needs connectivity on the go. The RT-BE58 is very compact and only slightly larger than the palm of my hand. If you have a roll of painter’s tape that’s about the type of footprint it occupies. There are 2 antennas on either side that fold up when in use and fold down for storage. The box also includes a short Ethernet cable and a USB-C power adapter. You can power this with any USB-C PD charger as long as it’s capable of at least 18W (9V/2A) - most modern phone charges easily support this and it negates the need to pack the included power adapter if you already have a capable USB-C charger. You can even run it off a portable power bank. For connectivity, there are 2 Ethernet ports, one gigabit and one 2.5G. The 2.5G port can also act as WAN port. There is also a USB 3.0 Type A port. I set up and configured using the Asus Router app on Android and that was generally an easy setup process involving connecting to the router’s default SSID and setting the internet connection. The RT-BE58 can receive internet connectivity in one of three ways. It can be wired via Ethernet, it can receive data from another Wi-Fi network, or it can tether via USB to a mobile phone. The settings seem to be on par with most routers I’ve used and most of the expected adjustments were there in the app. It easy to change between internet connections too. For my testing, I connected wirelessly to my home Wi-Fi network. I set up the RT-BE58 in the same room as my main router, about 15 feet away and connected through the 5GHz band. My typical wireless internet speeds are around 900Mbps and in general I saw around 650Mbps when connected to the RT-BE58. So, about a 30% loss, but not too bad considering that I was hopping 2 different Wi-Fi networks. With the router placed in my living room, I was able to move from bedroom to bedroom on the same floor and while I did see the speeds drop significantly as moved further away, the connection was still quite usable. Being a dual-band BE3600 router that likely has some power-saving optimizations, I considered this to be a pretty good result and I’d anticipate most use cases for this router will have the connected devices in or around the same room. The RT-BE58 also has built-in VPN functionality with support for many different services. I use NordVPN and the app provides a nice step-by-step walkthrough for logging into your account and obtaining the required access token. My connection speed with the VPN enabled was slightly slower, but not significantly so and I think it will come down more to the service than the router. One final note, the RT-BE58 has a slide switch on the side that is not notated in any of the regular documentation, but this is a switch you can be setup to do a variety of things like turning the LED on and off, activating the guest Wi-Fi network, or enabling a completely different configuration profile on the router, though this annoying requires you to power cycle the router before taking effect. So overall I’m really happy with this router. I always pack a Chromecast with me whenever I travel and I’ve had my eye on a travel router for the same reason. If you travel and you have a lot of devices that you have to deal with, this really simplifies that whole process of arriving somewhere and getting everything on the Wi-Fi. And the built-in VPN adds some privacy to boot.

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  SamG Posted 1 month ago

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Tiny Router, Huge Features (and a Few Flaws)

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  • Top 100 Contributor

  Primary Goal: Extending my home network to improve connection for smart cameras at the back of the house without having to run an ethernet cord. Secondary Goal: Creating a secure, private network for multiple devices while traveling in hotels. Verdict: It does a great job at both of these tasks. SPEEDS: I’ve attached pictures. CRITICAL CONTEXT: I tested this on an iPad Pro M4 (WiFi 6E). This device is limited to 160 MHz Channel Width, not the full speed 320 MHz Channel Width available on Wi-Fi 7. I hit the speed limit of my iPad, not necessarily the router. As you must have both a WiFi 7 card and WiFi 7 router to get full speeds. Wired (AP Mode): I pay for 2500 Mbps. I’m getting ~1500 Mbps. This is actually a fantastic speed. Repeater Mode: I’m getting about 500–700 Mbps with a strong connection in my house. Range Test: At the edge of my property, through a wall (20–30 feet away), I get 100–300 Mbps. PROS: - Good performance. - Easy setup (though specific features have a learning curve). - Mobile App works well. - Automatically creates its own IoT network (isolates smart devices from your main data). - Supports VPN (though not tested personally). - Small, compact, USB-C power (can run off a laptop). MEH: - Takes about three minutes to reboot. - WiFi 7 speeds are incredibly fast (hit 1.6 Gbps on my iPad), but be aware that many current devices cannot yet utilize the full max speed of this router due to hardware limitations. - Small/medium coverage size. But to be expected with something so small. CONS: - The settings to switch networks in travel mode are buried. It should be on the launch page. - The user interface Looks dated and uses technical jargon that laymen may not understand. - The LAN port is only 1 Gbps, creating a bottleneck (max of 1,000 Mbps) for wired devices if you have fast internet. But wireless is up to 2.5 Gbps WAN (IN port). - The menus in the software do not explain the modes well; requires prior networking knowledge. Or researching yourself. - No 6 GHz Band: This is a dual-band router (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz). It lacks the 6 GHz band required for "True" ultra-wide Wi-Fi 7 speeds (320 MHz channel width). REVIEW: This device is essentially a wireless router but comes with more features than your normal wireless router. You have 5 specific options. Using one or multiple of these is why you would buy this product: 1. Wireless Router Mode: This is your typical router. The device acts as the boss of the network. It takes the internet from a wire (WAN port), creates a firewall, assigns addresses (DHCP) to your phone/laptop, and broadcasts Wi-Fi. Used when you have access to a wire in a hotel/dorm/home. Should be full speed. 2. Access Point (AP) Mode: Acts as a radio tower. It takes a wired internet connection and converts it to Wi-Fi, but lets the main router upstream handle the IP addresses. Best use case: if you already have a main router, but Wi-Fi doesn’t reach someone in your home. You’d run a long cable to it and plug it in. Then that specific area would have high-speed Wi-Fi. Should be full speed. 3. Repeater Mode: The device connects to an existing Wi-Fi network wirelessly and rebroadcasts the signal further. You do NOT need an ethernet cable connected. Use case: you need Wi-Fi in the corner of your house and don’t want to (or cannot) run a cable. - Note: This will cut speeds in half or more. This is because the radio operates in Half-Duplex (it has to listen to the main network first, stop, and then relay that message to your device). This "double step" slows the throughput. 4. Media Bridge: Reverse of an Access Point. The device connects to a Wi-Fi network wirelessly and sends the internet out through the Ethernet port. This is best for a legacy device (desktop PC, older game console, camera system) that doesn’t have a Wi-Fi card. - Note: The WAN (Input) port is 2.5 Gbps, but the LAN (Output) port is only 1 Gbps. This means your wired device will be capped at 1000 Mbps. 5. Public WiFi Mode / WISP: This is the mode they mainly market. The device connects to a public Wi-Fi hotspot (like at a hotel) wirelessly (without a physical ethernet cable), but then creates its own private, secure Wi-Fi network for your devices. Best Use Case: Hotel Wi-Fi. All your devices use the hotel’s network but are shielded by a firewall between you and other guests. It also handles Captive Portals (login screens) automatically.

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  SirGalahad Posted 1 month ago

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Portable and ready to go

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  • Top 25 Contributor

  I wouldn’t use this as a complete home device, but more of what it is built for is a couple devices while connected to another network. As with anything technology, speeds may vary depending on how something is used. For instance, wired to a WAN connection, and wired to the device often gets more reliable speeds. But, using this router in Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISP) mode might not give you the full ISP connection as you are sharing the wireless bandwidth. Meanwhile, using the 4G/5G tether mode will limit speeds to that of your phone. With that said though, this thing is perfect for either a distant access point that is meant for a couple devices to extend the range of your home router or as I see it more reliable as your own personal safety router. Using public WiFi is always risky, but with this, you can put it in WISP mode and now be behind your own IPS with AI protection. There are several ways to get the WAN connection. You can use the 1Gbps ethernet port, you can use the WISP mode mentioned where you can connect to a 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz wireless connection and there is 4G/5G tether where you can connect your phone via USB. You have to enable tethering through USB on your device and it will take other methods as priority if they are available. But, if there are no other methods, then you can enable it under the WAN settings on the app and it will fall back to it. This is a full blown router through and through though. With all the features you expect of a router plus some. You have family controls to help restrict content and protect from ads. You have time scheduling, even with a reward system to give extra time to specific devices. You have Trend Micro AI protection to stop so much more. You even have VPN options where you can connect direct to a VPN from the router or use your router as a VPN back to your network. One unique feature is a small switch on the side of the router. It’s not so obvious how to use this switch from the directions or even in the device. By default, it has no function, till you set it via a web browser connection or the Asus router app. In the app the only place to find it is to click the router information at the top of the main page. Here it shows connected devices, router information, the toggle for the LED and the switch options. In a web browser by IP, it is under Administration > Multi-Function Button tab at the top. The switch can be configured to turn the LED on/off, enable/disable the guest network, turn on/off the WiFi network, turn the VPN connection on/off or switch between profiles like WISP or ethernet. To make things even more portable, you can also power the router with any USB-C power source, like straight from your laptop or other device charger, so no need to carry the extra charging cable if you have other means. Overall, if you travel a lot and want an added layer of security and personalization, this is the way to go. You have multiple ways to get a WAN connection and then keep your own personal WiFi or wired connection wherever you go.

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  DavidJr Posted 1 month ago