Getting the ASUS RT-AC1900P

I’ve been working remotely from my hometown lately, and the internet signal keeps dropping. Constant disconnects are beyond frustrating, so I finally decided to upgrade the home router.

Choosing a Router

I had previously tried Xiaomi and Huawei routers, but both brands suffer from stability issues—understandable given the low price. After researching and getting recommendations from friends, I landed on the ASUS RT-AC1900P, the upgraded version of the RT-AC68U.

Price: 499 RMB

Selection Criteria

1. Stability: ASUS routers generally have a solid reputation, and picking a popular model adds extra peace of mind.
2. Signal boosting with AiMesh: this model supports it, so if the house is too big I can add another unit. Our place is around 180 square meters, with the router in the living room. Some rooms are three walls away, which definitely weakens the signal.
3. Flexibility: for example, it supports flashing the Merlin firmware. Reference

One-Week Impressions

Once I made the decision, I placed the order immediately. I have to say, JD’s shopping experience is impressive. Even in a small county, I ordered in the evening and the router arrived the next morning. Nice.

Here are my impressions after a week of use:

1. It looks better in person—the build quality feels premium.
2. The signal is stable.
3. With the router in the living room, the farthest room has to go through two or three walls, which drops the signal to two bars and causes buffering on 1080p YouTube videos. Rooms with two walls in between still get three bars and stream smoothly.

Final Thoughts

• My family mostly uses Wi-Fi in the living room and doesn’t need a home office setup, so I haven’t added another unit for AiMesh yet. But the router supports it, so if we ever need better coverage I can just buy a second one—affordable and flexible.
• After this purchase, I think I’ll skip Xiaomi and Huawei routers going forward. Sometimes the specialized brands really are better.