When comparing Asus RT-AC5300 vs AirPort Extreme, the Slant community recommends Asus RT-AC5300 for most people. In the question“What are the best wireless routers?” Asus RT-AC5300 is ranked 13th while AirPort Extreme is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Asus RT-AC5300 is:
With the RT-AC5300 you get three separate WiFi bands, one 2.4 GHz and two 5 GHz bands. The additional 5 GHz band helps to lower congestion, because both 5 GHz bands can split the load between each other.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Less congestion with multiple Wi-Fi bands
With the RT-AC5300 you get three separate WiFi bands, one 2.4 GHz and two 5 GHz bands. The additional 5 GHz band helps to lower congestion, because both 5 GHz bands can split the load between each other.
Pro Excellent performance
It's a device that delivers theoretical throughput speeds of up to 3.1 Gbps across both bands. It's capable of moving up to 1 Gbps in the 2.4 GHz band and 2.1 Gbps on 5 GHz bands. In real life testing at close range of 3 feet, RT-AC5300 delivers throughput of 661.6 Mbps. To maximize the router's speed it uses 1024-QAM which boosts the routers performance by 25% when compared to the more commonly used 256-QAM modulation scheme.
Pro You’ll be able to play games or stream 4K videos without a hitch
This router offers game-enhancement options such as Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO), 4X4 data transmissions, and a wealth of management settings. MU-MIMO offers simultaneous rather than sequential streaming and 4x4 data transmission gives four individual streams to deliver and receive data.
Pro Supports MU-MIMO for effective network management
If you have multiple devices using a lot of traffic at the same time, the ASUS RT-AC5300 can handle all of them simultaneously without sacrificing performance.
Pro Easy setup for iOS and OS X
The AirPort Extreme is very easy to configure. You just need to plug it in and the follow the instructions provided by the setup assistant that's built into iOS or in the AirPort Utility for OS X.
Cons
Con Bulky design
This router is large, thanks in no small measure to its bulky antennas. Without them, it measure 9.6 x 9.6 x 2.6 inches. Including the antennas increases them to 9.6 x 11 x 6 inches.
Con Overkill for an average user
Unless you have a large house or an office with plenty of Wi-Fi devices that play games or stream media, using the Asus RT-AC5300 is overkill especially considering its price tag.
Con Windows users have to download additional software
There is no web browser control for the Extreme, so users must download the AirPort Utility for Windows to configure and manage settings.
Con Trails other AC routers in speed
This dual-band router has a theoretical peak performance of 1.75 Gbps. In real life testing at 5 feet, it hits just 209.6 Mbps and 201.6 Mbps at 50 feet. It holds its performance at distance, but it's still slower than other AC routers.
Con Lacks additional customization options
AirPort Extreme offers only the most common features, such as guest networking and port forwarding, but lacks options like parental controls and traffic prioritization. It doesn't even have a web filtering option, for blocking specific websites.