The ASUS RT-BE92U (aka the BE9700) is ASUS’s more affordable entry into the Wi-Fi 7 world, and while it doesn’t have the flashy gamer aesthetic of the ROG line, it still brings serious performance and a lot of useful features that make it a solid choice for home and small office setups.

Design

Right out of the box, the RT-BE92U has a clean, vertical design that feels modern and minimalistic. It’s not overly large, measuring around 12.4 × 9 × 3.8 inches (31.5 × 22.8 × 9.6 cm), and it sits upright with a small footprint, which is great if you don’t have a lot of space on your desk or shelf. The build is matte black with subtle venting to keep it cool, and there’s an option to wall-mount it if you prefer. There are LED indicators along the front for power, internet, Wi-Fi bands, and LAN activity. The vertical design helps with placement, and I like that it doesn’t look out of place in a living room or office.

Setup

The setup was straightforward. I used the ASUS Router app on my phone, and it walked me through everything in less than 10 minutes. You just plug in the cables, power it on, scan a QR code, and follow the steps. For those who prefer the traditional method, you can also set it up through the web interface (ASUSWRT), which gives you more control right from the start.

Note that for etisalat and du ISP users in the UAE who are switching from the router, a request may have to be made to allow access for external routers to be used as I had that experience, but a simple technical support request will do it.

Ports and Connectivity

One of the standout features for me is the port selection. You get:

• 1× 10 Gbps WAN port
• 4× 2.5 Gbps LAN ports
• 1× USB 3.2 Gen 1 port

You can also reassign some ports to be either WAN or LAN, depending on your setup. This kind of flexibility is something I really appreciate, especially if you’re running multi-gig internal networking.

Performance

The RT-BE92U is a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with support for 2.4 GHz band up to 1376 Mbps, 5 GHz band up to 4804 Mbps and 6 GHz band up to 4804 Mbps

It supports 320 MHz channels on the 6 GHz band and uses 4K-QAM (4096-QAM) for higher throughput. It also has Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which lets compatible devices use multiple bands at once for better speed and lower latency.

In my real-world use, the 2.4 GHz performance is excellent. This is the band that a lot of my smart home devices use, and it’s strong and stable even at the far edges of my apartment. The 5 GHz band delivers fantastic speeds for gaming and streaming, and I’ve consistently hit close to my ISP’s full 2 Gbps speed when I’m in the same room as the router. The 6 GHz band is incredibly fast for newer devices that support it, but as expected, the range falls off a bit when you move more than a couple of rooms away.

For me, in a medium-sized 3 bedroom home of about 1,800 square feet, a single RT-BE92U covers the entire space without dead zones. Larger homes might still benefit from ASUS’s AiMesh feature, which lets you add additional ASUS routers to create a mesh network. That’s one of the big strengths of this router. You can start with just this unit and expand coverage later if needed without changing your whole system.

ASUS’s firmware (ASUSWRT) is one of the more powerful and user-friendly router interfaces out there. Through either the mobile app or the web UI, you can create up to 8 separate SSIDs (including virtual SSIDs for Wi-Fi 7) or enable enable AiProtection Pro (that’s powered by Trend Micro) for network security at no extra subscription cost.

You can also create a dedicated IoT network to isolate smart devices from the rest of your network, a feature I greatly appreciated. Additionally, you can use the USB port for NAS functions, FTP, or Time Machine backups and configure Adaptive QoS to prioritise traffic for gaming, streaming, or work-from-home tasks as well as set parental controls with content filtering and time scheduling.

If you do a lot of local file transfers or have a home server, the wired speeds here are excellent. The 2.5 Gbps LAN ports deliver full speed, and the 10 Gbps WAN port means you’re ready for future upgrades. Using the USB port for NAS storage, I got read speeds of around 150–180 MB/s and write speeds of about 120–150 MB/s. That’s not as fast as a dedicated NAS, but it’s plenty for streaming media or a backup system.

I’ve been using the IoT network feature heavily. It gives me peace of mind knowing my smart plugs and lights are isolated from my main network. The QoS was also handy when I’m gaming and don’t want a big download on another device to cause lag when I’m playing online.

Verdict

The ASUS RT-BE92U is a fantastic choice if you want to move into Wi-Fi 7 without breaking the bank. It offers the speed, security, and flexibility that both casual and power users will appreciate.

If you have a large home, you might still want to pair it with an AiMesh node, but for medium-sized homes, it’s more than enough on its own. The fact that it’s stable, cool, and packed with features makes it easy to recommend.

For me, it’s been a big upgrade in both speed and reliability, and I’m confident it’ll handle my needs for years to come.