By: Jonathan Kwan
December 10, 2021
Every weekday around 3pm, there is some kid at the University of Calgary driving a fully riced out Infiniti G35 who likes to redline his car when exiting from the campus roads to the adjacent main road. I am not exactly sure what he is trying to do other than maybe trying to impress the crowd at the nearby bus stop, but last time I checked, a 15-year-old G35 is not that fast of a car, and I think he is not doing much to impress anyone as much as he is there to annoy everyone in proximity with his obnoxiously loud exhaust. One time, it just so happened that I was driving by the university and this guy pulled up next to me at the lights. It is rare I see him while I am driving my car rather than as a pedestrian, and knowing full well he is probably going to launch his car at the lights, I decided to do the same. The result? I easily pulled ahead, got well in front of him, and changed into his lane before the next light. I think he was not that happy he got embarrassed, so he changed to the opposite lane and pulled up next to me again. The light turned green and I pushed the pedal down, leaving him once again in my rear-view mirror. I am not sure why he felt the second race was necessary, considering he already lost the first time, and there is no reason to believe the results will change the second time. Here at APH Networks, we have reviewed many mesh wireless routers since 2017, including the D-Link Covr, EnGenius ESR580, Linksys Velop, TP-Link Deco M5, and TP-Link Deco X90, all with mixed results at best due to the use of a wireless backhaul. Today, we will take a look at the ASUS ZenWiFi XD6, which is another mesh wireless router. Was ASUS able to do something different compared to everyone else, or do we already know what will happen like the guy who tried to race me twice in his riced out Infiniti G35 with the same results? Read on to find out!
Our review unit of the ASUS ZenWiFi XD6 mesh Wi-Fi router came in a large brown corrugated cardboard box from the company's American offices in Newark, California, USA. Everything arrived in excellent condition to us here in Calgary, Alberta for our review today using the FedEx International Priority. The box also contained many other products, including the ROG Strix Scope NX TKL Moonlight White, ROG Strix Scope Impact II Moonlight White, ROG Strix Go Core Moonlight White, ROG Cetra II Core Moonlight White, and ROG Strix GS-AX5400, which my colleagues and I will or have covered.
ASUS sent us their ZenWiFi XD6 router in retail packaging. The design is typical of ASUS' consumer products with a predominantly white and grey color scheme, which you can see in our photo above. In the middle, you will find a top three-quarters view of the two ZenWiFi XD6 nodes occupying some prime real estate. The product name, description, and slogan are printed above the product image. Along the right is an array of three icons providing some highlights of this product, which is its fast and stable Wi-Fi for video conferencing, 2-way shipping advance swap program, and the fact two nodes are included in the box. A Wi-Fi 6 logo is placed at the top left corner, while a note on its 5400 sqft coverage is at the bottom left. The remaining sides of the box has more feature highlights and specifications.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the specifications of the ASUS ZenWiFi XD6, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
Model Name
- XD6 (W-1-PK)/XD6S (W-1-PK)
- XD6 (W-2-PK)/XD6S (W-2-PK)
Network Standard
- IEEE 802.11a
- IEEE 802.11b
- IEEE 802.11g
- WiFi 4 (802.11n)
- WiFi 5 (802.11ac)
- WiFi 6 (802.11ax)
- IPv4
- IPv6
Product Segment
- AX5400 ultimate AX performance: 574+4804 Mbps
AX technology
- Yes
Data Rate
- 802.11a: up to 54 Mbps
- 802.11b: up to 11 Mbps
- 802.11g: up to 54 Mbps
- WiFi 4 (802.11n) (1024QAM): up to 500 Mbps
- WiFi 5 (802.11ac) (1024QAM): up to 4333 Mbps
- WiFi 6 (802.11ax) (2.4GHz): up to 574 Mbps
- WiFi 6 (802.11ax) (5GHz): up to 4804 Mbps
- WiFi 6 (802.11ax) (5GHz): up to 4808 Mbps
Antenna
-internal antenna x 6
Transmit/Receive
- 2.4GHz 2x2
- 5GHz 4x4
Processor
- 1.5 GHz tri-core processor
Memory
- 256 MB Flash
- 512 MB RAM
Boosts speed
- OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)
- 1024-QAM high data rate
- 20/40/80/160 MHz bandwidth
Operating Frequency
- 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz
Ports
- RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for WAN x 1, RJ45 for Gigabits BaseT for LAN x 3
Button
- WPS Button, Reset Button
LED Indicator
- Power x 1
Power Supply
- AC Input: 110V~240V(50~60Hz)
- DC Output: 12 V with max. 2 A current
Package content
- ZenWiFi XD6
- RJ-45 cable
- Power adapter
- Warranty card
- Quick start guide
Product Weight (g)
- 435 g
Remark
- Content may vary in different regions and packages.
AiMesh
- AiMesh: Yes
- Primary AiMesh router: Yes
- AiMesh node: Yes
Router APP
- ASUS Router App: Yes
Game
- Game Boost/acceleration: No
- WTFast: No
Alexa
- Support Alexa skill: Yes
IFTTT
- Support IFTTT: No
AiProtection
- AiProtection: AiProtection Pro
- Router Security Assessment: Yes
- Malicious site blocking: Yes
- Two-Way IPS: Yes
- Infected Device Prevention and Blocking: Yes
Parental Control
- Parental Control: Yes
- Parental Control Customized Internet schedule: Yes
Traffic Control
- Adaptive QoS: Yes
- Bandwidth Monitor: Yes
- Bandwidth limiter: Yes
- Maximum Bandwidth limiter rule: 32
- Traditional QoS: Yes
- Maximum Traditional QoS rule: 32
- Traffic Monitor: Yes
- Real-time traffic monitor: Yes
- Wired Traffic Monitor: Yes
- Wireless Traffic Monitor: Yes
- Traffic Analyzer: Yes
- Website history: Yes
Wireless
- IPv6: Yes
- MU-MIMO: Yes
- UTF-8 SSID: Yes
- Guest Network: Yes
- Maximum Guest Network rule: 9
- Guest Network Connection time limit: Yes
- Guest Network Encryption: WPA/WPA2/WPA3-Personal, WPA/WPA2-Enterprise
- WPS: Yes
- Wi-Fi MAC address filter: Yes
- Maximum MAC filters: 64
- Wireless scheduler: Yes
- Airtime fairness: Yes
- RADIUS Server: No
- Universal beamforming: Yes
- Explicit beamforming: Yes
WAN
- Internet connection Type: PPPoE, PPTP, L2TP, Automatic IP, Static IP
- Dual WAN: Yes
- WAN Aggregation: No
- 3G/4G LTE dongle: No
- Android tethering: No
- Port forwarding: Yes
- Maximum port forwarding rule: 64
- Port triggering: Yes
- DMZ: Yes
- DDNS: Yes
- Let's Encrypt: Yes
LAN
- DHCP Server: Yes
- IGMP snooping: Yes
- IPTV: Yes
- LAN Link Aggregation: Yes
- Manually assign IP address: Yes
- Maximum manually assign IP address rule: 64
VPN
- VPN Client L2PT: Yes
- VPN Client OVPN: Yes
- VPN Client PPTP: Yes
- VPN Server IPSec: Yes
- VPN Server OVPN: Yes
- VPN Server PPTP: Yes
- VPN Fusion: No
USB application
- HDD hibernation: No
- Safely Remove disk: No
- AiCloud: No
- Download master: No
- AiDisk: No
- Media Server: No
- Time Machine: No
- Samba Server: No
- FTP Server: No
- Shared Folder privileges: No
Administration
- Operating mode: Wireless router mode
- Range extender mode
- Access point mode
- Media bridge mode
- Operating system: ASUSWRT
- Free OS upgrade: Yes
- Firewall: Yes
- Maximum Firewall keyword filter: 64
- Maximum Firewall network service filter: 32
- Maximum Firewall URL filter: 64
- Wake on LAN (WOL): Yes
- SSH: Yes
- Configuration backup and restore: Yes
- Diagnosis tools: Yes
- Feedback system: Yes
- System log: Yes
Product Dimensions with antennas (L*W*H) mm
- 126.4 x 59.05 x 129.7 mm
Opening the flap-top box reveals a cardboard tray that contains everything neatly organized in their own sections. Out of the box, you will receive two ZenWiFi XD6 nodes, CAT5e network cable, two power adapters, warranty information, and various quick start guides.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Hardware
3. Configuration and User Interface
4. Performance Tests
5. Conclusion
