Let me start by saying this router is a beast. The 8 PoE+ ports delivering 123W total power saved me from running extra cables for my office APs and IP cameras. Plug-and-play? Absolutely. But here’s the catch—Active PoE compatibility had me sweating. My older 12V passive PoE devices? Paperweights unless I used injectors. ASUS, a firmware toggle for manual voltage control would’ve made this a 10/10.

The VLAN setup felt like solving a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded at first—zero documentation, just trial and error. Once configured though? Rock-solid segmentation for my guest WiFi and IoT devices. Bonus: The VPN client (surprise feature!) worked flawlessly with my remote team’s OpenVPN setup.

Now, the elephant in the room—the ExpertWiFi app is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. Want to tweak advanced settings? Fire up a browser like it’s 2005. And that promised ‘intelligent’ mesh roaming between my EBA63 APs? More like musical chairs with dead zones.

For small businesses needing commercial-grade security (AiProtection Pro is legit), it’s stellar—if you speak ‘enterprise networking’. Home users? Grab something simpler unless you enjoy rebooting to clear that stubborn 80% RAM usage.