Main features
This new 4G router is a high-end device because it incorporates simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi 6 connectivity and Gigabit ports. Thanks to the incorporation of these ports, we can use this device as the main router with our FTTH operator. Next, we are going to explain all the technical characteristics of this new model.
Wireless Wi-Fi
The ASUS 4G-AX56 is a computer with Simultaneous dual-band and AX1800-class Wi-Fi 6. In the 2.4GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 574Mbps, thanks to its two external antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration, the 40MHz channel width and the Wi-Fi 6 standard. In the 5GHz band we can achieve a speed of up to 1201Mbps, thanks to its two external antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration, 80MHz channel width and the new Wi-Fi 6 standard.
This router has a WPS button (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) that will allow us to connect to wireless clients easily and quickly, without having to enter the WPA2 password of the equipment. Regarding security, this router is configured by default with WPA2-Personal, however, you can configure it with WPA3-Personal to provide maximum security on the Wi-Fi wireless network.
A very important aspect that we do not have available is AiMesh, we will not be able to connect other ASUS routers or WiFi repeaters and integrate them into the Mesh network to have WiFi roaming between nodes and band-steering. At the moment, the latest firmware version available as of March 2022 does not have these features, and it may not be incorporated because it will be a limitation in the router’s chipset.
4G LTE mobile broadband
This 4G LTE router is capable of a download speed of up to 300Mbps and an upload speed of up to 50Mbps on the mobile broadband network. This equipment is compatible with the following frequency bands:
- 4G FDD-LTE: Supported frequency bands are 1 /3 /5 /7 /8 /20 /28
- 4G TDD-LTE: supported frequency bands are 38 /40 /41
In the case of 3G, this equipment supports a download speed of up to 42Mbps and an upload speed of up to 11Mbps. This equipment is compatible with the following frequency bands:
This router has an external antenna oriented specifically to 4G, and another internal antenna, so we have a total of two antennas for the mobile broadband network.
wired
As for the wired features, this new ASUS 4G-AX56 router has one Gigabit Ethernet port for Internet WAN. The firmware allows us to configure the Dual WAN as we want, we have the possibility of configuring the mobile broadband network as the main or secondary network, the same thing happens with the WAN connection. In addition, the firmware will allow us to configure the behavior, since we have two possible configurations: load balancing between the WANs or failover of the main connection. All the usual ASUS Dual WAN settings are also present on this router, including the ability to choose an Ethernet LAN port as Internet WAN, although having a dedicated port would not make much sense as we can’t do triple WAN, only we can choose two: main and secondary.
We also have the possibility of configure VLANs on the Internet WAN so that it is compatible with fiber optic operators in Spain, we also have VLANs per port and we can even configure the triple VLAN of Movistar FTTH. Regarding the possibilities and configurations of the Internet WAN, this new 4G-AX56 is as if it were a neutral router, and we are going to have all the configuration options available
This new model also includes a total of four Gigabit Ethernet ports for the LANthe firmware supports the activation of Jumbo Frames at 9K in case we want to transfer data at maximum speed in the local network, this is ideal if we are going to connect a NAS server to the computer via LAN.
Firmware Asuswrt
The Asuswrt firmware incorporated in this ASUS 4G-AX56 router is similar to the usual one but we have certain “cuts”. Based on the standard ASUS firmware, without going to the ROG models that do incorporate all the options available for gaming and much more, this new model does not include the following features:
- It does not have AiProtection Pro, it does have AiProtection but we do not have bidirectional IPS to protect computers on the local network.
- We do not have ASUS AiMesh, we will not be able to form a complete Wi-Fi Mesh network with roaming and band-steering.
- We don’t have adaptive QoS, we just have traditional QoS and bandwidth limiter.
- In the VPN section we do not have IPsec VPN nor do we have Instant Guard, but we do have OpenVPN with all the usual advanced configuration options.
- We do not have Link Aggregation for LAN 1 and LAN 2 ports.
The rest of the Asuswrt options are the same as always, we have guest Wi-Fi networks, extensive configuration options in the Internet WAN, in the LAN, the DHCP server, the advanced firewall, the IPv6 protocol and more.
Unboxing and first impressions
This new router is necessarily placed vertically because it has a base at the bottom, in fact, right at this base is where we find the slot to insert the SIM card into the router. In this case, the 4G-AX56 router has a tray to insert a nano size SIM card, that is, it is exactly the same SIM card (size) that the latest smartphones have. Thanks to the possibility of inserting a nano SIM card, we will not need an adapter to micro SIM or normal SIM size as it happens with other similar routers with integrated 4G connectivity.
Of the three external antennas that we have in this router, two of them are specifically designed for the Wi-Fi network (2×2 MU-MIMO) and one of them is oriented to the 4G LTE network. We must remember that the 4G LTE network also has two antennas, but one of them is external and another antenna is internal, so we must take this into account.
In the following video you can see in detail how this new ASUS 4G-AX56 router is, a really interesting piece of equipment to use the mobile broadband network wherever we want, such as in the town house, in second homes, etc. Logically, this router does not have a built-in battery, it is oriented to be a desktop router, in addition, to incorporate a Gigabit port for the WAN, this router could also be used perfectly to be permanently connected to the Internet, ideal for offices, freelancers who work from home and more.
Soon you will be able to see our complete analysis of this new ASUS 4G-AX56 router, where we will test in detail the Wi-Fi wireless network, the wired network and also the mobile broadband network with the 4G LTE network.