Main features:

• Wireless N600 technology
• Gigabit LAN & WAN interfaces
• Two USB ports
• Hardware-based NAT

Asus ships new wireless router RT-N56U with new design different than the previous models (RT-N13 and RT-N16). Unlike the previous models which white is the dominant color, this new model is dominated with Black, an elegant design you will like it. You may also have a look the newer Asus RT-N66U N900 router.

What this Product Does

Simultaneous Dual Band

Asus RT-N56U Black Diamond is powered by 802.11n with simultaneous dual band technology to support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands at the same time provides you double bandwidth. With dual band, you can surf the webs, read email using the 2.4GHz band. While at the same time you stream HD video and play online games using the 5GHz band, a clean wireless signal with less interference.

Gigabit Interfaces

Asus RT-N56U is embedded with gigabit Ethernet ports for its both WAN (1-port) and LAN (4-ports) interface. With gigabit LAN interfaces, you can connect your gigabit-enabled computers direct to the router for high-speed applications including gaming and streaming.

If you subscribe broadband cable modem and currently use SB6120 DOCSIS 3 Cable modem, you can connect the modem (with gigabit Ethernet port) to the WAN port of the router for optimum data throughput. SB6120 supports the Gigabit Ethernet port for high speed data transfer between the modem and the router. In addition, RT-N56U is powered by the hardware-based NAT acceleration engine providing WAN to LAN data throughput 2-5 times that of traditional software-based NAT gigabit routers.

Two USB Ports

Like the previous version (RT-N16 router), the Asus RT-N56U Black Diamond simultaneous dual band router supports two USB ports to let you connect the printer and USB external hard disk storage for sharing across the network. It also supports all DLNA standard compatible devices, as well as FTP, SAMBA, UPnP AV server.

Not many home wireless routers support the USB port, and not many wireless routers with USB port support the printer for sharing except for share storage. Currently there are few wireless routers with two USB ports for share storage and printer including:

1. Belkin F7D8301 Play N600 HD Wireless Dual-Band Router and the ultimate version of Belkin N900 router
2. TEW-673GRU Trendnet
3. The newest version of WNDR4500 N900 router and the next generation Netgear WNDR4700 media storage router with internal storage (but this one includes only one USB port).

Comparisons

Should you wonder the features main differences for Asus RT-N56U Vs Apple Extreme Airport, here is the table.

What about Asus RT-N56U Vs Wndr3700 or Wndr37Av? The main apparent difference is the number of USB port; both Wndr3700 and Wndr37Av support one USB port with built-in DLNA media server, for share storage only.

The following figure shows home networking diagram with RT-N56U wireless router as the center of the network. With multiple home theater devices, you can deploy a multi-port wireless media bridge such as Buffalo WLI-TX4-Ag300n dual band adapter. This adapter includes 4-port Ethernet to allow you connect up to 4 Ethernet ready devices to the network.

RT-N56U receives very positive responses from the users with averagely 4.2 out of five stars customer ratings with the following attributes ratings:

Speed and reliability 4.3 out of 5 stars
Ease of use 4.2 out of 5 stars
Lots of features 4.4 out of 5 stars
Range 4.4 out of 5 stars

You may also like:

• WNDR37AV Wireless Router for Video and Gaming
• Simultaneous dual band wireless routers
• WNDR4000 N750 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router
• Wireless USB networking adapters