The MikroTik hAP ac3 (RBD53iG-5HacD2HnD) is a dual-band WiFi router with five Gigabit Ethernet ports, a quad-core Qualcomm IPQ-4019 CPU, 256 MB of RAM, and 128 MB of flash storage. It runs RouterOS, the same operating system MikroTik puts on its enterprise gear, and the official suggested price is $109 — about Rp1,850,000 in Indonesia.

Its most important numbers are the memory ones. The 128 MB of flash is eight times what the older hAP ac2 has (16 MB), which means the ac3 can run the wifiwave2 driver on RouterOS v7 and supports WPA3. The ac2 is already tight on space for future updates. If you buy a router to keep for years, that headroom matters more than raw speed.

On paper the WiFi does 867 Mbps on 5 GHz and 300 Mbps on 2.4 GHz, but those are link rates, not real download speeds. I calculated the realistic throughput myself, assuming TCP throughput of about 55% of the link rate: around 477 Mbps on 5 GHz (a 10 GB file in about 2 minutes 48 seconds) and about 165 Mbps on 2.4 GHz. On a wired Gigabit connection at 80% efficiency, the same 10 GB file takes about 1 minute 40 seconds. These are calculations from the official specs, not measurements from a physical unit — I don't own one, and I won't fake a speed test.

Power consumption is modest: 12 W idle, which works out to about 8.64 kWh per month running 24/7, or roughly Rp12,482 a month on Indonesia's PLN R-1 tariff. With PoE-out fully loaded up to 30 W, that rises to about Rp31,206 a month.

How does it compare? Against the hAP ac2 ($80), the ac3 wins on flash (8x), RAM (2x), and external antennas — the CPU is identical, so wired routing speed is nearly the same. Against the hAP ax3 ($139), it loses on WiFi 6, 1 GB of RAM, and a 2.5G port, but costs about 28% less. Against the RB5009 ($219), it is half the price but has no 10G SFP+ port and no WiFi at all — the RB5009 is a wired-only router for serious home labs. I covered the RB5009 in detail in my MikroTik RB5009 review.

Who should buy it? Homes and small offices with 100–300 Mbps internet and 15–25 active devices. Five Gigabit ports cover an ONT, a wired PC, and an extra access point without buying a switch, and RouterOS lets you run VLANs, per-device bandwidth limits, and WireGuard VPN. Skip it if your internet is already 1 Gbps, all your devices are WiFi 6, or you need 10G — in those cases, step up to the hAP ax3 or the RB5009.

The full breakdown in Indonesian — including the complete spec table, the price-per-port math, and a 15-minute first-setup guide — is on my blog: MikroTik hAP ac3: Spesifikasi, Harga Rp1,85 Juta, dan Cocok untuk Siapa?