[US] I found this router on amazon.......good price

[dirtyferret]

I have owned four Asus routers and never had issues with them.

RT-N56U - At one time my main router but currently an AP in our bedroom upstairs and handles the top floor. It won't deliver my full 100mbps down (gives me around 85) but it's not a big deal as all it does is supply wi-fi to cell phones & tablets plus is hardwired to a Roku.

AC66U - was my main router but eventually gave it to my parents. Great router with great range.

AC68U - Unfortunately it stood too upright and my toddler son thought it was a toy so he would grab it every day and bang the crap out of it. I returned it not because it stopped working but because my son would constantly knock out the ethernet wires or power plug wire. On another note I can say the router can take a good beating.

AC66U B1 - current main router and works as well as the AC68U but sits in our entertainment system (so the wife doesn't see it or my son).

 

[jboydgolfer]

I have owned four Asus routers and never had issues with them.

RT-N56U - At one time my main router but currently an AP in our bedroom upstairs and handles the top floor. It won't deliver my full 100mbps down (gives me around 85) but it's not a big deal as all it does is supply wi-fi to cell phones & tables plus is hardwired to a Roku.

AC66U - was my main router but eventually gave it to my parents. Great router with great range.

AC68U - Unfortunately it stood too upright and my toddler son thought it was a toy so he would grab it every day and bang the crap out of it. I returned it not because it stopped working but because my son would constantly knock out the ethernet wires or power plug. On another note I can say the router can take a good beating.

AC66U B1 - current main router and works as well as the AC68U but sits in our entertainment system (so the wife doesn't see it or my son).

I really do like asus routers , The 66u has spectacular range ,and for the price I paid ,it was a great deal, but each of the kids has like four devices that wirelessly connect to it ,and there's me & the wife. All said n done around 16 devices chokes its cpu at times( especially if someone decides to download their steam library)

 

[Cybrnook2002]

If your line is less than 300MBps (what the cpu can handle without HW accel) you might want to look at setting up some QoS. Great articles on these asus routers over the years in the Merlin threads. No need to starve your other devices when you have one or two hungry clients.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...ements-custom-rules-and-inner-workings.36836/

 

[newtekie1]

i think youve got your specs backwards tho. the 68u has faster potential speeds

At the end of the day, the difference in speed really doesn't matter with the way the WiFi works.

Advertising the router as "up to 1900Mbps" or "up to 1750Mbps" is, IMO, 100% bullshit. It is impossible to get 1900 or 1750Mbps using these routers. The absolute maximum connection speed you will ever get is 1300Mbps, on both routers. This is because the 5GHz band maxes out at 1300Mbps on both routers. The extra 450 or 600Mbps to get the 1750 or 1900Mbps comes from the 2.4GHz band. Now ASUS and other wifi device manufacturers love to combine the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz band speeds together to get a maximum speed that they advertise, but the problem is no WiFi interface card that I know of allows you to connect to both bands at the same time. So that means you have to pick one or the other, and no one is going to pick the 2.4GHz band if you have the option to use the 5.0GHz band. So, that means the extra 250Mbps on the 2.4GGHz band really means absolutely nothing.

And I know I'll get someone that says "but what if you are so far away you can't get the 5.0GHz signal, surely then the speed difference will matter!" Nope. If you are that far away, and the signal quality is that bad, then I guarantee you that the 2.4GHz signal will be so weak that you will not be able to take advantage of the potentially better speed. The technology that allows that extra 250Mbps of speed, requires a very good single to work. If the signal isn't excellent, then the speed will the same with a 1750Mbps router as it would be with a 1900Mbps router.

 

[The_DriverX]

That is a good price, but I already have one . I bought a new Cisco Linksys E1000 (dual-band, MIMO, etc) for $40 at Cash Converters! Still runs fine after all theses years!

 

[silkstone]

Amazon also often have good deals on the R6700. You can change the ID and upgrade it to a R7000. I got mine for about $70 over a year ago. and it's currently under $60 on Amazon (compared to $150 for the R7000)
It's running thr R7000 version of DD-WRT now, but I can put the Netgear R7000 firmware on it and it runs fine. Changing the device ID is dead simple and doesn't require any special tools.

At the end of the day, the difference in speed really doesn't matter with the way the WiFi works.

Advertising the router as "up to 1900Mbps" or "up to 1750Mbps" is, IMO, 100% bullshit. It is impossible to get 1900 or 1750Mbps using these routers. The absolute maximum connection speed you will ever get is 1300Mbps, on both routers. This is because the 5GHz band maxes out at 1300Mbps on both routers. The extra 450 or 600Mbps to get the 1750 or 1900Mbps comes from the 2.4GHz band. Now ASUS and other wifi device manufacturers love to combine the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz band speeds together to get a maximum speed that they advertise, but the problem is no WiFi interface card that I know of allows you to connect to both bands at the same time. So that means you have to pick one or the other, and no one is going to pick the 2.4GHz band if you have the option to use the 5.0GHz band. So, that means the extra 250Mbps on the 2.4GGHz band really means absolutely nothing.

And I know I'll get someone that says "but what if you are so far away you can't get the 5.0GHz signal, surely then the speed difference will matter!" Nope. If you are that far away, and the signal quality is that bad, then I guarantee you that the 2.4GHz signal will be so weak that you will not be able to take advantage of the potentially better speed. The technology that allows that extra 250Mbps of speed, requires a very good single to work. If the signal isn't excellent, then the speed will the same with a 1750Mbps router as it would be with a 1900Mbps router.

The difference is then TurboQAM feature which not many clients use. and so AC1750 is pretty much the same as AC1900

 

[Jetster]

Has anyone actually done this lately?

 

[silkstone]

Has anyone actually done this lately?

The R6700 hack? Mine was done about a year ago, afaik, it still works. It doesn't actually give you much as very few devices support TurboQAM

The ASUS hack still works too. I haven't tried it myself, but I came across an article explaining the steps not long ago.

 

[newtekie1]

The difference is then TurboQAM feature which not many clients use. and so AC1750 is pretty much the same as AC1900

And TurboQAM doesn't apply to the AC band, it only works on the 2.4GHz wireless-n. So a pretty useless feature.

 

[silkstone]

And TurboQAM doesn't apply to the AC band, it only works on the 2.4GHz wireless-n. So a pretty useless feature.

Yup. The AC1750 and AC1900 routers are pretty much identical, but the AC1900 go for a premium over the others due to higher number that don't translate into RW gains. It's been that way with routers for a while where bigger numbers sell for more.

 

[newtekie1]

Yup. The AC1750 and AC1900 routers are pretty much identical, but the AC1900 go for a premium over the others due to higher number that don't translate into RW gains. It's been that way with routers for a while where bigger numbers sell for more.

Yep, the funny thing is I have both an ASUS RT-AC87U(AC2400) and an ASUS RT-AC3200. Most people will think the AC3200 will give them faster speeds, and it is priced accordingly with the AC3200 going for over $200 and the AC2400 going for under $150. But really the AC2400 has a single 5.0GHz band that can do 1734Mbps thanks to its 4x4 radio configuration. The AC3200 on the other hand uses two 3x3 5.0GHz radios, meaning the maximum any one device will ever see is 1300Mbps. So for most home users, the AC2400 is actually the better router, and will give them the better speed.

 

[Jetster]

The R6700 hack? Mine was done about a year ago, afaik, it still works. It doesn't actually give you much as very few devices support TurboQAM

The ASUS hack still works too. I haven't tried it myself, but I came across an article explaining the steps not long ago.

RT AC86U
No the OP in this thread show a link to firmware that is a dead link. Then in Kursah thread to get the T moble firmware off the link says the instructions are obsolete. So I know someone that just bought this https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-AC1...c=1&refRID=6FRD0WN7205978WKEG9D&tag=tec06d-20

And wants to flach it with the proper firmware. So was asking if someone has actually done this lately ? If so how? Or can it just be flashed like normal? Or with DD WRT?

 

[silkstone]

RT AC86U
No the OP in this thread show a link to firmware that is a dead link. Then in Kursah thread to get the T moble firmware off the link says the instructions are obsolete. So I know someone that just bought this https://www.amazon.com/Wireless-AC1...c=1&refRID=6FRD0WN7205978WKEG9D&tag=tec06d-20

And wants to flach it with the proper firmware. So was asking if someone has actually done this lately ? If so how? Or can it just be flashed like normal? Or with DD WRT?

Ah. I'm not sure. If you do a google search for AC86U flash for the last month, I'm sure there will be new guidance.

 

[Jetster]

Maybe this
http://www.bayareatechpros.com/ac1900-to-ac68u/

 

[jboydgolfer]

@Kursah Apparently the links in your Asus flash guide have expired or at least the one to the T-Mobile site. Do you have an alternative by chance?

@Jetster
I'm not certain ,and hopefully we can get more insight into the matter ,but I would think you could flash it just like unlocking the Asus stock firmware to flash merlin. I have a guide that stickied, because asus locked their firmware too so you couldnt put a custom version (but i wrote it long ago, and it may have links outdated). All the steps are outlined in that thread ,but let's see if someone more knowledgeable can chime in, before moving forward

 

[Deleted member 67555]

https://www.amazon.com/Tenda-AC15-AC1900-Wireless-Gigabit/dp/B0143HBZMW

Same broadcom chipset

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I purchased one of these Jan 25. I have not had time to work on it, so it's still sitting here. I have the following links to share:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/d...ac68u-support-merlin.19550/page-8#post-193580
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/fork-asuswrt-merlin-374-43-lts-releases-v30e2.18914/page-104
https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Installation

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Or the easier way:

Link

 

[dirtyferret]

I think the OP is in canada so he would need a link to a canuck site.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I think the OP is in canada so he would need a link to a canuck site.

Massachusetts is part of Canada now? Since when?

 

[dirtyferret]

Massachusetts is part of Canada now? Since when?

My fault I confused this thread with another one using a similar title.