Asus RT-AC68U

[muusicman]

I’m having some what seem to be connectivity issues with my router. Though I’m not 100% sure. I have 1 gbps fiber from a small local company and at first it was blazing fast! Thing is, when I got hooked up it was right after they started accepting orders for service. I’m pretty sure I was one of the first to get it in my part of town. Outside of town already had it available to them. They brought it here some 3 or so years after a certain part of the county already had it. Until then I had either SpaceX Starlink Satellite Internet or DSL from CenturyLink which was dreadfully slow!!! So, when I got the opportunity I was super pumped to get fiber. Thought all my problems would be over… and to be fair, for a while I had none. All was good. Until about the 2 month mark. Speed slowed down, ping went up and I have since begun to experience an off again/on again issue with my 2022 Apple TV and Roku from 2016. I’ll be watching something either on demand or live streaming and all of a sudden the picture will turn very fuzzy. Low resolution video quality. I’ve even gone so far as to do a speedtest on my wired PC when the TV picture does this to see what my speed is… it’s a bit lower but that’s to be expected since streaming takes a chunk of bandwidth. When I’m not streaming I can confidently say that I get around 940/940 on most speedtests. Sometimes as high as 945 down. My mom doesn’t think it’s the fault of the ISP… I don’t know enough so I go with her in her thinking it’s my router’s fault. I have a Netgear Orbi Mesh router with 1 satellite and it’s at the other end of the house. She wants me to try this Asus router because it worked well for her. I need some advice.

Thanks.

 

[Tech9]

I need some advice.

This RT-AC68U Asus router is >10 years old and End-Of-Life product now. In 2024 look for RT-AX86U Pro or better model.

 

[bennor]

@muusicman, It may help if you explain in detail your local network setup currently. What router is currently being used with the current broadband service? Is the Asus RT-AC68U or Netgear Orbi router currently being used with the internet service? Try to provide some specifics on the speed issues by posting exact values from speed test sites to show the slowdowns you are experiencing.

As already indicated, the RT-AC68U is a 10 year old router that was just recently put on the End of Life list by Asus. Could it be used with 1GB fiber? Likely yes. But such an old router (with its limited RAM/processor) may struggle under load (gaming, streaming, downloading, etc. all at the same time). But one will most likely have a better user experience with a newer more capable router.

 

[muusicman]

@muusicman, It may help if you explain in detail your local network setup currently. What router is currently being used with the current broadband service? Is the Asus RT-AC68U or Netgear Orbi router currently being used with the internet service? Try to provide some specifics on the speed issues by posting exact values from speed test sites to show the slowdowns you are experiencing.

As already indicated, the RT-AC68U is a 10 year old router that was just recently put on the End of Life list by Asus. Could it be used with 1GB fiber? Likely yes. But such an old router (with its limited RAM/processor) may struggle under load (gaming, streaming, downloading, etc. all at the same time). But one will most likely have a better user experience with a newer more capable router.

In all honesty… the speeds are great. I took them twice last night. Once while not streaming and then again while streaming. It was a live TV channel vs on demand content… not sure if it matters. I got 945 down and 940 up. The ping was 5 ms. I used a wired desktop and the speedtest.net website. I haven’t done it today however. I am currently using a Netgear Orbi 850 model. It comes with 1 router and 1 satellite. I have the router here in my media room. It’s connected to the ISP provided Calix 803G ONT. I have a Netgear unmanaged Ethernet switch also connected to the router. All of my wired devices are running into that switch. For the exception of my 2022 Apple TV box. I have it wired directly into the Orbi. I’ve tried bypassing the router with the Apple TV by disconnecting the router from the ONT and plugging the Apple TV right into the ONT. Speedtest values are the same as they are when going through the router. If you need more info… let me know.

 

[Tech9]

Sound like you don't need a new router. Perhaps a refresh with reset and redo is all you need.

 

[sfx2000]

Sometimes as high as 945 down. My mom doesn’t think it’s the fault of the ISP… I don’t know enough so I go with her in her thinking it’s my router’s fault. I have a Netgear Orbi Mesh router with 1 satellite and it’s at the other end of the house. She wants me to try this Asus router because it worked well for her. I need some advice.

Coverage in the basement might be different than it is upstairs I suppose... you're mum might be right

Perhaps a rethink about WAN connectivity and getting wired and wireless sorted out...