AC1900 First Look: NETGEAR R7000 & ASUS RT-AC68U

[PrivateJoker]

Wao, official support directly weighing in, this has to be important

Indeed. As a consumer/owner of their product/s, it's nice to know they are listening.

 

[waqarz]

Sorry but I am not buying this..... users including Tim who did the review tried disabling that in the UI and that's when problems happen (timeouts,dropouts,poor speed).

Mind baffling discussion. First off, its hard to believe Asus would launch a hardware with this obvious problem, its not their first router (they even have a USB 3.0 equipped AC router: RT-AC56U) and this issue is not so unknown. On the other hand if this is indeed a hardware issue, Asus may have a one off event at hand: losing a typical best-seller position to Netgear (the small number of reviews available on Amazon to date seem to indicate this may be the case if this continues like this). In this case, they should just swallow the bitter pill of pulling this hardware rather than having this catastrophe on their hands. Still by above argument I stay optimistic, hope that this is software issue and just gets fixed by next firmware.

Another $0.02: Cnet's review of Asus RT-AC68U paints a different picture: they have logged USB 3.0 read speeds of 53 MB/s + in a similar set up (wired LAN to USB). I wonder who's readings are more reliable.

Netgear R7000 doesn't seem to be a choice for me: I've been down the path of using a superior hardware with pathetic software support: I feel one is better off with even a slightly inferior hardware that has better support. An example: both companies give personal cloud feature: Netgear's ReadyShare app that costs couple of bucks hasn't been updated in play store for more than 2 years, with 2 star average rating, while Asus aiCloud *free* app is regularly updated with 4 star average rating. Similarly, my 2 year old ageing Asus router is still getting new firmwares with new features every now and then, Netgear isn't known to be that proficient here as well.

Asus has to get its act together to pull through this one!

 

[Ziggy]

Wao, official support directly weighing in, this has to be important

Indeed. As a consumer/owner of their product/s, it's nice to know they are listening.

This will be my first ASUS product so manufacturer feedback is always a big plus. Almost purchased the NETGEAR R7000, but held-off when I saw ASUS post here.

 

[PCTools]

Bad decision. I would put my money netgear.


Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4

 

[Razor512]

From my experience, smallnetbuilder seems to offer the most accurate results, they likely have a much better team working on reviewing the products here, than what places like cnet would have.

For most of my routers, I have been able to consistently get higher results than what cnet reported.

small net builder results have almost always been reflected in real world use, at least for me.

 

[Ziggy]

From my experience, smallnetbuilder seems to offer the most accurate results, they likely have a much better team working on reviewing the products here, than what places like cnet would have.

For most of my routers, I have been able to consistently get higher results than what cnet reported.

small net builder results have almost always been reflected in real world use, at least for me.

I want to get user feedback when the new ASUS firmware is applied. Previously preferred Linksys, but they they became so vague about their own forum feedback on matters.

 

[waqarz]

Confused about the review

Tim Higgins' review had another confusing aspect for me related to disabling USB 3.0 interference:

"I tried multiple times to get the tests to run, but each time the router share would disconnect"

As his testbed is using wired LAN (and not 2.4GHz Wifi), there is no wireless link involved in this test, so what gets disconnected..? The only known interference effects are the detrimental effects of USB 3.0 on 2.4 GHz Wifi, not the other way around (i.e. I haven't seen any studies done that say 2.4 GHz radio could in any way disrupt USB 3.0). The end to end system involving two wired hops (gigabit wired LAN cable and a USB 3.0 cable) should just work just fine in spite of USB 3.0's interference to 2.4 GHz radio. This may be a bug in the software.

But then why was there a USB Interference option in the software in the first place... there is something wrong but cant seem to nail it down...

 

[PCTools]

Found this...

http://mclego.com/products.php?product=Netgear-Nighthawk-AC1900-Dual-Band-WiFi-Gigabit-Router-%28R7000%252d100PAS%29

 

[thiggins]

As his testbed is using wired LAN (and not 2.4GHz Wifi), there is no wireless link involved in this test, so what gets disconnected..?

What happens is that Windows reports that the share becomes disconnected.

It is possible that other USB drives and cables would work fine at 3.0 speeds. But with the same setup that I use with other products, the ASUS can't finish the test.

 

[RMerlin]

But then why was there a USB Interference option in the software in the first place... there is something wrong but cant seem to nail it down...

The same option exists on my RT-AC56U, and it didn't have any problem hitting close to 50 MB/s when I did some transfer tests a few months ago. It's possible that this option is for some USB 3.0 devices that are poorly shielded or have a poorly shielded cable, causing interference on its own, rather than for the router itself.

 

[thiggins]

The same option exists on my RT-AC56U, and it didn't have any problem hitting close to 50 MB/s when I did some transfer tests a few months ago. It's possible that this option is for some USB 3.0 devices that are poorly shielded or have a poorly shielded cable, causing interference on its own, rather than for the router itself.

The AC56U USB 3.0 connector is shielded. See the 4th photo down here
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...32120-inside-story-asus-rt-ac56u-and-rt-ac68u

 

[RMerlin]

The AC56U USB 3.0 connector is shielded. See the 4th photo down here
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...32120-inside-story-asus-rt-ac56u-and-rt-ac68u

I know (my RT-AC56U spent weeks half-dismantled on my table). Just pointing out that this option wasn't added just to satisfy the lack of a visible shield on the AC68U, as it's present on other devices that do have a shield.

 

[Clive.B]

Just wanted to say thx, been doing some checking into the new netgear/asus routers, mainly for future proofing myself when I get a better bb connection but also to provide OpenVPN client support with my existing VPN provider.

Had no idea netgears own client had openvpn support, but it lacks dual core support... guess this maybe openvpn software that needs cpu optimizing for 2 or more cores ?

Either way it is good to see few guys getting ok to good speeds even with openVPN and R7000, maybe with newer firmwares and more openvpn releases it may add up.

I was using a Asus NT-R16 that simply died today, no power light ! posted question here:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?p=86267#post86267

Anyhow got me thinking with all the stability and slowness of tomato firmware not always fully connecting and generally being bit problematic with openvpn clients ( I change here and there) I think someone suggest pfsense + mini pc is best route, may proove better to spend more money and this way your router is much more powerful, faster then anything on the market and pfsense looks better then tomato/ddwrt !

 

[Shikami]

Had no idea netgears own client had openvpn support, but it lacks dual core support

IIRC, this was on third party firmware. So, there may be a difference between the firmwares, since factory firmware does not support telnet.

If you need more umph, then total cost of ownership may necessitate pfSense. Personally I would have done that long ago, but is not necessary at all for me. I must admit though that the R7000 has been by far my favorite router to ever use.

 

[Razor512]

While it sucks that the r7000 is not using both cores for VPN, the speeds it is able to get is faster than most internet connections (at least in the US) and when on the go, 39-41mbit/s is pretty good for most uses, even if your internet connection is faster.

Still wouldn't hurt though, to have them optimize every feature to be as fast as it can be on the current hardware.

 

[Clive.B]

oh see about 3rd party firmware, yeah I just am thinking at this point in time while its nice to get a router for low power and great speeds, a dedicated pfsense build router has no limits, makes sense in the long run. Was even thinking the expansion options are excellent and if something dies replace just the 1 part not everything... software easily managed also.

And I agree it would be awesome if they can optimised and tweek it all for the max performance, this is where they need to concentrate on good hardware is nothing without good software.

 

[Clive.B]

While it sucks that the r7000 is not using both cores for VPN, the speeds it is able to get is faster than most internet connections (at least in the US) and when on the go, 39-41mbit/s is pretty good for most uses, even if your internet connection is faster.

Still wouldn't hurt though, to have them optimize every feature to be as fast as it can be on the current hardware.

I was going to ask is it possible to find out what the difference is with a naked internet connection vs OpenVPN connection ?

Ie, test download/upload speed with normal internet and then re-run it again with openvpn client. Maybe speedtest website for a quick test please.

 

[Ziggy]

Thanks and Purchased!

Today, I opted for the NETGEAR R7000 that I purchased from my local big box electronics store. The store clerk had returned his New Apple AirPort Extreme for the same unit and there was another patron pursuing around eventually purchasing one too (the store employees had hidden the units), leaving two left.

Anyway, setup was easy, but the unit is bloody big! Surprisingly, it runs cooler than the Linksys it replaces. The only LED light that spoils the lengthy lineup on the cover is the port light for my AT&T microcell that remains a solid amber...oh well, I understand it's because the microcell runs at a lower speed (amber 10/100Mbps, clear 1000Mbps).

On the plus side it was quick to set up and has wall mounting ability (no wall fasteners are included; it requires two). There is a definitive on/off push button. Nice.

Special thanks to Tim Higgins for his initial review and to others here as I weighted my purchase decision on this website's feedback.

 

[Razor512]

I was going to ask is it possible to find out what the difference is with a naked internet connection vs OpenVPN connection ?

Ie, test download/upload speed with normal internet and then re-run it again with openvpn client. Maybe speedtest website for a quick test please.

in my case, it will not be a useful test since outside of a VPN the R7000 is able to do nearly full gigabit speeds, If a user has something like a 25/25 connection then the VPN will not lower the throughput.

I did the testing locally R7000 behind another router because my WAN connection will not do enough to reach the full speed of the VPN server.

if you need the full WAN speed, then check out the review that Tim did.

 

[Sky1111]

in my case, it will not be a useful test since outside of a VPN the R7000 is able to do nearly full gigabit speeds, If a user has something like a 25/25 connection then the VPN will not lower the throughput.

I did the testing locally R7000 behind another router because my WAN connection will not do enough to reach the full speed of the VPN server.

if you need the full WAS speed, then check out the review that Tim did.

You overestimate R7000 in regards to OpenVPN client... we are talking about real world test with VPN provider like Private Internet Access or alike...