AC66U to AX88U

[onemoreguitar]

Hey guys. only new here. Came across this looking for info on an AX88U that I just bought and am questioning whether it was a wise choice.

I currently have an AC66U which I've had for a number of years. I live in Australia so the wired internet speed isn't much to write home about. I can get around 80-90mb download on a good day. The problem I'm having is that I run a VPN for streaming and I've found the speed hit too much. My 80 goes down to max 10 and even to 1.

Since the power button on my AC66U recently stopped staying in and is currently being held in with tape, I've been wanting to get a new router. If my current one is sufficient to do the task and I just don't have it set up best, please let me know as I've got no problem not spending the extra money and using my current one with the taped down button if it'll do the task. That being said, I went out today and uncharacteristically bought an AX88U, without doing a mountain of research, although it didn't fell right and I haven't opened it yet. If it's the best option for me, I'll have it up and running in short order.

I'd like my router to run my VPN constantly without sacrificing all my limited speed. I live in a 2 story house and the router is placed in just about the worst position possible being the front left bottom corner of the the house. I can get fairly consistent, if not fast, 2.4GHz signal in the rear right top corner of the house, so the farthest point, but 5GHz is a no go. I use the 5GHz connection for my main home theater although I should probably just wire them as they're plenty close enough, and I use the 2.4 for everything else for the longer range. I currently find that the VPN connection drops in speed to nothing, locks up, and has to be reset regularly. With the extra speed drop from not being right next to the router, you're effectively not connected to the internet although the the connection to the router is intact.

I bought the AX88U mainly because of the processor which I hoped would up my VPN speed and possibly increase my 5GHz range, although it's probably overkill.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[L&LD]

Hey guys. only new here. Came across this looking for info on an AX88U that I just bought and am questioning whether it was a wise choice.

I currently have an AC66U which I've had for a number of years. I live in Australia so the wired internet speed isn't much to write home about. I can get around 80-90mb download on a good day. The problem I'm having is that I run a VPN for streaming and I've found the speed hit too much. My 80 goes down to max 10 and even to 1.

Since the power button on my AC66U recently stopped staying in and is currently being held in with tape, I've been wanting to get a new router. If my current one is sufficient to do the task and I just don't have it set up best, please let me know as I've got no problem not spending the extra money and using my current one with the taped down button if it'll do the task. That being said, I went out today and uncharacteristically bought an AX88U, without doing a mountain of research, although it didn't fell right and I haven't opened it yet. If it's the best option for me, I'll have it up and running in short order.

I'd like my router to run my VPN constantly without sacrificing all my limited speed. I live in a 2 story house and the router is placed in just about the worst position possible being the front left bottom corner of the the house. I can get fairly consistent, if not fast, 2.4GHz signal in the rear right top corner of the house, so the farthest point, but 5GHz is a no go. I use the 5GHz connection for my main home theater although I should probably just wire them as they're plenty close enough, and I use the 2.4 for everything else for the longer range. I currently find that the VPN connection drops in speed to nothing, locks up, and has to be reset regularly. With the extra speed drop from not being right next to the router, you're effectively not connected to the internet although the the connection to the router is intact.

I bought the AX88U mainly because of the processor which I hoped would up my VPN speed and possibly increase my 5GHz range, although it's probably overkill.

Thanks for the help in advance.

If you have a return policy (even after it's opened) I would go ahead and test it with the latest Asus official firmware.

Make sure that after flashing to the version you want to test with, do a full M&M Config (see my signature below for details) to start off the router in a good/known state. I actually would recommend that even if you do this with the as-shipped firmware to do a full M&M Config too. You just don't know what the router went through on its way to you.

If you do decide that the RMerlin firmware is what you need, the full M&M Config is also recommended after flashing RMerlin's firmware too.

If none of the above are applicable, the RT-AC86U has the same VPN performance (same chips) as the RT-AX88U and proved itself to be superior to the RT-AC3100 in WiFi range and throughput in my testing (very recently) with RMerlin's release 384.10 firmware (non-beta).

 

[onemoreguitar]

Thanks heaps for the quick reply. There isn't a good return policy. Store credit or exchange once I remove the shrink wrap.

Am I correct in thinking my AC66U isn't up to the task?

I looked for the AC86U. I think it's the AC88U here in Australia. It's about 30% cheaper than the AX88U. From the short time I've spent pouring over the forums, I think, in my situation, the main advantage of the AX over the AC is the processor and the 5GHz range. Is that correct?

 

[Hawk]

Thanks heaps for the quick reply. There isn't a good return policy. Store credit or exchange once I remove the shrink wrap.

Am I correct in thinking my AC66U isn't up to the task?

I looked for the AC86U. I think it's the AC88U here in Australia. It's about 30% cheaper than the AX88U. From the short time I've spent pouring over the forums, I think, in my situation, the main advantage of the AX over the AC is the processor and the 5GHz range. Is that correct?

If you want to use vpn, go with rt-ac86u or rt-ax88u, both of them perform excellent and have vpn accelerator build right in to them. Rt-AC88u is good as well but it lacks vpn accelerator.

 

[Dave Parker]

If you haven't removed the shrink wrap yet then definitely return and get the AC86U. It should meet your needs and save some $$$.