AC87U considered "stable" now?

[Muyfa666]

I'm thinking about getting a AC87U. I read there were some initial bugs and hiccups.

What's the current status? Is the AC87U considered a good buy with the current firmware updates?

 

[Haggster]

I'm thinking about getting a AC87U. I read there were some initial bugs and hiccups.

What's the current status? Is the AC87U considered a good buy with the current firmware updates?

Not yet. MU-MIMO is still not activated by default in the official stable firmeware. However according to reports of testers its finally working without issues for the 5GHz band in the preview builds that have been released over the last couple of weeks. I.e. it seems that it will finally be stable with the next official firmware update based on the work of said preview builds.

So once that is released it will take some weeks and then there should be a Merlin firmware with these improvements available.

(if I am wrong, please correct me, but the above is what I have observed from checking the relevant forums recently)

 

[Muyfa666]

I see... semi-good news then at least. I guess I'll proably get one then, seeing as the major issues are looking to get solved in the close future.

 

[jevel]

I've been using this as my main router since april, and the only major issues I've had with it is that my older MacBook Pro keeps losing connectivity on 5 GHz. The newer MacBook Pro has no issues. My clients are mixed Apple devices (MacBooks, iPads and iPhones), a few Windows computers and android tablets / phones. Most clients are from 2012 to date.

Previously I used the RT-AC68U, and I had far more trouble with earlier FW versions on that unit than I had on the RT-AC87U.

YMMV.

-KJ

 

[highwire]

I have been using an RT-AC87U for about seven months now. I don't consider the F/W to be stable yet. As mentioned in previous posts, MU-MIMO is missing and that was supposed to be a big selling point of this router. The WAN traffic statistics have never worked properly for me with either the stock firmware or Merlin's firmware, and for those of us with data usage caps this is a pretty important thing to be not working. I have also had issues with the stability of the 5GHz radio system in the past with reboots (not the entire router, just the 5GHz SoC), and times when the Quantenna SoC would not recover until I forced a reboot of the entire router. When/if the remaining issues are solved, I think it has the potential to be a great router.

Edit: I forgot to mention that multicast support for Apple products (i.e., AirPlay) with media bridges or access points has been really troublesome with this router, though it seems to be working (more or less) with the latest firmware (it may also be that I enabled IGMP snooping/multicasting).

 

[TonyH]

I'm thinking about getting a AC87U. I read there were some initial bugs and hiccups.

What's the current status? Is the AC87U considered a good buy with the current firmware updates?

I had the router for couple weeks, chickened out from the router due to too warm running temp. I think using thermal pad was a mistake on the heat sinking. Running Linksys EA8500 now. Simplistic firmware but temp. is just luke warm. I am not a heavy user but so far no issues for me since day 1.

 

[RMerlin]

Asus are doing a lot of development lately specific to the RT-AC87U, including upgrading to a newer Quantenna SDK. Expect a lot of changes in the very near future for this particular model, with weekly beta firmwares finding their way online.

 

[Muyfa666]

Asus are doing a lot of development lately specific to the RT-AC87U, including upgrading to a newer Quantenna SDK. Expect a lot of changes in the very near future for this particular model, with weekly beta firmwares finding their way online.

Great. And no real hardware issues either?

 

[RMerlin]

Great. And no real hardware issues either?

I wouldn't know. My own RT-AC87U has been running 24/7 since last year, without any issue. A few users reported their 5 GHz radios died, some reported having stability issues until they added active cooling. So your mileage may vary - it's hard to tell if this is common or just happens to very few users.

 

[Muyfa666]

I guess those kind of things fall under warranty anyway. I ordered one. Hope it's ok

 

[elorimer]

I almost pulled the trigger on one when Newegg had refurbs for $150 earlier in the week. Now $180. On the theory that a bunch of folks might have returned them when they experienced some of the teething pains, without there being real problems.

 

[Dalle]

I bought my second RT-AC87U, last week. The first one has been up and running for about 4 months now. I never had any issues and it just got better with Merlin WRT.

I have been through various brands as LinkSYS, DLink, Cisco etc. over the last 10 years, and the RT-AC87U is ultimately the best and most stable router I have ever owned.

I am now running a 2xRT-AC87U facilitating a site-2-site OpenVPN+RSYNC-RSNAPSHOT+media server+MySQL server + and full TV streaming 24/7. Never had issues. And believe me! I am a heavy user.

I rate it 10/10 compared to other SOHO routers out there. Remember to donate for Software provided by Merlin. It just makes the router even more sweet to own.

Have a nice summer gentlemen, peace out!

Br, Daniel / Denmark

 

[Muyfa666]

I shortly tried a Airport Extreme before ordering the AC87U. Haha. What a piece of junk that was. ;-)

 

[highwire]

I shortly tried a Airport Extreme before ordering the AC87U. Haha. What a piece of junk that was. ;-)

I'm with you on this one! My AEBS lasted two days for being returned. At that time, I replaced it with a Cisco/Linksys E3000 - for the money and loaded with Tomato Shibby, it was an excellent 2x2 router.

 

[W4RH34D]

It's a great consumer market home router. It doesn't even buckle when I used it with 30+ clients going. It really is a powerhouse in that regard.

 

[hasuboy]

I'm thinking about getting a AC87U. I read there were some initial bugs and hiccups.

What's the current status? Is the AC87U considered a good buy with the current firmware updates?

I used AC87U more than 6 months. In my case, I always use my iphone6p connected to 5Ghz band, and the connectivity has been unstable. There are a lot of people have same issue in this forum, but also have many people say there's no issue. I think everyone's environment is different, and use different wireless client, so there will be different results. Other aspects, i didn't found any major issue. If ASUS can solve the 5Ghz issue, then it will be a perfect routers, after all, it is an AC router, in many case its 5Ghz band is more important than 2.4Ghz band. The above is for reference only.

 

[Muyfa666]

I noticed that Asus just released Beta v3.0.0.4.378.7410. Seems to have some 5Ghz fix.

 

[Dalle]

I noticed that Asus just released Beta v3.0.0.4.378.7410. Seems to have some 5Ghz fix.

Weeeeeeeee!

 

[Muyfa666]

Japan only for now, but good news nontheless

 

[wfhmaster]

Stability seems to be hit or miss. I have pretty basic settings/config yet after 20-30days from resetting/flashing with a fresh firmware it starts dying daily, completely bricked (all ports and wifi) until the power is pulled and plugged back in. I set it up on a wall timer to restart nightly and it's mostly stable, but still has failures and strange behavior from time to time. I would try an RMA unit as support has suggested but this is my only router at the moment, so I can't. Be prepared if you're one of the unlucky ones...