All, I have been an experienced IT user for many years and cannot believe how many people are still saying how great the merlin firmware is! Compared with the ASUS firmware, the merlin firmware is buggy, slow and intermittent. The new ASUS firmware is like lightning and has fixed many issues including increasing download speed via FTTC - please note this is not just the 5Ghz issues but 2.4 also. I appreciate the homebrew nature of the few extra features, but for anyone looking for solid, stable connections - please do not waste your time with the merlin firmware, head straight for ASUS firmware. I wish there were a significant number of voices on here stating this previously to save me the toil of messing with the Merlin FW over the last couple of weeks.