Asus R3200, or should one wait for R5300 (and if so, why?)

[Bamsefar]

So I have just to many problems with my 5G radio in my AC87. I have dropouts, disconnections and a lot of not working communication. It come so far that I have moved ALL devices to 2.4GHz band only - and I just can't get 5GHz to work stable.

And then there is that problem with OpenVPN which never works for me, not to mention that OpenVPN Server 2 starts TWO processes instead of one...

So I thought I do it easy for me, the R3200 seems to be a better router. And I was just about to get one, except now there is that R5300 on the horizon. I don't realy see the point with the R5300, however I thought I ask before I get me a R3200.

Any comments? or ideas?

 

[NightOwl326]

So I have just to many problems with my 5G radio in my AC87. I have dropouts, disconnections and a lot of not working communication. It come so far that I have moved ALL devices to 2.4GHz band only - and I just can't get 5GHz to work stable.

And then there is that problem with OpenVPN which never works for me, not to mention that OpenVPN Server 2 starts TWO processes instead of one...

So I thought I do it easy for me, the R3200 seems to be a better router. And I was just about to get one, except now there is that R5300 on the horizon. I don't realy see the point with the R5300, however I thought I ask before I get me a R3200.

Any comments? or ideas?

Most likely $100.00 difference between the 2 should help decide and the 3200 is mostly stable now and matured.

 

[sfx2000]

Or wait for the RT-AC3100/RT-AC88U... which will probably replace both the 68U and 87U at the 68U pricepoint...

 

[thiggins]

Any comments? or ideas?

If you want to stick with ASUS, get an RT-AC68. AC1900 is the most stable class right now.

Why do you think the RT-AC3200 is a better router?

The R5300 will have Broadcom's first 4x4 MU-MIMO radios. Sure to be another science experiment.

Still can't figure out why you guys enjoy the pain....

 

[bodean]

If you want to stick with ASUS, get an RT-AC68. AC1900 is the most stable class right now.

Why do you think the RT-AC3200 is a better router?

The R5300 will have Broadcom's first 4x4 MU-MIMO radios. Sure to be another science experiment.

Still can't figure out why you guys enjoy the pain....

Interesting. I went from an AC68 to the AC87. But you are saying the AC1900 is the most stable right now?

 

[thiggins]

Broadcom-based AC1900 technology is tried and true and the most mature. In switching to the AC87, you moved to a relative unknown, Quantenna for 5 GHz and a more complicated internal architecture. What did that get you?

Yes, I'm saying, yet again, that AC1900 is the best bang for the buck right now and maybe even for the next year.

The next candidate for most stable platform will be QCA-based AC2600 class. But it's still early days for it, with only two routers out so far (Linksys EA8500 and Amped Wireless RTA2600).

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, I'm saying, yet again, that AC1900 is the best bang for the buck right now and maybe even for the next year.

The next candidate for most stable platform will be QCA-based AC2600 class. But it's still early days for it, with only two routers out so far (Linksys EA8500 and Amped Wireless RTA2600).

Completely agree here - AC1900 pretty much has all of the key elements of 802.11ac - and considering where the client space is at present - a vast majority of AC clients are single or dual stream (I would hazard that over 60 percent overall is single stream in mobile phones, IMHO)...

AC3200 is AC1900 with an extra AC1300 3*3:3 radio added on, so little benefit there.

AC2600 - I think there is tangible benefit for SU clients as the extra radio and spatial stream do provide a small boost (not as much of a boost that 3 spatial streams provided, but about 25 percent at a given range), and MU will provide some capacity improvements - there's also better scheduling/traffic management because of MU-MIMO needs that will help with some applications, even for non-MU clients, but that is more implementation "secret sauce" by the Chipset vendors...

AC1900, as Tim Higgins mentioned - it really is the sweet spot for performance at present - as AC2600 becomes more common on the high end, AC1900 prices will like come down even more into the value segment...

 

[Bamsefar]

Broadcom-based AC1900 technology is tried and true and the most mature. In switching to the AC87, you moved to a relative unknown, Quantenna for 5 GHz and a more complicated internal architecture. What did that get you?

More problems than I liked.

I realy liked my old RT56, however I thought a Netgear R7000 would be something worth to own - oboy was I wrong. Not even with DD-WRT (Kong) was it acceptable, back then - it may work today I simply don't know.

Some days I like to test things, so I thought Asus 87 would be better than R7000 - and AssuWRT is superior to Netgear/DD-WRT in my mind. The hardware though, in th form of the AC87, is not good.

So I thought, let's play on a R3200 - it seems to be a better product than the 87 - and not old like the AC68..... Might be wrong here, from your comments at least....

 

[Jerry12]

If you want to stick with ASUS, get an RT-AC68. AC1900 is the most stable class right now.

Why do you think the RT-AC3200 is a better router?

The R5300 will have Broadcom's first 4x4 MU-MIMO radios. Sure to be another science experiment.

Still can't figure out why you guys enjoy the pain....

I wish I knew this before buying an RT-AC3200 (following an SRE friend's recommendation).

How can people discover this ahead of time? Small Net Builder Router Chooser makes RT-AC3200 look good.

(Edit: SRE = data center Site Reliability Engineer.)

 

[sfx2000]

So I thought, let's play on a R3200 - it seems to be a better product than the 87 - and not old like the AC68..... Might be wrong here, from your comments at least....

Don't want to play this card...

The RT-AC87U is a great 2.4Ghz N450 (N600 if you count TurboQAM) device in 2.4GHz mode once the problematic QTN QSR1000 5GHz radio is discounted...

The RT-AC3200 - take away the second 5Ghz AC1300 radio, and one ends up with an AC1900 device - aka RT-AC68U.. so maybe the RT-AC68U is a better buy - the clients will get exactly the same performance in any case.

AC1900 devices are the place to be for the next few months - I do believe that AC2600 (4*4:4 and MU) will be the next upper tier...

 

[sm00thpapa]

Stick with an AC1900 router for at least the next year so they can work all the bugs out on their beta routers.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Tim nailed it. Take his advice.

 

[HiDEF]

Been following this thread so I was wondering why the 68U over the 68P? I know the P is just a bump in processor some minor updates; however, is the U still better built?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[thiggins]

How can people discover this ahead of time? Small Net Builder Router Chooser makes RT-AC3200 look good.

The Chooser is not a substitute for an actual review. It's intended to provide an idea of the performance to expect from a particular class of router.

That said, the technology in AC3200 class routers, aside from Smart Connect, is pretty solid. It's basically the same Broadcom stuff you get in Broadcom based AC1900 class products. The main difference is the coprocessor in the Radio SoC that frees the main processor up from all Wi-Fi packet processing.

But you're paying a significant premium for a second 5 GHz radio that you might not need if you don't have a lot of devices simultaneously sucking up 5 GHz bandwidth.

Bigger numbers on the box don't necessarily mean better wireless range or performance. They're marketing tools meant to suck in buyers who don't know better.

Stick around SmallNetBuilder and you'll always get the straight poop.

 

[sfx2000]

Bigger numbers on the box don't necessarily mean better wireless range or performance. They're marketing tools meant to suck in buyers who don't know better.

Stick around SmallNetBuilder and you'll always get the straight poop.

Amen..

 

[sm00thpapa]

Hence the Asus fanboys preaching the AC87U is the best router on the market since sliced bread. It's also the most returned router at Best Buy. Worthless when the Asus AC2600 hits the market. The same way the E8350 is dead since the EA8500 hits shelves.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[gschra11]

I have to say I disagree. As a AC87U owner, I can tell you that my primary concern was overall network performance, not focusing strictly on the wireless. If I am in need of performance and speed, I'm running Ethernet cables to devices, not relying upon wireless communications which seem to drop, fade, get disrupted by thunderstorms or neighbors that all have WiFi devices, too. There are too many electronics and wireless devices out there (i.e. cell phones, iPads, XBoxes, Chromecasts, home appliances and now even cars) that can stumble on top of each other to make any wireless communication bullet proof. Something is always interfering or blocking something. Trying to figure out why WiFi doesn't work is an exercise in patience, to say the least, no matter what the router is.

The AC87U has a faster processor than the AC3200 or the AC68U. If you don't need traffic monitoring or more advanced routing features, the hardware NAT capabilities of the router are about as nice as you can get for a consumer-grade router. I consistently pull down 650 Mbps from Google Fiber and can usually push out more than 700. That's considering that all of the parental controls and DNS filtering features are all on. These wired speeds wouldn't be possible on the 3200 or the AC68U.

It may very well be that the wireless performance of the AC87U is subpar compared to other routers. To be honest, I'm not super thrilled with it, but for my network it was the obvious choice. Wired was priority, wireless was only for lower-priority devices. Truthfully, if I was that concerned about wireless performance, I would have ended up with a wired-only router and tied it to a separate wireless access point.

In a way, it's like saying a Toyota Prius is a sluggish, ugly car unworthy of anybody's consideration. Well, there are certain groups of people that care about getting 50 MPG and are willing to sacrifice other opportunity costs in order to get it.

Nothing is one-size fits all.

 

[RMerlin]

The AC87U has a faster processor than the AC3200

They both use the same BCM4709 @ 1 GHz.

 

[gschra11]

Well I have egg on my face.

So, yes, looking this up they have the same processor. I incorrectly recollected that the AC87U has a faster 5GHz capability than the 3200, just that the 3200 has two 5GHz radios for lots of devices.

Oh well. Didn't need two 5GHz radios anyways.

 

[aublumberg]

I consistently pull down 650 Mbps from Google Fiber and can usually push out more than 700. That's considering that all of the parental controls and DNS filtering features are all on. These wired speeds wouldn't be possible on the 3200.

Not quite http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/4645967616