ASUS RT-AC5300

[joe012594]

Email support and see if they have a part number to order a replacement - you really want a direct OEM replacement antenna considering how all the antennas work together on this device...

I tried contacting ASUS support and asking. The guy on the phone said I'd have to send in the entire unit. I asked if they would just send the one antenna and that I'd even pay for it and the shipping. He wouldn't budge. I told him sending in the entire thing wasn't necessary as all I need is the one detachable antenna. He continued to refuse, which got me really frustrated. I pointed out the fact that they sold other router models' detachable antennas on their estore site and he said, "We only sell antennas for older models that no longer have warranty on them. Not the newer models." I asked, "Why the hell not?!" He responded with, "The N66U is the latest model we'll sell antennas for. They can be used on newer models as well, such as the AC66U and AC68U, as they're all the same antennas." I continued with, "Oh, I see now. You guys make more money by telling people with perfectly fine in-warranty routers that they have to send it all in so you can charge for labor, time, and completely unnecessary evaluations, even though all they need is one simple antenna replacement, correct?" He followed up with, "That is correct, sir. If you need a new antenna, you'll have to send in the entire unit." So, I cancelled the RMA and went to Amazon and ordered 8 new 6dBi antennas. Link below.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9DN2D6/?tag=snbforums-20

 

[L&LD]

I tried contacting ASUS support and asking. The guy on the phone said I'd have to send in the entire unit. I asked if they would just send the one antenna and that I'd even pay for it and the shipping. He wouldn't budge. I told him sending in the entire thing wasn't necessary as all I need is the one detachable antenna. He continued to refuse, which got me really frustrated. I pointed out the fact that they sold other router models' detachable antennas on their estore site and he said, "We only sell antennas for older models that no longer have warranty on them. Not the newer models." I asked, "Why the hell not?!" He responded with, "The N66U is the latest model we'll sell antennas for. They can be used on newer models as well, such as the AC66U and AC68U, as they're all the same antennas." I continued with, "Oh, I see now. You guys make more money by telling people with perfectly fine in-warranty routers that they have to send it all in so you can charge for labor, time, and completely unnecessary evaluations, even though all they need is one simple antenna replacement, correct?" He followed up with, "That is correct, sir. If you need a new antenna, you'll have to send in the entire unit." So, I cancelled the RMA and went to Amazon and ordered 8 new 6dBi antennas. Link below.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9DN2D6/?tag=snbforums-20

I'd still be getting the drunk 'friend' to buy a new router for me.

Curious though how these antennae will fare.

 

[sfx2000]

I tried contacting ASUS support and asking. The guy on the phone said I'd have to send in the entire unit. I asked if they would just send the one antenna and that I'd even pay for it and the shipping. He wouldn't budge. I told him sending in the entire thing wasn't necessary as all I need is the one detachable antenna. He continued to refuse, which got me really frustrated. I pointed out the fact that they sold other router models' detachable antennas on their estore site and he said, "We only sell antennas for older models that no longer have warranty on them. Not the newer models."

That's insane - things break, but still... it's a removable part...

 

[joe012594]

I'd still be getting the drunk 'friend' to buy a new router for me.

Curious though how these antennae will fare.

The drunk family member decided to buy my AC3200 off of me for $200 as an "I'm sorry" so I'll accept that and just be happy with the new antennas I bought from Amazon. Lol!

 

[joe012594]

That's insane - things break, but still... it's a removable part...

IKR? My thoughts exactly. I mean, if they want proof, I have no issue sending the antenna in question. It's not like I'm lying about something so minuscule. It's whatever though. Maybe the higher gain antennas will be better than stock. They should be arriving on the 8th. I'll post results once I get them. In the meantime, enjoy some snapshots of the broken antenna. ;D

 

[L&LD]

The drunk family member decided to buy my AC3200 off of me for $200 as an "I'm sorry" so I'll accept that and just be happy with the new antennas I bought from Amazon. Lol!

Let him/her know that this isn't a 'sale'. When you need it back, they'll have to give it to you, pronto!

 

[joe012594]

Let him/her know that this isn't a 'sale'. When you need it back, they'll have to give it to you, pronto!

I won't need the AC3200 back. One triband router is enough. I will, however, start all family dinner table conversations off with, "Hey. Remember that time you cost me $450? Good times, huh?" Lol!

 

[joe012594]

Got the new antennas early. They arrived just a little while ago. I gotta say, I think I like these antennas better than the stock antennas. It makes the router look less bulky. I'll see how the wireless behaves and post results later.

 

[sfx2000]

Got the new antennas early. They arrived just a little while ago. I gotta say, I think I like these antennas better than the stock antennas. It makes the router look less bulky. I'll see how the wireless behaves and post results later.

Aesthetically they're a bit nicer...

However, the RF engineer in me worries a little bit about near-field interference impacting performance across the different RF chains (energy off Radio 1, Tx1 feeds back on Radio 1, Tx 2/3/4) - so if you see some performance issues because of the higher gain antennas, drop power down a bit to around 75 percent and see if that helps... radio-wise, this is a fairly complex device compared to the RT-AC88U/RT-AC3100..

 

[joe012594]

Aesthetically they're a bit nicer...

However, the RF engineer in me worries a little bit about near-field interference impacting performance across the different RF chains (energy off Radio 1, Tx1 feeds back on Radio 1, Tx 2/3/4) - so if you see some performance issues because of the higher gain antennas, drop power down a bit to around 75 percent and see if that helps... radio-wise, this is a fairly complex device compared to the RT-AC88U/RT-AC3100..

I've been having some weird wireless anomalies. There have been a few random drops and the 2.4GHz radio completely shut itself down, which forced me to reboot the router. Not quite sure if it's because of the new antennas, because I'm using the latest alpha firmware, or if there's actual damage to the internals. On the other hand, I'm seeing better signal quality over both 5GHz bands and especially over 2.4GHz. If you're willing, would you like to remotely access the router and check things out?

 

[sfx2000]

If you're willing, would you like to remotely access the router and check things out?

Thx for offering, but I would rather not - but try turning down power a tad and see if that helps...

Could be the alpha-level firmware, so perhaps roll back/revert to the current production release.

 

[joe012594]

Thx for offering, but I would rather not - but try turning down power a tad and see if that helps...

Could be the alpha-level firmware, so perhaps roll back/revert to the current production release.

I'll try the power settings first. If that doesn't help, I'll roll back to 380_1355 and see how that goes. I'll report back in 24hrs. Thanks for the assistance!

 

[joe012594]

It's been 24hrs and everything is running smooth on 380_1680. I did a full factory reset, reconfigured manually, and made sure not to enable MU-MIMO. Apparently, there's a bug in the latest alpha firmware that causes wireless instability and band steering conflicts with Smart Connect. I left it disabled and everything started working as normal. Only other issues I'm seeing are GUI related, which has to due with the firmware and not hardware. So I'll just need to wait for an update.

Now, with the new antennas, I'm seeing a decent boost in overall signal strength and quality. My Apple Watch in my room, while charging and stationary, was getting 1/4 bars. It's now fluctuating between 2/4 and 3/4 bars and maxing out its data rate at 72Mbps. I also have an RT-AC68U as a media bridge and that went from 3/4 to 4/4 bars and holding steady. The data rate before was between 866 and 1053Mbps. It's now maxed out 1300Mbps. The new antennas have definitely made a noticeable improvement in overall quality, so I'm happy.

 

[dsquared2]

Anyone have this RT-Ac5300 and know of its performance vs the RT-AC3200? Having weird issues with my RT-AC3200, my iPod can be ten feet away and get connection errors in Clash of Clans but on any other router I go on in my day to day it works just fine. Also, coverage is kinda sucky.

 

[L&LD]

Anyone have this RT-Ac5300 and know of its performance vs the RT-AC3200? Having weird issues with my RT-AC3200, my iPod can be ten feet away and get connection errors in Clash of Clans but on any other router I go on in my day to day it works just fine. Also, coverage is kinda sucky.

Depending on the options used, it will be equivalent or better.

Try different channels. Use new ssid's on the router (you can reuse the same password).

 

[Puppa]

I had some problems I couldn't overcome on the 3200, and they were immediately solved with the 5300, with equivalent settings. I've had it for over 10 weeks now and no regrets.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[manilla]

Anyone have this RT-Ac5300 and know of its performance vs the RT-AC3200? Having weird issues with my RT-AC3200, my iPod can be ten feet away and get connection errors in Clash of Clans but on any other router I go on in my day to day it works just fine. Also, coverage is kinda sucky.

I tested two of the AC3200's for several weeks (Amazon Christmas deal) before I returned them and ordered the AC5300, they worked well, but in the 2,4GHZ frequency my AC66U had better signal range.
I suggest to update to the last available version of firmware, when updated press the reset button for more than 5 sec !!!
I had no any issues like yours when used the AC3200.

I'm testing the AC5300 nearly 4 weeks now and I'm very happy with this great router.
Firmware version 1680, no issiues in the case you are doing the reset after any firmwareupdate;-)
All in all, the range of all three frequencies is better than AC3200's. I think I will keep this great router!

 

[passerby]

I had a minor issue with one of SMA connectors, so I replaced a router. It arrived with 3.0.0.4.380_630 firmware, which to my surprise is much stable than all others I had in previous router (maybe because of SMA connector issue). Anyway, I want to upgrade, but want to have the ability to roll back just in case. So the question is: does anyone have 3.0.0.4.380_630 version somewhere and can share?

Thanks!

 

[Puppa]

I had a minor issue with one of SMA connectors, so I replaced a router. It arrived with 3.0.0.4.380_630 firmware, which to my surprise is much stable than all others I had in previous router (maybe because of SMA connector issue). Anyway, I want to upgrade, but want to have the ability to roll back just in case. So the question is: does anyone have 3.0.0.4.380_630 version somewhere and can share?

Thanks!

It probably is more stable due to sma connector, but your post is the first I've heard of 630-level firmware! Early units shipped with 753, and that's the earliest @RMerlin posted as well. I had well over 1 month uptime on that.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[Manook]

The new DDWRT betas seem to be working well. Its unlocked all the wireless frequencies for me (in the UK) which means the 2nd 5GHz is no longer rubbish. Hurrah!