Asus RT-AC56U worth reviving?

[speedlever]

I have an old AC56U I retired several years ago and replaced with a Ubiquiti system. It was running a version of Merlin... 380.62. (edited to correct the version)

I have a daughter that just moved into an apartment and needs a decent router. Would it be worth reviving the AC56U and putting the latest Merlin (384.6) on it? Or is it too old to be securely useful?

 

[skeal]

I have an old AC56U I retired several years ago and replaced with a Ubiquiti system. It was running a version of Merlin... 380.59, I believe.

I have a daughter that just moved into an apartment and needs a decent router. Would it be worth reviving the AC56U and putting the latest Merlin (384.6) on it? Or is it too old to be securely useful?

Sorry, no longer supported I think by Asus as well, you could look at the Asus download page.

 

[skeal]

That doesn't prevent you from using another type of firmware, possibly tomato or dd wrt possibly google is your friend.

 

[Gar]

I still use mine with other f/w and it works fine. Not as good as my 1900 but completely usable.

 

[oso2276]

You could install John's fork. It works just fine and very stable. I'm using it at my dad's house.

https://www.snbforums.com/index.php?posts/134867

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[elorimer]

My 56u is gangsta cool.

 

[Swistheater]

My 56u is gangsta cool.

ya mine is fab-tastic. It was ahead of its time.

 

[Swistheater]

That doesn't prevent you from using another type of firmware, possibly tomato or dd wrt possibly google is your friend.

Asus has released updates with security fixes only, it is on older firmware branch though and the time it would take to maintain it would be too specific for merlin to bother implementing (though it would be "possible"). it is too specific, and there are too little of security updates that have been done to be considered "worth" the time.

 

[Swistheater]

I have an old AC56U I retired several years ago and replaced with a Ubiquiti system. It was running a version of Merlin... 380.59, I believe.

I have a daughter that just moved into an apartment and needs a decent router. Would it be worth reviving the AC56U and putting the latest Merlin (384.6) on it? Or is it too old to be securely useful?

Johns fork would be great to run on it as it still actively supports providing it with security backports.

 

[speedlever]

You could install John's fork. It works just fine and very stable. I'm using it at my dad's house.

https://www.snbforums.com/index.php?posts/134867

Enviado desde mi moto g(8) plus mediante Tapatalk

Hmm. I'm not familiar with John's fork. I'll have to check into that.

I just put 384.6 on it. But no problem to change that!

 

[skeal]

Hmm. I'm not familiar with John's fork. I'll have to check into that.

I just put 384.6 on it. But no problem to change that!

John's fork is your best option. Stable as a rock with awesome features.

 

[speedlever]

And is post #4 a good general guideline for settings for any Merlin-boosted Asus router?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/best-setup-for-the-asus-rt-ac68u-actualized-to-2019.55684/

 

[speedlever]

What would be the negative of leaving 384.6 on it?

 

[oso2276]

What would be the negative of leaving 384.6 on it?

384.6 has patches up to 25-July-2018
John's fork has patches up to 17-April-2019

In this regard, John's fork might include bug fixes and more current libraries.

Check the release notes for both and take your pick

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[Selim Üzümcü]

actually there was an important update released from Asus in 2019/11/05

Version 3.0.0.4.382.516412019/11/0537.55 MBytes

ASUS RT-AC56U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.382.51641
Fixed a DDoS vulnerability

can't we get an updated merlin release including this?

 

[speedlever]

384.6 has patches up to 25-July-2018
John's fork has patches up to 17-April-2019

In this regard, John's fork might include bug fixes and more current libraries.

Check the release notes for both and take your pick

Enviado desde mi moto g(8) plus mediante Tapatalk

I see.

I just went to the Asus site for the AC56U and found Asus released FW 3.0.0.1.382.51641 on 2019/11/05. I assume that is Nov 5, 2019 and not May 11, 2019. In either case, that would be a later release than either Merlin or John's Fork. Correct?

 

[speedlever]

actually there was an important update released from Asus in 2019/11/05

Version 3.0.0.4.382.516412019/11/0537.55 MBytes

ASUS RT-AC56U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.382.51641
Fixed a DDoS vulnerability

can't we get an updated merlin release including this?

I see you posted this as I was working on my post about the same topic.

Perhaps I need to install the Asus version since it's the most recent.

 

[speedlever]

Quick question about the AC56U. It is dual band, but in setup, it offers separate SSIDs for the dual bands. Does the AC56U not offer the ability to automatically switch between bands? IE, as you approach your house, you connect to the longer ranging 2G band, but once inside and in a strong enough 5G signal, automatically switch to the 5G band?

 

[easyriider]

I also had a AC56U but am now happy with a AC86U.

You can try to load the AC68U firmware on the AC56U. This two routers were introduced at the same moment and have almost the same hardware. So it is strange that the AC56U is already discontinued while the AC68U is still receiving updates until now.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/aimesh-on-rt-ac56u.55732/

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

I also had a AC56U but am now happy with a AC86U.

You can try to load the AC68U firmware on the AC56U. This two routers were introduced at the same moment and have almost the same hardware. So it is strange that the AC56U is already discontinued while the AC68U is still receiving updates until now.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/aimesh-on-rt-ac56u.55732/

This is taking something useful and potentially turning it into a paper weight