Asus RT-AC66U Performance degradation issue solved.

[Silvino]

Thanks to this forum which I’ve been lurking on, I’ve manage to solve an issue I’ve been having on my RT-AC66U.

ISSUE:
Connection speed (not signal) would degrade after 2-3 days to N speeds or slower.

SOLUTION:
Installed Merlin’s latest firmware.

The above issue took me a few weeks to realize I had performance issues in the first place. I noticed I had to reboot my router regularly to get 1-1.3Gbps connection speed. When I realized this wasn't OK or normal after reading the forums, I started serious debug of the issue.

The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't seeing other 5GHz wireless traffic interrupting my connection nor do I have a 5GHz phone in my house (not sure about neighbors). My signal strength varied between -38db and -42 but the connection speed would go from 1-1.3Gpbs on day 1 to as low as 250mbps by day 3. If I simply rebooted the router, the speed shot back up.

I tried various Asus firmware builds, tweaking settings, fixing channels and you name it. Full resets after flashes (factory reset) yet nothing resolved the issue. After owning this thing 7 weeks, I did the RMA route which was a little painful at first but in the end I ended up with a retail box and another unit which also had the same darn issue.

The last step I planned to take before giving up was use the Merlin firmware which as of day 7 now has basically kept me at 866-1300Mbps on a regular basis. 1.3Gbps as I type this up.

Misc note:
I’m using an Asus AC66 PCIE addon card in my PC as the main and only client on the 5GHz network.
I didn't find this specific issue on the forum.

Special thanks to the community on this forum and Merlin for his efforts in building the proper experience on these routers.

 

[RMerlin]

I must say I find it surprising, since I use the same wireless driver as Asus did in their 374_726 FW.

 

[Silvino]

Wish I knew why but after working on it this long, I'm pretty confident in my findings.

Maybe a default setting was different?

I must say I find it surprising, since I use the same wireless driver as Asus did in their 374_726 FW.

 

[p71]

It's interesting to see that your problems has been solved with the latest Merlin firmware. I had exactly the same problem with the latest Asus and Merlin fw builds. I could solve this issue only with the installation of a .274 branch fw.

 

[Silvino]

Frustrating problem. I'm just glad I got it fixed (still going now) and I can share my story to help others who find our issue.

It's interesting to see that your problems has been solved with the latest Merlin firmware. I had exactly the same problem with the latest Asus and Merlin fw builds. I could solve this issue only with the installation of a .274 branch fw.

 

[Find the Door]

Just curious - how did you measure your connection / link speed to tell if it was dropping or not?

Thanks,
Door

 

[Silvino]

Using Win7 Wireless Network Connection Status, Asus WLAN Control Center and inSSIDer3. I used each tool to verify signal strength and/or connection speed. I then verified general speed by file copy from my client's SSD of a 2GB file xfer to my NAS directly connected to the wireless router.

Just curious - how did you measure your connection / link speed to tell if it was dropping or not?

Thanks,
Door

 

[Xaan]

Silvino did you reset your settings after installing Merlins firmware?

Also, which version are you using? Is it 374_726 as Merlin has suggested?

I am having the same problem, no available version of ASUS firmware has helped and mine has been degrading quickly, 2-3 days as you say would be nice for me. I do a reset/apply settings around 6PM when I get home because the connection speed is 175Mbps. It jumps back up to 866Mbps. Go to sleep, to go work, get home, repeat. 175Mbps every day when I get home.

Last night I installed Merlins 270_26b, but I don't think that has had any positive result either as when I checked this morning I was getting 585Mbps (well, better than before I guess, at least it wasn't 175Mbps but I don't usually have a chance to check in the morning).

 

[betop778]

Merlin Firmware

Were can I get the firmware guys can someone put a link for it?

 

[RMerlin]

Were can I get the firmware guys can someone put a link for it?

All details are in this sticky post.

 

[krum]

I have went back to .270 as well I don't run ai cloud, I found it works really well , sometimes when I am bored I will try tomato for the weekend when victek releases a new version, but I always find my way back the .270 currently waiting for victek 1.2y

Chris


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[connorm]

I have went back to .270 as well I don't run ai cloud, I found it works really well , sometimes when I am bored I will try tomato for the weekend when victek releases a new version, but I always find my way back the .270 currently waiting for victek 1.2y

Chris


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

you wanna explain why you post this implying the exact opposite on another forum (you were CLEARLY implying that you were on tomato RAF and staying on it.)

"After trying shibby 116. I have to say I switched over to yours I am running 1.2x on my E4200 and rt-ac66 I have to say it's really stable and all works"

 

[KumquatOfPain]

I too have found that the Merlin build fixes this problem.

I'm using 374.35_4 on both the Router and Bridge. I see sustained file transfer speeds ~40MB/s after 9 days of uptime.

The only problem I've had is that after that long of uptime, the web interface becomes partially unresponsive.