ASUS RT-AC86U Dual Band AC2900 Wireless Router Reviewed

[Zentachi]

Did you mean RAM or CPU usage? I was thinking that QOS would strongly affect CPU usage.

I was talking only about the RAM. I haven't seen any changes in CPU usage between having adaptive QoS on or off.

In any case it seems that it is normal when using a hard drive attached.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/high-ram-usage.30157/

Thanks for the help

 

[y2jdmbfan]

Can you guys help me on for a minute regarding AiMesh, I picked up (2) 86U's to replace my two OnHub's running the latest Google WiFi software. I recently upgraded to Xfinity Gigabit, and noticed the Google WiFi was limiting my WiFi speeds to 300Mbps or less. I was under the impression Asus implemented some hand-off architecture when roaming through the house based on all the marketing stuff, but I am not totally certain if the is the case or not. I have my 86U's where the OnHub's were located, connected via wired backhaul, which I had to manually select. Is there anything I specifically have to turn on in the GUI to do this smart roaming?

Also, does anyone know if the other ports on the AiMesh Node can be used as a switch like the OnHub's could do?

 

[hotsauce2007]

No NEW FW for this model? I got a new FW for the AC68U and the router is working 100% stable

 

[maxbraketorque]

No NEW FW for this model? I got a new FW for the AC68U and the router is working 100% stable

I'm sure it will be here in a day or two. I believe that the architecture is somewhat different, so it may not be able to be simultaneously updated like many of the other ASUS models.

 

[randomName]

Just picked one of these up for my mother's home network. She was still on/using my old DLink DGL 4500 with select-able wireless band, WOW.

Wish me luck!

 

[Pepemon]

Do you guys get full gigabit speeds on stock firmware? I get 730mb down when on stock, but if I flash Merlin I get around 900mb.
Also, the traffic monitor resets all the data when router loses power/turns off, is it supposed to be like that?

 

[doczenith1]

I've never tried stock firmware but don't see any reason that it wouldn't get full gigabit speeds. I was able to get full gigabit speeds on my 68U on stock fw. For the traffic monitor to keep the data you need to use a usb flash drive plugged into the back of the router. Merlin fw is required to use the flash drive to store the traffic data. Enable it under Tools>Other Settings.

 

[y2jdmbfan]

Do you guys get full gigabit speeds on stock firmware? I get 730mb down when on stock, but if I flash Merlin I get around 900mb.
Also, the traffic monitor resets all the data when router loses power/turns off, is it supposed to be like that?

I've never tried stock firmware but don't see any reason that it wouldn't get full gigabit speeds. I was able to get full gigabit speeds on my 68U on stock fw. For the traffic monitor to keep the data you need to use a usb flash drive plugged into the back of the router. Merlin fw is required to use the flash drive to store the traffic data. Enable it under Tools>Other Settings.

I have Xfinity Gigabit and I cannot get Gigabit speeds through the 86U via a wired connection. It maxes out between 600-700. If I go direct to my Netgear CM1000 I get 900-1000. Very frustrating. I also cannot get anything over 300 MBps via a wireless connection on 5GHz. I bought a new AC1750 USB 3.0 adapter and it can't get over 300. I had 2 Google OnHub's previously connected via a wired backhaul, but couldn't get Gig speeds on Wifi, so I decided to try the new 86U, I bought 2 of the to run in AiMesh, partially because I bought the marketing crap and thought they had intelligence to move clients to the stronger node, but I guess it really doesn't. These things might be going back soon.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I have Xfinity Gigabit and I cannot get Gigabit speeds through the 86U via a wired connection. It maxes out between 600-700. If I go direct to my Netgear CM1000 I get 900-1000. Very frustrating. I also cannot get anything over 300 MBps via a wireless connection on 5GHz. I bought a new AC1750 USB 3.0 adapter and it can't get over 300. I had 2 Google OnHub's previously connected via a wired backhaul, but couldn't get Gig speeds on Wifi, so I decided to try the new 86U, I bought 2 of the to run in AiMesh, partially because I bought the marketing crap and thought they had intelligence to move clients to the stronger node, but I guess it really doesn't. These things might be going back soon.

There have been two other people that had the same issue with sub-gigabit speeds on gigabit service. One person found that the issue fixed itself, and another guy gave up and returned the router.

 

[y2jdmbfan]

There have been two other people that had the same issue with sub-gigabit speeds on gigabit service. One person found that the issue fixed itself, and another guy gave up and returned the router.

I just tried the latest Merlin Firmware and I can got 950 down via a wired connection. Unfortunately, I bought these for AiMesh, which again, I'm not even sure has any smarts to switch clients to the stronger node. Also for the life of me can't figure out why I can't get downloads over 300Mbps.

 

[mogulman]

There have been two other people that had the same issue with sub-gigabit speeds on gigabit service. One person found that the issue fixed itself, and another guy gave up and returned the router.

I guess I should do more testing to figure out what setting caused or prevented me from getting full speed. I'll mess around when I get a chance and figure it out.

 

[badboyme]

Do you guys get full gigabit speeds on stock firmware? I get 730mb down when on stock, but if I flash Merlin I get around 900mb.
Also, the traffic monitor resets all the data when router loses power/turns off, is it supposed to be like that?

Hi Pepemon,
do you have full WAN Gigabit Speed via Wired with Merlin FW and RT-AC68U or RT-AC86U ??

@all
I have RT-AC68U rev.A2 (With USB Shield) and last Merlin FW.
With my FTTH I can't get full WAN Gigabit Speed (via wired LAN cable); I reach 800/850Mbps MAX.
I also use the PPPoE with Host-Uniq TAG to use my asus instead of ISP router.
Someone have my identical speed issue? How did you solve the problem?

Thank you all in advance.
Regards,
Filippo (Italy)

 

[maxbraketorque]

I guess I should do more testing to figure out what setting caused or prevented me from getting full speed. I'll mess around when I get a chance and figure it out.

Perhaps the underlying issue will be fixed in the next firmware release. There have been quite a few bug fixes in the release notes for the other routers.

 

[mogulman]

I guess I should do more testing to figure out what setting caused or prevented me from getting full speed. I'll mess around when I get a chance and figure it out.

I can't get mine to slow down now.... no idea why it was slow at first.

BTW...with a different router, your router may get assigned a different IP address from Comcast/Xfinity. The routing or speed could potentially be different. You could try cloning the MAC from your old router or a PC and testing that way.

 

[y2jdmbfan]

I can't get mine to slow down now.... no idea why it was slow at first.

BTW...with a different router, your router may get assigned a different IP address from Comcast/Xfinity. The routing or speed could potentially be different. You could try cloning the MAC from your old router or a PC and testing that way.

I'm leaning towards taking my $500 worth of AC86U's back to Microcenter. Unfortunate, but as of now, they aren't offering as much as the OnHub's meshed with wired backhaul I was previously using.

 

[hotsauce2007]

Working 100% over here with no issues at all, amazing router, cant wait to flash merlin on this

 

[maxbraketorque]

I'm leaning towards taking my $500 worth of AC86U's back to Microcenter. Unfortunate, but as of now, they aren't offering as much as the OnHub's meshed with wired backhaul I was previously using.

You may want to try the latest firmware before deciding whether to return it.

 

[hotsauce2007]

I'm sure it will be here in a day or two. I believe that the architecture is somewhat different, so it may not be able to be simultaneously updated like many of the other ASUS models.

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AC86U/FW_RT_AC86U_300438420308.ZIP

Version 3.0.0.4.384.203082018/02/0157.25 MBytes

ASUS RT-AC86U 韌體版本 3.0.0.4.384.20308
Security fixed
- Fixed Smart Sync Stored XSS vulnerabilities. Thanks fo Guy Arazi's contribution.
- Fixed CVE-2018-5721 Stack-based buffer overflow

Bug fixed
- Fixed PPPoE NAT throughput issue.
- Fixed client icon modification issue when client name includes special characters.
- Fixed error for new firmware available notification.
- Fixed AiMesh onboarding issue for Korea SKU
- Fixed AiMesh node shows offline in the GUI even it still connect to AiMesh router.
- Increased OpenVPN server throughput.
- Fixed 5GHz downlink throughput drop problem.
- Fixed dual wan related issues.


Please unzip the firmware file first then check the MD5 code.
MD5: d3edbb6ce2274ea99ee219f232d2c12d

 

[Pepemon]

Do you guys get full gigabit speeds on stock firmware? I get 730mb down when on stock, but if I flash Merlin I get around 900mb.
Also, the traffic monitor resets all the data when router loses power/turns off, is it supposed to be like that?

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AC86U/FW_RT_AC86U_300438420308.ZIP

Version 3.0.0.4.384.203082018/02/0157.25 MBytes

ASUS RT-AC86U 韌體版本 3.0.0.4.384.20308
Security fixed
- Fixed Smart Sync Stored XSS vulnerabilities. Thanks fo Guy Arazi's contribution.
- Fixed CVE-2018-5721 Stack-based buffer overflow

Bug fixed
- Fixed PPPoE NAT throughput issue.
- Fixed client icon modification issue when client name includes special characters.
- Fixed error for new firmware available notification.
- Fixed AiMesh onboarding issue for Korea SKU
- Fixed AiMesh node shows offline in the GUI even it still connect to AiMesh router.
- Increased OpenVPN server throughput.
- Fixed 5GHz downlink throughput drop problem.
- Fixed dual wan related issues.


Please unzip the firmware file first then check the MD5 code.
MD5: d3edbb6ce2274ea99ee219f232d2c12d

This firmware fixed my issue, I get full gigabit speed now.

 

[hotsauce2007]

This firmware fixed my issue, I get full gigabit speed now.

yah, the problem isant with the hardware, its only some bugs with the FW but Asus will fixing it along the road

Do you guys use smart connect for the WIFI?

Also, I am having troubles to configure the AI protection email alert, is not working anymore with gmail, I had with an ac68u before and I did the same process with a new password from google apps password