ASUS RT-AC86U/P and R7000

[dvohwinkel]

Anyone know what the current CPU is in the Asus RT-AC68U sold on Amazon by Amazon? (Is it still the 800Mhz?) I was thinking of going with the RT-AC86P but it seems to loose a little in range for 2.4Ghz..

I can get the 86P from Bestbuy for $199, or the 86U from Amazon for $187.. and the R7000 for $176. I'm trying to read all I can about them all and both(RT-AC86U/P and R7000) seem to have stability issues(which seems really odd given how long they have been out).. but it seems and please correct me if I am wrong that the ASUS is better supported by 3rd party firmware, and has a much longer warranty in the US.

Any thoughts? (I currently have a Linksys DIR-655 ) our house is around 2400 sq feet.

Regards

 

[L&LD]

I don't buy from worstbuy.

I agree 100% with the Asus appraisal.

Netgear? Many reasons to ignore them (just like they do their customers after a new model is available).

The price differences quoted would not sway me one way or another (I see this as a 3 to 5 year purchase so up to $5 per year difference is meaningless).

The RT-AC68U from Amazon is what I would get (and return if it wasn't the 1GHz processors).

 

[dvohwinkel]

I just called ASUS support to ask about the current 86U and they said 1Ghz.. but I didn't get a strong feeling that the person knew what they were talking about.. since they started telling me about networking speeds, then said they would go look at the power supply.. I hate calling support when you know more than support does.

 

[L&LD]

An inquisitive mind, google and good reading skills are way better than any first line support personnel.

Or; just come to snbforums for the good stuff.

 

[dvohwinkel]

An inquisitive mind, google and good reading skills are way better than any first line support personnel.

Or; just come to snbforums for the good stuff.

So true!
Unfortunately I keep reading conflicting info on the RT-AC86U I just ordered it, and will know soon.. Now to cross my fingers on getting a solid unit.. My DIR-655 is going to get a MUCH needed permanent vacation. I must say I did use that longer than most(10 years!).
Thanks L&LD

 

[dvohwinkel]

Rt-AC86U?I dont know this one .You probably mean Ac68

It's new and has shiny lasers!! lol

 

[RMerlin]

Anyone know what the current CPU is in the Asus RT-AC68U sold on Amazon by Amazon? (Is it still the 800Mhz?)

Unfortunately, there are multiple revisions of the RT-AC68U, so it's impossible to predict if what you order will include a 800 MHz or a 1 GHz CPU. It depends on which hardware revision the reseller has in inventory - some still have unsold 800 MHz revisions.

 

[RMerlin]

Netgear? Many reasons to ignore them (just like they do their customers after a new model is available).

Netgear is still issuing firmware upgrades to the R7000, which is the same generation product as the RT-AC68U.

Both are quite good products.

 

[L&LD]

Netgear is still issuing firmware upgrades to the R7000, which is the same generation product as the RT-AC68U.

Both are quite good products.

Very glad to see this change in Netgear!

Hope they continue and even surpass Asus' efforts in this regard (for all their models) going forward. And, hope this will inspire other manufacturers to do the same.

 

[RogerSC]

Yes, the R7000 has been a great router for me for the last ~2.5 years. I have no reservations about recommending it, myself, as a user. Using it right now...wouldn't give a fig for the stock firmware, have used it very little, but then I wouldn't use stock firmware on the Asus RT-AC68U/P, either. Right now, I'm using the latest XVortex port of RMerlin's firmware on the R7000, and it is working really well, very stable and great wireless. Netgear is indeed continuing to release firmware for the R7000, they haven't "moved on", or shown any inclination to do that. I don't know if Netgear's continuing support is a change in policy, or an acknowledgement of the popularity and high level of acceptance of the R7000 among users. Other third-party firmware that works well on the R7000 are dd-wrt and tomato. Of course, these also work on the RT-AC68U.

Hard for me to move on to the "next generation" or "wave 2" or whatever when the R7000 is currently serving my needs so well with lots of bandwidth to spare. I've been eyeing the R7800, but only have thought about it. Since I don't have any MU-MIMO clients or need more bandwidth at the moment, it's just a matter of keeping track of the latest, reading the reviews and so on. Some day *smile*...

 

[sfx2000]

Netgear is still issuing firmware upgrades to the R7000, which is the same generation product as the RT-AC68U.

R7000, like many of the first round of AC1900 class, had a troubled childhood, but they persisted, and have it pretty well sorted these days...

 

[bobsilver]

Yes, the R7000 has been a great router for me for the last ~2.5 years. I have no reservations about recommending it, myself, as a user. Using it right now...wouldn't give a fig for the stock firmware, have used it very little, but then I wouldn't use stock firmware on the Asus RT-AC68U/P, either. Right now, I'm using the latest XVortex port of RMerlin's firmware on the R7000, and it is working really well, very stable and great wireless. Netgear is indeed continuing to release firmware for the R7000, they haven't "moved on", or shown any inclination to do that. I don't know if Netgear's continuing support is a change in policy, or an acknowledgement of the popularity and high level of acceptance of the R7000 among users. Other third-party firmware that works well on the R7000 are dd-wrt and tomato. Of course, these also work on the RT-AC68U.

Hard for me to move on to the "next generation" or "wave 2" or whatever when the R7000 is currently serving my needs so well with lots of bandwidth to spare. I've been eyeing the R7800, but only have thought about it. Since I don't have any MU-MIMO clients or need more bandwidth at the moment, it's just a matter of keeping track of the latest, reading the reviews and so on. Some day *smile*...

I am a consultant hired by NETGEAR to monitor user forums and provide feedback to NETGEAR management about user comments, issues and general views of NETGEAR products by perspective buyers.

I thought I'd share some insight into Netgear's continuing support approach. Netgear is committed to ongoing development of firmware for both features, performance and bug fixes for all routers in the Nighthawk family . And where possible they plan to provide complete feature sets across the product line as well.

When NETGEAR engaged me and others to monitor user forums for comments several years ago they got the message of user concerns about ongoing support for their products. As others have stated if you look at the track record the past several years you will see continued enhancements across the line. I can assure you all that there is commitment at all management levels for ongoing support for their premium products.

And as others have stated the R7000 which is the oldest product in the line still gets regular updates and enhancements. In fact there should be a new firmware release for it in the next 60 days.

Plus NETGEAR is also committed to open-source firmware enhancements. That is why the entire Nighthawk product line has or will have open source firmware alternatives.

Bob Silver
NETGEAR Consultant

 

[RogerSC]

And as others have stated the R7000 which is the oldest product in the line still gets regular updates and enhancements. In fact there should be a new firmware release for it in the next 60 days.

Plus NETGEAR is also committed to open-source firmware enhancements. That is why the entire Nighthawk product line has or will have open source firmware alternatives.

Bob Silver
NETGEAR Consultant

I do appreciate Netgear's support of open source firmware. I wish that Linksys/Belkin would support open source as well as Netgear does, but I have personal experience that's just not the case. Linksys/Belkin gives lip service to open source, but is not forthcoming with the kind of help that would actually be useful. I've had a "flagship" Linksys wireless router for over 2 years now that was marketed as "openWRT ready" from the word go. It still isn't "openWRT" ready, the openWRT firmware is acceptable, but remains less functional than the stock Linksys firmware. Same with the dd-wrt firmware for it.

On the other hand, shortly after I got the R7000, I was able to get good results with it using dd-wrt, then tomato, and finally with a port of RMerlin's firmware. I'm currently using tomato firmware, and the R7000 is still doing well.

Just wanted to express my thanks to Netgear for their role in that.

 

[sfx2000]

I've had a "flagship" Linksys wireless router for over 2 years now that was marketed as "openWRT ready" from the word go. It still isn't "openWRT" ready, the openWRT firmware is acceptable, but remains less functional than the stock Linksys firmware. Same with the dd-wrt firmware for it.

That particular device got caught up in things... the chipset vendor was pretty good about GPL source for the main CPU, but their Wireless drivers were very proprietary (as are many). It was also a wireless chipset that not many were familiar with - either in the DD-WRT group or the OpenWRT community...

What resulted was pretty much a train wreck... and lots of finger pointing back and forth.

 

[sfx2000]

I think Netgear, along with a certain Asian vendor, has done a great job with supporting the open source/3rd party community...

 

[TonyH]

So true!
Unfortunately I keep reading conflicting info on the RT-AC86U I just ordered it, and will know soon.. Now to cross my fingers on getting a solid unit.. My DIR-655 is going to get a MUCH needed permanent vacation. I must say I did use that longer than most(10 years!).
Thanks L&LD

DIR-655 was a good router in it's time. I had one and liked it then...

 

[RogerSC]

That particular device got caught up in things... the chipset vendor was pretty good about GPL source for the main CPU, but their Wireless drivers were very proprietary (as are many). It was also a wireless chipset that not many were familiar with - either in the DD-WRT group or the OpenWRT community...

What resulted was pretty much a train wreck... and lots of finger pointing back and forth.

Yep, I'm finally seeing the wireless latencies with some clients being discussed between the openWRT folks and the Marvell open source wireless driver guy. Those latencies (and other problems with the wireless driver) have been there a long time...I don't know that those issues will ever be resolved, but I do know that most of the problems I see with openWRT and dd-wrt don't exist in the stock wireless driver. Interesting.

 

[sfx2000]

Yep, I'm finally seeing the wireless latencies with some clients being discussed between the openWRT folks and the Marvell open source wireless driver guy. Those latencies (and other problems with the wireless driver) have been there a long time..

Those issues are not in the factory closed source drivers, FWIW... the FOSS effort must be appreciated, however, I think the moving walkway towards sorting that driver is nearing it's end...