ASUS RT-AC87U Dual-band Wireless-AC2400 Gigabit Router Reviewed

[madhatter01]

It's not about cheating, it's about the facts that:

a) The RT-AC87 isn't widely available yet, it's more or less a pre-launch with Best Buy US as the sole provider, meaning only a tiny fraction of potential buyers can even get it at this time
b) the device isn't using the final, performance-optimized firmware yet. For instance, the current firmware doesn't have MU-MIMO enabled yet.
c) Both Asus and Netgear have publicly announced that the current firmwares are NOT running the whole planned feature set yet. No MU-MIMO and preliminary SDK6-based firmware for Asus (the SDK7 based firmware will fully unlock the potential of this router), and the band steering in the R8000 is currently very
limited as Netgear still needs to work on its implementation.

The vast majority of buyers won't be able to buy this router until the end of August. Therefore, it makes sense for Tim to provide a review showing what those buyers will be getting at that point, not what early adopters living in the US will be getting during this pre-launch period.

Do you know if Band Steering will be add for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? So you have one SSID. Also what will change between SDK 6 and SDK 7. Will it be a new gui?

 

[RMerlin]

Do you know if Band Steering will be add for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz? So you have one SSID. Also what will change between SDK 6 and SDK 7. Will it be a new gui?

Band Steering is an Xtream feature. Only for R8000 and RT-AC3200.

I don't expect a new webui with the SDK change. SDK7 brings improved USB performance. Don't know what else.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[madhatter01]

Band Steering is an Xtream feature. Only for R8000 and RT-AC3200.

I don't expect a new webui with the SDK change. SDK7 brings improved USB performance. Don't know what else.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

Bandsteering can be done on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. Ubiquiti is adding it to their 802.11ac line. The software just moves you back and forth depending on signal.

 

[RMerlin]

Bandsteering can be done on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. Ubiquiti is adding it to their 802.11ac line. The software just moves you back and forth depending on signal.

That sounds more like the RSSI control feature already present in Asuswrt, where you can tell the router to force a client to disconnect if RSSI is below a certain threshold.

The Band Steering feature as I mentioned will actually do more than that. It has the ability to spread clients based on a multitude of criteras, not just RSSI:

- The number of clients
- The amount of traffic done by the client
- The client's speed

 

[sm00thpapa]

How is the range on this router for both bands?

 

[RMerlin]

How is the range on this router for both bands?

For me it was equal or better than my RT-AC68U. The signal to my Nexus 7 was a bit stronger in my bathroom (the opposite end of my place). That was before Asus updated to the performance version of the Quantenna driver, which I haven't really tested yet.

Tim will most likely be testing wifi performance in the near future now that a firmware based on this updated driver is available. I'm sure he'll cook up a lot of charts and numbers showing objective test results rather than more subjective observations, which is the best most of us can offer you at this point.

 

[LoneWolf]

They released the product, I would cut them no slack. My guess the performance is terrible.

CC

The performance isn't terrible. It's just not what it's going to be yet.

With early firmware, I found performance to be equal or better to the RT-AC66R I owned prior to this, with the one caveat that Tim described: radios disabling occasionally for no reason --or at least, maybe not disabling, but losing WAN access. I also would argue there is no "cheating" here --cheating would be a new firmware that actually makes performance look better than reality (e.g., manipulating Speedtest scores, or falsifying its SSI). Bug-fixing is not "cheating", it is bug-fixing and improving functionality.

Gary of ASUS (this is public in the forums already) provided everyone with a link for the 2061 firmware (up from the original 1179 and then the 2044 update) which has the Quantenna performance driver in it. I have seen improvements in a short period of time with this update. I wouldn't say that firmware is anywhere near its peak yet, but the unit is noticeably better than it was a week and a half ago.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=134017&postcount=82

If you've already got an RT-AC68U/R model, I'd probably wait. You've got a dual-core CPU that supports OpenVPN client/server options reasonably well (which caused a fair drop in the lower-clocked single-core RT-AC66U/R's performance). If you don't, and your budget is flexible, I'd probably go with the 87, at least if you plan on running VPN, as support is developing quite rapidly (faster than any router I've owned before) and you get the best CPU performance of any ASUS model available, with more to come as the firmware reaches maturity.

 

[Poseidon]

Gary of ASUS (this is public in the forums already) provided everyone with a link for the 2061 firmware (up from the original 1179 and then the 2044 update) which has the Quantenna performance driver in it. I have seen improvements in a short period of time with this update. I wouldn't say that firmware is anywhere near its peak yet, but the unit is noticeably better than it was a week and a half ago.

Currently using 2044 firmware. If I update to this 2061 Beta - Do I have to reset/default the router and start from scratch or just flash the update and be done?

 

[NightOwl326]

Currently using 2044 firmware. If I update to this 2061 Beta - Do I have to reset/default the router and start from scratch or just flash the update and be done?

"New driver"..yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa reset it. Answer to the #1 most repetitively asked question on this forum!

For all who ask this question in the future, if in doubt reset it. If that is too time consuming and a Dancing With the Stars Marathon is the priority, grab your pop and chips, don't reset it, and cross your fingers.

 

[NightOwl326]

How is the range on this router for both bands?

This is getting to be a moot question with current power limitations imposed on manufactures. The idea than one router will super dooper out range another is a pipe dream. I am sure it's within a gnat's hair of your WRT1900. It's a silly question anyhow since range may be great in John's house and just so-so in George's. Subjective at best, and below the standard of a question that should be asked by a power user. Oh and the upcoming 3200 will have less range on 5 ghz due to the power limitation split between 2 radios, so there is the answer to a future question. Psychic powers fully functional.

 

[LoneWolf]

Currently using 2044 firmware. If I update to this 2061 Beta - Do I have to reset/default the router and start from scratch or just flash the update and be done?

I can only tell you I did not reset mine, and had no issues.

 

[RMerlin]

In addition to their 48 mins video, Asus just posted a *LOT* of technical details on the RT-AC87:

http://pcdiy.asus.com/2014/08/august-2014-the-best-802-11ac-router-rt-ac87u-rt-ac87r/

 

[ualdrivr]

Was thinking to pair an 87U with my current 68U in bridge mode for the ultimate range, will that work? Anyone?

 

[squeezil1]

I have the 87R with a 68U in repeater mode and it works great. I use a 66U in Media Bridge mode and it works well too, though I had to connect it to the 2.4GHz side of the 87R so that I can pull-up the 66U's interface when typing its address into my browser. The Media Bridge worked fine when connected to the 5GHz side of the 87R, but I could not access its interface until I connected it o the 2.4 side.

 

[thiggins]

Wireless results posted

Results for R8000, RT-AC87U and retest of all AC1900 class routers with the new V8 test process have been posted in the Charts. Part 2 of the reviews are in process.

WARNING: The V8 test process produces lower results than the V7 process. This is due to larger chamber and the averaging effect of rotating the router during testing.

So please compare only products tested with the new V8 process.

 

[ualdrivr]

I have the 87R with a 68U in repeater mode and it works great. I use a 66U in Media Bridge mode and it works well too, though I had to connect it to the 2.4GHz side of the 87R so that I can pull-up the 66U's interface when typing its address into my browser. The Media Bridge worked fine when connected to the 5GHz side of the 87R, but I could not access its interface until I connected it o the 2.4 side.

Good info.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Pre-order now available on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320208

 

[NightOwl326]

Pre-order now available on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320208

Or walk into Best Buy and buy one today. So a preorder means what, when it's on a shelf ready to take home, or Best Buy can ship today? This helps us how?

 

[RMerlin]

Or walk into Best Buy and buy one today. So a preorder means what, when it's on a shelf ready to take home, or Best Buy can ship today? This helps us how?

Everyone has his preferred reseller. And some people don't have a BB nearby, or are too lazy to go to the store and prefer to order online.

Personally I usually fall in that second category. I walked in a Future Shop two years ago to buy a Nexus 7. That's the only time I can recall in the last 4-5 years where I walked into a physical brick&mortar to buy an electronic device. And that was because I was on my way back from a customer's office, and the FS was right next to them.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Or walk into Best Buy and buy one today. So a preorder means what, when it's on a shelf ready to take home, or Best Buy can ship today? This helps us how?

NO TAX! [emoji3]