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

[RamGuy]

What I'm getting from this thread and the review is as follows;

ASUS RT-AC87 is a inferior device compared to RT-AC68 in terms of 5.0GHz range, stability and performance, unless you actually got some MU-MIMO clients running (who does?).

But in terms of raw hardware and features it got a slight edge compared to the RT-AC68 with its 1 GHz ARM CPU (compared to 800 MHz on the AC68), built in Trend Micro security features and improved adaptive QoS with more visualised traffic shaping.


I got a friend using RT-AC68 which he considers making into a media bridge in his living room and picking up a RT-AC87 as his new wireless router, but after reading this he might actually get better wireless bridging performance by going for a second RT-AC68 instead of the RT-AC87? He wont be using any of the built in Trend Micro features, but he do fancy the looks of the new adaptive QoS system but it's reported to be somewhat buggy?

 

[dfran1]

What I'm getting from this thread and the review is as follows;

Hi,
I don't use Qos, no need to for me, everything just works.

The RC-AC87R BLOWS AWAY the 68 hands down in 5GHz coverage.

I get OVER double the 5GHz distance and my brother covers his 1/2 acre.
The 68 and all others was a joke with 5 GHz, useless to me at all, can not even compare thats how bad it was, no wonder why people needed 2 or 3 routers to do the job of one.

NO I do not use 2 routers at all, NO NEED.

Do I need top performing speed EVERYWHERE in my house, NO, and if I did I plug in, BUT the 87 performs so well I have no need to so far, to plug in.

As for the 2.4GHz, it is better, not that 2.4GHz can get any better than the 68, but it is.

I have been media streaming with the Asus routers since the 66, and the 87 has been just about flawless for it, thanks to its 3 processors.

There are three main chips on the router:

One dual core processor that includes a 500 MHz ARC CPU and a 5 GHz CPU
One single core processor (BCM6230) that includes a 2.4 GHz radio
One dual core CPU (BCM4709) that includes two CPU cores @ 1 GHz and handles USB, main switch, etc...

These are my findings and facts for me, maybe others need to find a good channel on 5GHz, that is not used or ?.

 

[funkahdafi]

Would be interested how you accompmplished that. My AC87 5 ghz coverage sucks big butt, and I only live a smallish flat, appartment. Just a few meters away around two corners, my link speed drops to below 60 mbit.

Tried all channels, all options, to no avail.

 

[dfran1]

Would be interested how you accompmplished that. My AC87 5 ghz coverage sucks big butt, and I only live a smallish flat, appartment. Just a few meters away around two corners, my link speed drops to below 60 mbit.

Tried all channels, all options, to no avail.

have you tried a good reset, reload from scratch, only inputing info needed to test, no Qos, ect...

what firmware ? what computer, my mac that is wired even will not get me great results, but if i load up windows on parallels on it it does much better, and I have no Idea why (this is data speeds from a USB drive connected to a USB3 port of the router and my mac tied thru cat 6 cable directly to the router) some things are just a mystery.

hold down wps button with router off and plug in while holding and keep held for 30 seconds after you apply power, then go into the router only doing and skipping what you can and reflash again using the newer (newest) firmware, I use merlins latest, reset again after flash.

only do what is needed to get you up and try to see if any better

I have mine and my brothers working great so, maybe interference from cordless phones, ect..
try to relocate the router, even for just test purposes.

OH one last thing MAKE sure your antennas are exactly like the manual, positions, I found any deviation from that and my 5GHz range decreased.

post back with results.

NOTE: I do not know how fast my speed is all over my house, all I know I have no issues and streaming works well also, I have noticed If steaming, the router creates a beam like to my device and whatever I am doing (streaming videos) just keeps on working in weaker areas.

Edit: I have a samsung smart TV using 5GHz and that is ~23 feet away and it streams movies with no issues, maybe you're looking at numbers too much. If you're doing a lot of file copying for whatever reason then I always plug in, but that is me.

 

[funkahdafi]

MY router is already only configured with the bare minimum. I don't use any of them fancy features, only use it as a plain and simple access point. As I said, I tried all setting, different client, to no avail.

 

[arrow201]

I'm the same as dfran1, before this router, I had a Linksys E3200, piece of
sh*t. The 5GHz on the 87u is excellent. I have the router on the top floor of a
2 story house. I get full bars on floors 1, 2, and 4 bars in the basement on the
5GHZ band. For 2.4GHz, walking across the street, I still get 5 bars
I also stream Blu-ray quality (8+ gig files) to my Sammy TV with no problem (5GHz).
The 2 outer antennas should be at 45 degrees, the middle 2 straight up.

Using firmware 2061. Yes there's newer versions, but the 87u web pages
says this is the latest ...I don't know how ASUS determines what is the "latest"
in this case, but I'm sticking to it for now.

Also, from bugs I've read, I'm not utilizing everything for the time being.
No qos, no usb, etc. Using both 2.4 and 5GHz, 2 static reserved ips, one port
forward for SFTP, everything working fine so far. I have 8 devices minimum
connected at a time.

 

[funkahdafi]

So mine is broken?

 

[keenism]

Hmm, I was wondering about link issues from that block diagram last month..I found a picture with the sinks off and after 20 minutes of staring at this not so great shot, it looks like 8 traces are running to the BCM4709 from the Quantenna chip..RGMII would be 6 yes? Also found a paper on running RGMII links at anywhere from 125, 170, 250, and finally a bit over 300Mhz in order to hit 2.5Gbit..but this required a specific revision. I figured this is what Asus did to remedy any problems that may come up, if not... even if rushed that's crazy sloppy engineering imo.

Perhaps Merlin can check RX/TX clocks ?

edit: Ok google ftw, extra two traces would be for management signals..Also stumbled upon a claim that the BCM4709 has two PCie interfaces https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom there...

 

[sfx2000]

Hmm, I was wondering about link issues from that block diagram last month..I found a picture with the sinks off and after 20 minutes of staring at this not so great shot, it looks like 8 traces are running to the BCM4709 from the Quantenna chip..RGMII would be 6 yes? Also found a paper on running RGMII links at anywhere from 125, 170, 250, and finally a bit over 300Mhz in order to hit 2.5Gbit..but this required a specific revision. I figured this is what Asus did to remedy any problems that may come up, if not... even if rushed that's crazy sloppy engineering imo.

Perhaps Merlin can check RX/TX clocks ?

edit: Ok google ftw, extra two traces would be for management signals..Also stumbled upon a claim that the BCM4709 has two PCie interfaces https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom there...

The BCM4709 has 2 PCIe interfaces - there are other designs that do use both interfaces on the 4709...

I think with the Quantenna solution at the time - they had to bit-bang something to get the design to market in a reasonable timeframe...

There's another Quantenna solution that is using PCIe now, but interfacing with a different SOC vendor (QC-Atheros), but that product wasn't first to market.

So maybe we'll see a V2 spin for the AC87U as well...

 

[RMerlin]

So maybe we'll see a V2 spin for the AC87U as well...

Only if someone can come up with real-time tests to confirm whether this is really a bottleneck or not. So far, we are basing a lot of our observations on a single block diagram and some personal deductions, more than any hard fact

Tim's review of the R7500 would be a valid reference point at this time, to see if that PCI-e based design really has any edge over Asus's RMGII design.

 

[sfx2000]

Only if someone can come up with real-time tests to confirm whether this is really a bottleneck or not. So far, we are basing a lot of our observations on a single block diagram and some personal deductions, more than any hard fact

Tim's review of the R7500 would be a valid reference point at this time, to see if that PCI-e based design really has any edge over Asus's RMGII design.

Both designs seem to be having challenges - whether PCIe or RGMII

Many complaints heard across the board on both - part of the challenge of being on the leading/bleeding edge.

Keep in mind that the first wave of 801.11ac devices had their challenges across all vendors. Eventually all was sorted...

 

[RMerlin]

Both designs seem to be having challenges - whether PCIe or RGMII

Many complaints heard across the board on both - part of the challenge of being on the leading/bleeding edge.

Keep in mind that the first wave of 801.11ac devices had their challenges across all vendors. Eventually all was sorted...

Plus, we're dealing with the integration of two different manufacturers together (Atheros/Broadcom with Quantenna), so there might be some compatibility issues there.

Might be interesting to see how a purely Quantenna solution based around an ARM CPU instead of their low-performance ARC might look like in terms of stability. Might provide with a better integration, although it might be a challenge to integrators since they would have to develop the whole firmware around it. The current RPC-based approach makes it easier to leverage any existing FW platform.

 

[sfx2000]

Plus, we're dealing with the integration of two different manufacturers together (Atheros/Broadcom with Quantenna), so there might be some compatibility issues there.

Might be interesting to see how a purely Quantenna solution based around an ARM CPU instead of their low-performance ARC might look like in terms of stability. Might provide with a better integration, although it might be a challenge to integrators since they would have to develop the whole firmware around it. The current RPC-based approach makes it easier to leverage any existing FW platform.

Gut tells me that the Quantenna MAC/Baseband is closely coupled at the HW level to the ARC700 series cores...

 

[Dr.No.pt]

Can this router VLAN tag on the WAN port ?

Thank you

 

[reddevil0728]

Am I right to say that you can use both the USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports at the same time with two different external hdd?

I am quite new to NAS, but am I also right to say that by connecting external hdd to the router, you are in effect making a "DIY" NAS?

If my internet is down, can I still access stuff on my external hdd when I am on the same wifi network?

 

[thiggins]

yes to all three questions

 

[Gradius]

How 3.0.0.4.376.2769 is now?

I haven't see anything new since 2014/09/22 update.

Update: have seen lots beta releases, hope they fixes the nasty bugs out.

 

[tizigman]

Security

Does it support secure login to the administration interface?

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I've had this router almost 3 weeks so far and I'm reasonably happy with it.

It now has the latest Merlin firmware update and that has fixed a few bugs as well giving it some extra software features not normally found on the AC87 such as the Traffic Monitor.

I have a lot of things running on the network, wired and wireless. I typically have our own devices plus a few customer ones for computers I am servicing or building on our network so I am using the guest network feature for customer computers. I also run a Synology DS414.

I'm finding some devices just don't play ball on 5GHz, my Nokia 1520 and iPad Air 2 both experience more drop outs and speed issues than my Microsoft Surface Pro 3, which performs perfectly on 5GHz. It may be that AC being relatively new and these mobile devices being only single antenna, that it is unrealistic to not expect some issues.

The Nokia 1520 and iPad Air 2 will now be banished to the 2.4GHz adapter which is fine as really I probably don't even need the extra performance on these devices. The 2.4GHz adapter is totally solid with whatever runs on it so that is good.

I like the interface and I think that the parental controls and AiProtection are both great features. I think that these features for me are just as important as the extra bandwidth which is something that is probably still not that critical to me. Most heavy duty work is done while connected by ethernet cable and done on my desktop.

The only concerns I have with these devices is the power draw and the heat generated. This AC87U seems poorly designed with respect to cooling with the CPU running at 81C while pretty well at idle. Whether this is an issue that will cause the device to misbehave, I don't know. So far though, it doesn't seem to have been a problem for users or myself.

In conclusion, this is a good router. Whether it is reasonable to expect all mobile devices to work perfectly on 5GHz AC, I don't know. Reading reviews on other similar routers it seems that they all have connection issues depending on what you are trying to connect. It isn't coincidence I'm sure that all my devices work just fine on 2.4GHz Wireless N which has been around for six years now (all the bugs ironed out).

I think anyone buying bleeding edge devices just needs to temper their expectations. By the time all the bugs are ironed out we'll be onto the next bleeding edge devices and their attendant bugs and issues.

Edit:

I've turned off QoS and have been testing the Nokia and Air 2 in different locations and I'm getting good pings and solid figures using speedtest.net.

I'll report back in a few days if I still get the issues. The issues are very erratic connection speeds and not just dropouts but a refusal to reconnect even if moved very close to the router.

I read QoS can cause issues and I can maybe see why as it has to figure what is being done on the device and this could get complicated.

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I've tried testing the iPad Air 2 again today and getting very inconsistent pings and results on speedtest.net on 5GHz.

I think it is time to admit defeat.

This modem looks cool and has every feature known to mankind but simply isn't reliable on 5GHz for 2 out of 3 of my mobile devices.

It seems to me that whether it is the Netgear R70000/R8000 or this one or the AC3200 they have a lot of issues. I've checked out Amazon and New Egg and it is surprising just how many connection and performance issues of various sorts that there are.

I will probably buy a TP-Link C9 on Monday to replace this router. The review on SNB was that this was down on performance but real world user reviews on Amazon show it to have pretty well NO connection or performance issues. Everyone seems very happy indeed.

Reliability and consistency are number one, two and three for me. Once you have those then QoS, AiProtection and other stuff is nice to have but I've decided it doesn't make up for deficits in reliability and consistency.