ASUS RT-AC87U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.4608 - Just released!

[W4RH34D]

Uh oh, dnsmasq won't reload and this was in the log
Mar 26 16:34:19 kernel: Dead loop on virtual device vlan2, fix it urgently!

Mar 26 16:23:44 dnsmasq[18991]: junk found in command line
Mar 26 16:23:44 dnsmasq[18991]: FAILED to start up


In an odd turn of events, I found the culprit to be my g750 notebook. Wireless pops the error occasionally but the ethernet will make it go haywire. Dang.

 

[LoneWolf]

Thank you Merlin. By the time it does support MU-MIMO this router will be $149.99 I'll buy it at that time.

I'm not sure why people keep saying this.

To have MU-MIMO support, you need two things. One is a router that supports it. The other is a network adapter (client) that supports it.

As Merlin said, there aren't *any* network adapters. It doesn't matter a single thing if ASUS' router supports it, if there isn't a single network adapter that does, and yet I've seen several people acting like "no MU-MIMO support" at this point is somehow ASUS' fault.

If network adapters come out that support it and ASUS doesn't, at that point, it's a big deal. Right now, it's a complete non-issue. The latest, greatest, Intel 7265AC notebook adapter doesn't even support it. Furthermore, unless all of your wireless network adapters in the house were MU-MIMO, it wouldn't matter much either, because the MU stands for "multi-user"; the idea is about improving communication under the loads of multiple users.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I'm not sure why people keep saying this.

To have MU-MIMO support, you need two things. One is a router that supports it. The other is a network adapter (client) that supports it.

As Merlin said, there aren't *any* network adapters. It doesn't matter a single thing if ASUS' router supports it, if there isn't a single network adapter that does, and yet I've seen several people acting like "no MU-MIMO support" at this point is somehow ASUS' fault.

If network adapters come out that support it and ASUS doesn't, at that point, it's a big deal. Right now, it's a complete non-issue. The latest, greatest, Intel 7265AC notebook adapter doesn't even support it. Furthermore, unless all of your wireless network adapters in the house were MU-MIMO, it wouldn't matter much either, because the MU stands for "multi-user"; the idea is about improving communication under the loads of multiple users.

Yes I know this. I was being sarcastic. As it will be maybe 2 to 3 years before this router or adapters come out that support MU-MIMO. So why people are buying the AC87U or any AC2400 is just ridiculous.

 

[sm00thpapa]

At the same time all this talk about 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band is a joke as well. Anyone have or seen an adapter that supports 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band? If anyone does please let me know thanks.

 

[RMerlin]

At the same time all this talk about 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band is a joke as well. Anyone have or seen an adapter that supports 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band? If anyone does please let me know thanks.

http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/PCEAC68/specifications/

 

[bigmag]

http://www.asus.com/Networking/EAAC87/specifications/

 

[sm00thpapa]

http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/PCEAC68/specifications/

That is like the only one on the market for the last 2 years. Find me a $40.00 USB stick. That actually has close to 600Mbps throughput.

 

[W4RH34D]

The dead loop errors were actual errors and helped me find a misconfiguration in one of the switches. So, cool beans!

 

[RMerlin]

That is like the only one on the market for the last 2 years. Find me a $40.00 USB stick. That actually has close to 600Mbps throughput.

600 Mbps is the phy link rate, not the throughput.

Also, USB sticks are usually only 2x2, so this has nothing to do with lack of Turbo QAM support. This one is a 2x2 Turbo-QAM enabled interface:

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/USBAC56/specifications/

Lack of a 3x3 Turbo QAM USB interface has nothing to do with it - it\s just not practical sticking three antennas out of a USB adapter.

 

[LoneWolf]

Yes I know this. I was being sarcastic. As it will be maybe 2 to 3 years before this router or adapters come out that support MU-MIMO. So why people are buying the AC87U or any AC2400 is just ridiculous.

Perhaps because at the time it was released, we didn't buy it for MU-MIMO.

The RT-AC68P wasn't out, or I'd have purchased it. I bought it because my RT-AC66 didn't have the chops to support OpenVPN client with its single-core processor. The 87 also had the new AiProtection (which is basically like a poor man's Gateway AV; most business routers charge subscription fees for this, such as WatchGuard or Sonicwall). Adaptive QoS looked promising as well.

Yes, all of these features have since trickled down to the RT-AC68 series, but at the time I bought my router, they hadn't, and it wasn't clear that they would. Also, I tend to own my routers for that 2-3 year period you speak of, so I tend to buy a flagship model and hold on to it for awhile with the idea that its features will mature.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Perhaps because at the time it was released, we didn't buy it for MU-MIMO.

The RT-AC68P wasn't out, or I'd have purchased it. I bought it because my RT-AC66 didn't have the chops to support OpenVPN client with its single-core processor. The 87 also had the new AiProtection (which is basically like a poor man's Gateway AV; most business routers charge subscription fees for this, such as WatchGuard or Sonicwall). Adaptive QoS looked promising as well.

Yes, all of these features have since trickled down to the RT-AC68 series, but at the time I bought my router, they hadn't, and it wasn't clear that they would. Also, I tend to own my routers for that 2-3 year period you speak of, so I tend to buy a flagship model and hold on to it for awhile with the idea that its features will mature.

Understandable. The price is coming down on the AC87U slowly. Most AC2400 routers all launched with no MU-MIMO ready to go. Hopefully soon they will be along with some adapters. Linksys is about to launch the EA8500 in which I was told will support MU-MIMO right out the box. We'll find out when it actually launches.

 

[L&LD]

Understandable. The price is coming down on the AC87U slowly. Most AC2400 routers all launched with no MU-MIMO ready to go. Hopefully soon they will be along with some adapters. Linksys is about to launch the EA8500 in which I was told will support MU-MIMO right out the box. We'll find out when it actually launches.

I am very wary of marketing speak. The Asus '87U also technically launched with MU-MIMO support 'right out of the box' too.

Wide MU-MIMO client availability is what will make this feature a must have. Routers (specifically, their chipset / hardware) have had this capability for a while already (with the RT-AC87U being the 'world's first').

http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/RTAC87U/


The client side implementation is what will drive this. Hope to see it in client wifi drivers soon.

 

[sm00thpapa]

I am very wary of marketing speak. The Asus '87U also technically launched with MU-MIMO support 'right out of the box' too.

Wide MU-MIMO client availability is what will make this feature a must have. Routers (specifically, their chipset / hardware) have had this capability for a while already (with the RT-AC87U being the 'world's first').

http://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/RTAC87U/


The client side implementation is what will drive this. Hope to see it in client wifi drivers soon.

Yeah I spoke to JJ from Asus a few times and he told me that the AC87U is MU-MIMO ready but has not been enabled until a future firmware update. Same with the Linksys E8350. It's MU-MIMO compatible but not enabled yet until a future firmware update. Hopefully soon both routers and adapters will be enabled.

 

[W4RH34D]

Well I just want to echo the need to start from scratch every firmware release. It turns out my killer nic stuff was making the situation worse, but was not the cause of it. Turns out, all the aicloud and usb stuff was somehow enabled and misconfigured after the update. Also one device had insane parental controls on it that I know that I didn't set. Anyway, once I finally poured through every single device setting and disabled the stuff I don't use this device has been absolutely stellar. We went an entire day with only NTP updates in the log. What an absolute treat!