ASUS RT-AC88U 5GHz network connection drops after a few minutes, does not recover

[Flipmode11]

No more pain, tried so many FM versions and reset to factory settings adnausem, nothing makes any difference so going to attempt to get a refund and put towards a better model.

Any suggestions people? - basic requirements are, VPN Router, 2.4 & 5 ghz Wifi, 8 ethernet ports would be nice - been looking at the ASUS RT-AC5300 which looks good but a bit reluctant to stick with ASUS after appalling ZERO support - budget around £300

• Order from Ebay USA (tick search Worldwide) - Check their promo's - e.g. currently 20% off Tech promo for selected sellers via .com.au
  AC2900 $250, AC3100 $200-$300, ... ("https://www.ebay.com/sch/?_odkw=AC2900&_nkw=AC2900"_)
• Amazon (can be slow to find something that ships to your region).
  AC3100 $147-$238, AC2900 $264, etc... ("https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank?keywords=AC86U&sort=price-asc-rank").
• GearBest - just ordered some more items (Vivofit, Phone, etc).
  AC2900 AC86U $191, AC3100 $249, etc (https://www.gearbest.com/wireless-routers/pp_662065.html?wid=21 (click on the 3 radio buttons for each warehouse location).

I have used the RT-AC66U (not b1) for couple years now with Merlin. Been great - except when an idiot pulled the power cable and it came crashing down, antennas going everywhere!
The RT-AC68 or AC66 will do the VPN job perfectly on a budget. But 8 ports?? You would need to look at the RT-AC8x series (AC87, AC88, AC86 - in oldest to newest order).

Check the Asus and Netgear websites. Then check the SmallNetBuilder forums and see what people say about the models.

 

[harry555]

• Order from Ebay USA (tick search Worldwide) - Check their promo's - e.g. currently 20% off Tech promo for selected sellers via .com.au
  AC2900 $250, AC3100 $200-$300, ... ("https://www.ebay.com/sch/?_odkw=AC2900&_nkw=AC2900"_)
• Amazon (can be slow to find something that ships to your region).
  AC3100 $147-$238, AC2900 $264, etc... ("https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_st_price-asc-rank?keywords=AC86U&sort=price-asc-rank").
• GearBest - just ordered some more items (Vivofit, Phone, etc).
  AC2900 AC86U $191, AC3100 $249, etc (https://www.gearbest.com/wireless-routers/pp_662065.html?wid=21 (click on the 3 radio buttons for each warehouse location).

I have used the RT-AC66U (not b1) for couple years now with Merlin. Been great - except when an idiot pulled the power cable and it came crashing down, antennas going everywhere!
The RT-AC68 or AC66 will do the VPN job perfectly on a budget. But 8 ports?? You would need to look at the RT-AC8x series (AC87, AC88, AC86 - in oldest to newest order).

Check the Asus and Netgear websites. Then check the SmallNetBuilder forums and see what people say about the models.

thanks for that but got a refund and put the money towards the ASUS RT-AC5300, still doing the same, it must be down to the firmware and going to put up with it for now until hopefully one day, Asus bother to fix it!

 

[Flipmode11]

thanks for that!

I recommend checking out Gear Best, regardless, (for your next purchase) as have no international shipping fees plus very competitive prices. Sellers appear reputable and very reliable!

Good luck! Enjoy the AC5300!

 

[Flipmode11]

hopefully one day, Asus bother to fix it!

Oh and had you checked any reviews and prices for the Linksys AC5400?

 

[ChocolateGiddyUp]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to post something that I figured out with my router, and this thread comes up when you google search this issue. I have the same one. It worked great at my old house, then I moved, and all of the sudden constant 5ghz issues.
After days and days of messing with it I realized something. At my new house, I have a subwoofer in the same room as my Router. I noticed when I hooked up the home theater subwoofer, that it was occasionally making a "helicopter" noise. All my research for that lead me to believe that there's a ground fault somewhere, or some other hardware issue in the powered sub.
After messing with the router settings for the 40th time, I realized that I had the 5hgz set to run at 80hz. Which is all well and good. Nice and far away from the 20hz I set the 2.4 at. HOWEVER.... it sudden hit me... I also set my powered sub frequency to 80hz. because that's when my satellite speakers cut out.
The router and the sub are fairly closet to each other at my new house. So, to test, I got the sub to start making the "helicopter" sound again. I could get it to come and go depending on how I placed it in the room. Even just a couple of inches made a difference. What I immediately noticed is... the "helicopter" sound went away as soon as I killed the router. So... I bumped the sub frequency to around 100hz. It's not as clean on the home theater, but it still sounds fine for me.
Low and behold... my router has been up with no issues for 2 days now.

I would suggest... if you are having issues with the 5hgz on this router.... make sure that you don't have anything else nearby that is causing interference. I may still have an issue with the sub. It's entirely possible. But so far, so good.

 

[Kemper Martin]

I switched DD-WRT and I have hardware version A6.
I no longer have problems on 2.4ghz or 5ghz.
Use the trx files not the bin extensions.
If you use .bin you may not be able to go back to Merlin or ASUS stock firmware.
I had another AC88U and I used the .bin I was not able to get back.
asus_rt-ac88u-firmware 36527.trx

 

[newsguy99]

For a long time, I've also got a RT-AC68U. My router would just randomly drop the 5G connection. It seems to happen more often than not, when streaming large amounts of data.

The 5G setup was left alone, everything on AUTO settings. This would happen.
I then found that Merlin worked for this router, and loaded it up.
I still had the 5G issue.
On the net somewhere, and I can't remember where I found it, but, it was said, to change your 5G setting to 20 Mhz only. and use HIGH band channels (150 and up)
Since I moved to that setup, my 5G has be super stable. I'm now able to stream a bunch of content over 5G without the drop.

I've now been on this setup for a week, and have had 0 drop outs. So, I hope this has fixed that problem.