Asus RT-ACRH17 thoughts

[Slothbear]

Hi, I was going to buy an Asus RT-AC66U_B1 but then saw the RT-ACRH17 was 10 cheaper but couldn't find barely any thoughts or comments on it. The only things I saw were that it maybe is much more capable than it's name and price imply. Figured I'd ask if I could save money and get a better machine.

I'm new to purchasing routers and this seemed like the place I could find someone who knew something about this particular router.

Thank you

 

[maxbraketorque]

Hi, I was going to buy an Asus RT-AC66U_B1 but then saw the RT-ACRH17 was 10 cheaper but couldn't find barely any thoughts or comments on it. The only things I saw were that it maybe is much more capable than it's name and price imply. Figured I'd ask if I could save money and get a better machine.

I'm new to purchasing routers and this seemed like the place I could find someone who knew something about this particular router.

Thank you

Appparently the RT-ACRH17 is a recent release. The processor and radios are all Qualcomm rather than the usual Broadcom that ASUS tends to use, so it may not be supported by Merlin if that matters to you. Its extensively reviewed here:

http://koolshare.cn/thread-127245-1-1.html

Based on the available info, its has a 2x2 2.4 GHz configuration and a 4x4 5 GHz configuration, so it emphasizes usage of the 5 GHz band. The RT-AC86U has a similar approach where it has a 3x3 2.4 GHz band and a 4x4 5 GHz band.

Hard to say whether it will be better or worse than an RT-AC66U_B1, but they are definitely similar on paper. By both and sell the one that you don't want.

 

[Slothbear]

Thanks very much!

 

[Pierino]

The RT-AC66U_B1 is an rt-ac68u in disguise.

 

[Internet Man]

I was trying to make sense of this thing back in November before it was announced. https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-acrh17-rt-ac42u-is-an-oddity.42198/

It still doesn't make sense to me. the IPQ4019 + QCA9984 should allow it to be tri-band like the AC3000 Orbi devices and the ZyXEL Multy. They also only claim three-stream 802.11ac speeds while the hardware supports four. This isn't even just a feature-limited version of another ASUS product for market segmentation purposes, it's a new product that has purposely been crippled.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I was trying to make sense of this thing back in November before it was announced. https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-acrh17-rt-ac42u-is-an-oddity.42198/

It still doesn't make sense to me. the IPQ4019 + QCA9984 should allow it to be tri-band like the AC3000 Orbi devices and the ZyXEL Multy. They also only claim three-stream 802.11ac speeds while the hardware supports four. This isn't even just a feature-limited version of another ASUS product for market segmentation purposes, it's a new product that has purposely been crippled.

From a practical perspective, main question is still whether its a better choice than an AC66_B1. However, based on your comments, I wonder whether ASUS is trying out Qualcomm chips on a lesser model router in a limited market where there is less fallout if the product does not perform well.

 

[Internet Man]

From a practical perspective, main question is still whether its a better choice than an AC66_B1. However, based on your comments, I wonder whether ASUS is trying out Qualcomm chips on a lesser model router in a limited market where there is less fallout if the product does not perform well.

That's certainly the best explanation I've heard. ASUS has used Qualcomm chips in a few other products before, though, including the Lyra line.

 

[maxbraketorque]

That's certainly the best explanation I've heard. ASUS has used Qualcomm chips in a few other products before, though, including the Lyra line.

Interesting. That's more products than I thought. Maybe its good business practice to have some products from both chip manufacturers so that if one develops a clear advantage, its easy to make new products from using those chips.