ASUS RT-N66U Dark Knight Dual-Band Wireless-N900 Gigabit Router Reviewed

[RogerSC]

My thought about this is that if .102 is doing what you want then use it until they come up with something better. If it isn't, and you can find a version that works better for what you need your router to do, then use that *smile*. There's always tomato, you know, if none of the Asus firmware suits you.

Personally, .102 is working fine for me. Sure, I'd like to see working IPv6 support, and I'd like to see the client list working better (but I can go look at the dhcp leases log, too), but for basic routing and wireless features, it's working fine. Other people are using other features that may have problems, but I'm not suffering at the moment, I'm happy with the functionality I'm getting.

 

[scajjr2]

My thought about this is that if .102 is doing what you want then use it until they come up with something better. If it isn't, and you can find a version that works better for what you need your router to do, then use that *smile*. There's always tomato, you know, if none of the Asus firmware suits you.

Personally, .102 is working fine for me. Sure, I'd like to see working IPv6 support, and I'd like to see the client list working better (but I can go look at the dhcp leases log, too), but for basic routing and wireless features, it's working fine. Other people are using other features that may have problems, but I'm not suffering at the moment, I'm happy with the functionality I'm getting.

I agree. I got mine up and running yesterday, flashed to 102 and it's running fine. Wife's computer (located in upstairs, front right corner of house, RT-N66U located downstairs in back left corner in TV room) which used to get 2-3 bars with our Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH, now has a steady 4-5 bars. Going to run some files transfers when I get home today to compare performance.

Sam

 

[delair2]

Thanks to all of you for your responses/comments when I asked if you would purchase the 66U again. I have been running the N56U connected to my cable modem as the primary wireless router with the e4200 V2 in a "LAN to WAN" AP "like" mode ( I maintain two separate networks) for whole home high-speed coverage. My initial thought is to replace the 56U with the 66U and continue to use with the e4200 V2.

I received the 66U yesterday as expected and had it up and running in a few minutes. Basic dual-band setup w/ v. 3.1.0.3.90 was surprisingly easy/quick--no issues. After setup I upgraded to v. 3.0.0.3.96 (I noticed the Check version button doesn't seem to be working on my Asus web interface software)

My initial interest was to compare basic capabilities of the 66U with the e4200 V2 since I found the V2 to provide better coverage in my home environment over the 56U. Its still too early to tell and I need to tinker a bit more with the 66U settings but I noticed two performance questions with the 66U.

First, the 66U like the 56U leaves me with a wireless dead-zone in the room located furthest from the 66U--where the V2 was able to provide usable 2.4 ( albeit low) wireless coverage in that area when setup similar to the 66U. I tried adjusting the 66U antennas as well as increasing the 66U 2.4ghz Tx from 40 mW to 100, neither made any difference.

Secondly, I've noticed that the wireless signal from the 66U doesn't seem to automatically connect as quickly to my iMac wireless card (Atheros 9280) as the 56U or the V2 does. Sometimes the 66U wireless signal doesn't connect automatically with my iMac at all and I have to connect it manually on both 2.4/5 Ghz bands. Interestingly, I get a better RSSI from the 66U to the iMac but the transmit rate is lower coming from the 66U than from the V2 in a similar setup/location.

I am currently operating my home network with the 66U as the main router and the e4200 V2 in Lan to Wan AP like mode and will have some more time today to continue to explore.

I should also mention that I was playing around with my Trendnet TEW-684UB 450Mbps Dual Band Wireless N USB Adapter connected to an old XP laptop and noted some crazy fast burst speeds in close proximity to the 66U on the 5Ghz band set to wide channel

 

[TC777]

A lot of people have posted that the .96 firmware is buggy, especially with wireless strength.

 

[mrcom]

Thanks to all of you for your responses/comments when I asked if you would purchase the 66U again. I have been running the N56U connected to my cable modem as the primary wireless router with the e4200 V2 in a "LAN to WAN" AP "like" mode ( I maintain two separate networks) for whole home high-speed coverage. My initial thought is to replace the 56U with the 66U and continue to use with the e4200 V2.

I received the 66U yesterday as expected and had it up and running in a few minutes. Basic dual-band setup w/ v. 3.1.0.3.90 was surprisingly easy/quick--no issues. After setup I upgraded to v. 3.0.0.3.96 (I noticed the Check version button doesn't seem to be working on my Asus web interface software)

My initial interest was to compare basic capabilities of the 66U with the e4200 V2 since I found the V2 to provide better coverage in my home environment over the 56U. Its still too early to tell and I need to tinker a bit more with the 66U settings but I noticed two performance questions with the 66U.

First, the 66U like the 56U leaves me with a wireless dead-zone in the room located furthest from the 66U--where the V2 was able to provide usable 2.4 ( albeit low) wireless coverage in that area when setup similar to the 66U. I tried adjusting the 66U antennas as well as increasing the 66U 2.4ghz Tx from 40 mW to 100, neither made any difference.

Secondly, I've noticed that the wireless signal from the 66U doesn't seem to automatically connect as quickly to my iMac wireless card (Atheros 9280) as the 56U or the V2 does. Sometimes the 66U wireless signal doesn't connect automatically with my iMac at all and I have to connect it manually on both 2.4/5 Ghz bands. Interestingly, I get a better RSSI from the 66U to the iMac but the transmit rate is lower coming from the 66U than from the V2 in a similar setup/location.

I am currently operating my home network with the 66U as the main router and the e4200 V2 in Lan to Wan AP like mode and will have some more time today to continue to explore.

I should also mention that I was playing around with my Trendnet TEW-684UB 450Mbps Dual Band Wireless N USB Adapter connected to an old XP laptop and noted some crazy fast burst speeds in close proximity to the 66U on the 5Ghz band set to wide channel

Please update to the .102 firmware as the .96 has problems with wifi. You can download it here: http://www.4shared.com/folder/h9J1MTAx/_online.html
Just click the zip file to download.

 

[njweb]

My thought about this is that if .102 is doing what you want then use it until they come up with something better. If it isn't, and you can find a version that works better for what you need your router to do, then use that *smile*. There's always tomato, you know, if none of the Asus firmware suits you.

Personally, .102 is working fine for me. Sure, I'd like to see working IPv6 support, and I'd like to see the client list working better (but I can go look at the dhcp leases log, too), but for basic routing and wireless features, it's working fine. Other people are using other features that may have problems, but I'm not suffering at the moment, I'm happy with the functionality I'm getting.

I was planning to stick with 102 as well. The fact that they suddenly pulled it without anyone here (consumer side) knowing the reason so far leads me to wonder why.
Since all the other firmware revisions are still up it makes me wonder if it is simply because of the complaints by some of VPN disconnects or if it is due to a larger issue that they perhaps feel is a serious concern and hence they pulled it completely.
I assume it is simply the former, but I will send them an e-mail today in an effort to find out why it was pulled when so many people felt it worked better than the prior firmware revisions, for THEIR needs.

I still have 102 for now (did not get around to going back to xxxx90 last night).

 

[myjplp]

Issues with configuring FW 102

I just received my router a couple days ago from amazon. I updated it to fw102 immediately but I seem to have issues with configuring the router.

Anyone have issues with not being able to configure the port forwarding and DHCP IP range? Every time I change parameters on those pages, the router goes, "10%, 20%,...100% complete!" and it just sits there...with the spinner spinning. I couldn't log back in to the router until I hold the reset button down for a few seconds which effectively wipes all configuration and I have to start over.

The other pages saves fine.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[njweb]

I just received my router a couple days ago from amazon. I updated it to fw102 immediately but I seem to have issues with configuring the router.

Anyone have issues with not being able to configure the port forwarding and DHCP IP range? Every time I change parameters on those pages, the router goes, "10%, 20%,...100% complete!" and it just sits there...with the spinner spinning. I couldn't log back in to the router until I hold the reset button down for a few seconds which effectively wipes all configuration and I have to start over.

The other pages saves fine.

Thanks in advance for any help.

I also got the spinner continuing to spin after a change got to 100%.
However, in my case, I was experimenting with lowering the TX power from 80mW to 40mW and then changing it back to the default (80mW in 102).
I then clicked on something in another browser window and that seemed to help (but this was last week and I did very little as far as configuring is concerned, so I don't recall exactly).

This could explain why 102 was pulled.
(I did send a note to Asus earlier today to inquire, but have not heard back).

I guess since many of us already had our routers configured (using previous firmware versions), we did not encounter this 102 configuration issue to any large extent...

 

[delair2]

I just received my router a couple days ago from amazon. I updated it to fw102 immediately but I seem to have issues with configuring the router.

Anyone have issues with not being able to configure the port forwarding and DHCP IP range? Every time I change parameters on those pages, the router goes, "10%, 20%,...100% complete!" and it just sits there...with the spinner spinning. I couldn't log back in to the router until I hold the reset button down for a few seconds which effectively wipes all configuration and I have to start over.

The other pages saves fine.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hmmm maybe I should wait on downloading v. 102 zipfile. However, I did have some configuration issues yesterday using ver 3.0.0.3.96 with the spinner effect when trying to setup the guest network and when trying to change the default Tx 40mW to 100mW but after several tries I was able to make the changes stick. I wonder if these problems where there already in 3.0.0.3.96 and you are just noticing them in ver 102?

 

[AndreaS]

A couple of days ago I pointed out that 102 with download manager loaded had a very low free memory left: only 7k with one torrent seeding.
Despite the memory swap should have been activated (look at .asusrouter script) it was not, thus generating a high risk of running out of memory in case of addition of additional torrents.
Up to now I got no answer from them.

 

[hggomes]

ASUS reply to my email:

"Hello Hugo,

I apologize for the issues you are having with this router. Are you currently using .102 firmware? There was an issue when updating from .84 to .102 which is why firmware 102 was pulled from the website. However, 106 will be coming out within 2 days. I don’t believe 84 was officially released anyway so unless someone provide you with firmware .84 then this issue doesn’t pertain to you. Please give 106 a try when it is release on Wednesday or Thursday and let us know if you still experience issues.

Best Regards,
Mason"

 

[njweb]

ASUS reply to my email:

"Hello Hugo,

I apologize for the issues you are having with this router. Are you currently using .102 firmware? There was an issue when updating from .84 to .102 which is why firmware 102 was pulled from the website. However, 106 will be coming out within 2 days. I don’t believe 84 was officially released anyway so unless someone provide you with firmware .84 then this issue doesn’t pertain to you. Please give 106 a try when it is release on Wednesday or Thursday and let us know if you still experience issues.

Best Regards,
Mason"

Thanks! That clears things up.
Glad they're already working on xxx106 as well.

(I haven't heard back yet, but Mason is the one who answered the only other inquiry I sent Asus. Now that you got a reply back already it doesn't matter when I hear back).

 

[hggomes]

No problem He replyed in 5m, it was really fast. Soon we will know what changed on .106, i hope wireless problems could end, and that they finally update Broadcom wireless drivers to 5.110.x. Let´s wait to see

 

[njweb]

No problem He replyed in 5m, it was really fast. Soon we will know what changed on .106, i hope wireless problems could end, and that they finally update Broadcom wireless drivers to 5.101.x.

That was fast. I am still waiting for my reply (maybe they sort by last name). ;-)

Interestingly I, like many users, am not experiencing any wifi problems with 102 (at least not disconnects or any noticeable throughput issues).
It seems some have issues with VPN disconnects though.


Out of curiosity, what type of problem are you experiencing / referring to?

If the newer Broadcom drivers you noted are supposed to help I am all for it.
That being said, as of now I have not had a single disconnect, so I am very happy already.

 

[darksamus]

ASUS reply to my email:

"Hello Hugo,

I apologize for the issues you are having with this router. Are you currently using .102 firmware? There was an issue when updating from .84 to .102 which is why firmware 102 was pulled from the website. However, 106 will be coming out within 2 days. I don’t believe 84 was officially released anyway so unless someone provide you with firmware .84 then this issue doesn’t pertain to you. Please give 106 a try when it is release on Wednesday or Thursday and let us know if you still experience issues.

Best Regards,
Mason"

This better not be one of those 2-steps back, 1-step forward crap they have been doing.

 

[hggomes]

Yeah, thats what i have tell them on my email

 

[hggomes]

Out of curiosity, what type of problem are you experiencing / referring to?[/B]

If the newer Broadcom drivers you noted are supposed to help I am all for it.
That being said, as of now I have not had a single disconnect, so I am very happy already.

At first i haven't noticed nothing special with wireless, but then problems have started, VPN disconnects, hangs (not possible to communicate with router) unless reboot, and random disconnects (less).

I have done all kind of tests on 2 different units, nics and computers.

Reading a little bit about this and you will see what kind of problems 5.100.x drivers have.

 

[RogerSC]

I initially saw VPN disconnects with .102, but that turned out to be a couple of bad days for my work VPN. Everyone I work with were also getting disconnects. Now everything is stable on my work VPN since then, so I'm happy with the VPN performance.

Haven't seen wireless disconnects, either. But I'm using an AP along with the rt-n66u so I have really good signal strength in the areas of my house where I use wireless.

 

[njweb]

At first i haven't noticed nothing special with wireless, but then problems have started, VPN disconnects, hangs (not possible to communicate with router) unless reboot, and random disconnects (less).

I have done all kind of test on 2 different units, nics and computers.

Reading a little bit about this and you will see what kind of problems 5.100.x drivers have.

Thanks for the info. I will read up on the 5.1 Broadcom drivers tonight if I get some time and don't get home too late.

So is the disconnecting only when using VPN or?
Just trying to see if your issue can be pinpointed...

 

[busterw]

I just got my n66u in today and upgrading from a wrt54g. These are the speeds I am getting on Cox Communications with the .096 firmware. I did use WiFi analyzer from my phone to find the best signal strength on wireless.

The faster speed one is a wired connection. Slower speed is Dell's b uilt in wireless on a 4 year old Precision Workstation laptop.

With the WRT54g, I was getting max of 30mbps downstream, about the same upstream as on on the n66u..