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

[G37x]

Using the 102 firmware, I'm seeing occasional work VPN disconnects. The VPN is Cisco, so I have IPSec Passthrough enabled. Every so often the VPN connection is lost, like about every 15-30 minutes, and then the software on the work end of things spends about 30 seconds re-establishing the connection. So this is kind of annoying, as you might imagine.

I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this? My rt-n56u doesn't have this problem, it just stays connected to the VPN. Otherwise, the 102 firmware is doing very well for me.

Yes I see VPN drops and reconnects on my Iphone client, although faster that every 15 min..You are lucky.

 

[RogerSC]

I have reported the VPN disconnects to Asus, no response yet.

This is annoying and disruptive enough to my work that I may either go back to earlier firmware, go to tomato *smile*, or go back to my rt-n56u. I haven't decided yet, but I do need to do something for this problem.

 

[hggomes]

New version to RT-N66U:

http://tomato.groov.pl/index.php?dir=K26RT-N/build5x-085V-EN/RT-N66U

 

[KevTech]

New version to RT-N66U:

http://tomato.groov.pl/index.php?dir=K26RT-N/build5x-085V-EN/RT-N66U

This has already been posted in the tomato thread.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=38307&postcount=15

 

[mrcom]

Using the 102 firmware, I'm seeing occasional work VPN disconnects. The VPN is Cisco, so I have IPSec Passthrough enabled. Every so often the VPN connection is lost, like about every 15-30 minutes, and then the software on the work end of things spends about 30 seconds re-establishing the connection. So this is kind of annoying, as you might imagine.

I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing this? My rt-n56u doesn't have this problem, it just stays connected to the VPN. Otherwise, the 102 firmware is doing very well for me.

Im using openvpn and there is no problems here.

 

[though]

I have reported the VPN disconnects to Asus, no response yet.

This is annoying and disruptive enough to my work that I may either go back to earlier firmware, go to tomato *smile*, or go back to my rt-n56u. I haven't decided yet, but I do need to do something for this problem.

that's easy. go with tomato and start enjoying your router...

 

[Greg_Elite]

that's easy. go with tomato and start enjoying your router...

Send all bugs, Logs, and complaints to Networking_Support@asus.com.

This is really starting to aggravate me. I hope this isn't the type of thing where they have incompetent engineers that just can't get it right and it's a constant battle for the life cycle of the product.

 

[though]

new toastman tomato release today:

http://www.4shared.com/get/vF0SVURA/tomato-K26USB-1280496MIPSR2-To.html

 

[njweb]

I've noticed that the "DHCP Leases" (under "System Logs") provides a more accurate client list, for dhcp clients, of course. The "Host name" column in this log in particular is right on, which allows better matching of MAC addresses with clients on the network based on their host names.

The client list provided on the Network Map page for some reason doesn't pick up all the host names that the DHCP Leases log provides. If they could just pick up the host names from the DCHP log list, and use them in the client list, that would be really nice.

Thanks.

The host names indeed are not all populated under 'Network Map' > 'Client Status', for me. One is missing.
Whereas under 'System Logs' > 'DHCP Leases', the ONE missing client's host name ("Squeezebox Boom") is also shown.

I also noticed something interesting:
The 'DHCP leases' client list also shows 2 clients LESS than the Network Map's client list (5 as opposed to 7).

 

[njweb]

I guess I was lucky the firmware happened to be at 3.0.0.3.90 when I ran my detailed wifi comparison tests for the Asus RT-N66U and Amped Wireless R10000 (the latter has already been compared to my Linksys E4200 v1).

It seems the two subsequent RT-N66U firmware releases (beta 3.1.0.3.90 and the beta (96) were both worse for wifi performance as noted in the thread on vip.asus.com

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...model=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

This concurs what I noticed when I tested in one room after upgrading to xxxxx96 (in the room nearest to the router) and got slightly worse results and also checked the signal strength on my Blu-Ray player and it was a little weaker than with the first firmware with which I tested (3.0.0.3.90).

The poster does seem to say 102 is better based on initial experience -
QUOTE "I've loaded 3.0.0.3.102 Let's see if this works better. So far so good."[END QUOTE]

Has anyone here compared the two releases (xxxx100 and xxx102), for which only the source code has been released, to the older firmwares in terms of wifi performance?
I plan to wait till Asus releases the latest officially (in binary format, as opposed to the source code which I suspect may be subject to change before they officially compile and release it in binary format for us to flash with.

 

[cc666]

wifi signal

I can verify with inSSIDr the following:

.90 .102
2.4 GH 40 db 30 db
5.0 GHZ 55 db 50 db

Laptop in exact same spot. .102 is MUCH better.

Charlie C

 

[G37x]

I can verify with inSSIDr the following:

.90 .102
2.4 GH 40 db 30 db
5.0 GHZ 55 db 50 db

Laptop in exact same spot. .102 is MUCH better.

Charlie C

LOL, the question is: are the conditions exactly the same? RF is a bitch...

 

[mrcom]

LOL, the question is: are the conditions exactly the same? RF is a bitch...

Asus do say in the relese notes that they have fixed the wifi strength problem from .96 so yes you get better strength with .102 just read the notes!

 

[shootist]

Just a short question to all users: Would you go for Tomato or "stock" firmware (.102)? Small firm network with ~5-10 users simultaneously and WPA2 Enterprise/RADIUS. No DLNA, good QoS needed for websites if a lot of YT streams are loaded... before I start the great performance test I would appreciate all of your input

 

[shantanugoel]

I guess I was lucky the firmware happened to be at 3.0.0.3.90 when I ran my detailed wifi comparison tests for the Asus RT-N66U and Amped Wireless R10000 (the latter has already been compared to my Linksys E4200 v1).

It seems the two subsequent RT-N66U firmware releases (beta 3.1.0.3.90 and the beta (96) were both worse for wifi performance as noted in the thread on vip.asus.com

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...model=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&page=1&SLanguage=en-us

This concurs what I noticed when I tested in one room after upgrading to xxxxx96 (in the room nearest to the router) and got slightly worse results and also checked the signal strength on my Blu-Ray player and it was a little weaker than with the first firmware with which I tested (3.0.0.3.90).

The poster does seem to say 102 is better based on initial experience -
QUOTE "I've loaded 3.0.0.3.102 Let's see if this works better. So far so good."[END QUOTE]

Has anyone here compared the two releases (xxxx100 and xxx102), for which only the source code has been released, to the older firmwares in terms of wifi performance?
I plan to wait till Asus releases the latest officially (in binary format, as opposed to the source code which I suspect may be subject to change before they officially compile and release it in binary format for us to flash with.

It is NOT the source code. They have released the binary firmware only but someone has put it into the source code section by mistake. You can easily see it by noticing that it is only arnd 14-15 MB (just like other firmware binaries) while source is generally more than 300-400 MB.
I just downloaded it from there and upgraded my router.

 

[though]

Just a short question to all users: Would you go for Tomato or "stock" firmware (.102)? Small firm network with ~5-10 users simultaneously and WPA2 Enterprise/RADIUS. No DLNA, good QoS needed for websites if a lot of YT streams are loaded... before I start the great performance test I would appreciate all of your input

Tomato. just 1 man's opinion...

 

[shootist]

Thx! If course there is no objective and ultimate answer. A short speed comparison between stock and tomato firmware would be great but I think this will be my job. I will post some results if I have enough time!

 

[NickMili]

Just a short question to all users: Would you go for Tomato or "stock" firmware (.102)? Small firm network with ~5-10 users simultaneously and WPA2 Enterprise/RADIUS. No DLNA, good QoS needed for websites if a lot of YT streams are loaded... before I start the great performance test I would appreciate all of your input

Tomato because in my testing Radius authentication doesn't work at all in the stock Asus firmware (.100 and .102) - Shibby 084/085 Radius authentication is working perfectly. But I'd love to hear your test results to tell me if I'm crazy!

 

[though]

Thx! If course there is no objective and ultimate answer. A short speed comparison between stock and tomato firmware would be great but I think this will be my job. I will post some results if I have enough time!

if you won't use the usb ports and don't need any extra bells and whistles, install this version of tomato:

http://www.4shared.com/get/lnuurLfd/tomato-K26-1280496MIPSR2-Toast.html

i would like to see your results too

 

[cc666]

G37x

Yes the conditions are EXACTLY the same. Run within 15 minutes of each other.

Charlie C