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

[12darline]

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

Would you buy a new Lexus car and replace the engine with one that was made by a group of High School kids in Auto Shop? Probably not. You purchased the system to get a system, not to build it yourself with spare parts that might fit. Just my thoughts...

 

[shootist]

Would you buy a new Lexus car and replace the engine with one that was made by a group of High School kids in Auto Shop? Probably not. You purchased the system to get a system, not to build it yourself with spare parts that might fit. Just my thoughts...

If the car refuses to open with my wireless key (RADIUS authentification) and requires some customization then: yes.

But the ASUS support seems to be quite good. If the stock firmware works with RADIUS then I will use it. If not you'll get some speed comparisons between those two firmwares "vendors".

 

[krzyq]

Stress test

Hi guys

I was looking at the stress test chart and I have one question. Does the sudden drop in throughput when LAN traffic kicks in means that this router isn't a good solution for NAS purposes where NAS is an independent device connected to gigabit LAN port on the router and clients are accessing it via WiFi? Does that mean that WiFi<->LAN traffic is crippled?

What are your thoughts? Is anyone able to say what is the average speed of writing data from a Wifi client to a server on the LAN side? My current router isn't able to get more than 5 megabytes per second despite that it's in "n" standard

Kind regards
krzyq

 

[12darline]

I am using a Synology NAS (411+ Slim) client via 1 gigabit and the speed is very good. I have not noticed any drop in speed while moving large files between wired and wireless devices...

 

[krzyq]

Thanks for the info. That's a good news (even better as I have DS212).
Out of curiosity, what is this good speed when you move files from WiFi to NAS? I just want to have an idea how much can I gain by using this router comparing to the one I have now.

 

[12darline]

With a very large file, I am averaging approx 34Mbps, wired to wireless.

 

[KevTech]

I noticed you lose the colored icons with 102 firmware that are in 90.

90/102

 

[njweb]

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

Thanks Charlie! Glad to see they addressed the weaker power with fw xxxx96.

I see some are having VPN disconnects with 102 (I do use VPN for some of my work access - don't need it for Outlook, work apps, internet access or Communicator etc., but I do need it (using a Cisco VPN client - Cisco AnyConnect) for some corporate intranet sites) when I am working from home.
Hopefully there is either already a workaround (needs to be documented if so) for those affected (not sure if it affects only some type of VPN connections e.g.) or hopefully a fix will be developed soon.


Edit - After reading shantanugoel's post, I will try 102 out tonight.

 

[njweb]

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.

Ah, I see. That's great news, thanks! That explains it.
I wonder if they released it prematurely by mistake then (i.e. either they really intended to release it but simply put it in the wrong section by mistake, or someone at Asus was updating the source code folder for the web site and posted the compiled one (prematurely) by mistake. Who knows...
Edit - I see they have included the description of the changes, so it was hopefully just the former.
I have been busy this week, not that I would have carefully checked the source code section anyway of course since I was looking for the compiled version.

I will try it tonight.

PS: In case anyone can't find the 102 binary, make sure to select 'Others' as the OS in the Asus download section dropdown in order to expose the 'Source' section...

 

[njweb]

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

Charlie C

PS: What was the transmit (TX) power set to on yours (40mW or some other value)?

 

[NightOwl326]

PS: What was the transmit (TX) power set to on yours (40mW or some other value)?

There is only really 2 choices: 40mW and 80mW. Pick one that works for you and be happy, being that either one will not improve or degrade throughput by any measurable level. OCD and inSSIDr don't mix.....

PS: .102 set at 80mW is as good as it gets. Load it, set it and forget it.

 

[RogerSC]

Personally, I'd love to see a comparison in terms of signal strength and/or wireless throughput between the latest tomato firmware and Asus .102 firmware. Apples to apples, of course (same router and same client, same physical positions of router and client, same client settings, etc.).

That would be really interesting.

 

[NightOwl326]

Personally, I'd love to see a comparison in terms of signal strength and/or wireless throughput between the latest tomato firmware and Asus .102 firmware. Apples to apples, of course (same router and same client, same physical positions of router and client, same client settings, etc.).

That would be really interesting.

3rd party firmware rarely has been known to increase throughput, in most cases it is the same or less. As far as signal strength that is hardware dependent and the user adjusting power settings within the firmware. 3rd party firmware is about added features, sometimes stability, and not about hot rodding a Chevy.

 

[RogerSC]

Right, but I'd still like to see a comparison *smile*. I'm not looking for a hotrod, just interested in the tradeoffs I'm making if I move to tomato firmware...I don't expect it to be better, just interested in the results of the comparison, if someone is going to be making that comparison for their own reasons.

 

[G37x]

Tomato. just 1 man's opinion...

Funny, although I see so many swearing by this tomato and do respect your opinion, I haven't seen one posting a list with advantages over stock...

 

[G37x]

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

Charlie C

Charlie, I meant the RF environment, not how you tested. There are many variables affecting RF coverage, many of them unknown to you (or me) while you are doing the testing...

 

[cc666]

GX

Enviroment fairly clean, I live in a 3,000 sq foot home, neighbors routers are weak. Computer doing the testing was 1 floor below the Router in same spot for all tests.

Charlie

 

[TonyH]

Tomato. just 1 man's opinion...

Second to that. Switched from .102 stock f/w to Shibby's 085V.AIO.

 

[though]

Second to that. Switched from .102 stock f/w to Shibby's 085V.AIO.

WELL WHERE'S THE LIST OF ADVANTAGES OF IT!!?!!

haha just kidding.

 

[TonyH]

Charlie, I meant the RF environment, not how you tested. There are many variables affecting RF coverage, many of them unknown to you (or me) while you are doing the testing...

That is true. Weather condition(temp. pressure, humidity, etc.) for one. Measuring signal strength is one of many factors. Even with simple inSSIDer,
one can notice signal level going up and down all the time on the graphic plots. My way of looking at radio performance is stable and steady is what counts. Numbers only does not tell a lot in real life.