ASUS RT-N66U - my review

[MoogLe]

http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&p=11&s=2

im not seeing the new FW on that link

 

[darksamus]

Guys I have done the upgrading to 3.0.0.3.96 and here are the results:

-NAT loopback bug FIXED
-40mW TX power FIXED, now you can go up to 500mW for both 2G or 5G
-DLNA appears to work

So far I'm happy guys...

Cheers,
G37x

500mW?! Have you set it above 40mW and see how well the antenna are?

 

[G37x]

500mW?! Have you set it above 40mW and see how well the antenna are?

I set it to 200mW, signal seems stronger, however can't say how much stronger...

 

[darksamus]

im not seeing the new FW on that link

Go to the drop down menu next to "OS:" and select other. Then go to firmware, the top list shows the most recent one.

 

[Greg_Elite]

ASUS RT-N66U B1 Firmware version 3.0.0.3.96
1. Fixed ppp connection fails after setting idle timeout
2. Fixed Turkey lang related bugs
3. Fixed Virtual port fail issue
4. Fixed NAT loopback bug
5. Fixed Media server bug
6. Modified setting DMZ, related pptp packets will be redirected to that
DMZ pc
7. Modified WDS site survey
* For Download master:
1. The file will not be removed when remove the completed task.
2. Fixed multi-language related bugs.

I'm presuming #5 pertains to DLNA.

 

[darksamus]

I set it to 200mW, signal seems stronger, however can't say how much stronger...

Do you know if the new firmware has allow port 443/ssl/https on the web/wan mgmt?

 

[12darline]

500mW?! Have you set it above 40mW and see how well the antenna are?

Can anyone tell me how to enable NAT Loopback? I have the latest firmware.

Thanks...

 

[Greg_Elite]

Can't wait until mine ships. Absolutely no word from Amazon.

 

[G37x]

Can anyone tell me how to enable NAT Loopback? I have the latest firmware.

Thanks...

You don't have to do anything about that, it's not user accessible, it's enabled by default.

 

[12darline]

I enabled "Disable HW Accelerator" which I disabled to make the NAT Loopback work temporarily, but with the new fix, it does not work when I enable it. Am I missing something.

Thanks...

 

[njweb]

I set it to 200mW, signal seems stronger, however can't say how much stronger...

Interesting, thanks!

I would love to know what is a safe Transmit (TX) Power level (for long term longevity) for this router?
(Safe levels vary by router hardware and design).

The current (default) 40mW setting I am using (I have not upgraded the firmware on mine yet since I am not at home) already provides amazing wifi range and, as Tim's tests showed, excellent throughput, overall, at each location too.
I do not want to set it too high and risk frying the router. That being said, I would not mind bumping it up somewhat, so long as it is safe...

 

[darksamus]

Interesting, thanks!

I would love to know what is a safe Transmit (TX) Power level (for long term longevity) for this router?
(Safe levels vary by router hardware and design).

The current (default) 40mW setting I am using (I have not upgraded the firmware on mine yet since I am not at home) already provides amazing wifi range and, as Tim's tests showed, excellent throughput, overall, at each location too.
I do not want to set it too high and risk frying the router. That being said, I would not mind bumping it up somewhat, so long as it is safe...

I would leave it as default of 40mW. Unless you are not getting good range/speed. Also increase by 3db, which equal to double the power.

 

[G37x]

fw update - DO NOT UPGRADE!

Update WARNING!
Not sure what happened here as I write this message twice now due to no Internet connection...I get now freq Internet disconnects here is what i did:
-updated my fw
-changed disable hw back to no
-changed DLNA server name to RT-N66U from USB
-connected 1T hdd
-changed power settings to 200mW from 40mW

I now get a bunch of disconnects so I wanted to put the power settings back to 40mW but guess what ? They were @ 40mW like I never changed them.
aSUS fixed 3 bugs and introduced major new ones...During all the issues I have had for the past 1h I got these:

-router lost my cfg
-router came on with wizard like a brand new router

Due to all the above I downgraded mine back to 3.1.0.3.90

Stability = ZERO at this point...I do not recommend upgrading the router at this point!!!

 

[darksamus]

Update WARNING!
Not sure what happened here as I write this message twice now due to no Internet connection...I get now freq Internet disconnects here is what i did:
-updated my fw
-changed disable hw back to no
-changed DLNA server name to RT-N66U from USB
-connected 1T hdd
-changed power settings to 200mW from 40mW

I now get a bunch of disconnects so I wanted to put the power settings back to 40mW but guess what ? They were @ 40mW like I never changed them.
aSUS fixed 3 bugs and introduced major new ones...During all the issues I have had for the past 1h I got these:

-router lost my cfg
-router came on with wizard like a brand new router

Due to all the above I downgraded mine back to 3.1.0.3.90

Stability = ZERO at this point...I do not recommend upgrading the router at this point!!!

Wow... sounds like it went from bad to worst.

 

[G37x]

Wow... sounds like it went from bad to worst.

yes aSUS is ridiculous, not to say other words. I'm back to my stable fw and all is good, but as far as bugs back to square zero.

 

[ArCan]

Yes. I'm running Toastman's RT-N "495.1" build on 3 RT-N66U routers without any problems. Did you have any specific questions?

I'm running Shibby's tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-083V-Mega-VPN
and same no problems.
Did you try other than Toastman firmware?
I would like to know what's the diference between firmwares
except options like BT and etc. ?

And one more Q: how many Free NVRAM do you have with Toasnman's Tomato?

With Shibby's I have 12% free.

Thank you.

 

[darksamus]

I'm running Shibby's tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-083V-Mega-VPN
and same no problems.
Did you try other than Toastman firmware?
I would like to know what's the diference between firmwares
except options like BT and etc. ?

And one more Q: how many Free NVRAM do you have with Toasnman's Tomato?

With Shibby's I have 12% free.

Thank you.

I've tried Toastman's build on this router. I did not like it as much as Shibby's. My wifi speed with Toastman is not very consistent.

 

[njweb]

I would leave it as default of 40mW. Unless you are not getting good range/speed. Also increase by 3db, which equal to double the power.

Thanks. That is what I have been pondering.
I figured if I could get a slight boost in throughput in the furthest reaches of my house (amazingly my wifi-equipped Blu-Ray player gets 5 bars on 2.4 GHz there anyway with it at 40mW) then I might bump it up a bit and run some tests (part of it is just me being curious as to what it might do).
As you said, going to 80 mW (increase of 3dBm) might be a logical first step.

I guess given G37X's experience with the new firmware, it may be moot until the fix it.
Has anyone else tried the new firmware yet?

I am still at work, so I couldn't upgrade even if I wanted to.
I am not in a huge rush since it works fine for my needs (not using DLNA yet and no need for NAT loopback so far), although I would obviously love to have these issues fixed since who knows when I will need them, especially DLNA since my Blu-Ray player is DLNA certified.

 

[ArCan]

I've tried Toastman's build on this router. I did not like it as much as Shibby's. My wifi speed with Toastman is not very consistent.

OK. Thank you for information.
By the way... around half of hour I updated V83 of Shibby's to V84
and seems to me it's works without any issues...

 

[darksamus]

OK. Thank you for information.
By the way... around half of hour I updated V83 of Shibby's to V84
and seems to me it's works without any issues...

Anything new with Shibby's V84?