ASUS RT-N66U - my review

[darksamus]

Hi!
Now I'm using http://www.4shared.com/file/yx1QdlnG/tomato-K26USB-12804953MIPSR2-T.html
for my RT-N66U with very good results.
Seems to me that the level of the output power of transmiter a little bit higher that with Sibby's firmware
with default 0 (zero) in Advanced Wirless window.
The speed of wan and lans are high. No disconnections during 24 hours
with full Internet trafic (~10 torrents colse to 25Mbit/s) and HD (around 30Mbps for 1080) video
via WiFi (5GHz/40MHz) from NAS to mediaplayer through RT-N66U.
QoS works fine - no interupting any streems or connections.


P.S. For the best speed via WiFi do enable for Frame Burst in advanced wireless. It works for me.

Anything new added to Toastman's firmware?

 

[tonytoronto]

I think I figured out what causes the disconnects. I already reported to asus but am still waiting for a response.

Previously with the old firmware (.90) I could not connect from my android phone via 3G or WIFI to my QNAP NAS. I attributed this to the nat loopback issue.

FW (.96) fixed this problem i.e., I can access my QNAP NAS from anywhere eithe r via 3G or WIFI. I then installed a USB device and activated DLNA and ftp into the USB device. This worked well until I retried to access my QNAP NAS via my phone. When I am about to select a directory from QNAP, I noticed that my phone would wait and another PC which is hardwired to the router would loose connection. It would seem after inspecting other devices that all devices were disconnected. When I exit from the app, all devices can connect again. I was able to duplicate this scenario twice.

I experimented and determined that by removing the USB device I do not get this problem i.e., I can connect multiple times to the QNAP NAS.

To those who were experiencing disconnects, do you have a USB device attached?

I do not have a usb device plugged in, but i have had similar results to yours. When i try to access a computer in the network, like my Home Server thru its web access page, the router will crash. Also, if i transfer a large file from the server to a PC will also crash it. A few times, when it crashes even wiped all settings, after reboot i have the router setup page.
Please let Asus know of your findings.

 

[jerry6]

I do not have a usb device plugged in, but i have had similar results to yours. When i try to access a computer in the network, like my Home Server thru its web access page, the router will crash. Also, if i transfer a large file from the server to a PC will also crash it. A few times, when it crashes even wiped all settings, after reboot i have the router setup page.
Please let Asus know of your findings.

What FW you using ? My router has been up 3 days transfered 200 gb last night transferring 377gb now , has not dropped signal yet , and have 2 blu ray streams going and other stuff going on . FW 3 0 0 3 90

 

[ArCan]

It does not get hot, just warm. It has a huge heatsink on top of the board. The prototype had a fan. I rather have no fan, one less thing to fail.

Yes, you are right.
The plastic surfase not hot and only warm
but what about heatsink inside closed box?
And plastic handle of frying pan also warm only. :-D
It's good if summer temperature doesn't matter for device.
I'm worred about it...

 

[ArCan]

Anything new added to Toastman's firmware?

Sorry man, but I can't compare with other or previous version firmware.
In fact I'm watting very much alternate firmware for this router
but special for hardware of RT-N66U.

 

[njweb]

What FW you using ? My router has been up 3 days transfered 200 gb last night transferring 377gb now , has not dropped signal yet , and have 2 blu ray streams going and other stuff going on . FW 3 0 0 3 90

They are referring to 3.0.0.3.96 which just came out.

 

[patrickgerry]

Yes, you are right.
The plastic surfase not hot and only warm
but what about heatsink inside closed box?
And plastic handle of frying pan also warm only. :-D
It's good if summer temperature doesn't matter for device.
I'm worred about it...

You can use the stand that came with the router to improve air circulation. As with any high speed device, heat dissipation is always a concern.

 

[patrickgerry]

I do not have a usb device plugged in, but i have had similar results to yours. When i try to access a computer in the network, like my Home Server thru its web access page, the router will crash. Also, if i transfer a large file from the server to a PC will also crash it. A few times, when it crashes even wiped all settings, after reboot i have the router setup page.
Please let Asus know of your findings.

Your issue might be entirely different. I am almost sure that the issue is with the combination of nat loopback fix and the USB device because the prior fw (.90) did not exhibit the same problem. So far no response yet from Asus.

 

[tonytoronto]

What FW you using ? My router has been up 3 days transfered 200 gb last night transferring 377gb now , has not dropped signal yet , and have 2 blu ray streams going and other stuff going on . FW 3 0 0 3 90

im back to .90, the issues i described happened on .96
.90 been stable for me too.

 

[G37x]

I think I figured out what causes the disconnects. I already reported to asus but am still waiting for a response.

Previously with the old firmware (.90) I could not connect from my android phone via 3G or WIFI to my QNAP NAS. I attributed this to the nat loopback issue.

FW (.96) fixed this problem i.e., I can access my QNAP NAS from anywhere eithe r via 3G or WIFI. I then installed a USB device and activated DLNA and ftp into the USB device. This worked well until I retried to access my QNAP NAS via my phone. When I am about to select a directory from QNAP, I noticed that my phone would wait and another PC which is hardwired to the router would loose connection. It would seem after inspecting other devices that all devices were disconnected. When I exit from the app, all devices can connect again. I was able to duplicate this scenario twice.

I experimented and determined that by removing the USB device I do not get this problem i.e., I can connect multiple times to the QNAP NAS.

To those who were experiencing disconnects, do you have a USB device attached?

No I did not have a hdd connected to USB and still experienced disconnects, very unstable.
From what I gathered so far the disconnects in the 96 fw are most likely due to the NAT loopback fix or a combination of this and one more(dlna?). Maybe the people not experiencing the issues don't ever use NAT loopback?
It's sad Asus refuses to ack the big defects introduced by 96.

 

[magnus_ca]

No I did not have a hdd connected to USB and still experienced disconnects, very unstable.
From what I gathered so far the disconnects in the 96 fw are most likely due to the NAT loopback fix or a combination of this and one more(dlna?). Maybe the people not experiencing the issues don't ever use NAT loopback?
It's sad Asus refuses to ack the big defects introduced by 96.

If they can't reproduce the problem themselves it makes it difficult to acknowledge the problem.

 

[aurelijusb]

If they can't reproduce the problem themselves it makes it difficult to acknowledge the problem.

Please report all your issues to Asus e-mail

 

[Geraner]

I don't have any issues at all with firmware .96.
Running 5 days. No disconnects either.
Data volume usage WAN (In/Out) in average about 5 GB a day due to a lot of online video streaming.
I'm not using the USB ports since I have a NAS connected to RT-N66U
In total 10 units connected to the RT-N66U (3 laptops, 3 cell phones, wifi-bridge, Netgear ReadyNAS, 1 desktop PC to play a lot of BF3, 1 MediaPlayer connected to Wifi-Bridge, Wifi-Webcam)

Rock solid product! Best buy ever!

 

[though]

I don't have any issues at all with firmware .96.
Running 5 days. No disconnects either.
Data volume usage WAN (In/Out) in average about 5 GB a day due to a lot of online video streaming.
I'm not using the USB ports since I have a NAS connected to RT-N66U
In total 10 units connected to the RT-N66U (3 laptops, 3 cell phones, wifi-bridge, Netgear ReadyNAS, 1 desktop PC to play a lot of BF3, 1 MediaPlayer connected to Wifi-Bridge, Wifi-Webcam)

Rock solid product! Best buy ever!

sounds like you're definitely in the minority. i've had 2 units on backorder, hope to get them up and running with toastman tomato asap. i have many N12's and N16's in circulation and they have been rock solid performers for the $$$ thus far. interested in seeing what the N66 can do

 

[tonytoronto]

I don't have any issues at all with firmware .96.
Running 5 days. No disconnects either.
Data volume usage WAN (In/Out) in average about 5 GB a day due to a lot of online video streaming.
I'm not using the USB ports since I have a NAS connected to RT-N66U
In total 10 units connected to the RT-N66U (3 laptops, 3 cell phones, wifi-bridge, Netgear ReadyNAS, 1 desktop PC to play a lot of BF3, 1 MediaPlayer connected to Wifi-Bridge, Wifi-Webcam)

Rock solid product! Best buy ever!

Have you tried to access the Webcam thru its web interface yet? Or the NAS web interface?
curious why it works for some, and not for others.

 

[mrcom]

Confirmed!!!!

I think I figured out what causes the disconnects. I already reported to asus but am still waiting for a response.

Previously with the old firmware (.90) I could not connect from my android phone via 3G or WIFI to my QNAP NAS. I attributed this to the nat loopback issue.

FW (.96) fixed this problem i.e., I can access my QNAP NAS from anywhere eithe r via 3G or WIFI. I then installed a USB device and activated DLNA and ftp into the USB device. This worked well until I retried to access my QNAP NAS via my phone. When I am about to select a directory from QNAP, I noticed that my phone would wait and another PC which is hardwired to the router would loose connection. It would seem after inspecting other devices that all devices were disconnected. When I exit from the app, all devices can connect again. I was able to duplicate this scenario twice.

I experimented and determined that by removing the USB device I do not get this problem i.e., I can connect multiple times to the QNAP NAS.

To those who were experiencing disconnects, do you have a USB device attached?

CONFIRMED!!! Thanks.
I had a usb disk attached and i got disconnect when i tried to connect to my local ipcam with my dns name. I disconnected the drive and restarted the router now everyting works perfectly!! No more disconnections. I also have a usb printer connected to the router and there is no problem with that. So i can still have it attached to the router. I have emailed my results to Asus at 'Networking_Support@asus.com' with steps so they can reproduce the fault in there lab. So if you find that this fix works for you please send a email to asus. The more emails they get the better!
BTW im using the FW_RT_N66U_B1_300396 firmware
Best regards Mrcom

 

[12darline]

CONFIRMED!!! Thanks.
I had a usb disk attached and i got disconnect when i tried to connect to my local ipcam with my dns name. I disconnected the drive and restarted the router now everyting works perfectly!! No more disconnections. I also have a usb printer connected to the router and there is no problem with that. So i can still have it attached to the router. I have emailed my results to Asus at 'Networking_Support@asus.com' with steps so they can reproduce the fault in there lab. So if you find that this fix works for you please send a email to asus. The more emails they get the better!
BTW im using the FW_RT_N66U_B1_300396 firmware
Best regards Mrcom

Are you able to get the IPcams to work via dns while having the HW Accelerator enabled? I am not having a problem via dyndns with HW Accelerator disabled and there is a problem if it is enabled. I am running .96 firmware.

 

[tonytoronto]

Are you able to get the IPcams to work via dns while having the HW Accelerator enabled? I am not having a problem via dyndns with HW Accelerator disabled and there is a problem if it is enabled. I am running .96 firmware.

I'm going to update to .96 and disable HW accelerator and see what happens.
Driving me nuts, i need to have port foward working right, busted on .90 and cant get .96 to run stable, DONT have any usb devices connected ..aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh

 

[mrcom]

I can connect to the ipcams with my hw/acceleration activated!! (and it didnt work to disable hw/a before i tested the fix so my problem was the connected Usb disk)

 

[12darline]

I can connect to the ipcams with my hw/acceleration activated!!

Are you using dns, and are you logging on from within your local lan?

That is my problem. If I log onto my dns from outside of my lan, I have no problem with the ipcams and HW Acceleration enabled, but I can only see them from inside if I disable HW Accelerator. Adam from Asus was having the same problem from within the lab. Hopefully they will have it fixed soon.

Thanks...