L&LD 374.38_1-em Report to RMerlin - Asus RT-N66U
Just a little update to the post I made in this thread.
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=98452&postcount=151
Glad that some of you have found my post useful.
Connecting a couple of different laptops to this 'new' network continues to show the responsiveness of the new firmware.
First, I connected a 'G' enabled Acer (from 2006, I think) from the same 35 foot location (with two walls in between) and got an excellent connection speed of 54G.
In a Ookla speed test, it achieved 16/11 Mbps - quite good I suppose (it reached the ISP limits at upload), but less than 1/3 of the speed possible for downloads.
I didn't bother to install inssider on this laptop, so sorry, no signal strength results.
Next, I connected a laptop with an Intel AC7260 wireless card at the same location (with the old laptop turned off!) and the Ookla speed tests were essentially identical to wired (from ~35 feet away!): 52.9/11.5 Mbps. In addition to those positive results, inssider shows -37 (2.4GHz) and -42 (5GHz) signal strength.
Edit: Just wanted to add the inssider score for the AC7260 client was 82% - the improvements are real and measurable.
Compare those to the 'N' client I did the tests with (link above) and you may understand why, when I can, I buy the latest networking hardware for my laptops. The gains may be small, but not insignificant to me.
Of course, this is all enabled by the work that Asus and RMerlin are doing for us. Not only for current hardware - but for older models like the RT-N66U too.
Given a few more days 'test driving' this new firmware - I think I will be able to safely recommend it to most of my customers.
For the others; the RT-AC68U will be what gets recommended; as soon as I have the time to buy and test one myself against the RT-N66U 'standard' we have now.