Best AC router in terms of stable open firmware?

[shev]

Looking for something that has good support from either merlin/openwrt/tomato, other than that atleast ac1900 and decent processor (will be doing QoS and some custom VPN routing so need the horsepower). The pricing for AC1900 and above routers seems really wild, not sure what the best options are right now.

 

[pete y testing]

price wise the rt-ac3200 is pretty good for the price

 

[Trip]

For stability with open-source options, it's still the R7000 or AC68U in my book... unless of course a newer erector set has inadvertently escaped flakyness and ventured into "stable" territory.

 

[Screwdriver]

price wise the rt-ac3200 is pretty good for the price

I picked up a RT-AC3200 early last week at Fry's. They had a sale @ $179. Running latest Merlin and it has been very stable.

 

[sfx2000]

AC firmware and stability?

http://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-WRT54GL/

If you want stable, go old-school - all third party firmware for the AC1900 class is pretty much based on old-code, and a lot of stuff built upon it...

 

[woe_and_fury]

I picked up a RT-AC3200 early last week at Fry's. They had a sale @ $179. Running latest Merlin and it has been very stable.

I tried to use Sunday code and Friday's code for their weekly sale on the Asus 3200 but the code just won't go through ! I even clicked on the dang picture from the weekly ad and no go. Super frustrating and not sure if I'm doing something wrong.

 

[shev]

AC firmware and stability?

http://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-WRT54GL/

If you want stable, go old-school - all third party firmware for the AC1900 class is pretty much based on old-code, and a lot of stuff built upon it...

I would but need the additional local bandwidth, mostly for streaming video off network storage to mobile devices and my VR headset.

 

[sfx2000]

The WRT54GL was a bit tongue in cheek... I was surprised that Linksys is still offering this device for purchase.

Generally though - any AC1900 class device supported under OpenWRT will have multiple 3rd party options - Broadcom based routers down that branch typically have broader support..

 

[TexasFlood]

The WRT54GL was a bit tongue in cheek... I was surprised that Linksys is still offering this device for purchase.

I'm surprised as well. But now I don't feel quite as bad that I still have some of them! [emoji6]

 

[RMerlin]

But how long until modern wireless clients start having stability issues with these due to manufacturers no longer devoting as much time in testing and validating backward 802.11g compatibility?

 

[TexasFlood]

But how long until modern wireless clients start having stability issues with these due to manufacturers no longer devoting as much time in testing and validating backward 802.11g compatibility?

Don't rain on my nostalgic parade! I actually don't use then for much, but they come in handy from time to time. One of my son's needed a router last year. It was a temporary college situation. So he wanted something cheap and expendable, because well you know college kids. So grabbed a WRT54G-TM (with a GL CFE & Tomato firmware) and gave it to him. Worked great, he was happy. Those cheap clearance TMs were one of the best router deals ever.

 

[RMerlin]

Don't rain on my nostalgic parade! I actually don't use then for much, but they come in handy from time to time. One of my son's needed a router last year. It was a temporary college situation. So he wanted something cheap and expendable, because well you know college kids. So grabbed a WRT54G-TM (with a GL CFE & Tomato firmware) and gave it to him. Worked great, he was happy. Those cheap clearance TMs were one of the best router deals ever.

Ain't an Asus RT-N10 both faster and cheaper?

 

[sfx2000]

But how long until modern wireless clients start having stability issues with these due to manufacturers no longer devoting as much time in testing and validating backward 802.11g compatibility?

Legacy Support (802.11 b/g/a) is a required test case for WiFi Alliance certification...

 

[System Error Message]

The important question to choosing a router other than wifi type, speed and features is what is your internet bandwidth and what VPN type and speed do you want.
There are routers that can do gigabits of VPN but they dont have wifi and are usually rackmounted. High end PCs/servers also do gigabits of VPN too. It really depends on type and speed.

Since you want to do QoS the ARM A9 dual cores will do up between 300-500Mb/s best case scenario as you will have to use software NAT. For the same core and clock MIPS is faster but slower at VPN.

If the ARM routers arent fast enough you cant go wrong with a router like pfsense/CCR1009 and having a wifi router behind it just as an AP.

 

[RMerlin]

Legacy Support (802.11 b/g/a) is a required test case for WiFi Alliance certification...

Doesn't mean it's tested well enough to ensure compatibility with ALL clients. Look at Quantenna and their iOS issues for example...

Just playing Devil's advocate here.

 

[TexasFlood]

Doesn't mean it's tested well enough to ensure compatibility with ALL clients. Look at Quantenna and their iOS issues for example...

Just playing Devil's advocate here.

I know you're right. That's why I'm using an RT-AC66R as my main router. I know that's not the latest greatest, but it's better than the WRT54G! And it works for my needs.

 

[sfx2000]

Doesn't mean it's tested well enough to ensure compatibility with ALL clients. Look at Quantenna and their iOS issues for example...

Just playing Devil's advocate here.

True, true... but there's still a lot of legacy AP's out there, esp in Coffee Shops, Hotels, and the like..

And the less said about Quantenna, probably better

(actually, QTN in specific applications isn't that bad, but as a general consumer AP, they've had their share of challenges)

 

[pete y testing]

i really think the days of open fw is coming to its end as the fcc is putting its foot down on power control and other issues and the 3rd party coders of the past have moved on and we see little in the way of new features and the like , esp now that the current routers have so many features that actually work , if we could get quota control on a router now we wouldnt nee 3rd party at all as gargoyle fw is the one 3rd party that can do this , the likes of tomato and its qos specialty is now pretty much in all routers and dd wrt hasnt changed in years

if it where me buying now i would just look at feature sets of stock or mod fw rather than throwing and older supported 3rd party fw on it

 

[pege63]

Without this 3rd party coders it would not be any STOCK FW to talk about att all.

 

[RMerlin]

i really think the days of open fw is coming to its end as the fcc is putting its foot down on power control and other issues and the 3rd party coders of the past have moved on and we see little in the way of new features and the like , esp now that the current routers have so many features that actually work , if we could get quota control on a router now we wouldnt nee 3rd party at all as gargoyle fw is the one 3rd party that can do this , the likes of tomato and its qos specialty is now pretty much in all routers and dd wrt hasnt changed in years

if it where me buying now i would just look at feature sets of stock or mod fw rather than throwing and older supported 3rd party fw on it

I can't speak for Netgear (might be interesting getting a statement on their official stance - @NETGEAR Guy ?), but I can tell you that Asus has no intention of locking us (third party developers) out. They're even in touch with some of us to ensure we can still operate within the new FCC rules.

So far TP-LINK are the only ones who took a position of closing things down (although so far they aren't doing a torough job in "closing things down"...)

Third party firmware aren't just about features (tho it's usually their primary advantage over stock firmware), they're also about security (by often using more up-to-date components) and long-term support (as many manufacturers will drop support after 12-18 months).

And I think we are still a driving force, pushing manufacturers forward. Some manufacturers wouldn't be there without some of us (Asus using Tomato, Securifi using OpenWRT, etc...).