Confused: RT-N66W vs Netgear WNDR3400v2

[dhewett1]

So after lots of frustration in trying to determine which router reviews I can trust, I decided to bank on SmallNetbuilder. It drives me crazy that every review on every website is so completely different. One says a router is great and the next website says it is terrible.

Long story short I decided on the N66 because I didn't want to spend the money for AC now. I had purchased the Netgear WNDR3400v2 but wasn't happy with the range in our master bedroom, the farthest point from the router. After looking at the charts on the N66 I was confident my problems would go away. Wrong!

I receive the Asus yesterday from Amazon and after connecting and running speed tests, it was smoked by the Netgear. The Asus was faster at 5ft (by about 5mbps) but beyond that the Netgear was the outright winner by a mile. The speed about 30ft from the Asus was around 3-4 and the Netgear was pulling 8-10. Huge disappointment! What am I missing?

 

[sinshiva]

hey, you should give this firmware a shot; http://www.mediafire.com/download/7v6d5p3ia57f72a/RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.35_4-sdk5.zip

you'll need to do a factory reset after install. wireless drivers are in the works still because asus consolidated their firmwares and are still making the appropriate changes for the n66, but that firmware may help significantly until merlin rolls out the new stuff.

 

[dhewett1]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try that before giving up. I was so mad last night I had it back in the Amazon box ready to go back!

 

[sinshiva]

completely understandable. i've decided to pull the trigger on an ac56 to use as a dedicated router while i turn my n66 into an AP guinea pig, next week. the reviews you've seen should be based on that sdk5 variant of wireless drivers. word is new stuff is coming quite soon, so hopefully it'll be even better than before.

 

[L&LD]

hey, you should give this firmware a shot; http://www.mediafire.com/download/7v6d5p3ia57f72a/RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.35_4-sdk5.zip

you'll need to do a factory reset after install. wireless drivers are in the works still because asus consolidated their firmwares and are still making the appropriate changes for the n66, but that firmware may help significantly until merlin rolls out the new stuff.

I would suggest the improved .36Beta1 SDK5 version.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ups085eda5s82d1/RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.36_beta1-sdk5.zip


As RMerlin has mentioned: ignore the 'beta' label - it is working very, very stable.

 

[sinshiva]

I would suggest the improved .36Beta1 SDK5 version.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ups085eda5s82d1/RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.36_beta1-sdk5.zip


As RMerlin has mentioned: ignore the 'beta' label - it is working very, very stable.

you're right, my bad. i didn't find it right away so i assumed it got pulled.

 

[jlake]

So after lots of frustration in trying to determine which router reviews I can trust, I decided to bank on SmallNetbuilder. It drives me crazy that every review on every website is so completely different. One says a router is great and the next website says it is terrible.

Long story short I decided on the N66 because I didn't want to spend the money for AC now. I had purchased the Netgear WNDR3400v2 but wasn't happy with the range in our master bedroom, the farthest point from the router. After looking at the charts on the N66 I was confident my problems would go away. Wrong!

I receive the Asus yesterday from Amazon and after connecting and running speed tests, it was smoked by the Netgear. The Asus was faster at 5ft (by about 5mbps) but beyond that the Netgear was the outright winner by a mile. The speed about 30ft from the Asus was around 3-4 and the Netgear was pulling 8-10. Huge disappointment! What am I missing?

My advice would be to box it up and send it back if you have a time constraint for money back return. Asus has dropped the ball with RT-N66U. Then monitor this forum for a month and see if the range issues are resolved. Asus is not prioritizing the N66U very high and is focused on new products.

I have a linksys EA4500 and it has better range than n66u with latest firmware. It's been that way for months now. The previous n66u firmware released in March of 2013 was a big fail too. It had broad incompatibilities with connectivity. Even Asus wireless adapters had problems with it. They spent all summer of 2013 focusing their fix on intel wireless cards. And then they scrapped it and used the same wireless driver as the AC66U. And that killed the range big time.

The N66U has had major Asus firmware problems for 9 months now. But all they do is keep cranking out new product after new product.

 

[dhewett1]

I thought about shelling out the money for a Netgear R7000 but don't think I'll have the need for AC anytime soon and am afraid I'll be disappointed with my 2.4 laptops and iPhone.

The other alternative is tapping into the coax line to move the WNDR3400 to a more central location or running a network line from the modem, but that is going to be some serious work in my insulated attic and wall where the line is.

 

[L&LD]

jlake, which firmware versions were you comparing? Not the SDK5 ones?

Sure, the latest firmware releases from Asus have been hit and miss - but they have also added some great features too from when the router was originally released almost 2 years ago.

The RMerlin firmware though (especially the SDK5 variants) has been great.

I haven't used Linksys in a decade (almost) - but I don't think they compare to the overall network performance I have seen with the Asus routers since May of last year (RT-N56U, RT-N66U, RT-AC56U and RT-AC66U).

 

[PhilM]

I have a two story, 3100 sqFt house and recently bought the N66U. I upgraded to the 394.720 version during the setup and my signal is excellent everywhere in the house. The power on the Professional tab I left at the default 80mW. The floor plan is pretty open so there aren't a lot of walls to obstruct the signal.

Edit: Let me just add the signal is improved tremendously over a WRT54G w DD-WRT I had been using.

 

[dhewett1]

I have a two story, 3100 sqFt house and recently bought the N66U. I upgraded to the 394.720 version during the setup and my signal is excellent everywhere in the house. The power on the Professional tab I left at the default 80mW. The floor plan is pretty open so there aren't a lot of walls to obstruct the signal.

Edit: Let me just add the signal is improved tremendously over a WRT54G w DD-WRT I had been using.

When you say signal do you mean Wi-Fi signal or actual throughput over that signal? My signal is great at the farthest point in the house but the speed or throughput at that point is terrible.


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[Pierino]

Try the sdk5 firmware. It should resolve your problems.
Their is no comparison on the hardware between the wndr3400v2 and an rt-n66u.
Makes me chuckle.

If that doesn't work, you can try dd-wrt, tomato.
On the wndr3400v2 you can try...wait it has no 3rd party support. My bad.

 

[dhewett1]

Try the sdk5 firmware. It should resolve your problems.
Their is no comparison on the hardware between the wndr3400v2 and an rt-n66u.
Makes me chuckle.

If that doesn't work, you can try dd-wrt, tomato.
On the wndr3400v2 you can try...wait it has no 3rd party support. My bad.

I know there is no comparison, the Netgear just performed better out of the box. I'm all for the Asus if it will outperform with some tweaking, but I don't want to pay that much more for marginal increases. Heck, it would save me running new cable!

Newbie concern here though, what are the chances of me bricking the Asus? Don't want to throw $150 down the drain that i can't send back.


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[jlake]

There's almost a zero chance that you will brick it.

Just keep in mind that you just dropped $150 on a router that really only has 1 viable option. And that's third party firmware.

Asus latest stock firmware has range issues. The stock firmware with excellent range that you read about in all of the reviews (.276) has unpatched security holes and does not have all the latest features. Catch-22.

 

[dhewett1]

First time flashing the Asus, can anybody point me to a link for flashing instructions with Merlin or is it as basic as stock firmware since that is the basis?

Thanks!


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[wouterv]

Flashing Stock or Merlin versions is as simple as possible, simply through the router web interface.
To surely avoid configuration conflicts between firmware versions, allways revert to Factory Defaults after the firmware change and configure the router manual (even if the router appears to work right after a firmware change). Never load a configuration backup from any other firmware version.

Changing between Stock/Merlin builds and Tomato or DD-WRT may require additional steps.

 

[dhewett1]

So I flashed to Merlin 36 beta sd5k yesterday. Gained 10db in signal at my farthest point right out of the gate. 5ghz is performing well, pulling full internet speed from the modem at 30ft.

However, I'm still struggling with 2.4 at my farthest point. This point is on the opposite side of the house, opposite corners. I really need to move the router but cabling to the middle of the house is near impossible.

The only setting I've changed is to 20mhz on the 2.4 band. Any suggestions for settings changes that could further boost 2.4? Signal appears to be pretty good (averages 55db) but throughput is very low.

Thanks!


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[wouterv]

Use a laptop with InSSIDer and drag it around your house, at the different locations, that may give quite different results. Than decide which channel out of 1, 6 or 11 for 2.4 GHz would be the best for you.
A bandwidth of 20 MHz for 2.4 GHz is a must in crowded areas.