Honest review of Asus WRT 5.0 (3.0.0.6 Branch)

[d5aqoep]

I have been using the Asus WRT 5.0 firmware 3.0.0.6 release on my GT-AX6000 for a month and here are my views

Firmware version: 3.0.0.6.102_21514

Pros

• Multiple VLANS on same WAN
• Guest networks

Cons

• It is extremely buggy firmware where mere changing and applying a setting renders whole UI unresponsive and internet goes down. Only comes online if router is rebooted.
• The multiple VLANS thinggy is actually non-working. The first in list works. I have never gotten 2nd or 3rd profile to work however I tried. So cannot access Fiber ONU behind bridge.
• Painfully and excruciatingly slow 2.5G LAN ports. I start up my PC and it shows connected after good 1 minute of Windows boot to desktop. Till then catch flies or spiders. Issue is with Intel I226-V (1), I225-V (3) and Marvell AQC107S with latest drivers. (Basically with every 2.5G LAN cards) Yes I have reinstalled Windows, used all 3 cards capable for 2.5G LAN on different PCs. Everytime, same issue.
• I use No-IP DDNS and accessing router interface over DDNS causes painfully slow loading experience even on 1 Gbps connection. Hell, accessing router homepage using DDNS from inside LAN also causes slow GUI. (Yes I need to access GUI for WOL from outside and I don't care about pompous people's ... uhh never expose router to WAN blah blah. The feature is there, I will use it but laggy GUI ruins it.)

Overall, the new features are nice and all but despite being in beta for 6 months, the firmware is unreliable and unstable. I fear to change any setting as the router can start lagging, disable reboot, logout or random buttons just because I added a firewall rule.

Super big thumbs down from me and I am your expensive, extended beta tester

 

[rudoyeugene]

+1

Especially ugly bug the dual wan with USB modem as a backup ISP:
1stly it can't switch while on the prev version it was done in less than a minute.
2ndly if after failed switching to USB (means still no main ISP) and you do the reboot, then DHCP dies, neither WiFi nor wires connection works anymore.

 

[d5aqoep]

@rudoyeugene OMG I too faced the same issue few weeks back. But I just gave up on Dual WAN because it's not Asus' cup of tea.

 

[rudoyeugene]

@rudoyeugene OMG I too faced the same issue few weeks back. But I just gave up on Dual WAN because it's not Asus' cup of tea.

It was working on prev AsusWRT flawlessly just out of the box. But, in this version, it's a one huge glitch.

 

[Smokey613]

This too was my experience with a GT-AX6000 I was helping my neighbor setup using the latest 3.0.0.6 firmware.

See my post in thread 'Which ASUS Router to buy ?'
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/which-asus-router-to-buy.85799/post-852527

 

[d5aqoep]

@Smokey613 So the newly announced VLAN feature doesn't work for most people. I really don't know what Asus firmware engineers were doing these 6 months when it was in Beta?

The whole settings being flakey and UI sluggishness puts me off Asus overpriced junk.

 

[Smokey613]

I too was dissapointed in the released 3.0.0.6 after having great results using the Beta version on my AX86U_Pro.

Interesting that no 3.0.0.6 final release has been issued for the AX86U_Pro as of this time.

When any of my neighbors in our retirement community asks for recommendations for a new wifi router, I aleays recommend eero.

We only have 2 ISPs available: cable at 300/30 or fiber at 100/100.

I have setup eero Pro and eero Pro 6 units running in a DMZ behind the ISP equipment and in every instance, they have been very happy with the results.

I simply setup the eero units and use the same SSID / password the ISP equipment was using then disable the wifi on the ISP equipment.

Easy, simple solution.

 

[L&LD]

Has anyone fully reset the router after flashing the firmware they want to test/try? Doesn't seem that anyone reported this important step.

If you haven't, the testing and conclusions provided are next to useless here.

 

[PunchCardBoss]

Has anyone fully reset the router after flashing the firmware they want to test/try? Doesn't seem that anyone reported this important step.

I did...

1. Received AX88U-Pro with 3.0.0.4 FW.
2. Performed Method 2 Reset & Reboot
3. Update Firmware to 3.0.0.6.102_21514
4. Configured with the most basic LAN & Subnet settings
5. Performed Method 2 Reset
6. Performed Method 2 Reset again
7. Configured router for production (no AIMesh)

I am experiencing issues similar to what are reported in this thread. Basic LAN and WiFi performance is generally stable. First wired/switch VLAN performing well. But I am seeing some GUI anomalies (screen refresh seems to help) and VLAN Client list reporting seems to be missing.

I have also seen "Network Services Filter" issues: not able to deny single LAN IPs from port 80 and 443 access on either TCP or UDP. But I was able to "Block Internet Access" for individual Clients with the GUI switch in the Network Map > Client List >Client pop-up screen.

 

[maxbraketorque]

I'll add a few comments:

• I'm seeing the same router webgui flakiness as the others mentioned. The router doesn't crash, but I get kicked out of the session, and I have to login again.
• Guest VLAN is working fine for me. I have no need for multiple VLANs, so I haven't tried to create more than one at a time. However, what I can say from my experimentation with VLANs with 9.0.0.6 betas is that changing the VLAN settings to anything other than what ASUS uses as the default values causes the VLAN to stop working.
• Not sure what is meant by slow 2.5 gbps LAN port. If its only the time it takes for a wired 2.5 gbps device to get an address, is that a big deal? The backbone of my wired network is now 2.5 gbps, and I haven't notice this issue, although I haven't been looking for it.
• The Client List is still broken. I really hoped that it would be fixed for ASUSWRT 5.0. I've given up on it.
• However, from a usage standpoint, 3.0.0.6 is working fine. No crashes. No networking instability. Wifi and wired speeds are good. Everything in the stock firmware that I truly need is working. With that said, the only real benefit I get with 3.0.0.6 over 3.0.0.4 is built-in isolated guest network on my AP. 3.0.0.4 does everything else just as well or better.

 

[ZeustheAsus]

Do you guys prefer 3.0.0.4 to even 3.0.0.6 for basic primary AP router functions?

 

[SwampKracker]

The 3.0.0.6 beta works flawlessly for me. Can't say the same for the official release. Something is not right with DNS, for the AP, which causes NTP to fail and retry every 30 seconds. Will continue to use the 3.0.0.6 beta for now.

 

[ZeustheAsus]

people who had a better experience with 3.0.0.6 beta are you going to return to that ? Or 3.0.0.4 stable?

 

[maxbraketorque]

people who had a better experience with 3.0.0.6 beta are you going to return to that ? Or 3.0.0.4 stable?

From a practical perspective, stick with 3.0.0.4 for now unless you need an isolated guest network on an AP (and don't know how to make it work on 3.0.0.4 with the available script), or you feel that 3.0.0.4 is unstable or has slow network performance.

 

[Smokey613]

Has anyone fully reset the router after flashing the firmware they want to test/try? Doesn't seem that anyone reported this important step.

If you haven't, the testing and conclusions provided are next to useless here.

Yes, multiple full resets. I did not mention it because that is my standard procedure. My setups are not overly complicated so reconfiguring after a full reset is not a big deal.

 

[d5aqoep]

Has anyone fully reset the router after flashing the firmware they want to test/try? Doesn't seem that anyone reported this important step.

If you haven't, the testing and conclusions provided are next to useless here.

Yes fully reset my router and set it up as new after updating to latest 3.0.0.6 branch. My findings in the first post are after that only.

 

[tgl]

Yes fully reset my router and set it up as new after updating to latest 3.0.0.6 branch.

It's really impossible to avoid the conclusion that ASUS' software department are completely incompetent. I know of no other product line where "you have to factory-reset the device after an update, and then maybe it will work right" is accepted as good enough.

Now, perhaps I'm biased by only having experience with the XT8 (which seems to be especially awful) and the ET8 (which is coming up on one year since last firmware update, so one would suppose it's EOL except they're still selling it). But any amount of reading of these forums will show that the situation isn't a lot better for any other ASUS wireless gear.

I will not be buying anything more from ASUS.

 

[maxbraketorque]

It's really impossible to avoid the conclusion that ASUS' software department are completely incompetent. I know of no other product line where "you have to factory-reset the device after an update, and then maybe it will work right" is accepted as good enough.

Now, perhaps I'm biased by only having experience with the XT8 (which seems to be especially awful) and the ET8 (which is coming up on one year since last firmware update, so one would suppose it's EOL except they're still selling it). But any amount of reading of these forums will show that the situation isn't a lot better for any other ASUS wireless gear.

I will not be buying anything more from ASUS.

I think most people have a generally trouble-free experience without doing a reset. In the full 5 years that I used an RT-AC86U main/AP combo at my home, I've not reset either one. I've installed many Merlin alpha and betas on both, and everything has consistently functioned as expected. No one in my house ever complains about network performance or stability, well unless I install an update in the middle of the day.

But I think its also fair to say that ASUS has done poorly with some things. The early days of AI Mesh were ugly, and I still feel like its a problematic feature. And there are some bugs in their firmware that ASUS apparently never intends to fix. And their huge router product range with some routers receiving barely any support is hurting them. I feel lucky that the RT-AC86U was well supported.

However, I don't think the situation is obviously better with any other manufacturer.

 

[ZeustheAsus]

However, I don't think the situation is obviously better with any other manufacturer.

Yeah seems like Netgunk, Linksus, and ToiletPaper-Link all have their own sets of problems.

Not simping for Assus, but CONsumer router landscape is a land mine.

at least once you find a stable fw, you can always stay put (or revert if you went too far and found instability)

 

[john385]

It's really impossible to avoid the conclusion that ASUS' software department are completely incompetent. I know of no other product line where "you have to factory-reset the device after an update, and then maybe it will work right" is accepted as good enough.

Now, perhaps I'm biased by only having experience with the XT8 (which seems to be especially awful) and the ET8 (which is coming up on one year since last firmware update, so one would suppose it's EOL except they're still selling it). But any amount of reading of these forums will show that the situation isn't a lot better for any other ASUS wireless gear.

I will not be buying anything more from ASUS.

Here, here!

Tha fact that it’s simply accepted on this forum that a €300-400 router needs to be fully (hard) reset after (every?) firmware update is mind-numbing and actually really infuriating to read.

My experience with ASUS is … mixed so far.
I lost my AX86U after that dreadful device-killing fimware update last spring (April 2022) - luckily I was able to get a full refund.
I’m running the AX6000 since September and so far so good…it’s been a smooth ride with some bugs here and there.
But yes, for a device this powerful and a company/brand like ASUS I expect *more*. Simple as that.