How to setup ASUS RT-AC86u router

[Windsor-tg]

I have purchased an AC86U router and would like some help on the best way to set it up so that I have optimal wireless speed.
The router is going to be used to:

1. Connect to a 8-port Netgear switch where I run various Ethernet cables to a SKY satellite box and other mini satellite boxes
2. Connecting to a TV for TV streaming, e.g. Netflix
3. To a TADO device that only me to control my heating wirelessly through an IOS app
4. To a Vodafone Sure signal device to strengthen the phone signal around the house
5. To wireless devices, e.g. laptop, iPhones, iPads
   1. With the laptop, I connect to my company network through VPN

How should I best setup the ASUS router?
I have heard about the Merlin firmware. Is it best to install this and if so, how best is it to install this?

 

[Grisu]

Yes better use Merlin, just download firmware 384.13 (unzip if zipped) and load to router, then do a factory reset and configure.

 

[Windsor-tg]

Thanks. At what point do I load the Merlin software to the router?

 

[Grisu]

first step of course as I wrote.

 

[Klueless]

Overall I share any and all enthusiasm for "Merlin"! That said I'm also lazy. I normally start with the Asus builtin stock firmware for at least a couple weeks (baseline) and/or until I run into trouble / shortcomings with stock.

(I used/needed "Merlin" with my first four routers, haven't bothered with the most recent three.)​

At first blush I don't see anything all that unusual with your stuff. I'd just follow the default/auto setup with stock. (Somewhere during that process it'll auto update to current firmware.)

Do think about your SSIDs up front. If I remember right it'll want to set up both (2.4 and 5 GHz) radios under the same SSID ("smart connect" ?). I rather fancied that. I set that up as "whole house" (or whatever).

After setup play a little then go back and set up "Guest". Set up a single "guest" SSID for both radios with no access to your intranet. This will allow visitors to use your Internet without the risk of them having access to your privates.

Then, if you have a little paranoia, like me, set up a SSID for 2.4 GHz and, another SSID for 5 GHz. They can be useful for "debugging" and/or for "force fitting" a client to use the "right" radio.

@L&LD has long offered this guide - https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

 

[OzarkEdge]

I use Asuswrt firmware and my install notes to configure my 86U... just ignore the AiMesh bits.

OE

 

[Klueless]

I use Asuswrt firmware and my install notes to configure my 86U... just ignore the AiMesh bits.
OE

Nice, very nice : -)

Which reminded me, especially since the OP is using Vodaphone. Back when my Internet service speed was only 7 Mbps I pretty much had to set up QoS. Now that I'm 100 Mbps I haven't had the need to ... yet.

 

[Windsor-tg]

Thanks for the comments/advice. Should I have the same SSID name for the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands? If so, what is the advantage of this?

 

[Klueless]

Should I have the same SSID name for the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands? If so, what is the advantage of this?

Myself, I prefer a single SSID for both bands.

• Less confusing for users
• Don't quote me on this but less overhead on the hand-off
• Also, less SSID broadcast overhead.

I often run with four SSIDs

• "Family"; both bands
• "Visitors"; both bands, no access to intranet
• "Faster"; 5 GHz only.
• "Further"; 2.4 GHz only.

The last two are for benching, troubleshooting and/or anchoring a client device that is misbehaving. Sometimes I don't set up the last two only to wish I had. Other times I do set up the last two and, after months of no trouble, I get rid of them.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks for the comments/advice. Should I have the same SSID name for the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands? If so, what is the advantage of this?

Me, no, per my notes.

Same SSID appears to be simpler, more elegant. However, it requires Smart Connect node band steering to encourage clients to connect to the best signal/band. It can work well. Or it can interfere with your preferences.

Smart Connect forces certain WiFi settings... see my notes. And sometimes auto channels and channel changing is too much or not wanted.

Feel free to try it both ways. Use your same SSID name for the 5.0 GHz SSID and then you will only have to adjust your 2.4 GHz SSID and client connections when switching schemes... per my notes.

OE

 

[Klueless]

Me, no, per my notes

Considering Ozark's "think alike" might be someone like Sir Isaac Newton while mine is more akin to "Rocky Balboa" smart money goes to Ozark.

So that said I set about reading Ozark's install notes and something hit me; he wrote those about a year and a half ago and some of his references go back four years. It was about four years ago that I set up three N66Us. I set them all for 1 SSID for both 2.4 and 5 GHz.

Worked great for car lot B but at the other car lot and at home not so great. So for those two locations I added a couple SSIDs, one for 2.4 and another for 5 GHz, and "locked" a couple rowdy clients to what I thought was appropriate. Life was good. In other words I pretty much experienced what Ozark wrote about.

About a year ago I upgraded both car lots to 86Us and home to a Blue Cave. This time around everything is working fine with the single SSID for both radios. What changed? About three and a half years of evolution and maturity?

 

[Windsor-tg]

sorry OzarkEdge but I am struggling to understand your 'install notes' you provided . It is not clear to me from which part of your instructions I need to follow. Do I simply follow your instructions from the start and right the way to the end?

In your response later to this thread, you mention about "Smart Connect node band steering " - what does this mean?

Do you recommend NOT to have the same SSID for the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz bands?

I am awaiting delivery of the 86U router so maybe once I receive it and read the instruction notes that come with the router, this all may become clearer to me!

 

[OzarkEdge]

Considering Ozark's "think alike" might be someone like Sir Isaac Newton while mine is more akin to "Rocky Balboa" smart money goes to Ozark.

So that said I set about reading Ozark's install notes and something hit me; he wrote those about a year and a half ago and some of his references go back four years. It was about four years ago that I set up three N66Us. I set them all for 1 SSID for both 2.4 and 5 GHz.

Worked great for car lot B but at the other car lot and at home not so great. So for those two locations I added a couple SSIDs, one for 2.4 and another for 5 GHz, and "locked" a couple rowdy clients to what I thought was appropriate. Life was good. In other words I pretty much experienced what Ozark wrote about.

About a year ago I upgraded both car lots to 86Us and home to a Blue Cave. This time around everything is working fine with the single SSID for both radios. What changed? About three and a half years of evolution and maturity?

I don't think my N66U had Smart Connect node band steering, so that may have been missing back in the day. And wireless clients may have improved... AC clients may connect quickly to the 5 GHz band, particularly when the 2.4 GHz band is set for N-only. So yes, same SSID usage is better now... even an AiMesh node seems to perform better than a repeater or AP, from what I can discern from reading here... even without support for enterprise class WiFi roaming protocol standards.

I started with AiMesh (and this forum) 2/2018. I need a wireless backhaul to reach a detached garage and wanted to retire the N66U repeater and separate SSIDs. AiMesh solved this. However, the excessive auto channel scanning and changing introduced in 45713,7 despite negligible neighboring WiFi signals caused me to revert to separate SSIDs. My WiFi now feels more stable/predictable and streaming Tunein to a 2.4 GHz-only mobile no longer experiences odd interruptions, just some minor buffer overlap when roaming... which I attribute to fixing the 2.4 channel. So, I'm holding on 45717 and separate SSIDs until I can trial the next AiMesh release... same SSIDs can be an avoidable complication.

My install notes is my first post here... intended to underpin subsequent posts and to share what I learn about AiMesh. They have evolved and are still being maintained. Ron didn't like them.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

sorry OzarkEdge but I am struggling to understand your 'install notes' you provided . It is not clear to me from which part of your instructions I need to follow. Do I simply follow your instructions from the start and right the way to the end?

Sorry, they are notes, not a tutorial. They will be more digestible once your start and need clues as you proceed to do the work.

Briefly, you install the latest router firmware (I prefer 45717 for now), reset that firmware, and then configure it as summarized under Perform router Quick Setup and configuration.

Ignore the extra bits related to AiMesh nodes. Ignore the extra bits related to precautions and troubleshooting issues until you have issues, if any.

In your response later to this thread, you mention about "Smart Connect node band steering " - what does this mean?

The router will default to using Dual-Band Smart Connect node band steering... this is a WiFi feature that forces the use of same SSIDs and certain WiFi settings (see my notes). The router then 'helps' wireless clients to connect to a router's/node's best signal/band when both bands have the same SSID. Hopefully, they will... the client ultimately decides where to connect.

If you want to use separate SSIDs, disable Smart Connect.

Do you recommend NOT to have the same SSID for the 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz bands?

My notes currently do. But the user may have reason to do otherwise. You are free to try it both ways. You can start with the default of using Smart Connect with auto channels and same SSIDs. Use that for awhile and if you and your wireless clients have no issues, stick with it. Otherwise, you can easily disable Smart Connect, set the channels (see my notes), change the 2.4 SSID to ...-24 and add a 2.4 GHz connection to your 2.4 GHz clients. Later, you can easily go back to same SSID usage, if desired.

Think of it like this... Smart Connect automates some router WiFi settings setup and automates router/node band steering... encourages a wireless client to connect to the desired band. Without it, you must setup those router WiFi settings yourself (and they won't change automatically to avoid neighboring WiFi signals) and you must define the desired band connection on your clients for your clients to use (manual band steering vs. automatic band steering).

Another, easier subject is Roaming Assistant node steering... the router encourages a wireless client to connect to the best node signal in a multi-node mesh system such as AiMesh. So, node steering gets your client to the best node/signal, and node band steering gets your client to the best band/signal on that node.

OE

 

[Klueless]

I am awaiting delivery of the 86U router so maybe once I receive it and read the instruction notes that come with the router, this all may become clearer to me!

It should come with a "quick install" card. I suggest you follow that. There's nothing wrong with wading is the shallow end for a bit.

I don't recall you saying why you are changing routers / upgrading?

Sometimes people upgrade simply because they're a couple generations behind in technology. If everything was running "well" before then all should be well after a basic install.

Sometimes people upgrade because everything was running like crap so they throw a new router at the problem. Luck of the draw on that one.​

If we had a better idea as to why you are upgrading, what you are upgrading from and what your Internet service speeds are you might get more meaningful suggestions. Short of that I still suggest;

• Stick with stock
  • Follow the instructions on the "quick install" card
  • Use a single SSID vis-a-vis "smart connect"
• After setup:
  • go back to "Guest" and set up a guest SSID (same SSID for both bands).
    • Consider "emergency" SSIDs such as "Faster" for 5 GHz and "Further" for 2.4 GHz. (Don't give out the passwords. Use these as a "work-a-round" in case you run into any of the issues Ozark mentions.)
  • set up "bandwidth limiters" based on ISP service speeds. (Honestly, I forget which routers let you do this without setting up QoS.)
  • If service speed is less than 50-ish (100-ish?) Mbps then set up QoS. (At home I ran fine at 7 Mbps until the grandkids moved in and then I had to set up QoS!)

 

[Windsor-tg]

The new router arrived yesterday. There was a User Guide Quick Setup booklet in the box but no 'quick install'. Would you happen to know what the instructions are on the 'quick install' ?

My internet service provider is Plusnet (owned by BT). I had an ASUS RT-N56U router for many years and it worked fine until earlier this year when it failed (if I recall, it got stuck in the WPS mode and eventually I just gave up with it in trying to fix it). As I am with Plusnet, I used their supplied router (Hub One) and I immediately found the strength of the wireless signal far weaker than when I was using the N56U router. This is the main reason for buying the 86U router.

With Plusnet, I am on fibre broadband with download speed of 44 Mbps and upload speed of 6.2 Mbps.

Can you expand on exactly what you mean by 'use a single SSID vis-a-vis "smart connect" ? Do you mean having the same SSIDs for both bands?

Based upon my download/upload speeds, should I set up "bandwidth limiters"? What is the advantage of this and how would I set up these limiters?

Any other tips/suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I am planning on setting up the new router tomorrow.

 

[Klueless]

Dear Pen Pal : -)

Ah, that helps a lot. Since you were happy with the N56U (until it failed) setting up the AC86U should be a piece of cake, no heroic efforts needed.

I looked at my "quick install" card. It did indeed say "Quick Setup". So much for my aging memory. I looked at my manual, it contained the same info as the card - almost nothing - except in twenty additional languages. It just told you how to plug in and to write down all your passwords.

The quick start utility will walk you through everything you need to get started. If you go with "Smart Connect" it will assign one SSID to both radios. If you bypass it you assign SSIDs one at a time for each radio (and there is nothing to stop you from assigning the same SSID to both radios).

What are you using for SSIDs now? If you use the same ones and the same passwords you probably won't even need to reconfigure/reconnect your client devices.

Once you're up and running you've the whole Asus config system available. The "Guest" button allows you to setup six additional SSIDs (three for each radio). It is here you can set up a "Visitor" SSID with no access to your private stuff. Or if you used "smart connect" then you could set up a couple SSIDs with the names you used to use for backwards compatibility.

I peeked at my 86U. Long story short you'd have to enable QoS to use bandwidth limiters the way I prefer. If you've more usage than bandwidth it allows you to prioritize who gets the bandwidth first. The limiter simply specifies how much total bandwidth is available. If you set it to less than reality it leaves like a "passing lane" so high priority stuff doesn't get stuck behind rush hour traffic. Given you've 44 Mbps and haven't had any complaints just forget about it (for now).

How did you used to run with the 56U? Did you disable the Plusnet router?

Once you get started I think you're gonna be surprised at how easy it was. I'm bettin' ten minutes or less : -)

 

[OzarkEdge]

Once you get started I think you're gonna be surprised at how easy it was. I'm bettin' ten minutes or less : -)

I'll take that bet!

OP: Smart Connect with the same SSID for each band will be seen as one same/single SSID by your clients.

I would keep your router configuration simple until you have used it a few days to see how your network performs.

OE

 

[Windsor-tg]

Many thanks Klueness and OzarkEdge for your prompt responses.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that I use two Devolo Wifi Powerline Homeplug adapters in a couple of rooms in the house where the wireless signal from the Plusnet (and previously from the N56U router) is weak. I have an ethernet cable going from the Plusnet router to the Devolo transmitter. When I am located near the Plusnet router and using wireless devices such as a laptop, iPhone and iPad, I use the 2.4 band of the Plusnet router. When I am further away from the Plusnet router, I sometimes have to manually switch to the Devolo wireless network. Other times, the devices automatically connect to the Devolo wireless network.

One thing I find frustrating is that the devices sometimes automatically connect to the weaker wireless signal so I have to manually connect the device to the stronger signal. Is there anything I can do so that a device always connects to the strongest signal?

I do not really use the 5 Ghz band on any of the devices.

When I was running the 56U router, I was not using the Plusnet router. I have an Openreach modem and this plugs into the Plusnet router (the modem used to plug into the 56U router until the router failed).

Once I am up & running, do I need to change any settings from their default settings?

Oh, and should I upgrade the firmware to Merlin?

 

[CaptainSTX]

While having the same SSIDs on both bands works well the AC86 has a history of problems with the 2.4 Ghz radi0 so you may want to give it its own SSID until your sure that that radio is stable. With separate SSIDs it is easier to make sure it is on line.