Issues with RT-AC3200 and RP-AC68U

[Murtaza12]

Before we start, please read the title carefully, it says RP-AC68U, not RT, so I'm referring to the AC1900 repeater and not the router. This product:
https://www.asus.com/Networking/RP-AC68U/

My main router in the living room is the AC3200, on the newest stock ASUS firmware and just in front of the stairs on the first floor, I've placed my RP-AC68U repeater. They're connected using repeater mode through 2.4GHz, signal strength where the repeater is placed fluctuates between -70 and -80 dBm.
I updated the repeater to the newest firmware, 2 factory resets through the web portal and then set it up.
Works fine when it works, decent speeds, no complaints.

However, it's the connection drops that get very frustrating. It'll drop it's connection to my AC3200 and the SSID for the repeater disappears entirely for a minute or so till it comes back for about 2 minutes and then drops again after which a reboot usually gets things going again and it'll start acting up the next day. Yesterday it happened just after midnight, now it's 11:02, the last time it happened was 10:54 when I started typing this post.

I've read mixed reviews about this repeater. Many people on Amazon praising it, some folks on this forum, the Asus forum and others have criticized it for its bottom panel design flaw and then the fact that most of them hate it and want to return it.
I do have the option of returning it, but the way things work here in Pakistan are awfully slow and I really don't want to.
Should I live with it and keep my fingers crossed that ASUS fixes this with a firmware update or are there any workarounds for this?

Lastly, anyone else currently using an RP-AC68U, would love to hear how it's performing for you.



For comparison, my now dead RT-AC66U was in the same location as this repeater and it worked flawlessly with my AC3200, over 14 days of uptime and it'd have no connection drops, no stability issues, no sudden changes in performance. However, while messing with the CFE, I bricked it. It now has the 3 LEDs of death. Speaking of the AC66U, are there any easy ways to get out of a bad CFE flash or is removing the flash chip the only way out?

All replies will be appreciated.
Regards,

murtaza12

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[FTC]

Hi, well, I have the same setup (rt-ac3200 connected to rp-ac68u) and except for some initial setup problems it is now working very well. I've got it working in expressway 5ghz mode so that the 5Ghz-2 router band is dedicated to communication with the rp-ac68u, that itself is cabled to my IPTV system plus a PVR and an XBOX and provides with 2.4Ghz wifi in its sorroundings.

The 3200 is running the latest hggomes firmware (based on merlin 380) and the rp-ac68u is running latest official firmware. I can easily get 14+ days of stable running between reboots, and usually have about 20+ active devices in my network..., plus the 3200 is servicing samba, dlna, vpns and several other uses.

 

[Murtaza12]

Hi, well, I have the same setup (rt-ac3200 connected to rp-ac68u) and except for some initial setup problems it is now working very well. I've got it working in expressway 5ghz mode so that the 5Ghz-2 router band is dedicated to communication with the rp-ac68u, that itself is cabled to my IPTV system plus a PVR and an XBOX and provides with 2.4Ghz wifi in its sorroundings.

The 3200 is running the latest hggomes firmware (based on merlin 380) and the rp-ac68u is running latest official firmware. I can easily get 14+ days of stable running between reboots, and usually have about 20+ active devices in my network..., plus the 3200 is servicing samba, dlna, vpns and several other uses.

Do you think the unit I have is defective or the signal strength is too low for it to keep a stable connection?

I used to be on Gomes firmware but I switched back to stock ASUS.
I can't use 5GHz to connect the 3200 and repeater because the range is pathetic and the repeater barely gets like -80 dBm of the 5G network and only like 78 Mbps of throughput.

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[OlaP]

Hi,
I have an AC87U and an RP-AC68U.
My house is rather large. Distant now is about 20m between them and I am running the RP unit in AP mode with a 25m LAN cable. Perfect 2.4G and 5G WIFI coverage everywhere and very stable operation get several months without RP unit problems.

Just after I got them I tried to get the RP unit work in all different repeater modes but I couldn’t get decent WIFI speed coverage everywhere and not 100% stable operations. If I remember correctly best option for me was the normal repeater mode with the units about 10m apart. The RP then connected using both 2.4G and 5G but mostly the 5G was at 0MBPS and 2.4 at 200-300Mbps. I had some issues when running in Express way mode. Don’t remember exactly what they were..

I few things you should try/check would be to disable a few settings in both the router (and repeater if possible) 2.4G setup.
As far as I understand the RP-AC68 is 4x4 2.4G 600Mbps (?) and the ac3200 is 3x3 2.4G 450 Mbps or 600 with TurboQAM enabled. Not sure how the connection would work if TurboQAM enabled probably best keep it off. Also try disabling some other 2.4G settings in the 3200 like airtime fairness etc.

To summarize from my experience with this repeater and others they are not very stable in repeater mode.
Unfortunately seems to me that best is to set the RP-AC68U up as an AP then you get both 2.4 G and 5 G and a 1Gbit LAN connection in-between them. This is off course means you need to be able to run a LAN cable between the units and I assume it was not want you wanted buying this repeater..

Maybe best would be to return it and get a repeater able router like the RT-AC68U. In Sweden they cost about the same.. Might work a lot better and the firmware in that unit is very much still supported/often updated by both Asus and Merlin..
I have an (at the moment not used) RT-AC68U never tried it in repeater mode.
Just out of curiosity I will set it up right now as a repeater at the same 10m from AC87U position I had the RP unit at beginning to see how stable it works and let you know. Will take some days to get any result..

 

[Murtaza12]

@OlaP

Appreciate the detailed reply.
I am considering running a Cat6 ethernet cable now because I'm in no mood to return this and buy something else.

So far it works now but it'll probably crap out again at night like it has been for the past 3 days.

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[FTC]

Do you think the unit I have is defective or the signal strength is too low for it to keep a stable connection?

I used to be on Gomes firmware but I switched back to stock ASUS.
I can't use 5GHz to connect the 3200 and repeater because the range is pathetic and the repeater barely gets like -80 dBm of the 5G network and only like 78 Mbps of throughput.

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I can not be sure of your problem... however, note that there are some reports that the expressway 5ghz does only work properly with the latest firmware.. are you on it in the rp-ac68u (3.0.0.4.382.10513) ?

Also play a bit with the channels... something like 'metageek's InSSider' helps to find a free/not used channel.

 

[Murtaza12]

I can not be sure of your problem... however, note that there are some reports that the expressway 5ghz does only work properly with the latest firmware.. are you on it in the rp-ac68u (3.0.0.4.382.10513) ?

Also play a bit with the channels... something like 'metageek's InSSider' helps to find a free/not used channel.

Already on Channel 11 (2.4GHz), yes I'm using the exact firmware you've mentioned and I'm not using expressway, I'm using repeater mode.

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