Merlin firmware for the new RT-AX86U?

[L&LD]

Asus, like every other business, needs to make money where and when it can.

Nothing becomes obsolete except in the mind of the user.

 

[appleseed]

interesting discussion, didn't know there was a difference between AX and 6E. I'd like to upgrade from AC68U but now I need to research this. Also waiting to see what Merlin does.

and I was just thinking how my AMD board has unused 2.5Gbe, and Comcast just started shipping the XB-7 modem with 2.5Gbe, and now I see this Asus router is 2.5Gbe. The universe is telling me something, I think.

 

[Cidious]

My realtek lan still keeps popping out. I think I have a faulty chip or something. I'm trying to get my Dual gigabit Intel card working as a team with dynamic link aggregation on the AX86U and even though Windows shows me 2gbit in the team adapter status... it still only does 115MB/s to my harddrives on the USB of the router. This time it's not SAMBA limited (since the Realtek 2.5G port can let it top out at 145MB steady) but it's just not compatible with the 2 intel NICs somehow. I've tried all different ways and even setting up the team through powershell commands.. tried 3 different drivers.. Tried different order of activating (first router and then NICS and the other way around) No luck.

Even thought it's successfully teaming as Windows sees it.. it's not providing any throughput boost to the USB connected devices.

We better pray Merlin wakes up one morning full of motivation and spirit to look into this device because compared to the AC86U (with Merlin's firmware) it's a bit of a dud now.. I wanted to get the AX88U since it's Merlin supported... but it doesn't have 2.5G lan.

This darn website won't allow me to upload modern sized images.. The point of the screenshots is to show that Link aggregation for more bandwidth is futile.. somehow the combination refuses to use 2 adapters at the same time for throughput. I think link aggregation only works with multiple clients asking for bandwidth. But not from a single client.

Anyone has any clue why Asus is still on the ANCIENT SMB V1? It just doesn't seem to make sense... is it that hard to implement? Merlin has done it for several years now... Is it bound by licenses? What am I missing?

 

[Vexira]

The thing is wifi 6 is pointless till there is a major adoption device wise, I personally will probably upgrade to a 6e model because for some reason only God knows they managed to nealy destroy with lighting strike, seemingly nealy all the LAN ports are dead the wan port is gone with the wind, I'm not even sure how long till the unit itself ceases to function.

I'm still sad that WiFi is not yet full duplex

 

[Cidious]

For me Wifi is just for my handhelds.. and they do fine on Wifi AC and AX... Small apartment.. nobody uses 5Ghz here even... it's all 2.4Ghz... cheap Chinese ISP modem routers... I have a loft where to top floor isn't concrete but a wooden structure. Wifi AC/AX blows just straight through it..

Point is.. not everyone cares about Wifi.. I can't be arsed about 6E... I don't even see a usecase for AX now.. I bought this router for it's faster processor and more ram and 2.5G port to match with my motherboard. The USB 3.2 ports combined with hopefully future Merlin support should make it a nice NAS.

The AC86U could not have AIProtection on without paying a penalty in NAS bandwidth due to CPU/RAM limitations. There is more to a router than JUST WIFI. I think many of you are just too focusses on that small part of the router.

I'm not trying to validate my purchase haha. It wasn't the smartest buy coming from an AC86U Merlin router but just saying there is more to a router than just Wifi...

 

[L&LD]

@Cidious

I think link aggregation only works with multiple clients asking for bandwidth. But not from a single client.

That's the issue exactly.

 

[Makaveli]

Yep Asus is just betting not many people know of or have any knowledge that Wifi 6E is just around the corner. Makes ZERO sence to buy anything AX right now period. Even the holy grail AX88U will be obsolete once this happens. I for one can't wait being in a Apt competing with many other AP's to use the 6 GHz band. Until then my money stays in the bank.

Sure if the majority of your network and devices are on wireless I agree. However for people like me where 90% of my network is wired and wifi only being used for mobile phones and a couple laptops makes Zero difference for me. I have Wifi 6 now and only 1 device that supports it.

 

[Cidious]

@Cidious

That's the issue exactly.

Thanks for confirming.

I'm pretty sure it makes for a very stable gigabit connection though. But I've ordered a Aquantia AQtion AQN-107 10G (MSI add-in card second hand new for $45 from TRX40 board) NIC to replace the faulty Realtek 2.5G onboard instead. I won't be able to enjoy the full bandwidth to the NAS drives over USB but it's 35MB/s extra steadily.

Still wondering why Asus hasn't bothered with upgrading Samba version to v2 themselves. When I use the FTP server option my throughput is much higher but it's not a convenient way to use my storage from Windows 10. Is there any technical explanation for why they refuse to go with time? v1 is less cross platform compatible than v2 and a dinosaur by now... I just don't get it...

I tried to see if anything would change in the upcoming 386 branche... but no luck yet...

 

[lindros2]

The thing is wifi 6 is pointless till there is a major adoption device wise, I personally will probably upgrade to a 6e model because ..

wifi 6 (AX11000) is actually *worse* on my network than wifi 5.
I use it as an extender to my AX5300, which has far better performance by clients (including the aforementioned AX11000, as an extender).

 

[Cidious]

Found a possible solution for the slow SAMBA performance. But I can't get it going somehow...

GitHub - JackMerlin/USBAccelerator: 🔌➕USB Accelerator can help you improve usb transfer speed of your router.

🔌➕USB Accelerator can help you improve usb transfer speed of your router. - JackMerlin/USBAccelerator

github.com

Any help with this?


UPDATE: Got it working from the other link below on the page.

Not much luck though

Stock @ 140MB/s:


Mod @130MB/s:

 

[JohnD5000]

RT-AC68U download counts are still way ahead of the RT-AC86U.

View attachment 25226

Are these all-time downloads, or downloads over the last X months or x days? If they are all time, would be interesting to know if recent DL for 86 have overtaken 68.

 

[RMerlin]

Are these all-time downloads, or downloads over the last X months or x days? If they are all time, would be interesting to know if recent DL for 86 have overtaken 68.

Last week only. It also doesn't include downloads done from the Onedrive mirror. But it shows how right now, the RT-AC68U is still way more popular.

 

[abc5]

last week only? wow. very popular. i for one need a newer asus just for the better vpn performance.

 

[JohnD5000]

Last week only. It also doesn't include downloads done from the Onedrive mirror. But it shows how right now, the RT-AC68U is still way more popular.

Interesting, just out of curiosity, currently, looks like 68 is about 3 dl to every 2 86 downloads. Any idea how the ratio was say 1 year ago?, or 2?

 

[RMerlin]

You'd have to dig through Sourceforge's interface, there's no simple way to see.

Asuswrt-Merlin Download Statistics: All Files

Alternative firmware for Asus wireless routers

sourceforge.net

 

[kernol]

Interesting, just out of curiosity, currently, looks like 68 is about 3 dl to every 2 86 downloads. Any idea how the ratio was say 1 year ago?, or 2?

You'd have to dig through Sourceforge's interface, there's no simple way to see.

Asuswrt-Merlin Download Statistics: All Files

Alternative firmware for Asus wireless routers

sourceforge.net

There you go ...

Shows monthly Sourceforge's downloads of the Release versions only of Merlin-ware for the two models - and AC68U clear winner .
Function of price per model?

 

[JohnD5000]

There you go ...
View attachment 25340
Shows monthly Sourceforge's downloads of the Release versions only of Merlin-ware for the two models - and AC68U clear winner .
Function of price per model?

Interesting, obviously as AC68 gets older the ratio is going down. Roughly, looks like:

now 6000/4000 or 1.5x
1 yr ago 20000/6000 3.3x
2 yr ago 25000/5000 5x

Personally, I have an AC86U on Merlin and 2 AC68U (on stock as AIMesh).

AND, what happened in Oct 2017 that there was such a huge increase in AC68U downloads? Increased from 4000 to 28000 (and stayed there more or less). The AC68U was out for years at that point in time.

 

[RMerlin]

AND, what happened in Oct 2017 that there was such a huge increase in AC68U downloads?

That was when I dropped the Mediafire mirror and moved to Sourceforge, due to Mediafire having yet another outage/bug, leading me to leave.

 

[GHammer]

I just want one for the 86ness of the thing.
I too have few wireless devices and most of those are IoT things that only work with 2.4 at that.
The 2.5G LAN will be nice as I have 3 servers and a NAS on the LAN and there is an occasional bottleneck.
OTOH, I may look at equipping a Linux box with better 2.5/5/10Gb ethernet ports and install OPNSense on it and use my ASUS routers as APs only.
Then, of course, I need to upgrade my switching too.

The upgrades never end if you touch just one innocuous item...

 

[Paliv]

I thought one of the benefits of WiFi 6 was more bandwidth for simultaneous connections for all the IoT and mobile devices people are buying. I am all for the new frequency (6E), but this aspect of WiFi 6 could be more useful for most households who don’t have crowded bandwidth. I would love an AX router with Merlin Firmware, but I have a rock solid AC router that I can’t justify replacing yet. Also, I’m sad to hear @RMerlin is having such a rough time with the new AX routers, I can’t blame him for the fatigue. Maybe if a surprise windfall comes my way I’ll grab an AX86U. Otherwise my AC router is doing great. Heck my 68U was still kicking when I took it out of commission.