New Asus RT-87U

[dnlongen]

ASUS RT-AC87U / RT-AC87R first look

I'm sure RMerlin will have lots to say later today or tomorrow. Here are my first impressions:

* The AC87U runs warm. Out of the box, it is downright hot. Update to the first OTA firmware update (3.0.0.4.376.1779) though, and it's considerably cooler, though still noticeably warmer than my old AC66U.

* The GUI is far faster than the AC66U. ASUS has done quite the job optimizing the administrative user interface.

* I've not done serious performance testing yet, but some basic tests with consumer-grade 802.11n devices show a marked speed increase over the AC66U. a 4GB video file that takes on average 12 minutes to transfer from the AC66U (equating to a throughput rate of about 45 MBit/second), transfers in about 7 minutes on the AC87U (for a transfer rate of about 75 MBit/second). That's a far cry from the 1,733 MBit/second theoretical maximum rate with a MU-MIMO client, but I'll take it.

 

[thiggins]

R u planning to review ac87 anytime soon ?

I am waiting for firmware to settle down. Another release is expected to be out this week.

You guys are waaay too excited, way too early. Buying these first-of-class routers as soon as they come out is good only for bragging rights.

 

[funkahdafi]

That's a far cry from the 1,733 MBit/second theoretical maximum rate with a MU-MIMO client, but I'll take it.

Of course that 1.733 mbit is for 802.11ac clients, not for 802.11n clients.

 

[damir]

I am waiting for firmware to settle down. Another release is expected to be out this week.

You guys are waaay too excited, way too early. Buying these first-of-class routers as soon as they come out is good only for bragging rights.

Since you and Merlin are opening my eyes, about this router, i really think i am gonna pass on this, as there is no point at this time (maybe in future) to spend over $300 for this unit.

I will, of course wait for your review, but, i think at this time (for example) Netgear R7000 or RT-AC66U ($179) buy - for devices i have available at the moment.

 

[funkahdafi]

Wasn't it supposed to be announced today? Their website has still nothing on the AC87.

 

[MarMinHena]

I got an RT-AC68U less than 2 weeks ago (I still have 2 weeks if I decided to return it)

And I'm already having some issues connecting to the 5G, and also the WiFi seems to be weak (1~2 bars) when I'm trying to connect from the first floor (the router is on the 2nd floor).

Are there any benefits in upgrading to the RT-AC87?

 

[damir]

Wasn't it supposed to be announced today? Their website has still nothing on the AC87.

I don't even think ASUS is excited that much about this router, why should we?

 

[RMerlin]

I'm sure RMerlin will have lots to say later today or tomorrow. Here are my first impressions:

* The AC87U runs warm. Out of the box, it is downright hot. Update to the first OTA firmware update (3.0.0.4.376.1779) though, and it's considerably cooler, though still noticeably warmer than my old AC66U.

The main CPU actually runs cooler than the RT-AC66U. It will be hotter than the RT-AC66U but that's because you are comparing a 600 MHz MIPS CPU versus a dual core 1 GHz ARM CPU. Quite a different horse.

* The GUI is far faster than the AC66U. ASUS has done quite the job optimizing the administrative user interface.

Asus is now cacheing some of the files browser-side (like I do in my FW). This has been the case for a few months already tho.

What you are seeing is in large part due to the quite faster CPU compared with your RT-AC66U.

 

[RMerlin]

Wasn't it supposed to be announced today? Their website has still nothing on the AC87.

I doubt their webmaster works on Sundays.

 

[funkahdafi]

I doubt their webmaster works on Sundays.

Then why not put the announcement date on the 21st? Who came up with that 20th date, by the way? Is that confirmed information?

 

[funkahdafi]

I got an RT-AC68U less than 2 weeks ago (I still have 2 weeks if I decided to return it)

And I'm already having some issues connecting to the 5G, and also the WiFi seems to be weak (1~2 bars) when I'm trying to connect from the first floor (the router is on the 2nd floor).

Are there any benefits in upgrading to the RT-AC87?

The AC87 will supposedly have better range than the AC68, due to the additional antenna. That's what Asus are saying in their DIY website:

http://pcdiy.asus.com/2014/01/rt-ac87u-the-ultimate-router-4x4-mu-mimo-ces-2014/

(also read the comments, there is an Asus guy answering questions)

 

[RMerlin]

I am waiting for firmware to settle down. Another release is expected to be out this week.

And that's not mentioning what they already got in the pipeline for in a couple of weeks. I assume you saw the benchmarks (I won't mention what they were about)? I was able to test an alpha build of the FW with these changes, and I can confirm the level of performance improvement mentioned in that chart.

So yeah, any review at this point would almost count as a PREview, considering the radical changes they are still about to implement in the very near future.

 

[RMerlin]

Then why not put the announcement date on the 21st? Who came up with that 20th date, by the way? Is that confirmed information?

You might probably have to ask that question to Best Buy. AFAIK, Asus's public stance was "End of July".

 

[Shonk]

I will be interested in 2.4ghz speeds broadcom is so slow on 2.4ghz compared to other brands and always has been

my old Atheros 1043nd used to pull around 95-105 mbit over 2.4ghz
my AC66U is lucky to pull 45 mbit and im sure the AC68U is the same

also every broadcom i have ever owned the wifi drops bar's randomly


i have had maybe 7 broadcom router's over the years and have always found the wifi to be crap dont know why i keep buying them

I keep thinking umm its gota be better now..

anyway AC66U is my last Broadcom Wifi Chipset

I wish Asus did an atheros device as every atheros device i have had has had great wifi

 

[jim769]

I will be interested in 2.4ghz speeds broadcom is so slow on 2.4ghz compared to other brands and always has been

my old Atheros 1043nd used to pull around 95-105 mbit over 2.4ghz
my AC66U is lucky to pull 45 mbit and im sure the AC68U is the same

also every broadcom i have ever owned the wifi drops bar's randomly


i have had maybe 7 broadcom router's over the years and have always found the wifi to be crap dont know why i keep buying them

I keep thinking umm its gota be better now..

anyway AC66U is my last Broadcom Wifi Chipset

I wish Asus did an atheros device as every atheros device i have had has had great wifi

I have never had to many issues with the 2.4 ghz band and speeds, when I had extreme internet I was getting 120 down and 23 up using the 68u on the 2.4 ghz band. My only problem is congestion there are so many other AP using that band it's tuff to get stable performance all the time.

 

[IAAI]

I am waiting for firmware to settle down. Another release is expected to be out this week.

You guys are waaay too excited, way too early. Buying these first-of-class routers as soon as they come out is good only for bragging rights.

Thank you .

To me i just want to know what are the performance figures compared to ac68 + my ac68 gonna be AP to cover up the house and looking for a main router.
i m still trying to understand the difference between the new routers thats why i was looking for reviews

 

[Shonk]

My atheros router's manage over 100 just fine
im ofc talking about throughput not link speed

 

[IAAI]

My atheros router's manage over 100 just fine
im ofc talking about throughput not link speed

Could u please specify what is the router model ?

 

[Shonk]

TP-Link 1043ND

 

[jmantn]

Please post back when you get it up and running with how you like it.

I'm sure there's a better way and if so let me know and I'll try it but so far here's what I've done:

Installed router and plugged in my charter IPv6 settings and didn't manually assign IP's since default firmware STILL doesn't allow you to assign names to IP's.

I kept my SSID'S and passwords the same so no need to reconfigure devices.

Updated firmware as there was a day one update as noted on here.

On my iPhone 5S I pulled up the admin page for the 87U/R aka AC 2400 and walked to each of my trouble spots and pulled up the wireless log and went by the RSSI (probably not the best method) however each spot improved by -10. For example in one spot I typically receive -77 and now it's -66.

Now some other devices were now reporting -80 so not sure what's up with that.

Info about my location, I have a split foyer house and Router is in Den center of house where I spent all my time for years until recently and now I'm up stairs and discovering issues I never noticed until this year.

Per Merlin's earlier statement regarding a big update incoming I'm pretty happy but concerned about some of the poor RSSI stats but devices weren't in use so may have something to do with it.

Also did some speedtests with the iOS Speedtest app and I will say they were half of what I've received before however I probably need to power cycle everything and give it some time, it's my experience that Charter can be fickle when changing out equipment for a few hours sometimes.

As I said if anyone wants me to do any other tests let me know but be detailed because I'm not a router ninja lol just have around 15 wireless devices and need range and consistency and feeling that with time and With Merlin builds this will be my main Router for a few years finally.

Edit: rebooted devices and now my Speedtests are showing faster speeds than my ISP provides. Won't be checking RSSI changes till later.