New Asus RT-87U

[jim769]

Also might not be a bad idea to forget and reconfigure your wireless clients.

 

[jalyst]

Not officially, it's only "out" because of the incompetence of a certain retailer.
Not that I'm complaining about that... ;-)
This should remain the thread for the official/mainstream release, that other thread's title is retarded.

 

[jalyst]

N600 + AC1800 I guess.

Well, that's just silly. If that's their rationale.

 

[ddarko]

Not officially, it's only "out" because of the incompetence of a certain retailer.
Not that I'm complaining about that... ;-)
This should remain the thread for the official/mainstream release, that other thread's title is retarded.

I don't know if anyone other than Asus or Best Buy corporate knows the story behind the early sale. It could be a mistake or it could be deliberate, perhaps even with Asus' tacit acceptance. These types of restrictions get "broken" so routinely that I tend to think the companies often have a behind-the-scenes understanding allowing them. Pretty much everyone does it, including Asus. Not too long ago, Asus started promoting their new lineup of Z97 motherboards before Intel's embargo expired. Of course, all the other motherboard makers promptly followed.

In any case, I actually got this router today at a Los Angeles Best Buy. I didn't even realize it was on sale but saw it on the shelf and decided to take the plunge and finally replace a Netgear WNDR3700 that's been my router for the last five years. The Asus RT-AC87R notified me of the new 1779 firmware during setup; downloaded and updated without a hitch. I am glad router user interfaces have advanced tremendously since the Netgear 3700 was released; no surprise that interfaces have improved since 2009 but still nice to see information and features are much more sensibly presented.

I can't offer many benchmarks and numbers but the wired and wireless performance has been stable so far. Ping times of the 802.11n connection with the Xbox seems to have dropped from around 42ms to the mid-20s and packet loss has disappeared; the Netgear WNDR3700 had about 4% packet loss with 802.11n. I live in a studio apartment so distance and signal penetration aren't really problems. Although I'm interested in them, I'm holding off on the AiProtection security features out of uncertainty how they'd react with my Norton software firewall. It appears the AiProtection stuff comes from Trend Micro and I don't know how well it's going to mesh with Norton. Otherwise, everything seems to be working just fine. The price is high, too high I think for anyone other than early adopters, but I'm pleased that so far, it seems to be working well. Of course, I'm not pushing it to its limit or running torture tests on it so it may buckle when pushed. I look forward to the reviews.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Well, that's just silly. If that's their rationale.

Only 2 radios so that has to be it. Why is it silly? No other way of figuring out the speed. N maxes out at 600 and the AC1800 makes it an AC2400 router.

 

[jalyst]

Why is it silly?

Because it's mind-numbingly dull marketecture.

 

[jalyst]

Our first client for the AC87U will ship in late August.

Model name/no? When can we expect it up on your site, few more weeks?

The only public statement so far from JJ (their DIY/PR guy) was that it would be Q3/Q4, if I recall correctly.

Based on what I saw in the FW source code, I'd say it won't be out in the next couple of weeks, so probably looking closer to end of Q3 at the earliest.

No for the last month he's been claiming early Q3, i.e. July-ish, won't be surprised if it slips a little beyond that.
Heck, even if it doesn't arrive on shelves (in no's) till Dec it's no big deal, people need to get a life (not you).

 

[jalyst]

I don't know if anyone other than Asus or Best Buy corporate knows the story behind the early sale. It could be a mistake or it could be deliberate, perhaps even with Asus' tacit acceptance. These types of restrictions get "broken" so routinely that I tend to think the companies often have a behind-the-scenes understanding allowing them. Pretty much everyone does it, including Asus.

That -of course- is completely plausible, not likely but plausible nonetheless, anyway we (yet again) digress, lets get back OT.

 

[virtueme]

It looks like Norway isn't releasing this router yet. I can't find it anywhere at least.

I'm still on my two AC66U configuration, but I'm not sure if it's worth the upgrade.

I'm looking forward to the new Merlin firmware. I upgraded to the Asus 3.0.0.4.376.1123 version, but it doesn't feel as stable as Merlin 374.43.

 

[prosperot]

And bestbuy doesn't ship abroad. .. I'll guess we'll have to wait..

 

[Dijkstra88]

Same here for the Netherlands, probably round late September /October before first units arrives at the stores.

 

[damir]

At least you guys won't be - BETA testers

 

[wifi_reef]

At least you guys won't be - BETA testers

That is correct ...

And I would consider to buy FCC edition (from auction websites for example) rather than ETSI one - you will get twice better wifi performance and coverage. Asus is blocking in new firmware possibility to change country codes. So be it.

 

[funkahdafi]

And bestbuy doesn't ship abroad. .. I'll guess we'll have to wait..

There is always borderlinx.com - used them many times without issue.

 

[prosperot]

Bestbuy doesn't ship to the Borderlinx address and their concierge service doesn't accept bestbuy orders... sadly

 

[RMerlin]

I don't know if anyone other than Asus or Best Buy corporate knows the story behind the early sale. It could be a mistake or it could be deliberate, perhaps even with Asus' tacit acceptance.

It wasn't with Asus's permission for sure. Developers/reviewers were asked to hold off before posting details until the July 20th date, which was the stock date in BB's database.

Although I'm interested in them, I'm holding off on the AiProtection security features out of uncertainty how they'd react with my Norton software firewall. It appears the AiProtection stuff comes from Trend Micro and I don't know how well it's going to mesh with Norton.

It's fine. The AiProtection entirely resides on the router, so it has no impact on whichever security software you run on your LAN clients. Keep a close eye on things however after enabling it. Here, I noticed that AiProtection would block my VoIP ATA as it was thinking it was trying to attack my VoIP provider, and ended up blocking it.

 

[RMerlin]

I'm looking forward to the new Merlin firmware. I upgraded to the Asus 3.0.0.4.376.1123 version, but it doesn't feel as stable as Merlin 374.43.

Then why are you in a hurry to see me integrate the 1123 code if it's not as stable?

 

[sm00thpapa]

I'm trying to hold off but I am so tempted to pick this router up. Temptation sucks. XD

 

[RMerlin]

@ALL: I just merged the two main RT-AC87U threads together to clean things up.

 

[RMerlin]

For those wondering about Asus's claims of an improved range/coverage: I just tried my Nexus 7 in the only demanding use scenario I have here at home (which is the bathroom, at the complete other end of the apartment), and compared with the RT-AC68U, the signal level was definitely stronger with the RT-AC87U. I was getting -52 dBm on the 2.4 GHz band, between 4 and 5 bars of signal strength on the tablet, while with the RT-AC68U it would oscillate between 1 and 3 as I shift tablet positions in my hand (no idea on the RSSI, I never looked).