New Asus RT-87U

[jmantn]

I had the R7000 and disliked it due to bugs that directly affected me for over six months.

Bought the Asus 68U and would say for me and my 15 or so wireless devices it did a good job despite being in my basement.

I bought the 87R the day it was officially released by BB and I've not really had any issues with it. I haven't used a lot of the excess features except adaptive QOS and all I can say is I'm definitely seeing slightly faster speeds then my ISP provides via Speedtest and I'm getting slightly better range compared to the 68U & R7000. Still wish it would cover more of house but it's not in an optimal place in my house because the area I spent most of my time has now changed from the den to upstairs so my fault for not planning ahead.

Overall it's a great router and Merlin has alluded to some pretty great things coming in future firmware updates so looking forward to that but for now I wouldn't advise buying one if you have the 68U unless you need faster speeds or increased coverage (seeing an improvement of around 7-10 in RSSI).

Everyone has different needs but all I can tell you is I'm happy with my purchase and the increase in coverage and speed and can't wait to see all the things coming within next 30 days for this beast.

 

[lilstone87]

Well there's a pretty good chance, i pack my R7000 up tomorrow, and head to bestbuy. As i did buy there extended warranty, when i purchased my R7000 6 months ago. So i will need to add a little over $100, and get the 87R.

 

[lilstone87]

Edit: Well I went ahead and picked this router up today, will start setting it up soon. Anyways I was wondering, can you 30/30/30 reset this router? if so just hold the reset button?

Well just got done mostly setting up the router, and I am running into a problem with my USB drive not wanting to mount. I have used this drive with both the N66U, and R7000 without an issue. The drive is NTFS formatted, and here is what the router log is showing regarding the drive trying to mount.

Jul 26 16:17:48 kernel: hub 2-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

Edit: Well So far my 2TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Drive is a no go on this router. But I am more then willing to wait, I just want Asus aware of this, and hopefully fix this in a future firmware update. Also notice so far, the bandwidth/traffic monitor isn't working correctly. As I ran a couple speedtest's, and it wasn't showing max download, or upload maxing out or anywhere close to it. The traffic monitor isn't collecting data usage correctly either. This is all been tested using the latest firmware provided in the forums here by asus 3.0.0.4.376_2044.

So far this is stuff I can deal with for now, but I do want to point it out. As it is stuff that can be looked into, and fixed.

 

[jmantn]

How's the range and speed for you?

As for the USB I believe (could be wrong) Merlin stated USB was getting some improvements within 30 days.

Sorry about the issues thus far but I don't use a USB connected to my Router, I use a WDMyCloud for my needs so can't really provide any feedback on your issue

My data usage is also I haven't closely inspected but then again like you ive not been too concerned with that at the moment. Speed, coverage, and stability were my reasons for getting and keeping this router.

 

[RMerlin]

Edit: Well I went ahead and picked this router up today, will start setting it up soon. Anyways I was wondering, can you 30/30/30 reset this router? if so just hold the reset button?

Well just got done mostly setting up the router, and I am running into a problem with my USB drive not wanting to mount. I have used this drive with both the N66U, and R7000 without an issue. The drive is NTFS formatted, and here is what the router log is showing regarding the drive trying to mount.

Jul 26 16:17:48 kernel: hub 2-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1

Edit: Well So far my 2TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Drive is a no go on this router. But I am more then willing to wait, I just want Asus aware of this, and hopefully fix this in a future firmware update. Also notice so far, the bandwidth/traffic monitor isn't working correctly. As I ran a couple speedtest's, and it wasn't showing max download, or upload maxing out or anywhere close to it. The traffic monitor isn't collecting data usage correctly either. This is all been tested using the latest firmware provided in the forums here by asus 3.0.0.4.376_2044.

So far this is stuff I can deal with for now, but I do want to point it out. As it is stuff that can be looked into, and fixed.

Disable the "Reducing USB 3.0 interference" option under Wireless -> Professional (on the 2.4 GHz section). Some USB disks are not compatible with it, and will refuse to mount.

 

[lilstone87]

Merlin,

After disabling that option, the drive mounted right on up. Will I have negative effects from disabling this option?

 

[NightOwl326]

Has anyone tried the adaptive QOS. All I find is my speedtest.net results dive into the the single digits? Like 1/10th of my speed test with it turned off. Firmware version 3.0.0.4.376.2044

 

[lilstone87]

Merlin,

You have any ideal why my 5GHz led is blinking weirdly compared to the rest of the lights? I mean like every .5/1 second its light flashes on, and off.

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin,

After disabling that option, the drive mounted right on up. Will I have negative effects from disabling this option?

Some poorly shielded USB3 HDDs might cause interference with Wifi when operating at USB 3.0 speed. It seems to vary wildly - I had zero issues with either of my USB 3.0 HDDs, however Tim was unable to even complete his benchmark tests without enabling that option.

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin,

You have any ideal why my 5GHz led is blinking weirdly compared to the rest of the lights? I mean like every .5/1 second its light flashes on, and off.

2.4 GHz is a Broadcom chip, 5 GHz is a Quantenna chip. It will depend on how each manufacturer implements activity report most likely.

 

[RMerlin]

Has anyone tried the adaptive QOS. All I find is my speedtest.net results dive into the the single digits? Like 1/10th of my speed test with it turned off. Firmware version 3.0.0.4.376.2044

With 376_1779 I was able to hit 750 Mbps when I ran an iperf benchmark between WAN and LAN. speedtest.net was also fine.

I haven't tested with 376_2044 however.

Try completely disabling HW acceleration to see if it helps. Adaptive QoS only drops it from Level 2 to Level 1 (that means disabling FA but keeping CTF enabled).

 

[lilstone87]

Well I haven't turned the QoS on yet, so I can't judge if QoS system itself works. But after monitoring things for close to a day now. Clicking on the QoS tab, which shows the bandwidth monitor page. It doesn't show accurate results for stuff using bandwidth, the download/upload monitor graph is not right. Also the traffic monitor tab under QoS is way off as well.

So the QoS Bandwidth/Traffic Monitor need some tlc in future firmware release's. I know this router is still very new, and the new QoS is very new as well. So I don't mind waiting for fixes on it. As this post is just another user input on stuff not working atm. This is using the latest firmware as well 2044.

 

[lilstone87]

Well I have notice my 5GHz bridge doesn't want to connect, with certain settings applied on the AC87R. With Merlin's first beta for this router, I can't put the 5GHz band in "N Only" mode. Because the bridge will instantly disconnect when doing so. I have used this same bridge extender with both my old N66U, and R7000 that I replaced with this new router. I have ran "N Only" on those router's without ever an issue with my bridge extender.

Plus when I was using the latest 2044 build, using channel 36, with 80mhz width. It would cause the same issue on the bridge extender, I wasn't able to reproduce this though with Merlin's build. Still this tells me there is a bug, or two for asus to fix regarding the 5GHz band, when applying certain setting's.

 

[bodean]

R for return. As in easy to return to your retail store in 15 days if you find it doesn't work out.



When I buy something this expensive, it's one of the few times I actually buy local. If the firmware is extremely buggy or the unit is unstable, if I have the box and receipt, it's easy. Otherwise, I have to wrangle with bringing back.



There's no difference between the R and the U other than a letter, and how easy the return is.



P.S. To everyone else, there were four of these, maybe five at my local Best Buy today. They were $279.99 plus tax. So I'm guessing most of the BBs put them out on the shelf. First purchase I've made there since my RT-AC66R.

Reason u are upgrading from the AC66R?

 

[Beaker1024]

AiProtection Feature - Thoughts?

Anyone have any thoughts / comments or experience with the new "AiProtection Feature"?

I assume this feature will remain in Merlin's firmware builds (I'm planning on going to his firmware soon after getting a Asus router).

I was about to buy a AC66R from BestBuy then found out about the AC87 and am waiting to hear more reviews and for firmware (both Asus and Merlin) to have more time to develope.

The new "AiProtection" feature caught my attention and I haven't seen anyone talking about it in the forum.

 

[lilstone87]

Well I thought about posting this in the bug thread, But I will post it here first, and hopefully Merlin can tell me what this logged info means. As I have seen this pop up in the log a couple times, and when this is being logged nothing is being applied to the router.

Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: * Make sure sizeof(struct sw_struct)=160 is consistent
Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: IDPfw: TrendMicro forward module ver-1.0.17
Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: IDPfw: Apply module param dev_wan=vlan2
Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: IDPfw: Apply module param sess_num=30000
Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: IDPfw: Init chrdev /dev/idpfw with major 191
Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: IDPfw: IDPfw is ready
Jul 29 18:03:34 kernel: sizeof forward param = 160
Jul 29 18:03:36 kernel: HTB: quantum of class 10001 is big. Consider r2q change.
Jul 29 18:03:36 kernel: HTB: quantum of class 10002 is big. Consider r2q change.
Jul 29 18:03:36 kernel: HTB: quantum of class 10060 is big. Consider r2q change.
Jul 29 18:03:47 kernel: IDPfw: Exit IDPfw
Jul 29 18:03:47 kernel: Stop the IPS/AppID engine...
Jul 29 18:03:47 kernel: mod epilog takes 0 jiffies
Jul 29 18:03:47 kernel: IDPfw: Exit IDPfw
Jul 29 18:03:47 kernel: Stop the IPS/AppID engine...
Jul 29 18:03:47 kernel: IDPfw: Exit chrdev /dev/idpfw with major 191
Jul 29 18:03:52 kernel: * Make sure sizeof(struct sw_struct)=160 is consistent
Jul 29 18:03:52 kernel: IDPfw: TrendMicro forward module ver-1.0.17
Jul 29 18:03:52 kernel: IDPfw: Apply module param dev_wan=vlan2
Jul 29 18:03:52 kernel: IDPfw: Apply module param sess_num=30000
Jul 29 18:03:53 kernel: IDPfw: Init chrdev /dev/idpfw with major 191
Jul 29 18:03:53 kernel: IDPfw: IDPfw is ready
Jul 29 18:03:53 kernel: sizeof forward param = 160
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: Dead loop on virtual device vlan2, fix it urgently!
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: Dead loop on virtual device vlan2, fix it urgently!
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: Dead loop on virtual device vlan2, fix it urgently!
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: Dead loop on virtual device vlan2, fix it urgently!
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: Dead loop on virtual device vlan2, fix it urgently!
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: HTB: quantum of class 10001 is big. Consider r2q change.
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: HTB: quantum of class 10002 is big. Consider r2q change.
Jul 29 18:03:54 kernel: HTB: quantum of class 10060 is big. Consider r2q change.
Jul 29 18:04:05 kernel: IDPfw: Exit IDPfw
Jul 29 18:04:05 kernel: Stop the IPS/AppID engine...
Jul 29 18:04:05 kernel: mod epilog takes 0 jiffies
Jul 29 18:04:05 kernel: IDPfw: Exit IDPfw
Jul 29 18:04:05 kernel: Stop the IPS/AppID engine...
Jul 29 18:04:05 kernel: IDPfw: Exit chrdev /dev/idpfw with major 191

 

[LoneWolf]

Reason u are upgrading from the AC66R?

Twofold.

- OpenVPN client performance (which cuts speeds by 2/3 on my RT-AC66R, it has been indicated that going from a single-core MIPS processor to a much faster-clocked dual-core ARM processor) should provide noticeable performance improvements. I've already found Internet speed is *much* faster when my server (Xeon E3) runs OpenVPN as a client than when my router does.
- I'm hoping to get better wireless range/performance with our cell phones; range on either 2.4GHz or 5GHz with my Droid MAXX and the SO's iPhone 5c is poor on the RT-AC66R.

 

[netmik3]

Anyone have any thoughts / comments or experience with the new "AiProtection Feature"?

I assume this feature will remain in Merlin's firmware builds (I'm planning on going to his firmware soon after getting a Asus router).

I was about to buy a AC66R from BestBuy then found out about the AC87 and am waiting to hear more reviews and for firmware (both Asus and Merlin) to have more time to develope.

The new "AiProtection" feature caught my attention and I haven't seen anyone talking about it in the forum.

For the few minutes I used it, it was all false positives, I don't plan on using it, it'll break things with no log or alerts. Seems like a gimmick.

 

[Jettubby]

Does the 87U allow you to schedule the guest network on and off or schedule an individual's device's network/internet access? Unbelievably the Netgear R8000 will not do this. Sucks

 

[RMerlin]

Does the 87U allow you to schedule the guest network on and off or schedule an individual's device's network/internet access? Unbelievably the Netgear R8000 will not do this. Sucks

Scheduled Internet access is configurable under Parental Control. This feature is available on all recent Asus routers.

Guest Network can be set for a limited amount of time, but not on a schedule.