New to Asus RT-AC68P

[Casius]

Just purchased the AC68P and very new to 3rd party firmware. Use the internet for searches, YouTube, movies, etc. Right now the router is working great. I use Comcast and have the Blast speed package. Just ordered the Arris TM822 modem with telephony. My question is, if I use Asuswrt firmware, will I notice a difference, or are their added controls/features that will make my internet experience faster/better? After reading about Tomato, I think that may be overkill for me, but open to suggestion on that too.

Thank you for helping me!
Casius

 

[RMerlin]

You won't gain any Internet performance from my firmware. You will however benefit from some of the tweaks and bugfixes, so even for a light user it's a worthy upgrade (IMHO).

 

[ChikkSpot]

sounds like to me you're not really going to do anything special other then routing, nor there is anything not performing for you with the original firmware.

3rd party firmware rarely "make internet experience faster" unless the original firmware is really crappy, which isn't the case with asus's. "better" is subjective. some folks do all kind of things at the router itself (download manager, openvpn, etc.) and tweak things, therefore "better", while most of the everyday router customers don't and for them zero difference.

you can surely try, but my prediction is it's going to make zero difference to you.

 

[Casius]

I put on the latest version and all is working fine. BUT, when I click on the Tools section on left side it basically crashes and to get back into the router setup I have to reboot it. Any suggestions?

Thanks again you two!

 

[mike06]

I put on the latest version and all is working fine. BUT, when I click on the Tools section on left side it basically crashes and to get back into the router setup I have to reboot it. Any suggestions?

Thanks again you two!

I am also very new to the AC1900 class routers. I have had my RT-AC68U about 3 weeks. After reading this forum I figured I would give the MerlinWRT 378.51 firmware a try. So far I like it and it does seem more stable than the ASUS original firmware. I also did a factory reset before the upgrade and used my wired desktop to do the installation. I am not a gamer or one who does over clocking way above my head. I just thought I had nothing to lose by trying. I do stream a lot of video that proved too much to handle for my old netgear 300n router.

 

[Casius]

So like a newbie novice, I uploaded an older version of the firmware. Once mike06 commented with his upload of 378.51 I uploaded that version and now it's working perfect. Sounds like his and my usage is the same, so I'll not worry about Tomato....

Thank you all again!

 

[ChikkSpot]

1) you should use .52_2 by now.
2) factory AFTER upgrading firmware.

 

[Casius]

That's the version I used. It's working great!
What do you mean by "factory AFTER upgrading firmware?"

Casius

 

[mike06]

That's the version I used. It's working great!
What do you mean by "factory AFTER upgrading firmware?"

Casius

I think he means factory reset. BTW the way .51 firmware has only been out about a week or so. Glad it helped you out.

 

[Casius]

Sorry, showing my novice again... Is factory reset same as unplugging for a reset?
Wouldn't using the reset button cause all settings to reset, including loggin and password to admin?

Casius

 

[mattiL]

Sorry, showing my novice again... Is factory reset same as unplugging for a reset?
Wouldn't using the reset button cause all settings to reset, including loggin and password to admin?

Casius

A Factory Reset will clear all your settings.

It is usually needed when upgrading firmware between versions, but for the most part not between revisions.

Version upgrade, 374.xx -> 378.xx
Revision upgrade, 378.52 -> 378.52-2 (not valid if drivers in firmware are changed)