Opinion's on the Asus RT-AC87

[Maverick3837]

I have been using the RT-AC87 for about 5 years now, and it has always been a rock solid router in my opinion. My friend has the opportunity to purchase one, but as with anything, technology moves fast, and for the price of an RT-AC87, there are other routers out there with better performance for the price. What are your personal opinions of the RT-AC87, and is it worth even considering buying that router anymore due to it's age. The only reason I ask, is because of the success that I have personally had with it, and how fun the Merlin Firmware is! His router useage is about like mine. Movie streaming, web browsing, nothing a cheapo router probably couldn't handle.

 

[ApexRon]

If your current router meets all your needs, I would not buy new. Historically, I have only purchased new routers because my devices had newer capability that my current router did not support. I used to take one of my older routers on vacation with me when the hotels had bad WiFi. Now, I don't even do that since all my devices that I have with me use a VPN service and hotel WiFi is usually pretty darn good.

 

[L&LD]

I have never recommended the RT-AC87U and I would find it hard to recommend it today.

There are much better alternatives like the RT-AC66U version 'B' for example, which is essentially an updated RT-AC68U with full RMerlin support.

The best Asus router to buy today is undoubtedly the RT-AC86U, but that will depend on your friends budget and also on how quickly he wants to move to final (not draft) AX WiFi 6 routers (hardware and software) sometime in 2020. If he just wants a good router today, the '66U 'B' will be more than enough. If he wants a great router today and for the next few years, the RT-AC86U is an easy recommendation.

 

[RMerlin]

Don't buy a new RT-AC87U in 2019. That router is getting close to being EOL most likely, as Quantenna hasn't provided updates for the 5 GHz subsystem for close to two years now.

 

[El Mariachi]

As an owner of this model myself, steer clear. The 5Gz channel is flaky at best, everything else is okay though. There are much more up to date models and reasonably priced which I second to above such as the RT-AC66U B, RT-AC86U or if you want bang for your buck get the old trusty RT-AC68U.

 

[elorimer]

Seems to me it depends on what "opportunity to buy" means, i.e price. I see Newegg has refurb'd 87U and 56Us for $130, which seems less compelling than the 86U at $180.

OT: When did Newegg turn into the wild west? I see they have Asus routers listed at prices all over the place. Need an N66 for $300?

 

[Smokindog]

OT: When did Newegg turn into the wild west? I see they have Asus routers listed at prices all over the place. Need an N66 for $300?

Newegg went "marketplace" a while back. I always make sure I check "newegg as seller" these days. That said, their customer service, which used to be top notch, is rapidly slipping into the stereotypical scripted CSR that promise the world and delivers little. I've been disappointed of late and have had to actually leverage my credit card company to complete refunds on returns.

 

[Sky]

RT-AC87R | Quantenna

I run a couple of these on two LANs, one in CA, the other in NV. I had always felt like they were bullet-proof, but exposure to the minds on this site has got me wondering if they're really more "resistant" than "proof"...

Background: The CA LAN is wired & WiFi; PC, Linux, iOS, and a smattering of IoT smart devices like TVs, facility access, power plugs, and the like. Wiring is structured and while originally ran (and still) with Cat 5 is now operating solidly (as in -0- issues) at 1G with a dumb switch(es), a Drobo FS on the LAN as NAS, desktops, laptops, scanners, printer, copier, blah, blah, blah--all the usual modern office paraphernalia. Cable internet comes into our modem, then to the router hardwired to the LAN as an endpoint. All endpoints are serviced by the switch so the router & modem effectively sit between the ISP & the network. This is the main network.

The NV LAN is simple-r. It's all WiFi of different flavors, with an ISP-supplied modem feeding the router which handles all traffic, again with assorted stuff including IoT and WiFi printing, but no NAS.

The networks can link via VPN but it's been more efficient to have users VPN-in as-needed. Neither network has more than 50-users/devices connected at any one time.

Issues: I had always thought these networks were solid, but there have been some weird intermittent issues that have me wondering if the routers have been an issue all along that I missed through ignorance or just didn't appear until their peculiar problem was tapped.

• For instance, I have users that trade stocks, etc.. One of them trades on an iPad and she intermittently loses her connection during trading hours, those on laptop WiFi and on wired desktops have no issues. I have mitigated her problem but not cured it such that when it does happen now she reverts to using her iPhone as a hot spot and circumventing the network for that purpose. We even sought to address it here Q4 last year and reduced the problem 80% -- but not completely. The iPad works on 2.4 & 5GHz
  
• Another issue arose when we tried to incorporate a WiFi video ringer on a little-used exterior door. I went through three devices and never could get decent service out of them with the video notifications being so slow we'd have someone approach, ring for access, then leave frustrated all before the notification came through. These were 2.4GHz-only.
• Rarely I will have issues of laptops intermittently dropping connections which is normally resolved by rebooting the router. This resulted in nighty scheduled reboots off-hours.

I saw elsewhere on the site where a poster had reported solving their video ringer issue by changing routers--a step I was loathe to make as the ringer was a convenience add-in.

Question: Sooooo, could the Quantenna stuff actually be at the root of these things? And if there is a real possibility of that, assuming we upgrade the routers in the next 12-24 months as they hit EOL, recommendations?

Thanks in advance!
Sky

 

[Grisu]

RT-AC87R | Quantenna

I think this behavior is seen on most Asus routers now, not related to Quantenna only, thats why I changed may network away from Asus (RT-AC68U and 86U) and now never happened again.

 

[RMerlin]

I think this behavior is seen on most Asus routers now, not related to Quantenna only, thats why I changed may network away from Asus (RT-AC68U and 86U) and now never happened again.

Let's not generalize. The vast majority of users have zero wifi stability problems. I'm one of them.

 

[Grisu]

but there are so many postings about short interrupts or drops on connectivity.
Some dont have it and others cant solve it.

 

[consorts]

RT-AC87 = 2014 model with a 1ghz cpu - i'd only use it if it was free.

mine is 2015 and i've already outgrown it (slow ovpn support)

 

[Sky]

I think this behavior is seen on most Asus routers now, not related to Quantenna only, thats why I changed may network away from Asus (RT-AC68U and 86U) and now never happened again.

So what did you migrate to?

 

[Sky]

RT-AC87 = 2014 model with a 1ghz cpu - i'd only use it if it was free. (...) mine is 2015 and i've already outgrown it (slow ovpn support)

I installed these new in 2015-08. In fact, I picked them up b/c the iPad trader was having intermittent dropping problems--same issue only far more frequently--even after replacing the iPad with the then-newest model. The ASUS replaced Linksys units that time and they were the first ASUS products we ever put in permanent service.

We've used a variety of Belkins & Linksys over the years. None have lasted as long, nor given me as few support issues, as these ASUS boxes--and I'm still running the stock FW. I haven't ventured into trying RMerlin's FW because I didn't want to start a new hobby.

 

[Sky]

Let's not generalize. The vast majority of users have zero wifi stability problems. I'm one of them.

I've read several of your posts about the Quantennas. What are you happiest with these days?

 

[RMerlin]

I've read several of your posts about the Quantennas. What are you happiest with these days?

Currently using an RT-AX88U, however I understand that it's a bit overpriced for what it brings today. I recommend people look at other models instead based on their needs: RT-AC66U_B1 for basic usage, or the RT-AC86U for advanced VPN users.

Before that I used an RT-AC88U as my main router, that one was also rock-stable for me.

 

[Grisu]

So what did you migrate to?

sorry but forget it, changed to European brand, not for US market.