Replace the AC68U with the same or the AC87U?

[M_M]

Hello,
My 1 year old AC68U died a couple days ago, well it did not die completely, only 5GHz band is not working anymore, 2.4GHz and wired connections work just fine. Normally, I would probably not care because 2.4 is sufficient for most of the stuff for me, except that lately I had been streaming Tidal lossless on 5GHz and it had been working flawlessly, until it died.

I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting and it looks like it is hardware, so my only option is to send it in for repair - it is not really an option as it takes 7 to 10 days to get it back and I cannot be without a router this long, so I need to buy a new one in the meantime.

Would you recommend another 68U or the new monster 87U? Is the range of the new one greatly improved? I keep the router in the basement and although my house is not large, the signal strength of the 68U at the other end of the house drops one bar, so it might be nice to have better coverage.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts, I'm really curious to hear from those who have some experience with both routers.

Thanks a lot!
M

 

[dsring]

Hello,
My 1 year old AC68U died a couple days ago, well it did not die completely, only 5GHz band is not working anymore, 2.4GHz and wired connections work just fine. Normally, I would probably not care because 2.4 is sufficient for most of the stuff for me, except that lately I had been streaming Tidal lossless on 5GHz and it had been working flawlessly, until it died.

I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting and it looks like it is hardware, so my only option is to send it in for repair - it is not really an option as it takes 7 to 10 days to get it back and I cannot be without a router this long, so I need to buy a new one in the meantime.

Would you recommend another 68U or the new monster 87U? Is the range of the new one greatly improved? I keep the router in the basement and although my house is not large, the signal strength of the 68U at the other end of the house drops one bar, so it might be nice to have better coverage.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts, I'm really curious to hear from those who have some experience with both routers.

Thanks a lot!
M

Submit a support ticket with Asus and RMA the router. I believe this router has a 2 year warranty.

 

[RMerlin]

Would you recommend another 68U or the new monster 87U? Is the range of the new one greatly improved? I keep the router in the basement and although my house is not large, the signal strength of the 68U at the other end of the house drops one bar, so it might be nice to have better coverage.

It comes down to what your budget is. The RT-AC87U brings very little improvement to the RT-AC68U right now, as there is still not a single 4x4 or MU-MIMO capable client available. Once you eliminate that, the only real benefit of the RT-AC87U is its CPU is 200 MHz faster, which leads to faster OpenVPN and USB sharing performance.

Coverage-wise, there's probably very little difference. Check out Tim's reviews to compare them.

One possibility is to check if Asus offers advanced replacements RMAs in your country. They would send you a replacement ahead of receiving your defective device, you just need to provide a credit card number as "insurance". This service however isn't available in all countries, you will have to check with them.

 

[M_M]

Thank you, guys!

RMerlin - from what I've read here you know a lot more about Asus routers than most at Asus. Do you know if Asus offers advanced replacements in the U.S.? It is a long story, but I called them twice - first time I had to wait 30 minutes before I got through to support, unfortunately they do not listen, so they had me do exactly what I had already done, so we wasted additional 40 minutes and than I got disconnected. I called again and since a ticket somehow was not generated at the time of the first call, they wanted me to repeat the same steps I had already done twice, so I got a bit upset and when I asked if they offered advanced replacements, I wast told no - it might have been because I was slightly angry.
Thanks!

 

[snakebite3]

Thank you, guys!

RMerlin - from what I've read here you know a lot more about Asus routers than most at Asus. Do you know if Asus offers advanced replacements in the U.S.? It is a long story, but I called them twice - first time I had to wait 30 minutes before I got through to support, unfortunately they do not listen, so they had me do exactly what I had already done, so we wasted additional 40 minutes and than I got disconnected. I called again and since a ticket somehow was not generated at the time of the first call, they wanted me to repeat the same steps I had already done twice, so I got a bit upset and when I asked if they offered advanced replacements, I wast told no - it might have been because I was slightly angry.
Thanks!

You have to be patient when speaking to support. They'll be more helpful if you speak calmly. Remember they're people too. Just play along with they ask you to do. Or is there a shortcut?

 

[M_M]

I know, it was a bad day, nothing was working..... and at the end I turned out to be an butt.
I wish there was a shortcut, so if someone knows of one or if Asus U.S. does advanced replacements, please let me know.
Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

Thank you, guys!

RMerlin - from what I've read here you know a lot more about Asus routers than most at Asus. Do you know if Asus offers advanced replacements in the U.S.? It is a long story, but I called them twice - first time I had to wait 30 minutes before I got through to support, unfortunately they do not listen, so they had me do exactly what I had already done, so we wasted additional 40 minutes and than I got disconnected. I called again and since a ticket somehow was not generated at the time of the first call, they wanted me to repeat the same steps I had already done twice, so I got a bit upset and when I asked if they offered advanced replacements, I wast told no - it might have been because I was slightly angry.
Thanks!

No idea, I live in Canada. Different service center. I think they do in the US, I remember someone being offered to do it a few years ago (and he refused because it would have required for him to provide a credit card number - which is standard practice for advanced RMAs). But that might depend on who you talk to perhaps.

My contacts are back at Taiwan HQ these days, so I don't know who I could refer to in the US either, sorry.

 

[M_M]

Thanks for the additional info, I will call them again next week to see what they will say this time.
BTW - for all the work you are doing for Asus customers and them directly, specifically releasing firmware fixes for their products, if they are not paying you HUGE consulting fees, they should take their heads out of the sand and start sending you checks immediately. The PR buzz they could generate from this level of support is immeasurable.