RT-AC1750 and Merlin?

[RAJ]

RT-AC1750 is this router supported by Merlin?

Wonder if its a renamed older model. Anyone know?

https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC1750/

Its looks like a RT-AC66u with a new name.

 

[adampk17]

RT-AC1750 is this router supported by Merlin?

Wonder if its a renamed older model. Anyone know?

https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RT-AC1750/

Its looks like a RT-AC66u with a new name.

Like you said, I believe you have the AC66U. I have one too. When you go looking for the right Merlin Firmware to install keep in mind that there are two hardware revisions for the AC66U and it matters.

 

[RAJ]

Like you said, I believe you have the AC66U. I have one too. When you go looking for the right Merlin Firmware to install keep in mind that there are two hardware revisions for the AC66U and it matters.

This looks to be a rebadged Dark Knight which i have two of. But they added a USB 3.0 port and a 2.o USB port. The Dark Knight has 2 usb 2.0 ports. I think the CPU of this might be 1gz while the dark knight is 600 Mhz. Ram is 128/256.

The official asus number is RT -ac1750 B1. Would those additions affect the firmware?

 

[adampk17]

This looks to be a rebadged Dark Knight which i have two of. But they added a USB 3.0 port and a 2.o USB port. The Dark Knight has 2 usb 2.0 ports. I think the CPU of this might be 1gz while the dark knight is 600 Mhz. Ram is 128/256.

The official asus number is RT -ac1750 B1. Would those additions affect the firmware?

Yes, the B1 part is pertinent to the firmware you choose.

 

[RAJ]

Supported Devices
-----------------
Supported devices are:
* RT-N66U
* RT-AC66U
* RT-AC66U_B1 (use the RT-AC68U firmware)
* RT-AC56U
* RT-AC68U, RT-AC68P, RT-AC68UF (including HW revision C1 and E1)
* RT-AC87U
* RT-AC3200
* RT-AC88U
* RT-AC3100
* RT-AC5300
* RT-AC1900 & RT-AC1900P (use the RT-AC68U firmware)

So from this list they say use RT-AC68U firmware on the RT-AC66U bt which is now called RT-ac1750 b1. A bit confusing with all the model numbers.

 

[adampk17]

You got it tho. ;-)

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Hi,

I have an ASUS RT-AC1750 B1.

My understanding is that the version of Merlin to install is the same one listed for RT-AC68U based on what was said above.

Question 1:

Is the above statement accurate? Do I download and install this:
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Ro...-AC68U-AsusWrt-Merlin-Firmware-380-68-0.shtml
"ASUS RT-AC68U AsusWrt-Merlin Firmware 380.68.0"


Question 2:
My asuswrt firmware version is: 3.0.0.4.380_7743 (latest for the router at this time).

I am confused by this statement here:
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Ro...-AC68U-AsusWrt-Merlin-Firmware-380-68-0.shtml

"Before you consider downloading this firmware, go to the system information page of the router and make sure that the currently installed version isn't either newer or matching this release."

Both the regular and merlin versions contain "380.x". Does this mean I can't install it?



The reason I want Merlin is to selectively route only some (well, one to be exact) devices through VPN (ethernet connection) and all others (wireless) should not use the VPN. The interface I have currently lacks these options and I believe Merlin will add them:

""Selective routing" is your fried for this:
Enable it in the VPN settings via "Redirect Internet traffic" = "Policy rules" and then you can add "Rules for routing client traffic through the tunnel (Max Limit : 100)"

[https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac66u-vpn-service-to-only-one-device.30159/]

 

[RMerlin]

1) Yes
2) Ignore what Softpedia wrote, it's just weird wording for "Check to see if this firmware is newer than what you already have". I suspect SoftPedia uses some kind of tool to generate their page content, because wording is often a bit awkward. Not sure if their publishers are paid by the number of words or something.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Perfect, thank you! I got it all set up.

Sadly though the openvpn client is miles slower than my ISP to the point of making my streaming choppy. I get 50mbps no vpn and with VPN I get 5-15mbps. Streaming without vpn is super smooth. I am hoping I made a configuration error and it can be fixed... I have read everything I could find on this and everything I found was either already set correctly or didn't work. If I install the app on my PC and connect to VPN I get about 36-40 Mbps. Some slowdown is to be expected with VPN but going from 50 to 5-15 is really drastic.

 

[RMerlin]

You're trying to get a 1 GHz ARM CPU do the task of a 3 GHz x86 CPU - totally different ballgame here.

Best you can get out of that router is using AES-128-CBC with SHA1, that should give you around 50 Mbps of throughput. Switching to AES-256-CBC or SHA512 will greatly reduce the throughput.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Thanks for the reply. I am using 128, sha-1 already.

Is there a better way to set this up that I am unaware of that you can think of? The set top box does not have VPN built in so I need to put something in front of it to go through vpn... So I figured a router is my only choice. Are you saying I need to shell out for a more powerful router? The router can be returned at the moment so if there is a better option (that isn't super expensive) I can still explore it.

Thanks again for your reply. Appreciate the your input.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the reply. I am using 128, sha-1 already.

Is there a better way to set this up that I am unaware of that you can think of? The set top box does not have VPN built in so I need to put something in front of it to go through vpn... So I figured a router is my only choice. Are you saying I need to shell out for a more powerful router? The router can be returned at the moment so if there is a better option (that isn't super expensive) I can still explore it.

Thanks again for your reply. Appreciate the your input.

If you're only getting 5-15 Mbps with an RT-AC1750, then I suspect the bottleneck isn't the router's CPU but your VPN provider. See if they offer different servers, some might be faster than others. Otherwise, you might consider trying a different VPN provider.

Their desktop application might possibly be using a different server, or a specially optimized version of OpenVPN (Astrill for instance does that). That could explain the performance difference (unless some of the settings are different).

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

Hi RMerlin,

Thanks again for taking the time to respond to my questions!

I have tried a number of servers and they are all the same. But, I have found a new piece of information.

What i'm trying to say here is that there seems to be a drop in speed with ASUS/Merlin to start then with VPN, then with set top box progressively. My isp modem with wifi seems much faster and the ASUS router (with latest asuswrt) had comparable speeds to my isp modem. i think it has dropped with the merlin installation (without vpn).

I have routed my cell phone (wireless obviously) and set top box (ethernet, no wifi support) through Merlin to go through the VPN. Other devices do not use the vpn.

Cell phone (through vpn):
2.4 wifi: averages roughly 19mbps.
5ghz: averages roughly 16 mbps.

Cell phone (again but this time connected to my ISPs modem/router):
5: 52 mbps.

Laptop (no VPN but through ASUS router-> only supports 2.4)
30mbps

asus router: 51 mbps with latest asuswrt firmware.

Set top box (has a built in speed test): 5-11 mbps. The first speed test always seems on the lower end. then subsequent speed tests seem to improve.

 

[lazydrunksmurf]

RMerlin,

I was just reading some other posts and i had no idea you make Merlin! I'm new to ASUS and this stuff in general.. I had no idea i was talking to the ultimate authority!

I looked at this some more though and I think the problem is only with 2.4GHz (no vpn in my most recent testing). I am consistently getting high speeds on 5GHz (no vpn). On 2.4, I'm getting varying speeds, often quite low and sometimes the internet drops all together and i need to reconnect. [I found a number of settings that can have an effect on this and in most cases the solution was to disable the setting. However, these settings were already disabled by default on my box].


Thanks for putting in selective routing through vpn! it is awesome!


[FIXED]: Update to driver for NIC card did it !

 

[Klueless]

"I have an ASUS RT-AC1750 B1. My understanding is that the version of Merlin to install is the same one listed for RT-AC68U?"

1) Yes

Does that mean I can effectively have an RT-AC1900 for the cost of an RT-AC1750 B1 (about a $50 savings where I am) simply by loading Merlin (onto my B1)?

 

[RMerlin]

"I have an ASUS RT-AC1750 B1. My understanding is that the version of Merlin to install is the same one listed for RT-AC68U?"

Does that mean I can effectively have an RT-AC1900 for the cost of an RT-AC1750 B1 (about a $50 savings where I am) simply by loading Merlin (onto my B1)?

That 250 Mbps is nothing but marketing smoke. Nothing supports TurboQAM, and nobody ever got it to work outside of a lab environment while using two routers.

You're not going to transform anything - Asus already uses the same firmware for these models. Capabilities are determined by the hardware.

 

[Klueless]

That 250 Mbps is nothing but marketing smoke. Nothing supports TurboQAM, and nobody ever got it to work outside of a lab environment while using two routers.

You're not going to transform anything - Asus already uses the same firmware for these models. Capabilities are determined by the hardware.

Oh wow, thank you very much! (Maybe I'll save another $25 and just get the pre-B1 ...)