RT-AC66U or RT-AC68U ?

[nubyOz]

Hi,

The agony. Got an RT-N66U at the moment and slowly upgrading my wireless clients to be AC compatible.

Is there a need? No.
Do I want AC? YES.

Already got a decent Synology NAS, so USB 3 has no impact in my decision.
I do need Dual WAN (got an LTE USB modem backup).

I also prefer RMerlins version.

Are there any good reasons to go for RT-AC68U apart from bragging rights?
Anything I might have missed?

Pricing here in Oz is RT-AC66U about $230 RT-AC68U about $300.

Cheers

 

[RMerlin]

AC66 versus AC68: the two big differences are USB3 and faster CPU. The faster CPU might come in handy if you use VPN (either a server or a client) on the router, where it makes a huge performance difference.

 

[Sky1111]

Definitely AC68 - but if you can, wait a bit until ASUS releases the new firmware everyone has high hopes for

 

[LocalDude]

Sounds like you got the "Itch"... Go for it. Get the AC68. You'll sleep better.

And have bragging rights. New firmware is inevitable.

 

[ronan_zj]

if you don't use VPN and you don't care about the USB3.0, 66U is good to go.

Hi,

The agony. Got an RT-N66U at the moment and slowly upgrading my wireless clients to be AC compatible.

Is there a need? No.
Do I want AC? YES.

Already got a decent Synology NAS, so USB 3 has no impact in my decision.
I do need Dual WAN (got an LTE USB modem backup).

I also prefer RMerlins version.

Are there any good reasons to go for RT-AC68U apart from bragging rights?
Anything I might have missed?

Pricing here in Oz is RT-AC66U about $230 RT-AC68U about $300.

Cheers

 

[nubyOz]

Hi,
The VPN would be the biggest incentive for me to go the RT-AC68u.
The only thing still stopping me is the various reports of issues, some which people anecdotal link to early Hardware revisions.
Unfortunately HW rev are not on the box as far as I can tell and the evidence is not yet solid.
So for now I decided to stick with my RT-N66U until things are clarifying.
Looked at people going the Netgear route but got burned badly by poor support.
Never got a properly working FW on my WNDR3700. Eventually 5GHz died after less then 2 years, apparently due to heat stress and I gave up on Netgear.

If anyone has clearer indication around what HW might be stable I would properly move and buy the RT-AC68U.

Cheers

 

[RMerlin]

Hi,
The VPN would be the biggest incentive for me to go the RT-AC68u.
The only thing still stopping me is the various reports of issues, some which people anecdotal link to early Hardware revisions.
Unfortunately HW rev are not on the box as far as I can tell and the evidence is not yet solid.
So for now I decided to stick with my RT-N66U until things are clarifying.
Looked at people going the Netgear route but got burned badly by poor support.
Never got a properly working FW on my WNDR3700. Eventually 5GHz died after less then 2 years, apparently due to heat stress and I gave up on Netgear.

If anyone has clearer indication around what HW might be stable I would properly move and buy the RT-AC68U.

Cheers

Asus is currently finalizing a firmware update that uses a newer wireless driver provided by Broadcom. There's a good chance that it will resolve a lot of the issues people are experiencing with the 2.4 GHz band.

If you can wait, I'd give them a week or two for this firmware to be released, and people start posting their feedback on it.

 

[nubyOz]

Hi Merlin,
Always great read your advice.
The primary reason I want to stick with ASUS is your firmware and the fact that ASUS takes you improvements on board.
Will give it 2 weeks.
The RT-AC68U is on special in my favourite shop unitl Xmas.

Cheers

 

[nubyOz]

Asus is currently finalizing a firmware update that uses a newer wireless driver provided by Broadcom. There's a good chance that it will resolve a lot of the issues people are experiencing with the 2.4 GHz band.

If you can wait, I'd give them a week or two for this firmware to be released, and people start posting their feedback on it.

One more question if I may.
Do you have either knowledge or an educated guess regarding hardware revisions?
Do they make a difference ? Should I look out for newer revisions ? And if yes hoiwcould I identify newer revisions ?

 

[RMerlin]

One more question if I may.
Do you have either knowledge or an educated guess regarding hardware revisions?
Do they make a difference ? Should I look out for newer revisions ? And if yes hoiwcould I identify newer revisions ?

Most of the time, pcboard revisions are minor changes done to reduce manufacturing cost, or accommodate a change in components. If something major enough gets changed, then the HW revision code posted on the box will also change (for example, the RT-N66U is available as revision B1 and B2, the latter one using a different type of flash).

The RT-AC68U is still at revision A1, so the pcboard revisions people are mentioning are nothing to worry about. The only way to tell the PCBoard revision is by disassembling the router to look at the revision painted on the pcboard itself.

 

[nubyOz]

Hi,

The agony is over with the expected result. Santa smiled at me and gave me my RT-AC68U. Running the latest ASUS BETA for now. Seems ok. But intend to switch to RMerlin shortly.
Thanks to all and especially to RMerlin for the advice you gave me.

Cheers

 

[Asus4me]

Ac66u vs ac68u

I know the rtac68u is superior to the ac66u from a hardware perspective. But I have read many forums where people have issues with bugs with the 68 and I haven't seen as many from the 66. Can anyone verify this and do merlin builds fix those bugs are is it something asus or broadcom has to fix. I want to get the 68 for my main router with merlin wrt but I don't want it to cause issues

 

[pigsy1974]

Asus,
i cant comment on the AC68 but i have an AC66 and regardless of the hardware spec it serves me well, 12 wired clients, 6 wireless running on a 120/12mbps connection, its rock solid and the range is adequate for my whole house

 

[Asus4me]

Yeah. I have the ac66u. Planning on vpn so I was going to upgrade my main router and use the 66 as an access point.

 

[roscolo]

@asus4me: RT-AC66U rock solid for me as well for 18 months running Asus stock firmware. Use with VPN also. 10-18 clients connected at once wireless and wired. Zero problems.

 

[LoneWolf]

Yeah. I have the ac66u. Planning on vpn so I was going to upgrade my main router and use the 66 as an access point.

Having gone from an AC66 to an AC87, I can say if you are planning on VPN, there is no comparison; the AC68 or AC87 is the way to go. The updated processor makes a big difference. Running OpenVPN client on my AC-66R cut Internet performance by 30-50%; I see no slowdowns at all doing the same on the AC-87R.

 

[Chrysalis]

does anyone have throughput figures for the ac66, interesting comments regarding vpn.

I am diagnosing vpn performance issues and want to know if its router hw related.

I am only able to get around 5mbit throughput using openvpn client on my ac66.

 

[gobtron]

I bought the AC66U because there was a good deal on it. I got it for 115$ CAD. Now I see the AC68U at 170$ CAD. Is it really worth the extra money? I do use a VPN right now and intend to setup a NAS too. Will I see a performance drop if I use the VPN client on my computer instead of the router? I do see performance drop with my old D-Link DIR-601 running an OpenVPN client on my computer. Will the usb 3.0 port really deliver the extra speed?

I should mention that my Internet connection is 10 mbps and I don't plan to upgrade to those ultra fast internet 100 mbps speed soon.

The idea is to invest in a router that will last for 5 years or so. So it needs to be kind of futureproof. I think of it as a mid-long-term investment. And maybe I should stick with the RT66U for 2-3 years and get an even more powerful router then...

Stability and reliability is an important factor for me.

There is also a deal on a RT-AC87U or RT-AC68P for 160$ CAD... Confused.....

 

[cutterjohn]

Sorry, no throughput figures, BUT IF you WANT to use ANY of the extras, e.g. download center, file server, etc. on the AC66 FORGET about it. The system is WAY underpowered to handle BOTH AC network/wired network routing AND all of those EXTRA 'features'.

Don't get me wrong, it's a GOOD AC router, BUT the extras LOOK nice on paper, and USED to work better on OLDER firmware, but the last several official releases have KILLED the feeble usefulness that they had on older releases.

Personally, I bought a NAS to provide extra functionality(no handy older PCs looking to be repurposed, so a nas it was, an intel based one) and I'm awaiting the next iteration ASUS AC router which I willo upgrade to as it will provide a great deal of functional upgrades, e.g. more capable SoC, etc. UNLESS the next iteration is not much more than the current-I0forget-what-model-it-is in which case I'll buy that on closeout/clearance specials and STILL get an upgrade over the AC66 although I will admit part of it was for a more capable SoC and useful extras again, but a NAS+ fixed the missing extras, so it's more of wireless networking refinement and still SoC upgrades, but let's face it, it will be a wimpy ARM SoC again that will cry uncle at the slightest stressing. (Yes. I know that ARM is a pretty crap arch, that is only halfway decent today thanks to a bunch of guys from Austin that fixed the older and crappier designs and were subsequently purchased by ARM...)

 

[gobtron]

Sorry, no throughput figures, BUT IF you WANT to use ANY of the extras, e.g. download center, file server, etc. on the AC66 FORGET about it. The system is WAY underpowered to handle BOTH AC network/wired network routing AND all of those EXTRA 'features'.

Don't get me wrong, it's a GOOD AC router, BUT the extras LOOK nice on paper, and USED to work better on OLDER firmware, but the last several official releases have KILLED the feeble usefulness that they had on older releases.

Personally, I bought a NAS to provide extra functionality(no handy older PCs looking to be repurposed, so a nas it was, an intel based one) and I'm awaiting the next iteration ASUS AC router which I willo upgrade to as it will provide a great deal of functional upgrades, e.g. more capable SoC, etc. UNLESS the next iteration is not much more than the current-I0forget-what-model-it-is in which case I'll buy that on closeout/clearance specials and STILL get an upgrade over the AC66 although I will admit part of it was for a more capable SoC and useful extras again, but a NAS+ fixed the missing extras, so it's more of wireless networking refinement and still SoC upgrades, but let's face it, it will be a wimpy ARM SoC again that will cry uncle at the slightest stressing. (Yes. I know that ARM is a pretty crap arch, that is only halfway decent today thanks to a bunch of guys from Austin that fixed the older and crappier designs and were subsequently purchased by ARM...)

Roger that.

Then it's settled. I'll get the AC68P and return the AC66U. There is a refurbished one on Newegg for 160$. I didn't see it or the deal didn't exist when I ordered the AC66U.