RT-AC68U and Merlin Advice

[BrewWizard]

I am considering getting an Asus router. The big reason many people seem to gravitate to Asus is the Merlin firmware, which is why I am here rather than the "What Router to Buy" forum.

My primary criteria is range and reliability. But I'm also interested in other features. Don't want to be "playing" with constant "beta" versions like I have in the past with both factory and DD-WRT firmware for other routers. So here are a few questions:

1. Is the firmware stable? This means not needing to do updates except for security reasons.
2. Apparently there have been several versions of the RT-AC68U (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3) with slightly different hardware. Are there issues there?
3. Is local file sharing using the USB 3.0 port fast? Does it look like any other NAS or is FTP the only access method?
4. Do I assume correctly that the added Trend Micro "AiProtection" is not supported?
5. I have rather simple needs, like DHCP IP assignments, NAT, mostly hard wired clients, one "G" wireless client, and the rest N or AC clients. I'm on 60 Mbps broadband in a rural area. Mostly interference on 2.4GHz. Would I be better off with stock FW?
6. Is there something else I should know about, given my needs?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

 

[MarkRH]

I don't use the Wireless part of the Router so can't comment on that. But it does have the Trend Micro "AiProtection" section which I also don't use., but it is there to use. So, it does support the use of it. Now, it's probably all closed source code which Merlin doesn't have direct access to.

I manually assign an IP address to my PC with DHCP and my other wired devices just gets what the router gives. Have NAT enabled. On a 150 Mbps cable connection.

I haven't used the USB stuff. Hopefully others that use much more of the router will comment.

 

[BrewWizard]

5:No

And why?

6: This : http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-rt-ac68p-rt-ac1900-rt-ac1900p.35759/

Yes, I've posted in that thread...

 

[pete y testing]

My primary criteria is range and reliability. But I'm also interested in other features. Don't want to be "playing" with constant "beta" versions like I have in the past with both factory and DD-WRT firmware for other routers. So here are a few questions:

you understand merlin is basically the beta tester for asus features , he too also releases beta and experimental versions as well as stable versions just as other 3rd party fw coders do

1. Is the firmware stable? This means not needing to do updates except for security reasons.

sure if your willing to wait for any added features to come out of beta and experimental

2. Apparently there have been several versions of the RT-AC68U (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3) with slightly different hardware. Are there issues there?

see above -
Sanna1967

3. Is local file sharing using the USB 3.0 port fast? Does it look like any other NAS or is FTP the only access method?

on the standard asus rt-ac68u not terribly fast at all newer versions with faster cpu and ram are better , you can however access the usb port from mant different protocols including samba etc

4. Do I assume correctly that the added Trend Micro "AiProtection" is not supported?

as above -
Sanna1967

5. I have rather simple needs, like DHCP IP assignments, NAT, mostly hard wired clients, one "G" wireless client, and the rest N or AC clients. I'm on 60 Mbps broadband in a rural area. Mostly interference on 2.4GHz. Would I be better off with stock FW?

no difference , i would however dump that wireless G client as it will cause issues for the rest of the wlan connected devices

6. Is there something else I should know about, given my needs?

as long as you go with one of the newer 1900ac asus versions you should be fine , if however you cant get these versions i would move your gaze to the asus rt-ac3100

 

[BrewWizard]

no difference , i would however dump that wireless G client as it will cause issues for the rest of the wlan connected devices

I wish I could! Unfortunately, it's an interface into a proprietary device(SPA) and won't work on "N". Was an expensive POS.

If I can get enough range on the 5 Ghz, I'll put everything else on 5 Ghz and use the old router as a 2.4 Ghz bridge.

Thanks for all your reply.

 

[pete y testing]

I wish I could! Unfortunately, it's an interface into a proprietary device(SPA) and won't work on "N". Was an expensive POS.

if the devices has ethernet

old router as a 2.4 Ghz bridge.

thats what i ould so as then its using at least wireless N to connect

 

[BrewWizard]

if the devices has ethernet




thats what i ould so as then its using at least wireless N to connect

Just so we are clear, the SPA does not have internet, but a proprietary interface to which their "G" 2.4 Ghz device connects.

I have a wired house with a port about 15 feet from the SPA "G" device. So the bridge or whatever it's called (access point?)would convert wired ethernet to "G" only for the SPA "G" client.

 

[pete y testing]

sure as long as its only used to connect that wireless G device and plays no part in the rest of the wifi network

 

[Roy2001]

I am considering getting an Asus router. The big reason many people seem to gravitate to Asus is the Merlin firmware, which is why I am here rather than the "What Router to Buy" forum.

My primary criteria is range and reliability. But I'm also interested in other features. Don't want to be "playing" with constant "beta" versions like I have in the past with both factory and DD-WRT firmware for other routers. So here are a few questions:

1. Is the firmware stable? This means not needing to do updates except for security reasons.
2. Apparently there have been several versions of the RT-AC68U (A1, A2, B1, B2, B3) with slightly different hardware. Are there issues there?
3. Is local file sharing using the USB 3.0 port fast? Does it look like any other NAS or is FTP the only access method?

I have used WRT54G, N16, E3000, R8000, and just "downgraded" to (Tmobile) AC68U. I would definitely recommend AC68U, and my answer to 3 questions are yes.

I have tried Tomato/dd-wrt/stock with N16, R8000 and AC68U. I used to have 2 HDDs connect to R8000/AC68U as simple NAS solution and have played with them a lot. I would say, AC68U with ASUS/Merlin provides the BEST wifi coverage.

Here is the summary of my observation with R8000 (AC3200 equivalent) and AC68U.

With R8000, Netgear stock is stable with very good wifi coverage, especially for 5G, but if you plug in USB HDD, it would stuck from time to time, very annoying. DD-WRT has similar wifi signal strengh as stock, but while Netgear FW stuck (when I connect 2 HDDs), DD-WRT would reboot, from once ~10 hours to one day. Tomato has best GUI and good freature set IMO, stability is also good, but its wifi signal is miserable on R8000.

On AC68U DD-WRT and Tomato both have weaker wifi. I did not test long enough to tell the stability, but Merlin/ASUS would not allow wifi connection after 1-2 days. I have to reboot it. Since I just got it for one week, I would report more.

Please note I have 2 USB HDD's connected to USB ports as NAS and stream mkv/ISO files. So if you don't use router in this way it should be more stable than my experience.

PS: If you live in US, I strongly recommend T-mobile TM-AC1900 which is on sale for $59 now, it can be easily flashed to ASUS RT-AC68U, an incredible value.

 

[wocram]

3. Is local file sharing using the USB 3.0 port fast? Does it look like any other NAS or is FTP the only access method?

Fastest speeds I have seen on the USB3.0 connection is +/-60MB/s read and +/-25MB/s write from/to my connected WD MyBook 1140 2TB external drive.

The drive turns up as Network attached storage (shared) on my Macbook Pro. Because SAMBA is a "bit" unreliable on MacOS I mainly transfer data through FTP (Filezilla).