News RT-AC68U End of Life Announced by Asus

[Intrepid]

Sadly, Asus has just announced that the RT-AC68U has been discontinued and has reached end of life. :-(
When a product is end-of-life, it means:
It is no longer manufactured
Its certification will not be renewed
Its firmware, utility, website, DM, QSG and manual will not be updated
It may be replaced by a new product with updated hardware and similar functions

See (under Wireless Routers): https://www.asus.com/event/network/eol-product/

 

[L&LD]

It's been replaced many times by many products which have also been replaced years ago.

This was expected.

 

[Tech9]

Unfortunately, @RMerlin expectations were wrong.

Entware - Entware armv7sf-k2.6 EOS

With the latest Entware updates released yesterday ends an Era for older ARM based Asuswrt-Merlin routers. They go the same route as the very old MIPS based routers like the RT-AC66U that has not seen Entware updates for years. The Entware team announced on their Website that Our armv7sf-k2.6...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Tech9]

Also, as expected:

RT-AC86U
GT-AC2900
RT-AX68U

Basically everything AC-class and early models same hardware platform AX-class.

 

[sfx2000]

It was a good run for that device and it's variants...

We should all pour out one for the AC68U...

That being said, responsibly recycle them as the opportunity presents - I know all would like to have that Viking Funeral in the back-yard to send it into router Valhalla... but the neighbors might get upset.

 

[RMerlin]

Unfortunately, @RMerlin expectations were wrong.

Entware - Entware armv7sf-k2.6 EOS

With the latest Entware updates released yesterday ends an Era for older ARM based Asuswrt-Merlin routers. They go the same route as the very old MIPS based routers like the RT-AC66U that has not seen Entware updates for years. The Entware team announced on their Website that Our armv7sf-k2.6...

www.snbforums.com

Asus must have changed their plans, because I asked them back then, and they were aiming for the end of the year for dropping its support.

 

[sfx2000]

When a product is end-of-life

There's a lot of ways to define that one...

1) End of Sales - product is no longer built, and is pulled from the channel
2) End of Life - generally no more HW support for RMA, etc
3) End of Support - SW generally goes well beyond EoSale, EoL, for security fixes...

It's not a major surprise that the AC68U and kin are there now...

 

[sfx2000]

Asus must have changed their plans, because I asked them back then, and they were aiming for the end of the year for dropping its support.

Can understand that - Linksys kept the WRT56G on their product line card well beyond their "best purchased by" dates...

 

[NoLight]

Noooo... Was so hoping to hold on until a RT-BE68U came out. Should have gotten the RT-AX86U Pro when it was $200 at amazon last week.

 

[Tech9]

RT-AX68U owners are in worse situation - under 4 years support since release date with over 1 year delay in last firmware release. Good thing this model wasn't very popular and disappeared from retailers long time ago. I believe Asus stopped the production long time ago. It was one of only four products released with this radio configuration, the only Asus model and the only one still not EoL. The most likely issue was Broadcom support for BCM6710 when used for 5GHz band. Something wasn't right there from the start. Knowing some details around hardware I was actively discouraging folks around from purchasing this model even on discounted price.

 

[Centrifuge]

I have the RT-AC86U to thank for the introduction to embedded Linux hacking, on an ancient kernel. So I wrote a little poem:

Oh my 86U, how many halcyon days have we shared,
You started off strong and lifted our little acre into the modern age,
But even you, with your robustness and ability to seemingly rise from the dead like a phoenix,
succumbed to the ever quickening pace of man's geek inventions.

As they say, at first slowly, then suddenly,
You fell from the rare air of the router gods overhead, down to the musky heap of the landfill.
First it was the overheating, which caused many a good commentator to go postal,
In the debate of is it hot or not, breaking a thread record and causing the site to introduce new policies,
but now, gone are those days and we are left with the husk of the fallen superhero,
with only Amazon.com and SNB forums to guide us.

 

[yogy]

RT-AX68U owners are in worse situation - under 4 years support since release date with over 1 year delay in last firmware release. Good thing this model wasn't very popular and disappeared from retailers long time ago. I .....

You can say that, bought the thing in June 2022.
But now, what is the best replacement that is not out of service next year?

 

[Tech9]

But now, what is the best replacement that is not out of service next year?

Based on hardware alone I see Asus consolidated current AX-class models mostly around two hardware platforms.
I expect the following models to have longer support, but more BE-class products coming out may shorten it:

Budget and mid-range similar to RT-AX58U BCM6750 (came first) and V2 BCM6756 (current), with variations:
RT-AX3000, RT-AX82U, RT-AX5400, TUF Gaming AX3000/5400, ROG Strix AX3000/AX5400, RT-AXE7800, etc. with V2 preferable

High-end similar to GT-AX6000 BCM4912 (came first), with dual, tri or quad bands variations:
RT-AX86U Pro, RT-AX88U Pro, GT-AX6000, GT-AX11000 Pro (the only GT and Pro), GT-AX16000, ROG GT6, ZenWiFi XT12/ET12, etc.

I personally would go for minimum RT-AX86U Pro.

 

[bennor]

While sad to see the RT-AC68U officially go EOL it really isn't a surprise considering its advanced age. Even without security updates one could still use it for AP/AiMesh or as a emergency backup spare router in a pinch. For some they'll happily motor along with the RT-AC68U for another year or three.

I do hope that this trimming of the AC series and its firmware support will help Asus be more responsive to fixing and pushing out the official 3.0.0.6.x firmware to devices they previously claimed would support the 3.0.0.6.x branch. Right now (as of this post) there still isn't an official (non beta) 3.0.0.6.x firmware for the RT-AX86U Pro (and likely other models). It is now three days shy of a year since Asus released the last beta 3.0.0.6.x firmware for the RT-AX86U Pro.

 

[Objects in Space]

ASUS is recommending the replacement model is the ZenWiFi XD5?

End-of-life product list

 

[Tech9]

ASUS is recommending the replacement model is the ZenWiFi XD5?

I don't know how you read the EoL list...

If you have ZenWiFi CD6 or ZenWiFi CT8, also on EoL list - perhaps your replacement is a newer ZenWiFi product.

I personally would replace RT-AC68U with RT-AX86U Pro. On a budget - perhaps RT-AX3000 V2 or TUF-AX3000 V2.

Watch for Asuswrt-Merlin (or GNUton's fork) supported models if you prefer custom firmware availability.

 

[bennor]

ASUS is recommending the replacement model is the ZenWiFi XD5?

End-of-life product list

It appears Asus is recommending a range of alternate routers as possible replacements for those EOL routers listed from the TM-AC1900 down to the RT-AX68U. Notice how the column is laid out when you mouse over the suggested replacement column entries.
It suggests one of the following replacements for the RT-AC68U (or any of the other listed routers on the list between the TM-AC1900 and RT-AX68U):
GT-AX6000
RT-AX3000
RT-AX3000 V2
RT-AX58U
RT-AX59U
RT-AX82U
RT-AX86U PRO
RT-AX88U PRO
RT-AXE7800
TUF-AX3000
TUF-AX3000 V2
TUF-AX4200
TUF-AX5400
TUF-AX6000
ZenWiFi XD5
ZenWiFi XD6
ZenWiFi XT8
ZenWiFi XT9

 

[Objects in Space]

Thank you @bennor for the clarification that the recommended column is a range of router models.

 

[maxbraketorque]

It was a good run for my 4x AC86U. Its a bit of a bummer to see these the AC86U EOL'ed when their performance is still excellent. Two were replaced with GT-AX6000s about a year ago because I got the itch to tinker with something new, but two are still in service.

Bummer to see that the AX68U has been EOL'ed. I bought one for my brother-in-law just a few years ago.

 

[Objects in Space]

Anyone care to speculate when the AX series will likely EOL since BE models will be the future?