RT-AC68U + RT-AC66U for Media Bridge. Is this possible?

[DaveMishSr]

For what ever reason media bridge with ac66s is just plan broken... but media bridge with ac68 as the main seems to work pretty damn well. Like I said before minor tweaks to adjust for my set up, and yes 5ghz + ac kick butt!

I guess I was lucky. Both of my AC66U's were open box specials and I never had any real problems with media bridge mode. However, media bridge mode is performing better now that I am using 2 AC68U's.

 

[Asusnet]

Actually Media Bridge mode (5Ghz + AC) is the way to go but unfortunately it does not work reliably. Based on this new information, we can conclude that perhaps the router (mode) is the culprit of instability of the Media Bridge.

I am still upset because I bought two of these RT-AC66s for this sole purpose and I WANT to love Asus products.

Repeater mode is an alternative solution added for some users with media bride issues. Give that a try if you haven't already. It is included in later firmware versions.

 

[nagle3092]

For people using the media bridge mode what are your link speeds? Im getting 780Mbps between my AC56U(MB) and AC68U(AP). I was getting 5XX something before some tweaking. Just curious if I can bring it up any higher.

 

[geops]

For people using the media bridge mode what are your link speeds? Im getting 780Mbps between my AC56U(MB) and AC68U(AP). I was getting 5XX something before some tweaking. Just curious if I can bring it up any higher.

Your AC56U optimum would be 867 since it's dual-stream.

 

[babgvant]

For people using the media bridge mode what are your link speeds? Im getting 780Mbps between my AC56U(MB) and AC68U(AP). I was getting 5XX something before some tweaking. Just curious if I can bring it up any higher.

780Mbps of actual or reported throughput?

 

[geops]

780Mbps of actual or reported throughput?

It can't be actual. The actual on 1300 reported is around 550Mbps tops.

 

[babgvant]

It can't be actual. The actual on 1300 reported is around 550Mbps tops.

That's why I asked . If it were actual, I'd want to know how to reproduce it.

 

[T-Nation]

I guess I was lucky. Both of my AC66U's were open box specials and I never had any real problems with media bridge mode. However, media bridge mode is performing better now that I am using 2 AC68U's.

Ok, I might have been a bit harsh on broken with ac66 but I had headaches with it. so I stuck to dd-wrt to bridge them, but reverted back too stock firmwares with the ac68 and they worked prefect. So, I chucked it up to a flaw in the stock firmware with ac66. maybe it's fixed but I've yet wanted to mess with it if it anti broke

 

[sabesh]

Great information here!

One more question - once I have setup the AC68U as the router & AC66U as the Media Bridge (or Repeater), how exactly do I go about checking the speed between the two? Thx.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

 

[geops]

Great information here!

One more question - once I have setup the AC68U as the router & AC66U as the Media Bridge (or Repeater), how exactly do I go about checking the speed between the two? Thx.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

You should be only interested in the real speed which you can check by simply transferring a file from a machine connected to the ac68 to a machine connected to the ac66 or vise versa. For more accuracy use hardwired machines to both sides of the bridge.

 

[Ritzie]

sabesh How did you make out? I have the ac66u and the ac68 will be delivered tomorrow. I thinking of the same setup.

 

[sabesh]

sabesh How did you make out? I have the ac66u and the ac68 will be delivered tomorrow. I thinking of the same setup.

I decided not to go that route, as a cheaper solution caught my attention. I plan to get this instead:

http://www.techhive.com/article/2013452/review-linksys-wumc710-wireless-media-bridge.html

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.

 

[rpunya]

Hey guys,

So I set up my ac68r as my main router, and set up the ac66r in repeater mode. When I walk into my garage, which is about 20 feet away from the ac66r, I lose connection to the main router. It makes sense for my phone to then connect to the ac66r (which is the repeater) right? I can't seem to get it to connect. Any ideas? Is there any way to set the ac66r as "Home_EXT" instead of having it just under "Home"?

 

[indark]

Hey guys,

So I set up my ac68r as my main router, and set up the ac66r in repeater mode. When I walk into my garage, which is about 20 feet away from the ac66r, I lose connection to the main router. It makes sense for my phone to then connect to the ac66r (which is the repeater) right? I can't seem to get it to connect. Any ideas? Is there any way to set the ac66r as "Home_EXT" instead of having it just under "Home"?

I had similar issue, I simply set it to a different ssid, and ignore it.
First find out what ip was giving to your extender, you can just log in your ac68 and find out what it is.

Then just type the ip as you normally would to log in router.
go to the network map tab, and you can change the said

As far as media bridge goes, I only have problem with xbox 360, keep getting disconnected. xbox one and my macbook works fine though.
Once I switch to the repeater, xbox 360 work smoothly.

 

[ACuser]

If you want a media bridge and a wireless access point, use repeater mode. This is a setup I use at home.

I use the RT-AC68U as my main router and the RT-AC66U in repeater mode. Two desktops are wired to the repeater (RT-AC66U) with a couple mobile devices wirelessly connected. I have zero issues with this setup.

Hi, I just set up my 2 router same as yours. Everything is find till when I restart my sys(mac pro) and I was not able to login to the main router (192.168.1.1). Not even with other macbook or iPad. The page can't even load. But the AC66U page was working ok and every other stuff connected on the network is working find. I can see the main router (RT-AC68U) ip shown on the Network Map page on the AC66U page. Is there a way to find out what happen? Thanks.

My router firmware
RT-AC66U firmware - (3.0.0.4.374_2239)
RT-AC68U firmare - (3.0.0.4.374_583)

 

[dark_slayer]

BTW, I actually tried setting up a media bridge tonight between the AC66 and the AC68, out of curiosity. For some reason I wasn't able to get more than 8-10 Mbits between the two, while having the AC68U bridged with the AC56U gave me the expected 240 Mbits out of it (the AC56 being only 2x2).

So, I'm not entirely sure a media bridge between an AC66 and an AC68 would work properly, since they are quite different.

I've got to say that the posts in this thread had me quite worried since I had been happy using 2xAC66s with one in media bridge mode, but elected to craigslist one and purchase an AC68 (since a recent apple purchase made me want to use the 68 for time machine)

Since nobody has bought my extra 66 yet, I have all three to test

In my 66-66 tests I was getting better than 30 MB/s always. I included a picture of the low and high on a file transfer (I got up to 530 Mbps as you can see in the high pic)

So now 68-66 (68 as the router) I had a little apprehension from what you all mentioned here, but I got pretty comparable performance. I didn't get all the way back to 530, but I hit over 450 -- see below

Just for anyone who read through and wondered about going with a 68 router and 66 media bridge. Given that the PCE AC adapters haven't come down much in price while the AC66 router can be had pretty close in price (ebay) I'd go for the extra router if you have the space for all the added functionality and portability. That is unless they finally release an AC update to the EA-N66

 

[gschlact]

AP + Bridge?

So which would be better:
1. Relay on 5GHz and cut BW in half
2. Media Bridge using 5Ghz for all Media streaming and bridge between AC66 and AC68, then use the AC66's 2.4N for other wireless connections extending the network?
2b - Can the AC68 be in bridge Mode on 5GHz connected to primary Router, and still have ports and 2.4N clients routed over the bridge? Would this give further distance/bandwidth than #1?

Guy