RT-AC86U or RT-AX88U

[Kees17760]

Hi folks,

As the title suggests i'm thinking of buying a successor for my Netgear R7000.
Forget about the pricetag. I'm just looking for a "good" consumer-grade WiFi router.
And for you wise guys
Good means:
- Must be able to hande 1 Gb fibre up/down.
- Must be flexible in terms of options/firmware (love Merlin's)
- Must be robust
- Preferably 10Gb or 802.3ad support.
- Preferably 4+ Switch ports

 

[ColinTaylor]

Neither of those routers have 10Gb interfaces (I don't know any consumer router's that do). AFAIK the RT-AC86U doesn't have 802.3ad.

 

[L&LD]

The RT-AX88U is easily superior to the RT-AC86U, but both are great routers particularly when running RMerlin firmware and amtm scripts +unbound + ChannelHog by @Adamm.

RT-AX88U Upgrade https://www.snbforums.com/threads/b...ta-is-now-available.60037/page-31#post-531024

Your requirements for 1Gbps up/down performance is met by both if you don't enable every feature available to them. Sometimes, you may have to forego a feature to still get 1Gbps speeds.

 

[Kees17760]

The RT-AX88U is easily superior to the RT-AC86U, but both are great routers particularly when running RMerlin firmware and amtm scripts +unbound + ChannelHog by @Adamm.

RT-AX88U Upgrade https://www.snbforums.com/threads/b...ta-is-now-available.60037/page-31#post-531024

Your requirements for 1Gbps up/down performance is met by both if you don't enable every feature available to them. Sometimes, you may have to forego a feature to still get 1Gbps speeds.

The link you provided speaks of version RT-AX88U v1.1.
Are there multiple versions of the AX88U that you know of? And if so which version would be "preferred" ? Confused here...

 

[L&LD]

@Kees17760 yes, HW version A1.1 which is printed on the box on the outside is the 'preferred' version. The major, most obvious benefit is the much lower temps (about 15 degrees less on the CPU) and the WiFi 6 certification.

 

[Kees17760]

@Kees17760 yes, HW version A1.1 which is printed on the box on the outside is the 'preferred' version. The major, most obvious benefit is the much lower temps (about 15 degrees less on the CPU) and the WiFi 6 certification.

Ahaa, Thanks
Btw.. Do you have any experience with LACP and link aggregation? Wondering if its possible to hook up both my NAS and PC to multiple channels 2 x 2 (on the 88 that is). I've asked ASUS Netherlands support, but they couldn't give me an answer and forwarded my question to ASUS Taiwan.

 

[L&LD]

No, I don't, sorry.

But hang around for a bit, I'm sure someone else does.

 

[ColinTaylor]

You can only bond LAN1 and LAN2 together.

EDIT: You can also bond two WAN connections. (I don't know whether you can have both bonded LAN and WAN connections active at the same time.)

 

[Kees17760]

You can only bond LAN1 and LAN2 together.

EDIT: You can also bond two WAN connections. (I don't know whether you can have both bonded LAN and WAN connections active at the same time.)

Ok, thanks.
Knew about WAN bonding, although that seems more awkward to me than LAN bonding. I've never seen any SoHo endpoint fibre interface with 2 x 1 Gbe output, that also supports 802.3ad.

Will report the statement of ASUS Taiwan back.

 

[Val D.]

Forget about the pricetag. I'm just looking for a "good" WiFi router.

RT-AX88U is the best Asuswrt-Merlin supported router.

 

[Kees17760]

RT-AX88U is the best Asuswrt-Merlin supported router.

Do you know about the support of other FW's like Tomato?

 

[Val D.]

Do you know about the support of other FW's like Tomato?

Not available. Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin only.

 

[RMerlin]

Tomato only supports older Broadcom devices. The newest model it supports is the RT-AC3200, and I doubt they will ever support any of the AX models, as the SDK is completely different from what they use.

 

[Kees17760]

Tomato only supports older Broadcom devices. The newest model it supports is the RT-AC3200, and I doubt they will ever support any of the AX models, as the SDK is completely different from what they use.

Ok, and how about the RT-AC86U (being a 2900)? Any ideas..
Read about encrypted CFE somewhere, which seem to make it sort of impossible.

 

[Val D.]

Ok, and how about the RT-AC86U (being a 2900)? Any ideas..

Same thing. Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin only. Avoid this model, quality and reliability issues.

 

[Kees17760]

Ok, all in all it seems to me like big thumbs up for the 88.

In the mean time i've contacted a dozen retailers around here (Netherlands, Europe), but they all are only able to supply the HW rev. A1 model. Is the A1.1 version a typical US model, or is it just a matter of time before they'll be for sale here too?

Don't know about Asus's marketing strategy, but it seems a bit strange to me to first flood the market with a "flaky" revision ?!

 

[L&LD]

@Kees17760 I'm sure it will be only a matter of time.

I wouldn't get the A1 model.

 

[Val D.]

As the title suggests i'm thinking of buying a successor for my Netgear R7000.
Forget about the pricetag. I'm just looking for a "good" WiFi router.
And for you wise guys
Good means:
- Must be able to hande 1 Gb fibre up/down.
- Must be flexible in terms of options/firmware (love Merlin's)
- Must be robust
- Preferably 10Gb or 802.3ad support.
- Preferably 4+ Switch ports

I don't know why you have all those requirements. I have a different view of a "good" WiFi router/system. Let me explain:

- 1Gb up/down can be handled by many routers, on LAN. 1Gb on WiFi is currently not needed for most devices.
- What options specifically do you need? The more options in consumer routers - the worse implementation of each one.
- "Robust" and "consumer router" usually do not live well in one sentence, especially newer disposable models.
- 10Gb and LAGG support... for what reason? NAS? Many have this option.
- 4+ ports are not a problem, a 8-port dumb Gb switch is $20, smart Gb switches (even with PoE) start from about $70.

Think this way:
- Web browsing experience >150Mbps is all the same. Very few web servers will send you data back with >100Mbps.
- Mobile devices don't need >100Mbps connection. 4K streaming on a small screen is a bandwidth waste, for example.
- Mobile devices don't do large downloads, so no extremely fast WiFi is needed.
- Computers/Servers/NAS is best to be wired, no WiFi will give you the same performance.

Few people got Netgear R7800 on sale for $120 around Christmas. This is one of the best performing AC routers in term of WiFi speed and range. It is extremely reliable too, based on user feedback. It is Qualcomm hardware and fully supported by OpenWRT. Take a look, may be a good option for WiFi. AX routers are work-in-progress, you'll be the guinea pig. A paying guinea pig. And you'll be lied to about what technologies your router currently supports. Do you think RT-AX88U supports all WIFI 6 specifications? Think again.

If your budget is high enough, think about wired router + switch + access points from small business segment. A nice all Cisco, Ubiquiti or mix-and-match as per needs system will be really "robust", secure, flexible, upgradeable, configurable, etc. system. The performance will be much better than any consumer router you can buy. If you need an advice in this direction, @Trip may give you all the options available. @coxhaus is a Cisco guy, he knows what works well from this manufacturer. I have played with a lot of consumer routers and none is perfect. They all have flaws, some very serious ones. Finally had the time to arrange something better for my home and there will be no coming back to consumer products any time soon. "High performance", "enhanced performance", "optimized for gaming", "better than ever"... forget about marketing BS in consumer segment.

 

[Kees17760]

I don't know why you have all those requirements. I have a different view of a "good" WiFi router/system. Let me explain:

- 1Gb up/down can be handled by many routers, on LAN. 1Gb on WiFi is currently not needed for most devices.
- What options specifically do you need? The more options in consumer routers - the worse implementation of each one.
- "Robust" and "consumer router" usually do not live well in one sentence, especially newer disposable models.
- 10Gb and LAGG support... for what reason? NAS? Many have this option.
- 4+ ports are not a problem, a 8-port dumb Gb switch is $20, smart Gb switches (even with PoE) start from about $70.

Think this way:
- Web browsing experience >150Mbps is all the same. Very few web servers will send you data back with >100Mbps.
- Mobile devices don't need >100Mbps connection. 4K streaming on a small screen is a bandwidth waste, for example.
- Mobile devices don't do large downloads, so no extremely fast WiFi is needed.
- Computers/Servers/NAS is best to be wired, no WiFi will give you the same performance.

Few people got Netgear R7800 on sale for $120 around Christmas. This is one of the best performing AC routers in term of WiFi speed and range. It is extremely reliable too, based on user feedback. It is Qualcomm hardware and fully supported by OpenWRT. Take a look, may be a good option for WiFi. AX routers are work-in-progress, you'll be the guinea pig. A paying guinea pig. And you'll be lied to about what technologies your router currently supports. Do you think RT-AX88U supports all WIFI 6 specifications? Think again.

If your budget is high enough, think about wired router + switch + access points from small business segment. A nice all Cisco, Ubiquiti or mix-and-match as per needs system will be really "robust", secure, flexible, upgradeable, configurable, etc. system. The performance will be much better than any consumer router you can buy. If you need an advice in this direction, @Trip may give you all the options available. @coxhaus is a Cisco guy, he knows what works well from this manufacturer. I have played with a lot of consumer routers and none is perfect. They all have flaws, some very serious ones. Finally had the time to arrange something better for my home and there will be no coming back to consumer products any time soon. "High performance", "enhanced performance", "optimized for gaming", "better than ever"... forget about marketing BS in consumer segment.

Thanks for your advice. From a logical standpoint you're absolutely right, but there's also the fun factor ;-)

Besides that, i work as a computer repair guy in 1 of the last 2 remaining Computer (repair)shops in our region targeted at consumer market. Most of our customers are somewhat elderly folks that are not to familiar with computer stuff in general and rely on our experience/knowledge. So i like to stay close to developments, to be able to serve my customers as good as possible.

Anyway, i've edited my first post to narrow things down a little more.

 

[RMerlin]

Ok, all in all it seems to me like big thumbs up for the 88.

In the mean time i've contacted a dozen retailers around here (Netherlands, Europe), but they all are only able to supply the HW rev. A1 model. Is the A1.1 version a typical US model, or is it just a matter of time before they'll be for sale here too?

Don't know about Asus's marketing strategy, but it seems a bit strange to me to first flood the market with a "flaky" revision ?!

Don't worry about the hardware revision. My own A1 is running perfectly fine.