RT-AC86U or RT-AX88U

[meeder]

Hardware version 1.0 runs perfectly here.
I did see that some large online retailers in the Netherlands are currently out of stock so they will probably get the 1.1 version soon.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn LYA-L09 met Tapatalk

 

[Kees17760]

Hardware version 1.0 runs perfectly here.
I did see that some large online retailers in the Netherlands are currently out of stock so they will probably get the 1.1 version soon.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn LYA-L09 met Tapatalk

Ik heb nog even geduld. Als jij meer weet, dan hoor ik dat graag van je.

 

[Val D.]

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... you are going to recommend them 1Gb UL/DL ISP, 10Gb LAN and an expensive AX router? For which one of the 5 devices they may have? You are going to "serve" them good, if this is the idea.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Agree. Most people i now would NEVER spend the kind of money like the AX88U costs. There are much cheaper options that work just as well. And quite frankly reading reviews and posts from AX88 owners I would not as well. This router seems half baked at best. No thanks for the price.

 

[Val D.]

This router seems half baked at best. No thanks for the price.

As with other ASUS models lately, you pay for the "best product available on the market" as per ASUS advertisement, then you realize it is actually in AS-IS condition and you became a sponsor of the software development team. They will do everything possible for you, but please, be patient. In about 2 years time they will sort the majors issues out and create some new ones you don't know about yet. But don't worry, after 14 firmware updates the router will be something very close to what was advertised 2 years back, minus 4x MU-MIMO performance and few more things originally stated as clear advantage over similar products of other manufacturers.

 

[Kees17760]

He Guys, could you please read the title again. I think it's clear enough.
Thank you for your replies..

 

[Val D.]

He Guys, could you please read the title again. I think it's clear enough.

If I had to choose - neither. Partial explanation why in post #25. I already had enough "fun factor" with RT-AC86U, got rid of it months ago. I don't like manufacturers with aggressive false advertising. For AIO I would go Netgear R7800, Linksys EA8500, TP-Link Archer C2600, ZyXEL NBG6817, etc. all Qualcomm based with OpenWrt support. Basically, specific hardware to run specific software on it. Newer Broadcom based ASUS routers are tied to Asuswrt only.

 

[Kees17760]

If I had to choose - neither. Partial explanation why in post #25. I already had enough "fun factor" with RT-AC86U, got rid of it months ago. I don't like manufacturers with aggressive false advertising. For AIO I would go Netgear R7800, Linksys EA8500, TP-Link Archer C2600, ZyXEL NBG6817, etc. all Qualcomm based with OpenWrt support. Basically, specific hardware to run specific software on it. Newer Broadcom based ASUS routers are tied to Asuswrt only.

Or keep my R7000 a while longer ???

 

[Val D.]

Or keep my R7000 a while longer ???

It all depends on what you need it to do. This specific model with specific software running on it can do things no other router can do out of the box. For example, it can be a 5GHz Wireless Bridge and 2.4GHz Access Point in the same time running Tomato. I had this setup running in one place using $20 Linksys E2500 V1 router off eBay. If you know what you need, know the hardware and the software available, you can do many things at relatively low cost. It's not necessary to spend a massive amount of money on the latest and greatest. In other words, use your knowledge as your advantage.

 

[Kees17760]

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.

Here's just an update

Got confirmation from ASUS about this.
- Wan bonding on WAN port and LAN port 4
- Not clear about LAN bonding
- Not clear if they can be used together.

ASUS doesn't seem very coöperative as long as you just want advice. They keep asking for serial numbers (which i obviously don't have yet). They indeed gave me that nasty commercial taste :-(

In the mean time hardware revision A1.1 is available here too. Still not sure what to do....

Bought another secondhand R7000 to play with. It's running Fresh Tomato.
Been running Victek's and Toastman's Tomato years ago, nice to be back. LOL

 

[L&LD]

@Kees17760, it is nice to go back. But remember how riding a bike was daunting and scary at first, then, the freedom/happiness you had was like no other afterward?

There are no guarantees that the new will be better. But go ahead and take a chance on a scraped knee or elbow, the potential with an RMerlin supported Asus router looks almost limitless right now.

 

[Kees17760]

@Kees17760, it is nice to go back. But remember how riding a bike was daunting and scary at first, then, the freedom/happiness you had was like no other afterward?

There are no guarantees that the new will be better. But go ahead and take a chance on a scraped knee or elbow, the potential with an RMerlin supported Asus router looks almost limitless right now.

That's just like it... The arousal of trial and error, that's called learning
This weekend i'll put both of the R7000's head to head to compare WiFi capabilities between X-WRT (384.15) and Fresh Tomato (2020.1).
May the best man win!

Just an update: Although Fresh Tomato is better scalable and has a more robust appearance, X-WRT (or WRT for that matter) is by far superior in terms of WiFi coverage and throughput. Looks like a driver thing.
If Fresh Tomato however would have been able to use the same drivers, i would never leave it.

 

[martin445]

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

What about the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 or RT-AX92U? Target doesnt carry the RT-AX88U.

 

[Val D.]

What about the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 or RT-AX92U?

No Asuswrt-Merlin support. Firmware options whatever is provided by ASUS.

 

[Kees17760]

What about the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AC5300 or RT-AX92U? Target doesnt carry the RT-AX88U.

Indeed no Asuswrt-Merlin support, that would make me totally dependent on ASUS.

 

[Kees17760]

Got my AX88U yesterday. Happy with it!

Again, a big thank you all for your support and wisdom.

 

[Kingp1n]

Got my AX88U yesterday. Happy with it!

Again, a big thank you all for your support and wisdom.

I sold my RT-AC86U thru Ebay and bought an open box RT-AX88U. So many new settings and and my ping dropped significantly for gaming. I'm so impressed and I'm glad I upgraded to this beast.

One question, I know with a recent fw update for the AC86U, and when using A.QoS....HW acceleration was enabled as well. In the past it used to disabled when using QoS. However, I noticed, on the AX88U, I'm using A.QoS, but HW acceleration is disabled. Is this normal? I'm using latest Merlin fw. I would assume it would be enabled as well.

 

[Kees17760]

I sold my RT-AC86U thru Ebay and bought an open box RT-AX88U. So many new settings and and my ping dropped significantly for gaming. I'm so impressed and I'm glad I upgraded to this beast.

One question, I know with a recent fw update for the AC86U, and when using A.QoS....HW acceleration was enabled as well. In the past it used to disabled when using QoS. However, I noticed, on the AX88U, I'm using A.QoS, but HW acceleration is disabled. Is this normal? I'm using latest Merlin fw. I would assume it would be enabled as well.

Don't know (yet). I'd like to start with as few otions enabled as possible, to get a good sense of performance and stability. So i've disabled all of that stuff.

 

[RMerlin]

Broadcom supports two levels of acceleration. Traditional QoS is not compatible with any of them, however Adaptive QoS is compatible with the first level - only the second level will get disabled.

 

[Kees17760]

After 1 1/2 month of struggling to get the 2,4 Ghz coverage right, i send the AX88U back and asked for a refund because of:
VERY POOR 2,4 Ghz performance on FW versions newer than Asus's 30043846436 and Merlin's 384.14 and AVERAGE 2,4 Ghz performance on older FW versions.

Relative best performance achieved on Merlin's 384.13, though neigbouring signals came on almost equal or even stronger, despite obstacles and distance. Even a cheap Zyxel WiFi router placed next to the AX88U outperformed it.

Considering a AC86U (i.c.w. Merlin) or R7800 (i.c.w. Voxel) now.

Awaiting retailer...