RT-AC87 and RT-AC3200 Why?

[David Arnstein]

Why would anyone buy these routers when an RT-AC68 is less expensive?

The RT-AC87 and RT-AC3200 will not deliver faster performance than RT-AC68 until someone makes a smartphone or other client device that uses the same proprietary extensions to 802.11 that the more expensive routers use. That might be never. Anyway, would you be willing to buy new smartphones, notebook computers etc. when that happens?

What is wrong with my understanding?

 

[sfx2000]

Why would anyone buy these routers when an RT-AC68 is less expensive?

The RT-AC87 and RT-AC3200 will not deliver faster performance than RT-AC68 until someone makes a smartphone or other client device that uses the same proprietary extensions to 802.11 that the more expensive routers use. That might be never. Anyway, would you be willing to buy new smartphones, notebook computers etc. when that happens?

What is wrong with my understanding?

I think you're fine with your understanding... the RT-AC68 series is probably the sweet spot for Asus at the moment - I'm sure there's a few folks that have been on the cutting edge with the 87u-RT3200 and have some regret going there. Just read the threads...

Asus won't like me for saying this (nor will any other vendor), but at present, anything beyond AC1900 class is not a good use of funds... (less polite way - pissing your money away...)

sfx

 

[mag905]

When I was deciding which to buy, the decision came down to the ac68u or the ac87u. The price delta was less than $50. I went with the ac87u. At the time, the ac68u was more stable and had comparable speeds but, the ac87u tended to have better coverage.

Two months later, I am still satisfied with my decision and don't feel that I wasted any money buying the ac87u. Recent FW updates for the ac87u and the frequency of these updates have made the router even more stable with better coverage in my house.

Post purchase, I have no regrets buying the ac87u.

 

[Ajai]

While I am not buyer of the RT-AC3200 but an Netgear R8000 they both are functionally similar. The big thing for the R8000 is the two independent 5Ghz SSID's which gets selected based on the speed the device connects at. My HTC M9 gets the lower 5Ghz while my Asus PCE AC68 get the higher 5Ghz band both have full WiFi speed.

When I had the R7000 with M9 and PCE AC68 connected to the 5Ghz band the speed on the PCE AC68 actually decreased compared to without the M9.

 

[System Error Message]

Im using the AC68U and AC3200. The AC87U shows its performance when you have multiple clients that use MU-MIMO whereas the AC3200 allows 3 clients to communicate with one another at full bandwidth if 2 clients use 3 stream AC wifi and 1 uses wireless N at 300Mb/s.

Where performance is of concern you can imagine a common house usage scenario involving a laptop, tablet, NAS and TV all using wireless (except for the NAS). using the AC87U or AC3200 the TV can stream from NAS while the laptop is backing up to the NAS and the tablet using blu ray streaming from internet at the same time without causing any of the wifi clients to have to slow down because of the usage of another wifi device. It also makes it so that devices that use less streams do not slow down other faster wifi devices connected at the same time.

I do get that wireless doesnt show any decent practical speeds but the use of the AC87U or AC3200 makes using wifi a bit more decent when the mess of cabling is too much to bear.

 

[Find the Door]

I've owned every router released since the N66U personally. I'm what you'd call a "return king." My biggest regret was briefly going Netgear (Nighthawk R7000) as their interface was rubbish.

I used to work at a blue big box electronics retailer so I'd get cheap protection plans and swap those devices like no tomorrow. I settled on the AC87R for sometime - waiting for BBY to pickup the AC3200 model (they never did). I ended up flipping it as the quantenna chip in the 87R was completely unreliable and the router ran VERY hot (I had in completely open space, rubber feet attached, and atop a nice laptop cooler).

I opted for the AC3200 after reselling my 87R. The things been rock solid ever since. I don't really have demands that require it, but I do have a gateway connection setup (PS4). Wanted a processor that would in no way shape or form hinder my lan connection, and one that I wouldn't have to reboot. AC3200 does that (and much more) for me.

Love my purchase.

 

[RamGuy]

I do agree that the Asus RT-AC87U is not something you should really buy unless you are interested in the MU-MIMO aspect of the 5.0GHz. And like David stated in the first post, how likely are you to have various MU-MIMO devices? As of today, this is only for a very small niche and the amount of clients supporting MU-MIMO is basically non-existent. Unless you get yourself 2x RT-AC87U and use the other one as repeater or bridge. Worst part is, the 5.0GHz quantenna NIC is not particularly reliable.

The RT-AC3200 on the other hand is a entirely different story. You don't really need any kind of special hardware or clients to take use of the advantages the RT-AC3200 offers over routers like RT-AC68. It will automatically distribute your various 2,4GHz, 5.0GHz and 802.11ac clients to ensure optimal performance. This is something that would be beneficial in most if not all environments unless you have a very limited amount of wireless clients on your network.


I did just order myself the RT-AC3200 today and it will replace my RT-AC87 which I will send back to my supplier and get a refund. The RT-AC87 has been the worst of the Asus RT-series thus far for me. I've been through RT-N66U, RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U and RT-AC87U and the quantenna 5.0GHz has been all over the place.. Luckily I still have my RT-AC68U so I have had RT-AC68U running as access point taking care of the 5.0GHz AC-network, while the RT-AC87U has taken care of the 2.4GHz, NAT and everything else.

I would not recommend the RT-AC87U to anyone, unless you have some specific use for MU-MIMO, like bridging or repeating with another RT-AC87U etc.. In all other aspects I simply find the RT-AC68U to be superior in pretty much every possible way.

 

[kamaaina]

Hmm, I have an AC87u sitting here that I got for the price of a 68 as an open box. I also have a 68R here that I used before and haven't sold yet. I even might get the T-Mobile cellspot router for free which is 68U as well (maybe even a lucky 68P?).

I have a R7000 as the main router and the second device simply runs as an AP in the living room for a variety of devices. A HTPC and Airplay receiver via ethernet and then 6 iOS devices and 5 Apple laptops plus an Amazon fire dongle and a Chromecast. I think there are 2 kindles in the house as well. The 68R with Merlin is painless and stable and has great reach. The AC87U runs Merlins .54 alpha4 now and seems stable as an AP since alpha 3. Before things were a bit iffy, even on Merlins .53. I haven't tested the reach for the AC87U yet, but would hope for similar or slightly better than 68r.

Which one should I keep and sell? Keep the 87 to be "future proof" or screw it and just keep the 68. There is only 1 wireless AC device in the house at this point. The 87 looks good and is wall mountable, but also runs the CPU at 80C already as a plain AP.