RT-AC87R (current router) or R8000 or Something Else?

[Poseidon]

My patience is about all but done with Asus and the RT-AC87U/R. I purchased it upon release from Best Buy and Wireless (BOTH 2.4 and 5) has been really disappointing.

I have to manually hard reset/power cycle the router daily because of wireless lock-ups.This is unacceptable considering that I paid almost $300 for this router. Firmware updates have been almost non-existent and the couple that have been released have not address the issues with crappy wireless performance.

I've been loyal to Asus for the past few years (RT-N66U, RT-AC66U , RT-AC68U and now the RT-AC87U) not only to myself but I've recommended them to family and friends as well.

Is it worth being patient until the next firmware releases or should I jump off the Titanic and get on the Netgear (R8000) life boat?

FYI: To rule out my Internet connection being the culprit, I've had my cable company send out a truck yesterday and replaced ALL the lines (from the pole to inside my home) and they even swapped out my SB6141 modem for Cisco's latest DPC3216 modem (16x4 channel bonding).

My power and SNR numbers are all excellent. As soon as I connect the RT-AC87R router - crap happens with my iPad Air 2, iPhone 6 +, iPhone 5S, multiple Apple TVs and my PC.

Advice welcomed please. Thanks.

 

[bodean]

If you are having that many issues with the router, might be in your best interested to try the R8000 then.

 

[Poseidon]

If you are having that many issues with the router, might be in your best interested to try the R8000 then.

I'm on my second RT-AC87R. I returned the 1st thinking it might be hardware related/bad router. Apparently it's ALL software related (no surprise).

I've never been a huge Netgear supporter. The R7000 was cheaply-made and was crippled with it's own software issues as well. Makes me hesitant to but the more expensive R8000.

Pick my poison I guess. They sure don't make them like the RT-N66U anymore. IF the majority of my clients weren't AC, I'd still be using the Dark Knight.

 

[Mordred]

I'm on my second RT-AC87R. I returned the 1st thinking it might be hardware related/bad router. Apparently it's ALL software related (no surprise).

I've never been a huge Netgear supporter. The R7000 was cheaply-made and was crippled with it's own software issues as well. Makes me hesitant to but the more expensive R8000.

Pick my poison I guess. They sure don't make them like the RT-N66U anymore. IF the majority of my clients weren't AC, I'd still be using the Dark Knight.

Compared to Asus routers, the R7000 is premium quality. Cooling is way better, PCB is better and did not have the USB interference issue.

Asus firmware has the best feature set, but it also has a lot of stability and security issues.

 

[jlake]

"Apparently it's ALL software related (no surprise)."

Have you ruled out user error? I've been working with computers since 1981, and I'll still have some user error------ now and then. It doesn't happen often to me anymore...but still, I never rule it out.

You should try calling ASUS and maybe they'll walk you through some troubleshooting steps. Or search the forum and/or internet for troubleshooting steps.

What troubleshooting steps have you tried so far?

 

[RMerlin]

The grass might not be much greener on the other side of the fence, according to what can be seen on Netgear's support forums.

The sad truth is, wireless as a technology is a mess, with plenty of compatibility issues and cave eats. Regardless of which manufacturer you go with.

Asus was expecting to release a new firmware last week. it didn't happen, which personally I think is a good sign - it shows that they are spending extra time working on existing issues. Those who had the occasion to run recent betas seemed quite optimistic, so personally if I were you I'd wait for that next release rather than immediately jump to a whole different set of problems.

I disagree about the claim that Asus's firmware had more security issues than Netgear's - just check those CVE reports for a quick sample. Asus simply devoted extra time earlier this year to resolve any reported/found security issue, and actually mentionned which issues were fixed in their release notes. And so far we haven't seen silly issues such as backdoors as found in other manufacturer's firmware. So as far as I'm concerned, security is just as bad for all SOHO routers manufacturers (with bonus points to D-Link and TP-Link...).

Same with the mention that updates have been non-existant, with Asus having released four or five releases in three or four months. That's close to what some other manufacturers will release through the entire life of their products. And based on Asus' track record, I would expect the RT-AC87U to get 10-20 firmware updates, some of them actually adding new functionality over the course of its life.

 

[Turbo Brian]

i feel your pain. i jumped from a perfectly good N66 to the AC87 upon release. i returned my first one because i thought the 5Ghz radio was bad. Second one had the same issue. some troubleshooting here in the forums found that it didnt like certain special characters in the WPA2 key (ones that worked on the N66 mind you). Since that was resolved, its never been super stable. lots of reboots were needed initially. the latest firmware didnt need rebooting but the performance was horrid. lots of dropouts to the point that streaming within my house wasnt usable.

anywho, long story longer, i picked up the AC68P last week and this thing just flat works. its got the same 1ghz cpu the AC87 does but has the firmware stability of the AC68U/R. i see you had a AC68U already so maybe this is too similar but aside from the quantenna specific feature that no client devices support, the 68P is a pretty similar device, more stable and might be a touch faster than your old 68U with the newer cpu.

i cant speak to any of the current netgear routers as ive not tried them.

 

[Poseidon]

Just took back the 87R and got the 68P instead, per Turbo Brian's recommendation. I hate the way the 68P looks but performance and reliability is what really counts and both those areas the 87R failed miserably. Good riddance.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

Just took back the 87R and got the 68P instead, per Turbo Brian's recommendation. I hate the way the 68P looks but performance and reliability is what really counts and both those areas the 87R failed miserably. Good riddance.

Hey man I got a few days ago it works great but I am having issues with qos that I never had with the 68U.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=20436

Let me know how QOS is working for you, if you use it. I wanna try Merlins FW on it but I am afraid that it might not work as well and then I will be stuck with a non working router.

 

[Poseidon]

Hey man I got a few days ago it works great but I am having issues with qos that I never had with the 68U.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=20436

Let me know how QOS is working for you, if you use it. I wanna try Merlins FW on it but I am afraid that it might not work as well and then I will be stuck with a non working router.

Sorry I've never used qos on any of my routers. But I'd definitely hold out for an official Asus fw build (then Merlin will release his version shortly thereafter I assume). Better to be safe than sorry IMO.

Even the Asus support/download site shows nothing for the 68P. I'm sure in a week or so we will see a new firmware which hopefully will address the qos issue you're going through.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

Sorry I've never used qos on any of my routers. But I'd definitely hold out for an official Asus fw build (then Merlin will release his version shortly thereafter I assume). Better to be safe than sorry IMO.

Even the Asus support/download site shows nothing for the 68P. I'm sure in a week or so we will see a new firmware which hopefully will address the qos issue you're going through.

I hope they add the Adaptive QOS that the ac87 has on to the 69p, it worked really great for my needs, but had other issues with the ac87.

 

[RMerlin]

I hope they add the Adaptive QOS that the ac87 has on to the 69p, it worked really great for my needs, but had other issues with the ac87.

It's currently on their agenda.

 

[Embattle]

My Netgear R6300 was very problematic when I got it, 18 conversations later with Netgear and no solution I swapped it for the RT-AC66U but then it'll be the same for some people who got the RT-AC66u and they probably changed to a Netgear product although it wasn't my first Netgear router that failed.

I've got a RT-AC87U due tomorrow and have accepted there might be the odd problem at first although they'll typically be sorted out at a later date.

 

[neil0311]

Just took back the 87R and got the 68P instead, per Turbo Brian's recommendation. I hate the way the 68P looks but performance and reliability is what really counts and both those areas the 87R failed miserably. Good riddance.

Same here. Tried the 87R back in Aug and returned after two weeks. Pulled the trigger yesterday on the AC68P. Still a good upgrade from the N66U but more stable and less expensive.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
?????, After trying Netgear R7500 which ran for almost 2 months w/o any issues for me,
I just switched it out with Asus RT-AC87U yesterday with Merlin's latest f/w after trying
latest stock f/w. Merlin's gives little better signal on 5GHz band. Even tho I am not super heavy user, I very seldom runs into serious issues.
Last router was Netgear R7000 with dd-wrt over clocked. That one worked well too. OP, your problem may be more than an issues with router?
Did you rule out this possibility?