I hope someone can help. I've become extremely frustrated with my situation, enough so that I registered an account on this site just to post this!
Several days ago, I purchased two RT-AC87R routers with the intent to set up one as my main router in my home, and the other as a bridge (media bridge mode) so that I can keep my Plex server in another room and out of site. Running ethernet isn't an option (nor is 802.11n), so I thought I would give the latest and greatest 802.11ac a shot.
After upgrading the firmware on both units to the latest on Asus's site (3.0.0.4.376_2678), I successfully set one up as my main router, and the other in media bridge mode over the 5 GHz radio. I was very impressed with the speeds sending files back and forth over the bridge (averaging 85-90 MBps, and reaching over 100 at times).
After several days of use, I noticed the following behavior. After a long period of inactivity (sometimes just an hour or so), the transfer speeds would drop considerably to around 15 MBps. The interface on the bridged unit would still report that it was connected at up to 1300 mbps, but clearly something was wrong. The speed would remain low until I either rebooted the main router, or rebooted the bridge. Rebooting either unit immediately fixed it (after the million years of waiting for the 5 GHz radios to come back online).
I tried transposing the two units (made the router the bridge, and the bridge the router), but the problem persisted. I exchanged one of the units for a new one, but that didn't fix it. I returned the other one and made the replaced unit my main router, and I set up my Netgear R7000 as a bridge thinking everything would be fine...but the problem still creeps up. After a certain amount of time, the connection drops down to 15-19 MBps. After a reboot of either the RT-AC87U router, or the R7000 bridge, I am back to ~70-80 MBps transfers. After a while, though, I am back to the lower speeds until another reboot of one of the units.
Clearly, the problem is with the RT-AC87R/U hardware or firmware. I really, really want to love these things, but I've wasted hours trying to get this sorted out. I have scoured the Internet, and while a lot of people have reported problems, I haven't come across anyone reporting quite the same issue that I am experiencing.
Is this a known issue with the 5 GHz radio? Will it be fixed in a firmware update? I am tempted to return the remaining unit I kept because I don't want it if it's not eventually going to work properly. I can live with it if I knew I could expect the issue to be fixed in the near future with firmware.
Thanks for any insight in advance.
Several days ago, I purchased two RT-AC87R routers with the intent to set up one as my main router in my home, and the other as a bridge (media bridge mode) so that I can keep my Plex server in another room and out of site. Running ethernet isn't an option (nor is 802.11n), so I thought I would give the latest and greatest 802.11ac a shot.
After upgrading the firmware on both units to the latest on Asus's site (3.0.0.4.376_2678), I successfully set one up as my main router, and the other in media bridge mode over the 5 GHz radio. I was very impressed with the speeds sending files back and forth over the bridge (averaging 85-90 MBps, and reaching over 100 at times).
After several days of use, I noticed the following behavior. After a long period of inactivity (sometimes just an hour or so), the transfer speeds would drop considerably to around 15 MBps. The interface on the bridged unit would still report that it was connected at up to 1300 mbps, but clearly something was wrong. The speed would remain low until I either rebooted the main router, or rebooted the bridge. Rebooting either unit immediately fixed it (after the million years of waiting for the 5 GHz radios to come back online).
I tried transposing the two units (made the router the bridge, and the bridge the router), but the problem persisted. I exchanged one of the units for a new one, but that didn't fix it. I returned the other one and made the replaced unit my main router, and I set up my Netgear R7000 as a bridge thinking everything would be fine...but the problem still creeps up. After a certain amount of time, the connection drops down to 15-19 MBps. After a reboot of either the RT-AC87U router, or the R7000 bridge, I am back to ~70-80 MBps transfers. After a while, though, I am back to the lower speeds until another reboot of one of the units.
Clearly, the problem is with the RT-AC87R/U hardware or firmware. I really, really want to love these things, but I've wasted hours trying to get this sorted out. I have scoured the Internet, and while a lot of people have reported problems, I haven't come across anyone reporting quite the same issue that I am experiencing.
Is this a known issue with the 5 GHz radio? Will it be fixed in a firmware update? I am tempted to return the remaining unit I kept because I don't want it if it's not eventually going to work properly. I can live with it if I knew I could expect the issue to be fixed in the near future with firmware.
Thanks for any insight in advance.