RT-AC88U

[Dannyt]

Too buggy for me. My experience with .2345 was not good. The update went fine and all appeared good for a few hours but then the wifi (both bands) went to almost zero on speed on all devices. I rebooted the router and all was good for a short while then them same degradation in wifi. I reverted back to .1345 and all is good again.

 

[Antony Williams]

It's still there but has been updated.

Link: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AC88U/FW_RT_AC88U_30043802345.zip

What do you mean 'updated' ? Are you saying it's a different build?

 

[bobg8zwf]

Quick pre-purchase question. Does anyone know if the tech specs of RT-AC88U are identical, regardless of where in the world purchased?
Reason I ask is because, living in Shanghai I can get a better price here than I can back in little old UK.
So would make sense for me to get one here and take it to UK later.
It looks like the specs are the same, but can anyone confirm please and confirm that I will be able to use Merlin's firmware.
Tnx

 

[RMerlin]

What do you mean 'updated' ? Are you saying it's a different build?

They just fixed the LZMA-compressed archive.

 

[RMerlin]

Quick pre-purchase question. Does anyone know if the tech specs of RT-AC88U are identical, regardless of where in the world purchased?
Reason I ask is because, living in Shanghai I can get a better price here than I can back in little old UK.
So would make sense for me to get one here and take it to UK later.
It looks like the specs are the same, but can anyone confirm please and confirm that I will be able to use Merlin's firmware.
Tnx

The hardware is the same, however the bootloader will be configured for a different region, which will cause issues with your wifi clients in the UK.

 

[bobg8zwf]

The hardware is the same, however the bootloader will be configured for a different region, which will cause issues with your wifi clients in the UK.

Ok, thanks for that information. I brought an AC66 from UK to China and never had any issues with it. So I was hoping that taking an 88 the opposite route would also be workable. The cost saving is well over 100 UK pounds. Probably worth taking the chance. Would of course put your firmware on it!

 

[icemankent]

Still waiting for this to be available in Canada.

Sent from my LG G4 via Tapatalk

 

[RMerlin]

Ok, thanks for that information. I brought an AC66 from UK to China and never had any issues with it. So I was hoping that taking an 88 the opposite route would also be workable. The cost saving is well over 100 UK pounds. Probably worth taking the chance. Would of course put your firmware on it!

Someone would have to compare the regulations between both countries to determine what kind of impact it could make (i.e. which channels are available on either regions, and what output power is used on these channels).

 

[Vladislav]

Someone would have to compare the regulations between both countries to determine what kind of impact it could make (i.e. which channels are available on either regions, and what output power is used on these channels).

on the new firmware 3.0.0.4.380.2345, appeared the possibility of choice in the region

 

[RMerlin]

on the new firmware 3.0.0.4.380.2345, appeared the possibility of choice in the region View attachment 5851

Some regions will allow you to change to a different territory indeed, but not all of them. US-based routers for instance do not offer this option.

 

[Vladislav]

Some regions will allow you to change to a different territory indeed, but not all of them. US-based routers for instance do not offer this option.

at the last firmwares did not have this option
my router by command
wl country
US (Q2/992) UNITED STATES

nvram show | grep -E 'ccode|regrev|regulation|wl[0-9]_country|wl[0-9]_reg_mode' | sort
0:ccode=Q2
0:regrev=992
1:ccode=Q2
1:regrev=992
wl0_country_code=Q2
wl0_country_rev=992
wl0_reg_mode=off
wl1_country_code=Q2
wl1_country_rev=992
wl1_reg_mode=off

which region from the list gives strongest signal????

 

[Lucky8888]

I can pick any country in my AC88U and AC66U's recently purchased in China. The problem is how manufactures are dealing with new FCC regulations. There are many articles on what is transpiring. Here's one...

http://www.wired.com/2016/03/way-go-fcc-now-manufacturers-locking-routers/

 

[whatsupdude]

Anyone else have the issue with: 3.0.0.4.380_2345-ga24f32d that the traffic analyze stops showing info? It says I have 0 usage for the last 3 days.

 

[Dannyt]

Anyone else have the issue with: 3.0.0.4.380_2345-ga24f32d that the traffic analyze stops showing info? It says I have 0 usage for the last 3 days.

Yes, I had the same problem along with wifi and other issues. Reboot did not help. I went back to .1345.

 

[G997]

I've had 2 new 88u's in and both have the same issue: the 5G performance is bad. First the 88u gui on 2.4 is fast and normal, when I switch to 5G the gui takes minutes to load. 5G browsing is also slow. Also, my network is slow with the 88u compared to my 68u. In addition, on the 2nd 88u it shows a wireless network thats some weird printer which I have never seen before. I just can't figure out what is going on. Maybe there is some rouge software being installed at ASUS??

 

[Dr Tone]

Anyone else have the issue with: 3.0.0.4.380_2345-ga24f32d that the traffic analyze stops showing info? It says I have 0 usage for the last 3 days.

Turn off NAT acceleration. Solved it for me.

 

[JemTheWire]

I was going to try this official firmware, but I have discovered the delights of Merlin 380.58. Quite frankly, after reading about the problems with this version, I am glad I steered clear.

Merlin 380.58 is running sweet on my RT-AC88U. Best and most stable router I have ever owned, even with the stock firmware, well v3.0.0.4.380.1354 at least!

Merlin is simply 'the cherry on the top'.

 

[whatsupdude]

Turn off NAT acceleration. Solved it for me.

Does asus not test their firmware before releasing them? Embarassing to see such big bugs.

 

[bobg8zwf]

So, I purchased RT-AC88U here in China.
(Not sure if this post should be here or in the Merlin section, but here goes).....

Set it up with its delivered firmware and worked fine.
Changed the firmware to Merlin 380.58 and set it up again. Working ok.
Then I changed the region from China (the default) to Europe.
Router rebooted and worked fine on wired LAN.
But, as soon as a wifi client attempts to connect, router crashes and then reboots. This happens on 2.4 or 5 gig and with different clients - iPhone, android phone or windoze 10 laptop.
Changed region back to China. Router rebooted. Tried wifi again and works without issue.

Bootloader is 3.0.0.0

I have not yet changed the firmware again. I'm considering what to do.
Would appreciate any suggestions.

 

[Lucky8888]

So, I purchased RT-AC88U here in China.
(Not sure if this post should be here or in the Merlin section, but here goes).....

Set it up with its delivered firmware and worked fine.
Changed the firmware to Merlin 380.58 and set it up again. Working ok.
Then I changed the region from China (the default) to Europe.
Router rebooted and worked fine on wired LAN.
But, as soon as a wifi client attempts to connect, router crashes and then reboots. This happens on 2.4 or 5 gig and with different clients - iPhone, android phone or windoze 10 laptop.
Changed region back to China. Router rebooted. Tried wifi again and works without issue.

Bootloader is 3.0.0.0

I have not yet changed the firmware again. I'm considering what to do.
Would appreciate any suggestions.

Did you read this thread? After you upgraded to Merlin, did you complete all the install instructions (e.g. factory reset, re-configure, etc.)?

When I purchased my 88u's here in China I played around with it for a while and changed China to United States using the original FW shipped with the routers. I don't even remember what version that was. All my wireless devices worked fine with China or the U.S. setting (keeping in mind that some of the available frequencies were different, as I recall). I didn't see any appreciable performance differences so I changed it back to China. Along the line I updated to the latest (at the time) factory FW, then to Merlin's 380.57 and now to 380.58 (thanks Merlin). I'm perfectly happy with my wi-fi performance. Out of curiosity, why do you want to change territory?