RT-AC88U

[WiredAcorn]

Update, it appears as though a simple reset button fixed my stability issue. I reset and disconnected it from the outlet for 10 minutes. Not sure what happened, but the issue is resolved.

 

[Ryu Connor]

Time to pour one out for the fallen. My 88U from December 2015 just had the 5GHz radio die. Its coffin is now on route to the big RMA center in the sky.

 

[Wiredless]

LOL

 

[immi803]

@RMerlin
Mate I'm trying to turn off Whatsapp calling only (not Whatsapp messages) from parental control for a certain client, but after selecting client and option "internet telephony" but it isn't working at all, it's not blocking calls at all.....
Any suggestion? Please help

 

[Jaguar]

I purchased an AC3100 back in September of 2016, but started using it since yesterday (after installing the latest version of Merlin). I am seeing a significant drop in signal strength when compared to my AC66U. Locations inside my house where I used to have pretty great reception with the 66U now cannot even connect to either the 5 ghz or 2.4 ghz bands!

I have not made any changes to the default settings. I am using the router in AP mode. I purchased the router in the US, but relocated to India a couple of months back and it's now being used in India.

I would really appreciate suggestions on how to fix this issue - thanks!

 

[sm00thpapa]

I purchased an AC3100 back in September of 2016, but started using it since yesterday (after installing the latest version of Merlin). I am seeing a significant drop in signal strength when compared to my AC66U. Locations inside my house where I used to have pretty great reception with the 66U now cannot even connect to either the 5 ghz or 2.4 ghz bands!

I have not made any changes to the default settings. I am using the router in AP mode. I purchased the router in the US, but relocated to India a couple of months back and it's now being used in India.

I would really appreciate suggestions on how to fix this issue - thanks!

Nothing to fix. That's the range of the AC88U. I noticed this a few days ago as well.

 

[Jaguar]

Nothing to fix. That's the range of the AC88U. I noticed this a few days ago as well.

Oh man, that sucks. How can a 66U have better range than a much newer router like the 3100?

 

[sm00thpapa]

Oh man, that sucks. How can a 66U have better range than a much newer router like the 3100?

I believe it was the FCC who made them as I call it water down the signal. Google Netgear Asus court case. Asus routers had great signal until this happened and now their routers have way shorter signal range.

 

[avtella]

Oh man, that sucks. How can a 66U have better range than a much newer router like the 3100?

The N65U and AC66U when originally released, used power limits above legal regulations for which they were sued by Netgear. It's not that the AC88U is bad, it adheres to the legal limits.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Oh man, that sucks. How can a 66U have better range than a much newer router like the 3100?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2046...tting-fraudulent-test-results-to-the-fcc.html

 

[Jaguar]

@sm00thpapa @avtella - thanks much for giving me the background on why the signal strength is lower. I had no idea.

Given that the router is now being used in India and is not bound by FCC regulations, would I be able to boost the signal strength beyond what it is now?

 

[Jaguar]

ok - I did a WPS reset and now my router went into a weird state where only the power led would light up. Then I held the reset button down for 15 sec, but the the router never finished the booting process, so I power cycled the router and now the router is on, but the 2.4ghz radio seems to be down. Neither does the led light up, nor can I see the SSID active. When I go into the admin panel, it shows half the wifi symbol. Based on what I have read so far, it appears that this is a hardware issue and the only option is to replace the router, correct?

 

[avtella]

@sm00thpapa @avtella - thanks much for giving me the background on why the signal strength is lower. I had no idea.

Given that the router is now being used in India and is not bound by FCC regulations, would I be able to boost the signal strength beyond what it is now?

It would high for Indian regulations as well, and no there is no way to boost it as far as I know. Plus that would also increase interference with neighboring APs especially when multiple are around and it would be annoying, if I was a neighbor.

 

[winb83]

I have 2 of these routers. One is in 5GHz wireless bridge mode to the main router. Daily the wireless bridge mode router has to be reset because it will drop internet connection randomly. The main router however has never had an issue.

Is it that nobody else has this problem? I thought being able to use these like this was a feature. I'm approaching my second year or ownership of both of these and the issue has never gone away. Also every time I update the firmware on the router the data usage logs vanish.

 

[klungland]

Realizing that my RT-AC88U's top chassis was starting to "crack" and the unit seemed hot, I bought a cheap USB laptop cooler from Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/142505148605
It's almost noiseless and requires no tampering/installation, running on power from my USB 2.0 port.
Before: CPU: 85c - 2,4GHz: 51c - 5GHz: 57c
After: CPU: 68c - 2,4GHz: 45c - 5GHz: 52c

 

[Clark Griswald]

My main RT-AC88U is approaching 2 yrs old, what gotta-have-now-and-be-a-beta tester router does Asus have on the way?

I have been reading the RT-AC86U thread, and that RMerlin has been working his magic on the fw.
Anyone have information as to any Asus upgrade for the 88U?
I certainly hope it isn't that gold antenna machine https://www.snbforums.com/threads/and-so-it-begins-asus-announces-first-802-11ax-router.41020/

 

[CAVOK84]

I'm still using my 88u as well, performance continues to be adequate with respect to range and 5g performance, but definitely not worth the upgrade from the 68u in my case.

Anyways, any reports on firmware 3.0.0.4.382.15850 on the 88u?

I'm using the original revision from 2015, did the later ones have any other benefits besides an actual functioning mimo?

 

[dokape]

Hi!
I'm using the RT-AC88U since more than a year.
With DUAL-WAN one on DSL and one on cable.
Wifi-Performance is good, I had never trouble with direct connected devices.
Well, When to many walls between, it does not work, well.
So I use an Repeater TP-Link RE355 to boost the other part of the house.
It did run well until firmware-upgrade. The firmware-upgrade fixed performance on (DUAL/WAN)
but made trouble by connecting devices like android, and iOS and IoT (internet-Radio, esp8266-devices)
They sometimes do not get an IP-Adress from the router. I see it in the logs.

Changing to Merlin-Firmware did not solve.
I postet the problem detailed in the Merlin-Forum.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac88u-and-tp-link-re355-no-ip-adress-assigned-to-devices.41719/

Discussion here seems more. Does anyone has any hint?

Thanks for reading,
Peter from Germany.

 

[jail4ceos2]

My AC88U has been flaky for me. It is my second one as they swapped my first one for these same problems.

1. I like to shut down the network when we sleep, so I shut it and the ADSL (pppoe connected) modem at the power bar. When I turn on the power bar in the morning the modem comes on, the 88U comes on and wifi and wired traffic works fine on the LAN at normal internal speeds, but the WAN connection is only 0.5MB/s download instead of the 60MB/s my ISP provides. I'm able to upload at the normal 12MB/s speeds. It requires a reboot of the 88U, sometimes a few times, to get the proper WAN download speed.

2. This one is harder to quantify, but my wireless clients often can not see the NAS (static IP'd). Sometimes a reboot of the router allows the NAS to be discovered again, but not always requiring multiple reboots of the 88U.

3. It seems to use more battery when my HTC 10 is connected to 2Ghz. Yes, my phone is known for it's poor wifi, but other wifi nets I use don't seem to chew as much battery.

I've become so frustrated with these problems I've gone back to my N66U, but it doesn't cover the house as well. None of the above problems manifest with the N66U. I really need the 88U's extra 4 Ethernet ports for the wired devices of my home theater stuff too. I can definitely get a new warranty unit, but this is the second unit, with the same problems. Any ideas?

 

[undertherain]

Hi guys.
I'm crazy with WiFi of RT-AC88U.
I tried to configure:

1) Dual-Band Smart Connect (2.4GHz and 5GHz) With Smart Connect ACTIVE
2) Band 2.4GHz with SSID SSID1 and 5GHz band with SSID SSID2 (two different SSIDs)
3) Band 2.4GHz with SSID SSID1 and 5GHz band with SSID always SSID1 (same SSID for both bands)

Oh... there's no way that all the 5GHz devices I hook up using this band.
I have a XIAOMI MI Box TV, an MSI GE70 2PE Apache Pro notebook with AC-3160 WiFi card and an Honor 8.
I can not find a way to connect all 3 devices to 5GHz, and in the second mode from time to time Honor 8 does not see the 5GHz SSID.
How do you keep WiFi configured?
I have Merlin software 380.68_4.
Thanks!