RT-AC88U

[Agfadoc]

Got my 88U in today, set it up and it's saying firmware version 3.0.0.4.664 is the latest, but I think I saw others with different.

I can say that Link Aggregation works, I am getting much better signal throughout the house on both 2.4 and 5 ghz and I may not need to use my N66 for an AP, I will try it for a while and see. Maybe put the cameras on the N66 and leave the 88U for everything else. Depends on how it performs once everyone gets home.
Currently I have netflix running on 2 tvs streaming 4k content, 2 others streaming HD content, 2 computers playing Plex movies from the NAS, 7 IP cameras, 21 other devices connected and it's just humming along. When my son gets home and begins gaming, I should have a good idea of the "feel" of the router.

I know it's not a thorough test, but so far I am very pleased. Well worth the investment at this time for my purposes.

 

[ssahnan]

This router is tempting to get, funnily enuf because I want to get away from the smart connect I have with the ac3200. It's so crappy I've been forced to keep it off, thought of having a cleaner two band setup does sound enticing along with the extra lan ports.

For those that have it, are you going the same ssid route for both bands?

 

[nagle3092]

This router is tempting to get, funnily enuf because I want to get away from the smart connect I have with the ac3200. It's so crappy I've been forced to keep it off, thought of having a cleaner two band setup does sound enticing along with the extra lan ports.

For those that have it, are you going the same ssid route for both bands?

I always do different ssid's just to have more control over what the clients are connecting to.

 

[joms]

Sent you a PM

Ummm why PM? Your review and opinion would be very useful for other people as well. I'm also interested if the range of the 88u is much better than the n66u. =)

 

[RMerlin]

Got my 88U in today, set it up and it's saying firmware version 3.0.0.4.664 is the latest, but I think I saw others with different.

380_858 can be manually downloaded from the support site.

 

[Agfadoc]

Ummm why PM? Your review and opinion would be very useful for other people as well. I'm also interested if the range of the 88u is much better than the n66u. =)

The range difference for me when checked by inssider shows a more stable signal throughout "my" house. I can see at times, a -10 db increase in both channels, those spots that were troublesome with the N66 are pretty stable in my 1700 sqft ranch with a finished basement (two story?). The router is in my basement to keep the signals constrained to my house as much as possible. Most of my devices are wired though, with only tablets, phones and some HDMI only streaming devices (Amazon Fire Stick for example) kept on wireless, and I see an improvement in overall router throughput in my configuration because of the the dual core, higher speed processing. I wanted to try to remain on 5ghz on all of my streaming devices that can't be wired, and it looks like I will be able to.

I did configure the N66 as an AP last night at the opposite side of the basement and now any future children I bear will likely be born with horns as the wireless signal throughout is permeating every orifice of the house. Just kidding, but the signal is strong everywhere.

With all that said however, it's just a router and while the improvements are incrementally better, it is not going to be drastic "Wow! This thing is amazing!" unless you had a specific need that you didn't have before. I would consider it the difference of upgrading from 5.1 to 7.1 surround, or from a Sandybridge to a Haswell, or... well, you get the point.

I am confident that if the 88U was located on the main floor, that it would have no problem being the only wireless router that I would need for my house.

It is a fine router in my opinion so far.

 

[Agfadoc]

Here is a comparison in my house in the center between both routers at an equal distance, one on each end of the house on the main floor with the routers in the basement:



So you can see a significant difference in the 2.4ghz, and a little difference in the 5ghz. But Again, the 5Ghz channel for the 88U is solid and the N66 is bouncing, this was a good shot with the N66 signal at it's peak. these are in my basement with concrete walls surrounding them, while I am upstairs measuring between them.

Not scientific, but my real world feel.

Edit:
I know, different joists, different materials, different carpet, etc. But this is the same configuration I had with the N66 as the main router and an N56 as the AP, and it is night and day difference for me.

 

[Jim Hand]

I replaced my RC-N66U, which I've had since the week it was released. Before I replaced the N66U, I ran a non-scientific speed test by copying a large video file from my QNAP NAS to my MacBook Pro (late 2013) using scp. For the N66U 2.4GHz band, the movie copied in about 2 minutes 37 seconds. The 5.0 GHz band is probably degraded by having to travel through a few walls, so the movie copied in about 3 minutes 1 second. After I installed the AC88U, I upgraded to 380_858, and copied the same file. The 2.4GHz band copied the file in about 1 minute 30 seconds. The 5.0 GHz band copied the file in about 1 minute. So, in my main usage case, it looks like the wireless is about 2.6 times faster for me.

I have noticed a few problems with the AC88U. The main problem for me is that I have been using the DHCP and DNS servers on the N66U to assign fixed IP addresses for various devices on my network, such as my printer, a managed router, and the NAS. Under the N66U, this seemed to work flawlessly, and I could access the devices using the name I assigned uner the DHCP manual assignment. However, with the AC88U, this seems a bit unreliable. Some of the devices seem to only register under DNS, while others don't. It seems like maybe they register when they request their IP from the DHCP server. I'm going to try investigating this further tonight.

So far, I'm really happy with the speed improvements. I'm going to enable the port aggregation tonight.

 

[Agfadoc]

Here is after the .858 firmware downloaded from Asus at the same location, the 5ghz on the N66 still bouncing you just see the lower end of the bounce compared to the ones above, hope it helps:



Looking through my notes prior to swapping out the N66 with the 88U, this same location readings for the N66 as the main router was:

2.4 ghz - -60 to -65 db
5.0 ghz - -70

So quite a significant change in signal strength

 

[RMerlin]

I have noticed a few problems with the AC88U. The main problem for me is that I have been using the DHCP and DNS servers on the N66U to assign fixed IP addresses for various devices on my network, such as my printer, a managed router, and the NAS. Under the N66U, this seemed to work flawlessly, and I could access the devices using the name I assigned uner the DHCP manual assignment. However, with the AC88U, this seems a bit unreliable. Some of the devices seem to only register under DNS, while others don't. It seems like maybe they register when they request their IP from the DHCP server. I'm going to try investigating this further tonight.

Give some time for any existing lease to expire, and be renewed through the new router. You could also force a renewal by rebooting those devices.

 

[bigmag]

@RMerlin
there is already an appointment when you can buy the router in Germany ?

 

[faur]

...in fact... when ac88u will be available in Europe? ...same for ac5300...

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[RMerlin]

@RMerlin
there is already an appointment when you can buy the router in Germany ?

...in fact... when ac88u will be available in Europe? ...same for ac5300...

Ask Asus, not me...

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac88u.27704/page-3#post-215397

 

[faur]

Ask Asus, not me...

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac88u.27704/page-3#post-215397

Already did it... no answer... so, i'm looking for insides, rumors, anything related...☺

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[RMerlin]

Already did it... no answer... so, i'm looking for insides, rumors, anything related...☺

I already posted everything I could share.

 

[My_dogs_White]

I already posted everything I could share.

Haha, I could just make stuff up and call it rumor.

 

[Jim Hand]

I spent about an hour tonight trying to get link aggregation to work between my AC88U and a TP-Link switch. I tried every configuration on the switch possible with lots of rebooting. I was about to give up when I looked at the ports on the back of the AC88U and saw that they were numbered from right to left instead of left to right. So, after moving my cables over to the correct ports, link aggregation works just fine for me.

 

[bodean]

No.

Could you elaborate on your reasoning? Either in thread or PM to me please? Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Could you elaborate on your reasoning? Either in thread or PM to me please? Thanks

What was the question? I can't find any other post from you in that thread, neither which of my post you quoted.

 

[bodean]

What was the question? I can't find any other post from you in that thread, neither which of my post you quoted.

Why you would not upgrade from the 87R to this router


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